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wandaromanova · 3 years

Note

can i request wandanat x r? r wants to propose to wandanat and has been sneaking around to hide her plans of proposal. wandanat thinks r is cheating and maybe leaves her? you decide but angst please and i just love all your work i can't stop re reading them💕

Ruined

Pairing: Wanda Maximoff x Fem!Reader x Natasha Romanoff

Warnings: cussing, arguing, very slight violence, cheating allegations

A/N: hi! thank you for your request! im flattered to know that you love and re read my work! i may or may not have intentionally left this on a cliffhanger whoops 🤭 <3

Ruined | Regret

Word Count: 1.8K | masterlist

(gif is not mine)

You had first met Wanda and Natasha when you were tasked with being the Avengers’ liaison. You were tasked to handpick missions that you believed required the attention of the heroes and assigned team members onto those missions.

You worked very closely with the team, you even lived with them in the compound for convenience. In the time spent working for them, you had grown super close to everyone; most especially Nat and Wanda.

It first started off with the pair going into your office, always asking for missions. You had found it odd considering they never took a break. You didn’t understand why they’d seek out missions when they were clearly exhausted. You figured that maybe they just loved helping people so much that they got excited and anxious for missions, but little did you know what their true intentions were.

They wanted to spend time with you. They wanted to observe you close up and not across a conference table. They wanted to know everything there was to know about you. As creepy as it was, they wanted to get close enough to know what you smelt like. They wanted to know what your lips tasted like. They wanted the relationship with you to surpass professionalism.

Eventually, the two Avengers stopped asking for missions when they came in; they just went to your office for the sake of going there. They’d bring you various lunches every single day and shower you with small compliments.

You’d brushed it off as the women being very good friends that just so happened to be flirts. You were wrong. They were interested in you, in the same way you were in them. You couldn’t help but admire the two beautiful women.

Their green eyes, fit bodies, and kind smiles were a recipe for disaster, in the best way possible. With one look, you’d drop to your knees and do whatever they wanted. They just had to say the word and you would do it, no hesitation. Yeah, it sounds absolutely ridiculous, but it’s painfully and embarrassingly true.

Over the course of time, you had grown closer to Wanda and Nat. Your daily lunches turned into daily movie nights and dinners too. You saw them all the time and you didn’t mind it one bit.

They finally asked you out after a year of spending time with and getting closer to you. It was safe to say, you instantly agreed with a smile on your face as you let out an, “of course! fucking finally!”

•❅────────✧❅✦❅✧─────────❅•

Now, you had been dating the two women for five years. Yeah, it’s been a long ass time, but it still wasn’t enough for you. You wanted to spend forever with Wanda and Nat.

You wanted to get an actual house in the suburbs together. Not an apartment in the middle of New York, but a place you could call home. You craved the domesticity of it all.

You wanted to settle down and have kids with them somehow; whether it be by adoption or via surrogate. You just wanted to have a family of your own with the two woman you loved more than anyone or anything in the universe.

So, you’ve been sneaking around trying to keep your secret, well… a secret. You were planning on proposing to your girlfriends. Yes, this was a very huge step in a relationship, but you felt as though it was the right time. You guys had been together for five years! You were practically married to them already!

You would sneak off suddenly during your usual movie nights with Wanda and Nat or before breakfast to go and meet with different jewelers. You didn’t want to go into a store and buy their rings. That was not an option in the slightest. They were special and deserved special rings. They needed rings that were as unique and one of a kind as they were. It’s what Wanda and Nat deserved.

So, you were constantly leaving, whether it be early in the morning or the late hours of the night, on the search for someone who could make your ideas for their rings, a reality. You would hide your phone from Wanda and Nat’s view and even changed your passcode in order to prevent them from finding out. You’d face your phone down whenever you left it in a room with the pair, as well.

Unfortunately, in your excitement of what was to come, you didn’t realize how suspicious your behavior had been. You figured that you were being pretty discreet, coming up with pretty believable excuses. You even had some of the team help you with your lies, since you let them know what you had planned.

However, you forgot you were dating a world class spy and a witch. You were wrong, obviously. As each day passed, your girlfriends worried and assumed the worst. They let their minds spiral and searched for worst case scenarios. The worst one of all seeming the most likely; infidelity. They came to the conclusion that you were cheating on them.

•❅────────✧❅✦❅✧─────────❅•

Natasha and Wanda cried to one another on one of the nights you bolted off and zoomed out of the apartment with a lame excuse.

Wanda sat on the couch as Nat held her in her arms. They both had tears cascading down their faces as their thoughts were plagued by you; by your supposed betrayal.

“How? How could she do this to us? After everything we’ve been through? She’s goes and cheats on us?” Wanda spoke brokenly as she released a sob. Natasha pulled Wanda closer, the Sokovian woman placing her head in the crook of Nat’s neck.

“I don’t know. I really don’t know, Wanda. All I know is, this can’t go on any longer.” Natasha spoke, trying to keep her voice steady, but her voice failed her. She came out shaky as the sadness and hurt seeped in. You had betrayed them, or so they thought.

They sat there in the same position, waiting for your return. Finally, four hours later. You had come back to the apartment.

You were ecstatic as you made your way up to the front door. You finally found a jeweler that could make the perfect rings for Wanda and Nat! You couldn’t wait to get on one knee and present the rings to the two women who would forever hold your heart. You were over the moon excited right now.

However, your joy was quickly wiped away the second you stepped foot into the apartment. You took in the sight of Wanda and Natasha on the couch, staring at you with dried and fresh tears on their faces. You instantly shut the door and tossed your keys onto the counter as you rushed towards your girlfriends worriedly.

“Nat, Wands, what’s wrong loves?” You asked as you approached them, but Natasha abruptly stood up before you could get too close.

“Don’t you take another fucking step!” Nat snapped at you, and you stumbled backwards a little, in total shock. Your concern increased as you looked between the fuming redhead and the heartbroken looking brunette.

“Did something happen? What’s wrong?” You were so confused and desperately wanted to comfort your girlfriends. You don’t recall doing anything that could anger and upset them this much.

“Yeah, something happened. Our girlfriend is a fucking pathetic, cheating ass bitch who can’t keep it in her pants.” Natasha spoke with venom dripping from her tone. You literally let out a gasp, her words physically hurting you.

“What the hell are you talking about? I’m not cheating on you guys! I love you both more than you guys could even imagine!” You raised your voice, getting frustrated with the situation.

Wanda suddenly stood up and stuck beside Nat. She stared at you with anger clouding her sadness now.

“You’re not cheating on us? Then why the hell have you been running off at weird hours of the day? Why have you been hiding your phone from us?” Wanda began to fire a bunch of questions towards you.

You froze in your place. The answers to their questions weren’t what they thought they would be. The true answers were the complete opposite of cheating, you were acting weird because you were planning on proposing! But you couldn’t tell them that!

You stood silently as the two women stared at you, breathing heavily. They took your silence as confirmation of their suspicions.

“We fucking knew it. You’re a fucking joke, Y/N. Were we not enough for you? Was two women not enough for you?” Wanda inched her way towards you, eyes glowing red.

You backed away, not in fear, but in sadness. You really wished you could tell them the real reasons behind your behavior, but you couldn’t without blowing up your surprise.

“Did you really think you could go behind our backs without us noticing?” Wanda continued to stalk towards you, like she was about to murder you.

“I swear to you both, I would never, ever, cheat on you guys. You’re both more than enough for me. You’re my home, I’d never jeopardize that.” You tried to convince your girlfriends to believe you, but they weren’t having it.

“Stop lying to us!” Wanda screamed out as she sent you flying back with a scarlet colored blast as she used her powers on you. Your back connected with the front door as you groaned. That was going to be a huge bruise later, for sure.

“I’m not lying. When have I ever lied to you both, huh? Why the fuck would I start now?” You asked exasperatedly as you stood up slowly. You cringed at the pain radiating from your back.

“And here you go again, more lies coming out of your slutty mouth. The fucking nerve you have, Why don’t you go and fuck whoever you’ve been seeing and leave us alone?” Natasha spoke as she moved forward, placing her hand firmly on Wanda’s waist.

Before you even have the chance to speak, Wanda opened the door with her powers and tossed you out of the apartment. She abruptly slammed the door in your face. Wanda and Nat’s angry, pain-filled faces and scarlet colored magic being the last things you saw before the door blocked your vision with a harsh slam.

You sat on the ground in front of the door in shock. They thought you were cheating on them. They didn’t want anything do with you now. What the fuck were you supposed to do now? What did this mean for your proposal? Should you cancel on the jeweler? Or should you hold out hope and pray that they’ll hear you out eventually?

All you did know was that your proposal had been ruined regardless. Whether you told them about your plans or not, the moment was doomed the minute they began to suspect cheating.

Withholding the information from them, caused them to push you away. But now that you look at it, if you had just told them about the proposal, you’d at least be in their arms right now and not on the floor of your apartment complex hallway with tears streaming down your face.

You were at a loss, and you didn’t know if you could gain back the trust of the women you loved.

───────── ･｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ──────────

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#wanda maximoff x reader #natasha romanoff x reader #wanda maximoff angst #natasha romanoff angst #wandanat x reader #request

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thatesqcrush · 3 years

Text

The Auction, Pt. 2

Bryan Kneef x Reader. CW: discussion of sex work, "being bidded on/purchased" touching of reader - but its consensual, vaginal fingering, language. WC: 2K.

You met with the brains of the organization for a long time. Her name was Cordelia and according to her, you were “a perfect candidate” as she eyed you up and down.

“How does this work? Is this safe? ” You asked, crossing your arms and narrowing your eyes. “How much of a cut do I get? And don't bullshit me.”

“Ah, I’ve always appreciated a woman who gets down to brass tacks.” Cordelia replied. “The cut is 50/50, off the books. We’ll screen your sexual health, of course. While those results are pending, we’ll vet you - make sure you’re of sanity and have no criminal background. This is all done behind closed doors - no one in your immediate life would be the wiser. If that’s all clear, we will arrange the date for the auction. In the meantime, we like to invest in our ladies once they’re cleared - meaning we’ll make arrangements for hair, makeup, clothes, and the like.”

You swallowed hard. “I can assure you, I’m clean. I haven’t had many partners prior.”

Cordelia nodded. “Well, then we have nothing to worry about.”

Your test results came and you received a clean bill of health. The next step was to be primped and polished. Naturally you were middle of the road - some days you could be really girly and other days, not. You weren’t tethered to any one style. But it had been awhile since you were ever able to relax, so when you were sent to a spa for a day of treatment, you jumped at the chance.

After, it was onto shopping.

You felt like Vivian from Pretty Woman as salespersons brought you dress after dress while you got your hair and makeup done. The request from Cordelia was ‘sexy, not slutty.’

You settled on a red hot mini dress with a v-neckline and center ruching for added dimension. Finishing the look was a pair of simple heels that showed off your toned gams and a pair of jeweled hoop earrings. You hardly recognized yourself in your reflection in the floor to ceiling mirror in the store. ‘This is one night; you’re playing a role.’ You told yourself. You figured if you repeated it enough times, you’d believe it.

An unmarked car came to collect you once you were done, driving you straight to the location where the auction was taking place.

You knew there would be other women there from Bonnie. What you didn’t realize was that you’d be going very last. Your nerves were starting to fry and your stomach was twisted in knots. You sipped water through a straw so as to not ruin your lipstick. Finally, there was a rap on the door and Cordelia poked her head in.

“Darling, it’s your time to shine. Now go earn your worth.”

You could hear raucous laughter, cheering and applause from behind where you stood. The music pounded and you could feel it in your bones.

Finally, the door opened - it was pitch black on the other side, save a spotlight. You said a quick prayer, even though you weren’t very religious as you stepped into the light.

Once there, the light adjusted to a more dim version and you were able to focus your vision on the crowd before you. Music played quietly in the background before a woman began to speak - someone who sounded very much like Cordelia.

What she says next and what is said after, is all blur. Bids begin to roll in and it’s in that moment you realized you were nothing more than a hooker, using your body as a means to an end. Humiliation flowed through you - you didn’t feel like you - you didn’t feel as good as you thought. Instead your worth was measured in bank rolls.

You scanned the room, men of all shapes, sizes, colors and creeds were there, waving their black AmEx cards like they were charging a steak dinner. And that’s how you felt - you were a lamb being slaughtered.

The gavel banged and you heard Cordelia exclaim, “Sold! To Mr. Bryan Kneef for two-hundred and fifty thousand dollars.”

You whipped your head at Cordelia. Had you heard her correctly? Two-hundred and fifty thousand dollars? The fact that you got to keep half made your head spin.

“And that concludes tonight’s auction. Winners may come to collect their prizes in the back.”

Cordelia wrapped her arm around your waist and began to whisk you away when you heard someone thank ‘Mr. Kneef for his payment.’ You turned to see who he was and in the dimmed light you saw it was ‘Mr. Mysterious.’

And you damn near passed out.

You sat in the room you were originally in. There was one security camera in place and Cordelia advised that winners liked to meet first before any further advances were to come.

Your leg bounced as you drank your water again. You felt as if you were there for hours but realistically it was mere moments.

The door opened and Mr. Mysteri—Kneef walked in. You smiled nervously at him and extended your arm. “Hi. Bryan, right?”

Bryan didn’t reply. Instead he gave you an intense, smoldering look. His cologne wafted over you, warm and woodsy causing your skin to goosebump.

You brought your arm back and clutched your hands behind your back. Bryan took another step towards you, as if he were trying to get a closer look at his purchase.

“Take off your clothes.” Bryan requested quietly. You opened your mouth to say something but the look in response along with a perfectly arched brow caused you to snap your mouth shut. “I want to see what I bought.”

You reached around, undoing the zipper - thankful it was along the side and not along your back.

You slid the dress off, strap by strap. You hadn’t worn a bra - just a nude thong which wasn’t even fancy - simple and basic, meant more for avoiding lines than anything else. The dress pooled at your feet and you stepped out of it. You moved to kick off your heels when Bryan interrupted you.

“Leave them on.”

You nodded and stood up, anxiously awaiting the next move.

Bryan removed his jacket and folded it neatly, hanging it over a chair. He began to roll up the sleeves of his dress shirt, showing off his muscular forearms with thick, meaty veins.

You looked up and saw the small security camera and realized this private show wasn’t so private. The sound of a finger snap brought you back to the present and you whipped your head towards Bryan. Your heart began to race and you wondered if you should just bolt. You tried to mentally measure the distance between you and the door.

Bryan approached you. His gaze softened, as if he were sorry for what he was about to say. “I’m going to touch you now. At any point if you want me to stop, I will. Consent is very important to me.”

“It is to me too.” You replied, meeting his gaze. After a beat, you continued. “You can touch me.”

His warm touch began rather innocently, along your arm up to along your shoulder. As he walked around you, he kept touching and feeling. His hand got to your ass and he let out a deep rumble as he squeezed the fat of your flesh.

Bryan walked around you. When he came around to the front of you, he cupped one breast with his hand, feeling the weight against his palm. You did your best to remain stoic, ignoring the bolt of pleasure that had shot down to your core. That changed when he firmly twisted your nipple, as you let out a moan as he did so. That earned another arched brow from him, as if taking mental notes.

He rounded you again, and you felt him close the small gap that remained. You felt his cock, hard, pressed against the small of your back. His fingers gently traced your arm and then brought it up, so it was around his neck. He ran his hand back down along your side, and you trembled under his touch. You were certain your heart was beating outside of your chest. When he got to the side of your ribs, he splayed out his hand, so his palm was against you. Slowly, his hand made way down to the apex of your legs.

“Open.” He rumbled in your ear quietly and you followed his instructions. Your breath hitched as his hand cupped your mound. Bryan’s fingers then moved to stroke you softly, teasing your clit and then moving back to stroke your folds. Your pussy grew wet, your breath became more labored as he continued his ministrations. You bit your bottom lip as he slowly but surely worked you to orgasm. Just when you thought you weren’t going to be able to take anymore, Bryan sunk a thick finger inside your soaked pussy. Your pussy clenched around his finger tightly and you let out a wrecked moan in response.

“You’re so wet and we haven’t even started.” Bryan murmured. His beard against your cheek added another layer of sensation. There was no resistance when Bryan sunk another thick finger and began to pump them in and out of you. The sound of wet filled the room and your legs felt wobbly as you gripped around Bryan’s neck harder. Your other hand found his free hand and you brought it up to your breast, encouraging him.

“I’m so close.” You panted. “Oh fuck!”

“Come for me like a good girl.” Bryan growled as he rubbed your clit with the fat pad of his thumb. He used his other hand to pinch your nipple again and you arched against him, coming so hard that you drew his fingers further in.

“That’s it, that’s it.” Bryan praised. “Oh sweetheart we’re going to have so much fun.” He slid his fingers out of you and you whimpered at the loss.

Bryan spun you around to face him. You were a mess as you watched him admire his wet fingers in the light. Bryan brought them to you and you took his fingers into your mouth, cleaning them of your juices and then imitating as to what you could do with your mouth.

Bryan gave you a salacious smile as he withdrew his fingers. He traced them along your cheek, leaving a wet trail to your mouth where he rubbed your bottom lip.

“I definitely got my money’s worth with you.” Bryan replied. “Go home, get some sleep. I’ll have arrangements made so we can have even more fun.”

You watched as he walked away, grabbing his suit jacket and exiting without so much as a second glance. You stayed frozen in place for another five minutes or so, until you realized you could redress and go home.

The car ride home left you with more questions than answers and more horny than ever. Your battery operated boyfriend ran through its battery as you replayed the evening over and over as you were too wired to sleep from the earlier events.

Eventually you did, with Bryan’s name still on your lips.

TBC.

Tags: @mgarner1227 @madpanda75 @tropes-and-tales @beccabarba @dreamlover31 @dreamlover31 @prurientpuddlejumper @sass-and-suspenders @youreverycolor @neely1177 @witches-unruly-heart @mrsrafaelbarba @skittle479 @greeneyedblondie44 @mommakat32 @teamsladsandgents @detective-giggles @garturbo @zoeykaytesmom @ottosuricato @zoeykaytesmom @bananas-pajamas @law-nerd105

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#bryan kneef imagine #bryan kneef smut #bryan kneef x reader #bryan kneef and reader #bryan kneef and you #bryan kneef x you #bryan kneef fanfic

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drabbles-mc · 4 years

Text

Hands Off

Bishop Losa x Reader

Request by @jmvalhalla1998: Hi there! I guess this would be a request but is it possible to do a Bishop x Reader where her ex comes to town with them nothing talking to each other at all he doesn’t know she is with Bish so he tries to win her back causing Bish to get protective/territorial? You can make them engaged or have the reader pregnant if it makes it more interesting.

Warnings: language

Word Count: 2.1k

A/N: This was oodles of fun to write. Who doesn’t love to see Bishop getting a little worked up and protective??

Bish Taglist: @masterlistforimagines @sincerelyasomebody @sadeyesgf @thesandbeneathmytoes @tomhardydallasstarsgirl @multiyfandomgirl40 @sillygoose6969 @queenbeered @louisianalady @gemini0410

You were looking at all the fresh produce in front of you, trying to figure out what exactly you wanted to pick up for dinner. Once Bishop got back from his run, he was going to be home all weekend and for you, that was worth celebrating. You toyed with the ring dangling at the end of your necklace chain, telling yourself that you had to get around to going to the jewelers to get it re-sized so you would actually wear it on your left hand. You tucked it back underneath the collar of your shirt as you started plucking a few things to put into your cart.

You were off to pick up the last of your dinner items when you heard an all-too-familiar voice, “Y/N?”

You spun around, your heart dropping into your stomach as you came face-to-face with your ex. You hadn’t seen or heard from him in three years, and that worked out incredibly well for you. He wasn’t missed by you. “What’re you doing here?” your tone had no sweetness to it.

He laughed, “That’s a funny way to say ‘I miss you’.”

“I don’t.”

“Oh come on, don’t be like that,” he forged onward despite the fact that you were letting him know that you wanted nothing to do with him, “I’m gonna be back in town for a few weeks because of work. Offer still stands, if you wanna get out of this town you’re more than welcome to come with me.”

You scoffed, “Absolutely not.”

You started to push your cart away when he spoke up again, “What’re you up to these days, anyway? You seeing anyone?”

You sighed, “As a matter of fact, yes, I am.”

He scanned the store, “Oh?”

You rolled your eyes, “Some people trust their partners to go places without them.”

He gave you a once-over, eyes lingering far too long, “I wouldn’t let you outta my sight.”

“Yea, you made that abundantly clear a few years ago. If you had any long-term memory at all you’d remember that that was half the reason I let you leave without me. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to finish my grocery shopping,” you huffed and walked away, desperate to get out of the store and as far away from him as possible.

You tried your hardest to push the interaction from your mind as you worked on putting dinner together when you got home. You had gotten a text from Bishop that he was less than an hour out and it made you get your butt in gear and start cooking. If you timed it right, it would be done just after he got home. He always told you that you didn’t need to make a fuss when he came back from runs, but you couldn’t help it. And truthfully, you knew that he enjoyed it.

You were setting out plates and silverware when you heard the door open. You looked up, a smile on your face when you saw Bishop standing in the doorway. He dropped his bag to the floor and held his arms out. You couldn’t help but to laugh as you ran over and jumped into his arms, letting him sweep you off the floor and spin you around in a hug.

You hooked your legs around his waist and kissed him, “I missed you.”

He chuckled as he hooked his hands together underneath your legs, “I missed you too.”

You let him go unpack and change into a more comfortable set of clothes while you finished bringing everything to the table. You smiled as you felt his arms wrap around your waist, pulling you so that your back was pressed up against his chest. He pressed kisses along your shoulder and neck.

“I told you, you don’t have to do all this.”

You smiled, resting your hands on top of his, “I know I don’t have to. I want to, though. It gives me a reason to actually do something with myself besides miss you while you’re gone.”

He chuckled, “You’re breaking my heart, querida.”

The two of you had dinner together, and all you could think about was how nice it was to have him home again. You knew that his life was never going to allow him to be home all the time, and you accepted that, but that acceptance never made you miss him any less. You couldn’t stop staring at him as he gave you all the highlights of the run.

After dinner, the two of you were curled up in bed watching a movie. You idly toyed with the ring on the end of your necklace chain as you soaked up all of Bishop’s body heat underneath your mountain of blankets. As your fingers slid across the smooth metal band, the events that happened at the grocery store all came racing back and you instantly felt a knot forming in your stomach all over again.

Bishop felt you tense up and he looked over at you, “Everything alright, sweetheart?”

You nodded, “Yea. I just, um, there was something I forgot to mention.”

He paused the movie, “What’s going on?”

You had no idea how to start this conversation with him. Nothing really happened, but you still felt like you should tell him, “When I was at the store today, I, uh, I ran into my ex.”

His brows furrowed. He wasn’t the type to get jealous, but he also knew that your ex hadn’t treated you well and that was his real issue. “What happened? I thought that he was gone?”

You shrugged, “He’s back in town for a while for work I guess. I don’t think that he’s a real threat or anything I just, I don’t know,” you shook your head, “I felt so skeeved out after talking to him, that’s all. I’m not telling you because I want you to do anything about it, I just figured I should let you know.”

He’d never met your ex—he was long gone by the time that you and Bishop had gotten together. But the stories that you told him were enough. The protective part of him was kicking into gear as he processed what you were telling him. Even though you said that you didn’t want him to do anything about it, that was exactly what he was planning to do.

“Hey,” you gently squeezed his arm, “Obispo, I mean it. Don’t do anything stupid—he’s not worth it.”

He kissed your forehead, “I love you.”

You chuckled, shaking your head, “I love you too, but that’s not a response to what I just said.”

He pulled you closer, your face resting against his chest, “It’s my response to everything you say.”

You didn’t push it, knowing that whatever Bishop was thinking about doing wasn’t anything that you were going to be able to talk him out of. The more you thought about it, the more you hoped that the odds would be on your side and that the two of them just wouldn’t cross paths for however long your ex was in town. They didn’t run in the same circles, so maybe, just maybe, you’d luck out.

Those thoughts got pushed from your mind, though, as Bishop started peppering kisses along your neck and jaw. You laughed and melted into him, happy to forget about whatever the future was going to hold that was out of your control.

The next morning, Bishop was up bright and early. He nudged you awake, telling you he wanted to take you out to coffee and breakfast at the café in town. As much as you wanted to stay in bed and do absolutely nothing all day, it had been a while since the two of you had a breakfast date, so you agreed.

He took you on the bike, which you loved. There was something exhilarating about not just riding through town on the back of his bike, but also just walking around with your hand entwined with his. Even when he was off the clock, he was almost always in his kutte. It made him stand out a little more but you didn’t mind it, especially because some of that confidence seeped over into you. There was something special about the president of the MC doting on you, keeping you pressed up against his side as you made your way through town.

His phone rang right before you walked into the café. He looked down at the screen and then back to you, “Want to grab us a table? I’ll be right in. Less than five, I promise.”

You smiled, shaking your head, “Anything for you,” you gave him a quick peck on the lips before walking in and asking for a table for two.

You were scanning over the menu when you heard footsteps approaching your table. You assumed it was going to be Bishop, or a waiter, but instead you looked up and into the face of the man you hoped you would go the next few weeks without seeing again.

“Fancy seeing you here.”

You sighed, muttering somewhat under your breath, “You gotta be kidding me.”

