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edenesth · 8 months

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The Way to His Heart [10]

Pairing: general!Seonghwa x wife!reader

AU: arranged marriage au (Joseon era)

Word Count: 4.5k

Trigger Warnings: graphic violence/torture, gore, implied mutilation

Summary: Life has been hell ever since your mother's passing many years ago. Despite being from a prominent family, you've never received the privileges associated with it. It only got worse with the arrival of your stepmother and her daughters. When the intimidating General Park was in search of a wife, your father seized the opportunity to dispose of you, simultaneously securing a connection with the powerful general—killing two birds with one stone.

Part 9 | Fic Masterlist | Part 11

"You wanted to see me, sir?" Wooyoung called out, entering the general's study with Jongho following closely behind, having been summoned to the estate.

Seonghwa looked up from his desk, "Ah yes, I heard you turned down the bonus incentive we offered. Why is that? Is there something else that you wish to have?"

Having encountered few who would refuse extra money, your husband found it hard to comprehend the private investigator's decision. Most people around him were usually drawn by the allure of his wealth or other associated benefits, which left him curious about Wooyoung's motives for declining the bonus. Surely, there was something specific he desired.

The younger man beamed, "My lord, I wasn't working so willingly for you because I wanted something more from you. Honestly, nothing makes me happier than being recognised by you! I just... okay, maybe there is one thing I really want."

Raising his brow, the general was not surprised by the sudden admission, "Go on, name it then."

With a cheeky grin, the investigator replied, "It's that you allow me to help you with whatever problems you have now!"

Your husband rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, "What do you mean? I have no problems now; the worst is over."

"Really? Is that why you're here sulking alone instead of being with Lady Park? You clearly want to be near her, and yet, here you are, staying away from her because you haven't a clue how to face her after the traumatising ordeal you put her through yesterday."

That finally piqued Seonghwa's attention, prompting him to sit up straighter, though he attempted to maintain a nonchalant demeanour, "H-how did you figure that out?"

Without waiting for Wooyoung's response, he shook his head, "No, wait, actually, I don't want to know that. Just tell me... what should I do? I realise I haven't considered well enough what she went through, but I... I've never had to care for someone like this before, and I'm not really sure how to..."

The investigator offered an understanding smile, "My lord, the key to any relationship is communication. You need to talk to Lady Park. Ask her how she's feeling, and tell her you're sorry for what she went through. Avoiding each other won't solve anything; it will only create more distance between you two. You're her pillar of support now, and she needs to feel that you're there for her. You both deserve happiness, but it starts with open and honest communication."

Absorbing the advice, the general nodded thoughtfully, "You're right, Wooyoung. I appreciate your straightforwardness. I'll go talk to her and make things right."

Without hesitating, he sprang from his chair and made his way out of the study. The assistant and his friend couldn't contain their laughter, covering their mouths with their hands, but quickly composed themselves when Seonghwa glanced back at them, "Oh, and please, accept the bonus. You deserve it, especially after this."

Before Wooyoung could object, he had already exited the room and was rushing down the path toward the House of Lotus, his heart pounding at the thought of seeing his wife again.

He remembered how quiet you had been during the entire journey back home the day before, your gaze fixed on the passing scenery outside the window. While you weren't overtly distant or cold to him, you seemed lost in thought throughout dinner. You excused yourself early, retiring to your quarters. The atmosphere carried an unspoken tension, making him hesitant to say anything for fear of your potential reaction.

Reflecting on it, he realised he should have assured you that things would be better from that point forward. Rather than maintaining a facade of normalcy, he regretted not breaking the silence and being there for you in that moment of unease.

His steps hesitated, and his breath deepened as you finally appeared in his line of sight, seated alone in the pavilion outside your room. Your lady etiquette books lay open beside you, but the faraway look in your eyes remained glued to the horizon beyond the lotus pond. For a moment, he stood there, appreciating your beauty, suddenly feeling thankful you looked nothing like your father.

However, as soon as you turned your head slightly and noticed him standing by the entrance, he blinked rapidly, feeling flustered. Gathering his courage, he took a deep breath and approached you.

Just go talk to her, you fool.

Seeing him approach, you closed the books and made room for him to sit in the small pavilion. He offered a warm smile, "Hey, I hope I'm not bothering you or anything."

Shaking your head, you returned a small smile, "No, not at all. I tried to study, but I just... I couldn't."

As he settled down beside you, reaching for your hand, you didn't flinch or pull away. He released a relieved breath and moved closer, "It's alright, you don't have to force yourself. I know you're probably upset with me. I... I'm sorry, my dear."

Lifting your head to meet his eyes, you furrowed your brows, "What? Why would I be upset with you?"

He winced, wondering if you were intentionally testing him to see if he knew what he did wrong. But then again, he knew you would never do anything like that. Sighing, he admitted, "Look, I know I should've thought things through better yesterday. I was so focused on wanting to punish your family for what they did, I forgot about how horrible it must have been for you to go back there and sit through all of that."

"I acknowledge it was a mistake. My intention was to give you a chance to confront your family by taking you to your old room. I didn't think it would affect you so badly. I realise now that it was a misguided decision, and I regret taking you back to that place. I'm a goddamned idiot."

His admission tugged at your heart, and you responded by placing a comforting hand over his.

"Seonghwa, you're not an idiot. I'm not upset with you," You assured him, "I've been quiet since the visit because I'm still processing the fact that my own father killed my mother. All this time, I believed she died from sickness. Now, I can't help but wonder how different my life would have been if only she were still alive. He took her away from me just like that, and for what? All for his own selfish reasons..."

"I just... I feel so—" Tears welled up in your eyes, and your voice broke, "I-I'm sorry..." You pulled your hands away from him, attempting to wipe your eyes, but he gently grasped your shoulders and turned you to face him.

"No, you need to stop apologising. You have every right to be sad, and I'm here to tell you that you never have to endure any more of the pain you're going through alone. I'm here for you, okay? From now on, I want you to lean on me whenever things get too unbearable. Can you do that?"

Feeling the genuine warmth in Seonghwa's tone and seeing the unmistakable care in his eyes, you finally broke down. The weight of the revelations, the pain of your father's actions, and the years of emotional torment spilt over, and you couldn't hold back your tears any longer. He pulled you close, cradling you in his arms as you sobbed against his shoulder.

Whispering comforting words into your ear, he pressed gentle kisses onto the top of your head. His touch was a soothing balm, providing the comfort and support you desperately needed in that moment. As you let out your emotions, he held you tighter.

The sound of your heart-wrenching cries only caused an uncomfortable squeeze in his heart. The general had never experienced this kind of ache before. Throughout his life, he had always believed that no one had a tougher life than he did. But then you came along, with your fragile form, managing to shake his entire world and alter his perspectives on life. All of a sudden, the notion of having someone to protect and care for didn't seem so repulsive, especially when it was you.

You slowly pulled back, staring up at him through your wet lashes, and offered a grateful smile, "Seonghwa, I want to thank you for doing all this for me. I never imagined someone caring enough to go through all that trouble. I promise, in return, I'll try my hardest to be a worthy wife for you."

He wiped away your tears tenderly and gazed into your eyes, "You don't need to prove anything, my love. You're already perfect, just as you are."

Your heart raced, and your eyes widened as you stuttered, "W-wait, what... what did you just call me?"

He stilled, realising the words that had slipped from his mouth before he softened. Leaning close, he pressed his forehead against yours, "My love."

Seonghwa's presence became almost intoxicating. Feeling him so close, as if with a mind of its own, your eyes slowly fluttered closed. He took that as permission to lean in further, and after what felt like an eternity, his lips touched yours in a soft and tentative kiss. When you didn't push him away, he bravely angled his head before pressing his lips firmly against yours.

Finally, our first kiss.

Pulling away after a while to catch your breath, you bit your lip shyly, "I-I'm sorry if I wasn't—"

He shook his head, "Don't worry, it's my first time kissing someone too," He admitted, struggling to take his eyes off your swollen lips. A soft smile played on his lips as he caressed your cheek with his thumb, "Can I..." He asked with half-lidded eyes, and you nodded breathlessly.

Without wasting another moment, he captured your lips in another loving kiss. The world seemed to fade away, leaving only the warmth of each other's presence. His touch was gentle yet filled with a depth of emotion. As the kiss deepened, you felt a rush of emotions, a mix of vulnerability and passion.

Feeling the need for air, he pulled back slightly, his forehead resting against yours. Your eyes met, and you could see the affection and sincerity in his gaze, "You're perfect." He whispered, his voice filled with tenderness, realising that kissing you might just be his new favourite thing to do from now onwards. The moment lingered, the air charged with newfound emotions. It was a beginning, a sweet promise of the love that had blossomed between you.

"Your Majesty, please—"

The King slammed his fists against the handle of his throne, causing the minister to gasp and lower his head. He shook like a leaf, awaiting his impending doom as the ruler declared, "I don't want to hear another word from you, Jang. You're a bloody disappointment. Actually, you're worse than that, you monster."

Kneeling beside your father were your stepmother and stepsisters, equally trembling. Pathetic tears rolled down their cheeks as they attempted to put on a pity show, hoping to move His Majesty's heart. However, their efforts did little to appease his rage. He scoffed in disbelief at their audacity to cry, considering all the despicable things they had done to you and your mother.

This marked the first time the four women had set foot in the palace, and little did they anticipate it would be under such circumstances. The visit might also be their only time here, as the imminent judgement from the King would decide their fate.

Seonghwa stood in the corner, arms crossed over his chest, an amused expression on his face. He left home that morning after a lingering kiss on your lips, feeling rejuvenated and determined. Choosing not to burden you with the details of today's assembly, he shielded you from further thoughts about your family.

Don't worry, my love. I'll make sure they suffer a punishment worse than death.

"I can't stand to look at you imbeciles for another moment longer. Let's get this over with already. Royal Secretary Choi, would you be so kind as to enlighten us with all of Minister Jang's crimes and his punishments?" said the King.

Stepping forward from his corner next to the throne, San bowed, "As you wish, Your Majesty," Tugging open the scroll in his hands, he began reading out loud, "Minister Jang has committed a total of five crimes. First, he committed adultery voluntarily, and for that, he will be whipped with eighty lashes. Second, he committed the crime of official document forgery, and for that, he will be whipped an additional twenty lashes."

Dread filled the minister as he gulped, anxiously listening to the secretary move on to the next section, "Third, for the confinement, continuous abuse, and mistreatment of his own daughter, an innocent citizen, he will be flogged thirty times. Next, for violating the code of ethics as a minister, which is to be a law-abiding citizen, he will be stripped of his title and flogged another twenty times."

As your father's hands trembled, he attempted to hold himself up by pressing his sweaty palms against the floor, breathing heavily as he awaited the final and most severe punishment. San continued, "And finally, for the murder of his first wife, an innocent citizen, he will be sentenced to permanent exile."

That's... it?

Feeling a sliver of hope, the old man let out a small sigh of relief. At least it wasn't death by beheading or arsenic poisoning as he had feared. Banishment seemed acceptable; he supposed he could still live a quiet life somewhere away from here. Bowing deeply, he cried, "Thank you, Your Majesty! Your grace is immeasurable!"

All the ministers and officials present quickly stole glances at Seonghwa, wondering if he would throw a fit and object to the punishment that was yet to be the heaviest one. However, they failed to discern his feelings, as there was only an unreadable smirk on his handsome face.

Lady Jang and her daughters trembled as they awaited their turn. With a nod from the King, the secretary continued, "Moving on, Lady Jang has committed a total of four crimes. First, she voluntarily committed adultery, and for that, she will be whipped eighty lashes. Second, she committed the crime of official document forgery, and for that, she will be whipped an additional twenty lashes."

She nodded to herself, seemingly already accepting her fate, as she listened, "Third, for the confinement, continuous abuse, and mistreatment of the minister's eldest daughter, an innocent citizen, she will be flogged thirty times. And finally, for being an accomplice to the murder of the first Lady Jang, she will be sentenced to penal servitude for life."

Her eyes shot up immediately, finding it hard to accept that she would be separated from her husband. She had believed she, too, would be exiled along with him. But she quickly lowered her gaze as soon as she saw the glare the King had directed at her, as if daring her to complain about it.

Oh god, my life is over...

Noticing the King's patience wearing thin, San quickly concluded with the final sentencing, "Lastly, for the confinement, continuous abuse, and mistreatment of the minister's eldest daughter, an innocent citizen, the three young misses of the Jang family will be flogged thirty times each and sentenced to penal servitude for a total of thirty years."

All three of the sisters' jaws fell slack at their punishment. After living luxurious lives like spoiled brats for so long, they were now expected to be servants, performing hard labour for three decades. All their dreams of getting married and leading comfortable lives were shattered. The prospect of finding suitors after serving their sentences seemed bleak. Their lives were forever ruined, and things would never be the same.

"Now that that's settled, remove these individuals from my sight, and see to it that they receive their physical punishments by today. I don't want their presence contaminating my palace walls any longer than necessary. Moving on to the next agenda, let us discuss who will stand in as the interim Minister of Military Affairs until we elect a new one." The ruler grumbled, waving his hands dismissively.

Seonghwa grinned smugly, relishing the way your father's face fell as he absorbed His Majesty's words. The King fully intended to drive the point home, reminding him that, no matter how much he believed he contributed to the nation, he, too, was just as disposable. Consider it emotional torment for further punishment, if you will.

As the members of the Jang family were forcefully pulled to their feet and guided toward the palace torture chamber where all punishments for criminals were administered, the general bowed deeply, "Your Majesty, forgive this humble subject for not feeling too well. Would it be possible for me to excuse myself from the remainder of today's assembly?"

With a knowing glint in his eyes, the King nodded, "Of course, my boy. Nothing matters more than your well-being. I'll have Royal Secretary Choi send you the minutes of today's meeting later on."

All eyes were fixed on your husband as he confidently exited the hall, wearing an excessively pleased expression, looking a little too content to be feeling unwell as he had claimed. It became evident to everyone that he was plotting something, a scheme that even His Majesty was privy to and had tacitly approved.

"P-please, have mercy!"

Screams reverberated within the dim and eerie confines of the torture chamber, a place the general once frequented during his duties of interrogating spies, war criminals, and suspicious individuals to maintain peace within the nation.

The familiar sounds of your family's agonising cries filled his ears, and he couldn't suppress the chuckle that escaped his lips as he entered, "Ah yes, music to my ears."

Upon his arrival, all the royal guards present swiftly bowed deeply and greeted Seonghwa with respect, "Good day, General Park!" They dared not continue until he gave them a nod, "Go on, don't let me stop you. I'm only here to enjoy the show."

"Yes, sir!" They chanted in unison. To many young soldiers and palace guards, he was akin to a god, an embodiment of success they aspired to achieve one day. Therefore, his mere presence motivated them to perform their duties with increased ruthlessness and precision.

Taking a seat in the centre of the room, your husband bit his lip with a smug expression, locking eyes with your father whose gaze reflected anguish. The elderly man lay face down on a wooden table, enduring lash after lash on his already bloody and battered back. His painful ordeal was far from over.

Whimpering, your father pleaded, "S-Seonghwa, I'm s-still your father-in-law! Please, at least show a little mercy to your wife's father!" Beside him, his wife nodded pathetically, sharing the same painful fate. Meanwhile, the three daughters stood frozen in a corner, wrists cuffed, awaiting their turn to face their beatings.

A devilish laughter escaped the general as he shot a menacing glare at the former minister, "Oh, I'm sorry, was that supposed to make things any better? I would show you mercy if only you had shown my wife any. You shouldn't have said anything, you fool," Turning to the guard in charge of whipping your father, your husband ordered, "Not hard enough, soldier. I want to see his skin tear."

"Yes, sir!" Striking with increased force, the lashes landed on the old man's back, inflicting wounds that would take months to heal. The continuous shrieks of pain only served to widen the smile on Seonghwa's face, "And to think you were thanking His Majesty for his grace; you've underestimated the severity of being whipped, haven't you? Did you really think you were going to walk out of here with a small bruise? Dream on."

"Oh, I can't wait for all of you to experience the wonders of flogging! It will be delightful, a punishment perfectly suited for your kind." The general sang, eyeing the three girls slyly.

They cowered under his intense gaze, suddenly regretting every action they took on the day of your visit. Perhaps if they hadn't attempted any of those, they might have gotten away with a lighter sentence. But there was no point dwelling on such thoughts now.

"Father! Mother!" The girls cried, witnessing their parents only now completing the first half of their punishment. Before they could continue their wailing, guards approached them, saying, "Quiet down! Worry about yourselves instead; it's your turn."

The former minister and his wife looked practically lifeless by the time the guards were finished with their hundred lashes each. The skin on their backs was completely torn open, blood gushing out relentlessly. They were nearly unconscious by the time the guards moved them to separate poles, where they would be beaten with a heavy stick all over their bodies.

Letting out a small yawn, Seonghwa signalled for them to prepare for the flogging. This would be entertaining to witness; most criminals barely survived this punishment by the time it concluded. He would relish the idea of them being left in critical conditions.

"Enjoy yourselves! Thirty times each for what you've all done to my wife – just the perfect amount to leave you halfway to hell. Don't worry; you'll wish you were dead by the end of this. But rest assured, we will keep you alive," Your husband exclaimed with a clap of his hands, "Now, I want you to think of all the things you've done to my wife as you endure this. Can we all do that?"

In the ensuing silence, the guards approached each family member, forcefully striking them with the heavy sticks in their hands. With just one hit, all of them began howling in pain, "Answer the general! Can you all do as you are told?!"

"Y-yes! Yes!" All five of them sobbed miserably, and the general beamed, "Fantastic! Now, let the official flogging begin! The first one does not count, alright? Consider it warm up!"

The insanity in his eyes was genuinely terrifying, and your family was once again reminded of his reputation. Suddenly, it all made sense. This was how it felt to be a victim of his cruelty. They never should have sent you to him; that was their biggest mistake, and nothing they do or say could ever change that now.

"Yes, sir!"

And so it began, the screams that now filled the room were even more piercing than the ones during the first round of whipping.

Approaching each family member one by one, Seonghwa smirked, "Remember all the times you starved her?" Jinjoo nodded in between shrieks, "Good. And you, recall all the times you insulted her and made her feel small?" Jinhee repeated her sister's actions, nodding furiously, "Very good. And you, remember all the times you did something wrong and blamed it on her so that she would take your punishments for you?"

Jinah cried, tears and snot running down her sweaty face, "I'm sorry!" He shook his head, "Will saying a useless sorry change anything? Nope. Hit her harder, soldier," With a grin of approval, he moved on to your stepmother, "And you, recall all the times you kept her locked up in that prison cell you call her room?" Not wanting to suffer like her eldest, she nodded aggressively, "Good."

Finally stopping in front of your father, he crossed his arms over his chest, "And you, remember all the times you laid your hands on her? Your own daughter?" The former minister nodded quickly but was not spared, "Good, hit him even harder so he never forgets how it feels."

"Twenty-nine, thirty." The beatings stopped for the four women, and they collapsed one by one onto the floor like rag dolls. Blood trickled from their noses and the corners of their lips, their bodies covered in countless bruises and open wounds, soaking their clothes red. And that is only what can be seen on the outside; who knew what fatal internal injuries they could be suffering from.

With his hands propped on his hips, Seonghwa took in the sight with satisfaction, "Very well, some of these scars should last you for life. Now, you look as bad as the way you'd left my wife. Actually, worse. But that's good. I'm very happy with the outcome. Guards, take them away and make sure to send them to places where they're known to treat their servants poorly."

The girls sobbed upon hearing that, "General, please, have mercy! We've already suffered enough!" Your husband scoffed, "Mercy? Have you not been paying attention this entire time? I'm not known for that. Get them out of my sight."

As the guards dragged the wailing women out, they cried for their husband and father. The former minister yelled, still taking his twenty additional beatings as he watched his wife and daughters go, "W-will you not at least let me say my final goodbyes to them?"

"Minister, please don't make me laugh. Did you also allow my wife and her poor mother a final goodbye?" The old man had nothing to say at that, grunts of pain escaping his lips as he tried to endure the remainder of his punishment despite feeling like all of his insides had been beaten to mush at this point. He didn't have to look down to know that he was soaked in blood; he could feel the sting on his wounds whenever the slightest bit of wind blew past.

Just a bit more, and I'm free.

« Preview of Part 11 »

"Forty-nine, fifty." Your father sighed in relief when the punishment finally ceased. Collapsing to the ground upon being untied, he stared blankly ahead, feeling pain throughout his entire body. Slowly but surely, he slipped into unconsciousness due to the loss of blood.

Unfortunately, his respite was short-lived. A bucket of dirty water was abruptly dumped over him, causing him to scream in agony as the injuries on his body stung intensely, bringing tears to his eyes.

"Did you think it was over?" His blood ran cold as he noticed he was now tied to a chair, unable to move. With most of the guards gone, only him and Seonghwa remained.

"What do you think you're doing, general? I've completed all my physical punishments; you're supposed to banish me now!" The old man croaked, his eyes widening in fear as he noticed the dagger in your husband's hand.

The general burst into laughter, "Oh, minister, you can be quite slow at times. Did you genuinely believe that His Majesty's decision not to sentence you to death was an act of kindness? Who do you think requested your exile?"

"Y-you—"

Seonghwa smirked, "Indeed, it was me. Killing you would have been too merciful. No, I want you to endure a life so filled with pain that you wish for death every single day. Now, after seeing how skilled you were at begging all day, I believe you'd make a very talented beggar. Do you know what would make you a successful beggar?"

Tears streaming down his face, your father shook his head hopelessly as your husband traced the blade against his skin before whispering, "One without limbs."

That was the most violence I have ever written HAHA I had to channel my inner Joker for Seonghwa's character. Anyway, I hope that was satisfying enough!

As always, thank you for reading and let me know your thoughts! <3

Tag list (1/5): @huachengsbestie01 @evidive @weedforthoughtz @ssrnghwa @yunnieo @sunnyhokyu @lynnsqueendom @frobin4ever @chwesuh-imnida @thunderous-wolf @itstheghostofmypast @professormingisglasses @deltamoon666 @avantalem @famishalll @yungilia @soobiverse @joongified @scuzmunkie @http-gyu @mentoslol @atinyreads @angel-hyuckie @anxiousskylar @onedumbho3 @narashii @ddaeing @sanstreasure0305 @sohnfile @scarfac3 @dreamingofyeo @puppyminnnie @tinyteezer @vantediary @satsuri3su @mismatchfluffysocks @aliona124754 @bts-army380 @lilactangerine @atinyniki @pay13 @1117promises @xoxkii @st4rcig4r @hikarii02 @nescaffei @xdolls-crownx @ashrocker123 @skzline @minkiflwr @starssongs98 @baeksofty @skz1-4-3 @kawaiikels @madnpan @maoyueze @en-happiness @cheolliehugs @persnyako @startinystay @chngbnwf @fatspecimen @christinerose380 @stfu-rina @kyukyustar @taytayy178 @appleschre @brielle-in-the-galaxy

Tag list (cont.): see comment/reply section

#edenesth #the way to this heart #ateez #ateez fanfic #ateez fanfiction #park seonghwa #ateez seonghwa #arranged marriage au #joseon era #seonghwa x reader #seonghwa x you #ateez fic #historical au

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thatdeadaquarius · 1 year

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So like I just went through almost all your language posts and I was wondering what if like the creator sometimes just switches languages out of no where and everyone is just like:😃. Cuz like they don’t understand what they mean and it happens randomly too or when they’re irritated and they just start cussing in like 3 different languages at once

IM SO SORRY TO DO IT TO YOU-

but i think ive written some stuff abt this before?

u know what tho.

ive got an even better idea. my “go-to” if you will.

