#so. I am making one too. because it's only fair. and I'm just. so perplexed

[crabussy]

just had someone comment on a post I made talking about one of my characters with "uhh whats the gender? you literally can't be male and female. how on earth are people THIS confused in 2025. china did a number on you folks with tiktok" as if being both male and female hasn't existed in human history for thousands of years. as if you can't find plain evidence of people living as both a man and a woman at once in dozens of cultures across dozens of time periods. as if the modern term for it hasn't existed for a MINIMUM of 40 years. also I have never used tiktok in my life so I'm very baffled as to why she brought that up. hard to believe I know, but genderqueer people exist in real life too! not just online!

[dualityvn]

I dunno if anyone asked this, but could you please write a drabble for UT!Tenebris x MC?

A Milkshake and A Night Under The Stars (UT!Tenebris x GN!Reader)

This was slightly inspired by valentinax3's ask about making a deal with Tenebris. Enjoy!

× × ×

"What is this one?"

"It's a chocolate milkshake. You drink it through this straw. The little tube poking out at the top," you explain to the creature eyeing the cup in your hand. "Wanna try it?"

As one arm reaches out, it morphs into a human one so it can easily grab the treat you've brought him. He hesitates as he brings it to his face and leans in to sniff it. He must not find anything suspicious because quickly after, he sips from the straw.

"Do you like it?"

The many eyes light up with delight. You've seen them do that every time you presented him with a new type of sweet treat. Each time, you find it very cute. Something so big and scary is obsessed with sweets.

"It's good. Very sweet, just like the rest. But I'm beginning to discern between them... What will we do in exchange for it?"

Some time ago, you'd made a deal with "the monster in the forest." You'd bring him the sweets he'd grown so fond of and in exchange, he'd let you get to know him. It was a deal that had perplexed him at first. He couldn't see why you'd want such a thing. Yet he'd accepted nonetheless.

"Since it's nighttime and the sky is clear, I was thinking we could stargaze."

"Very well. I appreciate that this one does not involve other humans."

He brings the straw back to his mouth. You watch the contents of the cup being drained at an impressive speed. Within mere seconds, it's empty. He hands it back to you and you store it away in your backpack.

"I mean, I was thinking we could do it from the top of one of the buildings in the city. The forest is kinda dense for it," you explain.

Half a dozen eyes narrow at you. "No. There is a large clearing deeper in. We're going there, where it is quiet and dark. Your loud vehicles and blinding lights would no longer bother us."

Under different circumstances, going deep into the forest with a monster would be a terrible idea. But if he wanted to harm you, he would've done it many times by now. So you take the risk.

"Okay, fair enough. How do we get there?"

He turns his back to you, then crouches down. "It will be too slow if I let you walk. Get on my back."

You pause, caught by surprise. He's never allowed you to touch him this much before. When you'd tried, he'd move away or snarl at you. Still, you aren't about to refuse the offer. You climb on and wrap your arms around his neck.

His skin is cold, but his hair feels soft as it brushes against your cheek. He smells like grass and honey. The lizard tail and his hunched position help keep you in place once he takes off.

You now see why he suggested you'd be slow. It wasn't an insult, it was a fact when you compared it to the speed he was running at. He wasn't only fast. He was also agile. You never once got smacked by any branches or bushes.

"Am I heavy?" you ask.

"Heavy? You come nowhere close to it. Not to me, at least."

You're not sure if even ten minutes have passed before he comes to a stop and lowers himself again to put you down.

The clearing he spoke of is indeed big. The stars are much more beautiful here, compared to the city. They look like glitter spread over dark fabric. You can't help but smile looking at it.

"You're right. This is much better."

He huffs as he plops down onto the grass with a loud thud. "Of course I am."

You suppress a chuckle and join him.

You'd noticed earlier, but now you have time to inspect him properly. He's dressed up. An intricate necklace resembling golden branches with precious stones instead of fruits hangs over his chest. A similar golden arm band matches one around his tail. And he's wearing pants. Something he didn't do the first time you'd met him in this form. He'd kept in mind you weren't a fan of complete nudity.

Three eyes shift to look at you questioningly. "I thought we came here to look at stars. Why are you staring at me?"

"Sorry, I was just thinking you look nice."

The eyes widen, then quickly look away. You get the impression he's flustered.

"Shouldn't this form frighten you? Why do you always ask me to stick to it instead of the human ones?"

"I like it. And you said the human form takes effort to maintain. I want you to be comfortable," you respond.

He only lets out a grunt and reverts his attention to the sky. You do the same.

You don't know a lot about stars. He does. So you ask a lot of questions. He answers each one without complaint. And when you both lay on your backs to get a better view and you scooch a little closer until your shoulders touch, he doesn't push you away.

It's pleasant. You feel oddly at peace. His voice is deep but soothing. Accompanied by the sounds of crickets and frogs, it begins to lull you to sleep. Your eyelids become heavy. As they close and you drift off to a land of dreams, you feel something brushing away a few strands of hair from your face.

[alchemicaladarna]

Just to clarify, I am obviously talking about the characters and the QSMP as a story. I am simply an avid viewer that had too much coffee and time on their hands so I basically wrote an essay. What is it about? I have no idea. So, read it if you want, but beware that nothing at the end of this should make sense.

In my opinion, morally ambigious characters are interesting, but UNPREDICTABLE morally ambigious characters are even more fun to analyze because they take more risks and play more dangerous games. If a character was labeled as a "hero" and played on the "good" side they are guaranteed a safe spot within the group. Regardless of whether they kill or hurt others, they are on the good side because they are fighting against the corporation that is keeping them and their friends trapped in a place that is a nightmarish paradise. If they had done actions that worked against the islanders' favor, by, for example nearly getting everyone killed by explosives at a party they are justifiably labelled a villian. But what if a character played in the middle? What if they were neutral? What if they simply wanted to let things play out- sticking to the sidelines and only becoming involved when the situation benifits their entertainment?

So, pardon me for the long intro, but here's the gist folks: q!Foolish arrested q!Pac e q!Mike and unknowingly put them through loads of emotional trauma that I don't think they'll be recovering from any time soon, for fun. To a person with a normal moral compass, that's obviously fucked up.

"Friends don't send friends to prison."

In q!Foolish's perspective, he REALLY didn't think the consequences of his actions through, but he wouldn't have arrested q!Pac e q!Mike for no reason. Mr. Mustard is missing and the Federation told q!Foolish that q!Pac e q!Mike were responsible for his disappearance. At this point, I think enough time has passed that we the audience know q!Foolish is being manipulated by the Federation. Even Foolish himself knows he's being manipulated by them, yet he still partakes in this precarious game because it's simply more entertaining than just sitting on the good side and letting things play out.

Q!Foolish has never actively gone out of his way to hurt people on purpose. Does he lack some emotional maturity and the appropriate response to some situations? Yes he does; but he doesn't have malicious intentions. He's there to have fun. Where others see a dire situation- at the mercy of the inescapable claws of a malevolent corporate entity, q!Foolish sees fun and exciting opportunities. The others might not want to admit it, but aside from the tragedies and kidnappings that have occured on the island, this nightmarish paradise has provided the characters with more excitement and enjoyment, than what is worth.

But, not everyone understands q!Foolish's perspective, and that's good! That's ok! But what I'm perplexed about is their constant unjust treatment of him- the exclusion, threats, torture, many many pointless accusations disguised as interrogations, etc- simply because he did one task for the Federation. One task that affected the lives of two people, but in the end both parties communicated and forgave each other anyways. One task that required q!Foolish, and by extension, q!Jaiden to harmlessly investigate around q!Pac and q!Mike's base for a considerably long time before finding nothing that would incriminate the duo. Throughout q!Foolish's endeavour, working with the Federation cost him most of his friends' trust and gave him no benifits, but he still reluctantly chooses to carry out another task because it's entertaining. But like q!Foolish said to q!Cellbit the other day, he may be stupid, but he's certainly not an idiot, and he has limits. A lot of people, specifically q!Max don't seem to understand the concept of a neutral party. If you work for the Federation, you are a villain- and honestly, that's a fair assumption considering their reputation. But what about people like q!Jaiden? Q!Jaiden, one of the kindest people on the island, who is compassionate to everyone, even Cucurucho, who is always perceived as a malicious entity?

What exactly defines a villain in this story? In my opinion, everyone on the island has a skewed sense of morality. Everyone except Elquackity knew of his first assasination and simply watched as he lost his first life, then celebrated when he lost the other with no regards to the repurcussions of their actions or how Elq felt about all this. And while we can justify their actions because Elq hurt people before, and either brainwashed or replaced q!Quackity, how do we justify their treatment of q!Foolish even after he communicated honestly to q!Pac e q!Mike and done nothing to deserve their maltreatment of him. Maybe I'm a bit impatient, but at this point, q!Foolish's arrest, has had the same value and impact as q!Bad giving people the survey for the Federation; I'm even more willing to believe that q!Cellbit's accidental "employee of the month" investigations benifitted the Federation more than whatever measly and repititive tasks they're giving out to q!Foolish.

So, what warrants all this hate and injustice towards q!Foolish then if he's not harming anyone? Why is he the punching bag? Why is he the butt if the joke Every Single Time? What warranted all the cruel jokes and malicious beatings after the Nether event? Is it because they know he won't exact revenge upon them? Is it because, in their eyes, they only value him as a court jester and nothing more? Q!Foolish even said the Nether, an obsolete dimension of fire and brimstone, offered more compassion and comfort than a world where the sun shone and the air was less polluted because the inhabitants, his "friends" treated him with more malevolence than literal souless monsters from hell itself.

Think about q!Jaiden- a person whose compassion broke through Cucurucho's souless programming and gave it a home, a sense of safety, and relaxation. Jaiden works (and apparently worked???) with the Federation, yet she has more kindness within her than an entire group of people, on the "good" side, fighting against evil.

The truth is, there is no bad side among the islanders. The admins (meta) wrote the Federation (and codes?) as entities that the collective group should be against- a common enemy. But once you "ally" yourself with the Federation and do tasks for them does that make you the common enemy as well, or do you need to commit more heinious acts to be considered a villain?

And what about the islanders? At what point do the rest of the players begin to consider a character on the wrong side of things? At what point do they begin to abandon compassion in favor of searching for the truth? How far will they go in pursuit of the truth?

In my opinion, there are no villains in the story because everyone is capable of becoming an antagonist in one way or another. Basically, EVERYONE is morally ambiqious because they have all been antagonists to each other at some point in the tale, and as the story keeps unfolding, who knows what could happen? A character might say they are a good person, but as the story changes, so do their values, their morals, their limits. How thin can someone's patience be before it inevitably snaps?

[short-black-diamond]

May I request Blue Exorcist Lucifer relationship headcanons with a half angel female s/o? Please and thank you!

Not me looking up who tf Lucifer from blue exorcist is, I only watched the first season... ☠

Also, I'm doing this like a fic, so it's going to be very long!

Anywaysssss, I tried my best! Also, I'm sorry for taking so long! 

I didn’t proofread..

Here you have:

Lucifer's relationship with a half angel s/o!

I hope it's okay if I put this in headcannons...

How you two first met:

So, as I have researched, your dear Lucifer is a polite man, level-headed and has great manners!

I'd like to think that he likes to go on walks and such, just...enjoying the peace and quiet.

And where would that fit best?

Right.

A cemetery.

So, as he looks over the many graves, reading some familiar names to which he apologizes in his head, also wishing them a peaceful afterlife, he hears you.

You're not crying. Rather talking. Sitting in front of a row of graves, putting a different kind of flower species in a bouquet to every single grave which you've decided to grace with your presence.

Now, don't get me wrong. He didn't know that you were an angel, or a half angel, at least. You looked like a decent human to him.

But, he was intrigued with the way you spoke to a bunch of dead people as if they could hear you. But oh well, everyone had their fair way of coping when dealing with losing their loved ones.

Lucifer could see your face, you kneeled in front of a small grave, your hands starting to shake.

He goes over to you, ready to help, when he sees wings spreading out from behind your back.

He quickly looks around him as if to make sure that no one is here.

But surprisingly, there's no other person beside him except you and the hundred other dead people buried in the ground.

Then he mentally slaps himself, because why did he check if anybody was looking? those were your wings and not his.

Just as he could think deeper into this, you spoke up. "Oh, I'm so sorry, ah. Um, well, you see, those are....not-not ...real?", you muttered, gesturing to your very real looking wings. trying to lie. Too bad you were partly an angel, so not telling the truth was rather impossible for you.

He gave you a look.

To which you slumped your shoulders.

With a sigh, you introduced yourself. "My name is Yira Hideyo, and you are...?"

You didn't expect him to turn into a gentleman though. "I am Lucifer, also known as the King of the Light. And I couldn't help but notice how...etheral, you looked while you conversed with the gone."

You looked to the graves, a sad and solemn expression on your face. your wings dissapeared. "They're...my friends. They all died during a tragic incident. And what will happen now? Will you kill me?"

He was perplexed, to say the least. You elaborated. "Well, you're like, the king of the light, Lucifer, and you're most possibly a demon. My identity was revealed to you the moment I showed my wings to the public eye."

He sighed. "I am not really one to look for danger, war, or negativity. I want peace."

You didn't trust him at first, but after you two talked about what he was meaning and what you'd like for the world, you two started to become...aquaintances.

How you two got together:

Lucifer frequented that place from now on, in hopes of seeing you again. Because first of all, why was an angel like you here on earth? How did your friends die? And ... why did he even want to see you at all?

It all started to make sense when he felt weird sensations whenever you noticed him and waved at him. When you smiled.

When you talked to him about anything and everything. You leading the conversation and him following. A half angel and a demon falling in love with each other.

He asked you out to dinner, after half a year of getting close to you. He felt like you'd be right by his side. Even though you were a half angel, how you'd explained. You told him that you couldn't return home to the heavens, which is why you had to stay here on earth and mourn the dead.

But, you also had to look after an adoptive pet your higher ups have ordered you to. To look after a bunny.

His dinner plans might have been cancelled, but he got to meet an even softer side of you than he did the past months.

You were much more quiet, calm, slow and friendly around that little furball. He adored it.

"This...is a bunny." "Wanna pet it?" “Yes.”

And that’s how he knew that he fell in love with you. 

You were just so...friendly. You did as you were told. You were calm. And he was the same as you. He felt like being together with you would be a good option. So he asked you while laying his hand on that pet of yours. 

You were hesistant, of course. I mean, who wouldn’t be when a literal demon king would ask you to become his significant other. 

You didn’t care if the higher ups in heaven would cut off your wings, because you fell in love with the beautiful man too. 

You loved how well-spoken he was, or how much of a gentleman he could be. He looked at you with nothing but fondness in his eyes. 

You could remember vivdly when he showed you his illness and you just spoke a few spells to cure it (let’s just pretend it went like that), revealing not only a romantic personality, but good looks too.

And when the higher ups tried to take you to heaven to cut off your wings and turn you into a human or worse, a demon, Lucifer defended you, taking you, your belongings and your pet bunny with him to his home. 

There, you two stayed undercover. But, it was nice. To know that the King of Light would protect you from the people who sent you down to earth to do such...human things. 