Without bothering to ask, he pulled out the chair across from you and sat down, “Some might say that this is a sign.”

“A warning sign, maybe,” you said with a shake of your head, “I’m engaged. Let it go.”

“Engaged and going out to breakfast by yourself?”

“I’m not by my—”

He held his hand up to stop you, “C’mon, just grab one drink with me tonight. One drink, and if you still want nothing to do with me, I’ll leave you alone forever.”

You looked up and you saw Bishop standing behind his chair, looking larger than life. You pressed your lips together, waiting for your fiancé to say something. He cleared his throat, “Sounds like something you should be doing anyway.”

He instinctively went to push the chair back, but Bishop was blocking him in. his hand came to rest on your ex’s shoulder, and from the look of pain on the man’s face, Bishop was exercising his grip strength a little bit.

“Y/N mentioned that you were back in town.”

“Oh? She did?”

“Yea,” Bishop’s other hand gripped his free shoulder, “she also mentioned that you have a bad habit of not minding your fucking business.”

Your ex was all but trembling in his seat, and it would’ve been a lie to say that you weren’t enjoying every second of the scene unfolding in front of you. You didn’t need Bishop to look out for you, but you enjoyed that he did anyway. And, judging by the satisfied smirk that was creeping onto his face, Bishop enjoyed it too.

“Look, I’m just saying,” you could tell that your ex was scrambling to string the words together, “she seems to be on her own an awful lot. Must get lonely.”

“And you’re just here to remedy that loneliness, is that it?” Bishop’s tone was begging him to say something stupid.

“Well, someone should.”

“Hmm,” you could see his grip tightening on your ex’s shoulders, “You’ve certainly given me a lot to think about,” he leaned down so that he could speak a little quieter, “But god help me if I ever see you anywhere near my wife ever again I will break every one of your fingers, one at a time, and then make you drive yourself home. We clear?”

He nodded, fear written all over his face, “C-clear.”

“Good,” Bishop finally released his grip, “Now get the fuck out so we can have breakfast.”

He stood up, giving you one last look to see if you had anything to say. You gave him a sickly sweet smile and waved goodbye without a word, and he scampered out the door. You turned your attention back to Bishop, who was sitting down in his seat.

You smiled at him as he sat down, reaching your hands across the table so you could hold them in your own, “How good did that feel?” there was a hint of laughter in your voice.

He smiled at you, his voice quiet, “Really fucking good.”

You gave his hands a light squeeze, “Also, getting a preview of what it’s going to be like hearing you refer to me as your wife? What a rush,” you giggled.

He lifted your hands up and pressed a kiss to your knuckles, “You’ve got a whole lifetime of that ahead of you, sweetheart.”

#mayans mc #mayansmc #mayans fx #mayans mc imagine #bishop losa #bishop x reader #bishop losa x reader #bishop losa x you #obispo losa #obispo losa x reader #obispo losa imagine #my writing #fanfiction #drabblesmc #bishop losa fanfiction #bishop losa fluff

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tteokdoroki · 4 years

Text

⤷ 𝐅𝐋𝐘𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐊𝐒 : WRITTEN CHAPTER

⤷ CHAPTER SUMMARY: a million unspoken words have built up between you and your best friend katsuki bakugou, there wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do for you, even when you’re warn down and somewhat broken... he knows that sometimes even pro heroes need saving.

warning(s) for this chapter: please read ! this chapter contains lots and lots of angst yo :(, soft baku and some mentions of emotional distress.

author’s note(s): hey there my loves ! yes yes this is a third written chapter and it is the final one. its a little sad at the beginning but don’t worry. it gets a lot softer! please enjoy super soft bakugou :(

previous | part thirty two - love him more | next

word count: 2.4K.

pushing the door open, katsuki bakugou braces himself for what lies behind your unlocked door. your usually sun filled apartment on the eastern side of town where the pro had often spent hours admiring and cooking for you was now locked in a dark embrace, the curtains drawn to the point where every room had been smothered in a thick fog of black and katsuki could barely see.

but for him, making his way around your home was as easy as learning his ABCs. he practically lived here, on days where he was too tired to care, nights where you were both beaten up from patrol but you still find the energy to patch him up. there wasn’t a thing you wouldn’t do for katsuki, so he would do the same for you.

vermillion eyes seek you out in the darkness, his trained ears picking up on the small whimpers that spread thinly through the apartment’s silence and with practiced ease the blonde finds the sofa which you’ve buried yourself in.

“there you are shitty girl,” bakugou mumbles into the still air, the harsh pet name coming out softly on his tongue. despite his hot headed nature, you’d always accepted him fully— never driven away by his terrible habit of using curse words every five seconds, or his natural aggressiveness— no. you loved every inch of him just as it were. you don’t shift from the safety of your blankets when he calls you, making him frown. so, as if not to scare you away , katsuki takes small and tentative steps towards you, until he’s resting on his knees in front of you.

“k-katsu...katsuki,” you heave, trembling with the sobs that wrack your body. the sight of the man alone is enough to set you off, not because he hurt you but because he came— he came when you needed him to. katsuki bakugou had never failed you, not yet. “it hurts, i can’t—“ heated arms wrap around you, warm enough that you can feel them through the mounds of blankets you’ve surrounded yourself in.

pain burns in your chest, clawing up your rib cage and choking you from inside out, everything made you think of keigo, how he had loved you without words— only for it all to be a lie. the pain you felt washed over you like powerful waves, making you cling to katsuki tighter than ever before, your grip on him so tight that your nails dug into your palms.

pulling you from your heap of blankets, the explosive pro hero brings you further into his arms, resting his cheek on top of your head. “stop it dumbass, you’ll hurt yourself even more.” bakugou takes your hands, rubbing your palms where your nails have indented as if to soothe you because like he had promised— he wasn’t here to hurt you.

as he rubs at your palms, you force your face into his firm chest— breathing in the familiar scent of burning sugar and sweet caramel, one that never fails to relax you. the smell of keigo is everywhere in your apartment, your bed, your clothes, your blankets. you’re suffocating in every trace of him and katsuki bakugou is like a breath of fresh air. “c-can i stay with you? everything smells like him...” your voice is barely above a whisper, muffled by the fabric of bakugou’s black shirt but you can tell that he’s heard you from the way he suddenly links your fingers.

bakugou kisses the top of your head, the light peck dressing your hair line as he stands and separates himself from you. the gesture is oddly soft for someone who looks angry by nature— but he’s only ever been this way with you. “shitty girl, you don’t even have to ask,” he mumbles, vermillion eyes looking everywhere but you. you give the blonde a watery smile before he disappears into your apartment, presumably to gather some belongings of yours to take with you. he knows where everything is so you don’t bother to move, curling in on yourself.

reality finally sets in, a paperweight of emotions crushing your heart into tiny pieces. everything you’d known for the last several months had turned out to be a lie, every look, every touch and every kiss had been staged.

what did he gain? what did keigo win for breaking your heart? you suppose aizawa is partly to blame for setting this whole thing up behind your back but even he couldn’t be in control of your feelings. when katsuki returns, he’s locked all the doors and turned off all lights that are further into your home. on his left shoulder he carries an overnight bag but some how manages to scoop you up into his warm arms.

you find yourself on a quiet ride to his place a little while later, streetlights like stars in the night sky. bakugou’s house was a short drive from yours, somewhere he’d gotten shortly after his twentieth birthday.

it was a big house with high ceilings and wide open windows— perfect to accommodate for any repercussions of his quirk. there was a beautiful view of the city too, something that katsuki had been proud of when he got the place. he’d spent most of his earnings from his time as a side kick on it, a risky move you wouldn’t put past him.

“i’m running you a bath and you’re fuckin’ taking it. you reek.” katsuki’s sharp words cut through the thick silence as you enter his home. he sets you up in the spare bedroom before heading off to the bathroom to do as he said. his words, despite harsh, have a hidden meaning behind them— either that you smell like hawks and he doesn’t want that infecting his home or that he’s genuinely worried for your health.

you figure that it’s both. when the water’s just right, he helps you get in ( although his cheeks are stained bright red, matching his eyes ) and washes away the tears and snot that’s built up over the last few days.

there’s a spare change of clothes waiting for you when you get out, your favourite black shirt of his and pair of undies to wear underneath. bakugou always takes care of you, no questions asked. that’s why he says nothing when you slide into bed with him that night, nor the next day when you take food from his plate at breakfast. he’d always been that kind of friend, there for you to the end, no matter what.

the following night you’re curled in his lap, watching re-runs of an old allmight cartoon he was obsessed with back in high school. bakugou’s attention is mostly focused on the phone in his right hand, the left drawing absentminded patterns into your cheek.

you figure that he’s probably warding away his managers since he’d dipped his hero duties to take care of you or updating your friends and aizawa on how you’re doing. nonetheless, you enjoy how he holds you and keeps you close— maybe it’s because you’re reminded of how things used to be be; when you were dating, when you were back in U.A.

yourself and katsuki bakugou had dated from your second year till your last at U.A. graduation had been hard, seeing as this would be the last time you were surrounded by all your friends on the hero course; tears drenched your cheeks as you said your goodbyes to not only them— but to katsuki as well. you’d both agreed that after sharing two years together, secret kisses outside the dorms at night, dates where your friends would tease the blasting hero until the tips of his ears were as red at his eyes; that it was time to part.

romance and feelings would get in the way of being the best of the best and you couldn’t dream of stopping bakugou from reaching what he could practically touch.

you had to let go of him, you couldn’t hold him back.

back then; you were only eighteen with the world of colours ahead of you. you’d promised yourself from then that you would work twice as hard as your friends to rank the highest you could— because while katsuki was your first love, you wouldn’t let that stop you from aiming high as well.

now, almost twenty-two, you could look back with a fond smile at the sweet memories you both had made together. so why did you feel bitter? why did it hurt to be in his arms like this?

was it because you thought, that if you hadn’t met keigo, none of this would have happened? would you be as happy with bakugou as you were with him? you don’t realise that you’re crying until katsuki wipes away your tears before they can hit your cheeks. there’s a knowing look swirling in his eyes as you abruptly sit up to wipe at your face. “s-sorry, i...” you huff frustration laced in your tone. you’re tired of crying, tired of being sad. “god, i must look so stupid!”

the blonde leans in, rolling his eyes as warm calloused hands come up to cup your cheeks. “let yourself cry shitty woman, you just got your heart broken. stop creating lame excuses to torture yourself with.” he chides, thumbs brushing away stray tears that somehow manage to escape. you find yourself nodding slowly, heart racing at the proximity of your best friend.

he’s still the same boy he was when you were tucked away in the safety of your U.A bedroom; brazen, with sharp, chiselled features and hellish eyes that held the worlds jewels. he’s still your bakugou, the man you still hold so much love for.

if you could see yourself now you’d call yourself a fool— for your mouth moved before your mind and your lips end up pressed against against bakugou’s. he stiffens, because this would have been the first time you’ve kissed this way in four years, but he soon relaxes— the hands that cup your cheeks dropping to your waist to pull you closer to him, holding you as if you’re going to disappear at any moment. his lips slot against yours perfectly, like they were moulded for each other and he’s hot against you, tenderly moving in sync with you.

your fingers make their way into his forest of blonde locks, curling in them tightly which makes the man before you groan quietly— you kiss him with unspoken words and hidden truths, all the while, fresh sets of tears burn in the corners of your closed eyes—stinging a path down your cheeks.

he must feel them too because he only pulls you closer, letting his lips do the talking as he kisses you like it’s the last time he’ll ever have the chance to. you whine into him brokenly and he flinches with every oncoming tear that paints your locked lips with a salty flavour. that’s what it feels like, your last kiss; as you pour every ounce of passion into the liplock as possible.

you feel the world crumbling away. you love him, you have for years and always will be hopelessly in love with katsuki bakugou but there’s a hole in your heart that he can’t fill and he knows it. gripping his shirt now, you feel your lungs burn with the need to breathe in fresh air and regretfully pull away from your best friend.

when you open your eyes you’re met with the sight of a ruby gaze and flushed cheeks, swollen lips and a sorrowful smile that makes your heart ache. you try to back up, mind hazy with storm clouds of emotion but he doesn’t let you leave him. “i’m sorry, i shouldn’t have—“

“i’m not,” he says quietly, blunt as ever, gaze flickering to the hands of yours that he now holds.

you hum, watching as he plays with your fingers gently— your heart pounds and your body feels hot, but you find it in you to say your next words. “i love you katsu, you know that right?” he nods, still not looking up to meet your gaze. “i love you more than i should as a friend but—“

“you love the bird man more,” the blonde finishes for you, deep red eyes locking on you. it’s your turn to nod, squeezing his fingers in hopes that he doesn’t pull away or shut you out like he has done in the past. instead, a finger of his finds your chin to tilt your head up towards him— he brushes away the remanence of your tears from salt streaked skin and gives you a genuine, but small, smile. “we’re different to who we were back than, my feelings never changed and maybe i realised that too late. when you were with him i fucking wished he would fuck up so i could swoop in and take my shitty girl back...” bakugou pauses, pondering his next words. things like this were hard for him, he wasn’t necessarily the most open person in the world but for you; he often tried. “but i know now, that seeing you broken like this; because of him... it fucking hurts more than losing you to him.”

“katsuki,” you blubber, you don’t know what to say for now— but whatever comes to mind you know he’ll appreciate it. snuggling up to him, you shove your face into his chest once more and find yourself soothed by the scent of burning sugar that tickles your nose. “thank you.”

bakugou scoffs, rolling his eyes at you for what seems like the millionth time that night but doesn’t push you away. instead he pats your head, throwing his gaze to them he side. “whatever, now get off me so i can make us dinner.” a heavy blush dusts his cheeks once more, so you let up with a tiny smile as the pro hero heads over to his kitchen to cook for you both.

you watch him as he goes, shuffling around the kitchen— no one would have guessed that the pro hero ground zero was a phenomenal cook, but it was just one of those things. something special that you knew about katsuki bakugou, your little secret between two best friends. best friends who had been through the world and back, best friends who would do anything for each other.

and so you realised, as long as you had your best friend bakugo, everything would be just fine.

⤷ TAGLIST: ✈️CLOSED

@underratedmage @darlingstudies @iambashfulperson @jqnposts @ih8beefnoodles @miniatureland @ozzy-bozzy @someweirdshitman @bro-vocaine @air-wreckaaa @xxangelofpunkrockxx @hyperkaiperrose @sailor-moons-butt @montechristos @semiathleticnerdykid @headfirst-halo @sasukelore @patricia-ceballos @jadenyukis-bodypillow @leel-lol @bokutosuwus @moonlightaangel @atsumumu @cathy8taffy @sya-arts-blog @rosa-gamer @yuesphere @ela-ena @d3ad-b3at-b1tch @starry-yui @cowward @actuallyazriel @bunny-on-crack @yourlocalbabybird @moon-spirit-yue @chaichai-the-weeb @tuddles-on-ice @gomezuwu @loser-keiji @witcherydotcom @s4kurajima @nishinoya-is-baby @astroninaaa @witches-brewe @skyrina @underoosjae @darlingely @mirukosyn @peachpetalhoney @kayisweird

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epicseptic · 3 years

Text

Erseptyl AU

This part one of a 3 part prologue for one of my aus. I won’t give away any details but this is my first time writing anything so its far from perfect ^^’

~~~~~~~~~~

It was early morning and the sun was already high in the sky, its soft rays of light peeking in through the closed curtains. The windows on the far end of the room were tall and let in just enough light to disturb the figure sleeping in the bed on the opposite side. Though the bed was elegantly decorated with drapes and curtains, they proved useless in providing shield against the blinding rays that managed to sneak their way past the windows' protective shades. The figure, who was still asleep, was wrapped up tightly in the wool blankets. They stirred lightly in their sleep and buried their face into the pillows, green hair falling over their face, completely shielding it from sight.

Only moments later, the door to the room opened and in walked a man dressed very properly in a beige vest and bow tie. His white dress shirt was without a single wrinkle, and even his moustache was perfectly groomed and curled upward to a fine point. Every detail in his appearance was put together with such delicate attention. With him, he carried in his hand a small tray with a teapot and a single teacup upon a saucer. The fine dishware had beautiful designs that were hand painted and appeared to be very delicate and expensive. The servant, who primarily went by JJ, carefully, and quietly, placed the tray on the nightstand closest to the door, careful not to startle the still slumbering figure. Then, he gently placed a hand on the individual's shoulder and gave it a soft shake.

Marvin awoke slowly at his touch. "Hmm...?" He hummed tiredly, attempting to open his eyes but immediately regretting it when JJ opened up the curtains, letting the sun mercilessly sting his eyes with it's harsh light. He quickly squeezed his eyes shut again and used his hand to shield them from the rays. Giving his eyes a moment to adjust, he attempted again to look at JJ, who was now pouring a cup of tea beside him. He really did move fast in the mornings. Then again, Marvin always felt like he was stuck in slow motion during the earliest hours of the day.

JJ noticed him awake a few seconds later, flashing him a bright smile to greet him. He set the teapot down on the tray once he was finished pouring it's contents into the fancy cup. The sweet aroma filling Marvin's nostrils already, threatening to further pull him out of the sweet, dark abysmal sleep he so longed to return to.

"Good morning, your Highness" the mute signed with his hands, briefly bowing to the prince respectfully.

With a heavy sigh, Marvin plopped his head back down onto the pillow, clearly disinterested in getting out of bed anytime soon. "Five more minutes, Jamie...." he whined. He was tired of having to wake up early at the same time every day. For once he just wanted to sleep in late without worrying about his responsibilities. The servant raised his brow, clearly unamused. JJ wasn't willing to deal with the young prince's stubbornness this morning, and he responded by placing the teacup right beneath Marvin's nose, letting the warm scent of tea do the talking for him.

He knew there was no way he was going to get any sleep with his favorite, mint tea tempting him out of bed so with a groan of reluctance - and possibly a curse under his breath - Marvin sat up against the pillows and rubbed his eyes, yawning tiredly. Finally, he accepted the tea that JJ had handed to him to help himself wake up. He always started his day with his favorite tea. It was Jameson's idea to use it as bait to get him out of bed each morning. Marvin was known to be uncooperative at times and thanks to how often he tried to sleep in and dodge his duties, this tea was a lifesaver.

While he was busy sipping his tea, JJ was busy by the wardrobe, pulling out a few outfits for him to choose from for the day. Marvin watched him bustle around the room, getting everything ready for him just like he did every morning; laying out his outfits, preparing his hairbrush and hair accessories, finding that cupcake that he had stolen from the kitchens the previous night... Why was JJ not surprised... All Marvin could do was shrug when he gave him a disapproving stare.

Even so, Marvin couldn't help but take a moment to appreciate how hard his valet worked to care for him. Not only was JJ a helpful member of his staff, but he was his best friend; someone that he felt he could trust with even the most personal matters.

JJ waited patiently for him to finish his tea before beckoning him over to the wardrobe where Marvin chose to wear a simple, plain white blouse with frilly cuffs and a corset wrap. He decided that a much simpler outfit would be more appropriate, and comfortable, to complete his duties for the day. His trousers were black and made of a soft fabric and he wore tall boots that came just below the knee and had the usual 4 inch heel he was used to wearing. He preferred shoes that gave him a little boost in height. It was apparent that he had a.... diminutive height. It was something he found to be a rather embarrassing topic if it was ever brought up and actually felt quite insulted that the gods would curse him with such short stature. What kind of king was so small? It seemed even the divines were mocking him.

After helping to get him dressed, JJ allowed him to take a seat in front of the vanity so that he could brush his hair for him. It was filled with tangles and very frizzy. It always looked like a giant, dramatic tumbleweed when he got out of bed in the morning.

While he waited patiently for JJ to take care of his hair, he gazed into the mirror at his reflection, his sky blue eyes meeting the cold icy ones of his doppelganger in the mirror. For a moment, he wore a soft smile on his face but after seeing himself through the glass, that's when suddenly his mind started to wander again, and the smile quickly faded.... He stared into the eyes of his reflection, who only looked back at him with a harsh, lambasting stare of its own. It was only himself in the mirror, he knew that, and yet, it felt like a completely different person was looking back at him, judging him. Judging and criticizing him in any and every aspect....

By now, this was routine for him on most mornings; to remind himself of the burden he was forced to carry. This is how he normally started the day, being hard on himself and chastising himself for not doing better. For not BEING better, but unlike most mornings where he was able to ignore those thoughts, he felt especially troubled today. Today the worries he faced clouded his mind far more than usual and he found that he just couldn't shake them away. He criticised everything about who he was. His appearance, his intelligence, and most of all his worth. He just wasn't good enough. He wasn't "them"...

JJ must've sensed the tension in Marvin's silence but he didn't acknowledge it in fear of putting his friend through even deeper distress. He didn't want to seem intrusive or pull any loose threads. It was known to him that Marvin often preferred to keep quiet about things and not have anyone question him. Making a big deal out of the situation usually stressed him out even more and didn't help to solve the problem. Instead, the best thing to do was let him decide when he was ready to come forward and speak about it. Marvin felt more in control of his situation that way. The servant’s patience was rewarded in a way because it didn't take very much longer for Marvin to decide to open up.

"Do you think I'll ever be like them...?" He questioned, the tone of his voice was so soft that JJ could barely make out what he said. In the reflection of the mirror, his eyes met with the prince's as he gazed at him with bewilderment. Marvin must've noticed because it wasn't long before he spoke up again. "I mean my parents. They left me so early, I don't even know if I'm doing any of this right. All I did was pick up where they left off. And I'm doing my best but I don't know how to be a ruler. How do I know I'm living up to their success...?" By that time, Jamie had finished brushing through his long hair and set the brush down on the table. He approached the side of the stool so that he could make proper eye contact with the prince.

"Fret not, my liege. You are a hard worker and your people respect you for it. That is a great honor and you've earned it well. Your folks would be proud" he signed to him with a gracious smile, hoping to put his Highness at ease. Marvin often doubted himself and JJ knew that about him more than anyone in his staff. It was rather heartbreaking to see someone he truly cared so much about experiencing so much doubt in himself and comparing his own successes to that of others before him. Marvin did lack guidance, there was no doubt, but he was so young and had far too much expectation for himself.

"I suppose you're right..." As he thought about his words, he had to agree that he had a point. He was grateful that his people respected him but at the same it left him with a dreaded feeling of guilt. It was a respect that he wasn't sure he deserved. "But no one ever taught me how to run a whole kingdom... How do I know I am doing this right...?"

"Who's to say? You're doing it your way and it's working. If you ask me, I'd say you're doing just fine...." JJ signed.

On the table just in front of the mirror was a glass display case. He used this moment to open it up and remove a crown littered with jewels that was made specifically for Marvin.

He picked up the golden crown and moved back to his spot behind the stool and placed it gently on Marvin's head, being careful not to set a single hair out of place. Afterwards, he stepped back to admire his work, gazing into the mirror at their reflections to make sure that everything was centered and tidy.

Marvin too admired his own reflection. Before he had received this crown, when he was younger, he used to wear a small, elegant tiara but after he was put in charge he was urged to take the title as King. It was a title that he refused profusely. Perhaps he was afraid of the responsibility or maybe he was still trying to move on from everything that had happened to his parents, but for whatever reason, Marvin kept the title as a mere prince. However, a special crown was made in his honor. A crown fit for a King but not exactly something he felt he deserved. Still, he much preferred this to taking his father's crown.

Aside from it all, he was very much impressed with JJ's ability to seemingly turn anything into perfection. If only he could turn more than a person's appearance into perfection... Marvin knew that Jamie would never want to hurt his feelings, even with the truth, and that's why, sometimes, he could never truly know if he was being honest with him. He knew that he wouldn't hide things from him out of fear, but rather, he hid them to spare his feelings. JJ was a sweetheart and Marvin knew how much he cared about him, but all he wished was for him to tell him sincerely if he could do better, not just as a person, but as a ruler. Sometimes he felt that Jamie just didn't really understand the weight of it all. That was probably true. To lose your only sources of guidance as a mere child and have every responsibility of running a kingdom fall onto your shoulders... Though it'd been over a decade since the assassination, he never truly did know if he was living up to his name. Then again, his expectations for himself were much harsher than anyone else in the land but he didn't know how else to strive for the same success as his parents.

While his mind only got more and more muddled with thoughts, JJ had snuck off, taking the time to make his bed and straighten up the sheets for him. It didn't take him long and when he was finished, he came back to the vanity to notify the prince of his other priorities.

"My apologies, your Highness, but I have other duties to attend to." He gently knocked on the wood of the table, briefly snapping Marvin out of his thoughts. "Please come to the dining hall when you are ready. Your breakfast will be waiting for you. Now, please excuse me..." He bowed politely before taking his leave, leaving Marvin alone in the empty bedroom. The door clicked behind him and he glanced back to make sure he was alone. Then, he stood up and walked over to the tall windows where, in the center, there were two arched glass doors that led out to the balcony.

Marvin opened up the doors and stepped out onto the veranda, gazing out to the town below. It may have been a warm sunny morning but the breeze still carried a cool, refreshing scent on the wind. It was the kind of scent that you could only smell at dawn when the sun still hid behind the clouds and air was cool and humid and smelled like rain. The gentle wind that blew through his hair carried away with it some of his stress from before. He closed his eyes and leaned his elbows on the stone rail, feeling the air on his skin and taking slow, deep breaths to relieve the ache in his chest.

The tangled web of anxiety that he felt just a moment ago was now starting to unravel, allowing him to try and decipher just what it was that always left him feeling this way; feeling that he wasn't good enough.

Maybe the reason he was hard on himself was because he felt that he had nothing to show for all of his work. In mere seconds, his entire life had completely changed and he, all of a sudden, felt so heavily pressured to prove that he too could be a great king, just as his father had once been. He never noticed it until he stepped into power, but once he had taken the throne, he felt everyone's eyes on him. It was like he was performing upon a stage and his audience was just watching, waiting for him to make a mistake. The only problem was, one mistake could ruin his entire family name. He alone represented so much and his parents' entire legacy was on the line. He HAD to show everyone that he could be just as good a king as his father. In fact, he felt that the only way he would be worth anything was measured by great and noble achievements. Achievements of his that he felt could never compare to the deeds of his father. Perhaps he coveted that success...

He stood there with his eyes closed for quite some time, but soon he began to long for an escape. With another deep breath, he opened up his eyes and looked out to the city below. To be fair, he couldn't see many people, besides the castle staff, since the town was a ways down the road from the castle and many of the buildings made it hard to see what was going on, but the scenery still brought a fond smile to his lips. He caught small glimpses here and there of the townsfolk bustling about in the streets. There were farmers tending to and harvesting their fields, an on-duty soldier offering a flower to a small child by the gates, a man grooming the horses by the stables... There were children running by the shops in the circle and there were people dancing and playing music as if they were celebrating the new day. There were vendors passing out food, no doubt hot and fresh and Marvin could already smell the bread and cakes just by thinking about them.

Everything just felt so peaceful and it all brought him a sense of comfort...

Perhaps Jamie was right about everything. Maybe he did have everything under control after all. He gazed out at the town and everything was in order. The people were well and happy and they were all joyously doing their part to provide for themselves and their home. Everyone seemed so content. Maybe that was really all that mattered.

He thought hard about it and settled that even if the job was tough, it was all worth it to see everyone so happy. It made the job feel a lot less lonely. Besides, it wasn't like he could just give up who he was. He was the prince, the heir and future king. Whether he was ready or not for this burden, it was his to bear and it was time he accepted that.

He was now starting to realize that maybe the only person he was trying to prove himself to was himself. He so badly wanted to prove to himself that he could be just as successful as the late king, but something that he often forgot was that such incredible feats of leadership didn't come overnight. And his life was only just getting started. There was still plenty of time to make his own accomplishments. And he could do it all his own way.... That would be the best part.

He just had to be patient.

He closed his eyes and took in one more deep breath, filling his lungs with that refreshing morning scent before it had finally disappeared for the day. It was calming and he soon felt all of the pressure from before leaving his shoulders. He stopped comparing himself to those before him and abandoned whatever harsh critical thoughts he had of himself. He wanted to face the day with a new mentality. He wasn’t a failure and he wasn’t going to be.

As he stood there on the balcony, he made a silent promise to himself that he would never lose sight of what was important and make the most of every day, not just for him but for the people he swore to protect. The refreshing wind began to die down now, replaced by the less pleasant heat of the sun. Maybe it was time to head back inside, before it got late and the servants would come looking for him. He turned on his heel and entered the bedroom through the open glass doors. He closed them behind him and locked the door with the latch.

He was on his way out and had approached the door that led out into the halls but just before he turned the handle, he looked back at the portrait above the vanity. Seeing it again made him wonder if they were watching him from their place up above but he knew, either way, that he didn't have to worry. Of course they were proud of him.... Even if he wasn't proud of himself yet, he knew that the most important people in the world were, and that was enough for him. His lips curled into a small smile before he inevitably turned away to head downstairs.