Torture Alhaitham.

>:)

^^^ ALHAITHAM RUNNING U DOWN AFTER YOU SAY EXACTLY (1) WORD IN ANOTHER LANGUAGE HE’S NEVER HEARD-

☆

Sun: Gender neutral Reader (you/they/them)

Orbit: SHORT headcanons-ish?, Language shenanigans!

Stars: Alhaitham (suffer lol)

Comets & Meteors: Content Warnings: None Known & Trigger Warnings: None Known.

he’s watching you. constantly.

he’s always writing about you.

he’s following you around Sumeru City.

he’s following you around Port Ormos.

he’s at your house-

Alhaitham learns you speak multiple languages before any other akademiya schloar, and he’s submitting a thesis about “the Greatest Lords languages from their home world”

before you can even say “I’ll think about it” in any language u know lol

people have definitely mistaken him as your favored acolyte (not that he does much to deny it)

and talk to him like he’s your secretary?? …oh, welp.

Alhaitham knows your schedule for the next month within a week of following you

mans is willing to do the MOST to get you to sit down and just start talking in a language at him

want food? his specialty dish ingredients are always at the ready at his house

want literature? he’s offering to literally break into the akademiya (or giving you a copy of his house key to have access to his personal library all the time)

(tho kaveh is practically hugging you to his chest as you walk around perusing as he talks ur ear off lmao)

Haitham (he sometimes insists you call him when it’s just you two) wants to singlehandedly be the first person who understands every word you say when u coo at dogs in another language

or cuss out a fictional character for being stupid

CRYING U CANT EVEN GET MAD AT HIM BC

every time u get pissed he’s interrupting every other word you say to ask for definitions/clarifications of slang 😭

send help he’s made a red string theory board of all the languages you’ve used to try and just- make sense of all their rules and when you use them and how to tell the difference and oh no-

Alhaitham’s hanging pictures of you mid-sentence with ur mouth open or even worse when ur yelling.

…u know maybe its not for an akademiya project, maybe he’s just trying to humble you. 💀

☆

thanks again for sending this ask in!! :D

language sagaus my beloved <3

tbh i have likeeeee 54 things in my drafts rn? so needless to say im slow, BUT IM SO HAPPY U GUYS GAVE ME THIS MUCH TO FAWN OVER, REQUESTS OR NO <333333333333

an iced coffee? for me?? :O

☆

Safe Travels Ariasdream,

💀♒

☆

♡the beloveds♡

@karmawonders / @0rah-s / @randomnatics / @glxssynarvi / @nexylaza / @genshin-impacts-me / @wholesomey-artist / @thedevioussmirk / @the-dumber-scaramouche / @chocogi / @fallen-starr / @areaderofbooks

#short post !#gonna try and spam u guys over next couple of days lmao #i wanna open askbox/mail again so bad but i wasnt /j about those 54 drafts 💀#genshin sagau #sagau #genshin isekai #my asks #sagau x reader #genshin impact sagau #sagau genshin #self aware genshin #gender neutral reader #genshin x reader #ily guys hope ur having a good week! :)

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the--queen-of--hell · 11 days

Text

I don't know what to think about anti proshippers anymore.

Antishippers say "stop normalizing child x adult ships" "stop normalizing incest" "stop romanticizing child x adult ships" "stop romanticizing incest" while being okay with romanticizing murder in some shows/movies and romanticizing cannibalism in some shows/movies. I didn't see any antiship throw hands the moment someone said "I like Hannibal" although it romanticize cannibalism. It's weird, isn't it?

Antishippers say "shipping fictional minor x adult ships is gross and disgusting" "shipping fictional incest ships is gross and disgusting" and "shipping X is gross and digusting" while being okay with telling real people to kill themselves. While being okay with telling real people "you should be raped" "you should be tortured" "you should burn in hell" and more things. Do you even pay attention to your actions and the actions of other people? How shipping two characters is worse than telling a real person "kill yourself"????

Antishippers say "you are gross" "you need help" "you're insane" "you need therapy" while being the ones who tell proshippers "you deserve to have trauma" "you deserved to be raped" (for those proshippers who were raped and were told they deserved it by antis- I'm so sorry). I'm no therapist, but if I were I would honestly find more disturbing an anti saying "kys" to a real person than a proshipper liking problematic fictional content.

Antishippers say "protect the children" "children could see this and think it's okay" "victims of pedophiles/abuse don't deserve someone romanticizing their trauma". You have no right to claim you want to protect children when you're harassing or telling children to kill themselves. Because yes, in the proship community there are minors. And no, they haven't been groomed into being a proship. Actually, if anything, they would have been groomed into being an antiship because they're scared of people telling them "kys" "you're a pedo" "you're fucking disgusting". And what are children doing in Tumblr/AO3/Wattpad anyways? They're not supposed to be here. They're not supposed to see content not made for them. If they are in these websites, I'm worried about why their parents aren't there to tell them "this is not a safe place for you". And if people were hurt by real pedophiles or were abused, I'm sorry. I'm truly sorry for them. But why the hell they're seeing fictional content that triggers them? If it upsets them, then block the content, ignore its existence, and trust me, you will feel less upset and more happy.

Antishippers say "you deserve to be harassed" "if you don't want to be harassed then stop being weird" "if you don't want to be harassed then stop sharing that type of content". Do you realize you sound like those people who say "if you don't want to be harassed for being gay, then don't be gay" "if you don't want to be harassed for being trans, then don't be trans" "if you don't want to be bullied, then stop being a weirdo", right? Or you didn't realize that?

Antishippers say "this ship is fucking gross" "this ship is fucking disgusting". I'm sorry, didn't you see the thing that said "block button" "filter tags"? Because you can do that. If you don't like some kind of content, use the filter tags/block button. Watch the content you want to see. Use the block button and filter the tags. Search for the ships you like instead of the ships you don't like. I forgot something? Oh yeah. Use. the. block. button. and filter. the. tags.

Antishippers say "why there are so many fics of these ships on AO3?" "why people are so gross?" "why people have to write about this?". Bro- I'm sorry that you didn't realize before but- AO3. IS. A. FUCKING. WEBSITE. FOR. PROSHIPPERS. So don't start with the "Proship DNI" in your tags because AO3 is a PROSHIP web. If you don't like it, GET OUT of AO3 and go WATTPAD or FANFICTION. AO3 is for PROSHIPPERS and we're TIRED of your "Proship DNI" bullshit.

Antiship community is honestly one of the worst communities I've ever seen. There's no other community so inmoral, digusting, and horrible in the Internet.

To my proshippers fellows, if I forgot something antis say you're free to add it.

#pro ship #proship #pro shipping #proshipping #op is a proshipper #pro ship safe #pro fiction #profiction #proshipper #proship community #proship interact #proshipper safe #proship safe #pro shippers please interact #proshippers please interact #proshippers are valid #proshippers are welcome #proud proshitter

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dreamescapeswriting · 2 months

Text

Twisted Obsession ~ BC & SCB

⤜WORD COUNT: 13.7K

⤜GENRE: DARK ROMANCE!!!!!! Check the trigger warnings below, yander fic, twisted, sick, forced love, stockholm syndrome, ANGST!!!!

⤜PAIRING: Yandere!Changbin x Reader x Yandere!Chan

⤜Copyright: © DreamEscapesWriting - August 2024

⤜MASTERLIST

⚠️⚠️⤜TRIGGER WARNING: This piece of FICTIONAL writing will containing the following: obsession, skipping meals, manipulation, stockholm syndrome, gaslighting, love bombing, yandere, murder, mentions of torture, corpses blood, being chained up, held hostage, fire, death. Please don’t read if any of those will trigger you.⚠️⚠️

The café was bustling with the usual evening crowd, a mix of students, people who were leaving work or even heading to work, and friends catching up after a long day. The warm aroma of freshly brewed coffee filled the air, blending with the soft hum of conversation. You were sat at a corner table with Chan and Changbin, your laughter ringing out as you recounted a funny story from work, barely able to get the words out to finish your story.

It hadn't even been that funny to recount, it was more of one of those "you had to be there" stories but the boys exchanged a glance, their smiles genuine but their eyes betraying a deeper emotion. They had known you for years, the three of you were a trip that had been inseparable since college. Yet, recently, something had shifted. Both of them found their feelings for you growing more intense, more possessive not that either of them would ever mention it to you. But they did to one another, confiding in one another about what feelings they'd been experiencing lately and a lot of that had been extreme rage and possessiveness.

"That’s hilarious, Y/N," Chan said, his gaze lingering on you longer than usual but you didn't notice as you lifted the cup of coffee to your lips and let out an exaggerated sigh at how good it tasted after the hellish day you'd had.

"You always know how to lighten the mood." Chan finished with a smirk. You smiled warmly at him, unaware of the storm brewing beneath his calm exterior. Chan glanced over at Changbin who smiled sweetly.

Between the two of them, Chan was more strategic when it came to things, always orchestrating plans to hang out or to get you alone with the two of them but Changbin was more protective....A little overprotective but you'd never seemed to notice, or at least let on that you knew.

"Thanks, Chan. You guys always make my day better." You smile reaching your hand over the table touching the top of both of their hands and running your fingers along their skin softly. Changbin’s eyes softened as he watched you, a mixture of affection and something darker flickering in his gaze when you touched them both.

"We’re always here for you, Y/N. You know that." He whispers, his hand slowly moving to cup your hand in his, his mouth opening as if he was going to say something.

But just then, the door to the café opened, and a tall, handsome man walked in drawing everyone's attention toward him. Your face lit up at the sight of him, and you waved him over excitedly, your hands leaving the boys cold and angry at the thought of someone else having your attention on them. Chan and Changbin tensed, their eyes narrowing as the newcomer approached, sizing him up as he smiled brightly at you.

"Hey, Y/N," the man greeted, leaning down to give you a quick kiss on the cheek. The sight alone had Changbin's grip tightening on his cup so hard his knuckles were starting to turn white. Chan on the other hand stared the new man down, his fists clenched so hard he was starting to draw blood from his hands.

"Sorry, I’m late." Your body heated up from the kiss and you turned to introduce him to your friends, their smiles were tight on their faces as they tried to fake how happy they were to see you around someone new.

"Guys, this is Alex. We’ve been seeing each other for a few weeks now." A heavy silence fell over the table and you stared at them both, waiting for one of them to say something, anything to let you know what they were thinking. Chan’s smile turned strained, while Changbin’s jaw clenched so hard you could swear you could see the vein in his neck twitching. They both managed to greet Alex politely, but their minds were racing, their hearts pounding with a mix of jealousy and rage.

There was no way this piece of shit with a rat-tail hairstyle was ever going to be good enough for you. He looked as if he lived in a caravan on the side of the road and you deserved someone better.

Someone who would make sure you never have to work a day in your life again, someone who would protect you and love you and never let a single hair on your head be hurt. The boys exchanged a silent look with one another, nodding as if having their only silent conversation about what needed to be done.

As the evening wore on, Chan and Changbin found it increasingly difficult to hide their growing obsession. They watched every interaction between you and Alex, their eyes darkening with each affectionate gesture, every small touch he gave you, every kiss or wink he sent your way had them reeling deeper into their rage. When Alex excused himself to use the restroom, Changbin leaned closer to you, whispering lowly in case anyone would hear them.

"So, how serious are things with Alex?" he asked, trying to keep his voice casual and nonchalant, you were used to him questioning your love life choices by now but somehow this seemed a little different. You shrugged, a dreamy smile on your lips.

"I really like him, Bin. He’s kind, funny, and... different from anyone I’ve ever met." There was a softness to your voice the boys had never even heard you used before which only further irritated them at the thought of someone other than them getting this kind of reaction out of you. Chan forced a smile, but inside, he felt a sharp pang of jealousy hitting him, images of Alex being hit by a car racing through his mind as he tried to shove them down.

"That’s great, Y/N. As long as you’re happy." He said through gritted teeth, your eyebrows knitted together as you looked at them, sensing something off in their demeanour.

"Are you guys okay? You seem... tense." You looked between them and Changbin quickly masked his emotions, giving you a reassuring smile as he nodded his head.

"We’re just worried about you, that’s all. We don’t want to see you get hurt, you know that." He smiles sweetly, rubbing his hand over your back as your expression softens a little.

"I appreciate that, really. But Alex’s a good guy. I think this could be something special." Before Chan or Changbin could respond, Alex returned, and the conversation shifted back to lighter topics as he sat down beside you and wrapped his arm around your shoulder. But the damage was done in their minds.

As the night ended and you all said your goodbyes, Chan and Changbin exchanged a knowing look as you walked off with Alex, his hand stuffed in the back jeans of your pocket.

"This can't go on," Chan said as he watched you, glaring at the way Alex tugged you closer to his body and kissed you deeply. They had to act and they had to do it a lot quicker than they had thought. They couldn’t stand by and watch you slip away from them, not when you were theirs.

The night air was crisp and cold as you stepped out of the hospital, the bright lights from inside a striking difference to the complete darkness of the parking lot. Seriously, the hospital needed to fix the staff parking area, it looked eery to even just be standing by the door right now.

It almost felt as though you had eyes watching you at every single second but from what you could see - which wasn't a lot since the lights in the parking lot were busted - wasn't a lot. But you knew for a fact Alex wasn't there like he'd told you he was going to be.

Sighing to yourself, you pulled your coat tighter around your body, shivering slightly as you glanced at your phone for the tenth time in the last minute. It was nearly midnight, and Alex was supposed to pick you up over an hour ago and yet there wasn't a single text to let you know he was running late or if he was even going to bother showing up.

Everything had been fine between the two of you that morning, you'd said goodbye and asked him to pick you up, to which he agreed, even telling you he would bring your favourite takeout after your night of hard work which was why this didn't make sense. Every other time he picked you up, he'd been on time and even if he was a minute late he'd let you know.

With growing unease, you dialled his number again, pressing the phone to your ear, listening as you waited for it to ring but it didn't. The call went straight to voicemail, his voice filling your ears only making your worry grow deeper inside of you. Frustration and worry gnawed at you as you softly let out a sigh and shook your head, leaving yet another message.

"Alex, where are you? You were supposed to pick me up. Please call me back. I'm getting worried." You spoke into the phone before ending the call and soughed, looking around the nearly deserted lot. The only sounds were the distant hum of traffic and the occasional rustling of leaves in the wind. You needed to get home, you were in desperate need of a shower, food and your bed. God, you could practically hear your bed screaming for you to get home.

You waited ten more minutes before deciding you couldn’t wait any longer for Alex with no reply, so you headed towards the bus stop at the edge of the parking lot, your footsteps echoing in the eerie silence. Usually, you'd slip on some headphones but there was something clawing inside of your chest telling you tonight was not the night for that. It was too dark, too quiet for something to distract you, you needed to be aware of everything going on around you.

As you got toward the edge of the parking lot, almost near the bright lights of civilization, you heard a faint noise behind you, like a footstep on gravel. Your heart skipped a beat, and you spun around, your eyes scanning the shadows for any sign that something or someone was there.

"Hello? Is someone there?" You called out, your voice trembling slightly and letting whoever was there know you were clearly anxious about this whole thing. There was no response, only the oppressive silence of the night.

You shook your head, telling yourself it was just your imagination and the horror movies you'd watched earlier in the week playing tricks on you, and quickened your pace. The bus stop wasn’t far, and you just needed to get there and wait for the next bus, it wouldn't take that long since they seemed to pass by faster since it was a hospital. You clutched your phone tightly, ready to call Alex again, hoping he would answer this time and help you relax, even just a little.

Another noise, this time closer. You froze, your breath catching in your throat, there was no way that the noise was in your head this time. Trying to seem as casual as possible you turned slowly, your eyes wide with fear, but the lot appeared empty. You took a cautious step backwards, your instincts screaming at you to run, to sprint toward the nearest building to find someone - anyone - to be with so you weren't alone.

Suddenly, a strong arm wrapped around your waist, pulling you back into the shadows. A hand clamped over your mouth, muffling your scream as you frailed around in their arms, struggling fiercely, kicking and thrashing, but your captor was too strong. You did your best to get out of the grasp, to at least see whoever it was attacking you, you did everything you could. Dragging your nails through their skin to get their DNA,

"Shit, I never should have taught her that move." A voice said from behind you, as the man holding you shook your body softly,

"Shh, Y/N," A familiar voice whispered in your ear, sending a wave of terror through you, whoever it was knew your name but that didn't put you at ease, if anything it only managed to make you panic more.

"It's just us." The voice said again. Your eyes widened in shock and recognition as Changbin stepped into view, his calm, cold gaze fixed on you. Your thrashing came to a stop as you realised it must have been their idea of a sick joke, just playing a trick on you to remind you never to walk alone.

"We’re here to take you home, Y/N," He said softly, his tone soothing yet chilling as he ran his hand over your cheek and gently removed the tear that had slipped from your eyes but something felt off. This wasn't like them, they'd never do something so terrifying to you. Changbin tightened his grip, his breath hot against your ear making your whole body shudder as you began to struggle against his grasp again.

"Stop struggling, Y/N. We won’t hurt you. We just can’t let you be with him anymore." Panic surged through you as you realized the full extent of your predicament. Your friends—no, your captors—had been planning this for god knows how long and all because you'd been dating someone they didn't approve of.

You fought harder, trying to scream, but Chan quickly produced a cloth and pressed it to your face, your eyes locking with his in a desperate silent plea for him to stop whatever it was they were doing to you. The sickly sweet smell of chloroform filled your nose, and your vision blurred, your body suddenly feeling too heavy to move as you threw your back against Changbin, whimpering softly doing everything you could to fight back against the tiredness looming over your head.

"Just relax, Y/N," Chan murmured, his voice distant as the darkness closed in, his fingers soothing over your cheeks as tears continued to fall.

"Everything will be okay. You belong with us." He whispers softly, almost as though he is fully convinced that you belong to the two of them. Your struggles weakened, your limbs finally growing too heavy for you to control and you slumped against Changbin's chest. The last thing you saw before losing consciousness was Chan’s cold, determined expression and Changbin’s possessive gaze.

"She put up a good fight," Chan chuckles as he and Changbin carry you toward their car, sitting you up in the back seat to make it seem as though you were merely sleeping peacefully after a long shift.

"Easy for you to say, she didn't bash your chest with her head and claw into your skin," Changbin grumbled as he looked down at his forearms which were nod cut up and bleeding, not that it was worse than anything else he'd experienced.

"Relax, we'll clean you up back home and clean out her nails before anything can be done," Chan assured him, rubbing his best friend's shoulder softly. He knew Changbin had his reservations about doing this but it was simply needed after he'd heard you and Alex planning on a holiday away together and he knew it wouldn't be enough to make Alex disappear.

They had to make sure you saw how good they were for you, how much better they were for you than anyone else in the world.

"Ride in the back in case she wakes up," Chan said as he slipped the cloth he'd covered your mouth with into Changbin's hand and slid into the driver's side of the car. Changbin quickly shuffled into the car beside you, laying your head on his shoulder as he ran his fingers over your arms soothingly.

"It's all going to be okay now, Yn." He whispers as the car pulls off out of the parking lot and out of the city. Far away enough you'd never have a chance in hell of finding someone to help you, and far away enough the boys would be able to keep you under close surveillance.

The sound of metal running across metal is what woke you up, your head pounding as you slowly opened your eyes and squinted at the room you were currently sitting in. It was dark, the only light coming in was from a barred window in front of you, you tried to move only to whimper as you felt your leg being held back by something.

"Morning princess," Chan smirks as he stares down at you, he starts to worry the dose he'd given you might have been a little too strong but it seemed okay right now.

"Morning Sunshine," Changbin says with a bright smile, your eyes scanned them both as you wondered what the fuck they were doing with you.

"Did you get a good night's sleep love? We hope so." Chan stated as he sat down across from you, a giant uneasy smile spreading across his lips.

"Where...Where am I?" Your voice was hoarse from how long you'd been out, the lack of water evident in your voice which was something they were going to need to remedy right away.

"Don't worry about where you are, princess. You're right where you need to be, don't-" As you pulled against the chains, Chain pins it to the floor,

"Don't pull on the fucking chains." Chan spits out angrily making you flinch at the sudden force coming from him, you'd never seen him this way before.

"The more you fight the tighter they're going to get, it's better not to fight it," Changbin says softly as he looks down at your ankle. He told Chan there was no need to chain you up like an animal, that if the two of them treated you like a human then you would be more receptacle toward them about everything.

"Why chain me up... what's going on? if this is your idea of a fucking joke, it's far from funny!" You hissed at them, staring around the room and trying to gauge where you were. It certainly wasn't their apartment since it appeared to be some kind of basement you were in. Their apartment building basement was filled with washing machines and this one?

This one was cold and empty, besides a couple of boxes, a stack of metal shelving and some blankets your eyes glossed over before they found Chan's again.

"It's not a joke, princess." He reaches out to the chains and smirks as he sees how strong they are, and they have to be. There was no chance they were going to let you go now that they finally had you all to themselves.

"These are to keep you docile," You went to kick with your free leg into his gut but missed, letting out a groan as you felt your other leg tug against the wall. You could have sworn you felt your chained ankle crack but you didn't dare think about it right now.

"I see the drugs have finally worn off." Chan chuckles as he takes your leg into his touch and gently lays it down on the floor. You shook your head at him, clearly not finding any of this a laughing matter.

"This isn't funny." You grumble at him, wondering where they thought of this whole idea.

"No, it's not because it's not a joke." Chan sizzles at you, his eyes flashing with anger and you did your best not to shrink away from him.

"You're going to be okay, now. You're here with us." Changbin said soothingly, his voice a stark contrast compared to Chan's anger beside you.

"You belong to us," Chan says with a smile, running his fingers across your cheek.

"What- What are you guys talking about? I don't belong to anyone, I'm a human, not some fucking toy!" You screamed, battling against the chains once again and whimpering as they dug into your skin.

"I guess we do owe you an explanation," Changbin whispers as he moves closer to you, his hand reaching out to the chain but you pull away from him. Not trusting a single thing either of them were doing right now.

Changbin had imagined this going so much smoother than this right now, Chan, however, had planned for every single outcome possible. Even your inevitable attempt to escape. He was never going to let you get away from them.

"When we first laid eyes on you, we were captivated by your beauty...we tried to fight it but fuck it's been so hard," Changbin whispers as he looks at you, his eyes filled with love as he spoke.

"We knew we had to have you." Chan finished as he smiled down at you,

"Guys." You pleaded, shaking your head at them. This had to be some kind of sick dream you were having. It was the only explanation.

"You would never fucking go for us though, would you? You only wanted the fucking arseholes who would leave you heartbroken and crying to us." Chan's voice shifted back to anger as you swallowed nervously, your eyes studying his face.

