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ghost-proofbaby · 1 year

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twenty four hours (modern!eddie munson x fem!reader)

HOUR FOURTEEN

in which eddie finally offers you an honesty hour. which is great, until you learn you've bit off more than you're capable of chewing. (oh, and we find out more of what happened at steve's infamous party)

→ tropes: enemies to lovers, forced proximity, slow burn

→ warnings: strong language, eventual smut, upside down does not exist, minors dni

→ wc: 5k+

→ a/n: there is still one more bit of the memory left for steve's party!! i broke it into three bits because otherwise it would be too long as one giant clump lol. sorry this is being posted so late... but hey! it's here! see y'all again thursday lol thank you to everyone for continuing to be so kind about this story and show it so much love

masterlist.

spotify playlist.

◁ previous part, next part▷

14:00 ────────ㅇ─────── 24:00

SIX MONTHS EARLIER

It’s Eddie. You only know because when Nancy opens the door, she greets him loudly, letting her drunken squeal echo down the hallway and into the kitchen.

“Munson! Finally!” her voice carries, and you fight the urge to try and move to peek through the doorway to see him, “Took you long enough!”

Eddie's voice is too quiet for you to hear his reply. He’s not drunk, not fueled by reckless decisions and overflowing affections like most of the other friends were already.

There’s a terrible twisting in your gut at his arrival, and you know it shows across your face when Robin looks at you apologetically. As if for a moment, they had forgotten they way you and Eddie avoided each other. As if for a moment, they had all pretended that the entire group could convene and it could be easy, and that was on them instead of you or Eddie. But it wasn’t on them. That blame could never fall on them.

It was on Eddie, you decided. He was the one who more ardently avoided you rather than vice versa. He was the one with a sharper tongue between the two of you, always snappy, always irritated with you. It was on Eddie. It should be on Eddie.

Except, you still felt bad about the Chrissy ordeal. He may have acted as if he disliked you for no reason before, but now he was hating you with reason. You can’t blame him; you’d do the same thing. If he ruined a date like that, stomped all over possible potential and threw it away without even considering your feelings involved, you’d be out for blood.

You sort of needed to apologize, and needed to apologize soon.

“Eddie, my man!” Argyle calls out from the couch. It captures your attention just in time to look over and watch as Eddie enters the room, his back facing you, his shoulders slack beneath his leather jacket.

He’s relaxed. You’re immediately sure that he doesn’t know you’re here yet.

“Hey, man,” he greets with a gravelly voice, an edge of fatigue to it you’re familiar with. It’s the kind of tiredness that follows long weeks, as you two had spoken about that first night. For a second, you wonder if he’s still having those. And if he is, how often they happen, if he ever comes home from them and thinks about that night, if he has anyone to call when it’s late and they haunt him.

You know you don’t. Neither Steve nor Robin are ever awake that late, or at least don’t answer the phone at that time of day, and you don’t feel close enough with the rest of the group to burden them like that.

There had been a time where you would wonder if Eddie could have become that person, if the type of conversation you two had at the bar the first night could ever translate over phone lines. But that time had been early on, and was long dead. It laid in an unmarked grave with all your other ponderings of what a friendship with Eddie might look like.

“We can keep you two apart,” Robin whispers, or at least tries to whisper. She’s loud, “He said he had work and wouldn’t make it. We… We thought he wasn’t going to come, so we invited you instead.”

Oh.

Oh, what a knock to your pride. Robin means nothing harmful of the words, they should be neutral and just an explanation offered to you. But your mind takes them in its grasp and runs, runs, runs.

“We thought he wasn’t going to come, so we invited you instead.”

You’re the backup plan. You see it now, and it sucks, but you press your lips into a cellophane smile that Robin can’t see through in her flurry to distract you with an offering of you two plus Steve having another round of drinks. You decide to take a straight shot of the nearest bottle of vodka, swallowing it down to drown your already sinking heart. You fake laugh when Steve tells bad jokes, you make up lies about your dates of the last few weeks, deciding you no longer care if you add in more details to look less pathetic.

You’re the backup plan. So you’re sure they won’t notice when you spin a new version of yourself.

This version of you that spews from your lips has gotten lucky more times in the last month than you have in the last year. This version of you is always the one having the last say in conversations, the one leaving men on read rather than the tables being flipped as they were in reality.

Robin says nothing, even when she notices some of the things you say not aligning with what you’d told her earlier that week. She only side-eyes you as Steve drinks in every detail, only disrupting to suggest another shot.

At some point, she gets too drunk to side-eye you.

“Fuck,” Steve sighs, throwing his head back as he glances out to his living room, where Nancy, Jonathan, Argyle, and Eddie have taken to sitting in an oblong circle around on his and Robin’s furniture, “I need some fresh air. Anyone else?”

“Me,” Robin responds so quickly, you would have made fun of her if you didn’t notice the sickly shade of green creeping up on her.

Steve looks at you, raising an eyebrow, but you only shake your head. It makes the room threaten to spin. Maybe, just maybe, you should have slowed your roll with the vodka shots. Maybe.

“I’ll stay in here, hold down the fort,” you promise, letting your eyes fall shut before you inhale deeply through your nose, exhaling softly through parted lips.

No way. You hadn’t drunk nearly enough tonight to excuse getting sick as Robin was seemingly about to.

Robin and Steve leave you be as you compose yourself. You think you hear them extend the offer to everyone in the living room, but you can’t make out who agrees to go and who stays. But as you listen to all the footsteps making their way out the front door, Steve calling out that they’d be back soon, you start to become convinced you’ll open your eyes to an empty apartment.

You open them to an empty kitchen. So far, so good.

But then a voice clears their throat from the living room, just as you pull your phone out of your pocket. You open it to find the cursed dating app still open, your messages with the bartender still staring you back in your face. The bartender you thought you’d hit it off with. The bartender that had stood you up the night before.

Fuck him, you think bitterly as you turn to find Eddie entering the kitchen. Because of course, given your luck, Eddie was the only one who stayed back.

“Those apps fucking suck,” Eddie notes, using the neck of his beer bottle to gesture in the general direction of your phone.

You look between him and the lit up screen for a moment, finding half the mind to click out of the private messages, “You’ve used them in the past?”

“Nope.”

You wait for a second, giving him the chance to elaborate. But he doesn’t. Of course he doesn’t, he’s Eddie. If he explained himself to you, that would just be too easy.

“Okay,” you sigh, squinting at the page and past the vodka, trying to fumble your way back onto the screen that would show you eligible bachelors in your area, letting you swipe and judge them by solely looks as if they weren’t actual people on the other side of the phone. As if they weren’t more than a reservoir of attention at your fingertips.

Maybe that had been your mistake with the bartender – you let him become a real person to you.

“Why are you even still on them? I heard you’ve been having a shit time with the guys on there – quite the opposite of what you’ve been telling Harrington tonight, might I point out.”

It’s something in the way he says it. One moment, you’re looking down, ignoring him. The next, you can’t help but lift your head in shock. The words all felt sharpened and poised for a kill, ready for an attack you hadn’t expected so early on in the night.

“I-” you don’t know how to defend yourself. You don’t know whether to stick by the lies you’ve told tonight, or to be concerned with who was telling Eddie about your love life, “You win some, you lose some. It’s the nature of the app.”

Eddie grins and leans on a counter across from you, “You haven’t made it sound like you’re losing at all tonight. I nearly started a drinking game with Nance where we took a swig every time you said you managed to pull another ‘fuck ‘em and leave ‘em’. Quite the body count you’ve got there, player.”

You’re drunk. You tell yourself that’s why you take his words straight to heart – you’re drunk, and therefore, you’re sensitive.

“You’re bluffing,” you snap, “You couldn’t hear me from all the way over there.”

“We could.”

“No, you couldn’t.”

“Yes, we could.”

“You’re lying,” you spit finally, crossing your arms defensively. Your emotions were rising too high, too quickly, and you blame the vodka. You blame the vodka and you blame the drink Steve had made you. You blame the bartender who stood you up. And most importantly, you blame Eddie.

“I’m lying? You’re the one who’s been telling Stevie nothing but lies tonight,” Eddie narrows his eyes at you, as if he expects you to shrink in cowardice when he stands up straight and takes several steps across the kitchen to be closer to you, “Why do you need to even lie about all that, anyways? It’s not like the truth would be any more pathetic than the act you’re putting up. Everyone strikes ou-”

“I’m pathetic?” you scoff and interrupt him, not even paying any attention to where he was going. The tips of your ears are starting to flame with a red tinge, “Just last week, you lied to the group. You were trying to avoid being where I’d be and told them you had to walk your neighbor’s dog.”

“I did!”

“Your apartment has a strict no pet policy, Eddie.”

He freezes up entirely, grin faltering before your eyes, “How do you know that?”

“I didn’t, but Nancy did,” you roll your eyes at the cracks in his composure, “It’s all I had to hear about the entire night. How she wishes we could get along, how she hates when you lie to her. Thanks for that, by the way.”

“It’s not my fuckin’ fault you go out with my friends,” Eddie grumbles, reserving himself back to his side of the kitchen. If someone came in and squinted closely, they’d find that imaginary boundary between the two of you, an invisible line that would not be crossed. Not here, not tonight. You wouldn’t touch Eddie Munson with a twelve-foot pole if you could help it.

“And it’s not my fault that you don’t.”

You can see his agitation spreading like wildfire across his face, in the tick of his jaw and the twitch of his eyes. You can practically see the words that linger on his tongue as he bites down on it – it is your fault.

“Whatever. Why are you lying to Steve?” his voice goes monotonous as he crosses his arms, and the muscles strain against his shirt. His leather jacket has long been discarded, probably thrown over the back of the couch or a chair in the living room.

You mirror him, crossing your arms, letting the screen of your phone press into your side, “I’m not lying.”

“You are. With Steve, and with me at this very moment,” his eyebrows furrow and you consider the consequences of chucking your phone at him.

Your irritation, your own agitation, is all bubbling beneath your skin. If it wasn’t for the vodka mingling with it, you would have been squirming from the discomfort. Usually, he doesn’t get to you. Normally, his off-handed comments come with a sting that can quickly fade.

None of the jabs are fading tonight. They only seem to linger. Because he’s right, and you hate that he’s right.

“How the fuck do you even know how my dating life is going?” you uncross your arms, waving your hands wildly into the empty air between you and Eddie, “We aren’t exactly friends. Did Robin tell you? Did Steve tell you?”

Eddie swallows hard, and you can watch the words wash over him, but you’re unsure of which of your drunken slurs specifically got to him. You weren’t wrong in any of your statements, you weren’t outlandish in either of your guesses. But your words have frozen him up all the same and you aren’t sure why.

“You’re right,” when he physically melts, the deathly chill remains in his voice, “We aren’t friends. But Rob and Nance are, and Nance and me are. See where I’m going with that one?”

It’s in the way he says it, confirms it.

We aren’t friends.

He hisses it out as if it were a painful reminder, as if saying those words burn him eternally. He says them as if they are capable of sending ice through his veins and bones alike.

You know why he froze now, and it’s too late.

“Well-” you pause, unsure of how exactly to respond. You’ll be having a talk with Robin, surely. But technically, Nancy was your friend, right? Surely, she was allowed to know the drama of your love life, wasn’t she? “You say that as if Nancy and I aren't friends.”

“Are you?” he tilts his head tauntingly, as if he knows something you don’t.

“We… are.”

He catches the hesitation; he runs with it. He finds the handle of the knife you’d tried to keep so hidden, and he twists as hard as he can.

“Would Nancy agree if we asked her?” he hums, as if he were seriously contemplating this, as if it were a mediocre debate rather than a question of if you had friends or not, “Do you even have her on Instagram?”

“You, her supposed best friend, don’t have her on Instagram.”

“Because I don’t have Instagram, full stop.”

“Instagram isn’t the normal gauge of friendship,” you defend yourself, “Some people can have thousands of followers and no friends.”

You don’t have Nancy on Instagram. You don’t follow her, she doesn’t follow you. The most she’s acknowledged your presence on the app was tagging you in a photo on a night out once.

“It’s not about follower count,” Eddie shrugs, “It’s about mutual followings. That’s how Hollywood dictates whether celebrity couples are still together these days, yeah? If they follow each other. If you’re friends, you’d follow each other.”

The vodka makes you bold. Bold enough to mutter out, “Oh, fuck you,” in response to Eddie’s prodding.

“Wait, I-” you watch an unfamiliar emotion pass over Eddie’s face, something kin to regret. But his words are already out in the air, he’s already twisted the knife in your gut fully. He’s already spilled your blood in the middle of Steve’s kitchen, with no one around to witness it. He did it for himself – he did it for his own pleasure, his own enjoyment.

He enjoys hurting you.

“Save it,” you mutter, slowly deflating as you turn your back to him, facing the counter to grab your drink to nurse your wounds.

If you looked close enough in the corner of the room, you would have seen the shovel you should have used to bury away your hope of a friendship with Eddie. You should have piled the dirt over the casket, should have put 6 feet of soil and earth and worms between you and that fruitless yearning.

But you didn’t. He hadn’t taken it quite far enough yet.

Yet.

But then he had to cross that invisible barrier. He just had to walk across the kitchen, come up behind you, and not mind his own business. He just had to look over your shoulder just as you opened the bartender’s profile again, if for nothing else than to further hurt yourself for the night.

You were so caught up in your own disappointment, you never saw the flash of recognition that crossed Eddie’s face. Only the anger that followed.

—

HOUR FOURTEEN - 5:00 AM

You don’t bother with putting pants back on, only Eddie’s sweatshirt. At this point, pants were just beginning to feel like a nuisance when it came to the two of you. A nicetie, as one might put it.

What were the points of niceties with him if he could never hate you?

You have the entire five minutes he spends in the bathroom to try and compose yourself. To try and desperately ruminate through these feelings and detach them from everything that was transpiring. The emotions didn’t belong here, there weren’t twists of guilt and sorrow of loss involved for Eddie when he was fucking you.

So why is that all you could feel right now?

He could never hate you, but he had spent the last year doing exactly that, hadn’t he?

“Hey,” he reappears in the entryway of the kitchen with the worst possible timing, right in the eye of the storm that had begun to cloud over your mind. He holds up a pack of cigarettes you can only assume he’d snagged from his room, “I’m, uh- I was gonna grab a smoke out on the balcony. Join me?”

There’s something of desperation in the way he asks you. All the words are casual, but his tone is an undermining plea; please say yes, please join me, please let me in. He knows something’s wrong, and he’s not just turning a blind eye and ignoring it this time.

You stare at the pack of Marlboro Reds for a few seconds before shrugging, “Sure.”

It’s certainly not as enthusiastic as you’re sure he was hoping for, but he smiles at the small victory nonetheless.

The first thing you notice about his balcony, aside from the clustered furniture, is the view. You’ve never thought your city to be very charming, always looking at it from a pedestrian’s view or through the lens of a tired, crabby college student embarking on another late night. You couldn’t remember the last time you’d step foot on a higher floor of a building like Eddie’s, one just tall enough to see over the rooftops of most of the mundane buildings, one that could peer right over the skyline and show a new dawn breaking. It’s a flourish of pink, orange, and violet, each shade stealing away another breath. The sun is just barely yawning over the horizon, just finally awakening.

God, you’re going to regret not actually sleeping during this time.

“What’s got you scowling?” Eddie mumbles the question out around a cigarette, pausing with his lighter in midair.

You turn your head, and- just like that, all the anger and confusion melts away. He’s painted in the same shades of the sunrise, in a golden light that almost seems to be emitted from him rather than the waking sun. He is all soft edges and tired eye bags, a stubble that you can imagine the itch of against your palm if you were to reach out a hand to hold his face. If you were to kiss him right now, you fear he might dissolve all over your tongue, leaving nothing but his sweetness behind to remind you it was all real.

It’s real. Even if it doesn’t make sense with what you guys projected before tonight, even if it doesn’t align with how your lives will continue on, tonight was real. You were here, he was here, and what happened…. Simply happened.

I could never hate you.

You get it now. Because in this lighting, with a soft breeze tugging your hair and mind alike, you know you feel the same way about him. And you know it contradicts all you have shown him in the past.

You could never hate him. He could never hate you. It’s unfortunate that that’s what you’d been calling it before tonight – hate.

“It’s going to really suck,” you breathe out half a sentence. Two endings before you: letting this night go or, “Not sleeping for a full twenty four hours.”

You don’t know how he does it, how he looks at you like he knows you had something else to say. But he gives you those eyes, and they almost elicit the truth from you.

Almost.

He throws his head back in laughter, and the pinks and purples and all the fights wasted are now trailing down his neck, “Yeah, it is, isn’t it?”

He’s much better at pretending than you are. You know that now.

“Seriously,” you turn and walk to the railing, crossing your arms against the metal grate before he joins you at your side, “I’ll probably ditch my classes on Monday. I’ll have to sleep twenty four hours straight to even the score.”

“God, I wish I could fuck off for Monday,” Eddie groans. He’s throwing his head back again, and you can’t help but wish you could replace the golden rays with your lips. You wish your warmth could sink beneath his skin like the sun’s does.

“You can’t?” your voice cracks with the question as he finally lights the cigarette between his lips.

He takes a long drag, shaking his head with the exhale of smoke, “Nope. I work Mondays at the shop.”

“The shop?”

“Myo’s,” the way his lips curl around the filter of his cigarette as he fights his grin burns a hole in the middle of your chest. Burning and erupting, yearning and longing, ignored and buried, “The auto shop on Main street.”