Now, talking about your guys’ relationship (I’m sorry it took so long, I just tend to write much, like a story to get into the flow, you know?), I think that it would be a very calm and loving one. 

Lucifer would compliment your very appearance daily, also your voice when you sang a song, ask about the different kinds of flowers again and again so that he could burn them in his mind. 

His love language would be acts of service, like giving you gifts, doing some household chores when you were not able to, giving you a massage or just simply being with you in one room. 

This leads to his second type of love language. Along with acts of service, he would be really into quality time, and I think he would also be a touch-starved person. I headcannon that because of his illness, nobody wanted to get close to him in fear of getting infected, so when you touched his cheek or hand the first time, he felt anxious, telling you to not touch him. 

But, after talks and reassurements such as lingering touches, the demon finally gave in and let you hug him, which was something he never knew he needed until this very moment. He is a clingy, touch deprived gentleman. 

Referring back to your wings, I think he would be mesmerized. It could be the first time that he had seen a woman with the wings of a bird attached to her back. Leading to him constantly giving you back massages in hopes of getting your non-existent back pain from having such large wings away. 

He also asked you to show him your wings again, and when you also offered for him to touch them, he hesitated. But when he touched the feathers, ir felt like he touched clouds. Soft and fluffy to the touch.

To the topic of you being some sort of half angel, Lucifer thought that you could have done womething wrong. 

But then you explained to him that you were about to become an angel. You were just a dead person, who has done too many good deeds to go to her afterlife. And that was how you were practically forced to watch your loved ones either keep climbing up to heaven or slide down to enivetable hell. 

Some nights would be spent with you crying over all the people you had to leave in order to become an angel, but you didn’t even accomplish that- to which Lucifer felt very guitly. It was his fault that you couldn’t become a full angel after all. 

When he asked you what a whole angel could do, you only shrugged your shoulders in childish wonder, because you genuinly didn’t know the answer either. 

That was how he promised himself to take care of you from now on, so that these stupid higher ups wouldn’t take you from him.

So, all in all, your guys’ relationship would be very sweet and loving. Even though there would be some dark moments with you thinking about your dead friends, and Lucifer thinking about putting hell and earth (or was it heaven??) together, you two would always comfort each other.

...

Phew, I hope it was alright with you. I think that given to the lack of information about that character - or maybe he had more screentime- I couldn’t really give him a personality other than making him polite and calm...sorry.

Anyways, I’m open for other requests!

[unspoken-blossomed-feelings]

{Feeling overwhelmingly single around your (allegedly) single friends.}

🌸 Chan ft. Jisung, Minho & gn!reader

🌸 content: valentine's day(?)

🌸 wc: 603

🌸 warnings: mention of food (popcorn)

> February, 2020🌸

This group of four single friends will attend the Valentine's Day fair, and we'll have lots of fun. At least, that's what Jisung had said, and Chan ended up agreeing to tag along with the rest. However, as he found himself walking around the fair with Minho, Jisung, and you, Chan wondered if maybe, just maybe, he should have considered a little more the offer.

     There were couples everywhere, some sharing gentle moments, and others that definitively didn’t care about their levels of pda, but it wasn’t something uncommon. Everyone would expect to face those situations when attending a Valentine's Day fair because people are diverse, and so are the way in which they show their love. Nevertheless, what Chan didn't expect was to face the couple-stuff right in front of him, making it impossible to ignore.

"I'm feeling overwhelmingly single right now," Chan complained with a pout, getting Jisung to look at him with narrowed eyes.

"What's that even supposed to mean?” Jisung asked, covering his mouth to finish eating the popcorn in his mouth before he could keep talking, “We're literally all single friends in a fair!"

"Yeah, like I get it, there's plenty of couples going around here, but we came to have a good time," you added after Jisung's comment, trying to remind the reason why all of you had attended the fair in the first place: games and good food.

     Chan looked at you perplexed. Were you really telling him that whilst Minho was feeding Jisung some of the popcorn that you were holding? What about the fact that Minho’s free arm was linked with one of yours?

"Uh, yeah, the couples surrounding us, that's what I was talking about," nodding his head, Chan tried his best to avoid the wide smile that wanted to appear on his face. He had to admit it was slightly funny that the three of you were so oblivious about your clingy behaviour.

     Then, you handed the popcorn to Minho and left his side to get to Chan’s side. "Don't mind the couples. I'll win a plushie for you, the biggest and fluffiest one because you're like a teddy bear."

     “Yah! What about my plushie? You promised you would win one for me too. If you don’t, I’ll tell Soonie, Doongie, and Dori you lied.”

     “Hey, don’t get my children into this. I know what I promised, so I’ll win your plushie too, and one for Jisung as well.”

     Before Minho could start discussing how you were trying to take his children away, Chan left your side to walk towards Minho and embrace him tightly, the wide smile displayed on his face allowing you to know how much he loved hugging Minho right away.

“I don’t really care about the plushie as long as I get to hug Minho.”

In response, Minho frowned, as he knew there was no way Chan would let go of him willingly. “Why me? Hug Jisung instead.”

“But your hugs are the best!”

As Minho tried to get away from Chan, Jisung and you took pictures of the two of them, laughing at how Minho looked like a rabbit that had been caught by a smiley teddy bear. It was easy to tell that Minho was only pretending to be annoyed, specially when a smile was trying to break through.

“Alright Chan, enjoy your date with Min,” you said as Jisung waved good-bye before the two of you started walking away, leaving behind a smiley Chan with a very surprised Minho.

“Yah! You can’t leave me like this! I’m taking your Soonie, Doongie, and Dori privileges away.”

A/N: It's been so long since I updated my series timeline for the last time, so I had to post something soon. So, here I am with 1/2 posts for Valentine's Day, just because(?) If anyone gets to read this, I hope you're having a peaceful day :) Happy Valentine's Day! - Sophie🌱 unspoken-blossomed-feelings🌱

[obislittleone]

What Once Was Mine

Chapter 3

Summary: Locked away in a house her entire life, she always dreamed of exploring the nearby kingdom for just a day, believing it could make the rest of her days in solitude bearable. What she was unware of, was the real reason she'd been hidden away for so long. Changes comes swift like a flying dagger when a thieving bounty hunter seeks solace in the old home.

Din Djarin Royalty!AU / Tangled!AU

Pairing: Din Djarin x Princess Kryze!Reader

A/n: y'all keep eating this up for some reason even though it's literally the product of an idea I had while poopin

Warnings: mentions of death, drowning, Angst, lil flirty

SERIES MASTERLIST

The steep climb up the rocky hill was a bit more than you were expecting, and the bounty hunter was not being merciful in the least. It was almost as if he knew the terrain would be complicated, and tried his best to make it even more difficult in order to drive you want to turn back. It was unkind, and since you were the one holding this situation under your thumb, you needed to negotiate some more terms, or at least make it even.

"You must be in an awful hurry to leave me behind," you paused, holding up your dress high enough to step onto the high rock. "Especially since I'm the one you're supposed to be escorting."

"Is it too much for you?"

You huffed a sigh and glared up ahead at him, you knew what he was doing, and two could play at that game.

"Because if it is, maybe you'd be more comfortable back at your house."

You used your powers to pull out the stone from underneath his supporting leg, sending him sliding down the hill. He landed several feat beneath you, standing back up with a low gruff in his voice. He looked back up at the place he'd fallen from, his held such confusion, as well as frustration. What in the world had happened for him to fall?

"This hill has loose stones, you might wanna be careful," he said with a scoff, beginning to come back up the rocky surface. He didn't have to get too far to be face to face with you, given that you had gone a bit slower.

"Is this too much for you?" You teased with a smirk. You may be absolutely insane for assuming your ears recorded anything of the sort, but at the moment you swore you'd heard him chuckle just the slightest at your antics.

Reaching the top of the hill, he decided ultimately that he would wait for you, knowing that after this, there wasn't much that could deter you or the child enough from wanting to continue the journey. He accepted the fact that he would be taking you into the kingdom as promised, because it was the only plausible way he would reattain the dark saber without searching for days on end. Though he was a thief and a hunter, he was still a man of his word, and it would not have sat right with him had he gone back on a fair deal.

The trip down the steep hill was somewhat easier, but also scarier to an extent. The sharp rocks at the bottom that lead to a forrest trail betwixt the trees were a sign that any fall would surely be fatal. It was only a little further. You kept looking down, passed your feet to the dangerous bottom, and felt that you needed some, nay, any form of distraction you could obtain.

"So, I never caught your name," you muttered, now much closer to him than on the climb upwards.

"I'm not giving you my name."

You quelled your brows together, a sour look spread on your face. He didn't need to be so stingey. He was after all going to be your companion for the next two days, willingly or otherwise.

"Then what am I supposed to call you?" Your sweet question almost took him by surprise. Most people didn't care for his name, and if they did, usually it was because they were hoping for the reward that came with it, hanging over his head like clouds in the sky. He was perplexed at your genuineness.

He still hesitated, of course, because he's a wanted bounty hunter and thief, and even having you use his name with the purest of intentions would end up badly in the presence of the wrong company. Ultimately, what could go wrong? He's gotten himself out of enough to deal with a little heat, only if the need arises in the first place.

"Call me Din," he said with a sigh, going down further between the narrow path. If you can even call it a path.

You smiled and let a blush seep into your cheeks. You rather liked his name, if it was indeed his real name. You supposed he said it rather quickly for it to be made up. It was simple and easy to say, but unique in a way that you've never heard of before. There was no character in any story, nor person in any history book that possesses his name. You wouldn't ever forget it.

"Din," you practiced saying it out loud, very quietly I might add. You said it again, maybe three or four times just to let it roll off your lips.

"Watch your step as you come off, here," he warned, stepping over one of the final stones in the way, almost close enough for his feet to touch the grass.

"Where-?" You asked, missing the exact spot he was talking about and falling forward against him. He gripped your arms to hold you up, and make sure you didn't take him down as well. You were close enough to see his eyes again, and appreciated the contrast of what they looked like out in the sun from when you were back at the house. Back there they were dark as night with endless pathways in the brown depths. Now they were exposed to the light that came in beams from the sky, making the irisis pool like honey around his pupils. He had let his eyes drop from yours for only a second, glacing at something you didn't quite catch before he put distance between you. He made sure you were stable before stepping off the stone and onto the forest floor. You followed soon after and made your way to the trail.

-

Silence was something you learned Din was accustomed to. It seemed the only words he liked to say were the ones he felt were absolutely necessary to vocalize. Things like 'watch your step' and 'we're crossing over here' made a few appearances. You figured he must be lonely with all that silence. You hated being lonely, and would loathe for anyone else to bear the same cross. It made you wonder what kind of life he truly lead, beyond the thieving and hunting, he must have had something else to fill the void. Unless he didn't, which is why you felt saddened all of a sudden.

"Are you okay?" He asked, turning to the side of him and noticing you'd slowed down. It took you a moment to snap out of it, letting your eyes regain contact with his as you sped back up to your former pace.

"Of course, I was just thinking," you explained, which gave him a nervous feeling. He didn't want you thinking too much on this journey, because thinking lead to talking, and of that he wasn't a fan.

He huffed out a breath, like he was preparing himself for a question. You almost didn't even bother asking, but you were bursting with curiosity. This was the first person from the outside world that you'd ever met, you were bound to have questions one way or another.

"I was just wondering," you took a few steps in front of him and turned around, walking backwards down the trail so you could see him better. You felt more connected through conversation by facing him. "I've never actually had real friends, and I don't know how a person would act if they had them... but you don't seem like you possess any either."

Grogu began to babble on, waking up from his nap right this moment. He was probably enjoying the view since most of the trip has been spent backwards for him.

"People don't need friends. Having friends means having attachments, and I'm not very fond of those," he said, thinking about how just this morning he let Xi'an and Ran get aced to the palace guards. He kept running, didn't turn back... now look at him. He's stuck as an escort for the next day and a half to a girl he hasn't met his whole life.

"So you're like me?" You asked curiously, looking behind you once to make sure you were staying on the path and avoiding any objects in the way that you might trip over.

"No, I know plenty of people. They are not friends."

"I don't understand..."

He stopped in his tracks dropping his head to the ground. He knew you wouldn't stop until he answered you, and to prevent a headache from coming on, he figured he better do it quickly.

"Not everyone you meet is your friend."

"Then who do you talk to?" You knew he didn't like to talk, but surely he had someone he could tell his troubles to. Even you had someone for that, though he didn't ever talk back.

"You really want to know?"

You nodded eagerly with a smile, thinking he might really be interested in opening up to you. Perhaps he would tell you of a family member, or mentor of some sort. Maybe not a friend, but someone he was close with.

"Several women in the kingdom," he said, side stepping you and continuing on the trail. You were unsatisfied with that vague answer. It was a poor response really, and you didn't understand the meaning. He meant to tell you he had no friends, yet several women in the kingdom were his buddies?

"But if you talk with them, surely they are your friends."

Your sheer naïvety was making him crumble. There was no way in the world you were so innocent, even after being locked behind closed doors for so long. You read books, didn't you? Even books should be enough to explain the goings on in real life society.

"It doesn't work like that. Some of the women in the kingdom have habits of liking bad men who only stay for the night," he paused, wondering if he had even given enough information for you to latch onto. "And I'm a bad man, so I don't have a hard time finding company."

Now came the turning point, because the old discussion about what signifies a friend was long forgotten. The mentions of the women he had associated himself with rather frequently, had left your mind. You brain had completely shifted to his last words. Bad man.

"I don't believe you are a bad man," you said with furrowed brows. You didn't think he should believe it either. That kind of thinking was harshly damaging to one's mind. Even if he was a bad man, why would he admit ir to himself? Wouldn't that just make him sad and woeful?

"You're kidding me. I broke into your home, showing up with something stolen, then threatened you. Do you have any idea what the concept of bad is?" He wasn't angry, but in disbelief. He almost prepared himself to laugh, but you hadn't been joking in the slightlest.

"You never threatened me," you corrected him, and you were right. He hadn't made a move to harm a hair on your head since he laid eyes on you. "And besides, would a bad man have caught me when I fell?"

"I didn't have much of a choice."

"You could have dropped me," you remind him. He is somehow enraptured by your perception of reality. It's as if you can't see the world for what it really is. You'd never seen the world at all, and that was mainly the reason why everything was so beautifully poetic and majestic to you.

Everything you knew, you knew from books... but books lied, they made things prettier. Not being able to see the entire picture made your mind easy to accept the beauty above all else. When one does not see a flaw, they cannot acknowledge that it is there in the first place.

It was a concept he was coming to terms with, you being such an optimistic beam of light and curiosity. He hadn't ever met someone so excited to walk on a dirt road before, but here you were, frolicking down the path as if it were a marble hallway in the palace, not mention, barefoot.

He smiled with real intention under the mask for the first time in a while, thankful that the cloth strip was there to hide the expression.

Coming out of the forest, there stood a tall structure -a magnificently built dam-, with sluices protruding from every angle. The water that flowed was a beautiful sight to see, with the glint of light as it rushed and roared along the wood. The trickling sound as it moved was pleasing to the ears, and resembled that of rainfall off the corner of your house.

"We'll stop here for a few minutes to rehydrate, but we can't stay long, this part of the land is closely watched by palace guards."