"We knew you'd never give us a chance so we were going to have to make you see how better we are for you, how much better things will be if you give yourself over to us," Changbin stated, your head snapping his direction.

"Please...s-stop whatever this is. I won't tell anyone, please!" You beg them struggling once again but Changbin wrapped himself around you, holding you in place as he shook his head.

"Don't cry, we promise we won't hurt you...as long as you behave of course," He whines, stroking your arms as you struggle to get him off you.

"You're insane." You sniffle, tears falling down your face as you stare at the two of them. Changbin knelt beside Chan as they watched you together, their heads tilting in perfect sync making your whole body shiver in fear.

"No! No, we're not! You fucking belong with us! And no matter how long it takes you're going to stay here until you get it. We love you, Yn!" Chan reasons with you, running his hand up and down your ankle as you shake your head at him.

"We do! We love you, we've always loved you and we can't let anyone come between us anymore." Changbin stated and your head began to clear a little. Alex.

Your one saving grace was your boyfriend. There was no way he was going to just accept you never speaking to him again, especially after all of the voicemails you'd left him on his phone.

"Alex will...he'll figure it out and I'm not working, everyone will call the police." You whispered to them but they didn't seem to care. Chan simply shrugged his shoulders at you with a coy smile on his lips.

"Already handled love," Chan smirks at you, he was a mastermind when it came to thinking in advance and he'd already devised a plan so no one would come looking.

"Changbin, play it." He ordered but Changbin stood perfectly still, refusing to move.

"I-I don't think it's a good idea, she's still fragile and I-"

"PLAY THE DAMN THING!" Chan's voice practically bounced off the walls as Changbin took out his phone and hit play on the video that was there.

"Hey, it's me. I know this is last minute and everything but I need to take some time off. I'm throwing in my holiday days, my mental health is shot to shit right now and I just need some time, thanks." It was your voice but you'd never recorded it, you'd never even strung a sentence together.

"Amazing what AI can do these days, right?" Chan smirks as he leans down, his face inches away from yours.

"You're safe here, princess," he whispers but you slap him across the face, his cheek turning pink but he doesn't even wince, he just smirks down at you. The fucker smirked as if this was something he found funny.

"Are you hungry, princess?" He asked softly, moving back and slowly standing up as you stared up at him. This wasn't the same man you'd gone to college with, this was someone else, the Chan you knew would never treat a single person like this,

"I can make those English muffins you like, or pancakes, or some cupcakes." Changbin offered getting more and more excited with each suggestion he gave to you, he was clearly the softer one of the two of them in this whole thing.

"Let me go." You begged him, your eyes finding his as he frowned at you and shook his head.

"Baby, you don't get it, do you? You're safe here. This is the best place for you, we're only doing this because we love you." You struggle against the chains, screaming out but all it seemed to do was make the two of them laugh at your struggles.

"T-This isn't love! it's fucking madness!" You scream at them both, sighing a little Changbin shakes his head at you, his voice soft yet determined at the same time,

"We know it seems that way now, but you'll see. We've been watching over you, protecting you. We couldn't stand the thought of you being with someone else, someone who doesn't understand you the way we do." He promises you as you stare at him, your eyebrows furrowed together, pulling the chains once again.

"That's no use anyway, princess. We're in the middle of nowhere." Chan mentioned coldly,

"Y-you're s-so...so-"

"Handsome? Sweet? your hero?" He smirks as he runs his hands over your cheek, his thumb rubbing your bottom lip but you sink your teeth into his thumb and he yells out jumping away from you,

"You're safe with us, okay? We're not going to let anything happen to you. You might not see it now but it's true, baby, I promise." Changbin smiles, nodding his head at you as if trying to convince you of what he is saying while Chan nurses his thumb in the background.

After a couple of moments of silence, you stared at them both, deciding you needed answers from them both and if you were chained with no escape you needed to ask them.

"Where am I?" You whispered, defeatedly,

"Home." Chan smiles with a breath of relief, your eyes scan the room again, this isn't your home. It would never be your home.

"This isn't my home." You grumbled at them, folding your arms across your chest,

"No, you're right. This is your new home." Chan said as he stared down at you, his arms mirroring yours as he watched you closely wondering why you'd suddenly become calmer than before.

"We had to take you, we had to keep you safe...to protect you," Changbin says softly,

"From who!? The two psychos in front of me who kidnapped me?!" You screamed at them both, making Chan smirk. He knew your fight was still in there somewhere and it only made him more attracted to you,

"We didn't just take you on a whim, yn. We've seen how others treat you, how they don't appreciate you. We do. We know what you need, and what makes you happy. We can give you a life free from the pain and disappointment.". You struggled against the chain but as they said it only got tighter and you stared down at your ankle which was swelling and bleeding already.

"G-Get me out of the chains and I'll be good, I promise." You pleaded, Changbin's stomach twisted as he wanted to give in to you but Chan held him in place.

“First things first- you need to eat. And drink water. You were out for over 24 hours," He eyed you up and then looked down at his watch.

"And I know for a fact you hadn’t had anything to eat the day we saved you, you never eat properly when you're at work, which is another reason we saved you, princess. I’ll be right back… behave. I’ll only be a minute.” He smiles before making his way toward a small set of wooden steps and out of the door. You stared over at Changbin who was kneeling down by your ankle and trying to clear the blood away, wincing whenever you let out a small hiss,

"Binnie, please." You pleaded with him, your eyes boring into his as he held onto your ankle.

"Yn."

"Binnie, it's me. I won't run, j-just let me out of the chains and I promise I'll be good, please." You begged, neither of you noticing that the door had happened once again and Chan was joining you.

“That’s enough of that. He's not going to help you." Chan said sternly as he placed down a tray on the floor beside you, a bottle of water next to you as Changbin moved away from you.

“Here, you’re probably dying of thirst..." Chan lifted the bottle to your lips as you took the water greedily not even stopping to think that something could be laced in it. It just felt good to soothe your throat with something. As much as you didn't want to admit it, he was right about you being thirsty,

“Good girl. Feeling better?” He smiles down at you, the sight making your stomach turn as you stare at him. Someone you had once regarded as one of your best friends suddenly felt like a stranger to you now.

“Your stomach might feel upset right now so I brought you some toast with your favourite jam,” Changbin said as he looked at the plate Chan had prepared for you. For weeks now they'd been getting the house ready for you, getting all of your favourite snacks and food items in the house.

"I’m not hungry," You grumble, looking at the toast and then at Changbin who seemed visibly upset at the thought of you disregarding his food so quickly.

"You need to eat something.” He pouts, sitting across from you as Chan watched you closely for any sign you might act out or smack Changbin the way you'd smacked him,

"No, I'm not-"

“This is not a negotiation, princess,” Chan growls out, you stare at him as you shake your head at him, refusing to eat anything.

"Answer some questions and I might," You whispered, you knew you had no leg to stand on demanding something from them but you were still going to try.

“I’m not answering any questions until you eat at least half of one piece. Fair?” Chan stated as he stared at the plate in front of you, Changbin smiled as you nodded your head and he slowly lifted the toast to your lips.

Begrudgingly you began to nibble on the toast hating the fact that it was the best thing you could ever want right now. The only thing your body seemed to be craving since waking up here.

"You can do better than that, baby. Come on- you have to be hungry." Changbin encourages, holding the toast up once again before you bite into it. Eating half of the slice before moving away from him.

"Thank you, baby, see? Isn’t that better?” Changbin smiles at you as you stare at him, laying your head back against the wall behind you, the same wall you were now chained to for god knows how long.

"Why am I here?" you demanded, your voice cold and distant as Chan sighed at you, it was going to be a long night if you insisted on going over the same question again and again with them both.

"I told you that already.”

"Protection? But that doesn't make sense. I've been fine living my life for years," Your voice came out strained as you stared at them, hoping they would see how stupid this all was for them to be doing.

“Yes, princess. Protection from yourself. I know you have certain… bad habits. Dating people that aren't good for you, not feeding yourself properly, among other things." He glares down at you.

"I'm fine." Your lie slipped out easier than you'd expected it to but you didn't want to justify their sick and twisted means.

“Don’t lie to us!” This time it was Changbin who raised his voice making you flinch a little. You'd never once heard Changbin raise his voice at anyone, let alone you.

"We know that you skip meals any chance you get, claiming it was work that got you too busy for it," Changbin grumbles, frustrated at the thought of you refusing to eat.

"How do you know that?" Your voice dropped a little as you stared at them both. Skipping meals was something you kept to yourself, something no one knew about you.

"We're your best friends, we know everything," Chan says with a sweet smile but you didn't feel like their best friend right now.

“You have us now. We're going to take care of you, we're going to make sure you're safe, healthy, and happy.” Changbin says as he runs his hands over your cheek,

"You could have done this when we were back in the city...You didn't need to do all of this." You whisper, trying to appeal to any sense of rationality that might have risen inside of them.

"You wouldn't have listened. At least here, we can control how you listen to us. We can care for you here," Chan smiles and you stare at him, opening your mouth to ask him one more question.

"No more answers until you finish the food." He spat out at you but you threw the plate to the other side of the room, watching as it shattered and the glass poured down on a bunch of old blankets that were sitting there.

“Alright, you listen to me... Shit like that isn’t going to fly. If you ever want to leave this room again you will fucking behave!" Chan shook your shoulders roughly, your eyes cold as you stared back at him.

"I only have a few rules, one of which is that you eat. Three meals a day." He states angrily,

"I'm not going to eat anything! You can go fuck yourself-"

“That’s enough!” He yells sharply at you, his eyes burning into your face. Your body was shaking at this point as you stared back at him, willing to fight him at every hurdle.

"You will eat, and you will not fucking throw ANYTHING. Do I make myself clear?!" When you say nothing he screams it once again,

"DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?!" You nod frantically at him and the angry persona vanishes almost as quickly as it had appeared. The shift giving you whiplash.

"Since you declined to eat, we'll leave you for the rest of the night,

"Chan-" Changbin begs but he's quickly cut off by his counterpart,

"WE will LEAVE." Chan grits out and you stare at them as they make their way to the stairs, Changbin looking at you apologetically as you slowly pull at the cuffs.

“Do not pull at the cuff," Changbin said sweetly as he looked over at you one last time.

"It’s not going to break and there’s no way out of this room anyway. It's easier not to fight him," He added before heading out of the room, the door bolting shot behind the two of them leaving you staring at the pile of blankets in the corner of the room.

The night drew closer and your body began to shiver, you'd been desperately trying to reach for a blanket from the pile on the other side of the room but your chain wasn't quite long enough for you to reach it with,

"Yn?" Your eyes shot over to the stairs as you saw Chan making his way down to you. Of course, he was. Chan could never sleep on the best of days and you doubted he could when he had a woman trapped in his basement.

"I-I wasn't trying to get out! I was-" You stopped when you noticed the comforter in his hands, he laid it down on the floor beside your chains, followed by a pillow and a thick-looking blanket. You stared down at them, wondering what he was doing.

"Here," Changbin states as he quickly comes into the room, holding a lantern and a cup of hot chocolate, sitting down beside the comforter and handing you the mug of hot chocolate. Something he knew you always liked to drink on the nights you found yourself unable to sleep.

"How do I know you didn't drug it?" You bite out at him, Changbin stares at you as he takes a long sip and swallows the contents in front of you.

"I understand the need for distrust, but we'd never hurt you Yn," Changbin said as you sat down on the blanket, letting the warm cup warm your hands up as you stared down at the brown liquid.

"We've dreamed of a life with you, yn. A life where we can protect you, cherish you, and keep you safe from all the hurt. We can be everything you need." Chan whispers as he runs his hand over your ankle, gently cleaning up the dried blood from your earlier struggles, you hissed a little looking at him.

"But I don't need this. I need my freedom, my life back." You whispered, tears spilling over as you stared at him. Your heart ached with a mix of fear and confusion, you didn't know what you'd ever done to make them think this was okay.

"In time, you'll understand. You'll see that what we're offering is real, that our love is pure. We can make you happy, Yn. Happier than anyone else ever could." He whispers, finishing the job on your ankle before you stare at Changbin, wishing he would just snap out of whatever trance Chan seemed to have him under and get you out of there. Changbin's eyes found yours,

"Please, Yn. Give us a chance. Let us show you how much we care. We can't lose you. Not now, not ever." His voice broke slightly as he spoke and you stared at him. Your head was a whirlwind of emotions as you studied the two of them.

It was clear to you how deep their obsession was with you, how intense they felt about you and it fucking terrified you, shook you to your core and yet somewhere. Deep inside of you, there was a small part, nagging at you, wondering if maybe they were right and that you could, truly be happy with them here.

"You need to sleep," Chan said as he rose to his feet, taking the only light source with him as he headed for the stairs.

"N-No! No! Please! Please don't leave me down here!" You begged, struggling against the chain again and whimpering as Changbin followed after Chan. The door once again bolted shut behind them leaving you crying on the floor.

As the days passed you found yourself caught up in their webs, struggling to find a way out while they constantly tried to show you love and support telling you how much better off you were with them rather than out in the world. Your heart pounded with a mix of fear and disbelief. You knew you had to find a way out, to escape their twisted version of love. But as the days turned into weeks, you found yourself there, tangled in their web deeper and deeper.

"What's this?" You whispered as Chan led you through the hallway of their home, your eyes scanning over everything that was there trying to commit everything to memory. If you could get away you needed to remember everything, to describe everything to the police about where you were and what the place looked like.

They'd taken you on a small tour of the home, mostly to show you that there was no way of escaping. Most of the doors were bolted and padlocked and the windows were all barred up, a personal prison in the shape of a warm home.

"Your room," Changbin states as he slides the door open, revealing an exact replica of your bedroom back home. Your heart lept into your throat as you stared around at everything.

It was as if they'd moved your bedroom to here, that's how identical it was.

"When did you do all of this?" You whispered, your eyes finding theirs. Ever since a few days ago, they'd started talking about letting you upstairs, claiming you'd earned enough trust from them to finally be let out of the basement and you were going to use that to your advantage.

If they trusted you more there was more chance of you getting out of there.

"We've planned this for a long time Yn," Changbin smiles, the mere sentence should have made you want to vomit but the sick and twisted part of you made you want to giggle at the thought of them putting this much effort in for you. What's wrong with me?

"You have to realise, princess, we’re not your enemies, We love you. Everything we’re doing is for you." Chan spoke sweetly, running his hand over your lower back.

"This isn't love, this is imprisonment." You whispered dryly, sinking down onto the bed as you watched the two of them. Changbin's expression softened when he saw your distress, the last thing he wanted was for you to resent this room. He'd worked so hard on it. He approached slowly, kneeling beside you, running his hand over your knee softly as he looked at you.

"Sunshine, we know it’s hard to understand now, but we’re protecting you. You’ll see that in time." He whispers. That was always their answer whenever you bought it up, "in time" you hated this. You wanted your own life back.

"I just want my life back." Your voice cracked as fresh tears began to fall, and you quickly covered your mouth. Changbin’s jaw tightened, and he exchanged a glance with Chan.

"We are your life now, Yn. And we promise, we’ll make you happy." Chan tells you with so much conviction you almost believe him, your eyes finding his as you whimper a little.

"You're tired and in desperate need of a shower, princess." He stands up and walks toward a door inside of the bedroom, opening it to reveal a small ensuite room waiting for you.

"I filled it with those facemasks you love so much," He states as Changbin gently walks you toward the door, his hand softly waiting on your waist as you stare inside of the bathroom.

There was a giant tub inside, a glass door surrounding it with a shower above. A white toilet and sink with a mirror above it. Chan was standing beside the sink and a set of little drawers, each of them holding everything you would ever need.

"There are no shavers though," Chan stated as he stared at you,

"We didn't want you to risk you using them against us," He winked at you but you stared at him wondering why he was so worried when it was clear that there was glass in the room. Your eyes scanned over the door and mirror before looking back at Chan,

"The glass on the door and shower could easily be shattered," You stated, not that you'd ever do that to hurt them, you didn't have the guts to.

"Already thought of that, princess. I'm not just a pretty face," He chuckles making his way to the shower door and rattling it softly,

"Shatterproof glass and an earthquake-proof mirror." He winks, poking his finger against the mirror and sure enough it bent making you nod at him. They'd really thought of everything when it came down to this.

"Don't worry, princess. I thought of everything," He whispers as he stands by your side, kissing the top of your head before leaving you alone to shower, Changbin shifting following behind him.

"Wait-" You beg, running after them. Almost slipping on the floor but Changbin caught you in his arms, making sure you were steady before finally letting you stand alone.

"Please...Don't lock me in," You whisper, staring at the bedroom door that has a giant padlock on it. You couldn't stomach the thought of being trapped in here, the basement had been torture. Sleeping in complete darkness with no way out.

"Princess..." Chan whispers, his voice dragging out the pet name for you.

"I won't try and run. I promise, please...p-please just don't lock it." You beg, your hands holding onto his tightly as he studied you for a second. It was clear by your pleading that you needed the door unlocked and he nodded his head. Besides, he would be in the room outside in case you did, but part of him trusted you not to try and run. His eyes landed on Changbin who simply nodded his head at him, there was no chance of you getting out.

Every exit was secured, the keys were around the boy's necks and there was no chance of you getting close enough to them from either of them.

"Fine, we're going to prepare dinner. When you're ready, come out into the kitchen," Chan speaks softly as you nod your head at him slowly taking your hands back.

"Do you remember where that is, sunshine?" Changbin whispered, your eyes finding his as you smiled weakly and nodded your head. It was down the hall from your bedroom, it was also the only room in the house with a door they hadn't shown you the other side of. You assumed it was the back garden Chan had briefly mentioned.

As the days turned into weeks, and the weeks into months, you were starting to realize that breaking free wasn't going to be something easy that could be achieved. It was something you were going to have to work hard at.

You'd spent the last few months convincing them that they could trust you to be outside in the gardens with them. You chose that time to learn every single layout of the garden trying to see if there was ever going to be a way out of there for you. But from what you could see everything was woods surrounding the home and you wondered where and when they'd even found this place since it seemed to secluded.

You once again found yourself in the garden, the only place where she could feel a semblance of freedom. The sun was burning down on top of you but you didn't care how hot it was, it was the first real taste of freedom you'd had all week and you were choosing to enjoy it to the best of your abilities.

The flowers and greenery provided a small comfort to you, your own little peaceful place in the gardens. Your own twist on the home that the guys were providing you with. You weren't sure when you'd started referring to the prison as your home but it was something you found yourself doing more and more as of late.

Chan and Changbin watched you from a distance, their eyes never leaving your body, whenever you moved they moved. You'd had stopped trying to escape, but Chan still wasn't sure about everything. There was something about you accepting it so easily that made him uneasy. Instead, you seemed to be focused on small acts of rebellion, like refusing to speak or eat. Going days on end without eating and only drinking whenever they asked you to was something that got to them a lot. Though you might have trusted them they didn't want anything to happen to you, or to hurt you. This was all for your own good.

As you tended to the flowers, Changbin approached you with a watering can, stopping a couple of paces behind so he wouldn't spook you too much.

"Need some help?" he asked, his tone gentle. You glanced at him, your expression guarded.

"I can do it myself." You whispered a little as he placed the watering can on the floor by your feet. Changbin smiled, a genuine warmth in his eyes, it had been so long since you'd spoken to him that he was just happy to hear it, even if it was a snarky remark. Truth be told, he missed you snapping at him, he missed you talking to him, he just missed you and he'd do anything to get you back to him.

"I know you can. But sometimes, it’s nice to have someone else around." He knew how much you hated being alone, he'd always been the one to comfort you in that sense. Hesitating for a moment you looked at him then nodded slightly.

"Fine." You mumbled a little, looking away from him as you continued to tend to the flowers. The boys had bought you everything you needed to plant them, even bringing you everything you asked for and more whenever you asked for it.

As you worked side by side in silence, you found yourself appreciating his presence, despite your anger and fear, it was nice to have someone there with you. Chan joined the two of you, carrying a pitcher of lemonade as he knelt down on the grass patch just at the side of you, he'd been watching for a while and felt himself jealous of the connection you had with Changbin.

He knew deep down it was because Changbin was the softer one out of the two of them but he couldn't help but want to have you be so calm around him also.

"Thought you might be thirsty," he said, handing you a glass. You took it reluctantly your fingers touching Chan's and sending a small tingle up and down your body. You nodded softly, sipping the cool drink. You hated how your captors could be so caring and attentive, how they knew exactly what you liked and hated when it came to everything in your life. It made it harder to maintain your anger with them as the more you stayed here, the more you felt yourself slipping.

"Thank you," you muttered, hating yourself for the small concession between the three of you. How could you stand to stay here? There was no fence keeping you in the garden. It would be a case of getting lost in the woods but that was better than staying here, right? Chan smiled, his eyes lighting up when you thanked him.

"We just want you to be happy, Yn." He whispers, sending a shiver down your spine. Finally hitting home that you needed to get out of there. You felt yourself falling for all of their tricks.

The sun had just begun to set, casting long shadows across the sprawling estate, you'd somehow convinced them that you wanted to watch the sunset and they'd agreed with you. Maybe they trusted you more than you realised but once they'd gone into the house to fetch you a blanket you took off. Sprinting in the direction of a set of dense trees hoping it would be too compact for either of them to see you in the night.

Your heart pounded in your chest as you sprinted through the overgrown trees at the edge of the property, your hands scraping along the trunks as you pushed yourself through them all. You didn't care that you were scratching up your legs and your hands, all you cared about was getting out of there. With every step, you felt a flicker of hope, a chance at freedom just within reach, you could almost taste it as you saw lights coming from further down. Other people had to be around somewhere. You just had to find them.

Branches scratched at your skin, and the underbrush snagged your clothes, but you didn't care, all you cared about was getting out of there. You pushed forward, your breath coming in ragged gasps, your mind focused solely on getting away. You could see the faint outline of the main road through the trees and knew that if you could just make it there, you might find help. There had to be cars passing by sometimes, even if it was late.

But suddenly, a strong hand grabbed your arm, yanking you back. You let out a cry, twisting and struggling, but the grip was unyielding as you were bought into someone's chest.

"Yn, stop!" Chan's voice was firm, yet laced with worry. He pulled you closer, holding you tightly as you fought against him, his fingers running down your face gently as you struggled against him.

"No! Let me go!" You screamed, tears streaming down your face, you'd been so close to getting out of there, it was just within fingers' reach.

"I need to get out of here! I can't do this anymore!" you were finally at your boiling point of everything. You couldn't stay in the same place forever or you were going to lose your mind.

Chan's expression softened at your pleading, but his hold remained firm. While he wanted you to be happy he knew that if he let you go, you'd end up hurting yourself or getting into more danger. The world was a scary place and they were doing everything they could to protect you from it.

"Yn, please. You're going to hurt yourself." His breath was hot on your ear, and you could hear Changbin approaching you both. His eyes landed on your body which was already cut from the branches and he felt his heart breaking at the sight of you.

"I don't care! I can't stay here!" Your voice broke, desperation and fear spilling over as you thrashed around. Chan sighed, his eyes filled with sorrow at the sight of you. Just when they thought you were finally making progress with them you went and threw it all away.

"We only want to keep you safe. Running away like this... it's dangerous. You could get lost, hurt, or worse." You glared at him, your body trembling with anger and fear as you shook your head at him.