You know by the way he looks at you that the name should ring a bell, but considering you don’t own a car, you don’t have the slightest clue what his job is, “Oh, so you’re a mechanic?”

“I- Yeah,” he nods slowly, “Yeah, I’m a mechanic,” he pauses and you can see that he has more to say, it just takes him a moment. He looks off the balcony, shifts his weight between his two feet, takes another drag of nicotine. When he finally gathers his thoughts, you’re patient and waiting, biting back a small smile the moment he whips his face towards you, “Have we seriously never talked about that before? I swear I’ve told you I’m a mechanic.”

“Nope, seriously. Never.”

“There’s no fuckin’ way.”

“There absolutely is a way,” you laugh, letting your head fall backwards and not catching the way his gaze falls on you. The sunrise paints you in just as beautiful of a lighting as it had him. If someone asked you, you’d say that you doubt he noticed, but he did. He noticed. He always noticed, “Usually, by now, we’d be at each other’s throats.”

“We sort of were,” he shrugs, eyes still glued to how your collarbone peaks out from beneath his sweatshirt, “Surprised we didn’t leave more hickies.”

The topic you’d been avoiding. The topic he seemed indifferent about.

I could never hate you.

You decide to put his words to the test.

“Are we going to talk about it?” you ask, looking down now and picking at flakes along the metal railing, still not noticing him noticing you, “About…. what we just did?”

“Are you always this straight to the point?” he chuckles nervously. In your peripherals, you catch the way he leans and mirrors you, side by side on the railing. His light cigarette hung loosely between indifferent fingers. Indifference, indifference, indifference.

If you’d just look at him, you’d see anything but indifference written across his face.

“Only when it matters,” you reply, breathing in his secondhand smoke, “Only when it’s important.”

His pinky is within reach of yours once more, just like at the parking garage. Even after feeling the entire expanse of his bare skin against yours, you still crave more – you crave for the intimacy that comes from hooking pinkies as grown adults, from knuckles curling into each other like hinges of a door of possibility.

You don’t see the way he swallows hard, or how he nods subtly to himself before he says, “Alright. Let’s talk about it.”

Those words make you look at him quickly, taken back and not expecting for him to give so easily. If you had noticed him noticing you, it would have been the expected reaction; if you’d seen the way his eyes traced over the pink and orange shadows of your features, you’d know he can’t really say no to you. Not anymore.

“Yeah?” you only ask for the confirmation because you’re waiting for the other shoe to drop.

He won’t let it. He holds it tightly, just nodding, “Yeah. I… You deserve my honesty.”

You deserve my honesty.

I could never hate you.

“I’m starting to get a bad feeling of deja vu, Eddie. We don’t have to do honesty if you don’t want to-”

“Ask me anything. Right here, right now. I’ll answer with the full truth.”

You flashback to hours before, when he’d offered his honesty this willingly and you’d only thrown it back in his face. But right now isn’t that moment, the two of you aren’t in the heat of an argument, there isn’t an impending doom on the horizon and the weight of the night no longer rests on either of your shoulders.

You don’t care as much about why he hates you now, or what he meant by never hating you to begin with. You don’t care much about the porn magazines and you don’t care what changed that first night.

They’re all petty details that have had too long to gather dust.

You do care about his job, you do care to know why he chose to fix cars. You do care about if he still takes night classes, and if yes, which ones. You care to know his favorite color and you care to know how he takes his coffee in the morning. Maybe you even care to know if he has a favorite coffee shop.

You care to know all the new petty details you’d never uncovered about him. Miniscule bits and pieces of him you crave to hold in your hands, if only just for tonight- or today, at this point.

But you need a baseline question. Something that won’t throw him off, but really doesn’t twist around your heart as severely as the others. Something that does neither damage nor nurture to the vines and blooms still occupying your chest.

You suddenly remember a small detail that had been revealed to you by a third party tonight, “Okay, um, well…” you ponder on phrasing, and Eddie edges ever so closer to you, “At that bar we went to tonight, the bartender – Frank – mentioned how you’d been going there for about six months.”

Eddie pales, but he nods nonetheless. Maybe the question is more loaded than you’d anticipated.

“I guess... I…” you continue to stumble over your words and it only leaves Eddie more time to panic, “I’m just curious why you started going? Yeah, yeah. That’s… that’s my question,” you tilt your chin up, try to be seem more confident in your question.

Even in his panic and sudden blanching, Eddie looks ready to laugh at you as his eyebrows scrunch. Somewhere between the wrinkles, you swear you could find something like affection, “That’s your question? Why did I start going to a bar that’s conveniently close to my apartment?”

Maybe it is a good baseline question. Maybe he was just nervous from the other possible questions you could have asked about your time spent together at the bar.

“That’s my question,” you confirm.

The color isn’t returning to Eddie. His hand shakes when he brings his cigarette to his lips. His breath is evidently shaky on the exhale as the smoke puffs out unevenly.

It’s not a good baseline question.

“I…” he won’t meet your gaze, and all your gut can do is twist, twist, twist in anticipation, “I got kicked out of my last bar I was a regular at.”

“Got kicked out? Why?”

It’s ripping the bandaid off the wound of honesty, and neither of you even realize it. Neither of you notice the blood of your history catching up to you.

Eddie sighs and rolls his shoulders before looking at you, “I got into a fight.”

Your twisted gut stills. A fight? Why is he freaking out so evidently over a fight? Does he think you’ll judge him that harshly?

“A fight?” you echo your thoughts with a soft laugh into the morning air, “You… Why do you say that like it’s a bad thing? Jesus, did you go to jail that night? That would suck, but… Eddie, I won’t judg-”

“I didn’t go to jail,” he interrupts, “I mean, they should have called the cops on me, but they didn’t. They gave me a second option of leaving immediately, and being banned for life, effective the moment I stepped out of the building that night. I took the ban.”

“Well,” you relax your shoulders, looking over at the rising sun, “That’s nice of them, I guess, right? I’m sure whatever mean drunk swung their fist at you deserved to get their ass handed to them-”

Eddie interrupts you with a soft utterance of your name, making you look back to his hues of gold instead of the sky’s, “I swung first.”

Oh. Maybe that’s why he still looks so wrecked with nerves. Maybe he thinks that’s the piece you’ll judge him on – it has to be the reason you can see sweat gathering along his eyebrow, just beneath his bangs. “Then I’m sure whoever it was deserved it? I-”

“He did,” he interrupts one final time. You’re about to finally snap at you, telling him to just let you speak, to just accept that you weren’t going to judge him over some bar brawl, when he drops the final bomb of an answer. Here is the honesty, you both realize at the same time, as his words slice through you, “It was about you. I got banned because of you.”

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#twenty four hours #eddie munson #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x you #eddie munson fic #gotta blast off to the gym now lol

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rainybyday · 1 year

Text

Flower shop au continues

Gotham, usurpingly, had a lot of crime. Already he can hear an explosion down a couple blocks away and tripped a pocket picker from trying to rob him. It was sort of nostalgic to hear the chaos of destruction again and had to restrain himself from trying to transform and see who is causing such chaos.

He reassured himself that once he manages to set shop, a peace can come.

It didn't take long for him gain a property near the Gotham graveyard, an old, abandoned thing that no one used. Walls still intact but wallpaper pilling off with creaking stairs and holes in the floorboard. Furniture in pieces and a smell of decay wafted all over the building.

The graveyard was even worse with rusty metal fences and broken-down gravestones with dried up weeds and dying willow trees. Only a few of the hundreds of graves were well kept and clean

For a place that has such a high death rate, they really never took great care of their deceased.

But Danny sighed and got to work.

In a week he managed to clean his two-story shop with the help of his ghost abilities. He managed to work through a couple of nights to not only replace all of the flooring and walls, but he managed to repaint and clean the whole first floor. He decided that the second room should be an actual green garden room and replaced the roof and wall with screens. There were rows of beds filled with soil, growing vines wrapped by his hands on wooden pillars and many pots of baby seedlings yet to uncover themselves from the blanket of rich soil they are buried in.

It took two months to finally finish his new shop and another few weeks before the scent of flora wafted through the building. The store front wasn’t bright, dark tones of green and gray that seemed to fit the Gotham esthetic were painted on instead. The inside, however, was filled with shelves of flowers and vines crawling the walls and bean bags and chairs that were scatted all over. There was writing on the walls of names of people with markers near them. Then in the back there sat a counter with bags of dried flowers and scented candle sticks. If you look to your right, you can see the open stair way that will lead you to a jungle of greenery and peace.

Danny’s store was complete, and he was happy with it.

The first few weeks not many people came, in fact, no one came but that didn’t bother him. Instead, he filled his day with a schedule of sorts. In the morning he would clean and care for his plants around the store before weeding and picking flower petals to create dry flowers for teas. He would spend his late afternoons expanding his garden outside his shop for more flowers to grow before closing shop once the sun sets. It was at night did he grabbed on a hoodie and as many flowers he can carry and walk towards the graveyard leaving tokens for the dead.

Danny can tell that the dead, that Gotham, was suspicious of his attention to give a token to each and every grave. In fact, he can feel the creeping sensation of fear trying to use intimidation on him to get out plenty of times from the aura of death that surrounded the graveyard. But it felt like mere child play for him, and he kept coming back to leave tokens of flowers to those who pass.

By the time he met someone on his daily rounds towards the graveyard, the sensation of death and fear lessened, and the suspicion turned to a curious cautious feeling instead. He wasn’t welcome, not yet, but he was no longer pushed away. He didn’t think he was at the point of being allowed to meet one of Gotham's people, but he didn’t show his surprised when a man in a suit was watching him place flowers from the well-kept grave he was standing next to. Danny gave him a single glance before looking away and continuing his work elsewhere. He learned from experience not everyone wants someone around them when they are visiting their loved ones, so Dany respected the man by giving him space.

It was when Danny was walking back to that again place, he first spotted a bundle of flowers near the grave the man once stood. When he got there, he breathes in deeply at the choice of flowers before place one of his own and walking away.

(Louts flowers, Lewisia's, and Hyacinths.)

(Resurrection, new beginnings and rebirth, regret and sorrow)

(Maybe that's why the grave felt so empty, he thought distantly.)

Surprisingly, the next day, he saw the same man again out in front of his shop. Danny invited him in and ask what he would like.

And the man only said he was visiting his son.

So, Danny gathered a bundle of Primroses, Crocuses, Hyacinths, Forget-me-nots, and Buttercups.

(Primroses for youth and new life. Crocuses for children. Hyacinths for playfulness and energy. Buttercups for childness and youthful joy. Forget-me-nots for remembrance.)

The man walked off and Danny enjoyed the sensation of having a new customer.

Slowly more people came, mothers and fathers and grandparents and siblings and families and lovers. Slowly they all came in his shop and were blanketed by the scent of flowers. Most would ask for a bundle of flowers before leaving for the graveyard, but a few would come back and stay in the shop and take in the peace of it all. He would usually offer them tea (which no one has yet to refuse after taking their first sip) and leave them to thoughtlessly wonder through his store. Once a customer asked why he had names written on the walls which he replied they are the names of people that passed away and their loved ones left behind a message for them on his walls.

(It wasn’t a lie since Danny did have a message for each of his ghost friends he left behind at Amity and the Ghost Zone.)

The customer asked if they could leave a message as well and Danny replied by handing them a marker. It soon became a trend that spread throughout all his customers who would now ask for a marker first instead of him taking their order.

Slowly, Danny was fitting in with the eyes of Gotham no longer cautious but inviting, even soothing in a way. And slowly, so ever so slowly, if you listen just right you can hear that the screaming of the city became just a tab bit silent.

Danny was, ever so slowly, bring peace to Gotham’s land. Not a lot, mind you, but enough to know that one day the land can breathe again.

Then one night, when he was just about to close shop, the bell of his shop’s door rang as some opened the door late at night.

Another continuation later one: Pt3

#dp x dc #dc x dp #Danny Phantom #danny fenton #batfamily #batman #flowers #flower shop

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spectres-n-soap · 2 months

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A Spectre Remembers - Soap x You x Ghost

Content Warnings - Afab Reader, she/her pronouns are used in this chapter but no description of the reader is used, MW3 is canon :(, This is all Ghost POV this time, grief, religion mentioned,

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Ghost remembers the day you joined the task force, he could never forget it. You held yourself well, a woman that knew who she was and what she wanted. He watched you, that itch at the back of his head feeling like a rash now. It burned, begged to be eased and only got worse after the disaster that was Las Almas. The paranoia that haunted him from the day he pulled himself from the grave. Ghost watched the way you acted around others, when you trained and during debriefs. So when you started sitting closer to Soap, Ghost noticed.

Of course he noticed.

Soap touched you the way he did with him. Told the same awful jokes and dragged Ghost by the arm to hang out with you too.

"Oh." You had looked at Ghost, met his gaze before moving over to make room for him on the couch. "You should warn me next time Soap." You chastised him.

And that was it. You didn't receive him with open arms but you made room for him. Carved out a space for him alongside Johnny. Included him with the banter and he would have been a fool to think that the mission in Siberia hadn't changed something. Like something had clicked into place for you. He wasn't a fool. At least not completely because he had been there that night. Ghost stood in the dark hallway, on his way to get a drink of water and he heard you say it.

"I love you."

He had never retreated so fast back to his room since he was child. Not since he father roamed the halls of the house late at night, drunk, high and looking for any reason to unleash his anger.

Ghost remembers the day they returned without him. Without Johnny. His gloves were stained with blood, his hands trembled anytime they weren't holding something and his ears rang from that gunshot. His blood had turned into ice the moment he laid eyes on him. He had rushed over and pressed two fingers to his pulse, nothing but he kept checking. Over and over and over again. He couldn't hear anything, he looked down at Johnny and felt something twist, a knife in his heart. Two knives in his heart, they twisted and devastated him. He reached to feel for his pulse again but Price put a hand on his shoulder. When had they stopped the bombs?

"He's gone Simon."

And fuck if that didn't shatter him. He didn't cry, he wasn't sure if he could but his eyes stung and breathing became harder. Then he was staring at you, standing in the rain as Price spoke. "Soap is KIA." He couldn't look away from you. From the devastation that painted your features and he couldn't block away your pleas. He couldn't move to be the one who moved your hand from your throat.

"Captain." Your voice cracked, "Captain please." You buckled and he couldn't move to be the one who held you up. Ghost stood there as you cried into Gaz, sobbed until you gagged. Price had to be the one who finally broke him from his trance. He had laid awake that night, instead of being haunted by the usual demons he was haunted by you. By the way you had just collapsed, a woman who had carried herself with such strength that he was sure you'd never buckle under the weight of the sky if you had to trade places with Atlas.

You didn't come to the funeral they held for him in the highlands. He wanted to be angry. He really wanted to be and he stood outside your door ready to knock, ready to demand answers why you couldn't have been there for his final send off. For your Johnny's final send off. His hand was raised to knock when Gaz passed by him, "She's not in there mate. She's off giving Soap's family his ashes."

Ghost didn't stay around the base that night. At least Price had gotten everyone a few weeks of bereavement so he could leave when he needed to. And he really needed to right now. It hadn't been more than 8 hours and he was already back at the spot. Night had settled in and the highlands were alive with the sound of crickets, hooting owls and the rustle of grass.

Ghost was not a religious man. Never believed in a God that never stepped in to stop his father from beating his mum. Never stepped in to stop Tommy from getting hooked on drugs and never stepped in to stop them from being butchered. Ghost didn't know any prayers, he had accepted that God had abandoned him but he got on his knees anyways. He got on his knees, clasped his hands together and raised them to his forehead. And he begged. He begged God that night for answers, for direction, for a bloody reason.

Of course he got no answer. At least not at first. What was it that a woman once told him? "God works in mysterious ways." He had believed that to be a load of bloody rubbish.

Yet.

"The doctor thinks stress has put more risk with the pregnancy. Did something happen yesterday? Something upsetting Mr. Riley?" The nurse asked and to her credit, she didn't seem intimidated by him. Something upsetting? He had never seen you snap like that. He looked back to you, your eyebrows pinched together and his shoulders tense.

"Yeah, something like that." He muttered.

The nurse makes a noise at the back of her throat and tries to cover it up with a cough. Ghost doesn't blame her, he didn't exactly make it sound good. Left it vague. At least you hadn't hurt yourself. The thought sent shivers down his spine.

When he had received the call from the hospital that you had been admitted into their care, his blood ran cold. It felt like that day all over again, everything faded and his mind filled with assumptions. Each worse than the last.

You were hurt. The baby was hurt. Both of you were hurt. Someone broke in. Someone hurt you.

He had launched from bed after demanding the address before saying that he would be there in 20 minutes. He didn't care that it was a 40 minute drive, his car was any faster it would have been ten.

You don't look at him. You looked at the IV in your arm, at the tape that kept the IV in place and makes your skin itch, you looked at the walls covered in basic medical posters, you look at the blanket. Anywhere but him. Your name left his lips and you clenched your fists. "Please look at me." He asks, his voice on the edge of a crack. "Please.

#john soap mactavish #john soap mctavish x reader #john soap mctavish x you #soap #call of duty #cod #ghost x reader #mw3 spoilers #simon ghost riley #thyh #simon ghost x reader #simon riley x reader #johnny soap mctavish x reader #ghost x soap x reader #soap x reader #simon riley x you

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adonis-koo · 1 year

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wicked • 16

↳ Summary: In a desperate hope to stop war from breaking you are a serviced to wed the most vile man alive, the one who has committed atrocities and war crimes beyond comprehension, he who is responsible for the fall of many nations, the wicked prince who’s heart is made of stone. You are to marry a man who challenges every belief and moral you stand for, all while being faced in a foreign land with nobody but yourself too trust…But are you both truly that different? Or is hate not too far from love?