~~~~~~~~~~

This is my very first ever written piece so plz go easy on me ;w;

Tags:

@geekyfox2 @cryptid-bwoid @fanaticallyperfect @jack-and-sammy

#jacksepticeye #jse #jse egos #marvin the magnificent #jameson jackson #jj #fantasy au #erseptyl au #writing #fic

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whump-me-all-night-long · 4 years

Text

The Jewelry Box: Amber’s Beginning pt. 2

Well, here’s part two to the intro of the series. There’s probably going to be a part three, although when that will get written is anyone’s guess.

Taglist: @newbornwhumperfly @unicornscotty @itsleighlove @whump-scribbles @getyourwhumphere @skunkandgrenade @penny-for-your-whump @lektric-whump @just-a-whump-lover @thelazywitchphotographer @restrainthenmaime @angstyachesplus @lilbitwhumpy @leaderofthebeanarmy @aquard-skaii let me know if you want to be added/removed!

CW: intimate whumper, creepy whumper, collared, multiple whumpees, lady whump/whumpees, referenced death(s), Jess (and Sapphire) continue to have dirty mouths, let me know if I need to tag anything else!

Masterlist here

---

To Jess’ eternal disappointment, the key was not, in fact, for their collar. Instead the Jeweler - Jess’ lip curled at the name - used it to unhook the chain from the headboard. Once that was off, Jess leapt up, intending to sprint to the door and figure out the rest of their plan from there.

The Jeweler had other plans. As soon as Jess was on their feet, he swept a leg under them, sending them toppling to the ground with a grunt.

Disoriented, Jess pulled themself onto their hands and knees, a hand holding their head. They were about to try to get back up when a foot pressed down on their back, between their shoulder blades. Their unsteady arms and legs gave out beneath them and they tumbled back down, flat on their stomach. They glared somewhere above them, snapping, “Jeez, dude, can you just not?!”

The Jeweler laughed above them, adding a bit more weight onto their back. “Before we leave this room, I want to make sure we have an understanding. There will be no funny business from you, okay? You will behave and then I won’t have to punish you. Everyone wins.”

Jess scowled into the wooden floor. Dream on, fucker, they thought, but they said, “Okay, fine. I understand.”

“Wonderful.” The Jeweler hauled them back to their feet, making sure to keep the chain wrapped tightly around his hand. When he tugged on it, Jess was forced to follow them or risk suffocation. The Jeweler gestured back to the tray he had set down on the nightstand. “Now, do you want to take it or not? It’ll help you recover quicker, last night was not nice to you, but I won’t force you. Not this time at least.”

Jess glanced back at the tray, noticing that there were a couple inconspicuous white pills and a glass of water sitting on it. Hell no, they thought, shaking their head. “No- no way, dude.” They glanced at the Jeweler, wondering if he was about to get angry and blow his lid off.

But he just smiled, opening the door. “Very well.” He lead them out into a surprisingly normal hallway, with several doors and branching hallways on either side. A few picture frames were hung on the wall.

As the Jeweler lead them, Jess let their eyes wander over the pictures, not realizing what they were seeing until one in particular caught their eye.

It was a figure dressed in bright, rich shades of reds and oranges. Their skin was warm brown and their hair, which fell in waves down their back, looked as if it was almost on fire. Orange-gold flakes decorated their skin and hair, and they looked to be posing on their toes, arms arching out above them. They were quite beautiful.

Jess shook their head and began to move on, wondering why they were thinking that, when they noticed that the Jeweler had stopped too. He was gazing at the photo, with a wistful sort of longing. “That was my Garnet,” he said. “He was such a shining soul. Shame…” He trailed off before looking up at Jess. “He was one of my first Jewels,” the man explained. “But an accident-” his lips pursed at that- “caused him to leave too soon. It was a mercy to put him down.”

Jess felt disgust and horror mingle inside them. This man had killed someone? Jess looked back at the picture, noticing what they hadn’t the first time. Nearly invisible wires pulled at Garnet’s wrists, forcing him to balance precariously on his toes. Bruises, almost perfectly concealed, dotted the man’s body. And his eyes were wide not in excitement, but fear, with tears welled up in them.

Jess shuddered, not resisting as the Jeweler led them on further. A wave of nauseous dizziness swept through them, most likely remnants from whatever the Jeweler had slipped them. They turned down several more hallways, Jess quickly becoming hopelessly lost. There were no windows or doors that lead outside. Finally, after several tense minutes of silence, the Jeweler stopped in front of a door that looked like all the other doors in the halls.

Using another key, he unlocked the door, revealing an illuminated set of stairs. The Jeweler cheerfully set off down them, pulling Jess along too. The door clanged shut above them, locking, and Jess swallowed, unable to help the feeling that they were being swallowed up by the earth.

When they reached the bottom, there was another door waiting for them, this one made of solid steel. The Jeweler unlocked it using a very long pin number and a fingerprint ID. Jess watched on, amazed and terrified at the how well organized this man was. The door swung open after a short beep, and Jess frowned, peering closer to look inside.

The Jeweler gave a quick tug on the chain, causing them to stumble forward into the room. The floor, ceiling, and walls were all the same plain white tile, and there were several racks filled with a huge variety of objects behind glass cabinets along the back wall. Jess saw everything from workout equipment to swathes of cloth to a number of items they chose not to take a closer look at. But that wasn’t the weirdest part.

No, the weirdest part were the six small cells set into the walls, three on either of the side walls, with large panes of glass acting as the fourth wall and keeping them sealed. Well, that and the humans trapped inside them.

Jess jumped back and stared, wide-eyed and unbelieving, at the five people trapped, one to a cell, with the one empty one glaring out at them.

“What- what the hell is this place?” Jess croaked, turning to the Jeweler.

Before the Jeweler could answer, though, one of the people - a young man, maybe a few years older than Jess, with vibrant blue hair and a scowl Jess could see from a mile away - banged on the glass of his cell, glaring at the Jeweler.

“You asshole!” he yelled. Jess blinked, surprised. How long had he been stuck in this place? “Carn- Carnelian’s only been gone a couple of days! And you’ve already replaced him?!”

Jess took a step back, curling in on themself. Whatever they had stumbled into must’ve been a hell of a lot bigger than they first thought.

The Jeweler just smiled, glancing at Jess. “Ah, yes, this is my new Jewel, Amber. Amber, meet everyone. Everyone, meet Amber.”

A wave of anger swept over Jess and they snapped before they could help it. “I told you, fucker, my name is not Amber, it’s fuckin’ J-”

They was cut off by a sudden cracking noise and pain exploding in their face. It took them a moment to realize what had happened: the Jeweler had slapped them. They blinked, a burst of dizziness exploding through them. They were one of the most skilled fighters they knew, and they hadn’t even seen the blow coming.

The Jeweler watched them, an expression of interest on his face. Jess felt their lip curling, and forced themself to back off. The Jeweler smiled, as if he could tell what was playing through Jess’ mind.

He turned, gesturing to each of the people. “This is Sapphire-” the blue boy let out what sounded too much like a growl for comfort- “Ruby-” a short, slight slip of a girl with the most vibrant red hair Jess had ever seen glanced up at them, fear in her eyes- “Amethyst-” a much taller, curvier, paler woman with pastel purple hair watched them with calculating eyes- “Emerald-” a man build like an ox with dark skin and kind green eyes watched without expressing much interest- “and my darling Diamond-” a person with the palest skin Jess had ever seen, white hair tumbling over their shoulders, smiled up at the Jeweler. With how pale and faded they looked, Jess could swear they might be a ghost. They also seemed like the only person who was actually happy to see the Jeweler. Everyone else seemed angry or fearful.

The Jeweler smiled, clearly pleased with himself. “Now that introductions are done, I’ll show you to your new home, let you get acquainted with the other Jewels, and then I’ll be back later to continue your initiation.”

The Jeweler lead them to the empty cell, which was, of course, right next to the angry one - Sapphire. Jess had never been good with names, so it was a good thing that each of the other people were so obviously color-coded to go with the gemstone they were named after. The Jeweler unlocked the door to the cell, and shoved Jess inside, unhooking the chain and slamming the door back closed, all in a few smooth motions.

Jess stumbled in, glancing around at their surroundings - a small bed attached to the far wall, an empty nightstand next to it, and a metal toilet across from it (Jess had seen prison cells more luxurious than this) - before turning back to face the Jeweler. They took up their fighting stance, legs planted slightly apart, arms crossed in front of them, and a look on their face that was a mix between a scowl and a smirk - a smirl, they called it - that Jules said could make anyone throw the first punch.

“So what?” they drawled. “This some psycho dream of yours, kidnapping innocent people and dressing them up as, what are these? Gemstones?”

The Jeweler’s smile twitched, which was one of the first signs of his emotions, but when he replied, his tone was light. “Jewels, actually.” He took a step back, surveying Jess. “I’ll be back later,” he said with a wave of his hand, and before Jess knew it, he was gone.

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flowerwrites06 · 4 years

Text

jeweled sea finale — kth

Plot: A princess without a kingdom ends up in a pirate ship

Pairing(s): Pirate!Taehyung x Princess!OC (Name: Angel)

Rating: G | PG | M | R 18+

Type: Drabble | Oneshot | Two Parter | Series

Word Count: 5k+

Genre: Pirates/Fantasy | Fluff/Angst/Smut

Tags & Warnings: drinking, mentions of trading people, explicit smut (in the next part), tiny bit of angst.

Authors Note: another requested repost and one of my personal favourites!

Peaceful morning had been interrupted with growling and protests from outside of the cabin. At first Angel thought it was just the crew attempting to have a party early in the morning. That is until she heard one of them yelling for someone to get off the ship.

Taehyung shifted under the blanket, squinting one eye and opening the other to see Angel standing at the table. “Wha-happe-ngh…” He rubbed his face. All the exhaustion in the world seemed to rain down on his body as if the alcohol still pumped through his veins in place of actual blood. With the groan, pushing himself up and sat on the edge of the bed.

Angel watched him pull his boots on quickly before stomping up to his feet and rushing out of the cabin. She followed along as the door opened, welcoming in the stark morning light.

They were welcomed with the crew still in sleeping clothing while other figures in full navy uniform standing just in the center looking around. Or at least it looked like navy uniform. The badges shined but not in the polished way. Rather a disgusting imitation of gold that was far too yellow so it was hard to miss. And their uniforms a dirty crème white like someone had not washed it in weeks.

“What’s going on here?” Taehyungs’ voice rung deeper and raspier than ever with his sleep still laced with in it.

A man with matted grey hair and a scar down his lip walked closer to the couple. “Are you the captain of this establishment?”

“Who’s asking?”

“Lieutenant Kwon.” He answered, keeping his hands clasped behind his back. No sooner his eyes flickered to the side where she stood. “We are the Royal Guard for the lost Kingdom of Owuhan. We’ve come here to retrieve our future queen.” Kwon nodded towards Angel.

The mere nod caused tremors of whispers and hissed mutters amongst the crew while they stared at her in both apprehension and fear. For the first time, Angel preferred them laughing like idiots and acting like the epitome of freedom rather than this.

“Lost Kingdom of Owuhan. I’m sure you get sacked or something when kingdoms die.” Taehyung continued to play along with the conversation.

Kwon smiled sarcastically. “Only if the bloodline is broken. Now let’s do this peacefully, hand her over.”

Angels’ brows furrowed before scoffing lightly. “Who’s your commander?” Her question lingered in the air.

The crew’s focus now quickly piqued at the makeshift navy officers who stayed silent as if thinking up a fake name.

“Commander Park.”

Angel softened her expression, giving the officer a polite smile. She leaned closer to Taehyung. “…They’re lying.” She whispered.

“Looks like they weren’t the only ones.” Taehyung retorted.

“You—you don’t remember.” Her heart jumped and clenched as she stood completely straight next to him.

“If it helps, pirate—” Kwon spoke up. “We’ll pay a large reward in exchange for the princess. She’s worth a lot of gold.”

Taehyung tried to rack his brain for something Angel might have said last night. She was talking before he passed out. Fucking hell. Though what captured his interest the most was the honorable naval officer offering gold for his precious monarch. “How much gold?”

Angel closed her eyes for a moment, hanging her head as she wrapped her own arms around herself. What did she expect really? That he was going to welcome her and let her stay here for the rest of her life? This was the troubling fate of any princess or prince without a kingdom. Being sold around like a slave until they could take no more or someone decided to marry them out of pity.

“Five thousand pieces.” Kwon’s reply should have shaken the entire crew into excitement.

Except they all stayed silent. It was about as silent as a ship wreck at night.

“Promising offer.”

“Captain…” Jimin murmured trying to take a step forward down the steps of the quarter deck but Namjoon grabbed onto his shoulder gently. He felt him close in on his ear.

“Patience, pet.”

“Do we have an accord, pirate?” Kwon held out a hand to seal the deal.

Angel swallowed the growing lump in her throat, glancing over at the rest of Kwons’ crew who had their eyes raking down her form already. Fingers gripped at her shirt until it could almost rip through.

“Well you see—” Taehyung smirked. “Now that you’ve given a price, I don’t feel as inclined to give her away. Who knows someone might come along and take her for a larger price. Royal slaves are always a strong demand.” He shrugged nonchalantly.

Kwon curled his fingers into a fist before pulling it back into his pocket. “You won’t get more than five thousand pieces. It’s a small kingdom. She’s not a valuable royal.”

“I’ll have to take those odds…lieutenant.” The captain raked up and down his ragged form, struggling to keep a grimace away from his features.

He tried to look less infuriated by pursing his lips together but the constant blinking and bone jutting out from his cheeks clearly showed he felt cornered. “Alright.” Kwon spoke through his gritted teeth. “We will—leave you to your business.” Kwons’ crew did not seem to care to hide their defeat as they tried to quietly argue with him while they made their way back into the ship.

Jimin relaxed back into Namjoons’ hold, letting out a deep sigh of relief. Though when he looked over at Angel, her expression seemed unchanging. “Is she okay?”

“She was almost sold to a ship full of scoundrels who don’t have self-control. It’s not easy to just laugh it off.” Namjoon explained in the solemn tone, looking at the other ship to ensure it was really sailing away.

When the ship looked far enough, the crew burst into a light cheer. Some of them patting on Angels’ shoulder to which she responded with a faint kind smile. In minutes they all happily moved back to their positions and began working. Once they were occupied, Angel turned on her heel and walked back into the cabin.

Taehyung looked over his shoulder, wanting to quickly explain that it was all a play but she disappeared before he could say a word. Letting out a small defeated sigh, he followed her.

Walking through the cabin, Angel told herself that she needed to be happy. Taehyung wasn’t planning on selling her in the first place. It was a clever trick. So why did something in her chest still clench and her heart still pound through her ribcages like she was under attack again? Warm tears filled up in her eyes as she padded towards the velvet covered sitting area attached to the edge of the cabin where the windows were.

She perched herself down, forcing herself to take deep breaths while her fingers still trembled along with her knees.

Taehyung carefully shut the door behind him to ensure she didn’t get startled. One step after the other, he heard a few sniffles echoing in the room. “Angel…” He spoke almost under his breath.

Angel quickly wiped away at her cheeks as soon as she heard his voice. “Thank you for helping me. You didn’t have to.”

“I wanted to.” He replied simply.

“The person… who attacked the kingdom was a close friend of my father.” She stared down at the dark wooden surface meshed with a deep red velvet, nails raking down gently. “He wanted to arrange a marriage for an alliance but—I refused. And he killed them.”

Taehyung took a few steps forward. “That’s not your fault he can’t take rejection, you know that…right?”

“I do.” Angel nodded not giving him another glance. “But now Kwon is going to tell him—and your ship might be targeted.”

“We’re pirates, love.” He finally managed to reach the sitting area and slowly sit next to her. “My ship is always targeted.”

“But that’s a whole army of people. If they find out—”

“They can hunt a lost princess. But they can’t hunt a pirate.” Taehyung shook his head. “They’ll have to deal with the entire Guild for that. That’s why he offered me money—not just your price but to keep it quiet.”

“But I’m not a pirate.”

“You don’t have to pillage and steal to be a pirate. So long as you’re part of this ships’ crew, no one can hurt you.” He smiled.

Angel met his gaze quizzically. “You mean that?”

“I think I’ve bluffed enough today.” Taehyung scrunched his nose, a small chuckle emitting under his breath.

She couldn’t help but smile back at the male. “Thank you.”

Two days later. This night was more peaceful than anything else. At least amongst the crew, the sky itself had a few thick clouds covering the moon while they heard thunder rumble a few miles away. The winds were wispy, chilly and almost wet to the touch.

Angel could tell after the drunken chaos and drama with the officers, the crew truly looked like they were rested and ready to continue on their journey to an unknown destination. A true kind of freedom. Not having to worry about reaching somewhere rather fully immersing yourself into the pleasures of the trek itself.

“Tomorrow morning we go back to the open sea.” Namjoon announced, fingers absentmindedly brushing against Jimins’ hair while he rested on his shoulder.

“Where to next?” Jimin asked.

“Anywhere the wind takes us, I suppose.” Taehyung replied through a relaxed sigh.

“We could go to the Sirens’ Cave in the West.” Namjoon suggested. “Apparently you can bathe in their waters and regain lost memories.”

“I’m sure we’d have a lot of those with the way we’ve been drinking.” Jimin chuckled.

Angel watched them with a serene joy, a small smile tugged at the corner of her lips. Eyes flickered up to the captain, heart jumping a little when his gaze was already fixated on her. The shadows of the candle light shining down his tanned face causing his jaw to sharpen. Long dark hair relieved of the bandana, leaving his bangs to hover over his eyes.

Every second Angel kept with his gaze, the tingles down her spine travelled to her lower belly. Spreading through every vein in a delicious heat of anticipation.

A light smirk tugged at the corner of his plump lips watching the way she shifted in the tiniest hint of excitement. Her body now adorned with a loose white nightgown bought from one of the merchant stalls in the Severed Tail. Apparently some businesses ran quite well there. Though Angel noticed the insignia and told him it could have also been stolen from another kingdoms’ palace.

Cheeks burning, Angel took a deep pleased breath. “I’m going to retire for the night.” She muttered to the crew before standing up. Not forgetting to glance over at the captain as she walked to the cabin.

Taehyung licked his lips keeping his eyes glued on the girl as her dress flowed through the cool air before she disappeared into the room. “I should probably head off too.” He announced, getting up while actively ignoring the smirk Namjoon and Jimin had plastered on their faces.

Through the cabin, the calming atmosphere twisted into one of adrenaline pumping through their veins. Taehyung walked and only stopped until his toes touched the back of her heels while she stood at the table. Almost waiting for him. Leaning in, he nudged his nose into her soft hair. Salt now exuding the faint remanence of rose. Possibly another merchant purchase.

“You looked very beautiful tonight.” He whispered, warm breath cascading down her waves.

“Is that drunk Taehyung talking?” She smirked glancing over her shoulder.

Taehyung hummed in a gravel tone almost resembling a low growl. Lips hovered down to her neck, merely brushing against the soft skin as his hands made camp on her hips. “Completely sober.” Well he was a different kind of intoxicated. It involved squeezing the cinch of her waist and relishing in her light giggle.

Angel tilted her head to give him room, closing her eyes as his faint brushing turned into chaste kisses down to the crook of her neck. A shaky sigh passed her lips lazily pulling at the drawstrings of her dress to loosen the sleeves off her shoulder.

He reached in front of her, hands exploring every crevice until he found her clothed core, warmth so strong it radiated through her clothes onto his palm. “Already getting excited?” Taehyung smirked into her shoulder.

Angel let out a small trembling breath, a fire burning in her lower belly. Arousal thickly seeped through she didn’t know whether to feel shy or even more stirred. “Don’t tease.”

“Or what? Hm?” Taehyung challenged, voice deeper than it could possibly go as his hand pressed harder against her core almost squeezing out more of her wetness through her clothes.

“I might just waltz back outside to your crew.” Angel leaned back against his shoulder, pressing her nose against his cheek. “I’m sure they’d like to see what’s under here too.” Jolts of electricity flashed through her seeing how dark the captains’ eyes turned as he met her gaze, predatorial and hungry.

Ringed fingers came up to grab at her chin, pressing into her cheeks until he could feel her teeth. Hot breath hitting her face as he felt a tightness in his pants feeling her press a little harshly against him. “I think you’re forgetting who runs this ship, princess.” A dangerous smirk tugged at his lips. “Would you like me to remind you?”

Her spine tingled, every word awakening her nerves as she pushed back against his crotch, feeling accomplished at how it stiffened. “Yes.” Angel whispered.

The sweetest, tiniest voice rung in his ears, magically muffling out anything else so all he could do was drown into her. How Taehyung tried to maintain dominance while still keening over Angels’ every being was beyond him. Turning the woman around, he captured her lips into his, tongue pushing through her teeth while the ship began to sway with more intensity.

Angel gripped onto the edge of the table while one hand gripped onto his shoulder. She pushed down his loose shirt almost ripping it in the process while he slid her dress up until it rested on her hips. Legs spread apart to completely close their distance, Angel discarded his shirt onto the ground before working at his belt.

Taehyung undid the drawstrings on her dress watching it fall helplessly down her shoulders, revealing her tender breasts, nipples poking out cutely in the cold. Once his belt landed on the floor he dived in and latched onto one of her nubs swirling his tongue around it until it was unmovably stiff.

Throwing her head back, she curled her fingers into his hair, nipples hardened until it ached but his tongue managed to soothe it at every lick.

Hand travelled down until it sneaked between her inner thighs, the heat from her core still exuding with strength. Fingers rubbed at the heat feeling it drench the skin until he sunk a finger in slowly.

Angel bit down her bottom lip feeling his long finger curl up inside her, cool metal of the ring causing her to shiver a little.

Taehyung moved up back on his feet, smirking at how her beautiful features contorting in gaining pleasure from his one finger. Ambitiously he snuck another in stretching her walls out for him to fully be a guest. “Have you done this before?” He mused.