"I'd rather take my chances out there than stay here with you."

His face hardened slightly at your words, but he quickly masked his frustration with a calm facade, running his fingers over your cheek to remove the blood that was staining your cheeks.

"I understand you're upset, Yn. But this isn't the way. Come back with me, and we can talk about it." He promises as you stare at him. Truth be told, you were tired from not eating for the last few days and exhaustion overtaking your will to fight. There was no use fighting the two of them alone in the woods. They were right, any chance you had of escaping would get you lost or dead in the woods by whatever animals lurked there.

Slumping against him, you gave up. Your tears flowed freely as you realised you were really stuck with them.

"Why can't you just let me go?" You whispered, it was evident from your demeanour that every fight you had in you had finally left.

Chan's arms enveloped you in a tight embrace, his voice a soft whisper in your ear as Changbin moved to stand in from of you.

"Because we love you too much to lose you. We'll do whatever it takes to make you see that." Chan whispered before he gently lifted you into his arms, carrying you back towards the house. Your head rested on his shoulder as you watched Changbin who was studying you with a softened gaze.

"Will you let me clean you up when you're in your room?" Changbin whispered to you, looking at your face and hands which were covered in blood and bleeding pretty badly. Nodding your head slowly you shut your eyes, giving in to them.

One evening, you found yourself sitting in the living room with Chan and Changbin, you were sitting between the two of them while they held a bowl of popcorn in one hand and a bunch of sweets in another. They had put on a movie, one of your favourites, hoping to create a sense of normalcy for you. You'd mentioned to Changbin last week how badly you wanted to watch movies again like you all used to and he'd told Chan he was going to make it happen.

As the film played, your mind wandered, torn between your need to escape and the growing, unwanted affection you were starting to feel for them both. You stared down at your hands. Ever since you'd gotten here they'd been nothing but kind to you, which was the basic bare minimum a guy could do for you and yet? You found yourself enjoying it.

Every morning you woke up to them cooking for you, bringing you breakfast in bed or just letting you cook. Here, you had the freedom to do whatever you wanted without the worries of work getting to you and you knew that the two of them would never do anything to hurt you.

Changbin noticed your distraction first and leaned in closer to you and gently placed a hand on your shoulder, his thumb moving in soft smooth circles.

"What’s on your mind, Yn?" His voice came out in a whisper, trying not to distract Chan who seemed thoroughly engrossed in the moving playing on the TV. You looked at him, your eyes filled with confusion and pain, you didn't understand any of this and you certainly didn't understand why your heart and mind were starting to tell you that all of this was somehow okay.

"I don’t understand how I can hate you so much and still... feel something for you." Your voice cracked a little as you spoke earning a surprised look from both of them as Chan paused the movie and leaned forward, his expression intense as he locked eyes with you.

"That’s because deep down, you know we truly love you. We’ve done everything to make you feel loved and safe and you're finally coming to terms with it." The smile on his face was sweet, something that weeks ago would have made you sick to the stomach but instead had your chest fluttering around like this was some kind of dark romance novel you were reading.

"But it’s wrong," you whispered, your voice once again breaking.

"You took me away from everything I knew." Part of you hated them for it but another, small, part of you thanked them for it. Without the stress of work clouding over you, you don't have to stress about day-to-day tasks. You had all of the time in the world to do everything you ever wanted.

Changbin’s eyes softened, and he squeezed your hand, your fingers automatically lacing with his sending his heart into overdrive. This was the first time you'd ever willingly touched them both and he watched as you laced your other hand with Chan's.

"We know it’s hard, Yn. But you're already starting to see that this is where you belong." He whispered, both of them squeezing your hands softly and you were quick to pull away, tears streaming down your face as you shook your head at them.

"I don’t know if I can ever forgive you." You sobbed softly. Chan’s expression hardened slightly, a flicker of frustration in his eyes but he wasn't going to let you know it was getting to him. This needed to be a safe space for you to vent to them both.

"You will, Yn. Because we’re not giving up on you. Ever." He promises, lifting your hand to his lips and gently leaving a small kiss on your skin, your whole body on fire from the small interaction.

"I think I want to go to bed," You whispered, slowly rising from the sofa, both their eyes on you as you began to make your way over to the bedroom door. The lock was removed the week after you proved to the boys you weren't going to run and they took it off, proving to you that they trusted you.

The soft glow of the moon filtered through the curtains in your bedroom, casting gentle shadows on the walls letting you see all of the photos that lay on the walls. Each frame was a photo of you and the guys before they had taken you hostage. You lay in bed, the blankets pulled up to your chin, your mind a whirl of thoughts and emotions as you battled your head and your heart, trying to keep yourself sane. You'd excused yourself from the movie night hours ago, but you couldn’t seem to find sleep, you tossed and turned in your bed as you tried to bring yourself to a state of relaxation but it seemed damn near impossible.

You turned onto your side, staring at the framed photo on your bedside table. It was a picture of the three of them, taken during a day trip to the Busan one day before you were brought here. Your smiles were bright, your eyes filled with joy, you'd realised that day you'd had a crush on both of your friends but you were never going to do anything about it since you hadn't wanted to stop your friendship.

In the beginning, you had fought against your captivity with every ounce of strength you had. You had despised them, feared them but slowly, your resistance had faded, replaced by a reluctant acceptance, and then something more. You found yourself enjoying all of this, enjoying spending so much time with the two people that made you feel the most loved in all of the world. Staring at the ceiling as memories flooded your mind, floating past you like they were images and videos running in the back of your mind. Chan’s gentle touch, Changbin’s warm embrace, and the way they looked at you with such intense love and devotion. They had become your whole world, your everything. But at what cost?

It was love—real, unequivocal love. You loved them, both of them, with a fierceness that frightened you. You'd never felt anything like this in your life before and now you were ready to throw everything away so you could stay with them.

Tears welled up in your eyes as you whispered into the darkness hoping if you confessed it to no one, then your mind would relax and you would finally get some sleep,

"I love you, Chan. I love you, Bin." The words felt both liberating and terrifying, your heart racing as you finally admitted to yourself what you had been denying for so long. Despite everything, you had fallen for them. You'd fallen for their twisted, sick, and possessive love and you knew that there was no escaping any of this now. That you were trapped just as much as you were on that first day. Only. You didn't dread it as much as you had.

Sitting up in the bed, you dragged your knees into your chest and laid your head on your knees. Taking in a deep breath you let the truth wash over you as you stared at the wall. You glanced over at the door, half-expecting one of them to appear, sensing your turmoil, they always seemed to know when you needed comforting the most. You first thought that they had cameras in the room but after searching every single inch of the room you found nothing, they'd even told you they would tell you if there was one. Promising you that they would never invade your privacy like that.

The longer you watched the door and listened for any sign of them you realised the house was quiet, and you were alone with your thoughts, your fingers clenched in your hands as you slowly began to lay back down on the bed hoping you could catch some sleep before the morning came.

The next morning, you woke up earlier than ever before, heading to the door and peering out of it you checked to see if either of them were awake yet. Usually, Chan was sitting in the living room waiting for you to get up but there was no sign of him. In fact, the front door was open with the car they used to get in and out of the woods running in the background. It was as if they were provoking you with a chance of escape but for the first time in god knows how long you didn't even look at the door. You grabbed a warmer jacket from the back of your door and made your way outside, you reached through the window of the car and stopped the engine. It was a test, you knew that but even if it wasn't, you found yourself not wanting to get away from them anyway. Sliding the keys into your pockets you sighed to yourself as you looked at the car. It was the perfect chance to leave but you didn't even want to go.

You weren't sure how much time had passed since you'd gotten up but the morning sunlight streamed through the large kitchen windows, casting a warm glow over the room as you worked. The smell of fresh coffee and breakfast filled the air as you continued to cook over the stove, flipping pancakes with a smile on your face. You couldn't remember the last time you'd ever smiled like this and it was something you'd desperately needed.

Changbin entered the kitchen first, he usually prepared breakfast while Chan waited for you to get up, his hair tousled from sleep but he froze seeing you standing there.

"Good morning, love," he murmured, his voice filled with affection and yet a little hesitation. The last thing he'd expected to see was you up so early in the morning.

"Morning, Bin. Did you sleep well?" A soft smile played on your lips as Changbin settled down into the chair, watching you closely for any sign of you posing them but there was nothing. You tasted everything as you cooked it.

"Better than ever," he replied, moving to pour himself a cup of coffee, eyeing you up as he handed you a cup as well, your fingers brushing lightly as he did so and making you smile sweetly up at him. Without either of you noticing Chan joined them a moment later, a look of confusion on his face as he saw them together. He'd been up for an early morning grocery run and left the car running while he rushed to his room.

"You two are up early," he said, his tone teasing yet warm, trying not to let on that he was worried about the car.

"The front door is open and you left the car running." You said softly, chucking Chan the keys as he stared down at them in the palm of his hand,

"Shit, I must have forgotten." He hadn't forgotten, he'd just left it running without even thinking twice about it since he assumed you'd be asleep until late in the afternoon.

"Good girl," Changbin whispered as you laughed softly, the sound sending shivers through each of them. It had been far too long since they'd had the pleasure of hearing that light laughter and they'd do anything to get to hear it every day.

"I wanted to make breakfast for you both. It's the least I can do after everything." Chan approached you, brushing a finger over your cheek as if checking for a temperature but you slapped his hand away from you playfully.

"You don’t have to do anything, Yn. Just having you here, happy, is enough." You gazed up at him, your heart swelling so much it was getting harder to hold in what you were feeling for them. The longer you tried to deny it the more it hurt.

"I know. But I want to. I love you both." The words hung in the air, silence fell across the room and all that could be heard was the fat spitting in the pan as the bacon overcooked.

"We love you too, Yn," Chan said softly, his hand cupping your cheek softly as he ran his thumb along your bottom lip, his eyes searching yours for any sign of deception but there was nothing but love there.

"More than anything." He finished as Changbin stepped closer, his arm wrapping around your shoulders, the three of you embracing in a large hug.

"You’ve made us so happy, yn. Our life with you is perfect." The three of you stood there, wrapped up in your moment together as you relaxed fully for the first time since they'd taken you hostage.

More weeks passed and you were getting more and more freedom with the boys, last week they'd taken you into the closest village which let you know you weren't anywhere near your old place anymore. The village was beautiful and they'd promised to take you again to check out the plant centre that was opening up in a couple of weekends.

"You promised that they'd bloom by now, I'm scared." You whispered to Changbin while Chan prepared a picnic nearby. The garden had been transformed into a fairytale for the night. There were fairy lights strung up above you as Chan laid out candles all over the blanket surrounding the picnic he was sorting.

"These are going to look beautiful, just like you," he said, his voice filled with adoration as you rolled your eyes at him. Of course, he was going to choose now as the time to be smooth with you about everything.

"Thank you, Bin. I can't wait to get some daises to plant soon, we should start adding some window boxes to the front of the house so we can add some colour." You stated as you dusted off your hands and looked over at the back of the house. You'd done everything you could to make it homely but the front still screamed "homeless" pit in the back of the woods.

"I think we can find some boxes somewhere, but there's no chance we're letting you put them on the top floor." He warned you as you giggled. They were always so overprotective of you hanging out of the windows, they'd caught you last week cleaning the windows and leaning out of them to clean the outside and Chan nearly had an aneurysm trying to make you come back inside before you hurt yourself.

"Deal," You laugh softly, laying your head on your boyfriend's shoulder as he gently runs his hand up and down your arm.

Chan called out from under a tree where he had laid out a blanket and a basket of food, deciding that now it was perfect for the two of you to come over to him.

"Come join us, you two! Everything’s ready."

"Are you sure this time?" You teased, when he'd first started setting up he panicked a little when he realised it wasn't perfect enough for you to see just yet.

"Yessss, now come over here." He groaned, dragging out the word "yes" before whining a little at you making you smirk at him. Taking Changbin's hand you both walked hand in hand to the picnic spot, settling down beside Chan who was beaming up at you.

The three of you shared a meal, laughing and talking about their day, you always loved knowing what they'd spent their days doing. The longer you sat there you felt a sense of completeness, as if this was where you were always meant to be.

"I told Jisung that if he didn't have the song finished in a week, we wouldn't help him produce it," Chan smirked at you, they both worked in their own music company which meant whenever one of them worked, and the other could be home with you so you never felt truly alone. That, and most days they could work from home without having a need to leave you behind.

"You can't, that poor baby has worked so hard for you guys to just give up on him." You pouted a little as Chan smirked down at you, he knew you'd always been a soft-hearted person when it came to people he worked with. He and Changbin were a small company but they were constantly giving those who were less fortunate a chance of breaking into the game.

"He can have two more days," He rolls his eyes before you drag his face to yours, pinning him with a determined stare.

"Fine. One week." He grumbled before you giggled, kissing him softly.

"Erm, me next," Changbin mewled from beside you, you slowly turned and kissed his lips softly, all three of you laughing softly as you continued to eat.

The evening had settled into its usual calm rhythm and the boys had left you to run into the village after you'd requested having smores by a fire tonight and they never could say no to you. You hummed softly as you tidied up the house, moving through each room with practised ease as you cleaned each of them. It was something you'd been doing for a while now, choosing to help around the home since you didn't have all too much to do besides hobbies and found yourself getting bored pretty quickly.

Tonight though you decided to tackle the last part of the house you hadn’t yet cleaned: the basement. You'd constantly avoided it whenever you went past the door, deciding that if you ignored it long enough somehow it would disappear but tonight something was nagging at you to go and clean it.

You figured you could conquer your fear of the darkness in there if you cleaned it and placed your own spin on it. Unlocking the door you peered inside it was dimly lit, and a faint, musty smell filled the air that made you want to gag a little. As you moved further down the steps you noticed a cluster of candles arranged on an old table, their flickering flames casting eerie shadows on the walls. You wrinkled your nose at the scent of the candles, then set about dusting and organizing the cluttered space, why did they even bother to put candles down here if there was no cleaning?

As you worked your way toward the back of the basement, you stumbled upon a large, old trunk, frowning to yourself you stared down at it. You hadn't remembered it being there when you'd been locked in the basement for so long. Come to think of it, the pile of blankets that had been in the room were no longer in their place. Something about all of this felt off, a strange, unsettling aura emanating from the chest made your stomach churn. With trembling hands, you lifted the lid, revealing a sight that made your blood run cold.

Inside the trunk lay the rotting corpse of Alex, his once lively eyes now hollow and lifeless obvious signs of torture, he was bound by cuffs on his wrists which were now nothing but mummified bones. The stench hit you like a physical blow, and you staggered back, your hand covering your mouth to stop you from vomiting all over the chest, your heart pounding in your chest as the lid to the wood chest slammed shut. Panic surged through you, as you began to back to the basement, bile threatening to spill from your throat as you turned to run. But in your frantic retreat, you knocked over several of the candles, their flames licking greedily at the old, dry wood and papers scattered around and you hadn't noticed.

Flames quickly spread across the old, dry wood and papers scattered around, but you'd already slammed the door and locked it. The fire crackled and hissed, consuming everything in its path and leaving nothing behind as it grew angrier with every passing second,.

Just as you reached the living room, your mind raced at the thought of what they'd done to your ex in that chest. No wonder he hadn't replied to you, they'd gotten to him before they got you. You rushed to the kitchen, throwing up into the sink as you tried to collect your thoughts together. You had to get out before Chan and Changbin returned and you didn't know how much time you had left. Grabbing a small backpack from the bedroom you hurriedly stuffed it with essentials, your hands shaking so badly that you almost dropped it multiple times. But just as you finished packing, you heard the unmistakable sound of the car pulling into the driveway, days ago it filled you with happiness to know they'd come over to you but now? Now it sent you into a frenzy. Panic surged through your veins, and you darted into a nearby closet, peeking through the slats as Chan and Changbin entered the house. The smell of smoke hit them instantly, and panic raced through Changbin as he began to search for the source of it.

"Y/N! Where are you?" Chan’s voice was filled with worry as he and Changbin rushed towards the basement, the door was bolted from the outside the only sign that you weren't down there.

"We need to get out." Changbin gritted as he realised just how hot the handle to the door was. They backed away, calling for you frantically as a burst of flames erupted from the basement and began to attack the living room, eating everything in its path.

You stepped out of the closet, staring at the front door which was now burning hot,

"Y/N!" Changbin shouted, his voice desperate as he grabbed your hand. Smoke filled the air, making it hard to see and breathe anymore. The fire had spread to the main floor, engulfing everything in its pathway but the kitchen was safe for now,

"Go! We need to go now!" Chan ordered as you stared at them, your stomach churning as you remembered the state of your ex-boyfriend in the basement.

"You killed him!" Dread surged through them both as they realised you'd found what they'd been desperately trying to hide from you for months now. They'd planned on burying the damn chest that weekend but they'd been so happy with you that they'd barely had the chance to get out of the house yet.

"We can fight about it later! We need to get out, now!" Chan shouted, grabbing your hand. But as you all turned to the kitchen door to flee, a beam from the ceiling collapsed, blocking your path and trapping them inside.

The flames roared around them, the heat unbearable as you whimpered a little. You clung to Chan and Changbin, your mind racing with terror but not from them. The fire was going to kill you unless you got out of there, you didn't care about the body, you didn't care that they'd done it, you just needed to get out.

"We have to find another way out!" you cried, your voice barely audible over the roar of the fire as you coughed into your hand. Changbin looked around frantically, trying to find an escape route.

"The bathroom window!" he shouted, pointing towards the small bathroom at the end of the hallway, you all began to move as quickly as possible, huddled together closely. But as quickly as you moved the fire was faster and relentless, almost as if it was refusing to let you all leave. Another beam fell, narrowly missing them. The smoke grew thicker, making it hard to see and breathe.

The reality of everything was finally beginning to settle in as you struggled to breathe, your heart racing as you banged against one of the bolted doors. Changbin laid his head on your lap, too tired to fight anymore but Chan was still trying everything but you took his hand, shaking your head. There was no use fighting it anymore, you'd already inhaled too much smoke.

Chan held your hand tightly, his eyes filled with regret and sorrow as he realised all of this wouldn't have happened if they just told you about the body.

"I’m so sorry, Yn," he whispered, tears streaming down his face.

"We just wanted to keep you safe." He coughed a little as you whimpered. Changbin wrapped his arms around you both, his face a mask of despair as he pulled you both closer to him. Trying to protect you even in his last dying act as the fire completely enclosed the house. The sound of crackling and other beams falling around you makes you cry out.

"We love you, Y/N. More than anything." Changbin groans. As the flames closed in, you clung to Chan and Changbin, your heart pounding with a mix of love and regret.

Laying your head down on their shoulders you whimper a little more, coughing uncontrollably as the smoke took over your lungs making it harder and harder to breathe.

"I forgive you," You whispered to them softly as the fire consumed the last of your world.

The fire had finally been extinguished, but the house was reduced to ashes. Firefighters and police combed through the rubble, searching for any signs of life, kicking through the ash trying to see if anyone would have survived the fire. No one knew why it had gone up so quickly without an accelerant either. Firefighters worked tirelessly to find the source of the fire but again, everything had been destroyed. The only thing remaining were metal contents from kitchens and bedrooms and pipes from under the floorboards.

Among the charred remains of the home, they found the bodies of three people huddled together, a tragic testament to the twisted love and obsession that had bound them together forever.

@chiisaiblog @sw33tnight @kaitieskidmore97 @laylasbunbunny @stayconnecteed @saymyspringrain @toplinehyunjin @katnisspeetaprim @acciocriativity @just-aelia @choisoorin @straykids5star @midnightfrog625 @beccaskz @scarletemeterio @halesandy @junhannies @gothic4under4lord @lixie-phoria @soulphoenix1618 @aerastus @jin-from-the-block @lensfilm @elizaschuyler18 @piratequeen-impact @kpopsstuffs @chaeyoungs @delulu18 @xyahrinx @katsukis1wife @anthropologymajorkpopmultistan @blairscott @4-chan-inpadella @niktwazny303 @moonlight-the-writer @armystay89 @hadassahchan @yxngbxkkie

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mitsvriii · 9 months

Text

"Nothing's New"

In which your partner is never going to pay attention to you, because they’re too focused on their dead lover

Bell’s notes: “writer bell goes too far with this fic-” im /j no ones gonna say that, angst powers pls work tho, like im asdlkfjawel;fjsd;jf;lska, i cant write dude, let me like, plan this out in my head before writing nonsense, LIKE BRO, feral over angst LORD, 100k likes and you get part 2 /jjjj, growling i love angst, MWHAHAHA, sorry ely, yuka, mhie, snob, and zee if you read this 😔😔😔, i listened to “IT Girl” while writing this 😋, got carried away with Ayato’s part oopsies, i believe Guizhong for the ladies but whatever 😔😔😔, cut out Wanderer & Childe in the end because i’m TIRED, not proofread

Story details: Ayato lowkey a bitch, scratch that highkey, reader has self-doubt, Neuvilette doesn’t mean to be mean he just ISSS, GUIZHONG DID NOTHING STOP MAKING HER THE ONE IN BLAME IN THESE ZHONGLI SCENARIOS, oh and I couldn’t be bothered with Xiao’s part like a quarter through he’s such a flexible yet straight character, it’s the way you can tell when I got lazy with each part, chance Xiao & Zhongli are gonna be ooc as i’ve never written anything but short headcanons for them before

Characters & Triggers: Ayato, Neuvilette, Xiao, & Zhongli; reader has self-doubt, mention of death, mention of martial neglect

Reader details: female reader in Ayato’s part is explicit. female reader in Neuvilette’s part can be interpreted with the way you read it. the other parts, however, shouldn’t have a specified reader type. reader’s personality, race/ethnicity, height, physical descriptions, or anything of the sort is not mentioned. if anything is let me know and i’ll edit it.

Ayato: No surprise the Yashiro Commissioner doesn’t pay attention to his new wife, the one that he didn’t marry first. You knew that he didn’t love you, and most likely never would because you were, in fact, the second pick. Actually, it was probably in the hundreds based on the amount of marriage arrangement offers Ayato had gotten considering he was one of the biggest figures in Inazuma. It didn’t matter, but he most likely picked you because your clan was a small one to put it lightly, so he most likely chose it, and you, because it wouldn’t be a hassle with the press. But of course, he would choose the person and clan that seemed, “easy”. It hurt seeing some of the people’s sympathetic stares, such as Ayaka’s, Thoma’s, and a few of the older women working in the estate. You got used to the lack of greeting from Ayato when he got off work, the lack of warmth beside you at night. You found it hilarious, although you were hysteric at the time as you had just found out that Ayato was off that day and neglected to see you, that he never, ever laid down in the same bed as you. It doesn’t matter no matter how hard you work around the estate, how long you sit up doing his work, which you soon quit once he yelled at you like a homeless dog, or even the distinct flower you made out of one of Ayato’s favorite sweets that he ignored. Not even a glance at your general direction, either. After a while, you decided to do some digging on his past wife, only to find out that she was in fact near perfect. Perfect reputation, perfect everything, to put it shortly. Shortly after asking Ayaka what happened to her, by pulling the sad, guilty wife card, you found out she was a victim of an assassination attempt that turned into a success. Of course, Ayato and his perfect wife would only be torn apart by death. It was poetic, and it made you sick. So what were you to do but endure the slow torture that you and Ayato’s marriage was? After all, nothing you could do could change how he felt about you.