↳ Pairing: Jungkook/reader

↳ Genre: arranged marriage AU, enemies to lovers, it’s kind of a period AU??? Historical but also technically not? prince!AU, eventual smut

Word Count: 10.8k

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Note: the queen has returned everybody! good luck

Wood echoed off of wood, clapping together in a viscous motion as Jungkook’s brows pinched together, frantic to stave off the aggressive blows. He was already exhausted though, training before sunrise until sunset, only to sneak out like this.

It could get him in a lot of trouble- both of them for that matter.

He fumbled against a blow he deflected, stepping back only for his foot to hit a dip in the ground.

The next blow came but his reflexives weren’t sharp enough to block it, resulting in the wooden sword slamming hard into his shoulder as he yelped out.

The breath felt as though it had been knocked out of him as he gasped for air, his back planted into the ground as his name was called- or perhaps the closest he usually heard to it.

“Your Highness!” Big brown eyes peered over him in concern, “I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

Jungkook sputtered, long black hair accidentally getting in his mouth as he waved her away, “You didn’t hurt me Wheein, and stop calling me that!” He hurriedly sat upright before slumping a little.

Though Jungkook said it, it didn’t take away from the fact that it did hurt, Wheein hit hard, perhaps harder than she intended too. But Jungkook wouldn’t shy away from it, he needed to be pushed hard if he wanted to one day be a good swordsman.

Wheein quickly backed away from him, kneeling down as she peered at him, still in mild concern, “But you’re the Crowned Prince.”

This made Jungkook cross his arms with a huff, he knew he was the Crowned Prince, but for once he just wanted someone to treat him as a friend. He hated his title, he didn’t ask to be the next King of Penumbra, and he certainly didn’t ask to be drafted into this stupid war.

Just the thought had fear plunging into his veins like poison, he only had two weeks of training left before his official draft would begin.

When his father told him, Jungkook knew better than to cry, though he wanted to. He kept it in, but still his father was repulsed at the sight of the boy groveling, begging his father to not send him.

‘This isn’t fair, father!’ He remembered crying out, his eyes filled with hurt and glassy, on the verge of tears he told himself he wouldn’t cry.

And then his father’s response was even more vivid than his own.‘Life isn’t fair nor is it kind Jungkook, and you best be learning that as soon as you can.’

Just the memory made him clench his fists, and just as his father suggested, he decided to put all of his anger and frustration into training. But no matter how hard he trained, how hard he tried, how much he exhausted himself.

It still hurt.His uncle, Jeong Dae didn’t seem to understand either, he had gone to him in some effort to lick his wounds and receive a bit of comfort, but his uncle only replied by telling him he should be honored to serve his country.

That this was his chance to prove himself to his people, to the Rosewood’s, to the world that he would be worthy of being King.

The only problem was that Jungkook didn’t want to be King. He didn’t want to rule, he didn’t want to go to war and he certainly didn’t want to die. And no matter how much everyone tried to pet him, he could see past their empty eyes, they were sending him to his grave, he was certain of it.

“Are you okay?” Wheein frowned, mirroring his own as she set down her sword, “You’re crying…”

Jungkook’s bottom lip quivered, both in anger and pent up sadness as he roughly shoved his tears away. How they had managed to slip out was beyond him, but he wouldn’t let it happen again. For his father, his family, and his country, he would do what was expected of him.

His feelings didn’t matter, evidently enough.

“It doesn’t hurt that bad.” He shook his head, ignoring her words, “You should get back to Skol before Di Jin catches you out here.”

Wheein’s frown deepened as she folded her hands together, taking one long look at him before she took a breath, “Alright, you should rest as well, I know the War Matron has been pushing all of the underling’s after dark now that there’s only a two weeks left until graduation.”

Jungkook set his hands on his lap, “If they’d let you serve the war would be over in a day.”

Wheein offered a small smile, “Maybe, but I’m not a boy and I’m not royalty either. Rest well Prince.”

And with that Wheein grabbed her cloak that had been discarded, pulling it over her head to conceal her figure before she disappeared into the dark. Jungkook might have been concerned had it been anyone else, but he saw her take her wooden sword.

He winced as he rubbed his shoulder, she could easily bludgeon someone to death if they made her angry enough, she’d be fine.

Jungkook had sulked for only a little longer before getting up, rubbing his shoulder as he grabbed his wooden sword before sneaking his way back to the boys barracks.

“You are an idiot, truly.”

Jungkook hadn’t said anything for a long while, his gaze looking out over their great kingdom, the very same one his great grandfather built stone by stone, all for it to turn into this? And even despite the shitshow of a display earlier the only person missing from the parlor was his father.

Perhaps unwilling to bother with such trifles at the late hour despite it being the Crowned Princess who had been missing. Jungkook had felt his whole stomach lurch when he had woken up, you missing from his embrace and he attempted to be rational at first, assuming you had gone on a late walk and taken Yoongi with you.

But upon seeing Yoongi still on watch outside the doors had him immediately reeling, flashes of anxiousness and worry wrought in his entire being which came in lashes of anger to everyone around him. It didn’t matter what Jeong Dae and Areum told him in an attempt to calm him down, he wouldn’t be until you were found and safe.

And the relief he felt when you came in, when he was finally able to hold you once more and see with his own two eyes that you were safe, it was in that moment that he knew there was no going back with how he felt.

You had somehow entangled yourself in his entire being, somehow wiggling your way into the forefront of his mind every time you were apart and making him constantly have the desire to keep you wrapped against him.

And yet he didn’t understand. Your words still coldly rang in his ears. Things could not be over between you both, they had hardly even begun, so surely, out of a fit of rage, much like you had in the past, said something damning in the moment.

Still, it troubled him deeply, Jungkook shook his head, “I don’t understand what I said wrong,” He frowned, deeply troubled by what had transpired, “It was the truth nobody else would tell her…”

He was honest when he said he took no pleasure in telling you the truth, but everything he said was the truth you so desperately wanted.

Your anger was justified, but why couldn’t you see from his side…? He was stretched beyond thin and Jeong Dae had only goaded him further into investigating you, he was the one who had planted a seed of doubt.

But deep in the crevices of Jungkook’s mind laid bare his true feelings, ones he wanted viciously to deny, but still they lingered in the dark, perhaps the seed had already been there, Jeong Dae only watered it.

“You don’t…!?” Areum raised her brows, groaning as she ran a hand through her hair, “Good god you don’t understand why she was upset with you!? Jeon Jungkook! You don’t tell the women you love that you were justified in what you did!”

“Then what would you have me do?” Jungkook snarled, his gaze finally snapping to hers.

He already had one woman scold him tonight, he didn’t need another one to further it.

Areum puffed a breath, crossing her arms, “You could first start by swallowing your pride and admitting your’re wrong, and then you could move along to groveling for her forgiveness. But something tells me she won’t care until you genuinely mean it.”

Jungkook’s lip twitched as he angrily shook his head, “She’ll be fine after she’s done throwing her tantrum. She’s prone to saying cruel things when she’s angry, she didn’t earn that title for nothing.”

His words may be cruel, but they were a truth no one could dispute, Jungkook was the first to witness your wrath the very moment the door to your wedding chambers had closed. Though in time he grew to know you as you were truly seen by those closest to you.

Tender to the core, there was such a profound air of softness about you that was constantly coiled tight like a venomous snake, hissing and ready to strike at anybody who dared get close to it.

And yet again, Jungkook was struck by your venom this night. When you loved, you were like the gentlest, warmth of days, the embodiment of the sun in his eyes, incandescent and enchanting, but when you raged?

You were nothing short of a thunderstorm, not the rain but the lightning that followed, striking yet again in a chaotic manner that no one, let alone he could predict. Your voice was like a war drum that would not be silenced. Areum only raised her brows at this, “Right…well, let me know how that goes for you little nephew. Betrayal is easily the deepest wound one can inflict, lest we all know that here. Goodnight.”

She spoke with finality before she exited the room, leaving Jungkook alone with his uncle.

Silence lingered in the room, the fireplace roaring with flames and wickedly dancing as Jungkook glowered in the coals.

He only wanted your safety tonight, perhaps if he had stayed asleep, this all could have been prevented.

“Are you satisfied?” Jungkook finally asked, “She hadn’t even sent a single letter out until she began writing to her mother to inquire about Yule.” It left an empty feeling in his chest as he crossed his arms, “She’d never be a spy, it isn’t who she is.”

You were many things, a dichotomy to the court. You were soft but sharp, merciful but unforgiving, hot and cold. But of all the things you were, Jungkook knew the one thing you were not, was indefinitely, a spy.

He was consumed by paranoia when he sent for your letters to be searched, in hindsight he wondered if he had calmed his mind down, he would’ve made a different decision.

Jeong Dae walked over to him, putting a hand on his shoulder, “You did what you must to yet again secure your seat to the throne, we would never be certain until you had it done. True as Areum’s words may be, the girl will come to one day understand your reasoning.”

Jungkook said nothing in return, his eyes still cast out over the dark kingdom, “I hope you’re right.”

“Get some rest Jungkook,” Jeong Dae replied, “You’ll need it in the days to come.”

Jungkook was then left alone with his thoughts before he reluctantly returned to his chambers where it laid empty just as he had woken up earlier, the bed felt entirely too big and as he laid awake in bed, staring up at the canopy a feeling began to creep into his chest that felt entirely too much like regret.

“Princess…I’m not typically someone who pries but…is there a reason we’ve been here all morning?” Yoongi had finally spoken up after taking you to the stables at the first light of day where you had been keeping Fenrir company.

At first you had went on a walk with him before playing with him and now you had been resting in the stables for the last hour, tenderly stroking through his fur as he rested his chin on his paws, perhaps sensing your downcast mood as he licked at your hands occasionally in comfort.

The pup had definitely grown, he was bigger now, to some guards uncomfortably so, his head was perched at the top of your stomach when he stood tall now.

“No reason in particular…” You mumbled, not wanting to talk about it at the moment. You had so many things and feelings to sort through, and admittedly you were not used to working through it completely by yourself.

Not only were you having to deal with Wheein being unrightfully accused of being the assassin but now with the betrayal of Jungkook having investigated you as a spy behind your back along with the news of Eunoia.

It made your head dully ache in all truthfulness, it would have been one thing if Di Jin pounced on you with a dated piece of information, something you wouldn’t have put past Jungkook to do just after your wedding.

But two weeks ago?

Two weeks?

You felt incredibly naive and stupid to believe, geniunely that you both were closer then this. You didn’t know how to feel, about anything anymore, and more than anything you were wrought with homesickness.

You didn’t want the gray chilled days anymore, you wanted to go home.

Yoongi sighed in exasperation as he nodded, “Very well, then let’s discuss why you thought it was a good decision to go outside the castle after hours, by yourself, telling no one of your status and meeting up with the sworn enemy of the crown!”

Your lip jutted a little, not appreciating the scolding, but it was a foolish decision you made and the least you deserved was this for that. One thing however caused your head to shoot up right, “How did you…?”

It was one thing for you to admit to going to the Undeside, but how could Yoongi know that you met up with Claudin? He fled the moment he got you outside the courtyard.

“I’m Areum’s right hand and before that an assassin, I have more eyes then just my own after hours.” Yoongi’s glare furrowed, “And to let that rat take you to the Underside, did you want a death sentence Princess?”

You glumly leaned back against the wooden wall, your hand mindlessly stroking Fenrir’s side as he sprawled out at the attention, his feet digging into your side but you paid it no mind. Had you not gone to the Underside you would’ve assumed he meant all of the looming assassination threats.

But after having gone, it was only now that you realized being assassinated was a lot lower on the list of ways you could potentially die in Penumbra then you had originally thought. It was undeniable that your eyes were opened to the truth. Just about everyone in this damn kingdom wanted your head on a pike. It was a bitter pill to swallow.

“Well it’s certainly come to my attention that a death sentence for me is far more imminent then the court ever let on. If visiting the Underside was anything to go by.” You mumbled the comment that occupied your mind.

Yoongi ignored your question, “Send me outside if it upsets you Princess but I’m going to ask anyway, why did you go with him?” You shook your head, lip twitching with anger just as he anticipated, “I had no other choice,” You finally spoke, eyes raw with rage, “Not a single person in this castle dared to tell me anything, it’s as if, I was living in a bubble this whole time, blind to what’s been going on in the outside world. I took no pleasure in going with Claudin, but he was the only one willing to show me the truth.”

Yoongi frowned deeply as he crossed his arms, “And how is that cold truth treating you Princess? Being ignorant is a blessing few come by these days.”

Your eyes stung with tears of rage but you refused to let them fall, “That is a luxury I was never allowed to have as a child. I tended to the disembodied civilians of children, men and women alike, all left from the wars your country waged. I stoked the fires with their bodies and choked on the ash of their bones. Ignorance was never an option.”

Yoongi huffed shaking his head, as though he didn’t particularly enjoy hearing about the mess they caused without thinking twice, “How long will you weaponize the past against Penumbra?”

You shook your head, “It’s not a matter of weaponizing, it goes beyond Penumbra, beyond myself, it goes back to the Age of Celestia, the moment the Dryads left this earth, the moment we were stripped from our grace. That’s when our eyes were opened to the world around us, it is our curse to bear. To be savage, tooth and fang and yet wholly crave the peace of the earth.”

“Call it whatever you may, but I would always rather the unpleasant truth than the sweetness of lies.”

Yoongi said no more, leaning against the side of the wall as he shook his head.

It was silent for a long moment before you spoke up, not wanting to bid ill with him, after all he was your personal knight, or you supposed assassin was a better interpretation. He had every right to be upset with you, but you didn’t want any more bad blood to fester.

“Last night,” You frowned, “When Di Jin came in, it was he who announced I went to the Underside.”

Yoonig snorted, “A pot-stirrer that one, I’m not surprised.”

“Neither am I,” You admitted, the little time you’ve spent with Di Jin would point to such, “But it was what Jungkook said to him in return. Something that insinuated Di Jin played a hand in the Underside…?”

‘My wife would never step foot in that pit you caused.’

Jungkook’s words rang in your ears as you glanced at Yoongi, perhaps with him being Areum’s right hand, he would have more insight into this. Yoongi however only sighed as he ran a hand through his hair before he finally took a seat upon a bale of hay that was against the wall beside him.

“While I am still indefinitely angry at you,” Yoongi glared a little before it softened, “I also want to impart some knowledge on you, seeing how serious you take this whole truthful business. While what you saw in the Underside is very real, it is only a fragment of Penumbra as a whole. It is the depths of criminal activity and the most low or dangerous of people roam.”

“Di Jin was the captain of the Guard during the five year war, but during this time, we had serviced many into the war to help, many volunteered as well, food had to be rationed and many mourned for their men and boys that would not return. But many men also resisted to help in the war, they flooded the streets with crime of all sorts as a way to rebel against the draft,”

Yoongi frowned as he recalled those days, “While the King was busy buried in the war room, Di Jin took it upon himself to create a prison of sorts in the lowest district in the city, him and his guard raided the whole Capitol at night and threw them all in there as some means of justice and restoring order.”

You tilted your heads in curiosity at his words.

“And I understand the idea he had in mind,” Yoongi admitted before scoffing, “But imagine it Princess, throwing all of the lowly thieves and murders together in one place? It’d be hell on earth, well instead of murdering one another like Di Jin assumed they would, they ended up couping the whole place. Tearing it down in troves and claiming it as their own little Kingdom, it is now shrouded from the Capitol in fear of who still roams there. It is without a doubt the most dangerous part of Penumbra.”

“So what happened to Di Jin when they all took hold of the district?” You asked, almost eager as you sat upright from your previously slumped position.

“Well he got decommissioned,” Yoongi grinned, as if it amused him, “Conducting something on that scale without the King’s permission was a one way ticket to it, not only that but thoroughly botching it too? Because Di Jin served in the war alongside the King, he allowed him to walk free. Otherwise he’d surely be rotting in the dungeon right now.”

You grabbed your chin in thought, “There must be a reason Di Jin is trying to say Wheein is the assassin, I just can’t make sense of it…”

“I wouldn’t think much of it truthfully Princess,” Yoongi said with a soft lament, “I feel as though, in some cases, it purely has to do with being at the wrong place, in the wrong time.”

Somehow this horrified you even more than if it was some clever plot, “Wheein does not deserve to die- let alone at the fate of being at the wrong place and the wrong time!”

“But think Princess,” Yoongi urged you, “If Di Jin caught the ‘assassin’ he would be back in favor with the court and more importantly, the King.”

“Why would he want the King’s favor now though?” You wondered aloud, frowning at the idea, surely Dae Seong wasn’t blind to the idea that letting Di Jin into his court was a poor idea, let alone letting the man be an advisor to him.

‘Well…You said Di Jin was the one who announced you went to the Underside, did he say anything else…?”

You thought on it for a long moment, “No he didn’t but…” you trailed off at remembering what Yoongi previously said, how he had more than his own eyes at night, “It’s more, what he didn’t say.”

You felt a sense of dread fill in your stomach as Yoongi urged you on, “And what would that be?”

“You said you knew I went with Claudin,” You replied, “But Di Jin…He didn’t mention Claudin at all, just that I had been seen there…Yoongi.”