You understood him, going to an open water stream, gathering the water in your hands and taking it into your mouth, as much as you could at a time. You twisted the wrap on your body that Grogu was nestled safely in, bringing him to your chest as you allowed him to do the same with the water. You waited patiently until he was done, smiling as he let out a satisfied squeal. Ever the joy your little bundle was, his little noises made you heart happy every time you heard them.

You noticed a shadow come over you both, and looked up to see that on a ledge stood a single palace guard. You didn't know what to look for, but his armor and helmet were a dead giveaway that he was associated with the kingdom's protection. He stepped away from the ledge after he saw Din, and you jumped from your place to warn him.

"Din, they saw us," you said, gathering his attention.

"Who did?"

A rustling cry of horses from just up the bend was enough to alert him to the rather obtuse situation. The horses were charging quickly towards you, and you wasted no time in resecuring the baby to your back in a safe manner.

"Run," he uttered, pulling you back towards the forrest, to a place he seemed to know where to go. He knew these woods well, and this wasn't the first time he'd been caught drinking from the good old watering hole. This was however the first time he had company. He needed to create an obstacle for the guards to pass through, and hopefully slow them down.

He grabbed the knife from the holster on his thigh, throwing it with perfect accuracy to cut the rope by the top of the dam. The gates if it were thrown open, and the water that had piled up for months at a time came gushing through like a river.

"Are you insane?" You screamed, following after him under the wooden sluices to find a cavern. It had a small entrance, which made for an abundance of fear on your behalf.

"Follow me."

"I can't go in there," you yelled, shaking your head frantically. "I have a fear of small spaces."

"That's ironic," he said, shoving you ahead of him anyways, following after you as the water began to flood around your feet. The cave was bigger on the inside, with a single stream of light coming out of the top, maybe a foot above your head. You ran through the water, climbing up the rocks to find a wall was cutting you off from other parts of the tunnel.

"They sealed it off," he mumbled to himself. It brought you to a moment of panic, knowing you were trapped.

"We have to go back, we could drown."

You trudged back through the water, which now sat at your knees. It was a lot thicker now than it seemed to be when you were drinking from it. You ducked down to the hole you entered through, but it too was jammed closed, a large rock held you in place, but kept letting gallons of water in by the second.

"No. No, no, no. This isn't happening." You backed away and ran a hand through your hair, which had fallen out of it's braids for all the running that ensued.

Din came over to the stone, pushing at it as hard as he could, trying with all his might to somehow get it out of the way. It wasn't going to budge, and it got harder and harder as now the water was around his hips. He misplaced his hand on a corner of the rock, falling into it as it sliced open into a cut that started in his palm and ran down his forearm. He gave up, knowing the stone wouldn't allow any leeway.

You stood back and reached for the hole in the ceiling of the cave, where the small opeing sat. It wasn't going to fit either one of you through to the other side. This was it, right now. You were all going to die here... maybe not all of you. You took Grogu from his confinement on your back and held him up to the opening. He cried, and reached out for you, but you wouldn't let him experience this. It was going to be painful.

"It's okay, love," you told him with tears in your eyes. He made more noises of sorrow and kept grabbing for your hand, but you pushed him through the small hole, knowing he was going to be better off out there than in here, where the water came above your stomach. The top of the cave wasn't as narrow as the bottom, so the flow slowed down a little, but didn't stop. It was only a matter of time. There was something incredibly poetic to be said about this tragedy, but you were no poet, you were just a girl.

Your tears were by far unstoppable now, and you wrapped your arms around yourself for a sense of security you knew was going to be short lived.

Din didn't feel like crying, but he did feel like punching something. Given the fact that the entire interior of the cave was purely rock, he deemed it a bad idea.

"Where's the kid?"

"I got him out," you said, nodding upwards to the stream of light. You wiped your eyes, knowing it was probably the last time you'd ever see him again. The little blessing in your otherwise tragic life. Your life, which was about to end. This was all too fast. One moment you walked through the gleaming light in the trees, away from the home that kept you still, and in place, now it was a far opposite. You didn't think it could possibly be this real, that you could meet your end so soon after liberation.

You sniffled, trying to calm yourself for the road ahead. You'd read about drowning. The victim is said to feel the sensation of water in their lungs even after they're dead. You weren't looking forward to it. You hated yourself for dragging not only yourself, but another human being into this mess. The first one you'd ever met outside of your mother. Your mother.

"My mother was right, I never should have left," you cried, not able to hold onto any form of peace or calm. Given the circumstances, you deemed yourself the allowance. "I'm so sorry, Din."

He sighed, flipping his hood off and stripping his face of the mask.

"What are you doing?" You asked, confused. He hadn't taken that thing off since you met him, which meant he clearly had a specific reason for wearing it.

"I'm not going to die next to someone who doesn't even know what I look like," he explained, forgetting the mask in the water as it rose above your shoulders.

You were enthralled with the sight of him instantly, dark brown hair, laying in sloppy locks against his head. Even with the sweat that coated his forehead and scalp, his hair still looked fluffy and soft to the touch.

Light facial hair grew around his jawline, and beneath his mouth, framing it perfectly. A thicker layer of scruff hair made up the moustache that layed over his top lip. His lips. You had a hard time taking your eyes away from them, only to find the gentle curve of his nose when you did. Pairing everything with the eyes made of honey, he was beautiful. There was no way you could have ever imagined him to look this way, and yet, you couldn't imagine those eyes belonging to any other face but his. You hadn't seen many faces before, and the ones that were drawn in your novels weren't as realistic as you'd like them to be. His face was enough to distract you momentarily from your fate which was fast approaching.

"You're awfully handsome, you know," you said, taking your eyes back to his, while still admiring the other factors that were now within sight.

"I know."

You chuckled softly, knowing it was just an attempt to lighten the mood. The water swarmed your shoulders, and the cold temperature was getting to be scarier than the idea of drowning in it. The width of the cavern was narrow again, and as the water began to climb your neck, you realized you were hiding something from him, too.

"As long as we're about to die, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to tell you that I have magical abilities that can move things with my mind," you said awkwardly. He looked back at you as if you had shown him a ghost.

He clearly didn't believe you, but he was still shocked at your confession... that you could move things with your mind. Wait, you can move things with your mind!

"I can get us out of here," you said frantically, coming to realization. How foolish of you not to remember your gift.

The water overtook the both of you, and as you held your breath, you placed both hands on the ceiling of the cave, trying to focus on breaking it apart. Your necklace glowed green as the stone separated into small pieces, making an opening big enough for you both to fit through. You pushed yourselves through, pulling up to be met with a rapid movement of water. The dam was still spilling out, or so it would seem, because it carried you into a moving river of draining water. It was hard to keep your head above the constant wave, since you couldn't swim, but you focused all your power again on simply staying afloat.

You saw Din paddling toward land when he collided with a rock, knocking him out upon impact. His head went under the water a second later, and you panicked. A shout of his name did no good, and you struggled to get to him. You weren't going to let it end this way for him, not when it was your fault you were both in this mess to begin with.

You didn't stop trudging through the water until you were by the rock. The water was pressing his body against it under the stream, and it took all your strength to heave him up. You clung to him, and the rock, looking to see how far you were from the edge of the water. You heard a soft squeal from behind you, and saw Grogu sitting by himself in a patch of pine needles. He was more than happy to see you, given that a moment ago he thought you were about to die. He was so distraught, but seeing you now, his mood was cheerful as ever. You paddled over and grabbed onto an overgrown weed, hauling yourself as high as you could. It was difficult, carrying all the extra weight in your other arm, but you managed to somehow get both of you ashore.

You rolled him over, hoping he would wake up, but he didn't, and you weren't sure what to do.

.

.

.

Tags: @icanbeyourjedi @castleallherown @mysticalgalaxysalad @princess-prettyy @67impalagirl13 @agingerindenial @childrenofthewatch @insomniac-nerd-posts-things

[whimsicallyreading]

You Don’t Even Go Here

Day Two for Rowaelin Month

A college AU

~

Aelin grins mischievously as she walks up the stairs of the men's dorm at Terresan University. The teal-blue waffle iron clutched under her arm.

Aedion didn't really need it. It had been on the fifty-percent-off rack at the supermarket, and he'd simply thrown it in the cart for good measure. Yet, when Aelin saw the box for it laying the hall, she'd seen opportunity.

It had hit her harder than she'd thought. Aedion leaving. They'd been raised like siblings but grew up something closer to best friends. It wasn't fair that he was nearly three years older and ready to leave when she wasn't prepared for him to go.

Aelin had cried the whole car ride home. Then when they finally got back to the house, she'd called him right away. He could hear how teary she was and happily obliged her call. Narrating his actions as he went about setting up his dorm room. He teased her about missing him, but she could tell that he missed her too.

So, armed with an excuse to visit him, Aelin made the hour-long drive to visit her cousin.

Aelin was halfway up the stairs but not paying too much attention to her surroundings. She was too busy repeating Aedion's room number over in her head because no matter how many times she checked her phone, it just wouldn't stick in her head. Maybe if she'd focused a little more on the things happening around her, she wouldn't have crashed into a half-naked man.

A solid and calloused hand darts out and grips her shoulder before she can go tumbling down the stairs. Its twin desperately clutching the towel wrapped around his waist.

Aelin looks up apologetically, and her jaw nearly falls to the floor. His white hair was still damp from the shower and swooped over the top of his head, and his biceps were too large for Aelin to wrap both hands around. An intricate tattoo coils elegantly from a cheekbone and down the length of his body.

He was a man indeed. Nothing like Chaol or Dorian or any of her junior friends. This was a new breed of man. The apex kind. Aelin is pretty sure she looks like a deer in the headlights, and she's too busy ogling him to understand the words he'd been repeating to her.

"Are you okay?" His eyebrows are furrowed as if he's afraid he'd literally struck her stupid. Aelin felt that wasn't far from the truth.

"Yes, sorry," she apologizes as she steps back, suddenly very aware of how in his personal space she was. "I wasn't paying attention. You just caught me by surprise."

Aelin was definitely panicking. Where was her swagger when she needed it most? Why would it choose now to abandon her?

By some miracle, he doesn't seem off-put by her awkwardness. In fact, a smile curls the edges of his lips, revealing a set of dimples that made her heart stumble.

Gods he had dimples.

"No, I ran into you. It's my fault. My name is Rowan.”

He holds out a hand, and Aelin shakes it clumsily. "I'm Aelin."

"Aelin." She loves the way her name rolls off his tongue. "I haven't seen you around before. Are you a freshman?"

Oh no. Aelin's eyes widen, but she recovers swiftly and smooths her features out. Rowan thinks she's a student. Not some crazy high schooler too emotionally dependent on her cousin.

"I'm actually a junior," Aelin laughs at his perplexed expression. "I don't go here, though. I'm just stopping by to drop off some things my cousin forgot."

White lies. What was a white lie worth? Aelin likely wouldn't ever see him again, and is it so wrong for a girl to enjoy some harmless attention? If Aelin spent more time thinking about it, she probably wouldn't like the answers she'd come up with, but that was neither here nor there.

"Is that a waffle maker?" Rowan's green eyes glint with amusement.

"My cousin loves to eat. What year are you?" Aelin crosses her fingers that he's the same age as Aedion and not a senior or something. Her cousin would murder her if he found out she flirted with a man five years older.

"Don't we all? I'm a sophomore, a bit younger than you, I suppose." Rowan drags a hand through his hair. "Listen, I know you came to see your cousin, but maybe I could get your number, and we could get a cup of coffee before you head out?"

Was this really happening? Aelin inwardly squealed with excitement. Lysandra would die when she recounted this story later. "Sure."

Just as she pulled her phone from her pocket, an all too familiar voice materialized behind her. "Aelin?"

Aedion smiles as he lays eyes on his beloved cousin. He takes a couple steps down the stairs, and that grin quickly fades as he sees the naked man.

Oops, she'd forgotten that detail.

"Rowan?" Aedion's eyes harden as they lock on Rowan. "Why the hell are you ogling my cousin with no clothes on?"

"You know him?" Aelin swears under her breath. She cannot believe her luck.

Aedion laughs coldly as he sizes up Rowan, "He's my roommate, but he's about to be a corpse. Why are you perving on my seventeen-year-old cousin?"

Rowan's looks between the bewildered. "You said you were a junior?"

Aedion laughs harshly as Aelin blushes. "I am...just in highschool. Not college. I told you I didn't go here."

"I didn't realize I was rooming with a pedophile," Aedion grabs Aelin and pulls her to his chest. "Was he bothering you?"

"Pedophile?" Rowan's dimples have disappeared, and he looks at Aedion disturbed. "I'm only nineteen!"

Aelin shoves away from Aedion's boorish grip. "The only one bothering me is you."

Rowan's cheeks are flushed red as the full impact of the situation they were found in dawns on him. Damn it if Aelin didn't find his blush endearing. He is a solid chunk of muscle. How is everything he does so cute?

"Look, I just got out of the shower, and I bumped into Aelin. It was an accident. She was just on her way to give you your waffle maker-"

"You brought my waffle maker?" Aedion cuts Rowan off, eyeing the box under her arm.

That's when Aelin sees it. The twinkle of mischief in his eye and the forced concern. Aedion was playing her. He obviously knew Rowan wasn't a creep and saw the perfect opportunity to cause chaos. Aelin scowls at him, and that spark grows brighter. It's moments like this she wonders why she ever missed her cousin in the first place.

Aedion tugs the box out of her grasp and smiles. "Wow. This is perfect timing. Vaughn and Fen were just talking about making breakfast for dinner." He looks at Aelin and forces a frown. "If I'd known you were coming, I would have invited you, but it would kind of be rude to bring a guest now."

"What?" Aelin sputters. She drove all this way, and he was really going to ditch her? It was embarrassing, but tears prickled at the edges of her eyes. He was an ass, but she obviously came because she missed him, and he didn't even care? She really thought they were closer than that.

"Yeah. Sorry, Lin." Aedion points at Rowan, who was just standing to the side, thoroughly uncomfortable. Yet, despite the awkwardness, he hadn't left. "Hey, you owe me one for creeping on my little cousin. Earn my trust back and see that she has something for dinner and gets to her car safely? She has my phone number, one bad text, and your ass is grass."

Aedion tosses her a wink, and it's all Aelin can do to keep from outright gaping. Rowan looks stunned, his eyes darting between the two Ashryvver's. They settle on Aelin for a moment too long. Some of the tension eases from his shoulders, and he smiles. "I think I can manage that."

"Good." Aedion turns back up the stairs pats the box. "Thanks for bringing it to me, Lin. I'll call you tomorrow, don't send me to voicemail."

Just like that, her cousin, a walking, talking agent-of-chaos, disappears back to wherever he came from.

"So," Rowan starts, "If you want, I know a perfect Italian place we could swing by, my treat seeing as I plowed into you."

Aelin frowns and fiddles with the end of her necklace. "You aren't upset that I lied?"

"You didn't lie." Rowan chuckles, a deep sound that sends a shiver of delight down Aelin's spine. "You don't go here."

Aelin tilts her head as if she's deeply considering the offer. "I suppose it couldn't hurt. What's good there?"