Neuvillette: The famous hydro dragon, at least to those who knew his ‘secret’. His past lover, unfortunately, died before him, no doubt to his immortality. Of course, you would soon die, maybe in a few decades but, hey, it wasn’t like he would miss you. You could only wait awake at night as Neuvillette went to fix himself his own meal, despite you staying up to cook him one and await for his return from work. It’s not that was the only time he never paid attention to you, after all the man had most likely been grieving his wife for centuries at this point in time. So what were you to do besides stay and watch this man be emotionally constipated around you? Why did he even marry you in the first place, then? It couldn’t be because his past wife resembled you, and it certainly wasn’t because you both acted the same. Was it because he needed someone to cling to? I mean, you weren’t exactly someone who seemed to not fit the criteria of a compassionate co-worker who would comfort Neuvillette in his times of distress. Did Neuvilette only come to you because you were his way of grieving? It would make partial sense, to cling to the nearest piece of comfort to help with the pain of loss. It made you feel like nothing but an object meant for his emotional wants, but in reality, that’s all you ever are and will ever be to him.

Xiao: The famous adeptus long ago, had someone close to him. Shame they fell to waste during the archon wars, along with the other adepti. It was no surprise that everyone familiar with Liyue stories knew about the two of them together, which unfortunately included you. It didn’t pain you that much until your oh-so-loveable boyfriend got distracted by two kids playing with a Xiao lantern and one of her. After that, it only devolved into more. The lack of visits to your room in the inn, the lack of responses whenever you left your little notes for him near your meet-up place, and the extreme lack of thank-you-notes whenever you left Xiao almond tofu. It didn’t matter that you started to skip and completely ignore doing all of these things just to see if he would notice because the adeptus failed to appear in your room just to check in to see if you were okay. This behavior was unlike him, at least in the sense of him completely ignoring you. The only answer you could think of, that logically made sense, of course, was that he was reminded of his past loved one because of the run-in with the lanterns you two had while out in Liyue. So in terms, he seemed to disconnect with you because of the memories of his past significant other? You knew the adepti didn’t die peacefully, you could tell that much from the stories, so it wouldn’t be surprising if that also applied to Xiao’s past lover. There was nothing you could do about it though, because if you knew Xiao, he wouldn’t talk about her to you nor push her aside for you.

Zhongli: Guizhong. Of course, you were familiar with the name, everyone in Liyue was. Everyone might be a stretch considering the visitors and children, but the point’s been made. Morax and Guizhong were close. Close in a sense of possibly having relationship affairs but that was only explicit to you because of the way your lover would glace at glaze lilies. You couldn’t call him your lover, could you? Not with the way he would hum to the glaze lilies, the way his eyes would also drift away from you whenever you talked as you took strolls through Guilu Plains, and the way he would opt to tell stories of specific tales of his time as Morax, ones that included Guizhong in some way. It got to the point where you had to make up tasks that you had to do daily just to get away from the walks you two took, not to hear the different-yet-similar stories of Morax and totally not Guizhong. It was childish of you to be doing so, you had yourself convinced, as you couldn’t blame Guizhong for any of it. She had no part of this besides well, besides being your number one stressor for the past few weeks. It was tiring yet somehow for the sake of not wanting a glare or side-eye from Zhongli about his stories, which you never thought you’d get that tired of hearing, you kept your mouth shut, despite how hard it was. You knew it would only take so much more, though, before you said something about it.

#astronetwrk #・ nouveau livre ˎˊ˗#genshin impact #genshin x reader #xiao x you #xiao x reader #neuvilette x reader #neuvilette x you #zhongli x you #zhongli x reader #ayato x you #ayato x reader #genshin angst #genshin headcannons

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opennwindows · 1 year

Note

If you can, could I request BEN Drowned fluff / smut headcanons like about himself, with his headcanon age, hobbies, facts, what he is into or would like & want in a relationship, and what he would be like with a gamer girlfriend/ s/o?

If ya taking requests rn still?✨😇😊💖

Ben Drowned general + NSFW hcs

A/N: yes!! absolutely. i love getting to talk about how the pastas do their pastaing in my mind. i have so many headcanons for everyone that im excited to share!! also sorry i forgot to include the gamer gf part but i don't think it would change a lot of what i wrote!!

btw sorry for fucking dying i have been busy 😭😭 but no one worry i will still continue to work on requests!! if anyone has any marble hornets stuff they wanna request i will zoom you to the front of the queue so fucking quick. anyways enough of me yapping.

cw: 18+ nsfw, toxic relationships, crying kink,

GENERAL

ben is mentally and physically 22, but he can be quite emotionally immature at times. when he died he never stopped growing and maturing, his soul was just stuck in limbo. think like the worst waiting room ever.

he's surprisingly tall, standing at about 5'9. he's lanky but not bone thin. could easily get pretty far in a fight without his ghost powers.

the link costume only appears when he’s in his ghost form. so for example, when he’s messing with someone on their computer he’ll appear as the canon BEN we’re most familiar with. when he’s just chilling in his physical body, he mostly wears beat up hoodies and sweatpants.

contrary to popular belief, ben's not the hardcore gamer everyone thinks he is. sure, he'll play some overwatch or whatever when he's bored but he honestly just prefers to watch tv and browse the internet. understandably REFUSES to play any zelda games. if you were trapped in a video game for decades would you ever wanna touch it again? exactly.

ben loves to draw little comics and troll (see: horrifically traumatize) people online. god forbid you get into twitter beef with this man because he will crawl through your monitor at 3am and leave you with a crippling fear of technology. dude thinks it's absolutely hilarious. a true knee slapper.

lowkey has a sugar addiction. will slam down 4 cans of pepsi in one sitting. he's very lucky that he's basically a ghost because the kidney stones would be plentiful.

ROMANTIC

you know that guy with the blown out speakers in his car, lives off of energy drinks and burnt blue razz ice elfbars, swears aphex twin is the modern mozart and works on the grill at your local wendy’s? yeah thats ben. or at least would be him if he was still human.

“why would you need a chair, my lap is literally right here babe.”

would absolutely wear your skin if given the opportunity. not in a weird way. he’s just EXTREMELY touchy.

he needs someone who is significantly more organized and motivated than him. he can go almost a week without showering and it should honestly be considered biological warfare when he tries to smother you with affection during these episodes.

after awhile of you guys dating he LOVES the idea of y’all showering together. he has a fear of water and while showers aren’t too much of a trigger, your presence helps ease his anxiety.

favorite pet names: bro, dude, dawg, babe, bitch (non derogatory)

not really a romantic but he tries his best. a perfect date for him is just getting some takeout, watching youtube, talking about stupid shit and play fighting. if you want something more traditional or extravagant then he’ll oblige to make you happy but those types of dates make him feel quite suffocated and nervous. try to save those for special occasions.

now let’s talk about his problems because just like the other creeps he is ANGSTY.

he’s probably the most emotionally stable and healthiest of the group but he definitely still has his toxic traits, after all this man is a ghost that mentally tortures and kills his victims through manipulation.

ben would never ever get physical with his partner no matter how enraged he is but he absolutely is the type to do some mental damage when he gets carried away. ben drowned? more like ben gaslighted.

the type to say some shit that would keep you up for years and then kiss you the next morning like the argument never happened. he finds it easier to ignore problems than to actively talk and fix them. you’re gonna have to teach him some important communication skills or else you’ll grow to resent him after all the bottled up rage.

a bit too brutally honest and blunt for his own good so if you have thin skin the relationship would fall apart pretty quickly. he wants someone who can drag him twice as hard as he dragged you. bonus points if your insults are consistently funny as hell.

please watch anime with him and discuss it. he would propose on the spot, especially if you play with his hair.

pro player tip: if you want him to clean his disgusting room, help him and make it fun! he just needs a little push and motivation at times. and being around you makes him want to get his shit together.

big fan of late night make-out sessions. i’m talking like 45 minutes straight of just slobbering on each other’s faces with tongues down throats. if you don’t want his hands running over every inch of your body then you’ll probably have to chain him to the wall.

NSFW

okay. so he’s a little inexperienced with his hands. he’s just a slow learner. be vocal with him about what you like!!

ben's about 7inches and slightly skinnier than average but he will have you seeing stars in record time. the dick game is no joke. he tends to go fast and deep most times.

i can see him being a switch in the idgaf-as-long-as-i’m-fucking way. dude will go with the flow and will try mostly anything.

definitely one of the least aggressive pastas during sex. he has sadistic tendencies but he’s more of a edge/overstimulate you until you cry versus a beat the shit out of you and rip hair out of your scalp type. he’s pretty vanilla given his occupation.

despite his love of roasting the fuck out of you on a daily basis, the only words that come out of this man’s mouth is heavenly praise. he looks at you like you’re the most gorgeous being on the planet and he’ll let you know it.

he loves to whisper praises into your ear while you ride him.

he's more of a receiver than a giver when it comes to oral. he'll absolutely spend hours between your legs if given the chance but nothing beats the sight of you on your knees and teary eyed with his length in your mouth.

he can be a bit of a head pusher but just let him face-fuck you every now and then, hearing his loud moans will be worth it.

did i mention how much of a crying kink this man has? you guys could be on round three and if he stares at your teary eyed fucked-out face for longer than 10 seconds he'll immediately get hard again. you'll have to beg him to give your poor body a break.

he's also into choking but only if he's the one doing it. if you try to restrict his breathing he'll panic and the mood would get ruined.

#creepypasta #creepypasta smut #celia reqs #creepypasta x reader #ben drowned #ben drowned x reader #ben drowned smut #ben drowned x y/n #ben drowned x you #ben drowned headcanons #ben drowned hcs #creepypasta headcanon

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trippinsorrows · 3 months

Text

looking through your eyes + two

authors note: holy shit, i didn't expect so many people to be interested in this story! thank you all so much for the kind comments. this one is heavier than the first, but the following should be a little lighter.

i also just want to clarify something that a few of you mentioned: roman will not be abusive in this story. i know that's a plot used frequently, but it's not my thing, so i just wanna make that clear. :)

he is an ass though.....for now.

also, please, please, please heed to the cw/tw's! i will update them to reflect the content of each update. it's up to you, the reader, to prepare yourself properly by reading them to avoid being triggered.

if any cw/tw’s are missed, please let me know, and i will add them!

cw/tw: language, violence against women, a scene of torture, depiction of ptsd, trauma responses (panic attacks), mentions of suicidal thoughts, brief line of dialogue referring to past childhood sexual assault, trauma response due to past childhood sexual assault

song inspo: 'looking through your eyes’ by leann rimes

words: 7k

“You’re going to kill Roman Reigns for us.”

If Solana was capable of feeling and experiencing any emotion other than sadness and fear, she would laugh.

She would laugh because no one sane truly thinks that they can kill the head of the table, least of all someone like her. But, it really does settle in that her father and brother truly believe that she, of all people, can do something like that.

Can take someone’s life.

Just the thought alone unlocks a new level of dread and terror.

Eyes watering, she shakes her head, protesting. “No. I—I can’t do that. I—I won’t.”

Rarely, if ever, does Solana push back on what she’s asked or told to do. It only results in more severe beatings that lead to ER trips vs having to patch herself back up in her bathroom. She’s accepted that acquiescence is always a better alternative. But this….this she can’t get behind.

Wes smiles. “I was hoping you’d say that.”

As soon as the words leave his mouth, Solana knows exactly what’s about to happen next. Stupidly, she tries to escape, climbing up on her feet and making it centimeters past Wes when he fists her hair, yanking her body back. She hisses in pain and starts to cry and protest as he drags her across the first floor of the house.

“No! P-please! I–I’m sorry!” She begs, all the while Xavier follows lazily behind, keeping his cigar near his mouth.

“Shut up,” Wes snaps. She cries, heartbeat sporadic, so much so that it’s becoming difficult to breathe. That’s one of the worst things to happen considering what she knows is about to occur. He kicks open the bathroom door, and sure enough, the tub is already full and ready.

“No…..” Wes shoves her toward the tub, kicking her in her back to force her to the knees, Solana’s head banging against the side of the tub. She can only blink two or three times before water is burning her eyes, filling her mouth, drowning her.

Solana flails against Wes whose strong hand holds her down under the water by the back of her head. It’s a wasteless effort, trying to fight against him, when her energy would be better spent trying not to drown.

Not that Wes will allow that. He’s adept at bringing her to the edge of unconsciousness, pulling back just in time to taunt her. And that’s exactly what he does, pulling her head back, finding a level of enjoyment at her violent coughs and tears.

His favorite form of torturing her.

She’s not sure how long it lasts, only knows there’s a tremendous amount of relief when he finally lets her go long enough for her to plant her palms on the ground to gather herself.

Xavier, who stood there watching the whole time with pleasure, walks towards her. Solana gasps and moves her body back against the tub, wanting as much distance between the two of them as possible.

His face is blank, no emotion in his eyes. “You either kill Reigns.” Solana’s eyes shut as Xavier caresses her wet cheek. “Or we kill you.”

It’s impossible to hold back her tears, as Solana breaks down in front of her father and brother, the both of which simply walk away with an astounding amount of indifference.

They slam the bathroom door shut, allowing her the privacy of at least deteriorating without their judgmental glares.

Pulling up her legs against her chest and wrapping her arms around them, she sobs into her thighs, confused as to just how in the hell she ended up in this situation.

Solana isn’t a killer. Has never even had the desire to kill anyone. Not even the two men who just made it abundantly clear that her only two options are to kill or be killed.

Just how all of this is supposed to work is beyond her. Roman is a boulder of a man, body covered in ropes of pure muscle with a kill count that rivals some of the world’s leading assassins. She’s barely 5'1, can’t seem to get the scale to budge no matter how many diets she tries, and trembles in the presence of anyone who has an XY chromosome combination.

Many have tried to kill Roman, and all have failed, meeting gruesome, torturous deaths.

What chance does she have?

————

Any prayer sent up requesting some type of divine intervention to stop this unholy union is either denied, ignored, or planning to be answered at a much later date and time, because the next two weeks speed by faster than the speed of light.

Solana’s days are filled with wedding preparations that require little to no of her say in what she wants. Not that that’s any different from most things in her life.

Granted, there’s a small part of her that mourns when she’s presented with her wedding dress.

The dress she doesn’t want to wear for a wedding she doesn’t want to have. There’s an alarming lack of autonomy that suddenly feels so much heavier and suffocating despite it being a consistent, dominant theme in her life.

A large part of her recognizes how it’s probably largely due to the whole reason why all of this is happening.

Her father and brother want control of the bloodline.

Objectively speaking, she can see why this would be a goal. It’s everyone’s goal. To have control and power over the most powerful crime family in the entire continent. Maybe beyond. The Bloodline’s true stretch has never really been made public, per se. She’s certain that’s partially what makes them so dangerous. One can never really know who is a member and who is not, who has ties and who is an enemy.

A secret that gives them a forever advantage.

The day of the actual wedding, like everything else, comes much quicker than Solana feels prepared for. Truthfully, she doesn’t feel prepared for any of this, doesn’t want any of this, but much like most things in her life, her wants and desires don’t matter.

No one cares to hear them, and no one definitely cares to respect them.

On the day of the wedding, shortly after arriving at the church, she’s left alone in one of the back rooms. Someone mutters something about the makeup artist and hairstylist to come in shortly before slamming the door and leaving her by herself. That’s mostly a bad thing. Being alone with the thoughts she’s been having lately……they typically don’t result in anything good.

Overwhelmed and in her head too much, Solana grabs her purse and takes out the latest journal she’s been working out of.

And she writes.

Dear Mom,

Today is my wedding day. I should be happy. You should be here. None of that is the case though. The truth is that I feel so empty. This won’t turn out well. I either try to kill Roman and he ends up killing me as a result or I refuse and dad and Wes kill me.

There is no outcome where I make it out of here alive.

And mama, I know you always told me to never forget that life is a gift, but mine isn’t. It hasn’t been since they took you from me.

And truthfully……I don’t think I really care anymore.

Life is hard. Maybe this is a blessing in disguise.

I’d rather be with you instead.

The knock on the door startles Solana as she hurriedly moves to close up her notebook, stuffing it back in her purse as she calls out for whoever is on the other side to enter. The door slowly swings open as Solana quickly swipes at her eyes, feeling the burning of pending tears.

She can’t let them see her cry though.

No matter how badly she wants to.

While Solana expects another set of hard eyes and an indifferent scowl, she’s met with a woman around the same age as her with half her head shaved, the other side full of dark purple hair that grazes her shoulder.

“Damn, got the right room on the first try. Let’s fucking go.” Solana stands up as the woman walks over, adjusting the black makeup kit on her shoulder. “I’m Bayley.” She extends her hand out for a handshake, and Solana takes a second to reciprocate, caught off guard by her relaxed disposition. The way her smile meets her eyes, not a trace of irritation or disgust in having to assist her.

Solana has only had minimal interaction with representatives of the Bloodline, namely the women who accompanied her at the tailor shop and made comments, most likely about her, in their native Samoan. Nina always taught her daughter not to assume, but it’s hard to not believe cruel things are being stated when they’re conjoined with pointing, eye rolls, and curt exchanges when they needed Solana to move a certain way.

So Solana, understandably, is cautious.

“Solana,” she shares, shifting in her seat.

“I know,” Bayley snickers, placing her makeup kit on the counter and starting to lay out products. “I’d be a bit of a shitty makeup artist if I didn’t know who the bride was, am I right?”

Solana doesn’t say anything. The silence doesn’t come from a place of rudeness but rather continued confusion. She can’t comprehend why this woman is being so nice to her?

If Bayley is bothered by the lack of responses, she does a damn great job of not showing it. “Now, I have a couple ideas of what look I think I wanna go for with you, but as it’s your big day, what are you thinking?”

That…..that is what triggers another one word responde.

Cautious, she asks, “me?”

Bayley pauses in the midst of starting to pick out foundation options and leans back against the counter, a small, sympathetic smile on her face. “Arranged marriages suck ass. You already don’t get to pick who you’re gonna spend the rest of your life with. The least you can do is pick out some makeup.”

There’s something so insanely comforting about her otherwise simple words. Something freeing and liberating about being given an option, even if it’s about makeup. For the first time today, Solana actually smiles.

“I—I like neutral colors. Gold…maybe would be okay too.”

And just like that, the deep smile that revealed the dimple in Bayley’s right cheek returns. “Great minds think alike. That’s exactly what I was gonna go for.”

“And—” Solana adds, voice an octave lower, insecurity creeping back in. “If—if you could cover the scar as best you can.”

“What scar?” Bayley gives her a wink before finishing up the laying out of products. “I got you, girl.”

It’s not very often, if ever, Solana feels beautiful. And even when those once in a blue moon moments occur, they’re fleeting or surface level, typically dashed by a cruel comment from her family. But today, standing in front of the mirror, makeup completed, hair done, and dress on, she actually feels beautiful.

The first time she tried on the dress, it was an unpleasant experience for a variety of reasons, on top of the fact that she hated the style. Strapless and form-fitting with a sweetheart neckline. Solana hates her arms and especially bringing too much attention to her chest and body in general.

But conjoined with the hair and makeup, she actually doesn’t immediately want to turn away from the mirror when she sees the outcome.

Bayley comes behind her, still wearing that smile that Solana is now convinced, despite the odds, is genuine. “Reigns is a lucky bastard. You look fuckin’ gorgeous.”

Solana really does mean it when she offers a sincere “thank you.” Bayley’s positive energy is exactly what she needed. It doesn’t change anything, but it definitely does help her not to be consumed by thoughts she hasn’t had since she was a teenager.

“Hey, uhh, I’m sure being married to Mr. Tribal Chief himself means you’ll probably have to make appearances from time to time, hold his arm and shit.” She hands Solana a small piece of paper. Unfolding it, Solana sees numbers scribbled down in red ink. A phone number. “Ever need glam again for any of it, hit me up. Or even….even if you just need someone to talk to.”

“Thank you.” Solana’s voice is stronger this time, firmer, the small act of kindness traveling such a long way. She holds up one side of her gown to walk over and slide the paper in her purse.

She’ll make sure not to lose it.

There’s a hard knock on the door that reminds her where she is. Reminds her that people like Bayley are anomalies. One doesn’t get to experience kindness for too long. Not in her world.

Solana honestly didn’t expect her father to walk her down the aisle, didn’t see it as something he would have any interest in nor find an exciting opportunity. And those two reasons are very much true, but his desire to issue last minute warnings outweighs both of them.

Xavier’s frame fills the door as he looks at Solana from head to toe. Instantly, he’s scowling with disapproval.

“Why is her hair not down?”

Solana was partially worried about that. She knows her father has always told her she needs to keep her length so that she can always wear her hair down as it helps to “hide how fat your face is.”

She doesn’t know how wrong or right he is about that, but she’s wanted to cut it for ages, being unable to do so because she knows it’ll upset him.

Bayley, however, doesn’t seem to give two shits about Xavier’s disapproval. “Updo’s are typically better for formal events. Granted, up or down, she still looks beautiful.”

Solana can’t tell entirely if Bayley is defending her work or Solana. Either way, she has a tremendous amount of respect for this woman who doesn’t seem to give two shits about who Xavier Miller is.

If only Solana could do the same.

Xavier cuts his eyes in Bayley’s direction but says nothing, instead walking over to Solana and whispering in her ear. “You should have started your fast three days ago instead of two. You still look fat. Hold your stomach in as you walk down the aisle.”

Any relief or peace felt from her interaction with Bayley is dead the second those cruel words leave his mouth. As soon as he entered the room, really. But Solana doesn’t have time to be sad, because he moves to drop her veil over her face and loops his arm with hers.

He walks her out of the room, depriving her of a chance to tell Bayley goodbye and thank you again.

Xavier leads her down the hall, a left, and then a right before they’re standing before the double doors that lead to the sanctuary. She wants to ask for a second to gather herself, feeling the panic starting to rise, but Xavier barks for the guards standing outside the door to open said door.

And they oblige without protest.

The veil is more opaque than she remembers, partially obscuring her view of Roman and the others who wait for her at the end of the aisle. There’s a sea of people on either side of the pews, many and most, Bloodline members. But, she can’t focus on that.

All she can focus on is the low, warning voice of her father. “You will please him and do exactly as he asks.” What other choice do I have? “Earn his trust. We will tell you the rest when the time comes.”

Solana would give anything for that time to never come.

And once they reach the end, before he frees her hand for Roman to take it, he snatches the chance to put on a good display of faux love, leaning over for a hug. Solana instantly tenses at his touch.

“Don’t fuck this up,” he whispers and pulls away with a smile that has her empty stomach knotting.

Swallowing, Solana channels her focus back on Roman. Like the past two times she'd seen him, his hair is neatly pulled back, but unlike those exchanges, he’s dressed to the nines. Expensive, designer suit, all black, the only red in his appearance, the red Ula Fala he wears around his neck. Representation of his status as Tribal Chief, his role in his family’s dynasty.

Solana can admit that he looks good. Very good.

If only everything else just wasn’t so bad.

Roman has no reaction at unveiling her, and Solana can’t tell if that’s a good or bad thing. She’d like to just say he has no reaction to anything, really, but that’s untrue.