You turned to him, something akin to the realization in your face, “After Di Jin was decommissioned from the Captain of the Guard…he became a bounty hunter. The Wolf of the West.” Yoongi's expression twisted from confusion to shock and then to pure anger as he crossed his arms, “Perfect, now we have two rats to deal with. Best we set one trap for both Princess…”

You nodded, “Yes...you are certainly right about that.”

The idea of facing your husband once again at the table of Namjoon’s study was less than desired, but if your judgment was right, then you would simply have to put your hurt aside, for the safety of not only Wheein but for yourself and potentially the whole of the kingdom.

“Are you ready Princess?” Yoongi asked, grabbing the handle of the door. Taking one deep breath to calm yourself you nodded before he opened the door for you stepped inside.

The others were in hushed voices before pausing at the sight of you, all giving you a bow except for you at the end of the table.

Jungkook.

His eyes were unreadable as yours at the moment, but the coldness between you both was difficult to not notice. It was hard to imagine once upon a time, this was a normal interaction to you both, now you felt oceans apart.

“Princess,” Namjoon spoke first, his eyes filled with both concern and curiosity, “We all received word about you urgently needing to speak with us, has something new developed.”

“It has not completely revealed itself but Yoongi and I were speaking this morning and happened upon an odd but…damning clue that’s been staring us in the face this whole time…” You frowned as you walked to the table, “Please sit.”

Everyone did so as Yoongi pushed your chair, sitting at the opposite end of the table you chose to ignore his intense stare as you began to recall the events of the evening, leaving out most details of the Underside as you were simply too embarrassed to actually speak of what you had discovered.

After explaining your thoughts and concerns to them Jungkook was immediately the first to speak, “I’m going to slaughter that man,” There was a deep rage in his eyes, “To have the audacity to parade around in my castle, pretend to be someone he isn’t at my court. Try to murder my wife.” It was hissed out, his fingers twitching as if wanting to pick up a blade and slit the man's throat this very moment.

“Jungkook,” Namjoon ushered in a soft chastising voice, as if scolding a younger brother that was being too hasty with his decisions, “As the Princess said, we don’t know if this is the full truth. However it is the best lead we have and most likely right. But we need to play our cards right, Dae Seong favors him, it would be best to not go in accusing him of anything without any evidence.”

“So where does that leave us then?” Hoseok frowned looking in thought, “We’ve double downed on our efforts but whatever Di Jin is hiding, it’s locked tight.”

“It would make sense though,” Jimin frowned, leaning back in his seat, his cheek resting on his palm, “Whenever I’ve spoken to him all he’s said is cryptic things like, ‘if you side with me you’re boon will be great’ or ‘just wait watch as the chaos unfolds’.”

“Chaos unfold?” Namjoon asked with piqued curiosity.

Jimin lifted his hands in exasperation, “Don’t ask me, I never knew what the hell my old man was on about. What I do know is that he has always put himself first. So even if he is aligned with the Rosewoods, it’s only temporary.”

“So what?” Yoongi asked, “You think if the Rosewood’s take the crown Di Jin would simply murder them and take it for himself.”

“That's what I would do,” Jimin shrugged, “Take’s a bastard to know a bastard.”

“If his information is locked tight then we need to dig harder.” Jungkook replied, he looked brooding and still very much angry, “I want eyes on him at all time.” He looked to Yoongi who nodded, “And Claudin as well, as much as they can without compromising their position.”

Everyone nodded at this before the meeting was dismissed, everyone departing until it was three who remained.

“Yoongi, leave us.” Jungkook still sat at the opposite end of you, not even sparing the assassin a glance.

Yoongi however did not leave as he glanced at you, as if asking for your permission if you were okay with this.

Did you want to talk to him? Not particularly, but he was your husband and this court was only so big, you would eventually have to talk to him about it, the idea of forgiving him made you seethe in rage though.

You were tired of compromising, tired of learning, tired of having to be understanding.

“You may wait outside.” You finally glanced at Yoongi with a nod, he then bowed before he exited, closing the door behind him. It was silent for a long minute as you glanced around the study, it was well decorated, maps lining the walls and bookshelves filled to the brim.

It was a quaint thing, not at all organized like the great library, but absolutely Namjoon, books of all shapes and sizes crammed together, some standing up right, others laid on their side to fit inside.

You stood up to wander around a little in curiosity, ignoring the blatant stares of your husband before you finally settled at the window out looking over the woodland of the meadow.

“It doesn’t have to be like Y/n…” Jungkook sighed, staring at your back, a sense of yearning in his chest, as if you were so close and yet so far from his reach once again.

“No it didn’t.” You agreed coldly, folding your arms. He acted as if you’re the one being unreasonable here when he was the one who betrayed you.

“All you have to do-”

“Yes I know!” You snarled, turning around as fury whiplashed into your veins once more, “All I have to do! Tell me Jungkook had I not been the one to apologize first to you, would you have ever given me a chance? Had I not been the one to swallow my pride, take the lashings from you even so. All I have ever done is give. I am done giving.” Your lips trembled despite the glares you both mirrored, “I have nothing left to give. I meant every word I said to you last night. I may be many things but I am not a fool.”

“What I did was necessary to secure the crown,” Jungkook hissed back, angry and upset with your words, as if flat out refusing to believe they were nothing but the truth you spoke, “The world is engulfed in politics, all of that of Eunoia is only rumors, rumors you were better off not festering among the thousand other things we’re dealing with. But most of all, I am not your enemy Y/n.”

You shook your head angrily, “That may be how you feel but that isn’t how I see it Jungkook, I had every right to know about Eunoia, even if nothing more then rumors. You may not be my enemy but you are certainly not my lover.”

Jungkook’s lip visibly twitched, as if what you had said struck a nerve before he leaned in, eyes cold as before his lips curled in an icy smile, “That’s not what you said when you were moaning like a bitch in heat stuffed full with my fingers.”

You ignored how hot the tips of your ears burned as your hands curled into fists, you had thought Claudin would be the only person who ever provoked you enough to consider violence and yet here you stand, silenting seething in rage as you glared up at your haughty so-called husband.

You were above slapping him, but it certainly seemed tempting. So instead you say the next best thing.

A cruel smile on your own dancing on your lips, “Perhaps because I was imagining it being my actual lover instead of you.”

You were suddenly jostled around, pressing against the window with his chest against your back, a hand slithering possessively around your throat, “Funny because you were moaning my name the whole time.”

It would be a lie to say you weren’t shamelessly turned on right now, the sexual tension in the room was bursting from the seams, especially so with the visitation of your last intimacy together.

But unfortunately for Jungkook, your pride would always outwin your sex drive. “You’re doing no favors for yourself right now.” You glared over your shoulder at him.

You were unable to, however, as his mouth was already pressing a sloppy open mouthed kiss against your skin, his voice deep and breathy against the shell of your ear, “Then let me do a favor for you.”

When you don’t reply he turned you back to face him, his lips pressing from your neck down your chest as his hands dragged from your waist to your hips, kneeling down in front of him.

In the moment you couldn’t help but scoff a little, suddenly grabbing a fist full of his hair, yanking hard on it to make his eyes meet yours, what surprised you however was the moan that escaped his lips.

His expression may have remained neutral but you had gotten to know him too well, the slight part of his lips, his pupils blown out from lust.

The gesture only made you more angry, “The fact that you think head is going to fix this is a joke better left unsaid. You had your chance and now it is gone. I have things to do, do not bother me again.”

You shoved his head away from you before you stepped away from him, walking out the door without looking back.

‘Are you ready to go Princess?”

“More than ready.”

“Would you like to visit Wheein meanwhile?”

Your gaze shot up, “I can do that?” It felt like a stupid question, you were the Crowned Princess, it felt as if you shouldn’t even need to ask but given this was Penumbra, you didn’t know how things work.

Of course you had heard of dungeons before but you had never been in one, nor did one even exist in Eunoia, the closest equivalent were called Repentance Rooms, and they were nothing like a dungeon, they were clean and well lit with barred windows captives could look out of.

Comfortable even, they were for the liminal time between a captive being captured and trialed and if their punishment was severe they would be sent to the housing district next.

You wouldn’t even know where to begin looking for a dungeon.

Yoongi frowned at your words, “Well, you certainly can but last thing you want is for Di Jin to catch you snooping about.”

“Can you make sure I’m not seen?” You stood up, folding your hands together as you stared at Yoongi pensively.

His lips curled into a small smile as he kneeled down in front of you, grabbing your hand, “Of course, my lady. But just know there will be guards that are siding with Di Jin, if they see you they’ll alert him immediately.”

Your face was covered with a hood and Yoongi had skillfully guided you along the narrow halls as you entered the lower levels of the castle where everything was dark and dimly lit, the smell of must becoming overpowering as guards patrolled each hall.

Just the dim lights and dank smell made you increasingly worried, you had heard about dungeons before what it meant for captives in other kingdoms, but never thought you’d live to see one yourself.

A naive thought once upon a time. But here you were, visiting your dearest maid who was being wrongfully accused of something you knew in your heart she’d never do.

Yoongi had you hide in one last nook before he guided you to the very last dungeon, “Okay,” He spoke softly, “You’ll have only a few minutes with her, be brief.”

You nodded as you crouched down, making your way to the gate, the sight broke your heart, you could hear a soft sob but Wheein was laid down on the ground, nothing but a pile of straw hay serving as a bed in a windowless cell.

“Oh Wheein,” Your eyes immediately welled with tears, “I’m so sorry.”

She jolted, scrambling to get up before she gapped at the sight of you, tearings streaming down her face before she crawled to the bars, “Princess.” She wept softly, before reaching throught the bars to you.

Your arms curled around her as best as possible as she whimpered quietly, “I don’t want to die! Please! They’ll burn me! That’s what Di Jin will do, please!”

“Princess,” Yoongi ushered out, “One more minute.”

“Shh!” You ushered, trying to keep your voice down as you pulled away from her, grabbing her soft cheeks in your hands, “We aren’t going to let that happen! Okay?” You nodded, “We’ll find a way to prove your innocence I swear by it Wheein.”

Wheein only continued to cry, shaking her head, “He’s going to kill me Princess, I’ve dreamt of it for so long, I just know it.”

You grabbed her hands into yours squeezing them tight as your heart ached seeing her in so many tears, “Not as long as I’m alive he won’t,” New determination rushed into your body, anger that hell had not rage against burning in your veins, “I swear on Galadria that I will serve justice where it is due.”

“Princess! We need to go.” Yoongi whispered out, ushering you quickly.

Wheein closed her eyes as tears trickled down her face but said no more, quickly you ushered her into one last hug before you whispered, “I’ll return soon! We better news than I have now.”

“Please Princess, be safe.”

Those were her last whispered words before Yoongi quickly guided you back to a crook to hide as the guards made their rotation. Unfortunately for Wheein, you had no intentions of being safe, you were going to prove her innocence at whatever cost was needed.

When you had first been told by the King, Dae Seong that you would be expected to dine with the family once a week, it had filled you with nothing but dread. Being among three men at the time was daunting.

Two which didn’t take you seriously at all, and of course the third, your husband who would either pretend you didn’t exist, or give you an icy stare and then proceed to pretend you didn’t exist.

But after the incident in the market place, Jungkook and you had somehow grown closer, fonder of one another, came to an understanding of one another and where you both had come from.

Two weeks ago…

Your heart squeezed as you stared in the mirror, several maids floated in and out of your room and while you always tried to be kind, today you felt exhausted, only giving simple answers to whatever they asked.

What did you do two weeks ago that finally made him decide to have you spied on? You had gotten into an argument that week- at the time you thought it stupid but only now did you reflect back and realize Jungkook was venomously jealous of any inkling of an idea of Seokjin ever being your lover.

Not only this but an odd inferiority complex he has that he would rather die than ever admit too. But…why? It made your eyes sting with tears that you refused to shed. You had said hurtful things during that argument but surely it wasn’t enough to make him do that? You’ve had worse arguments with him before that moment.

You just didn’t understand.

“Finished Your Highness.”

The maid placed the crown on your head as you stared at yourself in the mirror, taking it in, it was heavier then it looked, but then again it was made of Noxtria metal, elaborately weaving with sharp, angles stones of onyx and metal winging out of it's sides and one large center piece in the middle.

The maids all courtesy to you, you offered a weak smile and thanks before they were dismissed.

You took a deep shaky breath, wiping your eyes before any real tears had fallen. You just had to get through tonight, somehow, despite all of the time that had passed, it felt as if you were in some liminal space between how you first felt going to a family dinner and what it had slowly turned in too.

Family dinner was expected tonight, however an additional note had been added on, Di Jin and close friends of the family would be attending tonight. Knowing your friends, and though you were upset with Jungkook- that they would be there brought you comfort.

But having to deal with Di Jin all evening was not something you wanted to deal with.

However, you were not about to cower away from him, your eyes had gone from mournful to near vengeful as you glared in the mirror, your hair elaborately done for the night by your request and a specific dress for the occasion.

It had been hanging for a long while and you had truthfully shied away from it, feeling it was a bit too Penumbrian even for you.

But not tonight.

It was a raven black gown, cold metal weaved into leaves intricately, an armored sweetheart neckline that wrapped all the way up to your throat, your upperarm dawned with cufflets that flowed with even more black fabric and a solid band of metal cinching your waist.

Black had become a color of mourning in Eunoia, it was something you wore daily during the Five Year war while working in the tents as a healer. But something dawned on you as you looked through your gowns earlier in the evening.

Before that, during the Age of Celestia, it was said that black was the color of power. Queen Celestia wore it for her ascension after devouring her husband, becoming the sole ruler of Eunoia.

You didn’t like to think you took after the gruesome woman. But something that wasn’t often talked about was Celestia and Galadria were sisters. You shared just as much blood from one as the other.

And right now, you wanted to wield power, not grief.

Standing upright you were escorted down the hall, heads turned in your direction from various aristocrats to maids and servants alike as you kept your head held high and an unwelcoming expression on your face.

The double doors were shut as per usual and though you had walked through them many times, tonight you felt just as anxious as you had the very first time as they opened. Every set of eyes at the table had turned to you, seeing as you had clearly interrupted the conversation that went on.

Many at the table had quickly stood up, bowing to you, some more begrudging than others as your eyes locked onto Di Jin’s, his lip twitching a little as he bowed, your expression stayed as unwelcoming as before.

You may not have been a Jeon by blood but you would certainly pretend you had their trademark cold glare tonight.

Taehyun who had been standing behind Jungkook’s chair had stepped back to pulled the empty chair out beside his, your cold look softened only a little for him, offering a brief tiny smile of thanks as he pushed you in.

Jungkook had previously looked bored, crown of his own on his head, though from how he slumped in his chair it was just a hair crooked, dark hair dusting in front of his eyes as they met yours.

And for the briefest moment you felt just a bit stronger having him by your side before anger quelled in you once more at the memory, two weeks, for some reason two weeks ago he chose to no longer trust you.

Your expression remained as you looked away from him as the voice of Di Jin spoke, “It’s good to see the Princess can finally grace us with her presence.”

“Yes, just in time for the meal, seeing as the conversation wasn’t much to look forward to.” A mocking smile curled on your lips, never before did you usually take pleasure in having power over someone, but you were experiencing many firsts in Penumbra.

No matter how much Di Jin disliked you, he knew better than to openly disrespect you, no matter how hard he tried to undermine you in his discreet way.

“What matters is the Princess is here now,” Jeong Dae’s gaze narrowed on Di Jin before nodding, “let us all dine now. Tell me, the progress on the market is coming along, yes?”

You stared into your glass of wine as you swirled in, “Yes, they’re starting to lay the foundation down. Though I must confess, my servant being thrown in the dungeon has caused quite a bit of a mess in my schedule.”

An uncomfortable energy had taken over the table as you shrugged, taking a long drink from your cup, you were not going to sit here and pretend along with everyone else that Di Jin had not done what he had.

“It’s a necessary precaution, once this assassin business has been taken care of you’ll have your servant back,” Dae Seong answered gruffly, not appreciating your lack of tack, “But should more incriminating evidence come out, a servant is expandable and just as easily replaceable.”

Your gaze slowly pulled to his as the silence at the table ensued once more, when had human life become so expandable as he said?

You understood less and less as to why they felt this way, why they chose to believe this.

After a long moment your lips twisted into a grin that looked more like a grimace, “I thought you might say that your Majesty.” You however said nothing else as you took another drink from your cup.

The table was quiet for a long moment and nobody spoke, despite the silence it was almost comforting to you, to know that your words held some sort of weight to them even if it felt in the moment they were nothing more than an illusion to how you truly felt.

“Not to interrupt this moment, but perhaps we should discuss the east, it's come to our attention that Kyoto has movement in the east, if they continue our progress will be delayed“ Jimin spoke up, a frown on his face with evident worry, “We've been tracking them down, and it seems they're making a sort of pattern, if I didn't know any better I'd say they were mapping out the best way to invade us.”

“That would be hasty on their part,” Jeong Dae spoke up, “We just passed The Rite of Peace this year, they wouldn’t be foolish to invade us just after the prince and princess wed.”

“Fools aren't so different from the brave,” Jungkook spoke up, swirling his goblet of wine in his hand looking rather bored, though his gaze occasionally went to you, as if hoping you would be looking at him, “ Would it be that outlandish to assume, that they do not care about the Rite of Peace?”

“This is true,” Di Jin, surprisingly spoke up with agreement, “After all, why would the world let a nation as glorious as us live for one simple girl.”