"They have an awesome kabob." Rowan tugs his towel tighter. "It's my favorite."

It's Aelin's turn to laugh. "Isn't that just meat on a stick?"

"Let's go, and I can show you how profoundly wrong you are," he moves to take a step down, but Aelin stops him with a hand to the shoulder. "What is it?"

Aelin points to his towel, "I don't think they will serve guests without pants."

The flush that Aelin loves his back full force as he scrambles the other direction up the stairs. "Shit. Give me five minutes. I'll be right back. Aedion better have not locked out or I swear-"

Rowan's embarrassed tirade quiets as he charges up to his dorm to change. Aelin smiling as he goes. She can't believe she's going out to dinner with a guy like that.

Opening her phone, she sends a quick heart emoji to her cousin. He instantly replies back with one of his own. Aedion may have moved to college, but he still had her back at the end of the day. Even if it wasn't in the most ideal way.

Rowan comes back down the stairs moments later, and she's not disappointed by what she sees. He took the time to put on a flannel shirt and comb some gel through his hair. While the view without clothes had been pleasant, Aelin could definitely appreciate this look too.

"I'm ready if you are," Rowan extends an arm to help her down the stairs.

It's such a fussy, old-man move, and she loves it.

"Let's go."

[rcksmith]

The Agreement part.2 — Kaz Brekker

Resume/Masterlist

Couple: Kaz Brekker/ Fem!Reader.

Warnings of series: Convenience/arranged marriage, swearing, mention of fight, mention of death, mention of desire, fluff, sensual, mention of post-traumatic stress.

Warnings of chapter: swearing.

Word count: 4k

A/N: I hope you guys like.💖

English is not my first language, so I so sorry if have a mistake.

Requests are closet. Love you ❤️

— — — —

“What?!” Your exclamation came out louder than intended, and perhaps sharper than expected.

The salty sea breeze came through the window once more. The smell of salt and ocean invaded the room and for a second it felt like being in a ship's cabin at sea.

Kaz looked at you as if you were some child. Or someone deaf. But if he was swimming in acidic thoughts, he didn't say them.

"Think carefully." His voice was firm and explicit, the ones men use to convince women of something. “You want freedom, don't you? Live your life without having to fulfill a man's whims or your father's expectations. You wants to be able to snow on a ship without having a date to go back and make your own destiny. You want just needing to care what new adventure knocks on your door and what promise of wonders life awaits. It is not?"

How did he figure it out so well in such a short time? Was he too shrewd or were you too transparent?

You nodded, unable to say anything. Perhaps out of perplexity at how Kaz read you so easily. Or maybe the way he looked like an overpoweringly beautiful fallen angel in the moonlight.

“And the only way to do that is to get married.”

You frowned. “As I recall, Brekker, I came here just so I wouldn't have to get married.”

“And it's a stupid plan.” God, you wanted to kill him. “You asked me to have the Dregs take you to the harbor without your father's spies noticing. But it turns out your father's spies already know you're here.”

Your breath was lost somewhere between lungs and nose.

“Since you arrived, the noise from the Crow Club downstairs has become less shrill. And this is not typical criminal behavior. Either they have adopted good manners or someone they know they should fear has joined the Club.” Kaz sat more relaxed in the armchair behind his desk, his dark blue eyes locked on you. “I would bet on the second option.”

“So I came here for nothing?” You were starting to get angry at his beating around the bush. Because you knew it was manipulation. Brekker was laying the groundwork and you understood that.

“I did not say that. Turns out you can never get rid of your father. Not when he's a man with the purchasing power able to buy an entire country. There will always be someone who will recognize you, someone who will find you. And for the right price, the whole world is capable of being bribed. You would run away only to be chased by other spies, other people wanting the reward your father will give to whoever brings you back home.”

Very early on, you realized that Kaz Brekker was capable of crushing dreams as easily as crushing an insect. His destructive power was colossal and you saw all of your desires floating under his palm. Waiting just for him to brutally clench his fist and crush them.

But that's not what he did.

“You'll only get what you want if you follow his orders.” The breeze came through the window once more, ruffling her charcoal hair. “But if you can't defeat your enemies, change the rules of the game.”

“And is that where marriage to you comes in?”

“See it.” His body leaned very gently across the table towards you, it was a millimeter and ridiculous gesture, but it felt like him standing a breath away from you. “What you need is to get married. But marrying someone who doesn't give a damn about what you're going to do, and don’t have expectations of you. Someone who is not interested in home life, family life or Any other things you can offer other than money.”

Any other things you can offer. The night breeze this time was accompanied by an impure, almost obscene scene of the fallen angel in front of you on a bed of black duvets and caustic weather. A moment when the ends of his black hair brushed your forehead and your nose, moving back and forth as followed the rhythm of his hips and…

The sea breeze was gone, taking the obscene image with it and bringing back your common sense. For a second you wondered where that came from! You hadn't been in his presence for more than two hours and the entire compilation of what it was like Kaz Brekker, so far, had frightened you and attracted you in an absurdly dangerous way.

"And are that you came, I suppose." You hoped your voice couldn't give away your impure thoughts from seconds ago. “Do you want us to form an alliance where you receive my dowry and in return I am free from my father's demands and can do as I please with my freedom?"

“Alliance is a very strong term for what we are doing here.” He was succinct, “I would tell you to look at this as a business transaction. A marriage document is still just a piece of paper. And nothing else. Don't get carried away by sentimentalism. Things only have feelings if you want them to.”

Kaz was right, you knew that. For all your belief in true love and the many books romance novels you devoured, you still understood that a marriage could very well be seen as a business translation. It are a sad, cold way to see something so beautiful, but it still true.

“I have no interest in anything other than your dowry and you have no interest other than freedom. So what I'm proposing is something very sensible and objective. When we get married, your father will set you free, and you won't have any husband to please or any other crap. I don't want and don't expect anything from you, I don't care if you're sailing to Ravka or venturing on The Fold.”

“Do you want the money out of greed or despair?”

Kaz took a second to get a better look at you after that sneaky question. You had asked the correct question amid so many banalities and he realized that you were more cunning than you looked.

If he wanted to know your secrets, you also wanted to know his.

“A bit of both.” He was sincere.

“And what do you intend to do with my father's industries? Because you would win them too. And any misdirection could end up reducing my father's empire to nothing, and I don't want him to see the thing he loves most in ruins.”

Brekker heard the feelings in your voice. There was a hidden pang of hurt, but a lot of determination and honesty. You loved your father and understood him, even if you didn't agree with his principles. You had a fair and upright nature and were able to move mountains to get things done the way you thought was right. That was a red flag for Kaz. You were a good person. And he not.

He could never promise you things that go back to a good guy. But he could promise you honesty and justice. Kaz Brekker would never take something from someone the way it was taken from him so many years ago. He was a monster. But never in the same category as Pekka.

“I have no interest in having an empire doomed to fail.” His eyes were serious. “My motivation has always been greed. Why would I sink the company that is capable of making me such a rich man?”

He would have to be an idiot to let such a lucrative business go. And Kaz Brekker was anything but an idiot.

“Would you let me do anything I want?”

“I have no interest in what you don't or do.”

You hesitated for a second, as if remembering another detail. “My father doesn't believe in divorce, and even if he did, I would be pressured to remarry. Do you understand that we couldn't divorce?”

“I have no desire to marry again. And you might as well get other men you want without making a fuss, without your father finding out.” Always rational and objective. Without any inclination to the heart's desires. “There is no room in this world for feelings. Much less in this agreement. If you fall in love with someone you will have to be content with just relating to them, not getting married. And it seems like a small price to pay for so many benefits.”

It was the perfect plan. Did you know that. It was rational, objective and cunning. Something advantageous for both without costing too much. But why did you feel that something could go very wrong? You were a romantic person and you knew you could see things where they didn't exist. The truth was, you would have to leave your heart completely out of the picture.

Just a business transaction.

Brekker seemed to see a hint of hesitation in your eyes.

“It's very simple, Ms. Y/L/N.” That voice that gave you goose bumps hovered in front of you. “You marry me and you still have your freedom, because I don't give a damn about what you do after.”

“20 million from Kruges. Rich.” his eyes gleamed with a deep glow.

“And how do I know this isn't a trick?”

“I don't promise lies.” His firm face was serious “I won't give you happiness, Y/n. Much less love. Love doesn't exist in Kerch. But I will give you freedom, independence, a comfortable life that you are accustomed. And it seems to be much more than you have now.”

You knew you could be making a deal with the devil. Selling your soul to that man with the face of a fallen angel and the aura of Lucifer. But what choice did you have?

You couldn't go back if you sealed that deal. That man would be bound whit you, even by a piece of paper, for a lifetime. Was it worth the price? You didn't care for your father's press to want to be in the management and you had a lot more money than twenty million Kruges. What would you be missing? Your chance to marry one day whit someone you came to love? But if you came home without someone one day from now your father would marry you to a gargoyle. And the way out to flee no longer seemed a viable option.

Yes, it was worth it.

Seeming to see from the glint in your eyes that you've made a decision, Kaz Brekker, Bastard of the Barrel, reached out a leather-gloved hand toward you. His eyes sparkled with a mysterious spark, the scent of male cologne with a hint of danger lurking around the room. And for a moment, you felt a shiver go up your spine and the feeling that your life had just begun.

“Agree to marry me?” He said.

The feeling was that you were about to embark on the greatest adventure of your life. You didn't know what that little stunt with Kaz Brekker awaited you. But you would find out.

“Yes.” You took his hand in a firm, intense handshake that held a million secrets.

A satisfied, victorious smile came to his lips. And whenever Kaz gave him that expression, it felt like seeing the fallen angel that was the reason so many humans sinned. The clouds in the sky shifted, moving out of the moon's path and making the distilled rays of light shimmer more brightly. His black hair and white skin were graced with those bundles, and for a second his beauty was overwhelming.

You held your breath.

Brekker continued to say something, but you couldn't pay attention. Your heart began to race, the moonlight following in his footsteps as Kaz got up from his chair and went to fetch some papers from across the room. You couldn't tear your eyes away from him. His body was taller and thinner than you deduced when he was sitting down. Kaz had long, slender legs beneath black straight-cut pants, his chest was broad and his waist was narrow. For a second, you felt like running your hand over the contours of his body.

You shifted your attention forward abruptly. Focusing eyes on something else.

That was the curse of handsome men. They fooled women and made them daydream. With his underworld god beauty and mysterious aura with a touch of danger, Kaz Brekker was overwhelmingly attractive. And your blood reacted to that. Any woman would have reacted the same way.

“And we'll have to leave tomorrow morning…” he sat opposite you again.

“Sorry, what?”

You turned your attention to his words, not remembering half of what he said seconds ago. Kaz looked at you intently this time, squinting his eyes millimetrically, as if he was trying to guess which paths your mind had wandered in for the past two minutes.

“Your deadline is the day after tomorrow, isn't it?”

"Yes." You got back to the core of the problem once more. “The trip to my house takes a few hours. Half a day if it's raining.”

Kaz had his eyes on the papers in his hands, maybe they were maps or documents, but you didn't feel like craning your neck to see what it was. Leaning over to view the papers meant getting closer to Brekker, and two hours in his presence was enough for you to understand that nothing good would happen if you got any closer. Or maybe you didn't trust your own feelings and emotions.

“This will have to be done very discreetly.” He didn't look up from his papers. “If any rumors about our deal reach the wrong people, your father will hear about our plan. And that meant you will being forced to marry someone else, and me without my money. Does anyone know you're here because you planned to run away?”

You shook your head. “No. I didn't get to tell my friends. But now that the plan is different, I intend to tell a friend that…”

“You can't tell anyone.” Kaz lifted ocean blue eyes to you in an electrifying look that made you shiver.

“And what is supposed to say to my friends?” You felt a pang of indignation.

“That we are in love.”

This time, your breath was gone. The phrase was like pouring gasoline on an old, flammable woodpile. And you were afraid of what might be the match that would set off a fire.

Kaz noticed your reaction and was amused by it. “Just say some nonsense about falling in love with a criminal. It wouldn't be the first time a rich little girl has fallen in love with the bad guy, and I guarantee it won't be the last.”

“And you won't tell anyone about the truth too?” You wanted to change the focus you.

“I don't have to answer to anyone.”

This time you gave a smug smile and crossed your arms in an insolent gesture. “So everyone will think the infamous Kaz Brekker, Dirty Handes and Ketterdam's most dangerous gangster is in love with a rich little girl?”

Kaz narrowed his eyes at your teasing.

“It won't be the first time that the man with a bad temper and dangerous soul falls in love with the little girl. And I'm sure it won't be the last.” You said.

You were provocative, witty and stubborn. You would always hit at the same height and loved to show people that could very well play their game. Brekker unraveled this perfectly. You weren't the kind of woman who would be peaceful, serene, and calm. You wouldn't be like Inej. You would not take his orders and his taunts in silent, contained rage. You were intense. And that was a danger.

Why did he get the feeling you were so much more than he imagined?

“Let's go to your house tomorrow morning. Nine in the morning.” He changed the subject. “I'll go with you and we'll get married.”

"My father must be preparing everything by now." You sighed. “He takes his promises very seriously and I have no doubt that, when I returns, the ceremony scene will be set in the party garden.”

Partly you were relieved about it now. Planning a ceremony are intense and personal. You never really thought about getting married, but you always imagined that if one day it happened it would be the man of your dreams. And you didn't know if you would want to organize a fake wedding. There were certain things that were inevitable to keep the heart from breaking.

“Better yet, the faster the better.”

The two of you discussed some more details of the plan in the next few hours. It was agreed that Kaz would pick you up at nine from your hotel tomorrow, in an elegant hired carriage (which you obviously would be paying for) and the two of you would go to your house in Kerch. For all intents and for all people, the truth would be that the two of you were in love. It was such a typical cliché that it wouldn't be the least bit hard to believe.

And after a while, you two could already show yourself to the world as a couple who barely saw each other. Rich society was full of them: marriage with coldness and distance, where the man has his bets and lovers and the woman her travels and her jewelry. Your father would surely understand and leave you alone. After all, he had gotten a son-in-law to inherit his empire. A young son-in-law with blood for business who would make your father extremely satisfied. However, now the two of you had to look like a couple in love. And the reality of the situation was a secret that only the two of you would take with you to the tomb.

But, that night it was difficult for you to sleep. Anxiety, restlessness and fear gnawed at you like cunning mice, rolling you from side to side in bed, whispering in your ears millions of futures where everything could go wrong. Where not even Kaz Brekker's plans could free you from the clutches of one of your father's suitors.

When the clock struck seven in the morning, you jumped out of bed with unsettling, restless energy. You didn't like feeling helpless and waiting for Brekker to show up was exactly the definition of a princess in trouble. You had to do something.

- -

“What do you mean to get married?!” Jesper choked on his breakfast, and Nina nearly spit out all her orange juice.

Kaz rolled his eyes and continued sorting through the documents on the large round table. He was going to be gone for a few days at most and needed the people he trusted most to take care of business while he was gone. There were a lot of robberies to do and Kaz spent the night crafting and modifying plans for options where he wasn't involved. He had made a list of what needed to be checked at ports and what needed to be resupplied at Crow clube.