“I was a princess—” She giggled. “Everyone wanted to fuck me. Sometimes I let them.” Angel spoke in a whisper, almost teasing the captain a little.

He let out another growl under his breath, pulling his fingers out and unbuttoning his pants to let his achingly stiff length spring free.

Angels’ walls clenched around nothing just looking at the monster of a cock twitching in front of her. She couldn’t help but let out another giggle as his hands latched onto her body before the thick tip pressed against her entrance. Without warning, she felt his wide length push through, ripping her open for him to taste, a gasp leaving her lips as her frantic fingers scratched down his shoulders.

“Princess likes being stuffed with a cock, doesn’t she?” Taehyung whispered, pulling his length out a little only for her pussy to swallow him back in. Slow, snapping thrusts clapped their skin together making Angel cry out in a daring mix of pain and pleasure. “Does it hurt, sweetheart?”

Angel wrapped her arms around his shoulders, getting dizzy from how full she felt, the tip reaching the soft walls of her cervix every time their hips snapped. “It’s okay.” She whispered giving him a small tender kiss. “It’s okay.”

“Good.”

Before she could gather her bearings, her body was being lifted off the floor and carried over to the colder side of the cabin where the windows.

Taehyung pulled out of her causing Angel to whine before he turned her around. Taehyung pushed her back, bending her over until her face touched the glass window of the cabin.

Icy surface touched her dampened cheek, hair over her eyes. Angel felt him spread her legs while her knees rested just at the edge of the sitting area. Rough velvet scratching against bare skin. Heavy breathing fogging against the glass, the flicker of silver lightning cracked through the blackened sky in the same intensity as Taehyung snapped his cock back into her sloppy entrance.

Fingers curled against the glass getting warmer and foggier from her body heat, fighting against the harsh cold of the storming sea. Angel almost couldn’t tell whether it was the ship moving Taehyung right against her or the other way around. It didn’t matter. She felt him feeding every inch of his length to her core, a growing pressure on that tingling spot inside her.

Another roar of thunder from outside as the ship swayed to the right. Taehyung dug his nails into her hips until it created dents on her beautiful skin, pushing in to relish in how her walls clenched around him almost trying to keep them connected.

Lightning flashed again. The ship swayed to the left causing Angel to stumble a little on her side but Taehyungs’ death grip kept her from crashing. Palms now pressed hard against the rough velvet underneath them.

Taehyung moved them to the side, his one knee resting on the sitting. The movement causing a whine to spew out of the princess’ mouth. Slapping their hips together until the skin burned from the impact, her pussy squelching at every thrust. The very sight of her arousal sputtering out of her made him throw his head back, drunken smile gracing his lips.

Angel pressed her chin down, nails scratching against the velvet surface as she let out a delightfully shaky moan. The heat bundled up in her lower belly coiling tighter and tighter desperate to burst. “Tae-ngh I’mgo—” She gasped as Taehyung jabbed into her roughly before staying still.

“Are you close?” He breathed out.

With a whine, she tried to swivel her hips to bring back the rush of heat but it slowly kept fading away. “Mhmm—p-please–keep moving.” Lightning flashed when she spoke, rain droplets slamming against the windows like a bullets.

Hissing lightly, Taehyung pulled her up and moved their positions so he sat properly and her body perched atop his. He smiled at how her hair fell all over her face. Gently he brushed it away to reveal Angels’ glowing face, almost shimmering in the dimmed light.

Legs on either side of him, she sunk down with so much ease, a light giggle passed through her hypnotizing Taehyung to do the same. He watched through hooded eyes how Angel slid up and down his cock trying to pleasure him but chase her orgasm at the same time. She grinded her hips against his, throbbing clit rubbing against his lower belly as the tip of his cock tortured her soft spot inside.

Taehyung choked out a moans as his nails dug in so much, her skin could break. Constricted heat spreading across to his thighs, cock growing heavy. Too heavy. Thrusts sounding like wet splotches mixing in with hurried whimpers. “I’m cumming…” He whispered. Only a second after he spoke, his body stilled, the heaviness now shooting out in ropes.

Angel breathed out a delighted chuckle, continuing to bounce on his drenched cock as her pussy spewed his release, staining both their thighs.

He rested his head back against the window as thunder cracked so loud, it could frighten the Ocean Goddess herself. Hooded eyes peered at how Angels’ lips parted, closing her eyes as she milked him out down to the last drop. Quicker and quicker, he felt a little ache around his member but he’d be an idiot to stop her, the way she tried to chase her release. With a pleased smile, Taehyung reached down to press thumb against the hardened nub rubbing it in circles.

“G-g-Tae—” Angel whimpered, trying to rub further against his thumb while keeping her rhythm. The heat became unbearable reaching the depths of her core. The coil sprung free, bursting like a dam as her release now mixed in with his creating a sloppy between both their legs. Warmth spread through her limbs down to her toes, body trembling, wall clenching around his cock and spewing out more of his release.

Even the nailed sitting area creaked as the ship swayed giving momentum for her to quicken her thrusts. In a hot, wet mess, her orgasm hurdled over the edge. Warmth trembling through her limbs making convulse as her cries of pleasures echoed through the cabin almost loud enough to match the thunder and rain. Angel continued to thrust against him until her walls began to ache from the friction.

“Such a good girl.” Taehyung breathed out, brushing away her hair. Leaning in he pressed a small kiss on her lips. “Did that feel good, princess?” He nudged against hers.

In the midst of her heavy breathing, Angel let out a delighted chuckle before nodding. Good was an understatement but she was too fucked out to make coherent sentences. All she could do for the moment was lay her head on his shoulder and catch her breath properly.

“You can teach me sword fighting.” Angel held up the blade, pointing it playfully towards Taehyung as he relaxed on the bed. Her body now adorned by her loose shirt while the captains’ hat lay on her head, a little tilted.

Eyes still droopy from the air of bliss swirling in the cabin, he smiled at the woman. “I thought princesses were taught sword fighting.” His voice grew raspier after all the growling under his breath. But every little ache and strain brought a sense of calm in his belly.

“I was given archery and assassin training by my mother.” Angel put the sword back down on the table. “But never got around to sword fighting. Apparently it’s because I’d have to deal with more distant work than front line.” She padded over to the bed and knelt down on the soft surface, sleeve of the shirt falling off her shoulder.

“Pirates don’t really do front line fighting.”

“Then the stories I’ve read are false?” Angel shifted closer until she straddled him, legs on either side of his lap while her hands rested on his shoulders.

“I suppose in the past, they used to. Now we’ve gotten more intelligent.” Taehyung smirked. His hands immediately rested on her bare thighs, sliding upwards until he felt the globe of her ass. Still a few dents left from his nails.

“Right. You never figured out I was a princess.” She mused, shaking her head. “Guess you’re not that smart.” Angel nudged her nose against his playfully before feeling him squeeze her ass, the beautiful sting coming back as a reminder of their prior sin.

“Intelligent for navy standards.” Taehyung grinned. “Not exclusively trained royals.”

“Ah—makes sense.” Angel mused, giggling under her breath before pressing a tender kiss on his lips.

Taehyung closed his eyes as his hands moved up her back. He relished in the comforting warmth of her lips dancing before the harsh jolt of reality tugged at his belly. “Will you ever return to your kingdom?” Much to his dismay, he felt Angel pull away from the kiss to meet his gaze.

“I’ve thought about it.” She played with the hairs at the back of his head. “Maybe fight and take my kingdom back but—I…I never wanted to rule. I saw how it ruined my father and my mother. They were good to me but I could tell ruling took a toll on them.”

“No one said you have to do what your parents did.” Taehyung reached out and pulled off the hat, placing it next to him. “You can be free to do whatever you want.”

Angel sucked in her bottom lip, averting her gaze in thought for a moment. “What if I wanted to stay on this ship?”

His expression softened, a light fluttering in his belly as the words registered slowly. “You’re already part of the crew, princess.” Taehyung smiled.

“Really?” She grinned feeling a burning behind her eyes.

“Well Jimin would surely kill me if I let you off alone somewhere so—”

Angel chuckled patting his chest affectionately. “I’m not really a pirate though. Are you sure?” She eyed the captain carefully. He didn’t have to take her in with some grand gesture to keep her safe if he really didn’t want to. So many tried to protect her because of some duty and it only ended in tragedy. It ached her heart thinking of a situation where something like that would happen to Taehyung.

Taehyung let out a small sigh, reaching up and lightly cupping her cheek. “This can be your new home—if you want it to be…”

Lips quivering, she wrapped her arms around him burying her face into his bare shoulder. Angel squeezed him a little to remind herself that this wasn’t some sick dream she was having while stranded out in the sea again.

“Is—is that a yes?”

“Oh!” She sniffled, giggling as she pulled away. “Yes, yes…”

Taehyung grinned quickly wiping away the light tear gathered at the bottom of her eye. “Then you’re officially a pirate now, Your former Highness.”

<< PREV CHAPTER

#taehyung #thebtswritersclub #bts fanfic #bts smut #taehyung angst #bts angst #taehyung smut #bts fanfiction #bts pirates au #taehyung pirate au #tw: smut

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awanderingdeal · 4 years

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Simply having a wonderful Christmas Time [Part 1]

Merry Christmas to all those folks who celebrate today! This one is dedicated to those of you of who are perhaps not spending Christmas in the way that you would like this year. I hope this brings you a little bit of Joy. Please note that this fic is filled with happy Christmas people so if that is going to make you feel worse then please avoid. I’m hoping to have a Coops instalment up for those who celebrate on the 25th and O’Knutzy on 26th for all those who have boxing day and second Christmas.

CW: CHRISTMAS AND FOOD TALK

Rating: T, there are some sexual implications but I’m pretty happy leaving this at a T. Let me know if you think that needs to change.

And finally, to @lumosinlove. Thank you for creating the sweater weather universe and in particular the fabulous OC’s that feature in this fic. They really have been a light in the darkness of this year.

Anyway, let’s get on with this show.

P.S. Yes, we are just ignoring the fact that hockey players most definitely do not get two weeks off at Christmas.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alex had bitched for days about spending his Christmas in the heat of Mauritius - he wasn’t supposed to be opening presents in shorts, dammit - but he’d been willing to concede that he may have been wrong from the very moment that he had stepped through the door of their beach front villa.

He was tired and groggy from the day of travel. The recycled air of the plane had made his throat scratchy; he needed a long, hot shower, and he was generally miserable.

“Almost there now, sweetcheeks,” Natalie reassured him as the taxi rounded a corner. “You’re going to love it, I promise.”

The villa was one that Natalie and Kasey had stayed in a few times before, boasting of it’s view and proximity to perfect waves. Right now, Alex didn’t really care about those things. As long as the villa had a comfortable bed and a large shower, he’d be satisfied.

Natalie was right, and soon the three of them were piling out of the car, hauling bags of luggage behind them. They were only there for two weeks but somehow had five large suitcases between them.

“I swear, I’m going to sleep for two days,” Alex grumbled as Kasey keyed in the number to obtain the keys.

“Try and stay awake for a few more hours,” Kasey said. “You’ll feel way better tomorrow for it.”

“Yeah, yeah, jetlag, blah, try to acclimatise to local time, blah -” Alex’s rant was cut short as he stepped through the door. “Wow,” he gasped.

The villa was gorgeous. He’d expected the large expanse of open plan luxury; a haven of polished metal and glass windows that showed panoramic views of white sand meeting a crystal clear sea. What he hadn’t expected was the giant Christmas tree, at least a few feet taller than himself, and the rest of the expertly placed decorations.

“Do you like it?” Kasey asked. Alex saw the glance that he and Natalie shared. They were probably worried, he’d been frozen in place for the last 30 seconds.

Alex nodded, taking a moment to find his words, “It’s incredible. Just like home. Better.”

Everywhere he looked there was something new. A wreath on the wall. Faux furs draped over the seating. A garland that snaked all the way up the spiral staircase.

“Are those?” Alex stepped towards the stockings that hung on the wall. Each one had a name sewn into it. Natalie. Alex. Kasey.

“Yeah,” Natalie nodded. “One for each of us. Lils made those.”

Alex let himself be pulled into Kasey’s arms, feeling a bit overwhelmed.

“We know that Christmas with your family is very important to you and we just want you to know that we are incredibly grateful that you decided to spend it with us this year,” Kasey said softly.

“Finn already bailed anyway,” Alex gave a small laugh. He felt Natalie join them and her arms were also there, enclosing Alex between his two favourite people.

“We told them to leave the tree. Thought we could decorate it together?” Natalie told him.

“God, I love you two.” Alex breathed.

That had been ten days ago. Now, a cheesy Christmas movie played on the TV but Alex wasn’t paying it much attention; enjoying the memory and being curled into Kasey’s chest. His fingers played idly with Natalie’s blonde waves as she snored softly in his lap.

It was the perfect end to a perfect day, a delicately balanced mixture of tradition and newness. Alex saw how hard his partners had worked to give him a Christmas day that rivalved those of his memories with his family and Alex couldn’t wait to thank them properly for it tomorrow. For now though, he was content to just bask in the moment.

“Al,” Kasey whispered. “Do you want to head to bed? I’m not really watching this.”

Alex looked up at Kasey, a gentle smile resting on his lips, “Yeah, bed sounds good to me.”

“Shotgun, not waking Natalie up” Kasey laughed.

“No need to wake her up. I’ll carry her,” Alex said. "Besides, she’s not that bad.”

Kasey frowned, “She bit me once.”

“Yeah, and did you clap in her ear like you did to me that time?” Alex replied. “Because if so, then you deserved it.”

“Not my fault you both sleep like the dead.” Kasey mumbled under his breath, switching off the TV and taking their dirty glasses to the sink.

Natalie gave a small grumble as she was picked up, wriggling in Alex’s arms before settling herself into the crook.

“God, she’s so cute.” Alex spoke quietly.

“You both are.” Kasey said with a grin, pressing a kiss first to Natalie’s cheek and then Alex’s. He led them the short distance to the bedroom, pulling the thin sheets on the bed back so that Alex could lie Natalie down.

“I’m just gonna brush my teeth,” Alex started to walk towards the en-suite but suddenly his phone was vibrating against the bedside table. The noise seemed extraordinarily loud in the quiet room. “Fuck, that’ll be Finn. Get that please, Kase?”

Kasey grabbed the phone and Alex heard a snort as he read the contact name, Fillet O’Fish.

“Hi!” Finn’s voice boomed a few seconds before his face appeared.

“Sssh.” Kasey hissed, rapidly hitting the down volume key.

“Oh, hi, Blizz,” Finn said. “Don’t know why I wasn’t expecting you. You’re naked. Why are you naked? Am I interrupting something? Is Alex naked too? I don’t want to see that.”

Alex plucked the phone from Kasey’s hand with a laugh. “He’s not naked, we’re just getting reading for bed,” Alex replied, panning the camera down and showing Kasey’s plaid pyjama pants to prove his point.

Alex pecked Kasey on the lips, “I’m going to take this to the other room.”

“Alright,” Kasey returned the kiss. “Merry Christmas Finn,” he added, giving the camera a wave.

“Merry Christmas, Kase!” a chorus of replies was heard.

Alex wandered from the bedroom, settling himself into a seat that gave a stunning view of the beach that their villa was sat on.

“Wait, isn’t it only 9 pm there?” Finn asked. “Why are you going to bed already?”

Before Alex could answer, Logan appeared in the frame, leaning over the back of the sofa to wrap his arms around Finn’s neck, “So nosy, Fish. Maybe they tired each other out, eh?”

Finn’s nose wrinkled with a look of disgust, “eww.”

“Nothing like that,” Alex laughed. “Not this evening anyway,” he continued, a slight twinkle in his eyes.

“Get it, Alex,” Leo teased, flopping himself onto the sofa next to Finn.

“Look at this view,” Alex said, turning the camera so they could see the idyllic scenery in an attempt to change the subject. It only served to trigger a memory from earlier that day, one that he probably shouldn't have been thinking about whilst on the phone with his brother.

Alex sighed happily to himself as he looked down at the watch on his wrist. It looked out of place against his bright blue and pink flamingo shorts, but Alex had received it from Kasey earlier that morning and he refused to take it off.

It was barely 11 am. However, it was Christmas day, so Alex didn't feel even the slightest bit guilty about the cosmopolitan balanced between his fingers, as he waited for Natalie and Kasey to come back from their surf. Alex wasn’t the biggest fan of the water, preferring to stay in the shade of the giant umbrella they had set up despite Natalie’s playful chirping.

Alex had pointed the watch out on his and Kasey’s first date without Natalie. They'd been heading to the aquarium when Alex had spotted it in the window of the jewellers. He'd made the briefest passing comment about how beautiful it was and it made Alex's heart sing that Kasey had remembered.

As if they knew that he was thinking about them, Alex saw the sun bronzed figures of his partners making their way towards him. They looked good; fitted wetsuits showing off their toned bodies and their faces brightened by laughter. Alex loved Kasey’s laugh, people thought it was rare but he just saved it for those that he thought truly deserved it. Apparently, Alex was one of those people now.

“Close your mouth, O’Hara.” Natalie teased, grabbing a towel and piling her hair into it.

“Hmm,” Finn nodded, pulling Alex from the memory too soon. “That is beautiful. I think mine has been better though.” His brother's eyes glanced back towards Logan with a smirk and Alex had a sneaking suspicion that Logan's torso wasn't the only thing that was bare.

"Yeah, you can keep that one for yourself," Alex retorted.

“Hey Haz! Did Kase like his present?” Leo asked.

Alex had enjoyed getting to know his brother’s second boyfriend. He offered a stabilizing presence to Finn and Logan’s chaos and to paraphrase shrek, “he was like an onion, he had layers.” Leo had been Kasey’s secret santa and Alex hated to admit it, but he had done a great job.

“Unfortunately yes,” Alex pretended to glare. “I suppose I have Finn to thank for helping you with that?”

Leo shook his head, “Your mom actually. She was more than willing to send many photos of baby Alex.”

Alex barked out a laugh, “Of course she was.” He couldn’t really be mad. The three of them had spent an age flipping through the scrapbook of his childhood photos, laughing at the annotations that Leo had added in his delicate script.

The alarm on Leo’s phone blared. “Sorry, that’s the timer for the potatoes,” the blond apologised. “I better go and check on them.”

“I can come and help.” Finn said.

Alex saw Leo visibly wince before he replied, "No thank you sweetheart. Y’all stay and talk with your brother.”

Alex raised an eyebrow, “Do I even want to know what disasters you are causing?”

“You cannot talk, Alexander,” Logan defended. “You nearly burnt your kitchen down making toast.”

Alex didn’t have an argument to that, it was true. He hadn’t been much help with Christmas dinner either.

“Are you sure that you don’t want me to do anything?” Alex asked for the thousandth time. Besides setting the table, he really hadn’t done much to help with the meal and he didn’t feel great about it.

“Yes,” Natalie insisted. “We really do not need a trip to the ER today. Just sit down and look pretty.”

He protested a little but did as he was told. He watched Natalie and Kasey work, moving seamlessly around one another. And then Alex was standing again. He went back inside, ignoring his partner's queries. He was only going to be a moment anyway. Alex reappeared with his camera. He may not be able to cook, but he was excellent at photography. He remembered how they had found so much joy in looking at the photos of himself earlier and wanted to document their first Christmas together. Hopefully, in years to come it would bring them similar joy.

He took photo after photo of the meal coming together. Kasey flipping the steaks on the BBQ. Natalie glazing the prawns in sauce. The private glances they shared.

The camera was taken out of his hands and he heard the shutter snap as Natalie fed him pieces of peach.

He beckoned the two of them over and took a few shots of the three of them together, Santa hats perched on their heads, until Natalie was cursing about something burning.

He’d go through the photos later but he doubted there would be many that he wanted to delete.

“Earth to Alex!” Finn shouted and Alex blushed as he realised that they had been trying to get his attention for a little while.

Logan rolled his eyes, “You and Finn make the same stupid faces.”

“Oi!” Alex and Finn exclaimed together.

“C’est Vrai,” Logan chimed.

“I’ll admit to being a hopeless romantic.” Alex shrugged. “It’s part of my charm.”

Finn snorted at that, “It’s not my fault that you and Le are so cute.”

“Agreed.” Alex nodded. “Nat and Kase should be less perfect. It’s all their fault really.”

“You’re both disgusting,” Logan groaned, but he was pressing his lips to the bare flesh on the back of Finn's neck, and Alex had known those two long enough to know exactly where that was going.

“On that note, I am going to bed. Have a fantastic Christmas, boys.”

#O'Darwin #Coops #O'Knutzy #Lumosinlove #Sweater Weather #Coast to Coast #Winter holidays #Christmas #Food #ALL FLUFF

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wanderinginksplot · 3 years

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Warriors in Red Armor

Previous | Next | Masterlist

Chapter Five

Kai II

"Does everyone understand the mission?" Ransom stared hard in Kai's direction.

Kai scoffed. Just because her attention had drifted off a time or four didn't mean that she was going to be totally lost. "Who needs a debriefing? We're going to do the same thing we always do. I'm going to flirt with everyone until they give me information or get distracted. Ark will slice into their systems and get hard copies of the information we need. You'll be here, masterminding the whole thing."

Ransom stared at her hard for a moment, but Kai met her gaze with ease. Eventually, Ransom gave a little sigh and said, "Yeah, that's pretty much it. But be careful. We've got to get this job right. The merchant's guild has paid us a lot of credits for the information we need. Plus we stand to double our profit if we complete the mission on time. Maybe we should go over the plan again."

"Nah, I've got it," Kai assured her.

Ransom's eyes were like a med-scanner as she used her gift. Kai had always said that Ransom could spot a lie from five klicks with strangers and twice that with friends. Eventually, Ransom must have decided that Kai was telling the truth and nodded. "Fine, but be careful. Are you sure these layout schematics are up-to-date?"

"I'm insulted," Kai jokingly scowled. "Are my schematics ever outdated?"

"No," Ransom begrudgingly admitted. "Even I don't know how you find some of that information."

Kai beamed at the rare praise from her boss.

"You know," Ark started. Kai tensed - there was only one subject that could put that tone in Ark's voice. "We could really use you out in the field on this one, Ransom."

In half a heartbeat, Ransom was as on-edge as both of the other women. "You know that's not an option, Ark." She gave a forced-looking smile and shook her head. "Besides, you don't need me. You're both the best in your respective fields. This mission will be a total success."

The drastic change in mission outlook warned Kai that Ransom was ready to snap. All antics should be cut off immediately.

"Ark and I better go get ready, huh?" Kai said. "Sounds like we need to look the part."

"Comm me when you're ready and I'll activate your earpieces," Ransom said. She always could snap back into professionalism as naturally as taking a breath.

"We will," Kai promised, pulling Ark toward the door. "Ark, bring your outfit to my apartment, would you? You're better at doing hair than I am and I could use your help getting mine to look right."

As soon as they were in the turbolift, Kai puffed out a breath, trying to sound as non-judgmental as possible. "I don't know why you bothered asking her. She never reacts well to it."

Ark looked a little embarrassed. "I was going back over some of her old case files and I just- I got carried away. She was a legend. An actual one. There were stories about how good she was, and she didn't need to divide jobs like we do. She could flirt, slice, get everything she needed, and get out before anyone even realized there was a breach."

"I know, I've read the files, too," Kai reminded her friend. Ransom had been incredible back in the day. Granted, she was impressive now, but before she had stopped going out on jobs? She could have easily run Red Squad alone and made ten times what they were earning now... And then she would have no one to split profits with. "But you're starting to be a bit of a legend yourself… Ghost."

Ark's pale cheeks reddened with the compliment. "I don't even know how that one got started. And it's not good that people know about me at all."

Kai huffed out a breath at her friend. Ark was slender, pale in every sense of the word, and silent. She was also one of the fastest slicers Kai had ever seen… the fastest if they weren't counting Ransom. 'Ghost' was a natural nickname for her. Kai was only jealous that the nature of her designated task meant that she could never get notorious enough for a nickname. Being recognized would be the end of Kai's usefulness to Red Squad.

"Enjoy it, Ark!" Kai encouraged, squashing her own jealousy. "It's a compliment. Speaking of compliments, how is your trooper?"

"You mean Thire?" Ark asked, blushing a bit darker.

Kai chuckled. "Do you have another?"

"No!" Ark shook her head, smiling despite her apparent exasperation. "We talk a lot. Thire is a great guy."

"Are you going to see him again?"

"I'd like to," Ark admitted. "What about you and Thorn?"

"Thorn?" Kai asked, a bit taken aback. "No, nothing going on there. I had fun with him - you know, drinking, watching people on the dance floor, so on - but I don't think there's much of a future in it."

"That's disappointing," Ark said with a frown.

"No, 'disappointing' will be when we aren't ready on time and Ransom kills us both."

A little less than two hours later, both women were ready to go. There was a strange sort of line they had to toe in order to do their job well. Ark had to be dressed to blend in while Kai worked to stand out. All the attention had to be on Kai so that Ark could get in and do her job before anyone noticed what was happening. They had to arrive separately as well. Kai called two different speeders to her apartment, scheduling the second to arrive later than the first.

"So, who hired us again?" Kai asked when she was ensconced in a droid-piloted speeder.

Ransom sighed heavily through the earpiece. "Seriously, Kai? This is why you need to pay attention during briefings."