There was a certain amount of venom in his tone that did not surpass you, though you didn't let it disturb you as it once may have. you suppose somewhere along the line, that you had gotten used to an unsurpassable amount of hatred that for some reason people in Penumbra felt entitled to take out on you.

it was a ugly truth, but it was the truth nonetheless, and Di Jin had a point, no matter how unpleasant it was, why would the world let a nation that had killed countless people, destroyed homes, decimated nations live on, if there is one thing you had learned in Eunoia, it was that you were indeed replaceable.

Dare you say you felt almost as if you were a sacrificial lamb, sent to slaughter, and whether you died by an assassin or by an invasion, did it ever truly matter in the end? You weren't sure.

Jungkook did not speak, but he didn't need words to convey his feelings, his glare was enough to display his displeasure in Di Jin’s words.

Hoseok cut in, “Perhaps, but if they were to invade, there's no telling what kind of uproar it would cause with other nations. Especially if they kill the princess in the process, even if it is only one person, nobody can deny the influence Eunoian Princess has.”

“Regardless, it would be wise to have a plan.” Namjoon said diplomacy and his voice as he attempted to steer the conversation into a less hostile direction, “The people are restless, and with word having gotten out about Eunoia training soldiers along with Kimhae, and now Kyoto, they'll need guidance especially as winter approaches.”

You sharply inhaled, trying to not let anger seep through your veins again, though tempting, just the idea of Eunoia training soldiers was outlandish, ever since the Age of Celestia soldiers have been out of the question, if the rumors were true why would they start now?

Nothing made sense, you tried to ignore the stares, but it was evident that people in the room did not trust you, after all even your own husband felt he could not trust you at one time.

Two weeks ago, no matter how hard you tried your mind kept going back to two weeks ago, what had you done two weeks ago to warrant his distrust, what could you have changed to have changed his mind.

Just the thought made your heart ache and for a brief moment your anger had subsided.

“It would only be right to assume that Eunoia and Kimhae have their own plans to invade us. it would be within our best interest to strike first if that is the case.” Di Jin lifted his goblet before taking a long drink.

I'm just like that your anger had returned.

But before you could speak, your husband had beat you to it, anger evident in his voice as he spoke, “When we wrote the Rite of Peace, we promised Eunoia protection should someone ever threaten Invasion on them, they are honorable, if they desire to have their own protection let them have it, but do not sit at my table and claim loyalty to my family, and then proceed to disrespect my wife and her country in front of me.”

Di Jin laughed, “You've got a lot to learn boy, love rarely saves anyone and the few bastards it does, life has a certain way of shortening their lives.”

“And men who disrespect women, tend to live even shorter lives.” Jungkook said, his voice having grown a little darker and expressionless, his fingers now drumming against the table as if aching to reach across it and wrap his knuckles around Di Jin’s neck.

“Regardless of Kimhae and Kyoto, I can only speak for my own nation, and I can swear this we are pacifists by nature, we do not desire for nor want bloodshed, but do not mistake our heritage, we do bite back should we be provoked, after all, history proves that.” You spoke, your voice calm, “Should we be treated fairly, you will only expect kindness in return, for that is who my people are, while I understand your caution, we created the Rite of Peace for its very name, to bring peace to the world and put these past grudges to rest. And I intend to keep it that way to the best of my ability.”

“It seems you've all mistaken this dinner, we are here to gather and make merry not discuss politics,” Dae Seong looked much like his son, bored by the conversation, “We will not strike first, nor will we feed into their antics, after all this was the very reason I recalled the march to the East, there is no reason to wage war when our enemies have been defeated.”

You glanced around, noting the expressions on some of your friends' faces, it was evident just about nobody agreed with Dae Seong in one way or another, But nobody dared express how they felt, after all he was the king.

The dinner had went on for the rest of the evening without much of a hiccup, granted it gave you a headache and you had found yourself sunk back into your chair the whole time, more than anything you wanted to get out of your seat and away from your husband, who had been staring at you with puppy eyes most of the evening.

Occasionally you'd watch his fingers twitch as if aching to reach out to you, to pull your chair closer, to brush your hair from your face, or to fix a piece of your dress that I've been wrinkled, but he knew better rather he kept his hand in his lap or against his cup, his sixth glass might you add.

In some ways you understood that this was perhaps unfair on your part, the more you thought about it the more you realized that you could have confided him and you had chosen not to, this was in some ways your fault as well but it did not take away the hurt you felt, that you felt you were closer than this.

But it seemed you both were wrong in many ways and you weren't certain of how to fix this, if you even wanted to fix this anymore, what you did know was that you were at a breaking point, you were uncertain of how much more you could take before you would break.

And every time you thought it couldn't get worse it without a doubt somehow got worse, but surely you would hit a plateau, your husband had lied to you, your servant was on trial for your attempted assassination, and you found out your home country was enlisting soldiers into a military, to say your life had fallen apart was an understatement.

Or at least that was how you felt.

You had been sat in bed, a book in hand though you hadn't read it all evening, and once again no matter how hard you tried to focus a book was just a book, and words were just words, you could read but the sentence just kept going over your head each time you read it, no matter how hard you tried, you just couldn't focus.

A knock at your door however had drew you from your thoughts causing you to stand up reluctantly before trudging over and opening the door

The person who stood before you was unshocking to you, after all it seemed since the unsavory reveal of his deeds your husband could hardly stay away from you, no matter how many times you would ask him to give you space, in fact he seem to be doing the opposite these days.

“I know you don’t wish to see me-”

You abruptly tried to shut the door but his arm caught against the door.

“Y/n just listen to me,” Jungkook’s voice was weak, hair brushing over his eyes but the desperation in them was pathetic, “Let me talk, please.”

“You’re drunk Jungkook,” Your teeth gritted but you didn’t try to force the door anymore, your hand still curled tight against the knob as you glared at him. He reeked of liquor and it was evident as his white shirt had a large inky red spill down the front that had been dried out, this was his sleep shirt which meant he hadn’t stopped drinking even after everyone had retired.

Jungkook had one hand still flat against the door keeping it ajar and the other on the frame as he peered down at you, “I just wanted to see you, to tell you in my own words, I was complacent about your feelings, about my own. I have no excuses left, I have no words to defend myself, only my desire to be with you.”

You shook your head, trying to not let your heart twist further in pain, you wanted to look past this, to let it go, but how could you? Spying through letters was the first step, how could you know this wasn’t some elaborate plan all along to use you?

“It’s not that easy Jungkook,” You tried to contain the grief in your voice, guilt eating you up the more you thought of your own actions, “I should’ve trusted you more, confided in you about what I heard from Claudin, but I didn’t. I think it’s best if whatever this, does not continue.”

It was Jungkook’s turn to shake his head, his knuckles curling against the door, “We’ve both made mistakes. Forgive yourself Y/n and forgive me. Let me prove myself to you, let me earn your love.”

You roughly brushed the tears from your cheeks, “We were never meant to be together Jungkook, you know that just as well a I do-”

You were cut off abruptly by his hand suddenly snaking through the small gap of the door, wrapping around your waist and his lips immediately pressing into yours in a devouring hold, a surprised whimper escaped you at his iron hold increasingly becoming tighter on your waist.

Your head was telling you one thing, but your heart was so desperately wanting another.

His other hand immediately snaked around your throat in a firm grip, not tight but not loose as you tried your best to not give into the temptation to melt into his hold but it was becoming more difficult when his tongue had pushed between your lips in determination.

You broke, unable to resist the soft moan that escaped you as you felt your back push against the wall, arms wrapping around his neck before curling into his soft locks, giving them a soft yank as he moaned into your mouth,

You could taste the sweet wine still lingering on his lips, the unmistakable feeling curling into your stomach as you let yourself surrender to him for the briefest moment, and for the brief moment, everything felt better.

Two weeks ago…

The realization quickly followed after you and anger kindled in your veins once more, your hands had quickly slid to his shoulders to push back against him, “Jeon Jungkook!” You broke the kiss by turning your head with a hiss.

Jungkook didn’t relent though his forehead pressing against yours as he heaved a breath, “What have you done to me? Some ancient dryad magick?” He gave a mirthless smile, “You are all I can ever think about from the moment I wake up to the moment I go to bed, seeing you cry makes me want to kill whatever is causing them, I’m drowning in you my sweet doe. I’m intoxicated and desperate so indulge me,”

“Tell me what I need to do to earn your forgiveness.” Jungkook ushered out, wet kissing being placed on your neck as the internal battle waged war in your head, one part of you wanting to immediately crumble but the other was indignant, this relationship surely would not end well.

At one time when you were younger, you would have laughed, after all you were married. But your eyes had been opened, things were never that simple, not when one was a Princess, marriage was contract, love was a luxury.

He broke away from you only a little, almost nose to nose with you and hair hanging over his eyes like a cloud, “I thought I knew love, I thought I knew many things before I met you,” His hands trembled as if the emotions were too powerful, “But it turns out I know nothing. Without you, I know nothing.”

“Jungkook…” You ushered out quietly, shaking your head as you tried to swallow down the hurt that began to bubble once more.

“I feel like I’m being consumed by you,” Jungkook confessed, his hand squeezing your neck ever so slightly, his thumb rubbing softly along your windpipe, “It feels like you’re very being is sucking the soul from my body. And now that I’ve had you,” His voice broke only a little, his eyes like steel as he whispered a growl, “I would die without you.”

“Jungkook!” You whispered out frantically at the sight of him letting you go only to kneel down on both knees.

“Let me repeat my question; what do I have to do to earn your forgiveness?” Jungkook’s eyes burned with a bright intensity that nearly frightened you, his hand stroking up your thigh, “Is it Wheein? I’ll get her back for you. I’ll burn this entire fucking kingdom and rebuild it if I have too.”

Was he hearing himself right now!?

You were panicked at his words and his actions, he had pushed his way into your room but the door was wide open, anybody could walk down this corridor and overhear him! “You can start by getting off the ground and going to bed!” You hissed out panickedly, flailing your hands to gesture him to stand, “And give me some time to think about it! Jungkook I…so much has happened I just need time! There’s no reason for you to say something so damning!”

“I mean every word I’m saying.” Jungkook’s voice was serious, his eyes burning into you as he gazed up at you.

It was silent for a long moment and Jungkook’s gaze did not lighten, hesitantly you lowered a hand down to his head, running your nails through his hair, it caused his lids to lower until they closed, his forehead resting against your thigh, hands still delicately trembling against your thighs.

“If you want my love so desperately, then give me time and space,” You whispered out, “You’re right, we’ve both made mistakes, and they can be forgiven, but forgiveness takes time that cannot be rushed.”

“I can’t lose you.” Jungkook mumbled out, his weight slowly sinking into you.

“You won’t.” Your words however went unheard as he slumped down, before collapsing to the ground, passed out.

You stared down at him for a long moment before you sighed, “I’m sorry but you’re not spending the night here.” You stepped over him as you walked to the door, glancing around, the guard at your door must have been dismissed by him.

You were in luck however as a pair of guards were at the end of the hall, walking quietly as they spoke, you flagged them down, requesting they find Taehyun and then have your guard returned to your door.

Shortly Taehyun had arrived, the poor boy looking half asleep himself as he took in his Prince’s slumped figure on the ground, “He didn’t cause too many problems did he, Princess?”

You shook your head, “No more than he usually does, I apologize for interrupting your night Taehyun, thank you for taking him back to his room.”

Taehyun offered a tired smile, “Of course your Highness, have a restful night.” He hauled Jungkook up with a groan, and briefly you wondered if Taehyun could even carry him, but he did manage to get him out the door and you supposed that was good enough.

Taking a shaky breath you sat back down in your bed, deciding you would be reading deep into the night, as you surely wouldn't be getting any rest regardless.

It was late morning and you had been eating out on the second floor terrace, the day was slightly warmer but still gray and cloudy, it made you depressed and you briefly wondered just how Penumbrian’s coped with it.

But then again, they knew no different, for them, this was normal.

You envied that.

“You mind if I join, Princess?”

You twisted in your seat at the sight behind you, “Areum, of course, please have a seat.” You gestured to the empty table.

You had been sitting out here alone, Yoongi on the inside as you wanted a moment to yourself but deep down you felt alone and you deeply missed Wheein’s company, each passing day made you more anxious, and the gap in your heart widen even more.

Many questions filled your head, how would you set one trap to catch both Di Jin and Claudin in? You were not in a favorable position either way, Di Jin had a personal connection to the king and Dae Seong would need a damn good reason to believe you.

And you would have to be extra careful navigating Claudin as the Rosewood ties with the Jeon’s was already strained, one weak accusation and it could cause a civil war.

“You seem so sullied these days Princess,” Areum commented as she sat next to you, promptly grabbing a plate and stacking it with rice cakes.

“I miss when I first arrived here,” You admitted, “Things weren’t complicated the way they are now.”

“Perhaps,” Areum agreed, ��But my, my, look how far you’ve come. I heard from your husband this morning. He looked dreadful.”

Your lips curled into a brief grimace at the memory, he looked rough last night, you couldn’t possibly imagine what he looked like when he woke up, no doubt hungover and upset.

“What of it?” You felt slightly nervous, had someone overheard Jungkook’s over dramatic declaration last night?

“He asked me to take you to the Jeon Estate,” Areum smiled at your surprised and confused expression, “The estate was created for the royal family during the early days of Penumbra when the castle had yet to be built. It’s no longer used regularly, but occasionally we still hold family celebrations there for privacy. It’s deep in the woodland forest, past the Seer’s refuge.”

“...May I ask why?” You frowned, uncertain of how to feel about this, there was so much at stake, how could Jungkook just expect you to leave…?

Areum smiled, “Something about wanting to allow you to have space and piece of mind. I understand your feelings Princess, I can’t imagine the weight you must be feeling right now, and I certainly wouldn’t blame you if you want to stay here at the castle.”

Areum tapped her chin, “However I will say this much, the Estate has something primal to it, some may even call it magick. If you are seeking answers, there is no better place to meditate than there.”

“I’ll think about it.” You nodded as you gazed out over the meadow in thought.

Perhaps time away from the castle and Jungkook would serve you well.

#bts #jungkook #jeon jungkook #jungkook x reader #jungkook x reader smut #jungkook x y/n #jungkook smut #jungkook imagine #bts scenarios #prince!jungkook x reader

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arlecchno · 8 months

Text

everything has changed (alhaitham x gn!reader)

ONE. i just wanna know you better

masterlist next

SUMMARY - alhaitham was positive that he was not worthy of anyone's love, nor was anyone worthy of his. but after bumping into you on a random wednesday morning, he was ought to be wrong in many ways. also; in which you attempt on asking alhaitham out a grand total of three times; three different ways, three different places, and three different situations, in hopes of him reciprocating your so called love— people do say that third time's the charm, right?

A/N - i have delayed this for far too long. i have maybe slept while editing this draft for around 4 times. i was supposed to post this last week. forgive me pls

“three times.”

“pardon?”

you smiled at the gray-haired man at his desk, holding up three fingers as you repeated yourself once more. “i'll only ask you out three times, and if you decline all three of them, i won't ever bother you again. you can trust me on that.”

if there's one thing about you that alhaitham could describe, it's that you are… maybe a tad bit weird.

no, scratch that, you're insanely weird.

it's silly, he thinks. you're a well-known and respected scholar slash biologist from the amurta darshan. there's no one in the akademiya who doesn't know you, not when you're widely known for your eccentric researches and experiments. no, alhaitham definitely did not look into your work profile after that little incident. and even if he did, it was purely for work purposes, he was mainly doing his duty to report about it to the higher ups, lest he craves punishment or a lecture from grand sage azar.

anyway, frankly speaking, you should be professional, at the very least. hell, you have a doctorate. the title itself should be written all over you.

so why are you speaking to him like… well, he doesn't know. like you're a fool? a desperate moron in love? whatever it is, it's anything but professional to him.

see, this all started due to that sudden incident from a few weeks ago.

nothing ever beats the rush hour in the akademiya on a wonderful wednesday morning, it seems.

as a full time worker at the prestigious institute, it was just another day for you and your overworked colleagues. however, getting errands done during this time around would be a death wish, everyone within the akademiya walls knew of that, and of course, you do too.

yet it seemed like you had just dug your own grave.

honestly— who wouldn't? you needed to head over to your lab immediately, the specimens in the crate you were currently carrying needed to be experimented on within the fifteen minute timeline you had mentally set up in your head, so it was obvious that you had no time to lose.

and to speak; the crowds in the house of daena honestly weren't that bad— maybe a little less spacious than usual, but still merely nothing for an experienced scholar like you. see, that's what you had initially thought before getting back to your private lab.

you just need to head on over to the biology section of the house of daena to retrieve a book titled ‘fungi and its extraordinary lives’, and you'll be set to continue conducting your ongoing research project. look— you did think of snatching the book way earlier before you even set out on an adventure of getting your crate of supplies, but it would've been too much work for you to go back and forth from your lab, as it was already close to the house of daena.

you figured it was best to do it on your way back instead, which, in full honesty— was not even a bad idea. it was just that things just had to escalate a whole lot differently than you had intended to.

see— your first mistake was keeping your eyes busy on your task instead of what's in front of you. which, in another sense, is what any other normal person would do. well, you know your way around the akademiya like the back of your hand. the shortcuts to aisle number thirty-six in the house of daena, the bathroom to the end of the hall on floor two, the shortest route to the archive room of the akademiya, you name it. so you thought you could just waltz your way through the library easily. again, your first mistake.