The plan was to marry you when they arrived in Kerch and return to Crow Club the next day. Kaz knew he would have to bring you, the two of you would have to stay together until your dowry was delivered to him. After that you could go on any adventure you wanted.

But dealing with the Crows was being more exasperating than Kaz could have expected.

"I didn't even know you had a girlfriend!" Wylan was in shock.

"Nobody knew!" Nina and Inej had their chins on the floor. Matthias was the only one who didn't seem to care so much.

"I didn't know the affairs of my private life were your business." Kaz didn't look up from the papers he kept in folders for the stupid ones.

"But you never said anything." Inej said.

"It was the intention."

"It's with Y/n, isn't it?" Jesper had bright eyes and a gleeful gambling smile stretched across his lips.

Kaz looked up at the boy with chocolate creamy skin, and his eyes narrowed slightly.

“She spent hours in yours office last night.”

"Oh my Santis!" Inej, Nina and Wylan exclaimed at once, eyes wide.

"The daughter of the richest man in Kerch." Wylan said.

"YOUR DOG!" Jesper clapped Kaz on the shoulder with an open palm, a loud laugh echoing and joy filling his voice.

Kaz suppressed the urge to look at the spot where Jesper had touched him. It had been years since he'd gotten over the most brutal aversion to touch, when the mere thought of getting close to someone made him tingle and dizzy with imminent fainting. At 28 years old, Kaz Brekker had proven to be greater than the demons and weaknesses that haunted him, wanting to see his downfall. A man who wanted to defeat Pekka could have no weaknesses. And he prided himself on almost have none of them.

However, offhand gestures made him look at the spot where he had been touched. The sensation brought was not unbearable or nauseating, but strange. And when the situation was skin to skin in a touch that caught him off guard, the feeling was unpleasant. Like a splinter under the skin.

It was easier with people Kaz felt comfortable with, but it wasn't something he cared about. He forced himself to overcome the most brutal aversion just to be a man without weaknesses, no chance of being defeated in a torture, no chance of being defeated by a faint. No for to touch someon.

“I thought you didn't know her in person when I warned you yesterday.” Inej tried to contain her little smile.

“It was the intention. You guys forgot the definition of secret…”

"Boss." One of the employees had entered that exclusive room. "There's someone here wanting to talk to you, Sir." He looked apprehensive.

Kaz frowned. The crow club had no movement at eight in the morning.

"Who is?"

"I think…"

"Will you please let me through!" The female voice sounded outside the room.

Jesper and the rest of the gang were wide-eyed, mouths opening in amusement and bewilderment. Kaz was catatonic. What the fucking hell were you doing there?!

"What do you mean I can't talk to your boss?!" And you continued. “I spoke to him yesterday...Don't give me these arguments, my dad tells his employees to tell people exactly that...I swear if you touch out about me again I will...”

"Fucking hell!" Kaz came out from behind the counter, crossing the living room and opening the door.

He came face to with that scene. A short girl who argued with a bouncer who was triple her height and size. Kaz knew the man was arrogant and macho, and had probably nudged your temper. He would have been amused by the scene if he wasn't abgry that you didn't follow his explicit rules.

“Ray.” Kaz glanced at the bouncer, a steady gaze that made the brute immediately back away from you.

You even gave the man an angry look before heading towards Kaz.

"What are you doing here?!" He whispered angrily.

"I couldn't wait." You wiggled your fingers, a tic of anxiety. “I could barely sleep. It was lucky I didn't show up at six in the morning.”

“That's not excuses. We have a schedule!"

“But I couldn't wait!" You whispered too. “It's visseral. I can't just sit there and wait!”

What an insufferable creature!

"Well, you'll have to learn because…!"

"What are you two whispering back there? “ Jesper's voice interrupted the discussion in whispers.

The two of you turned to the troupe standing in the doorway of the Crow room. Playful, mischievous smiles were plastered across their faces, and you felt your cheeks blush. Kaz and you looked at each other, and in that second of silent complicity, the two of you finally stepped into the roles of partners in crime.

Tagged: @aleksanderwh0r3 @thedelusionreaderbitch @hi-there-x @mell-bell @glowingatdawn @subjecta13-thefangirl @itsnotquimey @thatchampagnebitch @lamoursansfin @lostysworld @s3xymoonman @is-it-really-a-secret

[tcookies777]

I think a lot of your readers are just thinking that your fic is gonna be like other slow burn Kakashi/Sakura fics, where either of them or both will engage in sexual relationships with either people multiple times before actually getting together and I think they are scared that your fic is gonna be like that after reading one smut scene. I understand their sentiments because it’s quite tedious to read such things. I think the readers are just emotionally cautious. Tbh I rarely read Kakasaku fics because it’s difficult to actually find a good one that I would enjoy and finish because I would drop it half way. Don’t get me wrong I love and ship Kakasaku but there’s not alot of good fics about this ship. This ship is quite controversial so there’s not alot of fics for this ship compared to other Naruto ships (like sasusaku). Your fic is pretty good and I enjoy it but tbh I also thought your fic would end up like those other Kakasaku fics after reading about 20+ chapters. So I was glad to find out that you have tumblr and have answered some anon questions that were similar to my own questions about the fic.

Yes, I understood that too but I appreciate that you're trying to explain the situation. However, you guys are only seeing the whole situation from one angle. As the writer, I'm the one that's receiving private messages across my socials and moderating Tumblr Asks. So you guys are only seeing the AO3 comments and the Asks that I have publicly posted. You're not seeing the other gripes that other readers have shared with me (in a rude way too), which is why I am addressing everyone's concerns in general - not just the drama with the side character sex because that's not the only gripe people have with the fic.

And as I say in another recent ask - I don't think it's fair for these readers to compare fics with each other and assume writer D will write trope X in their fic just because writers A, B, and C from across the world wrote it in theirs. A small pool of writers/stories - no matter how popular they are - shouldn't have to represent everyone else's writing/stories. Going forward, we should not make assumptions of Writer D's work based off of Writer A's work. We should treat each writer's work as their own and view them independently.

Also, I gotta be honest here that in my personal experience I have read many KakaSaku fics (including slow burns) and not once have I seen a fic where either of them engage in sexual relationships with side characters first (or at all)? Before writing TAOL, I spent almost 2 years going through all of AO3's search results pages for KakaSaku and although I did not read every single fic, I read many fics and I have honestly never seen what you guys are talking about 🤨 But that's just my personal experience and of course you guys have experienced different.

Regardless, my point still stands that a small pool of fics - no matter how popular they and/or their writers are - shouldn't have to represent everyone else's fics or be compared in any manner. As said, I would treat each writer's work as their own and view them independently.

I have also been seeing quite a few people saying there are not many good KakaSaku fics, which actually perplexes me? In my humble opinion, I've read many a good KakaSaku fics which is why I was inspired to write my own after all these years of reading Naruto fanfiction. In fact, I was intimidated to even publish TAOL because I'm like "omg, all these KakaSaku writers are such eloquent storytellers - I can't compare to them". Even now, I'm still intimidated by all these wonderful writers in the KakaSaku community!

Yeah our community is smaller compared to SasuSaku, but I personally think the quality of KakaSaku fics is still on par. Popularity and/or quantity does not equate to quality.

But maybe it's because I'm new to the KakaSaku community, so I sincerely do not understand where this 'not many good KakaSaku fics' sentiment is coming from?

[clanwarrior-tumbly]

okay great because like. you can tell i'm a garcello simp but i saw you describe swap! garcello and my brain went "Bring Him Inside" so. maybe there's like a really big storm (we still get hurricanes up here) coming and garcello is, well. outside because that's where he lives. but reader finds him and can tell that underneath the brooding edge there is some very broken stuff so they offer to let him weather it out with them and they get to know him through that

Glad I assembled the Gar simps haha.

Tbh I'm not sure what to make his past about (Swap!Pico has the same story as normal Pico). But I'm open to any ideas!

Anyways, enjoy ^^

...........

"So whatdya want? A BB gun for self-defense? Or to get back at some petty bitch? Or maybe you want-?"

"I was just gonna ask if you had somewhere to go in case this storm kicks up later on."

"....huh?" Garcello looked up at you, perplexed as he gradually closed his trenchcoat, concealing the stash of weapons hidden inside.

You made a good point about a storm approaching, considering it was already getting windy.

But for you, a complete stranger, to be concerned about a lowlife like him? He couldn't understand why you'd care so much.

Usually people only approached him to either say "get lost" or buy some contraband. Besides that, he was a dangerous man. You obviously knew that.

Shouldn't you be more careful?

Your question seemed to confuse him, though judging by his grubby appearance and the fact you've seen him on the streets a lot, it was likely that he had no place to go.

"I don't suppose you do."

"Ah...no." He finally answered. "I've been survivin' out here for a long time. Selling guns n' shit..and taking on..tough jobs." For some reason he was afraid to tell you he was a murder-for-hire.

But why would I care if they knew or not?'

"I see..well..the nearest storm shelter is far from this train station so...how about we weather it out together?" You suggested with a smile.

Garcello blinked, unsure if he heard you right the first time. When you elaborated that you offered to let him stay at your place till the storm passed, he was stunned for a moment, but his expression quickly shifted back to a neutral one.

"You sure? You're so willing to let an armed assassin into your home."

"I don't suppose I'm on anyone's hitlist, am I?"

"No but-"

"Then I'm not worried." You chuckled. "Besides, storms get brutal around here. Nobody deserves to be stuck outside all alone."

There you go again. Hitting him with such kindness and compassion that nobody's ever shown him. He was certain that you wanted something out of this..but he won't know till he accepted your offer.

And he did after much internal debate, following you back home. He kept telling himself it was only temporary; the moment he saw sunshine outside he'll be gone and out of your life.

...........

"So how do you like your tea? Hot, cold, or...?"

"Iced..if it's no trouble." Garcello answered as he sat awkwardly on the couch in your living room space.

Only an hour or so after arriving, the sky darkened and rain was beginning to pour down. He just gazed out the window, thinking about why you let him stay here.

Any sane person would've refused and already locked their doors. Heck, he didn't even need to talk to terrify people--looks alone did just the trick.

All the scars on his face plus a constantly looming shadow obscuring his eyes were enough to make a little kid cry.

Though as you handed him the tea he requested, you didn't look afraid in the slightest. Maybe a bit wary, of course, since he is a stranger who sold contraband. But you weren't trembling or avoiding his gaze.

You were treating him like a friend.

As you sat down, too, you noticed him tugging on his coat, seemingly sweating. "All that stuff you're carrying must be heavy, huh?"

"Yeah..but ya get used to it." He muttered.

"You can take that off if you wanna be more comfortable..I-I promise I won't steal anything." You stammered as he quickly glanced at you. "You can put in the guest room closet."

"..you have a spare room?"

"I mean..you might be here all night so...c'mon I'll show you where it is."

Together you got up and ventured to the guest room. It was a small size, but Garcello was still surprised that you'll let him have this entire space for himself.

Regardless, he shrugged off his coat, being careful of the few weapons he had on the inside, before putting them in the closet. Afterwards he breathed a sigh of relief, glad to have some weight off his shoulders. He checked his belt loop for the uzi that he kept on him at all times.

If he lost everything else, he'd be perfectly content with this one gun.

"So..I did go food shopping beforehand so there's plenty to eat here. I don't know what you're allergic to or what you like but-"

"Alright cut the bullshit."

You looked at him, confused. "..come again?"

"You must got a high priority target or..just...just something on your mind." He mumbled, shutting the closet door with trembling hands. "Nobody offers all of this to me and not want something in return. So quit acting so friendly and tell me what you want."

As he spoke, he turned around to scowl at you. But the more he talked, the more you could sense something besides..anger in his tone.

He seemed rather exhausted and confused--as though he needed to repay your hospitality. It made you wonder what this man has been through to make him assume your kindness..was some façade. You knew he wasn't being rude on purpose.

"Maybe..your name?"

"..my name? That's it?"

"Yeah," you smiled. "I'm [y/n]. It's only fair that we get to know each other since we'll be stuck here for a while."

"That's..true. Name's Garcello." He muttered. "Sorry for gettin' snappy. I'm just not used to-"

A crackle of thunder interrupted him, making him jump as he glanced at the window. The wind and rain outside began growing louder.

"Hey."

He looked back at you, seeing you offer a hand. That warm smile was still plastered to your face. "You seem pretty cool, so you can stay for as long as you want, even when this storm passes. You're safe here, Garcello."

Safety. That was rare to come by. For the longest time he just wanted to feel safe somewhere and not always be on the run.

But to know that he didn't need to kill anyone or sell anything to hear that reassurance made his eyes sting.

"Th-Thanks, [y/n]." Garcello took your hand and shook it once, before letting go.

It felt strange to contact another person without inflicting violence on them. 'Is this what it's like to have..a friend?' He wondered, even though deep down he worried about getting "too attached" to people. His job couldn't afford such sentiments.

But maybe this time..

He can stop worrying.

[lfcology]

swatches | sirius black

summary: you had loved sirius black for longer than you could remember. through two wizarding wars and a harsh time in azkaban: you were head over heels. what happens when he misunderstood your relationship? everyone lives au lowkey as it should be! 

pairing: Fem!Reader x Sirius (post books so they’re slightly older)

word count: 1.6k

warnings: misunderstandings, mention of pregnancy/getting pregnant

*

Two wars. You had survived two wars against the most powerful dark wizard ever and had no inclination to tell your longtime friend you loved him. You'd been head over heels for Sirius Black for the better part of two decades yet opted to keep your feelings to yourself – stating something about the timing not being right. But if not during a war – nay, two wars – when would the time be right? You'd been with other people, trying to get over the raven-haired beauty yet no one ever made you feel anything close to what you did with him.

He'd served years in Azkaban, convicted of some of the most heinous crimes against muggles and the reason behind his best friends death, but you knew he was innocent. Sirius Black was a lot of things but a traitor was not one of them. Now, years later, he was finally free – an innocent man to the world. Once the dark lord was defeated again, and things started to calm down, 12 Grimmauld Place wasn't needed for the order anymore so you insisted on helping Sirius clean it up.

Though you couldn't wash away the painful memories of his childhood, it didn't mean you couldn't try. Harry was old enough to live on his own now but after years apart he and Sirius wanted to catch up on lost time. The first order of business you planned was putting that horrid painting of Mrs. Black in the basement. It took a lot of spells to detach her from the wall but the relief that came across Sirius' face once she was gone was worth it. The two of you worked together tirelessly to bring brightness into the home for the first time since it was built. The Black family tree tapestry was peeled off and replaced with a fresh coat of white paint and a photo wall.

Photos of James, Lily, Marlene and other friends lost over the years lined the wall and memories flooded your senses. There were moments in time captured that reminded you of easier days. Your times at Hogwarts. Your summers at the Potters. You, Sirius and Remus, admired your handy work on the wall. You three had lost so much but the thankfulness you felt to still have each other was beyond you. Sirius wrapped his arm around you and pressed a kiss to your temple. Remus excused himself to spend time with Teddy, leaving you and your love alone. "Should we start clearing out some of the rooms?" You suggested despite not wanting to leave Sirius' side just yet.