"The Bespin merchant's guild hired us to find out if the Felucian merchant's guild is spying on them," Ark informed her. Judging by the muted background noise from Ark's earpiece, she was just leaving Kai's apartment.

"They hired spies to see if the other guild hired spies?" Kai asked, chuckling.

"Merchants," Ransom said simply, sounding as if the word had been accompanied by a shrug.

"Arriving at location now," Kai reported. "Estimated entrance: two minutes."

"Two minutes, mark," Ransom replied.

Kai straightened her clothes and took a deep breath before she stepped into the guild hall. It was ornate and overdone, but that was fine: it matched everything she had done with her appearance.

There was a noticeable lull in conversation when Kai stepped inside. She wrestled her smirk into a pleasant smile as she accepted a glass of expensive wine from a serving droid. The form-fitting, low-cut dress floated around her, revealing shapely legs and the most delicate high heels she owned. Her versatile hair was done in a flattering updo. While her makeup was bold, it was tasteful enough that it didn't look overdone.

If Kai was honest, the hardest part of every mission was the pretending. She had to avoid all of the things she actually enjoyed in favor of appealing to onlookers as a sexual fantasy. She had to sip delicately at wine rather than guzzle hard spirits, she could only eat small bits of food that would be sure not to stick in her teeth or ruin her lipstick, and the tightness of her dress meant that she couldn't take a full step… or a full breath.

Being the bait was a nice ego boost, but everything else about it was kind of awful.

Even as Kai mentally tallied the negative aspects of her task, an older, orange-skinned Felucian gentleman sidled up to her. Kai vaguely recognized him as Ollo Set, the head of the Felucian merchant's guild. She continued giving her pasted-on smile.

"Good evening." Considering the height of Kai's towering heels, Set only just reached her chest. Undaunted, the Felucian put on a smile he clearly meant to be charming. "How can such a lovely woman be here alone?"

"Oh, I'm here with someone," she said, doing her best to sound both flirtatious and confused. "He was supposed to meet me here, but I haven't seen him yet."

"Well, whoever the lucky man is, he's a fool to miss even a moment of your radiant company," Set oozed. He took her hand so he could bow - very shallowly - and kiss the back of it.

Kai felt a rush of revulsion. She hated when they touched her. Still, she was a rather incredible actress, if she did say so herself, so she pasted a delicate smile on her lips. "Thank you, sir. It is comforting to find such kindness here, even if my date is later than I would have hoped."

Set patted her hand in a way that managed to be both fatherly and lecherous. "If he does not arrive shortly, I shall show you around myself. Your careless date should not cause you to miss meeting these incredible people."

"I may take you up on that offer! I'm Saro," Kai lied.

"Ollo Set," he returned, adjusting the jeweled cuffs of his jacket. "Leader of the Felucian Merchant's Guild. Pleasure to meet you, Saro. I must leave for a moment, but ask anyone to point you in my direction and you'll have no trouble finding me."

"Oh," she murmured, trying to sound impressed as she fluttered her eyelashes at him. Set watched her for a moment, looking stunned, then turned to meet with a group of well-dressed Felucians. The whole gathering shut themselves in a side room, leaving the party raging on without them.

Under the pretence of adjusting an earring, Kai activated her earpiece. "Meeting of the big guys - metaphorically big, anyway. Ark, what's your ETA?"

"Speeder trouble," Ark said, sounding irritated. "ETA: four minutes."

"Four minutes, mark," Ransom confirmed.

Kai circled through the room, chatting and picking at morsels of food while she kept an eye on the entrance. At least she didn't have to be subtle about it - her cover story allowed her to openly watch the new arrivals without looking suspicious.

"I'm right outside," Ark's voice crackled through the earpiece. "Are they still in the meeting?"

"Yes," Kai breathed, managing to work her answer into the conversation she was having with a drunk Felucian female.

Ark made her entrance seconds later. She wore a mousy brown wig and a tan dress tailored to disguise her slender figure. Carefully applied makeup had lent her colorless skin the appearance of more life. As a result, she didn't stand out overly much from the other humans in the room. Ark glanced at Kai, who subtly tilted her head toward the still-closed door.

With that, Ark made her way toward a hallway. According to the detailed schematics Kai had provided, the hall held both the refreshers and several data access points. At the last moment, a serving droid moved into Ark's way, intending to offer her a glass of wine. Ark, busy double-checking the door, tripped on the droid and flailed to recover her balance. Her small bag fell to the floor, spilling her slicing materials onto the carpet as the service droid beeped around frantically, trying to offer help. Kai watched with more than a little horror as the door to the guild meeting swung open. Ollo Set stepped out first, then paused and frowned over at the commotion caused by the serving droid.

Kai rushed over toward him. "Mr. Set!"

His pale orange gaze swung toward her instead, for which Kai was forever thankful. She had seen Ark starting to gather her tools, any one of which was recognizable as being part of a slicing project. Now, Kai simply had to hold the attention of Set and the other guild members, and she knew exactly how to do it.

Tugging at her dress in apparent distress, Kai revealed a bit more of her chest than she had previously been showing and forced tears to well in her eyes. When she reached Set and the accompanying guild members, she leaned down to speak with him. Her posture allowed the best vantage point for Set to see both the tears and the cleavage.

"What's wrong, my dear?" Set asked, looking first at her chest, then the tears, then her chest again.

"I just received word that my date isn't coming after all. He's stood me up!" she told him, letting one of the tears slip down her cheek. "Is there any chance you're still willing to accompany me this evening?"

"Why, Saro," he oozed, "I would be absolutely delighted. May I introduce the other leaders of the Felucian Merchant's Guild?"

Kai chanced a glance backward as she straightened up once more - leaning down in such a tight dress was killing her spine - and was pleased to watch Ark disappear safely down the hallway. Kai relaxed slightly and put a tearful smile on as she turned to be introduced to the other Felucians.

"Wait, I- I recognize you," one of the Felucians, this one a yellow-skinned female, said haltingly.

The smile slipped from Kai's face, but she had rekindled it a moment later. "Are you sure? I don't think we've ever met."

"I've seen your face somewhere before," the female insisted.

"What are you prattling on about, Ethoda?" Set asked, striving for a tone of boredom and achieving one of irritation.

"She's someone I know, and not in a good way," Ethoda insisted. Kai's stomach gave an odd little twist at the thought that someone had finally recognized her. The Felucian female at last said, "I'm fairly certain she's a prostitute!"

Well, that was unexpected. Kai gaped. "What? I'm not a- I am not a prostitute!"

"That's just what a prostitute would say," one of the other males muttered.

"Which is more likely: a beautiful human woman being interested in Ollo or that she's a prostitute?"

"That makes more sense than anything else I've heard tonight."

"I'll notify the Coruscant Guard," Ethoda offered, rushing away.

And that was that. Admittedly, the mission had been to keep attention away from Ark in whatever way was necessary, but Kai had never expected this to be the outcome. It wasn't the proudest moment of her life, but Kai sat quietly and waited for the Coruscant Guard. The only move she made was to 'fix her hair' and activate the earpiece.

"I can't believe I'm getting arrested for prostitution," she muttered. Ark and Ransom's frantic questions and sounds of outrage provided entertainment until the Coruscant Guard arrived.

A clone trooper in red and white armor marched into the room. "Commander Thorn. What's going on here?"

---

Thorn I

"This woman is a prostitute!"

Thorn was always the first to admit that he wasn't a lighthearted trooper. The laughter and jokes that came easy to his brothers weren't part of his repertoire. Still, even Thorn had gotten a kick out of the accusations that were being thrown Kai's way. It had taken him a minute or so to recognize her - especially with a group of Felucians insisting that her name was Saro - but her look of dread at his entrance had been a solid clue.

He had taken down the eyewitness details of the incident with care. Keeping his voice level was tricky, but no one could hear the mocking he knew was clear in his expression. When the long-winded Felucians finished talking, Thorn closed the document so he could place binders on Kai's wrists and lead her to his cruiser.

"I'll take her to the precinct," he told the Felucians.

He had to shut down the external speakers on his helmet when the leader of the group - an orange-skinned male who had introduced himself as 'Ollo Set', followed them outside. As he fixed Kai with a stern gaze and he said, "Let this be a lesson to you, young lady: there is no substitute for an honest day's work", Thorn laughed aloud.

Rather than risk reactivating his speaking and giving away the game, Thorn had nodded to acknowledge Set's thanks. He steered Kai into the back of the cruiser as soon as he could and settled into the front seat himself. They were in the air waiting to enter traffic when he finally thought it was safe to remove his bucket.

As he reached for the familiar plastoid curves, Kai snapped, "This is ridiculous. You know I'm not a prostitute."

Thorn broke the seal that had formed between his blacks and his helmet before answering. "Of course I know that. Do you think I leave the code to my binders in the backseat with every perp?"

"Oh," she said, ire deflating as she grabbed the scrap of flimsi and awkwardly typed the written code into the binders. "Then why-?"

"If I hadn't brought you in for a false claim like prostitution, they may have come up with something more difficult to fight." He met Kai's eyes in the rearview mirror. "Like industrial espionage."

There was no answer from the backseat and Thorn abruptly found the whole situation less amusing than he had previously. Industrial espionage was a nasty business, and he wasn't thrilled to find that Kai was wrapped up in it.

"Care to explain what you were doing at the headquarters for the Felucian merchant's guild?" he asked.

She sighed, looking conflicted. "What do you want to know?"

"Everything. As long as it's the truth. I don't like listening to lies."

"Hey," she said, leaning forward with an offended look on her face. "I don't lie."

Thorn snorted. "You want to try feeding that line to the crowd of civvies back there who told me all about 'Saro'?"

"I lie at work because it's literally my job," Kai snapped. "I don't have a choice there, but I do everywhere else. I am not a liar."

"So your job is to lie and you wear revealing clothing while you do so," Thorn mused. "Are you sure you're not a prostitute?"

"I'm on an information securities team called Red Squad," she told him irritably. "We were hired to get intelligence from the Felucian merchant's guild."

"And they sent you in alone?" Thorn asked with an unfortunate chuckle.

"No, I wasn't there by myself," Kai admitted. "But I couldn't stay, not after having attracted that much attention. I don't even know if the mission was a success or not."

"Another private sector success, then," he said, sarcasm thick in his voice. "I take it that jobs don't always end this way?"

She snorted. "Believe it or not, this is the first time I've ever been arrested under suspicion of being a prostitute."

"It's a small and glorious club," he said. "It also signals the need for a career change. Ever thought about doing anything else? This espionage thing may not be your strong suit."

She grew quiet and Thorn saw her turn to stare out of the window. His heart skipped a beat. Stars, don't let her start crying... He felt an unusual wave of pity wash over him. Kai's day had clearly gone wrong and here she was being taken away from a formal event in the back of a police cruiser. Plus, Thorn's vode had always told him he could be abrasive, so chances were good that he wasn't helping matters.

"Hey, I'm not going to charge you with anything. Why don't you give me your address and I'll drive you home?"

"You can just drop me off here," she said frostily. "I can find my own way home."

"The kriff you will," he shut down immediately. "It's almost midnight. Coruscant isn't safe for civvies dressed like you are at this time of night."

"Maybe at the next intersection," Kai suggested, pretending she hadn't heard him.

"Maybe I'll take you to the precinct after all," Thorn threatened. "That way, I won't be responsible if you end up attacked or killed for walking through dangerous parts of the planet at night, looking like a-"

He cut himself off and Kai leaned forward, a challenging look on her pretty face. "Like a prostitute?"

Actually, he had been about to say that she looked like royalty, but her tart response knocked some sense back into him. "Yeah," he agreed instead. "Something like that."

"You're impossible," she told him, sounding tired. "Just… take me home."

She gave him the address, but Thorn could hardly hear it over the pounding of his heart. Kai probably hadn't meant for her words to sound inviting - far from it - but they had caused a pang of something long-buried in his memory. The feeling of home hadn't been one emphasized in flash training or any day since, but he had always imagined it would be the way he felt when he had heard Kai's request.

Still, he forced his mind back to his duty and plugged Kai's address into the navicomputer on his cruiser. Shortly afterward, they had arrived at a plain-looking building. Kai still hadn't said another word to him, which frustrated Thorn for some reason. They may not have exchanged comlink info like Thire and his girl had, but Thorn and Kai had gotten along at 79's. He couldn't remember a time he had laughed harder than when she drunkenly told an equally drunken Nikto that he had "scored a perfect 30" on the dance floor.

Deciding to make things right once and for all, Thorn shut off the cruiser and got out to open Kai's door.

"Thank you, Commander," she said stiffly. "Drive safe on your way back to the precinct."

"Hold on, let me walk you inside," he offered, injecting enough suffering into his tone that she would think it was a punishment. She didn't say anything to encourage him, but she didn't say he couldn't accompany her, either.

So Thorn found himself following Kai down two flights of narrow stairs to her housing unit. When they arrived at the door, he noted an odd lock keeping it closed. Still, he thought little of it until Kai also frowned and made a confused little sound.

Every instinct Thorn had demanded that he act. In half a second, he had grasped Kai around the waist, spun to place her behind him, and drawn one of his blaster pistols. He ignored Kai's questions and focused on the area, but his HUD wasn't showing any signs of potentially hostile lifeforms. More importantly, the strange lock wasn't bringing up any warnings.

"What's on your door?" he demanded, still scanning their surroundings.

"It's a lock," Kai explained slowly.

"I figured that," Thorn's response was dry. "What kind of lock and who put it there?"

"How do you know I didn't?"

"Body language, tension, and observation, now focus," Thorn commanded. "Who put that lock on your door?"

"Probably Ark," Kai admitted with a sigh. "It's for me to practice slicing."

The answer was so far beyond anything Thorn had been expecting that he actually let the barrel of his blaster drop toward the floor as he turned to face her. He repeated, "Slicing?"

"Yeah, I'm over-" Kai stopped her sentence halfway through. "You know what? I don't want to explain this to you."

"Do it anyway," Thorn advised. "Because I'm not leaving, otherwise."

She crossed her arms, kicking up her chin. Right as Thorn thought he would have to press her again, Kai said quietly, "I'm sick of being the bait. I want to do something useful, like slicing, but I'm not very good at it. Ark is trying to teach me and she's big on practice. She bought me this lock and said it would give me motivation to learn."

"So, she put a practice slicing lock on the door to your apartment. You would have to use your new skill to get inside," Thorn summarized. It sounded like something that his vode would do. He silently supported the endeavor even as he mentally noted the implication that Kai and Ark worked as some kind of team.

Still, Thorn holstered his blaster and gestured at the door. He took a step to the side so she could access the lock. "Well, go ahead. Slice."

Kai looked at him, eyes severe. "I'm not any good at it and I'm tired. Do you know anything about slicing?"

"Not a thing," said Commander Thorn of the GAR, official head of the department overseeing arrests and difficult extractions that often included slicing.

"I could get a hotel room for tonight…" she mused.

Thorn rolled his eyes. She was as dramatic as Hound. "Or you could just try it. Your friend wouldn't put an unsliceable lock on your door, would she?"

"Probably not," Kai agreed with palpable reluctance. She sighed and pulled a small set of tools out from behind a potted plant in the hallway as Thorn watched with growing amusement.

Kai placed the scramble key on the back of the lock, but it was backwards and wouldn't work. "What are you doing?"

"Unlocking the door? I'm pretty sure," Kai told him, poking at the lock. "I don't know why the key isn't registering, though."

"Explain the process to me," he invited.

She turned to stare at him, seeming shocked. "You want me to teach you how to slice?"

"Why not?" Thorn asked. "Teaching a skill is one of the best ways to see if you've learned it."

"Fine," Kai huffed. "First, you attach the scramble key to the back of the lock… oops. That's definitely backwards. Anyway! Once the system has registered the key, it can start running possible combinations. Then your only job is to keep the security systems from booting you out."

Thorn watched the process, trying not to smile as Kai clumsily shut down security checks and shutdown attempts. Her methods weren't pretty, but they were effective, and the lock dropped from the door after a few minutes of work.

He retrieved the lock and the scramble key for her, taking a moment to study the key close-up. Thorn hadn't seen anything like it before. That was impressive, considering how much of his job revolved around slicing attempts. The key was homemade, like all the best scramble keys were, but on a level that told him how well the maker understood the process of slicing.

"Interesting key," he commented, hiding his interest. "Where did you get it?"

Kai glanced at it, unimpressed. "Ark gave it to me. She said it was trustworthy."

So Ark was a slicer. If she had been the one who made that key, she was kriffing good at it, too. Thorn made a mental note to ask Thire about the woman he had been spending so much time talking to. A moment later, that and all other coherent thoughts left his mind as Kai turned back and asked, "Do you want to come inside?"

He stared at her, dark brows furrowed. "You don't like me."

"I don't like when you mock me," she corrected. "But I like you just fine. Plus, you aren't arresting me when we both know you could. I think that's worth a cup of caf. Maybe even a cookie."

"Maybe even two cookies," he joked, following her into the apartment.

Kai gave a teasing scoff over her shoulder. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves."

---

A/N - Poor Kai. That would have to be a pretty hefty blow to your ego! Good thing Thorn was the one to respond - even if he did lie about knowing how to slice. On that note, do you know who knows nothing about slicing? Me. So if anyone is an expert about the process and this reads poorly, I'm sorry! I just started playing Republic Commando and did a lengthy skim on the Wikipedia page about slicing, but that's the extent of my knowledge.

#Warriors in Red Armor #star wars #star wars the clone wars #star wars fanfiction #tcw #commander thorn #coruscant guard #commander fox #commander thire #sergeant hound #clone troopers deserve better #more to come

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idiopath-fic-smile · 4 years

Text

more 1950s lesbian amis

continued from this.

in which grantaire makes coffee, and a friend.

“Good morning,” said Chester. “Is that a new dress?”

It was not. Grantaire looked up warily from her sketchpad. She wasn’t good-looking enough for this to be anything but a ploy.

“Do you need something, Chester?” she asked in her sweetest voice, all cotton candy fumes.

“Secretary’s out this morning,” he told her. “That’s why there’s no coffee yet.” And there, it all clicked into place.

Grantaire schooled her face as blank as she could make it; if she was going to reach his conclusion, he’d have to drag her there.

“Thank you but I picked up a cup on my way here,” she said, nodding at her half-empty styrofoam cup. After last night’s disaster at the Musain, she had been unable to even imagine the L ride to the office without a fortifying blast of caffeine.

Chester stared meaningfully; Grantaire stared back, meaningless.

“Grantaire,” said Chester, as if talking to one very stupid, “do you think you could brew us a pot?”

Grantaire blinked. “Does this normally fall to the staff cartoonist when the secretary’s away?”

Chester made a suppressed sound of deep irritation. He spread his hands, appealing. “Listen, I could struggle through trying to make coffee for the office and no doubt poison everyone trying, or you could do it, and add that homey little touch I know all the fellas would appreciate.”

Homey. It was not a word you’d apply to Grantaire’s garden-level one-bedroom, which boasted stained wallpaper and a stove straight out of the Coolidge administration. Homely, maybe. Chester was the one with a home, and a wife, and a fat little baby and the money for a comfortable life.

“It’s only fair to divide the work according to natural aptitude, sweetheart,” Chester was saying, and it was the sweetheart that snapped Grantaire like a rubber band, that word deployed like a pat on the head, like penny candy for a crying baby, like a scrap of baloney to a dog, like it could only ever be the bitterest pity or the cruelest joke in concert with Grantaire’s face, with Grantaire’s entire being.

“‘From each according to their ability, to each according to their needs,’” she murmured in an agreeing tone.

“Now you got it,” Chester started, then frowned.

“Karl Marx, Chester,” said Grantaire. “Keep up, or someone might need to place a call to ol’ Joe.”

Chester’s entire countenance soured. “This is why you should leave it to the men to make the jokes,” he said, “and stick to what you can do--”

Grantaire stood. “I’ll make the coffee,” she said.

“There,” said Chester, “did that need to be such a production?”

The “Golden Ratio,” according to a high school Home Economics course which Grantaire had frankly passed by the skin of her teeth, was one to two tablespoons of coffee for every six ounces of hot water. Grantaire remembered this by virtue of having gotten it wrong many, many times. She was no good with math but the machine took thirty-six ounces of water, which meant the ideal amount of grounds was somewhere between six and twelve tablespoons.

“Stars shining bright above you,” Grantaire hummed under her breath, measuring and dumping coffee grounds into the filter. One, two, three, four, five.

Grantaire had gotten it wrong in high school because nobody in her house drank coffee. She hadn’t discovered the jolting benefits herself until her first year of art school, as the deadlines began to pile and the available time to meet them began to wane.

“Night breezes seem to whisper, I love you,” Grantaire hummed. Six, seven, eight, nine, ten.

If there had been a way to brave the choppy academic waters of work and criticism without chemical assistance, that path had been invisible to Grantaire. She had tried, she had cried, she had turned down “diet pills” that the other girl in her program swore by only because Grantaire figured her own figure couldn’t afford to be more unflatteringly stick-thin.

“Birds singing in the sycamore trees--” Eleven, twelve. Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen.

The scrutiny and the pressure tempered the freedom of those heady days away from her parents. The expectation that Grantaire was only studying art as a way of killing time, until some charitable man came along to marry her, unless the poor dear simply couldn’t find anyone--she had found a survival strategy of her own, a roughly stitched-together patchwork of sarcasm and wine and more sarcasm, and coffee brewed so thick and strong it barely qualified as liquid.

“Dream a little dream of me.” Sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty. Grantaire went ahead and dumped in the rest of the bag.

Grantaire was making shaky progress on her first deadline when Douglas stopped by her desk.

“Listen,” he blustered, “is this some kind of a joke?”

“Hm?”

“Your coffee’s undrinkable, it’s--” he faltered as Grantaire took a long swallow of the tarry substance in her mug. It was gritty and bitter, but by the standards of her art school years, only qualified as “medium dark.”

“Doug,” she said calmly, “if it’s too strong for you, you’re free to add plenty of milk and sugar.” She took another sip, meeting his eyes all the while.

He spun on the heel of his expensive dress shoe. As he stormed away, she could hear him mutter, at a passive-aggressive volume designed to be just-barely audible, but audible nonetheless, “No wonder she doesn’t have a man yet, can’t even make coffee right.”

“Grantaire?”

She looked up. The secretary was back from wherever she’d been, apparently.

“Hello,” said Grantaire, hoping that if she kept a friendly enough countenance, the secretary might not notice that Grantaire did not remember her name. “Are you feeling better?”

The secretary smiled, polite. She was young but plain, although not as plain as Grantaire. “Thank you, it was my mother, actually. She’s a little under the weather so I stopped home to bring her some soup and heat it up for her.” Grantaire nodded as if that kind of filial duty was a part of her daily life, too.

“Well, I hope her condition improves soon.” “Thank you, that’s very kind.” An awkward pause began to bloom. Into it, Grantaire blurted, “Sorry if you had the coffee today.” “Oh,” said the secretary, “no, no, I drink tea.” Of course she did, thought Grantaire. She had the look of someone well acquainted with the proper use of a cup and saucer. She lowered her voice slightly. “Douglas informed me all about this morning’s coffee maker adventure.” She lowered her voice a little more. “In some detail.” “Yes, I must have lost count spooning in the grounds,” said Grantaire blandly. “I can’t imagine how it slipped my mind.” “I can,” said the secretary with a crooked smile. Somehow, with both eyes wide open, she gave the impression of winking. “Say, Grantaire. I don’t suppose you could take your lunch break with me? There’s a park across the street, it’s very quiet. Private.” Grantaire nodded. “Good,” said the secretary. That crooked smile again. “My name is Combeferre, by the way.”

“You know, I saw you the other day,” said Combeferre as she neatly removed a packet of celery sticks wrapped in waxed paper from her lunch bag. “Did you.” Grantaire ran through her mental list of places she’d been over the past several days. If she was very, very lucky, maybe Combeferre simply meant that she’d glimpsed Grantaire at the Jewel, picking up some groceries for her tragically empty fridge. Combeferre glanced around the park in a very natural, off-hand way. “At the Musain,” she said. Grantaire’s stomach dropped. She could feel her grip on her turkey sandwich going white-knuckled. “Chester and Murray, such a pair of jokesters,” she said at last. “I suppose I was being hazed last night--” “No, I saw you last Thursday,” said Combeferre quiety. “By yourself.” Grantaire hadn’t been in there for more than forty-five seconds. Had all of Chicago seen? She felt something bubble up inside her. “So,” said Grantaire, trying to match Combeferre’s even, calm voice. “Is this blackmail, then? I’m afraid you’ll have to wait until I’ve gotten my first check, I’m a bit light at the moment.” Combeferre blinked. “Oh dear,” she said, “oh no, you misunderstand me completely. I saw you from inside.” “You were there?” said Grantaire, feeling very dumb for not having picked up on any sign of Sapphism earlier. There was nothing obvious in her manner or dress. The comment about stopping home to see her mother might have suggested she was still living with her parents, and thus unmarried, but plenty of girls did that. Of course, not every woman of a woman-loving bent chose to broadcast it to the world like that short-haired Amazon in the bar restroom. Combeferre’s hairdo and clothes were no doubt chosen for hiding, like Grantaire’s. “Do you have plans this weekend?” Combeferre asked, and Grantaire attempted not to look entirely pole-axed. Was this a pass? Grantaire felt no immediate pull, but, wretchedly, she realized she was lonely enough to consider it. She raised her eyebrows. “You see, I belong to, um, a social organization,” Combeferre continued, unaware. “We could use some new members, and it would be so nice to know someone else at work--” “Is it a book group?” said Grantaire. “A tupperware exchange? A cat appreciation society?” Combeferre smiled. “I do like cats,” she said. “No, we’re. Hm. The Chicago branch of a group of like-minded individuals who find ourselves on a slightly divergent path from the majority of mankind. It’s a very relaxed, informal thing. We’re meeting at the apartment of a friend for spaghetti dinner on Saturday. I can give you the details if you’re interested.” “And you’re all women?” Grantaire said. “We are,” said Combeferre. What the hell. It wasn’t as if there was a line of people waiting to make Saturday night plans with her. “Alright,” said Grantaire. “Wonderful.” Combeferre gave her an address, although Grantaire didn’t know the city well enough for it to mean much without a map. Her eyes briefly scanned the park again. “And I should add that you don’t have to use your real name,” she said. “In fact, I think most of us don’t.” “Some tupperware club you’re running, lady,” said Grantaire, and Combeferre half-laughed. “I was going to leave you a note,” said Combeferre, “on your desk, explaining everything in advance, but then my mother was sick and there wasn’t any time.” “If anyone saw what you wrote,” Grantaire started. “In shorthand, of course. None of the men would understand.” “I can’t read shorthand,” said Grantaire. “I took a course on it but that was about the time I realized my future would need to be elsewhere.” “I was going to be a physician,” said Combeferre dreamily. Grantaire turned to face her. “I had the grades, you know. Biology was my best subject, and I enjoy helping people.” “What happened?” Grantaire asked uneasily.