your second mistake was that you were clearly doing anything but walking, understandably so. you're well aware of the akademiya rules: no running in the institution, no careless mistakes, no idle chit chat and gossip— among many others. right, the handbooks weren't a stranger to you. there was even a point in your life where you were forced to memorise it from a to z by one of your professors because you were unfortunate enough to have unintentionally broken one of the many minuscule rules that one time, which in your opinion was quite the torture for a mere student like you back then. you may or may not still hold a grudge against the said professor.

as you were double checking your to-do list with a pencil and piece of paper on your beloved crate, you hadn't realized that you were walking towards someone. okay, maybe the correct word for your actions right now would be sprinting, but you'd hate to admit that you were in the wrong.

now, this is your last mistake. the person that is about to bump into you is not a mere scholar, whom you can't just apologize to once or a few more times and move on with your day.

next thing you knew, you collided into the person's chest that was so hard it felt you just crashed into a wall, and much to your dismay, caused you to harshly fall on the pristine floors from the impact, along with your precious, precious crate, which is now most likely a lost cause as your specimens and other important stuff you had worked so hard to look for earlier were all over you and the extravagant floors of the house of daena. disgusting, you know, but that was the least of your worries right now.

as if that wasn't already downright embarrassing enough, you're now covered in gooey fungi, you have totally made a fool out of yourself, and all eyes are currently on you, scholars and students alike whispering amongst themselves at the scene they were witnessing. a monstrosity, truly.

you were sure that you'd be the main topic of gossip for at least a week. maybe two weeks at best.

the house of daena was silent, with only the chit and chatter amongst the scholars as an exception. at first sight, you wondered why everyone would pay so much attention to you instead of continuing on with what they were doing just a fleeting second ago. surely this happens in the akademiya at least once, no?

you've made two revelations to this; one, you were so ungodly hideous that everyone just had to stare. or two, you had probably just bumped into some hot-shot akademiyan.

of course, the first thing any sane person would do is look up to the perpetrator who had cause you this much damage. (it was your fault to begin with.)

so you did.

and of course any normal person who had just been bumped into would have thought of the same thing: have every reason to be angry at the person who bumped into you, whether they were in the wrong or not.

so it was only natural that you too, had the same thought in mind.

but the second you laid your eyes on him, it's as if the whole world stopped, and you finally understand why everyone was so adamant on just standing there and whispering about your little incident instead of helping you out like any decent human being would. and the latter of your revelation was definitely on spot. you would've done a victory dance if you were in any other situation except this.

because the person you had just bump into is none other than the scribe of the akademiya, the one and only, alhaitham.

you've heard of him a few times— apparently he's quite the reserved man, yet would not hesitate to call you out on your wrongdoings or foolish mistakes. well, that's what you heard anyway; as a mere worker who is trying to make ends meet, you are in no position to judge people based on what your fellow juniors run their mouths about these days.

for as long as you've been both an alum and full-time employee at the akademiya, it's truly a wonder that you've never actually seen the scribe in person. right, that's also what you've heard people say— that the scribe can hardly be spotted, nor can he be found easily to begin with. he's never in his office, and it's not often that you'd find him within the akademiya walls; the man is anywhere but at his working place, and somehow gets away with it because he's the scribe, whose presence is not of importance unless he deems so.

and if you are granted the position to say this; it is mainly because the higher ups of the akademiya takes great pride in their respected positions, so it is not a shocker that someone with an official title like grand scribe can frequently get away with such things.

egocentric, blunt, unambitious and many more— those are the few descriptions you've heard over the past few years from scholars about the scribe.

but out of all of the mysterious things you've miraculously heard about the man, you've never seen or heard people point out how attractive he is.

how could they not? he’s got a broad frame that could actually knock the breath out of you (which in this case, quite literally did knock you down), a set of clothes that somehow just screams him, despite the fact that you know next to nothing about the guy, tuft of gray hair that bounces graciously and looks luscious enough it makes you envious how he even manages to take such great care of it, and lastly, a pair of turquoise eyes that looked like an oasis from the sumeru desert, one you could just stare into forever, ever and ever.

this man is a whole package.

it was like the gods had granted you the perfect opportunity to present yourself in front of an attractive man, like the gods have finally decided to fill a bit of colour into your hopeless romantic and workaholic life, and gave you this blessing— except for the fact that this, this might be the most embarrassing way possible in doing so.

oh how you want the ground to swallow you up right now.

after what seemed like forever (it was less than thirty seconds), the man of the hour finally speaks, startling you with his voice. “would you rather sit down there like a fool or will you stand up?” ouch. maybe it's safe to say that at least one of the things people say about him are, in fact, true.

you blinked, once, twice, before you could pick up on what what he said and hurriedly stand up, glass jars of your specimens that were previously all over you clinking to the floor a little too loud, some already having been broken and shattered, but you could care less when the man in front of you was currently glaring at you like you have committed one of the six cardinal sins.

before he could even jab you more with his next few blunt words, you decided to bow down to a complete ninety-degree and started profusely apologizing, all previous thoughts of wanting to blame everything on him for ruining your prolonged experiment were thrown out the window (again, it is your fault in the first place.)

sure, this might hurt your pride and ego, but you'd rather do this than having the possibility of listening to the scribe giving you a lifelong lecture on the basic rules of the akademiya, or yet even worse, you get sent to the grand sage and have your doctorate and title revoked for being unprofessional, unethical, or whatever nonsense grand sage azar would demote you for. call yourself dramatic and insane, but you'd rather not inflict any chances of ending up humiliated or jobless. or both.

a beat passes, and you're still mumbling out apologies, causing alhaitham to clear his throat in order to cut you off.

“you… you can stand upright now,” he said, and it takes you another few seconds before you reluctantly do as he says, and the first thing you see is him looking at you with a puzzled expression plastered on his face.

“i apologize once again, scribe. it was my fault, i wasn't looking,” you looked down as you spoke, staring at your ruined materials on the white tiles.

alhaitham all but sighs, and tells you to look where you're going next time. you couldn't help but only nod, not even glancing at him once out of embarrassment. “you are fully aware of the akademiya rules, are you not? act one-o-three; no running in the institution unless–”

“–an emergency occurs, or and if ordered to by either of the six sages, grand sage included,” you finished his sentence with the slight of an eye roll, before remembering that this was the scribe, not your annoying biology professor who countlessly had you memorise the five-hundred-page worth of akademiya rules. truthfully, there was no need for a teaching institution to have that many rules.

then, he prompts another question: “do you perhaps need any help…” he seemed to have trailed off, and you flickered your eyes to him just for a fleeting second to see what he was doing. “amurta scholar?” he finished his question as he stared at your lab coat, a small badge to your left with the amurta logo pinned on it, indicating which darshan you are from.

“uh… no– it's alright,” you say sheepishly as you quickly crouched down, already starting to pick up your glass jars and whatnot. “you should get going, scribe. you must have a lot of work to do here in the akademiya.”

alhaitham could only nod as you tell him that, not even minding the fact that you were not able to see him as of the moment. he merely tells you to watch where you're going next time and starts to walk away; which in your opinion was maybe just a tad bit rude— the least he could do was help you out. but knowing him, as per what people talk about, that'd be nigh impossible. also, you did say that you didn't need any help, so you couldn't blame him per se. honestly, if you were in his shoes you'd probably have done the same.

so you hurriedly finished cleaning up your mess and ran to your lab, all in your splattered–with–gooey–fungi glory. as you sighed behind closed doors, you prayed to the gods above that your project would go smoothly and peacefully. fingers crossed.

well, maybe after yet another exhausting trip to the avidya forest for another set of fungi, that is.

but of course, it was only wishful thinking, there's not a lot to hope for when alhaitham pretty much occupied your mind the whole day. it has even gotten to the point where your fellow juniors had to snap you out of your daydream so that you could actually focus on your research.

sure, call yourself a hopeless romantic (maybe a crazy lunatic in this case), but who wouldn't fall for him at first sight? and who the hell cares about the things scholars gossip about him? a man with that sort of pretty privilege could run over your toe and you would gracefully thank him for it.

and, point in case— alhaitham isn't that bad. okay, sure, maybe a little too blunt and too uncaring for his own good, but he is not as bad as people make him seem.

maybe you should get to know alhaitham more, right? not because you're interested in him (you are, but that could be pushed aside for now), you merely want to debunk the bad rumors about him going around (they aren't even half as bad, just highly exaggerated and overall childish) and make sure that everyone knows that alhaitham is not just the egocentric and arrogant guy people always see (he probably is just exactly that, but it's worth the try).

you firmly believe there's more to the scribe than what meets the eye.

so, you make it your mission and goal to get to know alhaitham better, even if it may be the worst idea possible.

spoilers: it absolutely is the worst idea possible.

after the minor incident you had, you tried your very best to encounter him during work hours, which honestly wasn't as challenging as you thought it was. sure, he's not around much, but after maybe a week or so of hanging around the house of daena (stalking would be the ideal word you're looking for), you finally got to know his routine— well, only for when he's around the humongous library, but that will suffice for now.

evidently, alhaitham would only visit the house of daena on wednesdays, and weirdly on saturdays, at ten in the morning sharp. for what reason you quite have no clue, but he's frequently around the linguistics section, reading a book or two about ancient runes and that sort of stuff, sometimes even seen squabbling with a certain architect from the kshahrewar darshan too. you don't know kaveh much— but apparently he's acquainted with alhaitham, of all people.

but now that you know a part of his routine, you can probably catch the opportunity to get to know him. so ever since then, you have been, quote unquote, “bumping„ into him nonstop.

the first few times you bumped into him, you had greeted him a couple of times, and after a bit of coaxing, you somehow managed to drag him into small talk. you've even gotten to the point where you're asking him when he's free— reason why? of course, you just want to take him out for a bit during lunch break to make up for the incident you two had just a few weeks ago, definitely no ulterior motives whatsoever; which unfortunately, alhaitham kept declining because he quotes that “it would be a waste of time,” and that “things should just be left in the past.”

but that clearly didn’t stop you from trying, again and again. your guardians clearly didn't raise a quitter.

one thing you did find out about alhaitham after a few conversations with him is that the man is anything but fond of small talk, which was expected. and after countless attempts on trying to get him into one, you eventually had to go on a different route to get his attention.

so, here you are now, somehow having managed to reach your way to his office— and miraculously enough, alhaitham just so happens to also be present at the time, which gives you the perfect opportunity to raise the deal that has been dying to escape from your throat.

look— there's no denying that you are here for work purposes; you were requesting for one of your documentations to be cited and reviewed, and although alhaitham is mainly responsible for documenting data regarding the akademiya and the six darshans, he offered a helping hand during one of your small talks you had successfully managed to coax out of him.

and you did come here for that, but you just couldn't help but blurt everything out.

and it doesn't really help that alhaitham is looking at you like you've submitted the worst thesis possible. you haven't even handed it to him yet.

alhaitham continues to frown. “would it not be a hassle to be asking me out that much? why would you even be interested in me?” he had asked, and he didn't bother waiting for your reply as he continued speaking. “you could use those three times right now and i'll decline all of them instantly. that way, you won't have to bother me again.”

“well aren't you quite rude, scribe,” you huffed, retracting your hand back to your side. talk about rude; you're here for the sole purpose of asking him out. “give me a chance, would you? i'm confident that you'd have changed your mind by the time i'm on my last chance,” you grinned as you quirked your eyebrows up and down, and alhaitham almost rolled his eyes as he folded his arms over his chest and leans back on his chair. almost.

“i highly doubt it,” he says.

you tucked your files closer to your chest. “have you ever heard of the saying ‘third time's the charm’, scribe?”

“i believe so, yes,” he nods, then adds: “you'll only ever hear obsessive gamblers say that sort of nonsense when they've lost their current gamble, in hopes of winning the next round.”

in an instant, your jaw drops. “are you implying that i am gambling my love life?” see, if you look closely— alhaitham was this close to smiling.

“i am just saying that there is no point in pursuing something, or someone, in this case, when you've already failed the first time, biologist,” well, now you understand why scholars say he is unambitious. “it would be a waste of time to be around me, or be with me, for that matter. i doubt that i could ever reciprocate your feelings.”

ouch. you'll probably have to double check your list of alhaitham's personality chart again.

“please?” you plead, and alhaitham stares at you for a little too long that you eventually had to break eye contact to avoid his intense gaze. “i promise you that i will never bother you again, you can trust me on that. you won't even see my face on the grounds of the akademiya.”

he looks at you confusedly. “are you not the famous biologist with fifteen awards on their name? i am bound to bump into you in the near future, in one way or another.” he says, tapping his finger on his forearm.

huh, how did he know that you have won fifteen akademiyan awards? as far as you know, this guy knows nothing about you, the fact that he had to check which darshan you are from during your incident was enough proof.

maybe you're not the only one who is interested in the other.

“that's not the point!” you groaned, rubbing your temple with your free hand. this may or may not be directed to both your thoughts and him.

okay, maybe this was a bad idea after all— alhaitham is an impossible man. you'd think that you were capable enough to break his façade, to see the true him after a bit of pestering, but nooo, you're pretty damn sure this is him. there's no such thing as a façade. he's just… alhaitham. which could either be a blessing or a curse, if you ever manage to steal his heart. that, or maybe both. but then again, it still doesn't change the fact that he is one tough nut to crack.

alhaitham sighs. “will you really leave me alone?”

“huh?”

“will you really stop bothering me once you're over with your… shenanigans?”

you blinked. then, you widen your eyes, nodding. “of course. i won't pursue you again, scribe. all i am asking is for you to lend me your time for the duration of— uh, actually, i'm not sure what i am supposed to call this,” you mumble the last few words, but still audible enough for the gray-haired man to hear.

“say, hypothetically, what would you do if i were to agree to one of your three chances of asking me out? what will you do then?”

“oh,” you shift from one foot to another, awkwardness coursing through your veins at the lack of answer you could think of at the top of your head. “i… i am not quite sure. that's for future me to worry about, i guess?”

alhaitham raises a brow, but doesn't question your uncertainty. instead, he says something else in return: “alright, then. i will indulge in your antics for as long as you'd have me as your… social experiment.”

social experiment is just an over exaggeration, right? it has to be. no rational person says it like that.

“what?”

“i'm saying that i will agree to the terms you have given me, but you will stop bothering once your chances are up. do you understand?” he enunciates his words carefully, and you almost dropped your files, right then and there.

gulping, you nod, a small grin tugging at your lips, and alhaitham already regrets his words when you say: “of course.”

well, be prepared for a rollercoaster ride.

extra note - ok guys please keep me in your thoughts and prayers 🙏 writing slump is crazy this is the first work i’ve posted in over 2 months. that is ridonkulous. hope i don’t disappear again

taglist; @isotofl @dancinghillary @heartswonder

taglist is still open!! :D

#alhaitham x reader #alhaitham x you #genshin x you #genshin impact imagines #genshin impact x reader #genshin impact reader insert #genshin x reader #al haitham x reader #genshin alhaitham #h✧˖— writes #h✧˖— everything has changed #i went through the five stages of grief writing this #yet somehow i still hate it

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deakyjoe · 6 months

Text

Southern Charm

Pairing: Phillip Graves x Reader (afab, she/her, use of “girl”)

Category: smut

Summary: You’re supposed to hate him but you just can’t resist that southern charm.

Warnings: 18+ only, smut, unprotected p in v sex (one day I’ll get characters to use a condom), creampie, vaginal fingering, biting, grinding/dry humping, thigh riding, pet names (good girl, naughty girl, darlin’), praise & degradation kink, quickie, cum eating, slight choking, Graves is a bit of a dick but we love him, slight dom!Graves, slight sub!Reader, slight slut-shaming, jealousy

Word count: 3k (how did that happen?)

A/N: That’s my pookie. He can do no wrong. He has committed many atrocities. I want him to wreck me.

Consider buying me a coffee :)

You didn't know how you'd ended up here.

Well, you did. But you were in denial.

You knew you were supposed to dislike him, considering the rest of the team did. Slimy. Untrustworthy. Suspicious. Creepy. Dodgy. Sinister. Menacing. Sly. All words that had been used to describe the man. And you agreed with every single one of them but just couldn't find it in yourself to feel the same way they did, and maybe that did make you loathe him a little. How was he so irresistible to you?

He had just waltzed in, all charming smiles and inviting voice, and expected to take over the whole operation. Bastard. But when he looked at you, you couldn't help the heat that would crawl to the surface of your skin and make you yearn for him, crave his touch. And you knew he felt the same.

You’d been exchanging meaningful glances for weeks, full of tension and future promises. Yet neither of you dared to act on it for a while, knowing it was too risky. But sometimes things just have a way of happening.

But when you’d been walking down one of the many hallways on base, him just a few paces behind you, you couldn’t help but slip into the nearest room with a quick glimpse back at him. It had taken him less than ten seconds to burst through the door after you.

So that's how you'd ended up being pushed against a wall with his knee between your legs and his tongue in your mouth. A quickie in a tiny storage room with someone you weren't supposed to like was not your style. But maybe today it was. It had to be because this was all you had.

"Shit." You cursed when one of his warm hands snaked under the hem of your shirt, and curled around your waist, and the other reached up to squeeze your breast through it.

Graves only smiled against your mouth, enjoying the effect he was having on you. It was only further proof of what he already knew.

But your mind kept straying to the door of the room that was very much unlocked, considering there was no way to bolt it from the inside, and the fact that anyone could walk in at any moment if they chose to. What would your team say if they caught you like this with him? The shame was almost too much to bear.