He hummed in confirmation before (rather reluctantly) letting you go. The house had been empty and cold for years so in an attempt to revive it Harry, Remus, Tonks and baby Teddy were due to move in. You two started with the guest room that would become a nursery for Teddy. Magic made cleaning much easier but being around Sirius meant more time joking around than actually being productive.

"This whole bloody house smells like dirty boxes." He said with a huff and a wave of his hand to open the window.

The two of you sat for longer than you'd like to admit trying to put a crib together the muggle way. Soon you gave up and used magic, much to Sirius' dismay who insisted "it'll just be 5 more minutes". With a wave of your wand, the walls were coloured a soft sage green compared to the drab mud brown it was before. Things were finally coming together.

"Do you wonder what it's like?" Sirius asked as he set a few toys out onto the shelves.

"What what's like?" You asked from your spot at the bookshelf.

"Being a parent." He clarified.

You shrugged and put down your copy of ABCs with Merlin. "I suppose... I kind of assume I won't have kids. I'm too old now."

"Nonsense!" He replied quickly.

You raised your brows and crossed your arms. "I know you're about to mention something about Moony but shall I remind you he didn't carry the child?" You countered.

"You make it sound like you're ancient." He scoffed. "Don't rule it out, darling."

You let out a laugh and returned to your task of sorting the shelves. "It takes two to have a baby and I don't exactly have a lineup of people wanting to impregnate me.”

"I sure hope not." He said incredulously. "Now, what colour should the walls in the master room be?"

You furrowed your brows. What on earth did he mean by I sure hope not? Instead of letting yourself dwell on it later, you decided to outright ask him. "What's that supposed to mean?"

He looked perplexed. "What? The colour of the master room?"

"No, no... that you sure hope there isn't people lined up for me?" You said crossing your arms a tad defensively.

Sirius, to put things simply, had a habit of being rude sometimes without realizing it. So, you were expecting a backhanded comment about your looks or a joke about how long you've been single. "Well, wouldn't exactly be the best for my odds." He said with a chuckle. "Now, the room colour." He repeated holding the swatches up.

"To hell with the swatches Sirius! What are you talking about!" You all but yelled at him. Was this a joke? Did he find out you were in love with him and decided to subtly tease you about it? How had he even figured it out? You felt yourself going into overdrive. You were going to kill Moony. He had to be the one to tell him after all!

"The swatch is for your room too so it does matter," Sirius said bewildered.

"What?"

"What?" He repeated making you huff. He could be so frustrating sometimes.

"What do you mean my room?"

"Well, it's gonna be our room." He clarified.

You were surprised if that's what you could call it. Sirius thought you were moving in? And sharing a room with him? What on earth was happening? "Sirius, I'm not living here? I thought it was just you, Harry and Moonys family?"

"What? Why? It's meant to be a family home!" He protested with a pout that reminded you of the ones he wore as a student not getting his way with Professor McGonagall.

"We don't have room for me if Teddy has his own room. He'll need one as he grows up." You explained.

"That makes no sense! We would share a room."

"Why the hell would we share a room? We're adults we can't just be dormmates like we're kids." You said and he gave you a disgruntled look. “We've been sharing beds for 20 years why does it matter now?" He rebutted and crossed his arms.

"Don't you want privacy?" You asked.

"For what? We're dating so I don't see why you're being so weird about this."

Now that shocked you.

"DATING?" You shouted and he chuckled softly as he took a step towards you. "Since bloody when?"

"Well, we've had a weird relationship for 20 years I just assumed? Two wars change people." He said and you gaped at him.

"Bloody hell Sirius." You said rubbing your temples. This was not how you expected to find out your feelings were returned. Was this his loneliness speaking? His trauma?

"I'm sorry if I overstepped in thinking that..." He said rubbing the back of his neck and losing his confidence. He became sheepish under your scrutiny. Maybe it wasn't so outlandish of him to assume that. You two did kiss and cuddle a fair bit more than the average friends. But Sirius had always been fond of physical affection with his friends and you chalked it up to that. You honestly never expected him to feel the same way you did.

"I-" You began before swallowing down in an attempt to collect your thoughts. "-You weren't wrong. I just never really thought you'd feel that way about me."

He scoffed. "I've felt that way since we were in 5th year!"

"That makes no bloody sense! You hooked up with half the damn school but didn't look at me." You scoffed back.

"Because I was trying to hide my feelings like a dumb teenage boy! It killed me seeing you all over Peter so I deflected the only way I knew how." He countered. You rolled your eyes. You and Peter had gone out twice before realizing you were better off as friends.

"You don't get to do this Sirius. You can't just say you've liked me for more than 20 damn years and not made a move." You said pointing your finger at him accusingly.

"Need I remind you I was in prison for half of it. And I just asked what colour you want our room to be." He replied with a huff.

You were silent. He wasn't wrong after all but in your overflow of emotions, you chose to place all the blame on him. "I..." You looked down. "I'm sorry. I just always thought I wasn't your type."

He took a step closer and gently held your shoulders. "It's my fault for not letting you know how utterly in love with you I am."

Hearing those words come out of his mouth shot electricity through your body. It was a euphoric feeling you could definitely get used to feeling all the time. You looked up at him and cupped his cheek softly. For the first time, you realized the way you looked at him was the same way he looked at you: with utter love and devotion. You were so worried about not letting your feelings for him spill that you didn't realize you'd been dating the man of your dreams this whole time. The man you'd longed for but thought was unattainable.

"I love you too..." You said through happy tears. "I have for so long."

"Now darling, what colour for our bedroom?" He said with a perfect smirk and a kiss to your temple.

It took two wars but you and Sirius were creating the silly little family you always dreamed of.

*

taglist: @writing-wh0re​

[lovelivingmydreams]

The worst possible thing.

*stares at this long and hard.* Fine!

@kingcreativityau you know who is responsible for what comes next.

Yes @hunter-with-a-tardis I'm looking at you

Janus was pacing the floor. He didn't like this one bit.

“What's taking him so long?” he wondered aloud.

It was a rhetorical question and the sides who were sitting here waiting couldn’t answer him even if it wasn't. No one liked this plan. It hadn't even been a plan. It was half an idea Logan and Janus would have dismissed at once if Virgil hadn’t been in the room  and overheard Janus mumble about it. Harnessing Virgil’s given powers and undo what king had done.

It was too risky to even consider. Janus didn’t need Virgil to point out all  the ways it could go very wrong. To everyone’s shock Virgil came with a solution though. He'd take king up on his offer and finish the gallery, ask him to teach him to get control over the shadows. If king took a liking to teaching, which Virgil thought he might, he'd keep doing it and eventually Virgil could lift the curses and they all could get back to helping Thomas.

Janus had wanted to argue. Sure king enjoyed instructing others in skills he felt more proficient at. He recalled King teaching him to duel not too long ago. He also remembered what happened after the student caught up though. King storming away and then, after he'd managed to get out of king's obstacle… how he'd been cornered, the panic the punishment for daring to upset the king in any way. No this was their mess. Virgil was not yet on king's bad side. That was a card they couldn't waste on something that risky.

But Logan had been writing and Janus was convinced he'd say something similar. And Virgil was more likely to listen to Logan so he'd waited.

He should have known Logan would never just dismiss any idea out of hand.

Somehow they'd all agreed to see if Virgil could get a first lesson. And soon Virgil left them to practice with the king every day. Which should be a comfort right? King clearly enjoyed the activity and he was not suspicious of anything. That was exactly what had Janus worried now.

Because king wasn't the only one enjoying the lessons. Sure Virgil still seemed terrified of the man, but whenever he returned he was deep in thought, sometimes with a small smile on his face. The one that said: I just did something right.

He'd been looking at them oddly too, like he was figuring out a complicated puzzle.

Something was off but Virgil refused to talk about it. Something about a promise he made.

A click of a pen echoed through the mostly empty space and Janus' head snapped up.

Logan needed his attention.

He was scribbling down something as fast as he could and handed it over. Janus read it over. It was a long ramble, but it came down to one thing.

“I do have faith in Virgil. It's king I’m worried about. One perceived slight and…”

Janus touched the mark on his face. The memory of it's creation very vivid in his mind.

“Aw, you do care,” Virgil's voice came from behind him. Janus whirled around.

Something about what he saw took him back, to a time when he had two misfit friends who didn't hate him. Before the fight.

Maybe if was that mischievous smirk or the way he carried himself as if he couldn't care less what other people thought. Except now he really seemed to mean it.

His clothes weren’t back to normal by any means. They were upgraded though. From a dark version of Roman's original outfit to one reflecting the fitting in upgrade. Except Virgil wore a few medals pinned on his vest. As well as applying Virgil's black and purple with white detailing color scheme.

He also wore a dark purple hooded cape instead of a sash.

Most startling of all, he looked genuinely comfortable with it all.

“Virgil? Is that you?” Janus asked.

Virgil nodded, still smirking. “Indeed it is,” the deep terrifying voice of the King boomed and suddenly he stood behind him hands delicately resting on the youngest side’s shoulders.

But Virgil didn’t even flinch.

“Dear Anxiety made so much progress, I felt he deserved a promotion. I offered him the title of Prince,” king summoned a dark crown in his hand only to immediately clench his fist and make the image disappear. “but he is so loyal to those he considers friends he wouldn't even consider to take my light half’s title,” King praised fondly. He stroked Virgil's hair for a moment. “So he is my head counselor now on top of creative minister. And you should all be happy to know, he made a plea on your behalf.” King waved his hand and suddenly Patton was six years old.

“Wha… I can talk?” Logan gasped astonished.

“You explain the conditions to them. I have to get back to work.” And just like that, King was gone.

“You did it?” Janus asked perplexed this was too good to be true.

“King did. Don't take his generosity for granted,” Virgil warned sternly.

“Virgil, kiddo…”

“You shall not address me like that!” Virgil hissed, his voice booming, twisted and sinister, a dark aura flaring up, making them all step backwards in shock.

Virgil took a deep breath. “Names are for friends and allies. After what I heard… you’ll have to earn my trust back,” he explained a little calmer. They all froze in horror. King told him… of course he did. He'd have to be a fool not to.

“These gifts have conditions attached. Morality you can get back to your own age with good behavior, the reverse is true as well though. Logic your voice can not speak ill of the king and what you do say about him will find it’s way to us.

Any and all communication to the king must go through me. You remember my shadow?” the creature in question appeared next to Virgil.

“He'll… assist you when I am with the king. Ask him if you need to ask me or king something. Oh and fair warning….” Suddenly they all fell to the ground. Crushed by guilt and fear and desperation.

“I’ll do anything to protect Thomas from having to live without us ever again. I won‘t permit you to anger the king. Understood?”

They all nodded as they whipped at their tears.

“Good. Dismissed.” When they looked up Virgil was gone. Only his shadow remained. The creature stared back at them looking heartbroken. “I’m sorry,” it whispered.

“This… might be the worst possible thing,” Logan muttered as he helped Patton up. While the two oldest sides discussed their situation Janus stared in horror at the tragic looking shadow.

How could he have let this happen?

 Janus opened his eyes. He was sweating, his heart was racing. What was real, what was a dream? He looked around. He was in his room. He got up to his knees and tapped a rhythm neither he or his neighbor had heard in years. Virgil used to wake up from nightmares like this. Not sure about reality and scared to leave his room. So they came up with a system. Notes weren't an option when you didn't want to turn on the light and alert Remus someone was awake to play with him. So they made up their version of Morse code.

‘What is going on' was always the start of such a conversation. It was just a long series of rapid light knocks. The first reaction, ‘I hear you' was a flat palm against the door. Then you wait for the other to respond. Virgil's response was quicker than he expected.

‘Patton. Small. Logan. Silent. Twins. One.’

Janus nodded. He hadn't dared to hope that all of it was a dream.

‘you?’ he asked. Though he doubted if Virgil could know what to tell him to assure him he wasn't currently being tutored by king. ‘Scared. Confused. Angry. Sad.’

Janus bit his lip. Virgil didn't use the code for pupil. If there was any real plan like in his nightmare Virgil would mention it. He’d been on the other side of these conversations often enough. Yes, everything was… well not fine but not as horrible as he'd feared. All he had to do to keep his dream from happening was not leave Virgil alone with the king. And… maybe figure out how to tell Virgil what had happened all these years ago.

Janus got ready to knock. There was a knock that meant to convey empathy. To be a comforting reminder that Virgil was not alone. But halfway through he remembered another pattern. One Virgil would always close the conversation with. It was almost an alternative for goodnight in these conversations. But it meant ‘Sorry’. Janus' scales stung with the thought of that word. But if he knocked the pattern… it wasn't the same right?

He took a deep breath and started out with: ‘Thanks.’ He readied his hand it was just three knocks long… But the very thought was agony

‘Welcome. Good night.’

Janus sighed as he heard the reply. Perhaps another time.

‘Good night.’

@moonlightshow00 @naturallyunstablegamer @alias290 @meowthefluffy @antiredhuman

[imaginealpha]

I saved this screenshot over three years ago.

Today, at 10:50 PM, I made a document titled "I'm gonna bang this out in an hour and submit it at 11:58pm because that's just how I am" and wrote this for my school's literary magazine. I submitted it at 1:15 AM, because that's also just how I am. It's a little long, but that's okay.

The screech of the train’s brakes cuts through the night air, startling you from your light doze. There aren’t many people in the station, and no one seems to want to get on. Except you, of course, because you want to be anywhere but here.

A man hangs out the window of the car in front of you. “First time?” he says, his eyes crinkling sympathetically.

“I’ve ridden the train before,” you snap back defensively.

“That’s not what I asked.” He gestures to the open door.

You lean against the window, making sure to keep your head off of it before the slight shaking gives you a headache. The buildings whipping by are quickly replaced by a rolling countryside. You suppose this is when you consider your place in the universe, as one does on the midnight train going anywhere, but you are content to just watch.

A voice breaks the fog in your mind. “I need your ticket, dear.”

An older woman stands by your seat, the only other person in the otherwise empty car. Wordlessly, you fish your ticket stub out of your pocket and hand it over.

She clicks her tongue as she punches a series of holes into it. “It’s a lovely view on the way, dear. Make sure to watch. I believe it’s quite a sight for the soul.”

She hands it back. When you turn back to the window, you don’t hear her leave.

You don’t know how long it’s been since you closed your eyes. When you force them open, a dusty brown expanse stretches outside the glass, the surface pockmarked with tiny craters. The sky is pitch black but twinkling with a million points of light, steady companions in an ever-changing eternity. A blue planet covered in faint green landmasses and swirling white clouds hangs above, too big and too small at the same time. For a moment, you feel a little less lonely.

In the distance in front of you, a single building sits, quite literally in the middle of nowhere. A neon sign blazes brightly, but you can’t quite make it out. Thin tendrils of smoke rise from the front, where a small group of young adults are sitting around in folding chairs.

As you watch, one of them throws back their head and laughs, while another one stands, holding an empty bottle to their mouth like a microphone. You can almost hear them. That could be you someday.

There is a young child across the row.

“How did you get here?” you ask, a little dazedly.

They wrinkle their nose. “That’s not a fair question. I rolled the dice, of course.”

“Of course,” you repeat numbly. “Why isn’t it fair?”