“Oh,” said Combeferre. “I had a marvelous professor. I’d asked him to write me a recommendation, and he pulled me aside and explained that if I’d have to do twice the work for half the respect, which was of course the truth. I considered nursing, but a life of emptying bedpans and dodging the head doctor’s wandering hands didn’t appeal.” “So instead you empty inboxes and dodge Richard’s wandering hands,” said Grantaire. “You’ll fit right in with my friends,” Combeferre said with another smile. “I’m sorry about what my friend said to you last night. She has an excellent heart and is a key part of our set, but she can be somewhat severe.”

“Do you mean the Hippolyta who cornered me in the powder room?” “Undoubtedly,” said Combeferre. Then, “oh, and definitely don’t call her that!” “Wouldn’t dream of it,” said Grantaire.

#eXr DOB

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hood-ex · 4 years

Note

for prompt: dick + jason (+ maybe cass?) doing Peak Older Sibling thing of getting tipsy together and complaining about Kids These Days even though they're like in their twenties

Read on AO3

Dick knows it’s time to leave the art show when he’s nearly finished his third glass of champagne. He feels all the warm and bubbly effects from it, and he’s sure that Cass—wherever she is—is probably feeling the same way.

His only problem now is that he’s got to figure out where Cass went. He thinks the last time he saw her is when she disappeared upstairs to the second floor. There’s a projector up there playing a video about god knows what, and Dick has a feeling Cass went up there to watch it to take a people break.

He downs the last of his drink and hands the empty glass off to one of the passing by staff workers before he sets off on his search. He wanders past the wall of paintings he already looked at earlier in the night and heads for the stairs.

A few socialites he’s familiar with from past Wayne galas come up to him and try to stop him for a chat. Dick quickly shakes their hands and schmoozes with them a little for appearance’s sake. He tries to keep things short and polite because he really doesn’t want to get caught up in a thirty-minute conversation.

Thankfully, most people seem to be just as tired and hungry as he is, and they easily let him go when he offhandedly mentions needing to find his sister.

Dick’s halfway up the stairs when he sees Cass appear at the top with slightly flushed cheeks. Her glittery black dress catches in the light and makes her look like a pretty jewel. She smiles at him when their eyes meet, and Dick has to hold back a laugh at the way she throws a hand up and waves at him. He can tell he was right about her being just as tipsy as him.

“Hey!” Dick says excitedly as he finishes walking up to her. He holds up his hand and she high fives him hard enough to make his hand sting. “Ready to go?” he asks, and this time he holds his arm out for her to grab on to so she won’t trip down the stairs in her heels. Not that he can imagine Cass doing something so clumsy, but, well, better to be safe than sorry.

“I’ve been ready,” Cass says a little too loudly, making Dick wince. She links her arm with his, and they slowly make it back to the ground floor without incident.

Dick’s hand brushes Cass’s wrist when they let go of each other, and he frowns at how cold she is. He knows that even though it’s pretty chilly outside, Cass had decided to just wear her sweater inside the art show. She had left her heavier jacket in his car, not wanting to carry it around the show for hours. He wishes she would’ve said something about it so she could’ve grabbed her jacket from his car instead of silently freezing throughout the night.

He shrugs out of his blazer and drapes it around her shoulders. “One warm jacket for the tiny dancer. Need anything else, Miss?”

Cass smiles and slides her arms through the sleeves. She hugs herself close like she’s trying to absorb as much of his leftover body heat as possible.

“I could go for some burgers and fries,” she says as she grabs him by the wrist and tugs him towards the exit.

“Sounds like we’re singing the same tune,” Dick grins and pushes open the door for her to walk through first. “Let’s stop by my car and get your jacket first. We can find somewhere around here to walk to.”

Cass’s brow furrows. “Singing the... what?” She takes the lead and walks alongside the part of the sidewalk that’s not lit up by the street lights. Dick ignores the goosebumps that appear on his arms from the sudden breeze. He follows close behind her and subtly scans the parking lot where his car is parked for any potential danger.

“It means we have the same idea. Like we’re on the same page.”

“Oh!” she says, and Dick quickly realizes that tipsy Cass has a volume control problem, which is a little ironic when he thinks about it. “Yes, we’re totally singing the same tune!” Dick laughs and holds his hand out for another high five. Cass eyes it for a second before smacking his hand even harder.

“You thinking Bat Burger or somewhere else?”

Cass hums. “You ever been to the Bluehouse Bar?”

“No,” Dick says. “Have you?”

“Yeah, once. It was pretty good!”

Dick nods and tries not to look too judgy about her choice. The bar he used to bartend at in Bludhaven ruined his perception of bar food, but maybe this place in Gotham won’t be so bad. Plus, Cass is rarely wrong, and Dick’s willing to trust her opinion on it.

“Is that where you want to go then?” Dick asks right as they make it to his car.

“Yup, I feel like it’s the place to be tonight,” Cass says, and Dick unlocks the door for her.

Dick laughs and lightly whacks her shoulder with the back of his hand. “Are you quoting Harry Potter at me? Is that what’s happening right now?”

“Maybe,” Cass says, voice muffled while she dips inside the car and fishes for her jacket in the back seat.

Dick patiently waits as she switches out his suit jacket for her own jacket, and once she’s properly zipped herself up, she tosses his jacket back to him. Dick easily slides into it, feeling much better now that he’s not as cold.

This time Cass is the one that offers her arm to him and smirks as she says, “One warm jacket for the rocket man. Need anything else, Sir?”

“Yeah,” Dick says and hooks his arm under hers. “Directions on how to get there.”

Cass tugs him forward and says, “Follow me.”

The walk to the bar only ends up being about two blocks away, which isn’t too bad. Dick’s nose is feeling a little frozen. He can tell by Cass’s pink cheeks that she’s feeling chilled as well, but they’ve both dealt with way worse conditions while on patrol to actually complain about it.

Dick can tell why this place is called the Bluehouse Bar as soon as they step inside. The whole place is lit up by blue lights that reflect off the black chairs and tabletops. Even the white napkins and plates on the tables look like they’re glowing with a blue tint.

The lights combined with the loud music and chatter makes everything a little disorienting. Dick’s still trying to get his eyes to adjust to the room when Cass suddenly grips his shoulder and leans close to his ear and says, “Look, it’s Jason!”

Dick whips his head around to where Cass is staring, and sure enough, Jason’s sitting at a table of four by himself, browsing through the menu in his hands. There’s an empty glass of beer in front of him that suggests he’s been here for a while. The Gotham Knights are playing ball on one of the TVs, and Dick has a suspicion that Jason probably came here to watch the game before patrol.

Jason’s wearing his cargo pants and boots. His signature leather jacket is zipped up all the way up to cover the bat emblem on his chest. Dick imagines Jason’s motorcycle is probably parked nearby and has the rest of his Red Hood gear in it.

Cass seems a little tense next to him, and Dick knows it’s because she really doesn’t like Jason that much. They’ve never gotten along for obvious reasons, and Cass only tolerates him when she has to. Dick can hardly remember them even having a conversation beyond “Can you pass the salt?” when they’re all eating breakfast together at the manor once a week.

He’s just about to ask Cass if she wants to go when Jason suddenly looks up and stares right at them. A look of surprise flashes across Jason’s face, and he blinks a few times as if making sure that Dick and Cass are the real deal.

Dick waves without really thinking about it, and Jason responds by motioning for them to come sit at his table.

Cass’s eyes widen slightly like she wants to do anything but that, and Dick flashes her an apologetic look before gently placing his hand on her back and steering her towards Jason’s table. It’s not like they can just ignore Jason and expect him not to take offense to it. Dick’s not willing to make weekly breakfast more awkward than it already is.

“Hey Jay,” Dick says once he’s close enough to the table. He holds his hand up expectantly. Jason eyes it like it’s a rat on fire before he slowly high fives Dick back.

“Hey,” Jason says, and his eyes jump from Cass’s dress to Dick’s suit. “Where the hell did you two just come from?”

Dick lets Cass have the seat between himself and Jason so that she can watch the door more easily, and he takes the seat across from Jason that puts his own back against the door.

“Went to an art show for B and bought some new paintings for the children’s hospital,” Dick says, snagging the menu from Jason and putting it on the table between him and Cass so they can figure out what they want to eat.

“I guess my invite got lost in the mail as per usual,” Jason says.

“You wouldn’t have gone anyway,” Cass says, and Jason recoils at her loud tone.

“Still, I’d like to be asked,” Jason huffs, eyeing Cass warily.

“Will you guys eat the mozzarella sticks if I get them as an appetizer?” Dick asks. The picture of the gooey cheese sticks on the menu makes Dick’s mouth water, and while he’s definitely going to get a burger, he thinks he can make enough room in his stomach for a few mozzarella sticks.

Cass signs “yes” with her fist at the same time that Jason says, “Fuck yeah I will as long as you’re paying.”

“If I’m paying then I get first dibs,” Dick declares.

“Fine.” Jason rolls his eyes and slumps in his seat. “You two better be ready to order as soon as the waitress gets back. She doesn’t come around much.”

“You’re telling me,” Dick says while enviously eyeing the waiter who’s taking people’s orders at the table across from theirs.

All of a sudden, Dick feels a finger tapping against his shoulder. He tenses and turns in his seat. A young looking woman with blonde hair is standing behind him. The silver bangles around her wrist jingle as she nervously pushes her long hair out of her face. Dick can see that she’s looking back and forth between him and Cass.

“Hi! Sorry for interrupting!” she says. “But are you Dick Wayne and Cassandra Wayne?”

Jason snorts so loud that Dick’s surprised he doesn’t give himself an aneurysm.

“Dick Wayne,” Jason wheezes quietly, and the girl blushes furiously as if realizing her mistake.

“Don’t mind him,” Dick says. He places his hand on the girl’s shoulder and gives it a little squeeze to soothe her embarrassment. “Trust me, I’ve been called worse,” he smiles. She blushes again for a whole different reason this time. Dick ignores it and eyes her phone in her hand. “Did you want a picture?”

“Oh my god, yeah, if you wouldn’t mind that would be great!”

“Sure thing,” Dick says, taking her phone from her. “What’s your name?”

“Brooke,” the girl says.

“Hi, Brooke! I love your dress,” Cass says in that cool way of hers, and Brooke stutters out her thanks.

“Don’t forget to turn on the flash,” Dick says as he tosses the phone to Jason, who catches it with a squawk.

Dick drapes his arm around Brooke’s shoulders while Cass wraps her arm around Brooke’s waist. They all smile, and Jason begrudgingly takes a few pictures of them. Dick’s pretty sure he hears Jason making a comment under his breath about being happy he’s considered dead to the world so he doesn’t have to go through this shit, and then the pictures are done.

Jason hands the phone back over and Brooke thanks him. Dick expects her to go back to her table, but instead, she asks, “Hey, would you guys want to be in my TikTok?”

“What’s TikTok?” Cass signs to Jason.

Jason starts to explain it to her in ASL, clearly leaving Dick to deal with Brooke.

“Sorry, we’re not allowed to,” Dick lies. “I hope you understand.”

“Oh totally, yeah,” Brooke says with a nod of her head. She looks a little confused about why they’re apparently not allowed to do TikToks, but she doesn’t question it. “No worries! Just thought I’d ask!” She smiles and Dick smiles back at her. “Thanks for the pictures! I love you guys!”

“No problem,” Dick says, holding his hand up to her. Brooke high fives him back, her touch gentle like she’s scared of hurting him. “Bye!”

Brooke waves to them all and then finally leaves their table. As soon as she’s out of earshot, Jason crosses his arms over his chest and says, “What’s up with kids and TikTok these days? Do you know how many people have cosplayed as me and made me do dumb shit like the renegade dance? Or worse... the whip! The whip, Dick! The whip!”

“Poor you,” Dick laughs. “Forced to do trendy dances that sully your reputation.”

“Shut up,” Jason huffs. “Pretty sure I saw one of Nightwing doing the WAP challenge.”

Dick raises a brow and says, “I have no idea what that means.”

He sees Cass perk up out of the corner of his eye and realizes why as soon as he sees a waitress coming towards them.

“Finally,” Cass mutters.

Dick grabs her hand excitedly and shakes it back and forth.

“Mozzarella sticks here we come!”

#Dick Grayson #Cassandra Cain #Jason Todd #cass is the drunk who talks too loud and dg is the drunk who can't stop high fiving people #also Also big thanks to youngjustus for giving me the idea for this prompt #i was seriously floundering trying to figure out how to incorporate alcohol without making this super fanon-y #and my boy tim ^ pulled through and helped me out w the art show and bar thing so everyone say thanks tim lmao #my fic #batfam prompt #anon

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scribble-blog · 5 years

Text

Soulmate AU part 15 (finally) ((oops)) !!!!!

First • Previous • Here • Next

Oh my god you guys. I’m really sorry for saying yesterday and then not making the update (But on a better note I passed that final!!!!!!) and because of how hellish this week promises to be i’m not gonna make any other attempts at promising updates. I will say that my school isn’t normally near this hectic, so things should calm down come Sunday. Hopefully.

Enjoy!!

Red Hood was the first to speak, lowering his head in a wince. “Damn, kid. Sorry.”

“We had no idea.” Red Robin said quietly. “I hope you can believe us about this, at least. If the Justice League — or even just us- had known about this at any point for the last four years, we would not have let you face it alone.”

Gravely, Batman spoke. “What measures are you taking to find Hawkmoth?”

Adrien and Chloé both looked to her and she suppressed a sigh. As the Guardian, she supposed she actually did understand the most about this.

“One of the powers granted by the Miraculous is a mask of anonymity. How do you think five teenagers have managed to keep their identities all this time? The magic around the jewels keeps us from being recognized in our superhero forms, and that includes the leaps of logic needed to puzzle out who the person behind the mask is. It’s why I felt safe enough to come ask for help from the supposed best detectives in the superhero world. It would take me detransforming right in front of you to reveal me.”

“That’s all well and good,” Robin said. “But what measures have you taken to find Hawkmoth? You don’t necessarily need to find his identity to track him down.”

Marinette tried not to scowl at his patronizing tone. “Due to how his powers work, we’ve been unable to do anything other than figure out a general area that he operates in. If you’ve found the blog, we’ve been using the maps generated during each Akuma attack to figure out his general range. But we think he may have either multiple places, or that he might be transforming out of his lair and sending Akumas out like that to mess with our data. And we aren’t exactly able to track the butterflies when they can fly through solid objects.”

“And you’re teens, with busy lives and no actual support system for superheroing, so it’s insanely difficult to devote much of your actual time to being proactive against him, other than the patrols your videos mention,” Red Robin summarized. Marinette nodded, Chloé and Adrien echoing the motion.

Batman just sighed. “I’m unsure of how wise it would be to actually send one of us to Paris to help you, if Hawkmoth targets those with dark emotions. But we will dig into this, and I promise we will do anything we can to assist you in your fight.”

“Oracle and I can start working on something,” Red Robin suggested, and the other three nodded.

“If you need to contact us-“ Marinette pulled out her yo-yo, and opened it up to the screen. “This is how you can contact me. I’ll be notified of any messages or calls even outside the suit.” She offered them the yo-yo, extremely secure in the knowledge that now matter how they try to bug it, it would never work.

Red Robin took it, and after fiddling with it for a moment, looked back at her. “Isn’t this also your weapon? How does that work?”

He sounded distressed by it, and his expression only dropped further when Adrien laughed and said, “Magic.”

“Do you mind if we stay a bit?” Chloé asked, “If you want to accompany us, I wouldn’t mind, but I was kind of interested in seeing Gotham.”

Marinette caught Robin smirking, and wondered why, before Batman opened his mouth.

“I—”

“—Can run some kids around Gotham for a little bit,” Red Hood cut him off. “C’mon, Bats, let ‘em live a little while they’re visiting. I won’t let them get lost.”

Batman sighed. “Robin, you go with them.”

“Tt.” The other teen moved forward again, up to Batman’s side. “If you insist.”

Marinette wasn’t enthused, but she held her jabs in.

“Awesome,” Chloé breathed, and as she took a look at her, Marinette recognized some of the way she used to stare at Ladybug. Chloé was trying her best not to actually fangirl over getting to spend time with some of the Gotham vigilantes.

It brought back vivid memories of Chloé running around in her Ladybug suit, pretending to save the day.

And then Chloé gave her a dirty look that said she knew exactly what she was thinking, and leapt straight off the tower.

“Abeille!” Marinette scolded, running over to the ledge. Chloé was hanging below, laughing.

“You’re too uptight, Ladybug, live a little.” A hand rested on her shoulder and she turned to see Red Hood. “Hey, Bee-girl. Race you to that blue roof.”

“Me first!” Adrien yelled, bounding past them, propelling himself with his staff out into the open air. Red Hood shot his grappling gun and swung after, and Marinette sighed.

“I work with children,” she grumbled, only to be met with laughter from Red Robin. She turned back to them. “Thank you, Batman, for what you’re doing for us. It means- a lot.”

He nodded at her, and then to Robin, before he and Red Robin flung themselves from the side of the roof, both heading in the opposite direction from her partners.

“You and me, then,” Marinette said to Robin. With a thought, she smirked. “Bet you we can make it to that rooftop before they do.”

“Tt, Red Hood has probably already gotten distracted by another passing fancy.” Why did the way he said that sound familiar? “But I believe you are correct.” And he rushed off.

She matched him, swing for swing. And silently, they stole through the sky, listening to Chat Noir baiting Red Hood about something, Abeille snarking over his comeback, their teammates laughter covering the sound of them thoroughly catching up and then, without warning, surpassing them.

“Hey!” Abeille called, and suddenly it was an actual race.

Marinette gave Robin one look and he, by some miracle, seemed to understand. They split around a building, and Marinette was on her own.

Each swing brought her higher, each view of Gotham new and beautiful and confusing, until she heard it.

On the streets below her, a raised voice.

“Chat,” she called as loudly as she dared, knowing that he would hear her. And then she dropped down.

“Please, please, just let me go-“ the woman cried, clutching a bag to her chest.

“Where are you gonna go, huh, Cynthia?” The man asked, looming over her. “A fucking homeless shelter? You gonna sleep on the streets? You know none of your friends are gonna put up with your goddamn bullshit the way I do—”

“Anything’s better than going back with you!” Cynthia shouted, looking terrified. Marinette couldn’t stop herself from stepping in.

“Madame?” She moves out of the shadows and into the narrow beam of lamplight that covered the street. “What is the problem?”

Cynthia raised her wild eyes to Marinette and dashed towards her, cowering behind. “Please, please, don’t make me go back with him, I can’t. I can’t.”

“Listen, Red,” the man spoke to her. “This ain’t your business. Let me take my girlfriend home, she’s got meds that keep her from doing shit like this-“

“I don’t,” she spat. “Don’t fucking lie, I don’t have meds, you just-“

“Sir,” Marinette said calmly, her pulse like a jackhammer on the inside of her ribs. “If this really is a simple disagreement, perhaps some time apart will help you both collect yourselves. I’m sure—‘

“You ain’t sure of nothin’, bitch,” the man sneered. “That’s my girl. You’ll hand her over to me or you’ll face the goddamn consequences.”

Marinette’s hesitation was her downfall. There was no way she was going to let the man take Cynthia, but she was torn between getting the woman away quickly or trying to talk down the boyfriend. And in the second where she waited, the man chuckled.

“Please, no,” Cynthia whispered. Marinette turned her head to assure her. The woman looked stricken, eyes wide over Marinette’s shoulder.

The gun she didn’t see him pull went off.

TAGLIST:

@the-fusionist @rebecarojas07 @lowandco @kotaleartzu @resignedcatservant @alenee13 @mystery-5-5 @ladybug-182 @actual-disaster-human @loysydark @rumbelle18 @magic-miraculous @vixen-uchiha @athena452 @mochegato @ash-amg @worlds-tiniest-spook-pastry @thestressmademedoit @sassakitty @doriebell @toodaloo-kangaroo @myazael @theatreandcomicfreak @mer-mel @dahjokester @northernbluetongue @abrx2002 @area51qt @jessigurl-design @renscorpio @cici-schnee @multplelifes @redscarlet95 @razzledazzle247 @rosep16 @emotionalsupportginger @kceedraws @tired-butterfly @kuroko26 @catthhay @moonystars14 @shamefullove @shreky-boi @imanerddealwith @chaosace @captainmac6 @purple-people-eaters-productions @crazylittlemunchkin @weird-pale-blonde-person @bigpicklebananatree

#maribat #daminette #daminette soulmates #soulmate au #fanfic #MUAHAHAHAHA #This is definitely inspired by and made for our angst queens on the discord~

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refinedbuffoonery · 4 years

Text

Flawless (4)

masterlist.

Content Warning: swearing, violence, sex, PTSD

Short update this week! I just started a new semester, and I’m taking a maximum credit load, so it’s very possible that a) there won’t be an update next weekend b) updates will be every other weekend instead of every weekend for a while. We’ll see how it goes. Thank you so much for all your love and support!

*****

Riley woke to Kalei’s lips on the back of her neck. “Good morning,” she hummed.

“Morning, gorgeous.” Kalei’s hands explored Riley’s body as he spooned her, slowly waking her nerves with each touch. Eventually touching turned to kissing, kissing to making out, and making out to bodies writhing between the sheets and loud moans echoing throughout the apartment.

Riley couldn’t remember the last time she had a one night stand this good. Maybe never.

When they finally parted, Riley pulled on a black silk robe and headed to the kitchen to make coffee for them both while Kalei showered.

She nearly had a heart attack when she realized she wasn’t alone. Desi sat on one of the barstools looking pissed as hell, and Riley instantly regretted ever giving that woman a key. “How long have you been here?” she demanded.

“Too long.”

“Pervert.” Riley turned her back on her unwelcome guest and resumed her coffee mission.

“I take it you had fun last night,” Desi said coolly. “Considering you brought it home with you.”

“I did.” Riley smirked. “Coffee?” Desi shook her head.

Before she could say anything else, Riley’s fun entered the kitchen. “Oh,” Kalei said, noticing Desi. “Am I interrupting something?”

“Nope,” Riley said sweetly at the same time Desi growled, “Yes.”

Kalei’s gaze flicked between the two women, clearly confused about where to go from here. “Uhh—”

“Why don’t you give us a minute.” Desi gave him an icy smile.

Riley whirled on her friend, glaring. “You don’t tell him what to do. He is my guest. You, on the other hand, are not.”

Hands raised in surrender, Kalei backed off anyway, stuttering, “I’m gonna go.” He made a beeline for the bedroom, shutting the door behind him.

“You didn’t have to be so rude.”

“You know why I’m here?” Desi snapped.

Riley sighed, crossing her arms. “Why?”

“Because I got home from work at three in the morning and found Nikki in my bed, with my girlfriend. And then I got in trouble for waking them up because apparently, Nikki had just calmed down from her rage fit because you ditched everyone during your little girls’ night!”

Taking a sip of her coffee to hide her annoyance, Riley replied, “Nikki literally watched me buy a new box of condoms when we went shopping the other day. She shouldn’t be surprised.”

Desi rolled her eyes. “She’s not mad about you hooking up with some guy, you idiot. She’s mad because you were supposed to be showing the new girl the ropes and then you just left. I suggest you put on your big girl pants and apologize before Nikki decides to replace you.”

“She can’t.” Riley leaned back against the counter. “The Five Eyes are my team.”

Desi raised an eyebrow. “With that attitude? Not for much longer.”

“So what, you’re here just to scold me like you’re my mom?”

“No. I’m here because I’m your friend, and because everyone else thinks you need to be knocked off your high horse.”

A beat. “And you? What do you think?”

“I think you need help. I think prison affected you way more than you’re letting on, and I think you still hold a grudge against Nikki for getting you arrested in the first place, whether you realize it or not.”