"We should stop." You mumbled against his mouth, making no effort to get away and actually just pulling him tighter against you instead. One of your fists gripped the fabric of his shirt and the other curled around the back of his neck and into his hair. You were insatiable.

He knew you didn't want to stop. Neither did he. "Mhm, sure."

He kissed you harder.

You let him.

"We could get caught." You said, during your next pause for air. Rational thought was escaping you fast and you knew you had to at least pretend that you cared that this was wrong.

"Nobody comes in here. Just girls like you waiting to get fucked."

You pushed on his chest, breaking the kiss. "I didn't think you'd follow me."

You did.

"Bullshit." He laughed. "I've seen the looks you've been giving me, darlin'. I know."

You frowned at him, defiant nature kicking in. He was too cocky for your usual taste no matter how attractive you found him. Perhaps it even made him more attractive to you. "Know what exactly?"

His eyes sparkled. "How much your pussy aches for me."

He wasn't wrong. And you hated that. Hm, maybe you did despise him a little.

He saw the look of embarrassment flash across your face and could only laugh. "It's alright. Do you know how hard you make me?"

It was pressed up against you so, yes, you knew very well. But you bit your bottom lip and shook your head anyway. And he was all too enthusiastic to take one of your hands and guide it down to his crotch so you could palm his hardened length through his clothing.

"Fuck." Graves groaned at your touch, head dropping and eyes squeezing shut for a moment.

You giggled, liking how easy this was even though he'd been the one teasing you a moment ago. "You like that, Commander?"

His head snapped back up again, playful look back on his face as he pushed his whole body up against you further. It got to a point where the only way for the two of you to be any physically closer would be if you were to remove your clothes. And you certainly weren't doing that in an unlocked storage room on base.

"Naughty girl." He mumbled, craning his neck to trace his lips over your jawline. “Calling me by my rank. You like that sort of thing?” He lifted the knee between your legs up higher when you nodded so it pushed against you harder, making you whimper in pleasure. "You do this often?"

"Do what?" Your brain was too fuzzy from what he was doing to you to properly comprehend whatever he was talking about. It probably didn't help that you shifted your hips to start grinding against his thigh.

"Send wicked glances to all your higher ups and then fuck them in closets? You a barracks bunny, hm?" One of his hands slid to the belt on your jeans, undoing the fastening slowly. Too slowly.

"I don't work for you. You're not my higher up." You pulled his face away from your neck and tugged him down to kiss you again, wanting to shut him up. But you couldn't deny that what he was saying was turning you on even more. You weren’t interested in sleeping with your team or anyone else on base but his implication of it was… slightly exciting to say the least.

"Oh, darlin'... you know you'd submit to me easy enough. All I gotta do is ask."

You definitely despised him. Despised the fact that he could read you so well. To be fair, you hadn't really tried to hide your interest in him. You were sure he'd known since the first moment you laid eyes on him. If it were possible, you were sure he would've been able to see your eyes blown wide with immediate lust and the heat that pooled in your lower abdomen. He just really did it for you. Maybe it was the accent, maybe it was the hair, maybe it was the scar, maybe it was the over confident nature. Whatever it was, he just clicked right for you.

"You're such a dick, Graves." You finally replied, breathless and about two seconds away from pushing his hand fully into the front of your jeans if he didn't speed things up.

“Yeah, but you like it.” He chuckled, moving his attention to the finger that had finally reached your clit and was providing the much needed stimulation you’d been thinking about since you’d first met him.

“Shit, fuck.” You gasped, head falling back to hit the wall.

Graves huffed at your groan of pain and used his free hand to hold the back of your head in order to prevent any other injuries. How sweet and out of character for him. But you didn’t question it, just thankful that he didn’t seem to want you to give yourself a concussion.

His hand slipped down further. “Goddamn, you’re wet for me. Huh, darlin’? Didn’t know you were that desperate.”

Your eyes rolled back when he slid a finger into you. It was almost humiliating how easy it happened, how wet you were from so little.

“Oh, my god.” You squeaked, clutching onto his shoulders and moving your hips to grind against his hand.

“I will be your god soon enough, I can promise you that.” Graves’ hand moved with you, knowing exactly what you needed to make you feel good.

“Shut up.” You sighed, not really caring what he had to say anymore. You were about one orgasm away from agreeing with anything he had to say. That was dangerous territory. But you were sure it would pass once you had this, had him, out of your system.

“I mean it. Gonna ruin you for all other men. You’ll only ever think about me after this.” His forehead furrowed as he watched his wrist disappearing in and out of the waistband of your jeans, fully concentrated on that.

You wanted to disagree but you could already feel it happening. It didn’t help that you were already so attracted to him. But if he made you come? Then you were screwed. Literally and metaphorically.

When he added a second finger to the mix, crooking them inside of you to meet that sweet spot and the heel of his hand grinding against your clit at every little movement, you knew every sane thought was lost for the near future.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck.” You babbled, nails digging into his shoulders to drag him down to meet your mouth again. It was all teeth and tongues, technique abandoned in your ecstasy, and you could feel him holding back a smile against you. Always so fucking smug.

“Come on, darlin’. Be a good girl and come for me.” He mumbled against your cheek after the kiss was broken.

The use of good girl did it for you.

Your hips rocked against his hand wildly as your orgasm washed over you, desperately trying to chase the high even further.

Graves guided you through it, trailing kisses up and down the skin of your neck as well as the area of chest and collarbone that was left exposed by the neckline of your shirt. “Good girl, that’s it. Such a good fucking girl for me, hm?”

You whimpered when he pulled his hand out of your jeans, and his fingers out of you, and planted a kiss on your lips as a reward for coming. You didn’t really understand the logic as you thought you should be rewarding him for making you come but you weren’t going to complain if that worked for him because it was certainly working for you.

He licked the essence of you from his fingers, moaning at the taste. “So sweet.”

You could only watch with hooded eyelids, both from exhaustion and arousal.

When he kissed you again, you could taste the remnants of you on his mouth and you just pulled him impossibly closer. You knew he wasn’t done with you yet, his hard cock being pressed against you was evidence enough of that.

When he broke away, his eyes flitted over your face. “Knew you’d be easy. Didn’t know it’d be this easy.”

Your nose scrunched. It was things he said like that that made you know that you should like him a whole lot less. “What made you think I’d be easy?”

He beamed that dazzling grin. “My good looks and outstanding personality.”

"Been using the southern charm on me, huh?"

His eyebrows raised. "It's been working, hasn't it?"

"Confident." You scoffed.

"Only because you came on my fingers less than two minutes ago." He reminded you, smug smile plastered across his face. "Thought that was a telltale sign, darlin'."

You grunted and nodded at him, hands falling to unbuckle his belt.

“Eager?”

“Horny.”

He laughed again and pulled your own jeans and underwear down to the ground, the cold air making you gasp.

“What the fuck are you doing?” You asked, gaze flicking to the door.

“How’d you expect me to fuck you if you got jeans on?” He glanced up at you from where he was crouched down.

“Good angles and a little effort.” You replied but still kicked them off of your ankles.

“Can’t do this if clothes are in the way.” He stated as he stood up straight again, each hand swooping behind your thighs and lifting you in the air so your legs could wrap around him and your back rested against the wall. “This a good angle for you?”

You nodded, a small smile tugging at your lips.

“And enough effort?”

You nodded again. “Yes, Commander.”

He shook his head in amusement. “Good.”

And he kissed you again, pushed fully up against you to use his own body to keep yours up. Your hands tangled in his hair, nails scratching at his scalp and fingers tugging on his roots. His hips rutted against yours and you laughed.

“What’s so funny?”

“Just fuck me already, Graves.” You whispered, trailing one hand down the length of his torso.

He didn’t need to be told twice. Pushing his jeans down a couple of inches was enough to free himself from the confines of his clothes. He pumped himself a few times before pausing, eyes snapping up to meet yours.

“Shit.”

“What?” You asked, confused.

“I haven’t got a condom. Do you?”

You laughed. “Yeah, I just carry them around with me with the rest of my gear.”

“Shit.” He looked disappointed.

“Easy, Commander.” You said, brushing a hand through his hair to make him calm down for a second. “I’m on birth control, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

He visibly relaxed. “Thank, god.”

“No, thank me.”

The flirtatious smile returned to his face. “And how’d you want me to do that?”

“I think you know.”

With a quick nod of confirmation between the two of you, he placed his tip against your entrance.

You held your breath.

And he exhaled heavily when he pushed into you steadily. “Fucking… fuck.”

“Yeah.” You replied, eyes fluttering shut and head falling forward to meet his shoulder.

“Darlin’, you’re so…” He trailed off but you got the idea.

“You too.” You turned your head to suckle on a spot on his neck.

He liked that.

His hips slammed into yours. “Jesus! You gotta warn me. Fuck. Fuck.”

“Sorry.” You weren’t. In fact, as you said it, you moved to graze your teeth against his jawline.

Graves grabbed you by the side of your neck and forced you back to look at him. “You not gonna be a good girl and listen to me?”

“I’m sorry.” This time you were. But only to hear him call you a good girl again.

The hand on the side of your neck curved to meet your cheek, his thumb running against your lower lip. “I wasn’t joking earlier. Are you the barracks bunny around here?”

Fury burned in your chest, a scowl crossing your features.

Graves laughed. “Oh. Upset you, did I?”

"Fuck you." You hissed, venom in your voice and lust in your blood.

A smirk tipped up the corners of his mouth as he leant in to whisper in your ear. "You already are."

And with that, he pulled out of you before pushing back in again. An embarrassingly loud moan tumbled from your mouth.

Graves chuckled. “How am I not supposed to assume you’re the resident slut when you get off fucking your commander in a closet?”

“Not a slut. Not my commander.” You replied, rolling your hips against his as best as you could.

“Hmm… You fuck your lieutenant then? Or your captain? Tell me, what’s Price like in the sack?”

The loathing you were supposed to feel for him grew more and more by the second. But so did the want. You wondered if he was jealous. Which would explain why he was pressing you about whether you’d slept with the other members of the team.

“Haven’t fucked Price.” You responded, a jolt in your voice as he pounded into you.

“What about the rest of your team, hey? Or anyone else around here?”

You were frustrated. “Fuck! None of them, okay? Just you.”

He loved that answer. “Just me?”

“Yes, just you.”

He kissed you. “Good.”

You whined against his lips, sweat starting to glisten on the surface of your skin and the wet sounds of him pushing in and out of you filling the room. You were sure that if anyone were to walk past the room, too close to the door, that they’d be able to hear the two of you. And they’d certainly be able to smell if they were to come in after the two of you had left. The air smelt distinctly of sex.

The hand on the side of your neck fell to move between you, the thumb that was previously teasing your bottom lip now eagerly circling your clit.

Graves watched your face intently to take in every minor reaction you gave him. And when you crashed into your second orgasm, he swallowed your moans with a firm kiss. Only pulling away again to whisper sweetly in your ear. “Good girl. That’s my good girl.”

The feeling of you clenching around him did it for him as well as he slowed down slightly before he twitched inside of you and pumped you full of him.

“Fuck, darlin’.” He grumbled as he rested his forehead against yours for a few moments before gently lowering you back down to the ground. His arm wrapped around your waist when you stumbled on shaky legs. “You okay?”

“Yeah.” You replied, steadying yourself against the wall and sending him a short smile.

He nodded and tucked himself back away in his jeans before helping you to get yours back on. When that was done, and you’d flattened his hair as much as you could after tousling it up as much as you did, you just looked at him awkwardly. You could feel him dripping out of you and making a mess of your underwear.

He didn't strike you as the romantic type so it surprised you when he leaned in and gave you, what could only be described as, a very tender kiss. You figured it was his version of aftercare. It was surprisingly nice. You'd take it.

He pulled away and looked at the wall over your head. “Go take a shower and clean up.”

You cocked an eyebrow at him. “Not going to join me?”

“You wish.” He snickered. “No, I was supposed to meet Price in his office ten minutes ago.”

Your eyes widened in shock. “What?”

Graves shrugged. “Got distracted.”

You could only smile back at him in disbelief as he sent you one last cocky smirk and sauntered out of the room.

Yeah, his southern charm worked. You definitely didn’t hate him.

A/N: hope you enjoyed <3

#phillip graves x reader #phillip graves x you #phillip graves #graves #graves x reader #graves x you #call of duty #call of duty modern warfare 2 #call of duty modern warfare #cod mw3 #cod #cod mw2 #cod modern warfare #cod mwii #ej’s writing #ej’s fics #deakyjoe’s writing #deakyjoe’s fics

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mika-no-sekai-blog · 6 months

Text

Spymaster

Azriel's week: Day 2

Hosted by: @azrielappreciationweek

Word count: 1000+

Rhysand's claws gently knocked on your mind and you let him in. Could you come to my office for a sec, dear? he asked you.

I'm on my way, you answered and put the book aside. Claws left the feeling of soft caress on their way out.

You opened the door to Rhys' office just to be met with broad shoulders of Shadowsinger standing on the other side. " I know what my job is," you heard him say. Apparently they were discussing something important.

"Should I come later?" you peeked from behind him.

"No, Y/N," Rhys smiled. "It's about you, too. The answer to our request came from Day Court in the morning. You can go and use their library."

"That's great. Thank you. I will prepare and go first thing in the morning," you smiled, too, and you looked to where Azriel stood. You hadn't seen him since the day you visited your parents. Corners of his mouth lifted up in tight smile.

"Okay, so it's set," Rhysand nodded. "I almost forgot. Azriel here will go with you. He will keep you safe."

You wanted to object, but you knew it would be useless. He had already made up his mind. "Fine," you gave him nervous smile. "So.. I'm going to prepare." And with that you left.

Next morning you found Azriel waiting in front of your room, silently leaning to the wall with hands in pockets. "Ready?" he asked instead of greeting. You nodded.

Shadowsinger pushed off of the wall and led you to the roof. He took a look around and exhaled deeply before turning to you. He gave you tight smile and reached out to you. Startled you backed few steps. His eyes narrowed on you, studying your face, then he grinned. "We won't fly all the way to Day Court. Once we get out of the wards we will winnow." You teased your lower lip with teeth.

"I know. You just surprised me." Azriel huffed.

"So can we now?" he cocked head to the side offering you scarred hand in black glove. You hesitantly accepted it.

When you arrived to Day Court, you were greeted by Helion himself. You thanked him and handed over letter from Rhysand. After that you went straight to the library. You already knew which books you needed to obtain the information you were looking for, so you assumed it would take you max two days and you could head back home.

Azriel was still with you, walking few steps behind and like some bodyguard eyeing anybody who got too close, but when you sat down with the first book, he disappeared somewhere.

You so immersed yourself in the reading that you didn't notice that it was already evening and all scholars and librarians had left.

"How is it going?" deep night-kissed voice hummed next to your ear and you jumped up. Azriel was leaning over you, looking at the page you were reading. You didn't hear him come.

You shakily exhaled. "Fine. I think I need one more day and we can return."

"You don't need to hurry," his brows furrowed and fingers drummed on the table.

"I know," you pointed to a pile of written papers. "But I'm almost done."

Azriel's eyes searched your face and his lips pulled into thin line, obviously thinking about something. Then he leaned so close that his lips tickled your ear. "I need you to extend it," he whispered.

Frozen in place you swallowed hard. "Why?" you whispered back.

"Not now and definitely not here. We should go to our rooms anyway," he looked around, his voice grave. You put the book you were reading back to the shelf and followed Shadowsinger back to the palace.

Helion gave you bedrooms connected by small resting room with comfortably looking armchairs placed around the fireplace and round dining table for two. Servant brought you dinner shortly after you stepped into the room.

"It seems that somebody from Autumn Court is here looking for something and Rhysand wants to know what Beron is after. I followed them all day, but I'll need time to find out more." You nodded slowly.

You were waiting patiently for Azriel to explain why he asked you to play for time, but he still didn't say a single word, possibly forgetting all about it. You couldn't take it any longer and while the two of you were eating alone, you asked him about it. He didn't answer right away, probably waiting for his shadows to check out the place.

"What about Helion?"

"He had no idea they are here. Rhysand explained everything in the letter you gave him, but he can't interfere. At least not directly. So will you help me now?"

"Of course. I will try to extend our stay as long as possible."

"Thank you," he gave you small smile, his fingers brushed over your knuckles making your heartbeat speed up. Blushing fiercely you pretended to be preoccupied with the food and after that you retired to your bedroom.

Three days passed since you promised Azriel to postpone your return for as long as possible. You spent your days in library while Azriel spied on Autumn Court's people and gathered information that could possibly save a lot of lives in the future. You felt so small, useless and unimportant compared to him.

Usually Azriel walked you to the library in the morning and came to pick you up in the evening, but it was getting quite late and he hadn't appeared yet. Therefore you decided to return on your own. He most likely knew about your every step anyway, so he shouldn't have problem finding you.

You walked through city heading back to the palace while enjoying fresh evening air and looking at windows of already closed shops. You didn't notice you were followed. Not until they attacked you, putting some cloth bag on your head.

"Your spy foiled our lord's plans and now someone has to pay for it, but it won't be us," you heard them as they dragged you to who knows where. You tried to fight them, to scream, but there had to be something in that bag because soon enough you began to feel nauseous and passed out.