“Because everyone rolls the dice, so you’re gonna get the same answer every time.” They shrug simply. “It’s the only way to get on the train, you know. You roll the dice, and if your number is low enough, you can choose to come on the train and roll again. It says so on your ticket.”

You dig out your ticket. It’s punched so full of holes that you can’t make out any of the text anymore.

“I didn’t roll the dice,” you hear yourself say.

The child just stares at you. “Of course you did.”

“Of course,” you say again, for lack of a better answer. “Where are they, then? So I can roll again?”

“That’s not how it works.” The child is rolling their eyes now, and you vaguely wonder if it is socially acceptable to use them as makeshift dice. (It isn’t, obviously.) “Ask me a more interesting question, please.”

“Who are you? Where are you from? And-” you twist around again to glimpse what is now a never-ending ocean rippling below the train, an electrical storm brewing on the horizon. “-where are we? Where are we going?”

“Everywhere. Nowhere. It’s hard to say, really.” They smile at you, something unreadable in their eyes. “I suppose a better answer would be anywhere. It’s up to you.”

“Me?”

Their smile turns sharp. “It really is your first time, isn’t it?”

The waves outside splutter in response. They go on and on and on and on, with no signs of stopping.

You can make out the thin glistening of water pouring softly down the cavern wall from the lights on the outside of the train.

“What’s it like, where you’re from?” the child asks.

“Pretty,” you say noncommittally. “Elegant, in its own way. Normal.”

They hum and swing their legs, gripping the edge of the seat. “And?”

You watch the walls of the cavern narrow in on the train, and a spark of nervousness flares inside you when you think of the train getting stuck. “Trapped. It was a nice place to grow up, but there wasn’t anywhere to go except where everyone told you to go. Sometimes, those places weren’t very special. Not to me, at least.”

“You have anywhere here.”

“I guess so,” you sigh. “The ride has to end eventually, though. I didn’t really think this through, so I have no idea what I’m going to do when we get to the last stop.”

“There’s only one stop,” the child says casually, “but think about what you want to do when you get there. It’ll be a whole new world for you, if you believe in it.”

Watching the tunnel widen again into a room full of gorgeous glowing crystals towering high above you, you think you’re starting to understand.

A lone streetlight stands outside, its harsh yellow light flickering on the ground. Silhouettes of people pass underneath like shadows, fading away into mist at the edges.

“They look like they’re searching for something. What are their lives like, I wonder?”

You square your shoulders bitterly. “They spend decades locked in a miserable cycle of work and expectations and exhaustion, with no real joy or expression left.”

“Why?”

“Because that’s what society demands. That’s what people demand.”

The child surveys you curiously. “So they’re looking for emotion? All of them?”

All of them. The confirmation is on the tip of your tongue.

You remember the people outside the desert store. “Maybe not all of them,” you amend. “Some of them had higher dice rolls.”

“They all fade away in the end,” the child observes.

“But they’re brighter.” Happier.

“The dice alone don’t change that,” they remind you.

The streetlight dies.

“Can you rig the dice?”

“No,” the child replies. “But low numbers aren’t always a bad thing. If you add them right, you get a bigger number.”

The chunks of ice speeding past the window start moving backwards.

“Do you wanna play a game?”

You decide to humor the kid, for lack of anything better to do. “Sure. What game?”

“You stomp your feet like this.” They stretch their legs to the floor and pound a steady rhythm on the ground. “When I make this sound” - a series of clicks you can’t for the life of you figure out how to do with your mouth - “you knock against the window.” Another beat, their knuckles rapping gently against the glass. “And I’m gonna do my own sounds, and we’re gonna make a song. But you can’t step in the same place twice, or it’ll get boring.”

It takes you a while to get the hang of it. Before long, you are up and out of your seat, hopping across the car in an effort to avoid landing on the same spot you just stepped. The kid is singing a melody that shoots adrenaline through your veins, lights a giddy fire in your chest, and opens a haunting void in your throat all at the same time. You feel more alive than you have ever been in your entire life.

Here, dancing in the soft white light of the train, with a forest whispering outside and brushing the windows with gentle branches, believing in this seems easier than ever.

The child isn’t there when the sun’s rays spill over the horizon, tingeing the sky a pale pink. The country hills rise around the train again, tiny farms dotting the green. Roused from your deeper slumber, you lazily watch the early morning mist climb over the grass. Distantly, a mass of grey clouds hangs in the sky. If you think about it hard enough, they look like looming mountains. An impossible, majestic journey.

“We’re almost at the stop, dear.” The woman is back, speaking quietly. “I’ll take your ticket stub off your hands for you.”

You pull it out and give it to her. “You were right. The view was incredible.”

Her face softens. “It always is.”

The train finally pulls into the station with another screech. The doors slide open with a hiss, and you step back out onto the platform, breathing in the morning air. You take a moment to turn to the man hanging out the side window.

“Hope to see you again sometime,” he bids you, kind eyes now crinkled in a smile. “Next time, I’ll say ‘Second time?’”

“I look forward to it,” you agree with a small huff of laughter.

The ticketmaster gives you a weird look as you leave the station. “Were you in there all night?” he asks, perplexed. “Did your train even come by? There’s none on the schedule.”

You shrug. “No, it did. It was a round trip.”

You climb the stairs to the ground level and step outside. As you head home, you try to hold on to the feelings you found on the train. Looking for emotion, indeed.

Even when you don’t have an anywhere to go, at least you know there’s always another option. You’ll do what you do best: you don’t stop believing.

What do you think @writing-prompt-s?

[hoseokslefteyebrow]

His || K.TH

Pairing : Kim Taehyung X Reader

Genre :  fluff, i2l ( idiots to lovers), somewhat of a smut undercut but no actual smut

Summary : Taehyung fell in love with you the moment you saved him from the shit excuse of a hybrid 'sanctuary', but it takes jealousy to actually get to talk about it with you.

Wordcount: 1.8k

[ A/N: So there was a Quotev reader who had a story suggestion for a wolf hybrid Tae, I decided to make ut into a one shot instead and instead of Wolf hybrid Tae, I decided on Alaskan Noble Companion Dog Tae. Anyway, enjoy!]

Masterlist

Taehyung's pointy black wolf like ears twitched on top of his his dyed blonde head due to all the sounds around him.

It was currently almost 2 A.M., and he had woken up to the movement around him.

Which was weird, it was usually completely quiet in the 'sanctuary' around this time. However, there was currently an unnerving amount of different sounds around him. And even tough he couldn't see anyone, he could almost feel the tension.

" What about this one?" A femine voice sounded outside the metal door he was hidden behind.

Who was at the sanctuary at this time? 

His ears went back in caution as he sat up on his bed, ready to pounce at whoever would enter his room.

" He's a little.... I don't know. But every time I see him, he's growling at us." He recognised the voice of this guy as someone who worked in the sanctuary, he'd never talked to him before, but he does recognise his voice.

A genuine chuckle left the your lips, as if it's funny.

" That's probably because you work here. Okay! Fella on the other side of this room, step back cause we're about to blow it!" Your voice sounded, and Taehyung listened, even tough he was confused.

His tail wagged softly behind him in curiosity.

" You better cover your ears!" You yelled before a beeping sound was heard.

At first the beeping was soft and even, but after a few seconds it was just a flat screaming line, and before he knew it the door was blown up.

Where the door used to stand was now one big hole, and he could see how his neighbor, a black jaguar hybrid by the name of Yoongi, was also let out of a big hole instead of a door.

" See! I told you it'd work!" You yelled to the sanctuary worker, who smiled and nodded.

Taehyung growled at the worker, who was in his uniform, probably because he had the night shift.

" You can go. I'll take it from here." You told him, now serious, as you faced Taehyung.

The worker nodded and walked away, off to help the other hybrids out.

Taehyung eyed the pair of tweezers and scalpel in your hand warily.

You took a look at it too before openly showcasing it to him.

" Yeah, I know. I seem like a mentally unstable person whose going to kill you. But we need to get your tracker out. Do you mind?" You asked.

Taehyung was surprised to say the least, never had a human asked him if he was okay with what they'll do to him.

He wordlessly shook his head, unable to form a sentence.

You smiled thankfully at him.

" Turn around please. Your tracker is in your left shoulder blade. They put it there so you can't like, scratch it out or something." You instructed him.

He nodded, and took his shirt of with it, that way you had easier access to his back.

" Thank you. What's your name?" You asked him, trying not to let your hands wander over the bruises adoring his back.

" Taehyung." He answered, His voice deep and husky.

" Nice to meet you, Taehyung. I'm Y/N. Also a fair warning, this'll hurt." You warned him before pushing the scapel into his skin.

Taehyung sucked in his breath from the pain, but didn't move. 

" W-what would you have done if I hadn't wanted you to cut it out?" Taehyung asked after a moment.

" We'd try to create a malfunction in it trough the laptop. But that'd be way riskier and overall not nice. Or we'd take it out on location. " You said as you pushed his tracker out.

Taehyung didn't say anything as you pulled something out of him.

" There. Now off you go. There's a bus outside, they'll take you to safety. We'll stitch you up once we're at base. Oh, and throw your tracker in the river." You told him as you handed him his tracker, a small black object which looked a lot like a phone's chipcard.

" Wait- Where are you going? What about you?" Taehyung asked, suddenly overcome with concern.

" I'm going to help the other hybrids out." You told him before turning away and walking down the hall.

Taehyung decided to follow you. Not all the hybrids in here are safe to approach after all, and you're saving him, he should maybe save you too.

That's how Taehyung met you, and he couldn't have been happier.

You were part of a Hybrid Activist group, you were the Med guy in the team, taking out hybrid their trackers and patching them up when needed.

After helping him break out, he's decided to stay with you. You were fine with that, and treated him more like a person than pet, unlike how most people treat hybrids.

It's now six months later, and Taehyung feels grumpy as he watches you and the new hybrid that came in around a week ago.

The two of you were right now at the Hybrid Sanctuary where you worked at, and you were working hard as always. Whenether it'd be to care for the little ones or to care for the elder ones, you never seemed to mind their requests.

It wasn't that he didn't like the new rabbit hybrid, the guy was actually pretty cool and all. It was more that the rabbit was more often than not a little too comfortable around you for his liking. 

Like right now for example, you only sat down a moment ago to rest and the hybrid was once again glued to your side.

Taehyung's jealousy grew as he watched your hand move into the hybrid's hair, your fingers probably scratching the base of his ears.

It did seem very comfortable. Would it feel nice if you'd pet his ears too?

Even tough you two lived together, you had never pet Taehyung like that. The most you've done is run your fingers trough his hair when he was tired.

Your gaze suddenly spotted Taehyung's intimidating one, and you smiled at him, seemingly unbothered by the intensity of his eyes.

He gave you a small smile back in response before it turned into a scowl again as the hybrid at your side nuzzled his head into your neck, probably scenting you.

If he was younger, Taehyung wouldn't have minded, he knew that the younger hybrids often did it to get your scent on them, something hybrid parents usually did by their children as it made them feel safer. However, this guy was only two years younger than him, so he obviously knew what he was doing. And you're not stupid, you probably did too. He did not like that one bit, you were his after all. Altough he never said it out loud, he tough that you probably knew that.

Or maybe not, He tough as he glared at the two of you.

-

" Okay, tell me. What's wrong?" You asked Taehyung as you sat down beside him on the couch in your home.

He's been acting weird all afternoon, glaring at you for no reason and ever since you've been home he's been quiet.

" Nothing." He huffed, crossing his arms and looking at the tv, which wasn't even on.

" Tae." You sighed.

He made an acknowledging sound in response.

" C'mon. Tell me what's wrong. I can't smell emotions y'know?" You said, softly brushing some hair from his cheek.

" Why do you let that rabbit hybrid do whatever he wants?" He suddenly asked.

" What?" You asked confused.

" You know a lot about hybrids, why do you let him scent you? You're not his to scent." Taehyung grumbled, now facing you.

You blinked.

" He feels safe around me, I didn't think anyone would mind." You shrugged, now realizing that there indeed is someone who minds.

" I mind." He grumbled.

" I get that now yeah. Why do you even get jealous? You don't seem to care when one of the youngers scent me." You told him.

" They do that because they see you as a mother figure of some sort. Jungkook did it because he sees you as his 'girlfriend' or something." He said.

" Well, it's not like I am tough. I'm sure he knows that I'm single and-"

" You're not single." He cut you off.

" Sorry?" You asked him perplexed.

" I tough we were a thing?" He asked.

" What made you think that?" You asked him.

" The days of my rut." He andwered bluntly and honestly.

Your cheeks went pink at his answer. You had indeed helped him out in his rut, he didn't trust anyone else. But after those days everything had gone back to how it was before, so you tough that he didn't want you as a girlfriend.

" I pleased you for days. What makes you think I would want to touch anyone else or that we're nothing more than friends? I tough we crossed the line that day." He asked concerned.

" I- I don't know. Everything just went back to how things were before your rut, so I tough that you didn't want me like that." You said, avoiding his gaze as the loose thread of the couch was suddenly more interesting.

Taehyung shuffled closer to you, throwing his arm around you and softly kissing your forehead.

" Why would I not want you like that? I just tough that you weren't into skinship as much. You never pet my ears like you pet the rabbit's either." Taehyung said as he leaned his head under your chin, scenting you.

" Sorry." You wishpered.

Taehyung didn't say anything in response, instead grabbing your hand and dropping it ontop of his head.

You smiled but didn't say anything in response, simply complying to his silent wish.

Taehyung's tail wagged as he leaned his head into your hand, your hands were just as good as he imagined.

" Just to be clear, we're now a couple right?" Taehyung asked as he looked at you trough his piercing eyes.

You smiled and nodded, pecking him on the lips.

" Hell yeah we are."

[local80smotel]

Midnight wind

pairing; V x air bending! Reader

summary; Y/N gains powers and after escaping Larkhill wants to get revenge

requested by; @scatter-mind001

rating; T

warnings; heavy mention of guard-on-prisoner abuse

word count; 2,311

A/N; I'm actually thinking of making a part two of this but I'm actually very satisfied with it! Thank you for the request!

Y/N remembered the night they were stolen from their normal daily life and how much terror pulsed through their body. The reason? Y/N's family were proud Irishmen and refused to hide that fact from anyone. They went as far as to hang the Irish flag outside their home instead of the Norsefire flag which they were commanded to do so. It became an inside joke of the neighborhood on how long it would take for the L/N family to be removed.

Some even betted money. Unsurprisingly it happened around seven months into high Chancellor Sutler's term that the raid happened. Y/N thought they would be spared as they broke down their bedroom door around 1:34 AM. Sadly they were wrong as they were 17 and was seen as being "too old" to be sent to a reclamation camp. Y/N was sent to Larkhill while their parents were sent to two different camps.

This fact was the thing that caused the kid to wail almost every hour of the day when they were forced to stay in their cell. Oh, what would they say to their parents instead of blaming them for this. They should have known they would do something as heartless as break a family up. Larkhill was, to put it shortly and simply, was living hell. The only time Y/N got human interaction was when they were getting experimented on and even then the scientists were anything but kind.