He’s notorious for his angry reactions to the most minute situations sometimes.

So perhaps no reaction is the best reaction she can receive.

Still, it unsettles her. Has she upset him already?

The two of them are directed to kneel by the pastor, or maybe Shaman, or maybe just an official. She’s not really sure, but whoever he is, he wastes no time in starting with the formalities of the wedding. He says many things, but Solana’s mind is elsewhere, not that it’s an intentional avoidance.

Her father reminding her of the fact that she hasn’t had anything to eat for two days is suddenly bringing on the extreme exhaustion and weakness she’s pretty sure she’d managed to put on the back burner in exchange for mental anguish.

She’s so incredibly tired. And it feels impossible to be present for the vows or to stand when she’s prompted so by the officiant. It’s even more difficult to stay cognizant enough to acknowledge what’s being asked of her, forced of her, with a set of “I do’s.”

But, it’s when a knife is pulled out that her face pales, flashes of numerous, previous exchanges where that little piece of silver was used to mentally and physically terrorize her. Roman somehow notices this and quietly murmurs, “relax. It’s tradition.”

Before she can speak, the officiant continues. “Now, as are the ways of our ancestors, we shall seal this union before God, family, and all with blood.” Roman offers his hand, palm faced upward and nods at Solana to do the same. Reluctantly, she follows, eyes shutting, not wanting to see whatever is about to happen next.

“Careful,” Roman warns. She’s unsure who it’s directed to, but it’s followed by a brief, burning pain across her palm. She’s been cut, nothing major, but enough to draw blood.

Her hand is moved followed by instant, coarse, warmth. Eyes opening, she sees that her and Roman’s hands have been joined together.

“In the eyes of the ancestors, you two are now officially bound to one another not just by law, tribal and government, but blood. A curse be placed upon anyone who dares interfere with this marriage.” Separating their hands, Roman takes the red cloth and wipes her palm before his own, tossing it to who she recognizes as his enforcer/cousin, Solo. “And now, you may kiss the bride.”

For whatever reason, probably several good ones, Solana hadn’t thought about this part. The part where Roman would have to touch her, would have to kiss her, in front of everyone.

There’s a quick increase of anxiety and panic that ensues when Roman takes her hand, pulling to force her to angle her body toward him. Her heart is smashing against her chest with the weight of a ton of bricks.

But just as quickly as the anxiety rushed in, it’s gone because Roman’s head dips lower to hers and his lips are on and off her faster than she can process, than she can freak out over.

She’s unsure about this brief interaction, a possible indication he’s just as uninterested in this union as she is.

A business arrangement.

That’s what he called it.

That’s what he called her.

Even her hand in his as he leads her down the aisle, stoic expression the polar opposite of one would expect for what should be the happiest day of someone’s life.

She wonders if he views this as the exact opposite.

Because Solana certainly does.

————

Despite her best efforts to power through, the weakness gets worse and is complicated by a sort of dizziness that makes Solana partially grateful her arm is linked with Roman’s. She tries not to show that she’s leaning more on him than her own two feet, not trusting them to give out on her.

But, this man is perceptive as hell, she should know this. One doesn’t get to be where he is, accomplished all he has by being oblivious.

He’s escorting her into the reception area, already lively and full of people, most of which she doesn’t know, many of which she’s not sure she wants to know.

But instead of leading her toward an individual or group of individuals, he pulls her to the side, asking in a low but steel voice. “What’s wrong?”

Solana stills. The last thing she wanted to do was bring attention to herself, and that’s exactly what she’s done. Trying her best to do damage control, she answers in as firm a voice she can muster. “Nothing. I’m just—I’m just tire……” Free hand to her forehead, Solana only recalls her eyes briefly closing before her body sways into something hard and firm, arms around her, holding her up.

Roman says something, calls for someone, but Solana is solely focused on centering herself.

A woman is suddenly standing before her with a deep, beautiful complexion similar to her father’s. However, that’s where the similarities stop, because this woman and her bold makeup is absolutely stunning.

“You don’t look well,” is the first thing to leave the woman’s frowning mouth.She takes the back of her hand to Solana’s forehead and offers what could be perceived as a sincere, sympathetic smile. “Girl, when was the last time you had something to eat?”

Solana manages to answer, unfortunately being honest when she should probably lie. “Y-yesterday, I think. Maybe—maybe the day before.”

A deep frown falls on her face, but Roman is the first to speak. “Why the fuck haven’t you been eating?”

It’s the irritation and anger in her voice that makes her wince, but Solana can’t account for what makes her eyes dart over to where her dad and brother are watching closely. She does her best to redirect her gaze before Roman notices, but it’s a stupid thought.

He sees everything.

His expression turns dark as he mutters something she can’t hear and then directs the woman. “Naomi, take her to get something to eat.”

Naomi. That’s her name. For some reason, it just fits her. Naomi places her hand on the small of Solana’s back, gently taking her from Roman’s grasp as she starts to guide her away. “Come on. There’s definitely plenty of options to choose from.”

Meanwhile, Roman sets his sights on another goal, knowing Naomi will see to it that Solana is taken care of.

Xavier isn’t a hard man to find. He’s laughing it up with some of the other guests at the wedding who aren’t members of the Bloodline per se, more along the lines of allies. Not that Roman gives a shit. His stride is intentful and purposeful, Solo naturally flanking at his side, Xavier’s gaze falling on them with an insincere smile.

“Ahhh, the groom. Congratulations—”

“Why wasn’t she eating?” All Roman has to do is nod for the other men to disperse, and like ants, they do just that, leaving him alone with Miller and his boy.

Xavier steps forward, lowering his voice and clearly playing up the facade of a concerned, loving father. “I believe she said something about looking her best on her wedding day. And as you can see, Solana is not a small woman. She probably thought that was the best and quickest way. Poor girl.”

Roman has this thing he likes to do sometimes when people think they can get one over on him. He likes to tap into the deeply rooted part of himself that can maintain his temper, keep him from acting on his emotions, and instill some well crafted self-control. He puts all of that on the back burner in favor of something else almost equally enjoyable.

Playing with his prey.

Roman knew five minutes into the conversation with Miller that the man’s death would come at his hands. Preferably sooner rather than later. Xavier is the type of man Roman hates the most. The kind who fails in all important areas of his life and spends the rest of it making others miserable for his shortcomings. The kind of man who refuses to see the simpleton he has for a son yet seems keen on turning him into a mafia head.

It’s almost comical. The amount of delusion.

Wes also decides to answer, chin jutted, shoulders straightening. This actually is humorous to Roman, the fact this kid thinks that he comes off remotely intimidating. That shit may work on his sister, but not the Tribal Chief.

“Solana’s a grown woman. She does what she wants.”

Xavier shoots his son a warning look. A look indicating that he can’t believe Wes would be foolish enough to challenge the man before him. “Wes….”

This only brings a smile to Roman’s face. He steps toward him, vowing in Samoan. “I’m going to enjoy killing you.” His eyes dart toward Xavier. “The both of you.”

Solo also steps forward, asking in their same native language. “Want me to handle this for you, my tribal chief?”

Roman shakes his head, advising in a deadly calm voice. “Patience, Solo. I’m going to have my fun first.”

Xavier is visibly irked by the conversation happening in front of him that he can’t understand. But, he does a decent job hiding that irritation. “Perhaps I should go check on her—”

Roman extends his arm, blocking the man. “No.”

Xavier pauses. “What?”

Roman is suddenly ready to get the fuck out of here. He promised his cousins that he would go the day without killing anyone, but this fucker is pushing it. “She’s my wife. I see to it that she’s fine.”

Anger flashes in his eyes, but he covers it with a tight smile. “She is my daughter.”

“The same daughter you knew was starving herself yet did nothing about it?” Roman’s retort is blunt and to the point. He may plan to play with his prey, but that doesn’t mean he can’t call this man out on his bullshit along the way.

Xavier paints on a face of shock and indignation at Roman’s accusation. “I did—"

Roman is directly to the point, advising in a way that makes it clear there’s no room for debate. “Solana is my responsibility now. Any issues she has, I will handle. Any threats she faces, I will eliminate.” One glance at Wes shows that the younger Miller is struggling to control his temper, hand clenching and unclenching at his side. The impulsive side of Roman wants the kid to try something. This will be a beating he’ll enjoy. Thoroughly.

The kid is as insufferable as his father.

Roman refocuses himself, talking and directing his conversation to Xavier. “Solana will be unavailable for the next few weeks.”

Roman swears he can see the vein forming in the older man’s forehead. “What? Why?”

“She’s a member of the Bloodline now. She must get familiar with our ways. Any messages you need to relay to her will go through me.”

It’s partially true. But mostly, he wants to fuck with Miller. A man who obviously gets off on control needs to be humbled, Roman knows it must kill Xavier to be humbled by someone younger and more accomplished than himself.

He’s also certain Solana won’t be heartbroken by not being around her abusive piece of shit family.

“I don’t—”

“When she wants to.” He gestures to Solo, explaining, “Solo will accompany her for any outings she has outside of the estate. That includes your home as well.”

Roman is certain Solo, if not for his adept skill at maintaining a poker face, would be looking at him with surprise. He’s yet to discuss this with his enforcer, but Roman’s word is law. So however his cousin feels about it is irrelevant. It’s painfully obvious Solana is incapable of keeping herself safe, hence her need for protection.

Solo would be the perfect person for just that.

Xavier clears his throat, wrinkled hand adjusting, loosening his tie. “Is that really necessary?”

“As my wife, she now has a major target over her head. I won’t take any chances.” Roman’s smile is mocking. “This is your daughter, right? Surely, you don’t want me taking any chances.” Roman adds on, partially to continue to twist the knife but also because it’s the truth. “I will keep her safe.”

Regardless of how he feels about this marriage, Solana is now a part of the Bloodline. That means, just like for anyone else in his family, he’ll protect her with his life. It’s his duty to do so.

Xavier’s deep complexion is tinged red. The man is fired up. But still, he knows better than to express that rage to the man in front of him. “That is—-was—-her home. What safer place is there to be?”

Now, Roman is getting pissed off. It’s obvious by the faded bruises and pure terror that Solana exhibits in the presence of her family that she’s anything but safe with them.

Roman steps towards him. “With me.” Tired of these games, he gets straight to the point. “These are not suggestions. They’re orders. Orders you will obey.” He searches Xavier’s face for any signs of indication that he’d be stupid enough to try something. There’s nothing there. “Am I understood?”

With a clenched jaw, Xavier answers. “Yes.”

Roman’s intense gaze burns into him, his undisputed authority surely a thorn in Miller’s side. “Yes, what?”

“Yes…..my Tribal Chief.”

Roman smiles. Pleased with his assertion of dominance, he turns away, venturing off to find his bride.

Time to get the fuck out of here.

————

Solana spends much longer in the bathroom than necessary. She halfheartedly expects for Roman to come beating on the door, demanding for her to come out and fulfill her wifely duties.

But that moment never arrives, so she values every second of time she’s granted to prepare herself for what she’s refused to think about the past two weeks.

Her wedding night.

Solana knows what’s going to happen, what has to happen, but it doesn’t do anything to help the terror she feels in every corner of her body.

The shower water blends with the tears shed at the thought of what she has to do, the act she can’t even think about without her chest tightening.

She hoped that reminding herself this wasn’t that, that this isn’t that, would help. But, it doesn’t. Because this is Roman Reigns she’s about to be intimate with.

He’s not known for being gentle in any area of his life, and bedroom activities certainly can’t be an exception. That’s when her anxiety grows even stronger, especially as she forces herself to dress in the red lingerie that was provided to her.

The silk robe included provides a slither of comfort, and she makes sure to tie it so it covers as much of her body as possible. A silly act considering Roman will rip it off, along with everything else, the moment he gets her onto the bed.

It’s only when she’s certain she’s stretched out every bit of patience this man is capable of offering that Solana decides she needs to leave the bathroom. Upsetting him is the last thing she wants to do.

So without an ounce of hope that anything moving forward will be remotely good, Solana hits the light switch and opens the door.

She finds Roman sitting almost slouched in his chair located in the corner of the room. He’s lazily scrolling on his phone when his eyes lift and land on her. She stills. There’s a brief second of a delay when he hits the button on the side of the phone and stands up.

Solana refuses to focus too much on the fact that he’s about as covered up as she is, wearing only boxers.

Because of his size, it seems he’s across the room directly in front of her in a matter of seconds. Eyes taking her in from top to bottom, he asks, “you good?”

Far from it.

Regardless, Solana nods.

If only that worked for the head of the table.

She gasps quietly when he brings his hand to her chin, forcing her to look up at him. “I don’t do non-verbals.” His eyes search her face for something she can’t identify. “Words.”

Blinking, she answers with a low, “y–yes.”

He pauses and then demands, “lay down on the bed.”

Solana licks her lips and makes her feet move over to the mattress, climbing on top and clenching her eyes shut as she lays her head back on the pillow.

Her fingers mess with the material of her robe, trying to distract herself from the sound and feel of him climbing on the bed. She doesn’t need to be looking to know he’s above her, intense eyes probably studying her.

His deep voice sounds at the same time she feels his finger glaze across her clavicle. “It’s just sex.”

If only that was true.

Still, she manages to nod, eyes and mouth snapped shut.

Solana takes in a deep breath that makes her stomach cave when Roman’s lips are pressed against the soft skin of her jawline, moving downward at a tantalizingly slow pace at the same moment his hands move to her robe.

She releases another shaky breath as her robe comes undone, revealing so much skin, so much of her she’d do anything to keep hidden away.

A thin sheen of sweat is starting to form all over her body. The room is suddenly much hotter than she remembers. There’s difficulty paying attention to what’s happening because her mind is taken to another place, another time.

A much much darker place and time.

And suddenly, she’s not in Roman’s bed. It’s not him hovering over her, not his mouth on her neck or his hands on her body.

It’s theirs.

His stench is strong and almost sour, breath tinged with alcohol. “You’ve got some fire in you, girl.” A sinister smile reveals yellowish teeth contrasted against pale, dehydrated skin. “But, I like it when they fight back.” His strong fist connects with her jaw, forcing her head to the side and nearly knocking her unconscious. “Rob, come hold her down for me.”

Solana tries her best to stop it, tries to keep it at bay, tries to do what she’s never been able to do prior to this moment but somehow thinks this will be different. It’s a stupid thought, because moments later, she’s hyperventilating, her body feeling like it’s on fire.

“No!”

With strength she didn’t know she possessed, Solana shoves them, Roman, whoever, off of her, scrambling to climb off the bed. She’s standing in the middle of the room, doubled over as the demons overcome her.

Hand to her chest, she starts clawing at her neck.

Deep down, she knew this is what would happen, knew that she’d fall apart the second he started to touch her.

What she didn’t expect was a set of firm, calloused hands forcing her upright, carefully holding her arms away from her neck where she’s certain she just drew blood. And she definitely doesn’t expect Roman’s intense gaze on her, studying her with what one might consider to be concern.

But, Solana is too caught up in her panic attack to know for certain if it’s concern or not as she realizes that he’s talking to her.

His voice is distant but eventually travels close enough where she can make out words. “Breathe.” She’s still gasping for breath, trying to find that place of regulation as he continues to speak to her in an almost soothing manner. But, that can’t be possible. This is Roman fucking Reigns. Nothing about him is soothing.

“Look around the room. Tell me five things you see.”

Solana doesn’t know how, why, or even where she finds the wherewithal to be present for his directions, but she is. She’s even able to follow through. Eyes moving around the room, the first thing she lands on are the double doors leading to the balcony.

With speech still almost an impossible thing, she lifts her arm and points in that direction.

He doesn’t even turn to see what she’s pointing at. “Keep going.”

Confused but also not wanting to make things worse by being disobedient, she scans the room, settling on the dresser. Solana points again.

Roman’s eyes bounce from her eyes to her mouth. “Three more.”

At some point in this random exercise, Solana’s breathing began to regulate, so much so that instead of pointing to the chair in the corner of the room, she whispers, “the c-chair.”

His voice grows seemingly softer. “Two.”

The next thing to catch her attention is the painting on the wall, and it’s after she does so, Roman provides her with a reminder that she still has one more. And when she points to the ceiling fan, he provides another set of directions, tasking her to identify four things she can touch.

She struggles initially, realizing she can use herself, going on and identifying several and actually feeling various parts of herself, like her hair and robe.

And when she’s asked about three things she can hear, it’s only then that she realizes something she’d missed in the midst of following his guidance.

She realizes that she can breathe.

Solana can actually breathe. That anchor isn’t on her chest, weighing her down to a state of unconsciousness, that heat that made her feel like flames were lapping at her body is extinguished.

She almost….she almost feels calm.

While panic was the dominant emotion not even 10 minutes prior, confusion is the primary emotion now.

And it's with partial confusion and partial recognition that she acknowledges softly, “I’m okay…”

He doesn’t say anything, and it’s in that brief time of silence that Solana tries to process what just happened. Having suffered from panic attacks since she was a child, she’s never been able to calm herself down, never experienced one as short as this one.

But he….he just changed that. He just helped her through it.

Shaking her head, she stammers, “how….how did you—”

Solana didn’t realize he was still holding her forearms until she looks down. Roman suddenly jerks and steps away from her, forcing her arms back at her side.

Instantly, she’s contrite. He seems….disturbed. Triggered, almost. “I’m sor—”

“Quiet.” Solana watches with just as much confusion as he moves across the room, dressing himself, back towards her, like he’s physically unable to look at her. There’s a level of aggression in his movement, a wave of irritation radiating off his large being. “Why—why are you….”

She can’t bring herself to finish her sentence, but she definitely thinks it.

She wants to know why he’s leaving, even if it should be painfully obvious.

Truthfully, Solana doesn’t quite understand why she’s suddenly wondering why he’s leaving. It’s obvious she can’t do what needs to be done. More importantly, she doesn’t want to. Him leaving her alone should be sweet relief.

But it can’t be sweet relief because while it may fix one issue, several others are created.

She was told not to upset him.

He’s upset.

She was told to please him.

He’s far from pleased.

She was told to do whatever he asked, and she’s done the opposite of that.

So far, Solana is failing. She’s failing miserably, and that can only lead to one grisly outcome.

“Where are you going?” Asking while holding her robe closed over her body, she weakly reminds, even if it kills her to do so. “We—we have to—”

“You think I’m dealing with that shit again?” Roman snaps, finally turning to look at her. “I can’t even fucking touch you without you having a nervous breakdown.”

His words, while true, leave a sting. It’s also a bit confusing. How is this the same man who only minutes ago talked her through her panic attack with such patience and compassion.

She suddenly feels even more embarrassed and stupid.

“But, we’re—”

“I can get pussy anywhere, preferably without the headache of dealing with someone clearly unstable.” Solana still isn’t quite sure how to take his sudden change in demeanor. Roman finishes dressing and curtly informs, “the room on the end of the hall on the right is yours. Don’t still be in mine by the time I get back.”

“When are you—” The sound of his heavy double bedroom doors slamming in the wake of his exit prematurely silences her question.

It’s only when she’s certain that she’s alone that Solana breaks down again.

He’s upset.

She’s upset him.

Nothing ever good ever came out of an angry man. Not for her, at least.

Her mind creates and races with a million and one thoughts regarding not about where he’s going but what will happen when he’s returned. She wants to believe he’s going somewhere to work off his anger, but experience has proven she’s the way that men work off their anger.

Roman indicated that day in the library that he wouldn’t put his hands on her, and while she wanted to believe he was being honest, this was also before she pulled this. He has every right to be upset, but that anger and not knowing what will come from it….it terrifies her.

It terrifies the shit out of her.

Falling to the floor, legs against her chest, she sobs into her legs, one thought and only one thought on her mind now.

What the hell did I get myself into?

#roman reigns x black!reader #roman reigns x black!oc #roman reigns fic #roman reigns #arisnotebook

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datesinredink · 2 months

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could you possibly write headcanons you have of how the rise yanderes would like psychologically manipulate/punish their darling? i’m all for physical violence but what do they do to mess their darling up in the head?

ty very much for reading this if you do :)

THANK YOU SO MUCH RAGHHHHHH!!!!! Since this is such a fun question to answer im gonna order these from most to least awful. The ranking is just my opinion and i would LOVE to see what other people think jhwhnwiurfj i decided to chug a soda to write this and i think that was a great decision because i immediately came up with smth for donnie because of it.

I decided to search up some ACTUAL psychological torture methods that have been/are used in real life and let normal manipulation take more of a backseat so that this didn’t end up too repetitive- honestly would recommend researching it, it’s a fun topic.

Trigger warnings: Very unfun use of technology in your arm, Drugging, More drugging, Even more drugging, Withholding of food/water (+ a more mild example of doing so but it still happens), Mild descriptions of gore, Mentions of blood, general yandere stuff like kidnapping, and likely others- please ask me to tag anything else triggering, because unfortunately I am not perfect.

1- Donnie.

This might be surprising to some of you. Yes, Leo is the manipulator- he’s the face man, the people guy, but I think that in terms of sheer awfulness- Donnie is going to win here simply because of the potential with his tech.

He’s a genius with access to mystic powers who has incredible skill with both designing and creating various machines and gadgets. I think that he’d be very creative, just considering how much he thought to fit into just his bō staff.

My first thought was that he could come up with a small device (which might be able to double as a tracker) to embed under your skin that could move around. It would skitter up and down your arm like a beetle (likely your dominant arm, just to be worse) and be a nice cherry on top of anything else he could come up with.

To pair with that, he could force some type of hallucinogenic drug down your throat- after some googling, LSD would be a likely candidate. While apparently it usually only causes “pseudo-hallucinations” (where you know that they aren’t real, whereas true hallucinations would be where you think they are), true hallucinations can happen, and the pseudo-hallucinations combined with the environment alone would be enough to cause a panic attack. Not even to mention the kind of drugs that the mystic city might have. (edit: i just found out about datura??? GODDAMN THAT’S A STRONG DRUG.)

Also, I think that Donnie would actually take decent care of you prior to any sort of escape attempt or broken rule. He’d hate for you to waste away in a dark room for the rest of your now shared life, so he would take you outside to some private space for a set amount of time everyday while you’re chained to him and probably gagged so you don’t call for help- you need time in the sun and exercise, after all. That’s why I think he’d also stop doing that if you broke a rule. You don’t want to be anywhere near him, and he supposes that he’s fine with that- but if you really don’t want anything to do with Donnie anymore, then you’ll just have to deal with losing all the luxuries that came with him being so caring.

He’ll lower the temperature in your room and take the hoodie that he so graciously gave you and waltz on out. He still brings you food and water, but now it’s less frequent and more random since now he’s prioritizing his brilliant inventions. Sorry dear, but weren’t you the one who begged him to leave you alone? Now he is. What’s the problem?

2- Leo.

Even if you haven’t done anything wrong (yet), being kept in his room would probably be a nightmare. I feel in my adhd soul that he would NOT be good at keeping it clean. It’d be living in a constant mess, and as someone who has lived in a perpetually messy house, it will definitely take a toll on your mental health. Not to mention the additional noise from whatever he and his brothers are doing. You wouldn’t be allowed outside of it either, not for a while at least, so you’d never know what day or time it is.