#azrielappreciationweek2023 #az x reader #azriel x reader #azriel shadowsinger #azriel acotar #azriel spymaster #azriel x you #azriel #acotar fanfiction #acotar

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luvrsux · 6 months

Text

“Maze”

word count: 3.7k

summary: you and your long term crush go out to a horror maze for halloween as well as his friends. it just so happens that you both get wrapped up in a secluded area alone together… and he’s also the flame emperor Sabo

cw: slight NSFW, barely proofread, grinding

If the shrieks of consumers wasn’t enough, being chased by actors in masks and makeup was surely going to send you to your grave.

Luffy was overflowing with excitement, though, meanwhile the rest of your party was more nonchalant than anything. Being close with the ASL brothers was a blessing on certain days but a curse on most days, especially this one. You question yourself on how exactly you caught tangled in this situation in the first place. Tracing back to it, you really should’ve reconsidered your decision.

“What are those?”

You peeked over the brunettes shoulder that was bare as pure usual. In his hand were several tickets of some sorts. You began to filter your brain with exciting possibilities, like a concert or a fair. He turns back to you with a devilish smile.

“Tickets” He says which causes you to frown. Of course he was being not only secretive, but also a complete smart ass. Not surprising from Portgas Ace himself.

“Oh, you got the tickets already?” Sabo chimed in from beside. His words left you clueless now that you were completely isolated in thought. The two brothers shared mutual fond thoughts about said tickets that you had no recollection of.

“Sure as hell did! When you showed me that flyer I just had to get em’” Ace beamed, his excitement pouring out from his eyes and tongue from the way he spoke. Sabo and him exchanged laughter, and hearing it made your heart begin to melt.

Sabo and you have been tied to the bone since the first memory you can remember. As time grew, you noticed that Sabo was starting to make you gush and blush at the smallest things, like helping with errands or even the slightest compliment. With agonizing days of denial, you came to the sudden conclusion that you had fallen for your best friend just a few months back. Ace, who can’t seem to not be nosy, is the only person in your close circle who knows—and he can’t stand it. He feels like he might as well grow gray hairs from the stress you out on him. Constantly making excuses to avoid explaining your feelings to Sabo, and so on. You began to think that those infamous tickets wrapped around Ace’s fingers had something to do with your little crush.

“How many did ya get? Enough for everyone?” Sabo asks, peering down at his hand that had every ticket tuckered behind one another that created an illusion that there was just one. Ace flipped through each one with a finger.

“One, two, three, four… Six! Yeah, got enough for everyone. Luffy asked for a plus one” Ace replied. Sabo’s smile was the equivalent of the sun on a summer afternoon. It was so bright and full of excitement, you found yourself gazing for a moment before displaying your complete confusion.

“Woah, where are we going?” You finally ask abruptly. The two brothers shift their overbearing excitement to you. Their eyes flicker amongst themselves before landing on your puzzled face once more. It’s as if they telepathically pondered if they should even enlighten you.

“We’re goin’ to a Fright Fair next week” Ace presented. Your mouth went agape and you blink rapidly. Surely, this has been an ongoing plan since forever and you seemingly never knew, which is exactly what they wanted.

“Woah, huh? I never agreed to that!” You snatch a ticket out of Ace’s hand that was now yours. You read the printed text on the paper to get a little more information, but was left with just the address, date and time.

“Because I knew you’d be a pussy and back out” Ace scrunched his nose up immaturely. You snarl and prepare a come back before a hand rested on your shoulder. Your eyes trail from its fingers to the face.

“(F/N), it’ll be fun! Promise” Sabo’s voice was like butter on toast with the way it was so smooth. All your tense emotions driven by Ace was now completely gone just by his tone. Boy did he have you in a trance. “You’re grouped up with me”

“Oh thank god. If I were to be grouped with Ace, I think I might drown in his ego” You cross your arms and strike a smug look at Ace who gasped dramatically. He ran his fingers through his rather messy locks dramatically.

��If you can’t handle this overwhelming handsomeness, just say that”

And there you were. In the middle of the park, ready for your demise.

The air was frostbite whenever you inhaled. Your body was thankfully covered in warm clothing other than your palms. Each time you spoke or exhaled, you’d accumulate smoke from how shiver the temperature was. Winter was sure coming in ironically hot.

“Oooh, Oooh! Let’s do the corn maze!” Luffy was practically jumping to the moon with his finger pointed out and his other hand resting on Zoro’s shoulder, his plus one. You could faintly hear Zoro scold at Luffy for trampling on him.

“I heard the corn maze has people in it that chase you” Ace wriggled his fingers in your face in an attempt to scare you but to no avail. You replied with the most unamused face you could muster before Marco gave him a knock on the head.

“Stop being a weirdo” He had a smirk plastered on his face while Ace scolded at him for hitting him. The entire group approached the maze that not many people found interesting. You might as well be the only party daring to go in.

Sabo was beside you closely. Too closely. Your shoulders were grazing upon each other while you waited for your tickets to get verified to enter. When the staff was explaining the rules and guidelines of how to be safe inside rambled on and on, it was blurred out due to the fact that your crush was so close to you. At some moments, you two would brush finger tips against each other but quickly retract. Until you heard the words ‘find your partner’, that immediately birthed eye contact between you two.

“C’mon, don’t be chicken” Sabo spoke with that smirk. That smirk that’d immediately send shivers down your spine when he grabs your hand to pull your forward into the horror attraction. You both locked hands for a few moments while inside until Sabo went to detach himself from you to mess with his younger brother.

The entire group decided to travel in one, but with space in between. Eventually, Luffy noticed Zoro had vanished and went on the search for him. Ace swore he saw something pass by and wanted to check it out, thus leaving you and Sabo alone. Together. Together alone.

You internally cursed at Ace for having to be alone with someone like Sabo, a man who made your knees weak by subtle gestures. Of course, you two being friends and whatnot, you maintained conversation with the blonde like he was any other guy. Deep inside, though, you felt like you were going to burst. On the bright side, this maze was just a regular night stroll. The alleged actors didn’t seem to exist, so having this moment to walk around and talk with Sabo was extremely refreshing.

“You remember when Ace drank milk and he laughed so hard it came out of his nose?” You giggle, barely being able to finish your sentence without laughing halfway. The memory made Sabo laugh equally as hard. Neither of you were taking this horror attraction seriously.

“You shoulda’ saw it when he drank booze for the first time! It was hilarious” Sabo cleared his throat to prepare himself for his award winning Ace expression. “‘Sabo it burns! It burns!’”

You both sprout in laughter in unison, practically shedding tears from it. You both took mindless turns and directions just to spent more time talking with each other. Even the voices of your beloved friends began to vanish. It was silent besides the hopeless laughter between you and Sabo.

“I got one! Do you remember when Luffy-“ Sabo began but his sentence was quickly cut in half when the rustling of the corn didn’t sound like the wind grazed upon it. Your smile quickly dropped, your cheeks feeling sore from how hard you were previously smiling. Sabo’s locks danced in the wind as he stood tall to sense anyone nearby.

“You heard that too, right?” Sabo asks, his face now deathly serious. You slowly nodded. Of course, this was expected. Although, you and Sabo have been strolling about without a care in the world for the last twenty minutes without anyone scaring you. You thought the whole “chase you down” thing was just a flux.

The rustling only got more and more intense the more it crept closer. With the low amount of light, you couldn’t tell which side was moving. All you could rely on was your fight or flight at this current moment—or Sabo. Your backs faced each other while the two of you began to eye the walls of corn until the rustling abruptly stopped. The rapid pumping of your heart began to slow once the anticipated jump-scare was absent. You exhaled.

“Probably was a stray cat or something” You shrug but there you saw Sabo still tensed and expecting something else to happen. Your defense was down and you smiled up at Sabo.

“(F/N) I don’t think it was a-“ Sabo began before a deep, growling roar came jumping from out of your side of the maze. The person wore a mask with fake blood on it and a knife that might as well pass off as a real one. You shriek louder than you ever have, surely your throat would be sore after. Just as his foot stepped out to begin his pursuit, Sabo grabbed your hand once again to make a run for it.

You were still in a state of shock to even realize Sabo’s hand was comfortably wrapped around yours. You knew Sabo was fast, but you turned back to see the actor miles away trying to keep up. Sabo took mindless turns to avoid the running actor, not even caring to look at the helpful wooden direction arrows planted around the maze. Eventually, Sabo yanked you into a secluded corner of the maze that had a wall of plantation covering the entrance. It seemed like this miniature area was supposed to be apart of the attraction but the growth of the corn had accidentally covered part of it. Sabo covered your mouth to suffocate your heavy breathing while he heard the actor run close and closer toward your location.

Your face was covered in red with the way Sabo’s hand was planted over yours. Not to mention the unknown hand that managed to rest at the crook of your back. Eventually, the thumping footsteps of the man that chased you down began to vanish off to look for its new victim, leaving both you and Sabo alone. He formed a pearly smile and removed the restraints off your mouth.

“Guess we’re safe now” Sabo breathed. You managed to form a smile of your own from your sheer amount of adrenaline. Your heart was racing hundreds of miles an hour. Sabo then began to burst in laughter. “The way you screamed was hilarious though!”

You playfully punch his chest but that didn’t budge his arm around your back a bit. Sabo didn’t seem to notice the grip he had against you until you stared up at him helplessly. His laughter died down when he caught himself lost in your own eyes. Smoke from your lungs were intertwining with each other with each breath.

“Oh- My bad…” Sabo stammered, quickly detaching himself from falling further in the trance you dwelled upon him. Your chest felt a sting once he separated from you.

“Maybe we should… Relax here” You say in attempts of transitioning the topic. Your chest was still heaving from the marathon Sabo put on you. “My heart is still racing” You giggle.

Sabo formed a smile and nodded, taking his fingers to comb through his waved, golden locks. He let out one exhale before facing you again. “Yeah, sounds good. I’m sure the others are having fun”

Sabo crashes down on the floor and rests his arms on his propped up knees. You sat closely by next to him, practically brushing shoulders. You two shared an awkward state of silence, hearing nothing but heavy breathing until it steadied.

“You have soft hands by the way” Sabo blurted out from nowhere, causing you to look rather perplexed. Sabo’s face then seemed to flood in with pigment and he quickly avoided eye contact. “Sorry! Felt like I need to uh-… Mention that”

You blink. ‘Stunned’ wasn’t even the word to describe your current state. You managed to giggle at his newfound flustered state which you found more than adorable.

“You think so?” You say, extending your hand to invite the blushing blondes. Sabo smiled and rested his own in yours, feeling the plush flesh on his finger tips more thoroughly instead of dragging you around the maze.

“Yeah, geez. What lotion do you use?” He snickers. His fingers still graze your palm, causing him to make you flinch a bit from being ticklish at his touch. Your hand goes from horizontal to vertical and Sabo follows.

“Your hands aren’t so bad yourself” You graze your fingertips against his palm for a moment to feel his own skin. It wasn’t the softest, but it wasn’t hard concrete. It was a mix of both. For a man like Sabo, who trains from day to night and was a bungling kid who practically lived in the forest as a hobby, his hands were quite comfortable.

Your fingers go from his palm to match his fingertips. They stay stuck together for a few seconds before the two of you are inching to interlock fingers between each other. When they fluently latch in between together, you felt a tingle from your palms to your chest that flared your cheeks with heat. Your eyes avert from the hand holding to Sabo, who coincidentally did the same thing.

The eye contact would’ve been enough to kill you, but the inching of his face postponed that for a moment. You believed that this was a dream and you desperately wanted to pinch the plush of your skin with your might to jolt you awake but, fortunately for you, it was reality. You reciprocated and maintained eye contact with the blonde until his lips were dangerously close to yours. The flickering of your eyes that went from Sabo’s to his lips did something dangerous to him. With a hand latching to the back of your head and one separating from your hand to connect to your cheek, you were now smashed against your long-term crush by the lips.

You let out a soft whimper from surprise once you two connected but it didn’t take long until you melted into his embrace. Your body was pulled in closer than you ever thought you’d get and, surprisingly, your lips synced together fluently. Your body took upon itself to climb and straddle Sabo, cupping his face while his hands rested on your hips. From what went from a soft, passionate kiss quickly swifter to a more rough and tender make out session.

Sabo’s fingers gripped the plush of your hips, his body itching for more of you but decided to be patient and let you take over any initiative. Your tongues began to swirl and dance with each other as time passed and the two of you were growing hungrier and hungrier for each other. Although, you finally parted lips to refill your lungs that have gone shriveled from the long make out session.

“Y’know I’ve liked you for a while now, right?” You finally confess. You felt as if you might as well rip the bandaid off considering you were now on top of him and devouring his lips. Sabo was heaving and licked his lips to savor the taste of your own.

“Wait really?” He says, a tinge of excitement buried in his heavy voice. He blinks and clears his throat. “I mean- I bet I’ve liked you longer”

“It’s not a competition Sabo, just kiss me” You smiled, adoring his competitive personality that he would pour out onto his two brothers continuously. The blonde had a beaming smile like a kid at a candy store before latching his hungry lips onto yours once more.

Sabo’s hand traveled along your back, slighting snaking up behind your light jacket and shirt to feel your bare spine. The coldness of his finger tips caused you to release a soft noise while in between his lips. Your mouth moved on its own and you realized you were now giving love to his neck. His neck had a practical necklace of pinks and purples along it. You swore you were about to tear off his clothes with the small moans and whimpers we released when your lips went down on his neck and collarbone.

You felt Sabo buck his hips against your sex, causing the both of you to begin dry humping from excitement. Your heavy breathing and whimpers were right beside Sabo’s ear. You gave him a nice bite of the lobe only for him to roll his eyes back and bite his lip. He never wished to be in his bedroom with you so terribly in his life.

The blonde’s hands began to clench the fats of your ass tenderly. His bulge was driving in your core and your growing anticipation to rip his jeans off was getting worse by the second. You pressed your forehead against his own to stare deeply into his eyes. Seemingly Sabo longed to see your face again, as a growing smile cracked in his moaning lips as soon as you locked eyes.

“I love you” You whisper with a smile.

“I love you, (F/N)” He breathes, itching to feel your plump lips again.

Your bodies rocked against each other rougher and rougher. You both were practically moaning and whimpering in each other’s mouths, screaming for more. The maze was still oddly quiet aside from the background noise from the other attractions.

“Quit movin’ like that before I tear your clothes off” Sabo chuckled while in between your lips. His remark made you form a giggle. You pull away and stare deeply within his eyes. You rocked your body against his now rock hard bulge slowly and roughly.

“What? Like this?” You murmur. You heard the blonde hiss and grip on your sides. You let out your first actual moan aloud when Sabo synced with your movement. His bulge grinned against your clit in just the right spots, you immediately wondered how it would feel inside of you.

“Sabo~…” You say before his hand quickly latched onto your mouth to seal it. Of course he wanted to hear you, but that meant only he could hear you—no one else.

“Shh, you’ll get us caught” He smiled. As he stared up at your flustered face, his hand slithered down to your sex only to rub it through the cloth of your clothes with his fingers. Sabo’s hand shifted from a hand to his two fingers to which you wrapped around your lips and swirled your tongue on his digits.

“I think I might just fuck you right here and now” Sabo breathed, completely aroused by the way you suckled on his fingers almost immediately. You nodded and whimpered, not even caring about the consequences.

“Sabo!? (F/N)!?”

The voice echoing your names was scarier than the actual attraction. You both jolted and your souls might as well be coming off your body. Sabo slowly slid his fingers out of your mouth, leaving a string of saliva connected together.

“I think that’s Ace…” You breathe out, not only from sheer terror but complete arousal. Your juices might as well travel down your thigh.

“We have been here for a while, huh?” Sabo laughed. The moonlight shined upon his face just enough for you to catch a glimpse of his rather adorable red cheeks.

“We should get going” You say, sliding yourself off of Sabo’s hot lap and standing on your feet. Your eyes widened with how large the log in his pants were.

“Yeah, you’re right” Sabo grunted as he lifted himself off the ground. He adjusted his bulge in his pants to make it less visible but it seemed to be rather difficult. You then felt an arm slither to hook your waist.

“But as soon as we get back home, I’m fucking you into next week” He growled in your ear and shivers went down your spine. Sabo went from an adorable, flustered boy to such a hungry dog in mere seconds.

His lips pecked your cheek to soften that tension he put on your shoulders and he went to interlock your fingers. Your face was speaking for itself; flustered beyond belief.

“C’mon! Let’s meet the others!” He said cheerfully, as if nothing happened in the last few seconds. His body jerked forward to escape the concealed alley you two resided in.

To both of your surprises, Ace and the entire rest of the group were not far from where you two almost sinfully danced in. Ace immediately laid upon you and came running, like he hadn’t seen you in eons.

“There you two are! It’s been ages, me and Marco beat the maze already” Ace smiled brightly. Luffy sprung up behind him like a jack-in-the-box.

“Zoro got us lost and almost left the whole park!” Luffy laughed, only to receive a nice knock behind the head by Zoro from his complete embarrassment.

“Hey are you two-…” Ace pointed at your hands that was comfortably latched with the nonchalant blonde that also had bright red cheeks.

“Ace lets go, Im starving here” Marco knocked Ace on the head to interrupt the upcoming fiasco that was about to erupt just by you and Sabo holding hands.

“Yeah… I’m pretty hungry” Sabo smiled, giving you a quick side eye glance with half lidded eyes that spoke numbers. The group figured he meant food like a normal person but you knew otherwise.

You blushed further, knowing exactly how your night was gonna end in just a few moments.

#one piece #fanfic #op x reader #x reader #one piece x reader #one piece sabo #revolutionary sabo #flame emperor sabo #sabo #sabo x reader #op sabo #chief of staff sabo

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