What messed with Y/N's head the most was the lack of clocks or calendars in the camp. Seconds seemed to turn into hours as they would just lay on the concrete floor and stare at the ceiling. The only thing that kept their spirits high was one of the fellow prisoners at Larkhill. The first time they talked was when snow started to stick to the corpse ridden ground. He was quiet and had issues with mumbling and when asked what his name was, he became silent for a few moments only for him to reply with an “I can't remember”.

The two of them decided to give him the name of V as it was the roman numeral for five, his room number. Y/N never knew why but V was the one that the prison guards would abuse when they would become enraged at something. Maybe it was because he didn't try to fight back as other prisoners did. When asked by Y/N why he wouldn't stand up for himself he told her “What's the point?”. V especially enjoyed hearing about the gunpowder plot of 1605 and started to idolize Guy Fawks, the man who had planned the explosion. They couldn't help but giggle when V would ask so many questions like a knowledge-hungry child.

The experiments Y/N experienced was... Something. A theory the scientists had was that an increase in air and maybe using the old-time favorite, electric shock therapy, would bring answers and results. When it came to the air theory, many of their "guinea pigs" had already died as they had been injected with 2.7 mL of air which killed them almost immediately. But somehow, after the now 18-year-old had their brain almost fried, survived and only passed out after the 1.5 mL mark.

When they woke up their food, or better yet described as slop, was harshly thrown into their room.

Y/N feeling nauseous, tried to push away the plate even though it was five feet away from them. To their astonishment, it moved and banged loudly against the thick metal door which left a dent in it. The now curious Y/N would test this new power by "playing" with the local camp rats. When they'd come into their room to eat their food, they flick a wisp of air which would hit them like a whip. As a result, the poor creature would run away squeaking in pain but luckily not bleeding.

What's ironic was both the rat and Y/N were somewhat the same as both were hungry, alone, and puzzled on this new ability. They had never used this power on the workers until they had practiced for three months. At this point in time, they knew how to control how much power they let out and what they would call an "air-blast" which was a shot a compressed spurt of air from their hands. It was hard to practice as they were being restricted in an 8ft by 8ft cell.

When Y/N attacked the scientists it was initially an accident. What caused this? They tried to eject more air into them as almost all of the scientists that worked for the camp were perplexed on how they were still alive. Once 0.5 mL of air was pushed into them, poor Y/N was sent into a panicked state as they could feel their heart starting to skip beats. They were able to strike two of the five people in the room until they were restrained and subdued.

After that, they were moved from room #4 to one of the more secure rooms. With this happening V was under the impression that Y/N had been executed or died that day. V was sent into a blind rage and well, you can guess what happened next. Around midnight, a few weeks after their move to room #12, explosions woke them from their deep slumber. When they awoke they expected to see complete darkness but were entirely wrong.

The fire was everywhere, making it hard for the know coughing inmate to focus on what was happening. Once they were able to get up they immediately looked for shoes. Sure, it sounds selfish at first but they were looking for shoes not so they could run away but so they could look for their only friend, the man in room #5. Sadly, when they heard a loud scream- no, it was more of a roar, they were under the belief that the fire had devoured him. Y/N couldn't help but fall to the ground which was covered in rubble to sob.

This wasn't fair. This place had taken everything from him; his memories, his name, his humanity, and now it had taken his life. The rest of the night was a blur as they tried to travel back to London. This took weeks as the adult was too exhausted to stay up for more than 8 hours as their sleep schedule, just like their will to live, had been completely destroyed by Larkhill. When they finally got to London it was pitch black.

Their heart stung as they walked the brick sidewalk. Their heart was breaking because V and them had talked about this back when they were still cell neighbors. They were so hopeful that they'd get to walk down the streets together once they were free. Y/N was lucky enough to find an abandoned matchbox factory. They decided to stay in the basement of the burned down building as it would be the safest choice when it came to being seen.

Slowly, over the next four years, they fixed up their new lair. They got working electricity and indoor plumbing after trying hundreds of times. The escapee finally got a television after trash diving and finding a still working 70s one. The first channel they watched was "The voice of London" as they heard through the grapevine that it was a news channel. Y/N went to channel 012 and once they saw the News host, their excitement left their body.

It, it was him. Lewis Prothero, the man who would frequently abuse the prisoners of Larkhill. Just seeing him made their blood start to boil. They instantly got off of their makeshift couch, walking back and forth as they mumbled under their breath. They could have sworn they saw Lewis' dead body that night of the fire. This simply wasn't fair.

For the next few weeks, they began to plan, gradually gathering information on where Lewis was living now. The night they finally got his extract location, they were overwhelmed with joy. Y/N grabbed their jacket, as winter was finally rolling around so the winds would nip at them, and left the bunker.

They took flight, fury making it seem like they were moving two times as faster as they should be. Y/N had learned this new ability when they lost all earthly ties after V died. Sure, flying still freaked them out but it was the fastest and safest way. When they slowly approached the building, they prepared for what they would have to do next, which was break the giant window to get inside. They took a deep breath in and air hit and kicked the window in rapid succession, shattering it after just a few hits.

Rolling inside and brushing off pieces of glass, Y/N proceeded to walk in the direction of the home's bathroom as they heard the water running. When they opened the door the first thing that drew their eye was a black mass.

“Lew-” they began their speech they had been writing and tweaking over the last weeks but stopped midway through the first word when the mass turned to them. This wasn't Lewis, this was a random masked person. Before they could ask where their victim was, the man stepped out of the way to reveal the lifeless body on the floor which had a single rose on his chest.

Anger filled them as they looked back up at the masked man. Y/N was supposed to get revenge for their long-dead friend. They RUINED this moment. How was Y/N supposed to help V heal in his grave?

“You!” they screamed as they swiped the air, turning their swipes into blades. “How dare you?! You have no clue what he did!” the man was pushed back by the amount of force the wind carried in it

“Wait let me explain!” the Guy Fawks mask-wearing murderer shouted as they fell to the ground with a knee on the floor to keep them up.

“You weren't there! You weren't mistreated!”

“No Y/-”

Using their oldest power, the air blast, tears were already seeping down their face which was twisted in what seemed to be never-ending pain. The blast hit them directly in the face as they groaned out in pain and finally fell the floor, making a loud thud as their skull hit the marble floor. Y/N strolled over to the body to finish them off so they could get some kind of revenge, only to stop with their body now feeling numb. Their mask, now cracked and was flung off of his face and now somewhere else on the floor with his hat.

“You-” their breathing became shallow as they dropped to the floor with them. “You asshole!” Y/N grabbed the collar of his cap, once again crying but now more violently. “I thought you died- you left me! You left me to suffer alone!” they laid their head on their chest as they continued to sob. V just had to lay there as their close friend cried over them. His skin felt like it was burning as the bathroom's overhead light was beating down on him. He couldn't help but start to cry too. V never wanted to leave them, he was under the impression Y/N has already died. That impression was the reason why he exploded Larkhill.

“I tried looking for you-”

“Well, you didn't try hard enough then!”

There was a moment of silence as the two friends wept next to the freshly dead body of their abuser. V moved them into a hug as he sat upright, rocking them gently as he did so.

“Stop-” they hiccuped “treating me like a baby”

“But that's the only way you'll calm down. You told me this yourself Y/N.”

They rubbed their eyes as they looked up at the severely burnt man. His skin looked inflamed from his crying. They tried to reach up and touch him but he jerked his head back the second their hand went up.

“How did you survive?”

“I can ask you the same thing.”

Y/N rolled their eyes at his reply. Typical V behavior, they thought to themselves. They stayed this way for a few more moments until the realization of where they were set in.

“Welp, we must be going now, police will come any second. We'll be executed if we're found here.” V sprang up, walking over to his mask and hat and quickly put them back where they belonged. Y/N followed suit, already walking out of the bathroom and to the window they had broken to get inside.

“Where are you going?” V asked as the night wind went through his hair

“Home?” they answered back, hoping that they could still fly now that they knew V was alive.

“But that's the completely wrong way.” they looked over at him, confusion on their face as they opened their mouth to speak before V interrupted them, oh how V had a horrible habit of that.

“You're coming home with me. I'm not letting my dear friend live on the street or in some broken-down building.” he held out his hand to them. Y/N could feel V smirking under his cracked mask and rolling their eyes gave them their hand.

[gallavictorious]

I really wish people would stop excusing their favorite character's actions with convoluted theories instead of just accepting that their faves aren't perfect. Ian should not be comparing Terry and Frank. Full stop. Especially not to Mickey's face, when Mickey is in the middle of trying to deal with the complicated feelings he has about the father that raped him by proxy and tried to actually murder him. It's ok to say "yeah you're right I don't know what you're going through but I'm here" and not make it into a shitty father competition.

And I really wish people would refrain from making groundless assumptions and recognize that trying to understand a character's motivation for doing something does not equal taking a stance on whether or not the action discussed is morally sound but alas, nonnie, we live in an imperfect world.

For those just turning in, this ask was received in response to my addition to this post.

Now, nonnie, if I understand you correctly, you disapprove of what I wrote because you see it as 1, an attempt to excuse Ian's behavior because 2, he's my favourite character and 3, therefore I can't stand to have him do something wrong. You also think that, no matter his motivations, Ian shouldn't be comparing Frank to Terry. Below, I'll quickly refutate points 2 and 3, as well as detail the difference between explanations and excuses and – hopefully – demonstrate why you can't with any sort of certainty claim that the offending post is an example of the latter. I will not really engage with the question of whether or not Ian was wrong for saying what he did, because (as we shall return to forthwith) that was not the issue originally discussed, it doesn't actually interest me, and as you do not offer any sort of reasoning for your moral judgment there really isn't anything for me to work with there anyway.

Strap in, kids; it's another long one.

Let's start with your claim that Ian is my favourite. I'm not actually going to spell it out there, but instead direct you to paragraphs 3-7 of this post. A little lazy, perhaps, but I'm sure you can appreciate why I have limited time to point out the same basic flaws twice in a fairly short period of time. (Should I pin a pic of me holding up a little sign reading ”Actually, Mickey is my favourite, even though I love Ian too” to the top of my blog? Would that be helpful?)

Moving on to point 3, I do agree with the general notion that it's fine to accept that the characters we love (no matter who that character is) are flawed and make mistakes! If you had taken the time to familiarize yourself with my thoughts on Ian and Mickey – or if you had, you know, just asked – instead of jumping to completely unsubstantiated conclusions based on a single post, you might even have realized that them being fucked up and making fucked up choices from time to time is one of the things I find most compelling about them. They are messy and complicated and human, and I love that. I neither think nor want either of them to perfect, because perfection is unrealistic is static is boring.

With that out of the way, let's get to excuses versus explanations. If one confuses the two, any attempt to discuss or explain a persons behavior will be construed as an attempt to excuse it, but to understand something and to condone it are actually two different things.

For instance, I can explain and understand why Mickey acted the way he did in 3x09, but still think kicking Ian in the face was wrong. I can explain and understand why Ian called Mickey a coward and a pussy in 4x11 but still think he was wrong for doing so. Do you see? Understanding – or trying to understand – why someone did something is not the same as saying that what they did was okay. Understanding the reasons for someone's actions might lessen the severity of our condemnation (for instance, stealing is generally considered wrong, but most of use would agree that stealing bread to feed your kid is less wrong than stealing bread because you're too stingy to pay for it) or might remove condemnation entirely (hitting someone because you are angry with them is wrong, hitting someone as part of consensual BDSM sex is fine), but understanding an action does not automatically lead to declaring said action morally correct. In short, ”why did X do Y” and ”was X right or wrong do to Y” are two different questions, and the fact that our answer to the second question often is at least partly dependent on our understanding of the first does not change that.

So explanations and excuses are not the same. And yet, sometimes the reasons for doing something (or failing to do something) are offered up as an excuse; as a reason why someone should not be held responsible for their actions, or why they were correct in performing/not performing them in the first place. That neatly leads us to the question of whether or not that's what's actually happening in the post you took exception to. And the answer to that is... you can't know. What boys-night and I discuss in the post is what Ian is actually doing (is he trying to compare trauma och convince Mickey he had it worse) and why he is doing it; that is, we are trying to understand and explain his behavior. Neither of us make any sort of statement on whether or not he was right or wrong for saying or doing what he did: that's just not the topic of conversation. Now, maybe I do think his motivations means that he's morally justified in what he said; maybe I don't. My point is that you can't know that just from what you've read in the post. You might draw some tentative conclusions, and they may be correct, but you don't know, and the reasonable and responsible way to go from there is to seek clarification by asking (polite) questions, not aggressively throwing around accusations about others grasping for straws in a despertae attempt to exonerate their favorites from wrongdoing.

(And just to remind you, even if I were making excuses for Ian, it wouldn't be because he's my favourite or becuase I can't bear to have him do wrong.)

You are perfectly free to disagree with any of the points made in the post, by the way, but you need to recognize that what we're disagreeing on then is motivation, not morality.

And, oh, of course it would have been okay to say "yeah you're right I don't know what you're going through but I'm here", but that's not what Ian did. Now, if you are happy to go ”ah, Ian fucked up, he's not perfect” and move on, that's fine. You do you, nonnie, and if analysis and discussion of character motivations isn't your jam then it isn't and I'm sure no one is going to force you to engage in it. (And if they try to, you can simply say ”I don't care” and walk away.) However, to be perfectly honest I am a bit perplexed that you should be so indignant over other fans trying to make sense of his actions. Do you still feel that way now that you – hopefully – understand that trying to explain a characters' behavior doesn't necessarily mean trying to excuse it? I mean, surely you are aware of the fact that people usually have reasons for acting the way they do, even if the way they act is shitty or misguided? (Note that I'm not saying that Ian's actions were shitty and misguided. That is not the discussion we're having.) I am rather curious, actually, as to what you think Ian's motivations were? Do you imagine he was deliberatedly diminishing Mickey's trauma? Why, if so? Do you perhaps think that he is obsessed with being The Most Victim and thus takes every opportunity to list all the ways Frank sucked? Or maybe that his mouth just moves without any thought or reason and the words just randomly happened?

To be fair, it seems that Ian's motivations is not something you consider relevant: you write that ”Ian should not be comparing Terry and Frank. Full stop.” And that's absolutely a moral stance you can take, albeit certainly not the only one. Maybe Ian shouldn't have said what he said Had you given any reasons for this verdict, I might even have agreed with you because I can think of several reasons why it might be better if Ian refrained from comparing Terry and Frank, no matter his motivations. (And I might not, because I can also think of several reasons why such a comparision might be justified, even though Terry is clearly the more evil of the two.) However, we shall never know, because you fail to back up your claim. I guess that's because you deem it self-evident? It is not, and until you provide any sort of reasoning for your grand proclamation, I won't engage with the question. Not going to shadow-box with you, nonnie, or do your work for you; if you want a discussion, make your case properly. Though maybe make it elsewhere – as previously noted, passing judgement on the characters is not my primary interest when discussing them. I am much more intrigued by trying to understand why characters do and say what they do and say.

Phew. Okay, that's me done, I think. I realize that you might not be very impressed with this answer, nonnie, but I hope it may to some degree reassure you that no sneaky attempt to excuse my favourite character's actions with convoluted theories was made by this humble blogger. Not this time, at least.