Other than the already constant sensory of his room, I think that Leo would mainly use threats- of which he goes through with. Not against you, though, but against your family, (what’s left of) your friends, and any other loved ones you might have. He’ll drag their unconscious body into whatever room he’s keeping you in, and wait with you for them to wake up.

While you two are waiting, he’ll lay out everything he’s planning to do to them in awful detail- and lucky you, he even left out some things as a nice surprise!

You’ll be tied to a chair and forced to watch as their guts fall to the ground from the clean slice in their now empty abdomen while Leo picks up and talks about their functions one by one. You silently wish that you never told him that you admired his skills as the team medic.

When he’s finally done rambling about the various viscera laying on the cold floor, he’ll force you to help him clean up- “so that Raph doesn’t get mad about the mess”, as he says. He’ll hold you in his arms when the two of you are done, whispering in your ear about how sorry he is that he had to do that, but you really did force his hand, and you know that, right? If only you had listened…

When the list of people you can bring yourself to care about finally has 0 names, Leo starts to instead take things away from you. He starts small, gradually taking and taking like the parasite you’ve learned he is until all you have left are the clothes you wear and him. He’ll even deprive you of food and water for periods of time, and you can no longer tell if you wish he would shut up for once or if you’re grateful for at least anything to distract you from the constant pain in your empty stomach.

Mikey and Raph landed themselves towards the bottom because I think that they’re both more lenient with punishments (Raph would be afraid of hurting you beyond repair physically OR mentally and Mikey has generally been shown to be very patient and forgiving with people he cares about), but I also think that they might be more exhausting to be stuck with GENERALLY, wearing you down slowly in day-to-day life rather than harsh punishments for breaking whatever rules might be in place for you.

3- Raph.

Raph would try to instill learned helplessness into his darling, to make them understand why he always has to be so careful!

It’ll happen the next morning after a particularly bad argument between you two, and when he’s suddenly letting you handle sharp objects again- but oh no! For some reason you feel so sluggish and dizzy today that you messed up and sliced open your arm. It’s ok- Raph’s here for you! He’ll either patch up your arm himself or take you to Leo, and after it’s taken care of he’ll scold you and say that it’s fine, maybe he’ll give you another chance next week. And he keeps his word- once again, you’re allowed to try your hand at chopping some veggies with him or Mikey- and again, you feel dizzy and accidentally cut yourself.

This will happen many more times- or not, if you give in easily enough- at least until Raph finally decides that he just can’t keep doing this. He brought you to the lair to keep you away from harm, and despite it being to teach you a lesson, he just can’t bear to watch blood drip down your pretty skin.

So instead, he further seals you away- locking you in his room and wrapping one of his hoodies around your head. He’ll keep you like this until you finally learn.

He won’t starve you, at least. He’d hate to watch you waste away after everything, so you’ll be fine physically, but it’ll be hell to not be able to see or properly hear anything. It’ll also be more difficult to breathe properly through the fabric, so I wish you luck with that.

He’s infuriatingly nice throughout the whole thing. Of course he’s angry when you argue with him- when you hurl insults and and completely unfounded whining (yeah right) at him. Sometimes he hurriedly leaves the room so he doesn’t do anything he regrets- but when he comes back- despite your wishes that he wouldn’t- he just wraps that damned hoodie around your skull and chides you for your hostility, leaving you to wonder if this could really be better than death.

You feel insane rambling to his plushies, of which you now know the individual names of, but it’s an admittedly nice bit of company to have when your only other option is Raph. Honestly, you’d rather deal with Ms Cuddles by this point, and she even managed to wring a scream out of Donnie.

At least it’s something you can actually have even an ounce of fun doing that he won’t take away for being “too dangerous”. As long as you can tolerate his absolutely smitten behavior when he finds you talking to them.

Be careful about how loudly you complain, though- it might just land you being completely swaddled in blankets and left to go insane on his bed.

4- Mikey.

I think that if you were to try and escape from Mikey, he’d conclude that his love simply needs to spend more time with him! Maybe if he shows them how wonderful life is with him, they’ll stop trying to run away!

Unfortunately, I doubt his sleep schedule is very consistent. He keeps you up late at night to try out new spraypaints, recipes, games, anything he can find to do with you will be done. You hardly get the chance to sleep well, and the peace you get in dreams is frequently interrupted.

When he does take a break, he insists on sleeping in the same bed, and it’s much harder to fall asleep with him staring holes into you, as though he were trying to memorize every single detail.

It takes a damn long time to get Mikey to knock it off, too. You have to guess that stubbornness runs in the family, if his brothers are anything to go by. Unfortunately, said brothers’ coddling of their youngest has resulted in quite the persistent guy, and you’re quickly losing the energy to refute him. You wonder how long you’ll need to sleep for the giant spider in the corner of your vision to go away.

When the box turtle finally does realize how much of a toll his shenanigans have taken on poor you, he decides that as the person responsible for you, it’s his job to make sure that you get plenty of rest- and if you refuse, Dr Delicate Touch and Dr Feelings are always here to make sure you’re convinced!

He does a sort of 180- where he once forced you to do everything, he now forces you to do nothing at all, even when your mind screams at you to get up and move. He’ll slip something he stole from the pharmacy into your food and carry your sleeping figure back to his room for your seemingly infinite nap.

In between consciousness, you’ve learned to just stay in bed, maybe draw or write something related to all the adventures you go on in dreamworld.

Fun fact, over sleeping has a couple negative side effects- it increases the risk of diabetes, obesity, headaches, back pain, depression (like you don’t have that already, being kidnapped and all), and heart disease! I wish you the best of luck.

When he finally believes your rest to be sufficient, everything will go back to normal. Except, of course, the lingering paranoia of when it’ll happen all over again will continue to haunt you.

Who knows, maybe he’ll continue drugging you just to keep you a little more complacent. Can’t have you running away all the time, right?

#yandere tmnt #yandere rottmnt #rottmnt x reader #yandere #tmnt x reader #rottmnt raph #rottmnt mikey #rottmnt donnie #rottmnt leo #sigh #yknow guys i still cringe while tagging characters #oh well #anyway as i have learned begging for asks WORKS #it's GREAT #i have more things to write but. you should keep sending me ideas #maybe i'll even sketch one of them #Strawberry's basket

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justagalwhowrites · 4 months

Text

Yearling - Ch. 36: Severed

Joel, Tommy and Ellie search for you. A continuation of Yearling ch. 1-35 found on Tumblr here.

I'm sorry I couldn't resist.

Pairing: Joel Miller x Female Reader

Warnings: Canon-typical violence and a step beyond. Torture. Mention of past sexual assault (not described). No use of Y/N. Minors DNI 18+ Only

Length: 8.2k

A/N: I want to state, real quick, that Bambi is NOT going to be sexually assaulted again. This is a highly triggering subject and, given the situation she's in, I understand if folks are bracing for it. That's not going to happen. The threat of it is there but it's not going to happen.

We are into the final arc of Yearling and we are going to see some TLOU 2 OVERLAP again. There isn't any this chapter but there will be in this arc and here's how: a character from that game will be mentioned as will the spoiler-y incident from a few chapters ago. What happens plot wise in this arc is completely separate from the game and entirely original content BUT there is that character overlap and more specific mentions of the incident and the motives behind it. This character returns NEXT CHAPTER. If you're trying to go in blind to season 2, it might be wise to step back. Feel free to send me a DM, I'm happy to answer any and all questions!

AO3 | Chapter One | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

Joel had rarely paid much mind to how long it took to get out of Jackson before.

“Tommy,” Maria was stalking after her husband as he, Joel and Ellie headed for the stable. “Be reasonable, you can’t just take off…”

“Sorry, babe, but I can’t just sit here and let ‘em have a piece of her,” Tommy said as they went to the stable. There were the two horses Tommy and Joel had just returned on, the three that had carried the kids back, and some horses you’d been working with. You’d been telling Joel about their progress, how one was nearing well broke and you wanted him to go with you to the shooting range with her soon to get her accustomed to the sound of gunfire.

“Do you have some kind of death wish you haven’t bothered to tell me about?” Maria planted herself in front of her husband, her arms crossed, defiant. “You have responsibilities here, Tommy! People who depend on you, people like me and our fucking son! You don’t get to just take off at your brother’s command anymore!”

Joel stiffened at that. He and Maria had gotten to a good place in their relationship over the years, her moving past the thought that he’d been the driving force behind all her husband’s misdeeds. They’d settled into a mutual respect and eventual affection since he’d come to Jackson, Maria seeming to appreciate what he did for the community and the way he loved her son and Joel admiring her leadership and the way she was a partner to his little brother. He thought they were past this.

Maybe he was wrong.

Tommy took his wife’s shoulders in his hands, his thumbs rubbing little circles against her.

“If it were you, he’d be going with me,” he said gently. “That’s my baby sister out there, Maria. Can’t live with myself if something happens to her and I didn’t do everything I can to stop it. I’m goin’. You can either help and hope we get back soon or you can be pissed while I’m gone but I’m goin’, you can’t stop me.”

He pressed a kiss to her forehead and went and stood beside Joel, looking over the horses.

“What’s better,” he asked. “Tired mounts or ones that might spook?”

Joel looked at his brother for a moment, thankful that he had him to rely on, and ground his teeth. He didn’t know the answer.

“They’re on foot,” Ellie said, joining them. “Tired is probably better, we’re still going to catch them. But I don’t expect this to be quiet and if we’re on horses that spook, well…”

Joel gave her a stiff nod and went to get the horses ready to leave. He was moving as quickly as he could but it felt slow, everything felt so slow. It felt like he should be running, pushing himself to the brink so he could reach you sooner. Every second you were away from him hurt. It was worse than when you’d left Jackson to search for Savvy in the blizzard. That had been bad enough but at least then he could believe that you were in one piece, that you could take care of yourself.

That wasn’t the case now. He knew you weren’t safe. He knew you weren’t OK. He knew he’d vowed to protect you, the night the two of you made promises to each other in his bed he had sworn to keep you safe and never let anything happen to you.

He’d failed at that.

He’d failed and now he was here, doing what he had to do to make sure he could reach you. It just didn’t feel like enough. Nothing would, not until he held you again.

Tommy and Maria talked in low, harsh voices until they had things situated. Food, water, ammunition, medical kit.

“Tommy,” Joel said, jerking his head toward the horses, voice sharper than he’d meant it to be. His brother jogged over to him, taking the reins of his horse from him.

“The guys who brought the kids back are going to wait here until a few more crews come in,” Tommy said. “Then they’re coming out after us. We can mark a path. With fresher horses, they’ll catch us quick.”

Joel nodded stiffly and the three of them led their horses to the gate, Maria following with her arms crossed over her stomach. In another situation, Joel would have taken the time to talk with her and reassure her. He didn’t have the luxury of time now.

He mounted up as the gates opened, Ellie and Tommy following suit, the three of them riding through the gate the moment there was room.

“Joel!” Maria called after a moment. He looked back at her. “Bring my husband home.”

He watched her for a moment, at the fear on her face and in her wide eyes, a mirror of what he was feeling now. But she was still letting him go. He wasn’t sure he could do the same in her position.

“I will.”

Ellie took the lead, pointing out the spot in the fence where kids left town. Joel ground his teeth and resisted the urge to yell yet again. What good would it do? What was done was done and this lesson was one he doubted Ellie would forget. She didn’t need to be taught it again.

They rode for nearly two hours when they came upon a small clearing and Ellie jumped off her horse before it had even come to a stop.

“We were here,” she said, looking around, almost panicky. “We were here, I know we were, they had us behind that tree…”

She ran over to it, walking around it until Joel couldn’t see her anymore.

“Ellie!” He called. He couldn’t have her out of sight, not right now.

“I was right,” she called back, coming around the tree. “I took a chunk of bark off of it, this is where we were but they’re gone, completely fucking gone, I don’t…”

Joel was less surprised than Ellie.

“They weren’t about to sit and wait for us to find ‘em,” he said. “We need to track ‘em. We’ll find them.”

He, Tommy and Ellie circled the clearing on foot, looking for signs of a trail. It didn’t take them long to find one. Unfortunately, they found more than one.

“The fuckers split up,” Tommy kicked a plant in frustration. “Any way to tell which group had her?”

“Smaller boot prints, maybe,” Joel said, looking closely at the ground.

“But there were other women,” Ellie said. Joel’s head snapped toward her. “They had a few women. I didn’t talk to them but… She wouldn’t be the only one.”

“We can’t split up,” Tommy said. “It’s too goddamn risky, there are too fuckin’ many of ‘em, we have to stick together…”

Joel nodded, trying to think. He tried to keep his shit together but he could feel it happening, the panic setting into his bones. He could hear the blood in his ears, his heart pounding a frantic rhythm against his ribs. He was having a hard time taking a full breath, his head spun. He reached out, his hand finding a tree trunk, giving him something to root him to the ground.

“Joel?” Ellie’s hand appeared at his back. “Hey, you can’t die on us right now, we have to get her back, you can’t do this now, you gotta keep it together, you hear me?”

He nodded quickly, closing his eyes for a moment. His mind scrambled for something - anything - to hold him here, something to make him push past the fear and do what he had to do.

He thought of you.

He thought of the first time he’d felt your body against him, on the back of a horse in the snow-covered forest. The first time he’d held you because you wanted him to, how you’d sought comfort in him. The first time he’d kissed you, how your lips had fit softly against his, the quick little breaths you’d made, the way you’d felt so close to him. The first time he’d touched you as his wife, how your body was so familiar to him but was brand new, too, with this new context. You were his, he was yours and he needed to keep himself together long enough to get you home.

He took a deep, shaky breath.

“We follow one trail,” he said. “We either find her or we find the people at the end of it. If she ain’t with ‘em, we get ‘em to tell us where she is.”

“You really think they’re just going to, what, tell you whatever you want to know?” Ellie gaped at him. “They’re not going to just answer your fucking questions, Joel!”

“Wasn’t plannin’ on askin’ nice,” Joel said, stalking back toward the horses. “We follow the middle track. See where it leads.”

Joel knew he should feel some kind of shame about what he was about to do. What he wanted to do, how he wanted to hurt them. He’d never told Ellie the finer points of what he and Tommy used to do - still did, when the need arose. He’d never told her what he did to find her when David had her and he was desperate. She knew he used to kill people, he thought she had some idea of just what that entailed but he’d protected her from the worst of it, the most shameful parts.

Now, he was hungry for it. If he were a dog, he’d be salivating for it, aching to get his jaws around the throat of the man who had taken you from him. He didn’t want to just kill him, that wasn’t enough. It hadn’t been enough the year before when he’d sent him away from Jackson and it wasn’t enough now when he was doing who knows what to you. He was going to enjoy pulling him apart, piece by fucking piece. He almost hoped that Cody wasn’t with the men they were tracking, that he’d find you and have the chance to take every ounce of pain from them before finding Cody and taking it from him, too. He couldn’t even regret the drive to do it or the fact that he knew he could do it and do it well. His only concern, after finding you, was exposing Ellie to that.

But they lived in a harsh world. Maybe it was good for her to know the harsher parts of it.

Joel led the way, slower going now that they were beyond where Ellie knew the group to be. They were carefully tracking a group of what looked like seven people - including two women - for hours. It was dusk when Tommy noticed the signs of people first, giving a low whistle that sounded something like a bird. Joel looked over his shoulder and Tommy nodded toward a patch of sky he could see through the trees. Joel looked up. There was smoke.

He dismounted and tied his horse off, Ellie and Tommy doing the same, before the three of them prowled, quiet and slow, toward the smoke. It wasn’t long before they could smell it, hear the quiet laughs of men. Joel tightened his jaw and his grip on his gun. His heart raced.

The group they came upon largely had their guard down. Joel spotted someone through the trees, beyond the fire, looking like they were patrolling. Otherwise, they weren’t paying any attention. Joel gestured to Tommy and Ellie, sending them behind larger trees, Joel going to one himself. He peered around the thick trunk to find them there, make sure these weren’t just innocents passing through and seeing if he could catch a glimpse of you.

But they weren’t innocents, a woman with her hands bound sitting beside one of the men at the fire, another one - also tied - with her back against a tree. There was no sign of you or Cody.

Tommy met Joel’s gaze, his face set and determined. Joel gave him a stiff nod before turning to Ellie, her own expression hardened with barely controlled rage. She didn’t even look at Joel, too busy watching the men around the tree.

Joel took a deep breath and raised his gun, stepping around the tree and firing, catching the man with his back to them in his head. He fell forward with a thud.

There was a moment of stunned silence, the only sound birds fleeing the crack of the gun. Then, it was chaos, the men scrambling for weapons. One of the women screamed.

“Need two alive!” Joel yelled to his brother and daughter, pressing closer and firing again, felling another man.

Tommy shot next, a third man going down. A bullet whizzed past Joel’s head, close enough that he felt the heat of it on his skin, the shot clipping his ear. He ignored the sharp pain of it, watching as the shot Ellie got off dropped a fourth man. The fact that they’d caught the men when they’d stopped for the night was to their advantage. They were clearly used to traveling in a larger group and running unchallenged, only watching for infected who often made themselves known with crackling breaths, the sound of crunching through the brush and sharp clicks. They weren’t expecting a small group to come in, guns blazing. They were slow getting their weapons, rifles on the ground and out of reach, making picking them off like shooting fish in a barrel. Joel shot the man on watch as he came running toward the fire, his gun raised and aimed at Joel.

Tommy charged forward and grabbed a man who was just getting to his feet, his back toward the three of them. He was just raising his gun when Tommy swung the butt of his rifle at his head, catching the man in the temple and knocking him off balance. He took advantage of the moment and ripped the weapon out of the man’s hands, casting it aside before shoving him to the ground and putting his boot in his chest. Tommy leveled his rifle at his head, holding the man in place.

“Got one!” He yelled to Joel.

There were two men left standing now, one reaching for a gun. Ellie shot him in the shoulder before Joel got a chance to react, sending him sprawling on the ground. The other was smarter. He grabbed the nearest woman and pulled her in front of him as she screamed, pressing a gun to her head, his eyes darting between Joel and Ellie.

“Keep coming and I kill ‘er,” he panted.

“Joel,” Ellie’s eyes darted toward him. “What do we do?”

“Let me go,” the man said, the woman in his grip trembling. “Him too, and I leave her alive.”

Joel didn’t have time for this. He moved quickly, raising his gun and firing, hitting the man in the middle of his forehead. The woman screamed again, covered in his blood and stumbling forward as his body went limp on of her.

“Shit,” Ellie lowered her gun, looking at Joel. “I thought we needed two.”

“Think we got two,” he stalked over to the man Ellie had hit in the shoulder. He was whimpering on the ground, clutching the hole that was gushing blood.

“Please,” he said, eyes wide. Joel ignored him, grabbing a fistful of his shirt and dragging him to the man Tommy still had at gun point. He dropped the man there with a pained groan and he looked to the women, the one who had been a hostage sitting up next to the body of the man who’d had her.

“C’mere,” Joel said. They looked at each other quickly but stayed still. Joel, again, resisted the urge to yell. He didn’t have time for this. “Ellie, cut ‘em loose, tell ‘em how to get to Jackson if they want. Give ‘em whatever they need. See what they know.”

Joel turned his attention back to the man on the ground, going down on one knee beside him. He grabbed his hair in his fist, forcing his eyes to meet his own.

“You’re gonna tell me what I wanna know,” Joel said. “And you’re gonna do it quick. Understand?”

“Why would we tell you a goddamn thing?” The man below Tommy asked, watching Joel. His words were quick, panicky. Joel looked back at him for a moment before he ripped the injured man’s hand away from his wound with one hand and thrust his thumb inside the bullet hole, pressing up into the tendon below his skin. The man thrashed and screamed, the shrill sound sharp and cutting. Joel left his thumb jammed inside him until the other man spoke again, his eyes wide. “Fuck, OK! OK! What do you want to know, we’ll tell you! We’ll tell you, please!”

Joel pulled his thumb free of the man’s body and wiped the blood on a clean spot on his shirt, turning his full attention back to the man below him.

“Should get one thing straight now,” Joel said. His voice was flat. “I don’t mind hurtin’ you. In fact, I like it. Like gettin’ justice for everything you’ve done wrong in this life. I can promise you’ve done a lot wrong and I can promise I can make you pay for every goddamn ounce of it in blood. I know how to make it last. But I’m in a hurry and I want this over quick. It’s in your best interest to give me what I want. Got it?”

The man gave a shaky nod.

“Your boss has got my wife,” Joel said. “You split up. I need to know where he’s takin’ her.”

“He gave us a meet up point,” he said, voice shaking. “We were afraid of someone coming after her, he had us split up, he’s got her not us, I swear…”

Joel ground his teeth.

“Where.”

“I don’t know where he’s taking her,” he said quickly. “I know where we’re supposed to meet him tomorrow, that’s all! I swear, I don’t know where he’s going.”

Joel thrust his thumb inside the gunshot wound again, plunging it deeper, pulling harder at the structure of him as he screamed and writhed.

“No, stop!” The man below Tommy begged. “We don’t know, we don’t know! We just know he was taking her to trade, that’s all we know!”

Joel froze before pulling his thumb from his body. He grabbed the man’s hair again, forcing him to look at him.

“Trade?” His heart was pounding. “Trade for what.”

“Territory,” the man panted. “Please, there’s a guy who wants ‘er, promised us territory if we got her for him, that’s all I know. He was going to try and meet with him, see if they can cut a deal. If he couldn’t find him or couldn’t get what he wanted, he’s meeting us in the morning.”

Joel looked to Tommy, his face hard. Tommy just gave him a nod. It seemed like the truth. Joel turned back to the man.

“You’re gonna tell me where the rendezvous point is,” he said. “And you’re gonna keep it real quiet and then we’re gonna ask your friend the same question and he’d better say the same place as you. Got it?”

Joel leaned in close, the rattle of the man’s pained breaths hot and wet on his ear.

“North, ten miles,” he said. “Where the rivers meet.”

Joel sat back from him and looked to the other man.

“Now you,” he said. “Better say the same damn thing as your fuckin’ friend.”

The man’s eyes darted toward Tommy, who pressed the gun closer.

“Don’t look at me,” Tommy said. “I ain’t savin’ ya. You wanted to live? Shouldn’t have taken my brother’s girl. Answer the question.”

“North of here,” he said, looking back to Joel. “Said they’d be there in the morning, we were just stopping to rest for a bit, that’s all…”

“Where north of here.”

The man’s eyes darted to his friend before looking back at Joel.

“Ten miles or so,” he said. “There’s a spot where two rivers meet…”

Joel nodded slowly and looked to Tommy before getting his knife out.

“No,” the man below him shook his head. “No, I told you what you wanted to know, I didn’t lie, it was the truth I swear it was the truth!”

“Oh, I know it was,” Joel said, adjusting his grip on the knife. “But you took my daughters, took my wife. Not about to just let you live.”

He thrust the knife into the man’s stomach and he gasped, his eyes and mouth gaping wide in a silent scream. Joel angled the blade up, forcing it towards his lungs before twisting it and pulling it free with a harsh tear. He wiped the weapon on the man’s pants before getting to his feet, watching as he tried to hold himself together, not able to take a full breath. He’d drown in his own blood before too long and Joel wanted to watch him do it. This man had taken everything from him. He was owed his suffering.