Riley was silent. If those words had come from anyone else, she would’ve been seeing red, but it was different coming from Desi. There was more...weight to them. More truth. Desi wasn’t the most forthcoming person in the world, but she also wasn’t a liar.

“Okay,” Riley said slowly. “What do you suggest I do about it?”

“Talk to someone. Preferably a therapist.” Desi sighed. “But if that’s too scary, you can start by talking to me. I’ve been where you are.”

“What are you talking about? You’ve never been convicted for any of your crimes.”

“I’m talking about PTSD, Riley. I have it, and I’m willing to bet you do too.”

Riley caught her shoulders caving in and quickly straightened up. Don’t show weakness, she reminded herself. “You don’t talk about it.”

“I talk about it with Sam.”

It was Riley’s turn to roll her eyes. “Whatever,” she snarked.

“It’s not whatever, and you know it.”

Riley was over this conversation. “Can I get back to the very hot man in my bed now?”

Desi almost looked sad as she stood. “Please, just...think about what I said.” She walked out the door without another word, leaving Riley with nothing but Desi’s echoing words as company.

*****

Riley sat across from Jill on her couch, laptop mirroring the schematics of the Louvre onto the T.V. Slouched into the black leather cushions, Riley’s casual posture didn't match the way her eyes narrowed as she studied the screen. It looked like she was pouting, but Riley didn’t care. Beside her, Jill did the opposite—sitting up straight, eyes calmly taking in the information on the screen.

"How would you do it?" Riley asked.

"Huh?"

Riley turned her attention to Jill. "If you were planning to rob the most secure museum in the world, how would you do it?"

Jill pursed her lips, thinking. She stood, stepping closer to the T.V. "I would do it on a crowded day for more cover. The bigger the crowd, the better. And I wouldn't take something crazy famous that people would immediately realize was missing.” I wouldn’t take the French Crown Jewels, she clearly meant. Riley ignored the implied questioning of her judgement, giving Jill a free pass, but only because she was new.

“Go on,” Riley urged.

“The way I see it, there’s two ways we could do this. The first way, we do it in broad daylight, disguised as employees. Make up some documentation that the item needs to be moved for some reason. By the time someone figures us out, we’ll be long gone.”

Not bad, Riley thought. But she knew firsthand that Jill’s plan wasn’t as easy as she made it sound. “And the other way?”

“Cut the power, create chaos, grab it and run.”

A small grin curved Riley’s lips. “I like your style.” A plan started to form in her mind. Cutting the power would not only provide darkness as a cover, but it would also disable all of the security systems in place. All they’d have to do is get out unseen before the power was restored.

“So how do we put the jewels on the black market?” Jill asked, sitting back down. “It seems to me that we might as well just tattoo ‘I did it’ onto our foreheads if we’re going to be that obvious.”

Riley smirked. “Don’t worry about that. I can keep us completely anonymous. We’ll get our money with no one the wiser.”

Crossing one leg under her, Jill said, “So you really don’t have an ulterior motive, do you? This is just plain old doing crime for money.” She fidgeted with the hem of her jeans as she spoke.

“Yep. I like it that way. All I have to lose is a shit ton of money I don’t need.”

“But if you’re the insanely talented hacker Nikki said you are, then why don’t you work for the government or something?” She pushed up her oversized glasses. “Why not use your skills for good?”

“I have no interest in wasting my life behind a desk.”

Pressing on, she said, “Then become a spy or something. I’m pretty sure the CIA hires nerds like you.” Eyes widening, Jill realized her mistake as soon as the words left her lips.

“Nerds like me, huh?” Riley toyed, enjoying Jill’s discomfort. The blonde’s confidence was always so short-lived. “I’m just a common criminal,” Riley said in a low, confident tone. “I get my rush from stealing stuff. Do you know where the CIA gets it’s rush?” Jill shook her head. “From toppling foreign governments and premeditated murder.” A pause. “I’m a lot of things, Jill Morgan, but a murderer is not one of them.”

Jill seemed to think it over for a few seconds before murmuring, “You might not be a murderer, but you are anything but a common criminal, Riley Davis.”

Silence.

The moment passed, and Jill looked more confused than ever. Riley fed her empty answer after empty answer, but it seemed the new recruit saw right through her facade to the impenetrable wall between the real Riley and the world. For a long time, that wall was her only source of safety, and Riley wasn’t too keen on taking it down. Especially not with someone new.

Clearly Jill hadn’t figured that out yet. “What am I missing?” she probed. Jill studied Riley like she could see right through the wall if she just looked hard enough. Riley didn’t like it. “I know why I’m here. You’re still trying to decide whether to trust me.” She paused. “But what you haven’t done is give me a reason to trust you.”

“You trust Nikki,” Riley said matter of factly. “You wouldn’t be here if you didn’t.”

“That’s true. But Nikki isn’t the one walking around like the living embodiment of a loaded gun.” Riley arched a brow in challenge, and surprisingly, Jill didn’t back down this time. “It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out you’ve been gone for a while, and I bet your friend leaving the team had something to do with that. So tell me, what am I missing?”

Sucking her teeth, Riley shrugged. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

With way more authority than she actually had, Jill said, “I’m going to refill my water bottle, and when I get back I expect an explanation.”

“And when you don’t get said explanation?”

“Then I will walk out that door and rat you all out to my friends at LAPD.” Taken aback by the threat, Riley said nothing. The coldness in Jill’s eyes and the set of her jaw made Riley think she wasn’t bluffing. Riley managed to school her face into neutrality, but her hand twitched, and Jill saw it. And suddenly they both knew Riley was backed into a corner she couldn’t get out of—not without this becoming very messy, anyway.

Perhaps she had misjudged Jill completely.

The thirty seconds it took Jill to fill her water wasn’t enough time for Riley to improvise her escape. Begrudgingly, she settled for the truth. “You want to know where I’ve been? Fine. I was in prison for the last two years. I’ve been out for almost a week.”

“Why.” It was more of a demand than a question.

“During our last job, Nikki and Leanna—who you’re replacing—got caught. I bailed them out. Everyone else made it out just fine, and I got arrested.”

Jill’s expression softened. “You sacrificed yourself for them,” she said, almost in awe. “Do you regret it?”

Riley swallowed. Her pre-prison self would’ve rescued her friends—her family—every time, without a second thought. But after prison...she would rather die than go back. Jill looked at her expectantly, awaiting an answer.

Telling Jill wasn’t the same as telling the others. She’s practically a stranger. But the others...telling them would make it all real. So in a rare moment of honesty, Riley finally admitted, “Sometimes.”

A beat. “Thank you for telling me.”

The air was thick with the murky truth Riley had revealed—and the implications that went with it. Confessing didn’t make her feel any better. Mostly Riley just felt like she’d lost something she could never get back.

“So in a big crowd, huh?” Riley said to break the tension.

The unreadable expression lingered for a moment before Jill finally looked away with a muttered “Uh, yeah.” She mindlessly pushed up her glasses with her middle finger. A nervous habit, Riley realized. Jill babbled, “I heard that some designer is renting the Louvre for an afterparty during Fashion Week. Apparently they’re unveiling some diamond and sapphire jewelry set at the party, in the same room that holds the French Crown Jewels. I think that it’s super tacky comparing something new to something so old and beautiful, but supposedly the new jewels are worth millions.”

A thought began forming in Riley’s head. “How many million?”

“Hundreds.”

Nodding her approval, Riley said, “That’s not a bad idea, Blondie.”

Jill seemed almost comically lost. “Idea?” she questioned. “What idea?”

“Since you all hated my crown jewels plan, why don’t we get the next best thing?”

Her eyes widened in understanding. “Oh.”

Riley asked, “Where did you hear about the party anyway?” Jill chewed her lower lip, hesitating, but Riley didn’t have much patience these days. “Well?” she demanded.

“Nikki.”

Of course that’s who she heard it from. Nikki kept up with the fashion industry like her life depended on it. “I see,” Riley said. So much for escaping awkward conversations.

“You should talk to her,” Jill blurted. “I know things are weird between you right now, but they won’t get better by doing nothing.”

Riley hated how small her voice sounded when she whispered, “I know.”

~ Tag List ~ (let me know if you’d like to be added!)

@macrileyedits / @hellishrose / @incorret-macgyver-quotes / @mylifequotesshowallofthem / @thecarrieonokay

#beth writes #flawless au #macgyver #riley davis #nikki carpenter #desiree nguyen #samantha cage #jill morgan #macgyver fanfiction

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and-it-freezes-me · 3 years

Text

Accidents Happen - The Weight Of Repentance

Summary: A series of sometimes less than satisfying apologies - but Roman is trying his best.

Content: A lot of apologising, some swearing, mention of transphobia, Roman actually starting to put things right

Word count: 6,965

{Part 5} {Part 7}

He started with Virgil.

Yes, if he were going in order of people he had hurt most - or even first - he should have started with Remus, but he chose Virgil for two reasons: by the time he woke up, it was almost five in the evening and he was fairly certain that visiting hours would be over; apologising to Virgil, whilst daunting, was less nerve-racking than apologising to Remus would be. If Virgil decided he never wanted to speak to him again, Roman would understand and, sad though it would be, that could be the end of it. If Remus decided he never wanted to see him again… That would be worse.

Despite knowing that apologising was the most important thing he would be doing that day - possibly the most important thing he would ever do - Roman didn’t leave immediately. Instead, he got up and went to the kitchen, where he made himself drink several large glasses of water and eat a sandwich. Then he pulled flour, food dye, eggs, chocolate, sugar, and milk from their various homes around the room and made cookie batter - while they were cooking, he showered, washing away some of the grime and sleaze and ickiness that had accumulated over the last two days.

Finally feeling a little more like a human than the Thing That Crawled Out Of The Swamp, he made his way downstairs to find that half of the purple chocolate-chip cookies had burned.

Shit.

Didn’t matter. He still had a good handful - well, seven - that were still edible, so he packed them into one of the empty takeaway containers that his dad hoarded as though they were encrusted with jewels and set off.

Roman had knocked on the door of Virgil’s house before it occurred to him that he should probably figure out what he was going to say to his parents. “Hi, I’m here to apologise to your son for being the worst friend in the world after about four years of all but ignoring him entirely” didn’t sound like it would make him many friends. All in all, it was a relief when Remy opened the door - although Roman had to do a double-take to make sure that it was really Remy he was looking at, and not an imposter.

This Remy had shed his ever-present leather jacket, and his usually impeccable hair was messy and ruffled, sunglasses nowhere in sight. He was grinning when he opened the door - although the smile dropped into a wary, suspicious look when he saw who it was - and was holding a wallet in one hand as though he had been expecting a food delivery. A smudge of something apricot-coloured was on his jaw. This Remy actually looked happy, rather than existentially bored.

Well, until he saw Roman, that was. Roman felt like a complete jerk for ruining his mood.

“What do you want now? I’m a little busy here.”

“Is that lipstick on your face?” Roman should probably learn to think things through rather than just blurting them out.

Remy managed to look even more unimpressed than usual. He raised a hand and rubbed his thumb across his chin, studied the yellow smudge briefly, and then wiped it off onto the palm of the same hand. “Yes.”

Oh. Well, okay then. Remy was clearly not in a chatty mood. Not that Roman could really blame him.

“Is… Virgil here?” He asked nervously, and Remy raised an eyebrow at him.

“No.”

“Are you flirting with the pizza guy, Remy?” Roman craned his neck to look over Remy’s head - he was blocking the way into the house so he couldn’t just look past him - but he needn’t have bothered: a second later, a pair of bronzed arms wrapped around Remy’s waist and a pink-haired face appeared over his shoulder. He was squinting a little, as though he wasn’t wearing glasses when he should be, had Remy’s sunglasses perched in his hair, and his yellow lipstick was smudged. He peered suspiciously at Roman. “You’re not the pizza guy.”

“He wants to talk to Virgil, Em.”

“Virgil’s at-”

“See? He’s not here, Roman. Come back another time. Or not, I don’t really give a damn.” Remy made to close the door, but his boyfriend put out a hand to catch it, squinting at Roman with significantly more interest now.

“You’re Roman?” Roman nodded nervously, and the boyfriend’s face - Em’s face - softened. “Virgil misses you. And from what I heard, you’re not doing so well either.”

“I - I know. I mean - about me, not about him.” Roman lifted the box of cookies awkwardly, and Em smiled encouragingly at him. It was a very welcome expression. “I’m trying to… Fix things with him.”

Remy’s expression barely changed, but something in the slight crease between his eyebrows said that Roman just didn’t get it and shifted a little in a way that said he was about to try to shut the door again.

It hadn’t just been Virgil he had hurt here.

“Remy, I’m sorry,” he blurted, and Remy stilled. Em’s arms shifted around his waist and he leaned up to press a small kiss against his temple. “I shouldn’t have… I was a mess last night, and that’s not… That’s not an excuse. If it helps, I did listen to what you said, that’s… That’s part of why I’m here.”

The roaring of a motorbike engine interrupted what would otherwise have been a very quiet moment, and then Remy made a frustrated noise.

“I’ll forgive you for last night. Everything else depends on whether you grovel enough for Vee to forgive you.”

“Uh… Pizza for a… Remile Spicy? Or… Spicani? I don’t know. Is this the right place?” Roman glanced over his shoulder to see a woman around his age, holding a large cardboard box and looking at the three of them with faint interest.

“Emile, I’m going to have to ban you from ordering us pizza.”

“You’re only saying that because your brother’s friend just heard that.”

“That’s ours, how much do I…”

Roman stepped to the side to allow Remy to go to pay for their pizza, and turned to find that Em was still studying him. Maybe he was just trying to figure out what Roman actually looked like - it really didn’t look as though he should be wandering around without glasses.

“Um. Hi?”

Em startled, then chuckled. “Sorry! I took my glasses off earlier, I’m not really staring… I guess this is where I’m supposed to take advantage of the fact that Rem’s distracted and start threatening you so you don’t kiss my boyfriend again?”

Roman’s heart sank despite the pink-haired man’s lighthearted tone. “He told you, huh?”

“Yeah. It didn’t sound like a common occurrence, though. Rough day?”

“You could say that.” Roman laughed bitterly, and Em made a sympathetic sort of clucking sound with his tongue. “I’m not planning on repeating the mistake, that’s for sure.”

“Chalk it up as a learning experience,” he recommended, and Roman nodded slowly. “You’ll know what not to do next time.”

“Right. Thanks. So… Virgil. Is he at Patton’s?”

“Patton’s been living with us for almost three years, Roman. Something that is also your fault, by the way.” Remy had rejoined them, pushing the large box into his boyfriend’s hands and opening it to take a slice.

Another stab to the chest. Roman rubbed his free hand over his face. “I… Didn’t know.” Timewise, that lined up with the point at which Patton had stopped being so friendly towards him, but Roman still couldn’t figure out why.

“Of course not.” Remy scoffed, but softened a little when Em shifted the pizza box into one arm and squeezed his shoulder.

“He’s trying, babe. You have to give people the opportunity to make amends, even if you don’t have to let them back in…”

Remy let out what sounded like a frustrated groan, his shoulders slumping in defeat. “I hate it when you use your psychology voodoo on me…”

“That wasn’t voodoo, that was common sense.”

“Whatever. I still expect compensation.”

Roman cleared his throat, and Remy looked back at him. “They’re both over at Logan’s. I’ll text you the address.”

“Thank you, Remy. Thanks, Em. Um, enjoy your… Evening?”

Remy smirked at him.

Logan could not have lived further away from Virgil if they had tried.

Well, that wasn’t entirely true. They still lived in the same town - it wasn’t as though they lived on the other side of the world or anything ridiculous like that. It was almost an hour’s walk through the stiflingly hot evening, though, and Roman had had to stop three times on the way over to sit down on a wall or in a bus stop because his head had started swimming. His hair was stuck to his forehead with a sheen of sweat when he finally did drag his feet up the small path to Logan’s home and pressed his finger against the bell.

Nothing happened for a few moments, and he was grateful for the time to regain at least a little of his composure.

“You look like shit.” It was Virgil’s voice - of course it was. Roman couldn’t imagine either Patton or Logan saying anything like that, and Logan didn’t have any siblings. “What are you doing here? I already told you I’m done informing for you.”

“I made cookies.” Roman started, then held out the box toward Virgil, who just looked confused. He was wearing a large hooded cardigan despite it being the middle of summer, a pair of sweatpants, and his bare feet were very pale against the dark carpet of the house. Without the eyeshadow he usually wore, he looked younger, somehow. Younger, and tired.

He didn’t move to take the container from Roman. “It’s eight at night - half eight. Why are you bringing cookies to my date’s house?” Virgil’s voice bordered on hostile.

Oh. Yeah, maybe Roman should actually explain his presence before expecting to be invited in. Especially given how much he had hurt his ex best friend. “I… I’m here to apologise.”

Virgil couldn’t have looked more surprised if Roman had just announced that he was going to become a clown, or astrophysicist, and the knife in Roman’s guts twisted slightly. Was an apology from him really such a shocking thing?

It must be.

And that… That felt bad.

“Apologise.” Although his voice was flat, Roman had a feeling that there was a lot going on behind Virgil’s dark eyes. “Apologise for what, exactly?”

Roman shifted and glanced over his shoulder. Although the sun was setting, it wouldn’t get dark for a while longer, and it was almost unbearably warm. “Can I come in? I…”

“What are you apologising for, Roman?” Virgil’s voice had taken on a brittle edge. “Because if you don’t know, you can just leave.”

Well. Roman’s tongue darted out to wet his peeling lower lip. “For… For Wednesday, for trying to… Well, blackmail you.” Virgil’s face closed down completely, and he turned to go back inside. “Wait!” Roman called, his voice cracking slightly. Virgil stopped, but didn’t turn back to face him. “Not just that. For - For everything. For ditching you for no reason. For using you - to get information, sure, but as a ticket to your brother’s friends’ parties, to make me feel better about myself and Remus, for… All of that. And… Remy mentioned how you, um… I want to apologise for not calling, or… Being there for you. And -”

Virgil had turned back to face him now, his jaw tight. He could have been about to cry, or about to punch him, and Roman had no idea which it was. He plunged on anyway.

“I want to apologise to Logan. For using them to drag my grades up and then ignoring them. For trying to use them to blackmail you. For being a generally dreadful person.”

Virgil glanced over his shoulder and into the house, then sighed and stepped back to allow Roman to follow him inside. Roman didn’t move. He had started, and he wanted to at least finish what amounted to a summary of why he was there.

“And to Patton. Only… I really don’t know what I did there. Remy just said something about him living with you being my fault, so…”

“Come on. And give me the cookies.” Virgil held out a hand until Roman gave him the box, then allowed Virgil to lead him through the house and into what had to be the living room. A large, squishy-looking couch was pushed against one wall, and a matching armchair stood beside it, both angled inward toward a wall-mounted television. An image of Ariel was frozen on the screen, the still from somewhere halfway through the movie: clearly, Roman had interrupted movie night. Patton was sitting in one corner, a bowl of popcorn between his knees. He looked around when Virgil entered, but his smile dropped to something less than radiant when he saw that Roman was with him. “What’s he doing here?”

Virgil left Roman standing awkwardly in the doorway and went to sit next to Patton, draping an arm over his shoulders, and the blond curled up against him. They both turned to look expectantly at Roman, who cleared his throat.

“Um… Where’s Logan?” He really only wanted to have to do this once.

“Praying. Al-maghrib. They’ll be back in a few minutes.” Virgil stole a handful of popcorn from the bowl in Patton’s lap and started eating it, not taking his eyes off of Roman, who was starting to feel very uncomfortable.

He gestured toward the squishy armchair. “Do you… Mind if I sit?”

Virgil shrugged. Patton slipped a hand under his glasses and rubbed at his eyes, then peered at Roman again. “You look… Paler than usual. I’ll be right back, Vee. Let go?”

He left the room, leaving Roman alone with Virgil’s icy gaze, and returned with a glass of water, which he handed to Roman. Roman smiled gratefully, but Patton just looked at him, and his smile slipped away quickly.

Several uncomfortable minutes passed in silence. Roman drained his glass of water quickly before putting it carefully on the floor by his feet, but then had nothing to distract himself from the two pairs of eyes boring into him. He was almost relieved when Logan stepped into the room - until they looked at him and frowned, making their way over to sit beside Virgil. “Why is Roman Wang in my house, guys?” They were wearing a navy blue sundress with a strawberry pattern on it. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Roman noted that it looked good on them. Then he felt even worse. What was wrong with him? “My parents are going to be home soon, and they’re expecting to find the three of us emotionally unscarred.”

Roman winced. Ouch. Neither Virgil nor Patton said anything - which he guessed he deserved, really - and then the three of them were cuddled together on the couch, all watching him.

He swallowed. No time like the present. He might as well start with his host. He was fairly certain he had the least to apologise for there, too.

“Logan, I… I was pretty awful to you when we met. I… Made fun of you for your desire to speak explicitly, and then I… Well, I flattered you until you agreed to tutor me, and then I went back to mocking you as soon as I passed the subject.” Roman hesitated, chewing at his lower lip as he tried to figure out how to proceed. He probably should have thought this through more before he had started talking.

“I am aware of those facts, Roman. Do you have a point, or are you here to bring up past hurts?” Logan didn’t sound particularly hurt - but that was another thing Roman had teased them for, he remembered. The robot jokes seemed less funny now, and more needlessly cruel.

“I’m sorry. I used you, and then I ditched you so that whoever I was trying to impress didn’t think I thought you were cool, and that was… A pretty horrible thing to do to you. It was completely out of line, and pointless. I hurt you, and I… I’m sorry.” Roman paused again, and risked another glance at the three of them. Did they look ever so slightly less strict than before? He hoped so.

“Oh. And I shouldn’t have tried to use you as blackmail material against Patton and Virgil. And I shouldn’t have tried to blackmail you two. That was just… So out of line. I don’t know what I was thinking. I don’t think I was thinking. I’m sorry.”

Did Logan nod? It looked as though they might have nodded. Emboldened, Roman turned his attention to Patton.

“And Patton, I… I’m ashamed to say that I’m not entirely sure what I did to you. Remy said you ended up moving in with the Spinces, but I… You can tell me, or you can not, but… Either way, I want to make it up to you. If you can give me pointers on what not to do next time, or something, I’d… Appreciate that.”

As he had spoken, Patton’s eyes had started watering, and he had nestled closer to Virgil, who was still staring at Roman as though he wasn’t sure what to make of him now, but Roman better start proving himself very quickly.

Patton’s voice was tremulous when he spoke. “I… I don’t think you meant to do it, you know? You just weren’t thinking about anybody other than yourself.”

“Like usual,” Virgil interrupted, and Logan shushed him by pressing a finger over his lips.

“You just… Well, my parents were... Speaking to you after that theatre performance you did, back in ninth grade, and… Well, they knew I was a guy after that.”

Oh. Oh, shit. Roman buried his face in both hands. He couldn’t remember the conversation, but he could fully believe that he had forgotten to use Patton’s old pronouns and deadname in front of his parents. He could fully believe that Patton’s deeply conservative parents would be intensely un-thrilled about having a son rather than the daughter they’d thought they had. “Pat, I… I am so, so sorry. Really. I… I wish I hadn’t.”

“Me too,” Patton murmured. “Me too.”

Virgil wrapped both arms around him and pulled him into his lap - an interesting decision, given that Patton was rather chubbier than Virgil and probably proportionally heavier, but not one that Roman could otherwise fault.

“I’m going to do better.” Was all Roman could say. Patton nodded, rubbing at his eyes again.

And then came the hardest part. The slimy, sick feeling in Roman’s stomach was back, had been there almost as soon as he had arrived outside of Virgil’s home, but now it increased tenfold.

“Virgil, I…” Roman’s mouth was dry again. He shouldn’t have drained his glass of water so quickly.

Virgil just looked at him, chin resting on Patton’s shoulder. Patton had turned so that he was curled against him now, feet stretched out to rest in Logan’s lap. His toes had been painted a bright blue.

No - he should look Virgil in the eyes while he did this. Licking his lower lip, Roman dragged his gaze back up to his pale, tired face. “I was a horrible friend toward you. I am… You deserved so much better than what I… I know I was an arse back then.”

“You never said a truer word, Princey.” Virgil shifted a little to take the hand that Logan was offering him, and they rubbed a thumb over his knuckles. “Although I’m going to have to correct that last sentence a little. Your status as an arse is ongoing.”

“Quiet, Doctor Doom ‘n’ Gloom. I’m trying to apolo… Uh. Sorry.”

Patton chuckled, and Logan turned their head to look incredulously at him. He fell silent, but not before Virgil had actually cracked a smile. He waved a hand for Roman to continue.

“It was deeply, deeply not okay of me to try to ditch you for some ‘cooler’ friends.” He made air quotes around the word. It hadn’t really sunk in until exactly that second that Virgil was the infinitely cooler one of the two of them: he had never tried to dress to fit in, had never changed his attitude or watered himself down when Roman had begged him to try to be a little more ‘normal’, and now he was curled up on a sofa with two people that he was clearly incredibly fond of while Roman had managed to drive away everybody that had ever cared about him.

“I shouldn’t have just started avoiding you. I… I really regret that now.” Virgil’s face hadn’t changed, but when Logan made a pained noise Roman glanced down to see that Virgil was gripping his hand so hard that he was leaving pale marks around his fingers where the blood wasn’t getting through. He swallowed again, harder this time. “And… When you were off school, at the start of eighth grade, I… Taking that as an opportunity to completely cut you out was one of the most stupid decisions I’ve ever made. I should have been there for you. I should have checked if you were alright, I should have… Well. I had no idea that you…” He gestured aimlessly at Virgil, who raised an eyebrow slowly. “I should have. You should have been able to talk to me, and I was a stupid, horrible jerk.”

What else was there for him to say? If he kept going, he would just keep repeating himself - even more so than he already had. Roman pressed the palms of his hands together in front of him.

“I… I don’t expect you to… You know, forgive me, or magically want to be friends again, or… Any of that. I hurt you. A lot. I just wanted - no, I needed to apologise. So… I’m sorry. I am so, so sorry.”

He hadn’t started crying. If this had been a story, Roman thought, he would have started crying, and Virgil would have started crying, and they would have hugged, and everything would have been alright again. Instead, he just felt… Raw. As though he had reached down his throat, taken hold of a bramble that had been long rooted in the base of his torso, and ripped it out through his mouth. At the same time, though, he felt lighter than he could remember feeling in a long, long time.

Virgil regarded him for a long moment. Roman wanted to squirm under the intense gaze, but forced himself to remain motionless, holding his stare. He was holding his breath, he realised.

Finally, Virgil closed his eyes and sighed, and Patton snuggled closer to him. “Roman… You know, every time I imagined this, you came crawling back to me begging for forgiveness. And it was the most satisfying thing in the world to deny you that. To make you hurt even a tiny bit as much as I did.”

Roman nodded, forcing himself to exhale slowly. That was okay. He wasn’t really expecting forgiveness, after all.

“I think I’d forgive you,” Patton offered, and everybody looked at him. He went red. “Uh. For me, not for Virgil. I know you didn’t mean to out me, and… I don’t exactly know what’s caused this personality swap, kiddo, but I think you’re going to be more careful in the future.”

Now Roman felt his eyes growing damp, and he ducked his head gratefully. “Thanks… Thanks, Pat.”

“It appears as though you are a better person than I, Patton,” Logan added thoughtfully. “Given the amount of pain he has caused the two of you, I am wary to believe fully in any sudden transformations, especially when their cause is unknown.”

Roman nodded again. That was okay, too.

“I… Thank you for apologising, Roman.” It looked as though Virgil were turning the words over in his mind several times before he spoke them. “I think… I need time.”

Rubbing a hand across his eyes to dry them, Roman stood up. “Of course. Thank you for hearing me out, guys. I’ll show myself out…” He should leave. Hanging around wouldn’t make things any better, after all - that would probably just make everything incredibly awkward. He didn’t want to impose on movie night, anyway.

“Thanks for the cookies, Ro.” This time, Virgil actually gave him the very smallest smile.

There was a chance that, if he worked hard enough, they could be friends again.

It wasn’t until Roman got outside that he remembered that he was going to have to walk home again.

The following day, he spent an hour and a half on various buses on the way to see Remus. His parents had grounded him when he had gotten home the previous evening, so there was no way he could borrow one of their cars - but he wasn’t about to sit around in his room when he had so many things to fix.

Then, of course, he discovered that Remus didn’t want to see him.

He had been sitting in the visitation room again, watching the clock on the wall - it was only a little after nine in the morning; he was the first person there - for almost ten minutes when the guard that had showed him in came back over to his table to inform him that Remus Wang had refused to come out when he had been told the identity of his visitor.

Roman felt a dull pang in his chest at the words.

“Can you… Can you tell him that it’s important? That I’m here to apologise for some stuff? Please?”

“Fine.” The guard didn’t look impressed. “But I’m not a messenger. This is the only chance you get.”

She left and a different guard took her place at the door. Another ten minutes passed before she returned, this time with a distinctly pissed off looking Remus. He threw himself into the chair on the other side of the table, tugged briefly at the long sleeves of his jumpsuit, and then scowled up at Roman.

“I told you to fuck off less than a week ago, Ro-ro. You have five minutes - this had better be good.” There was a fresh bruise on his jaw, and Roman wanted to hug him.

Instead, he licked his lower lip. “I know about Janus.”

Remus’ face paled, and fear rippled across it - and Roman realised suddenly that the expression he had seen last time hadn’t been fear after all. What had it been, then?

“Don’t. Roman, whatever you’re thinking, don’t.”

“I-”

“Please.” Roman had never heard Remus say please like that before. It was as though he were begging. “Don’t do anything. You can’t.” No, he was begging. And the fear on Remus’ face - that had been fear of him.

And that felt like being punched in the gut.

“Remus - stop, I -” Impulsively, Roman reached across the table and grabbed Remus’ hands in his, squeezing them. Remus flinched - he had never been much of a fan of unprompted contact, Roman remembered suddenly - but stopped talking. “I’m not here about Janus.”

“Four.” Remus paused to clear his throat, looking as though he were trying to push down a torrent of words. Roman probably shouldn’t have started with Janus. “Four minutes.”

Roman shifted, then let go of his brother and pressed his palms together once more. “Look, I…”

“Three minutes and thirty seconds.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Really.” There was no question in Remus’ voice. There was nothing that sounded as though he believed Roman, either.

“Yes.” Roman couldn’t keep the fervour out of his voice, and he could tell that Remus was surprised by the emotion in the word. “Yes, Remus, I’m sorry. I - I’ve been a shitty brother. You were right.”

“Keep talking.”

“It’s been… Ages, since we were okay, and that’s… That’s largely my fault. Remus, I’m sorry. I’ve been using you as a scape-goat for years, and I don’t have any good excuse for it - other than being a coward. That’s all I have. I used you so that I could look perfect for - well, our parents, mostly, but everybody else as well.” He had half thought this speech through on the way over, but now that the time came to deliver it Roman found that he could barely remember his lines.

Maybe he wasn’t such a good actor after all.

“I - You deserved so much better. You deserved somebody in your corner, somebody you could talk to when you needed it, you deserved… I should have been there for you, and I wasn’t.” It occurred to him that this apology sounded very like the one he had given Virgil the previous evening - but hadn’t he done similar things to the pair of them? Cut them out, made them seem like the problem - or at least more of the problem than they were - in order to gain somebody else’s approval? “I ended up treating this, us being brothers, as a competition. For positive attention, and… I don’t know. I don’t know what I was thinking when I blamed the curtains on you, or the car, or Filo, or… Anything. I was just aware that you were used to being in trouble, and I used that.”

Remus was staring at the clock. His eyes had left Roman’s when he had called himself a coward; his hands, which had been pressed against the table, had been drawn back to his chest and he was fiddling with the cuffs of his sleeves. Was he still counting how much time Roman had left? Taking a deep breath, Roman hurried to continue.

“I used you, and I was never there for you, and I am really, really sorry for that. I - I want you to know that I’m going to do everything I can to make it up to you, Rem. I promise.”

Now Remus looked at him again, and there was something about his expression that made him look softer than he had in years. Maybe it was the way his eyes were damp and gleaming.

“Rem?”

Roman resisted the urge to reach out to squeeze Remus’ hands again - he was fairly certain that he wouldn’t want to be touched - and tilted his head, trying to work out what was going on behind his twin’s eyes.

Remus inhaled a slow, slightly shuddery breath, and hope kindled in Roman’s chest. “What did you do to him?”

Roman knew who he was talking about without having to ask. He swallowed hard. (Was this how Janus had felt, when Roman had called him back and then accused him of trying to hurt him and Remus? Every time Roman thought he couldn’t feel worse, he managed it). “I…”

“Lie to me,” Remus interrupted, his voice suddenly dark again, “and I’ll never forgive you. For any of it.”

It wasn’t as though there was any other response to that than the truth. This time it was Roman’s turn to break eye contact, and the groan from the other side of the table told him that Remus must have guessed at least part of it already. “I thought he had done something to land you in here. On purpose, I mean. There were… A lot of things about the crash that didn’t make much sense to me.” And he had been right - but not in any kind of way that made him feel good.

“And?” Remus prompted.

“I pretended to be his friend. For pretty much the last month.” Remus might be shorter than him, but with every word Roman felt as though he were shrinking.

“Oh, Ro-ro, you arsehole…”

Roman winced. “And on Friday, he uh… Asked me out. So I accused him of blackmailing you until you felt the only way to free yourself from him was to kill the two of you.”

“Fuck. Fuck, Roman, why would you -” Remus groaned, and let loose a string of expletives that would make a particularly rude sailor cover their ears. Roman was fairly certain that at least half of them were directed at him. He was approximately as tall as Remus’ ankle now, and growing shorter with every second.

“I know. I fucked up,” he offered, hoping to stem the tide of cursing. That only seemed to make it worse as Remus agreed emphatically.

When he finally seemed to have run out of incredibly creative and explicit ways of expressing his disgust, Remus looked him squarely in the eye. “He’s had this disgusting soft spot for you for over a year, and you… I warned him you’d only hurt him. And it looks like I was right, huh?”

Roman nodded, his throat sticking. How long had Remus known, been warning Janus to avoid him? “I… I pretty much went off the deep end. Been particularly awful to everybody for the last few weeks. Tried to blackmail Virgil into telling me about you and Janus. Tried to hook up with Remy. Hurt Janus.”

Remus winced. “You’re forgetting someone.”

“I’ve been awful to you for pretty much our entire lives, Rem. And I was apologising for that a second ago - I’m still trying t-”

“Not me, Ro-ro. Although I do expect better from you in the future, got it? You’re going to treat me as though I’m actually worth something. I’m not selling myself out again.” Roman nodded immediately, blinking back tears. “I meant, have you taken a look at yourself lately?”

Roman looked at him, not entirely understanding, and then glanced down. He was wearing a grey hoodie with his lucky red sash hung over his shoulders and a pair of dark jeans, and had actually bothered to brush his hair before leaving the house that morning. “I… Just said I’d been awful.”

“Not like that. You’ve lost enough weight to make a full-sized Roman flesh monster - starving yourself isn’t going to fix things.”

“Janus put it slightly more gently.”

Remus raised his eyebrows at him. “Janus is sickeningly besotted with you. I’m your brother. I’m capable of telling you things without filtering them.”

“I… I’m going to apologise to him, too. I saw Virgil yesterday - I would have come to you first, but by the time I woke up, visiting hours were over.” Roman shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “And I… I think he should turn himself in. You shouldn’t be in here.”

There was a loud thud: Remus had tugged too hard at his sleeve, his grip had slipped, and he had cracked his hand against the table. Cursing again, he shook it out before tucking it protectively under his armpit. “No.”

“No? Don’t tell me you want to be in here, I-”

“No,” Remus cut in. “I don’t. But do you know what Janus gets if he comes clean now?”

His voice had lowered, and Roman leaned in, shaking his head nervously.

“First he gets the drunk driving charge - a fine. Then he gets perjury. That’s a fine at the least, and two years at the most. He’ll never be allowed to become a lawyer. It’ll ruin him, Ro. I’m not doing that to him.”

“But - what about you?” Roman didn’t mention the fact that Remus appeared to have a better grip on the law than he did. Maybe it came from too many brushes with it, the uncharitable part of himself whispered. Or maybe it came from being best friends with an aspiring lawyer.

Remus chuckled faintly. “I’ll be out of here in two months if I keep up the good behaviour. Six in the worst case. And I never wanted to go to college or do big things anyway, you know that.” Did he know that? Had they ever had this conversation? Roman could only remember his parents’ disappointment that Remus hadn’t bothered handing in any college applications. “I’ve got an apprenticeship lined up for when I get out.”

Roman kept staring at him, and after a second Remus’ carefree expression became more serious.

“Roman… You were saying that I deserved someone in my corner, yeah? That was Janus. For years. Pretty much since Patton. Every time our parents decided I was too drunk or too messy or too… Bad, to come home. Every time I needed someone to curse to. Every time he needed someone to talk to. Every time his parents were piling the pressure so high he was suffocating under it.” Remus kicked his foot at a table leg, and the vibrations rang quietly through the air. “You, I’ll take the fall for you because you’re my brother. That’s it. That’s what I’m for. I don’t exactly get a choice. And it’s not like anyone would believe me if I did protest, anyway.”

“That’s not-” Roman fell silent when Remus held up a hand to stall his protest.

“Not exactly, but pretty much. Janus, though? I would volunteer to go through every torture imaginable to protect Janus Sinclaire. A few months in here is nothing. Nothing.”

Roman had never heard Remus speak so passionately about anything before. He allowed the silence to spool out between them, like the end of one of those old tapes that their mother kept in a box in the attic - at least until the tape rips and starts making that thrashing sound.

Then he cocked an eyebrow, hoping his luck would hold and that Remus wouldn’t decide that this was too much from a brother that hadn’t really been a brother for years. “Sounds like you’re the one with a crush on him, Rem.”

“Ew, no.” Remus actually snorted, brushing himself down as though suddenly covered in dust. “Get your gross amatonormativity away from me. I’d rather be crushed by a bus than have a crush - especially on my best friend.” He sounded so disgusted that Roman couldn’t hold in his own chuckle, and that made the smirk on Remus’ face broaden to unsettling proportions, which only made him laugh more.

Maybe, just maybe, things could be okay between them.

He spent an hour there before Remus finally dismissed him, half standing and waving a hand at him. “Go on, jerk. Go apologise to my best friend. And get something to eat - if I hear that you’ve skipped one more meal, I’m going to hunt you down, pull out your teeth, and stick them in your ears.”

Roman’s smile slipped a bit. He had almost managed to put Janus’ distraught face out of his mind, but now it came rushing back. “Remus… If he doesn’t forgive me, will you…”

There was an uncharacteristically gentle look on Remus’ face when he did answer. “He’ll forgive you. Especially if you prove that you really are trying to be better. That’s all any of us need, really: you trying to be better.” He cleared his throat. “Shouldn’t be hard, of course. If the bar were any lower, you’d have to tunnel down to find it.”

“I deserved that, didn’t I?”

“Yeah, you did.” Remus stretched, and his spine made a series of the most disturbing popping noises Roman had ever heard. Remus cackled at the expression on his face, then waved his hand again. “Apologise. Scat, Roman. Shoo. Go away, go apologise, go clear up this huge mess you’ve managed to make. And maybe try to figure out what you’re going to say next time Janus takes it into his thick skull to ask you out, yeah? I’ll be here next time you visit, and if I have to hear you whining about how your response wasn’t romantic enough I’ll take a hammer to both our heads.”

Roman nodded, and Remus grinned at him again. “Yeah, that’s not going to happen. Janus isn’t stupid enough to try that again…”

“You’d be surprised. Maybe not today, but eventually...”

Roman scoffed and got up to leave, watching the guard that had brought Remus in approach. “Remus? Thank you. So much.”

Remus flipped him off. Roman returned the gesture with both hands, then left before Remus could figure out a worse comeback.

Roman was almost looking forward to apologising to Janus as he left the prison and went to find the bus stop. A significant part of it was because with each person he had spoken to over the last twenty-four hours - Remy, Logan, Patton, Virgil and now Remus - the ball of worms in his stomach had gotten smaller, his insides had gotten a little warmer; a weight that he hadn’t even realised he had been carrying for what might be years now, had lightened.

By the time he had made peace with Janus, he would probably just float away from the ground all together, Roman mused.

But it wasn’t just that. Now that Roman allowed himself to look at the past few weeks without the suspicious, vengeful, hateful lenses he had been using, he found that spending time with Janus had been the highlight of the last week. It had helped him forget, just a little, that he had been indirectly responsible for his twin’s fate - he still wasn’t sure why Janus had been driving his car that night, he realised - and as much as he had tried to tell himself that it was because he was gathering evidence to protect Remus, that hadn’t been entirely true.

Roman remembered the look on Janus’ face when he had told him how he felt, remembered the way his hair had looked like a halo in front of the bright lights of the sports hall, remembered how having Janus’ arm around his waist had felt more comforting than anything he had felt in a long time, and swallowed hard.

If Janus was willing to forgive him to the point that he would ask him out again, Roman knew exactly what he was going to say.

Taglist:

@bloodymari-0666

#roman sanders #remus sanders #janus sanders #only he doesn't appear in this one #patton sanders #is trans in this AU #don't think I mentioned that before #logan sanders #remy sanders #is dating #emile sanders #virgil sanders #we're approaching the final chapter guys #but there'll be an epilogue after that #so much apologising here

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return-of-a-space-cowboy · 4 years

Note

I love Fairy Tale AUs! And your sleeping beauty one was soo great! Could I request a Snow White AU with yandere EvilQueen!Diavolo x snow white reader x yandere prince!Bruno? Unless that’s too weird, thanks anyway!

Aww thanks

I'm going to upload this in two parts, as well as a few other requests I got but here you go

Fairest of them all pt1

(yandere Diavolo and Bruno X Female Reader)

Warning: mindbreak

"oh my dear... To soon marry the fairest in the land is nothing short of a dream come true" your captor chuckled as he pulled you closer by your leash. You simply let out a groan in pain.

"Yes my king... I've dreamt of marrying you for my whole life" you croaked to the the man with many title's The evil king, The crimson king, emperor crimson but he preferred that you called him by his real name, Diavolo.

You were convinced that you were made for him, you never knew why you ever testified against it to begin with. It was a sick form of Stockholm syndrome that you had developed after weeks of starvation in a cold cell but you now believed that you were the one at fault and not your captor.

"My love..." He cooed before grabbing out a knife, causing you to cower back.

"Don't be afraid, this is just to ensure that we'll be together forever" he explained to make you comply

"Now just lay down" he said and like an obedient dog you laid down on your back as the male began to strip you down.

He wanted to make sure that the fairest in the land was his and his alone, and what better then to litter you with scars... He intended to make sure that he'd be the only one in the world to see you as beautiful.

Slowly the pink haired male graze the blade against your body.

"Where oh where should I mark you first?" he chirped however you didn't respond, you were there with him but also far away in your own delusions. You loved Diavolo but you didn't want this.

"Maybe I'll carve my name into your stomach, that will let any man who tries to have their way with you know who you belong to" he said as he pressed the blade against your stomach, blood soon appeared like little red pearls as it pierced your skin. Tears formed in your eyes as you felt the harsh sting but you refused to let him hear your screams in pain, you were his compliant little doll after all.

He soon began to carve each little letter in his name nearly into your skin. You hicuped lightly as you tried to deny the pain until he finished but it almost felt like a burn as you continued to deny until you could hold it no longer. You screamed and cried but you did not dare to thrash in his grasp.

"My dear... You have taken it so well, just a little longer and it will be over" he cooed before kissing your forehead and carving the last letter.

He looked down at his name carved into your skin like it was a fine work of art.

"My beautiful girl, how you make me so happy" he cooed.

🍎🍎🍎

Bruno hated king Diavolo like many others in the his kingdom but as a prince he was obligated to attend the soirèe that King Diavolo had organised. As he arrived he was given a mask from one of the servants. Inside he saw all of the luxuries that the king claimed for himself over the well being of his citizens.

Every masked attendee was of a higher status, generals, aristocrats, political figures or royalty. Many chatted away with drinks in hand or stood to admire all the works of art displayed around the palace but amongst all the crowd of masked stranger one stood out to the ravenette prince. A young (H/C) female who wore a black dress with red lace and a red mask with a white diamond pattern and black feathers.

The male approached her and became entranced by her beauty but soon it turned into disgust as the realised the golden bangles on her wrists were actually a pair of handcuffs, the golden chain draped along the ground and her elegant choker did not have ivory or jewels but another chain link which made it look more like a dog leash then a piece of jewelry.

Without a doubt the lady was a unwilling wife, not even a cocubine, just a slave. Yet the male still dared to speak to the young lady who's (E/C) eyes were hazy and lifeless.

"It's a wonderful night is it not?" Bruno asked in an attempt to start a conversation with you.

"Yes" you replied in a hushed tone.

"My name is Bruno Bucciallati and I am the prince of Bergian" he introduced himself with bow, you looked around before you spoke but we're quickly silenced by the rattle of your chains.

"Oh Prince Bucciallati it seems like years since I last saw you" a man in a similar mask to yours spoke to him in a voice of mocking delight.

"...and I see you have met my fianceé (Y/n)" he smiled as he wrapped his arms around you.

"Diavolo" you almost sung in delight, the life seemed to return to your eyes as you looked at him.

"You see Bruno my beautiful girl was considered as a treasure to here kingdom... They called her Snow White because she was the only child to ever be born alive on the first day of snow... They saw her as a blessing" Diavolo explained.

"they also saw great beauty in her... She was adopted into the royal bloodline and many saw her as a muse, many wrote songs and poems, many created paintings and sculptures to immortalize her beauty... Many all over the world claimed that she was the fairest of them all" he continued to brag, he had no shame in telling other of you like you were another trophy in his collection... You were simply another prize he had claimed from another conquered kingdom.

Bruno felt his blood boil, he knew what he thought of you all to well but he could only bite his tongue. You were a poor innocent girl that had been brainwashed into loving such a evil and cruel man. On the other had Diavolo knew that Bruno was already falling in love with you. He knew that you had a way of making people fall in love with you, even if it wasn't intentional.

A servant quickly broke the conversation between the King and Prince.

"Your majesty, the Huntsman of the east has arrived and is ready to speak with you" he whispered in Diavolo's ear, just loud enough for only him to hear.

"Take him to the drawing room on the west wing, I will meet him there" he ordered and the servant replied before leaving.

"I'm sorry Bruno but our reunion must come to an end, I have a few personal matters to attend to but I'm sure my dear (Y/n) is willing to keep you entertained until I return" Diavolo spoke as he handed Bruno the end of your chain before swiftly disappearing into the crowd as an orchestra hummed to life.

"Would you care to dance?" Bruno asked and you nodded in response as he took your gloved hand. As he lead you to the to the dance floor. He held you by the waist with his left arm while holding your hand with his right as he gently took the lead of the waltz.

You tried your hardest to look away from the male, even if Diavolo had given you the permission to be with this stranger it still felt just as scandalous as if he hadn't.

"Have you ever done the waltz before?" Bruno asked.

"Yes... With my adoptive brother, but those times are long gone" you told him like your brother had died years ago but in reality it had only been a few weeks since he held you in his dying arm as you cried in fear and uncertainty.

And while you danced the night away Diavolo made his way to the drawing room. He open the door to see a masked man who's hair was as white as snow and pupils as red as blood amongst the deep black of his scelra.

"You requested my services your majesty?" He asked.

"Yes I did Risotto Nero, I have heard so much about you... I've been told that you are the best Huntsman in the land" he explained before sitting down, Risotto stood silently as he watched the king.

"I've heard you killed thousands... Men, women and monsters of many kinds, some tell me you have even slain a dragon" the king continued.

"However the job in which I'm tasking you with probably the easiest you've ever received"

"And that is?" Risotto asked.

"You see... I am to marry in a few weeks time however my future wife was a very persistent woman at first, she use to try to escape me... Luckily that has come to an end" he explained.

"I will have my guards take her to the forest tomorrow, they will then leave her there alone and that is where you come in. I want you to scare her, cut her up a little bit if you so desire. I want you to scare her to the point where she'll never leave my side" Diavolo concluded.

"And how much will you pay me?" The tall man asked.

"Oh so demanding... Well my offer is three bags of silver-"

"You expect me to do your dirty work for three bags of silver, it's an insult!" Risotto cut the king off with a scowl.

"A bargainer... Well maybe I could up it to five" Diavolo said but the male simply turn his back and headed towards the door.

"And a bag of precious jewels..." Diavolo added and Risotto turned back towards him.

"Will you take my offer now?" Diavolo asked and Risotto nodded in approval.

"Alright the it's set, I will have my servants show you to a room to stay in until the time comes.

🍎🍎🍎

"Where are you taking me?" You asked the guards.

"The king has ordered us to take you to the forest, he has a surprise waiting for you" one of the guards replied. Your conversation attracted the attention of Prince Bruno however soon his attention had shifted to the other hall in which was odd, surely the king would accompany his fianceé for such a thing.

Bruno silently stalked Diavolo around the castle until he saw him go through a secret passage. Bruno carefully followed, hiding behind any corner until Diavolo entered a small room with only a mirror inside, however the mirror did not reflect Diavolo but instead a man with long brown hair and deep red eyes. Bruno peered from behind the corner and watched.

"Hmm it seems you've let your little dove go, the question now is will she return?" The man in the mirror asked.

"I'm certain she will Illusio" Diavolo replied.

"You must be careful thou, if you seek to break the girl further she may just shatter like China... After all you can only break something so many times before it can no longer be fixed" the male chuckled.

"I'll have no need to break her again after this... Once the Huntsman of the east has done his job, I will no longer have to worry about such" Diavolo stated in a cold tone which shocked Bruno, may the king have possibly lost interest in the young lady and wanted to kill her off.

Bruno quickly ran away in search of you, hoping to catch you in time before the huntsman did. He ran though the castle and took one of the swords on display as he exited.

🍎🍎🍎

"Hello? Where did everyone go?" You called out as you realised that the guards had disappeared.

"Is anyone here" you called out again as anxiety built inside of you, had Diavolo found you no long of interest? Had he sent you to be eaten by wolves?

No it couldn't possibly be, Diavolo would come. You just had to wait and so you did. You waited with not a single word until you heard footsteps slowly approach.

"Diavo-" you called out as you turned your head only to see someone else.

#golden wind #diavolo #jojos bizarre adventure #bruno x reader #bruno buccerati #diavolo x reader #yandere diavolo #jojo diavolo #yandere bruno #yandere jjba #fairytale au #spacy works

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