“Joel,” Tommy said, nodding down at the remaining man at the end of his gun, one who was clearly about to make a run for it. He knew he was done for, he was desperate. “What are we doin’?”

“Shoot ‘im,” Joel said. “Not worth the risk.”

Tommy obeyed, the man dead even had a chance to flinch. Joel went back to watching the the first man gasp and gargle, fighting to breathe and failing. He should feel something, he knew that. He should feel guilt or some kind of pity. He didn’t. He barely even felt satisfaction. You were gone. He was hollow of everything beyond pain and fear and rage.

“Joel,” Ellie’s voice was quiet behind him. He turned to face her, her eyes wide as she looked between him and the dying man. He’d almost forgotten she was there.

“Get the women out?” Joel asked, shifting instinctively to block her view of the man suffering at his feet. She peered around him, anyway.

“Yeah,” she said. “They didn’t know anything. Gave them directions back to Jackson and some guns from these assholes. I don’t know that they’ll end up there but…”

She looked at the man again for a long moment before looking up at Joel.

“Did you get an answer?” She asked. “Do we know where Mom is?”

His chest got tight, hearing Ellie call you that, knowing that he shared children with you and you were gone.

“We know where Cody’s headed,” Joel said. “Let’s get what we can from here and head out.”

The three of them took ammunition and weapons and food from the dead before mounting up, Joel taking the lead again.

It only took a few hours to reach the place the men indicated. The group had stopped here before, Joel could tell. There were signs of fire pits, places where fallen logs had been dragged over for places to sit, cleared brush.

“What do we do now?” Ellie asked.

“We wait,” Joel said, not happy about his answer. How was he supposed to just sit here when you were out there, with them? But he didn’t have another choice.

They got the horses settled and found places to watch and wait where they should see people coming and have the advantage. Joel settled in, Ellie sitting beside him while Tommy kept watch.

“Where’d you learn how to do that?” She asked eventually, quietly into the dark.

“Do what,” he asked, even though he knew.

“Hurt someone like that,” she said. “Make them give you information.”

Joel was quiet for a moment, twisting his wedding band over and over on his finger.

“You know some of what me ’n Tommy did after the outbreak,” he said. “Did some of that, too.”

She nodded slowly.

“You never talk about it.”

Joel shrugged. The sound of crickets seemed loud, louder than they should be.

“Not exactly somethin’ I’m proud of, baby girl.”

“But it’s useful,” she said pointedly.

He sighed.

“I’ve used it a few times since, when it’s important,” he said. “When it’s to protect you or her. It’s not somethin’ that’s good to know how to do.”

“I want to know how to protect people, too,” she said, her voice dark. “I have shit to protect, too, Dad. I want to know how.”

Joel sighed, looking over at her, the outline of her barely visible in the light of the moon as it filtered down through the trees.

He wanted to tell her that she didn’t need to know this stuff. That he would always be there to look after her, to do these ugly things that needed doing. But he knew that wasn’t true.

He’d doomed her to this life, in a way. One where she wanted to know how to pull answers out of someone with pain, how to turn the love you carried for the most important people in the world into a deadly weapon. There was no other way to be in this reality, one with infected and raiders and the last gasp of human kind struggling to continue on. If he’d left the doctor alive, at least, maybe things would be different. Maybe he’d have succeeded without Ellie, maybe the world would have been better for her eventually.

But he would have come after her and there was no point in fixing the world if it had to continue on without her in it. Good, bad, indifferent, there was no point to any of it if the price was her life. Hers or yours or Savvy’s, the three of you were all that mattered. And he liked knowing he had skills he could fall back on if he needed them.

“We’ll take care of what needs doin’ now,” Joel said. “Then we can talk.”

The three of them took turns keeping watch. Joel wasn’t able to sleep. Instead, he thought of you. How he’d had to coax you into life in Jackson, how you’d come to find your place there, how you’d chosen to do all that with him at your side.

There was a lot in this life he knew he didn’t deserve. He’d never deserved Sarah, that was for damn sure. The world hadn’t deserved her, either. He’d squandered the gift that was her existence, let her down when she’d needed him the most and he’d bourn that weight the rest of his life. He didn’t deserve Ellie, either. He certainly didn’t deserve you, something so strong but soft, vibrant but centering. You were meant for something more than him but you’d chosen him, anyway. He remembered when your fingers first brushed his, when he first heard you play guitar, when he first saw how you loved his daughter like she was your own. He wasn’t sure how he was meant to keep going if he didn’t get you back. What would be the point? Ellie was grown now. Savvy had survived all on her own for years and Ellie had taken her under her wing. They didn’t need him. But he needed you.

Dawn was just beginning on the horizon when Joel heard it, the sound of people coming in from the north. He roused Ellie and Tommy and the three of them stood, lying in wait amongst the trees, rifles at the ready.

Joel wanted to come out guns blazing but then he saw Cody, riding on horseback with just two other men.

They weren’t outnumbered. You weren’t with them.

Joel readied to step out from the trees, rifle raised.

“Joel,” Tommy hissed.

“Go around the side,” he said, voice low. “Kill the others. But he’s mine.”

He moved from behind shelter then, weapon leveled at Cody’s chest.

“Cody!” Joel called, watching as the men’s heads all whipped around to focus on him, scrambling for rifles. “You have what’s mine.”

Cody lifted a hand to his henchmen and they lowered their weapons as he smirked at Joel.

“Think she was mine before she was yours,” he sneered. “Seems to me I just took back what got away.”

“Where is she,” Joel said, prowling closer, straining to keep his voice calm.

“Back where she belongs,” he said, fishing in his pocket for something. He found it, pulling it out, unwrapping it from a kerchief and throwing it onto the leaves at Joel’s feet. “But you can have the part of her you laid claim to.”

Joel looked down and his vision narrowed to a sharp, bloody point. He could hear his heart pounding in his ears, the soreness of his legs and back and the pain at his ear that had been nagging at him suddenly gone. His hands shook as he dropped the rifle and lowered himself, slowly, to the ground. Lying there were two fingers. Your fingers. The wedding band that had been there since Joel had slipped it onto you was bloody, ragged flesh dangling from the ring he’d made you.

Something inside of Joel snapped then. It was a sharp, clean break, one that he could he could feel deep at the core of him. A severing of his humanity, a setting aside of the things that made him who he was. The love he held for his family, the care he had for the place he called home, the remaining parts of him that were gentle and good - those things were closed to him now. Joel Miller had been called monster many times in his life but he knew he’d never become one. Not truly. He knew it because this had always been there, lurking below the surface, brought forward when he needed it most but always controlled, always contained. It wasn’t contained now. It couldn’t be.

Joel left the gun on the ground, gently picking up your fingers - sticky and cool - and putting them delicately in his pocket before getting to his feet.

“Thought about sending you back with her whole hand but,” Cody shrugged. “Mitchum has use for it. Nothing she can’t do down a few fingers, though.”

Joel didn’t even see Ellie and Tommy getting into position when he roared and lunged for Cody, ready to kill him with his bare hands.

***

The Day Before

“Move.”

You glared at Cody, your wrists chained in front of you.

“Not telling you again,” he said. “They’re still close enough, we could run ‘em down if you want to try me.”

Your stomach got tight.

“Fine,” you said. “Let’s go.”

He split his men into three groups, hauling the man you’d killed to the brush and leaving his body behind. There were three women you hadn’t seen yet, one going with one of the groups, two with another. You didn’t get a chance to say anything to either of them, just sharing a look of desperation before you were led away.

“You’re going to regret this,” you said as he shoved you forward.

“Why, because you’re fucking guard dog is going to run me down?” He sneered. “Think we’ll handle him just fine. Besides, by the time he finds us, you’ll be long gone.”

You followed his command, trudging through the forest and trying to find some way to leave a trail to follow. Joel would come for you. It would likely be hours yet before he was back from patrol, hopefully long after Ellie and Savvy made it back to town. You knew he’d come looking for you the moment he discovered you were gone, that he’d do anything to get to you. You just needed to make sure he could find you and that you were in one piece when he did.

“Why are you doing this?” You asked once you’d been walking for hours, looking at Cody. “You said you knew it was wrong, you helped me. Now you’re doin’ this? Takin’ me and other women?”

“Let’s just say I learned my lesson with you, Doll,” he said. “Could try to be a ‘good’ man all I wanted, try to do the ‘right’ thing but it wouldn’t get me anywhere. Not like there’s much left here to live for, right? I should just take what I want while I can, no one is going to give it to me, even if I deserve it.”

“Deserve it?” You stopped and turned to face him. “You think you deserved something from me? You held me prisoner, you fucking raped me, you…”

His backhand caught you off guard, sending you sprawling to the ground, unable to catch yourself with your bound hands. He stood astride over you, grabbing your face sharply and forcing you to look at him.

“Don’t fucking call it that,” he hissed. “That’s not what it was.”

You spat in his face.

“Fuck you.”

He squared his jaw, like he was considering doing something more to you before he straightened, wiping your spit from his cheek.

“Get her up,” he said. “We’ll stop here for a bit, take a break. Make her take a piss, get her cleaned up a little. Maybe we’ll have some fun before we hand her over.”

You hoped the fear didn’t show on your face, that the way your stomach dropped and heart stuttered wasn’t obvious.

It’s not like you didn’t know, consciously, what this was all leading to, what you were going back to. You’d been there for long enough before, you knew what it was and what this meant.

But you weren’t sure you could survive it again. It had nearly killed you before. If you hadn’t escaped when you had, you weren’t sure how much longer you would have really lasted living that way and now you were going back to it. It would be worth it to protect your children but the fear of it was still there, the claws of it sharp and harsh inside you.

Cody smirked.

“Maybe I’ll show you just how nice I was before,” he said. “Show you what you took for-granted.”

Two men pulled you roughly to your feet and shoved you into the trees, off the trail you’d been walking. Your chest got tight and your stomach turned and you found yourself flexing your fingers, clenching and unclenching your hands into fists as you tried to focus. Your vision threatened to narrow but you forced yourself to see beyond your own body, think beyond the fact that your lungs couldn’t seem to fill and your head was getting light.

The men pushed you for a few minutes away from the rest, toward a stream. One stayed further back, watching the forest for signs of infected or someone who might come to take you.

“Alright,” the other said, nodding to you. “You heard ‘im. Piss, get cleaned up.”

“You think I’m gonna just do that with you watching?” You sneered, brows raised.

He stalked forward, drawing his gun and pressing it to your chin.

“You really think I won’t blow your goddamn head off?” He asked, his breath reeking of rot and liquor.

“No,” you smirked back. “Your boss has you by the balls. You can’t do shit to me.”

He stepped back and you saw the strike coming that time, dodging it enough that he caught your cheekbone more than your chin and you stayed standing.

“I can do that,” he snapped. “And I’ll do it again.”

“Go ahead,” you said. “Because you’re a little bitch. I’ve had good sex that hurt worse than that.”

He bared his teeth and he went for you again.

But he was stupid and big and slow and you knew where he was going to be now. You dodged him, not fully thinking and with no real plan. He stumbled where you’d been standing and you stepped behind him, looping your arms around his neck and pulling back so the chain constricted on his throat.

He choked and gasped, dropping his gun on instinct as he clawed at your arms, trying rip himself free and trying to make a sound but you were pulling too hard, the other man too far to hear or see what was happening.

The weight of him thrashing against you sent you off balance and you fell, taking him down with you, his body heavy on top of yours. But you didn’t give in, keeping the chain tight over his throat as he kicked and flailed. You held it there until he went limp and you released him, shoving his body off yourself and panting for breath as you did. You didn’t have time to get the feeling back in your body or to ease the panic, though. It was sheer fucking luck the other man who was standing just out of sight hadn’t heard something and you had to take care of this now.

You found the gun where the man you’d killed - thought you’d killed, at least, you weren’t about to risk shooting him - had dropped it and took a guess at what direction to run in.

You didn’t make it far.

“Hey!” You heard the crush of leaves, someone moving for you. “Fuck, she’s running!”

You turned and shot, the first bullet going wide as your hands shook but you were able to keep it together enough to get off another shot, this one hitting him square in the chest and he dropped like a stone.

You kept running.

You weren’t sure how long you ran for when you heard them, the men closing in on you. You couldn’t afford to look back and take the time to shoot, you had to keep moving, even as the sound pressed closer and your head was swimming. And then a hand closed on the collar of your shirt - Joel’s shirt - and ripped you back and down. You twisted on the ground, trying to aim the gun but it was kicked away from you.

“You’re gonna regret that you little bitch,” the man panted over you. “We could’ve made this easy on you. We ain’t now.”

He hauled you to your feet by your bound hands and forced you back to where the group had stopped, finding the two other men who had been sent after you on the way. Cody was standing where you’d stopped before, a small fire built on a patch of dirt in the middle of the trail.

“You really think that was the smartest thing you could have done?” He asked, his voice almost eerily calm.

“Did you really think I was just gonna let you hand me over?” You replied. “That I’d just go quietly into being a prisoner?”

“I guess that’s why Mitchum’s so obsessed with you, isn’t it?” He asked, prowling closer. You wanted to shrink away but you couldn’t, not with the man at your back. “Because you just keep that fight in you. You didn’t give up like the others and he’s a man who likes a little fight.”

He nodded toward the stump of a tree and the man at your back shoved you to it, forcing you to your knees beside it.

“Thing is,” Cody said, pulling his knife free of its sheath at his belt. “You don’t need to be… intact for the shit he likes best about you.”

Your eyes darted. You were surrounded, there was nowhere you could go and nothing you could reach.

“Don’t be too worried about it,” he continued, kneeling on the other side of the stump. “Think he’d be pretty pissed if we took your whole hand, for example. But I don’t think he’ll miss a few fingers.”

Your heart raced, the blood pounding in your ears.

“That a risk you want to take?” You fought to keep your voice calm as you clutched your hands tightly to your body. “You really want to go through all this trouble for nothing?”

He shrugged.

“Think we’ll be fine.”

The man at your back took your wrist in his grasp and shoved your arms down to the jagged wood of the stump, your hands clenched in tight fists. Cody took your left one and pulled at your fingers, trying to pry it open as you grimaced and fought him on it. After a moment, he gave up.

“Fine,” he said. “Don’t want to cooperate?”

He took the knife and slammed it through your forearm, on the side of it so it missed bone, making you scream as the blade went through the muscle and skin and into the wood on the other side. Your hand went limp on instinct and Cody spread your fingers with one hand, holding the other out. Another man handed him a knife and he lined it up with the base of your ring and pinky finger, smirking a little as he did.

“Would you look at that,” he traced your wedding band and you tried to look at your hand through the blur of pain and tears. “The feral woman got hitched. You marry that animal of yours, that it?”

You considered begging. If you thought it had even a chance at working, you’d have done it. But it didn’t.

“Fuck you,” you said instead.

“Think this’ll make for a nice keepsake of you, if he ever comes looking,” he said, pressing the knife in just enough that you could feel it, even through the pain of the blade still lodged in your arm. “Wedding ring won’t mean much where you’re going, anyway.”

He started cutting then, the automatic response your body had to pull away ripping and tearing against the knife holding you to the wood. You couldn’t look away from it, even though what little there was in your stomach was threatening to come up and the pain had deafened all the sound around you. You weren’t sure if you were screaming or not but you couldn’t breathe and couldn’t think as you watched part of your body be cut away.

Cody finished, wiping the knife on your shirt - Joel’s shirt - before passing it back to one of his men. He held your bloody, jagged fingers up, turning them slowly in front of his face. You could hear again, the ragged sound of your breath and the rustle of leaves on the trees, the breeze moving through as though you weren’t being dismantled on the forest floor.

“Think your guard dog will even still want you now?” He asked, holding them in front of you. Your blood dropped from them onto the sleeve of the shirt. “Not sure he’ll be interested in such… damaged goods.”

You stared at the fingers in his grip in disbelief. It didn’t seem real, the things you’d used to play guitar and grip the reins of your horse and hold your husband’s hand were separate from you now. You remembered, for a moment, marrying Joel. The clarity of it was almost visceral, how he’d taken the ring that was now slick with your blood and slipped it onto the finger that was dangling before your eyes. It was a part of you then. It wasn’t now.

Cody held his empty hand out and the man he’d given the knife to returned it.

“No,” you shook your head, your voice wet and raspy. “Please, I…”

“Not taking anything else,” he said, his tone almost kind. “Just going to make sure you don’t bleed out on us.”

With that, he pressed the blade to the place he’d cut part of you away and you screamed, the metal scalding hot. You realized they must have put it in the fire, using the heat to cauterize the wound. Without warning, one of the men pulled the knife that was still in your arm free and the heated blade moved there, too. You could smell your skin burning, the man at your back holding you still as your body fought to escape the pain of it. They moved you around like a rag doll, cauterizing the other side of your arm, too, before stepping back from you.

“There,” Cody stood, handing the knife off and taking a kerchief from his pocket, wrapping your bloody fingers in it before stashing them away. “Now you should know I’m not fucking around. Get up. We’ve wasted enough time on this shit and Mitchum won’t wait on us forever.”

The man behind you pulled you to your feet by your shoulders and you swayed on your feet for a moment, your head swimming before you doubled over, vomiting mostly bile before your legs gave out, the man catching you before you hit the ground.

“Shit,” Cody’s voice sounded far away. “We’ll have to find a way to move her…”

You passed out.

When you woke up, it was dark, a hand around your jaw.

“There she is,” Cody said, releasing you and patting your cheek twice. “Need you up and walking, can’t trade you half dead. Move.”

You tried to orient yourself, get some kind of understanding. You weren’t where you’d been when you’d passed out. You were on some kind of makeshift litter, your left arm and hand throbbing dully. Your hand was bandaged. Cody grabbed a fistful of your shirt, pulling you upright and you all but collapsed against him, stumbling as you tried to find your footing. The second you did, you pulled away from him. You couldn’t bear to touch him, even if that meant you ended up on the ground again.

“Just gotta make it about 100 yards,” he nodded toward a flickering glow in the distance. “Then you’re not my problem anymore.”

He nudged you in that direction and you moved, almost mindlessly. You weren’t strong enough to fight it. You were barely strong enough to walk. You cradled your injured arm to your body as best you could, watching as the glow of the fire drew closer.

“Stop right there,” an unfamiliar voice said, a man coming through the trees with his rifle raised. But he lowered it as he drew closer, looking the group you were with up and down. “Cody. Starting to wonder if you weren’t going to make it.”

“Got held up,” he said. “But I got what he’s after, if he still wants to meet.”

The guard just jerked his head toward the fire and led the way, you trailing along behind him with Cody and his men at your back.

The fire was in the middle of a large clearing, one with a cluster of about 20 men around it, the man you feared more than any other sitting at the back of it.

A wide smile came over his face when he saw you, the spread of it sinister and slow.

“Well well,” Mitchum said, getting to his feet and walking closer. He was still so much bigger than you, tall and broad and you knew just how well he could force you to do what he wanted. “The prodigal son returns, with my favorite toy no less.”

“Told you I could get her,” Cody said, pushing you toward him. “And I believe we had an agreement.”

“Sure, sure,” Mitchum waved him off before looking you up and down, just feet away from you now. Your head spun. “Jackson is yours when we take it down, as is anyone who survives. S’long as you remember who gave it to you.”

Mitchum reached out, grabbing your injured hand roughly and you cried out with it as he pulled your arm toward him.

“The fuck is this?” He held it up. “Thought I told you I wanted her intact, there’s no deal if you fucking maimed her.”

Cody shrugged.

“She killed two of my men,” he said.

Mitchum dropped your hand and clenched his jaw before snatching his gun from its holster and shooting Cody’s man who was at your side, making you flinch away from the sound.

“You think I give a fuck how many of your men make it?” He asked. “You think their lives matter? Got fuckin’ news for you, theirs don’t and neither does yours so you better do a damn good job of explaining why you brought her to me damaged.”

“She tried to take off,” Cody said, eyes darting down to the man who was dead on the ground. “Had to do something to keep her under control. Figured you’d want her at all, even if that meant damaged.”

Mitchum holstered the gun with a huff and pulled you away from Cody, your skin crawling where he touched you.

“Well, she’s back where she belongs now,” he passed you off to one of his men before turning back to Cody. “Jackson’s yours, when we take it.”

“And I want horses,” Cody said. “For my trouble.”

Mitchum seemed to think for a moment before giving him a stiff nod.

“Fine, three horses,” he said, waving them forward. “Take ‘em and go. Don’t want to see you again for a while or else I might change my mind.”

“Pleasure doing business with you,” Cody smirked before looking to you. “Told you you should have given me what I deserved.”

You didn’t say anything. Instead you just stood there, in the hold of one of Mitchum’s henchmen, watching as the man who’d stolen your freedom rode off into the night.

Next Chapter

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A/N: I know it's a rough chapter but... feral!Joel?

We've only seen the beginning of him, he's about to go on a rampage like no other I can promise you that.

Also, I'm sorry for making this chapter quite so brutal. I really didn't want them to get off easy in this situation, I wanted to make sure we know that there are going to be some long term repercussions from all this - in this case, Bambi's missing fingers. They live in a brutal world and they're facing brutal things and I wanted this to be reflective of that.

Thanks for sticking with the story. I really do love you all!

#fanfic #joel miller x female reader #yearling #joel miller x you #joel miller x reader #joel miller x oc

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justmeinadaze · 4 months

Text

Little Girl Gone Part 7 (Steddie X You)

Warnings: Doms Officer Steve Harrington/Gangster Eddie Munson & Sub Doctor Fem Reader, SMUT, light smacking, some degrading (whore, slut), dirty talk, etc

*inhales, exhale, shouts* ANGST! ANGST EVERYWHERE!

These three deal with time apart, Eddie is acting a bit irrational due to the last chapter, mentions of torture and death but none detailed here, Eddie does talk about a couple of his victims but they are bad people, Y/N is slightly interrogated again, mentions of Eddie's abuse from his father so child abuse trigger, lots of apologies and promises. Reader gets slightly spicy here. Cliffhanger ending (You're welcome.)

Word Count: 5259

Series here/ Donate to my Ko-Fi

“Don’t make me repeat myself.”

Eddie’s intense eyes penetrate yours, his chest rising and falling as he breathes heavily in anger.

“I am in charge of you.”

“You control me in bed, yes, but out here I am your partner to and your doctor. You need to rest, Eddie.”

Grumbling under his breath, the gangster grabs his jacket and heads for the door.

“I can heal at my own place. I don’t need either of you getting in my way.”, he growls before stomping out of your apartment.

As you glance towards Steve, you notice his facial features harden as he silently begins to clean up the mess they both made. Once your living room was clear of any evidence of Officer Douglas, the other man pulled a pack of cigarettes you didn’t know he had, lighting the end and leaned against the back of your couch.

“Do you want me to leave to?”

“I didn’t ask him to go; he chose to. I want you both here.”

“Maybe I should leave… Maybe this was all a mistake, bringing you into this.”

“Fuck you.”, you hiss causing his head to jerk your way. “Yeah, Steven, fuck you. I just lost someone I cared about, I was attacked, and I told you both I loved you but THIS may be a mistake?! FUCK. YOU!”

Fuming, his jaw clenched as his eyes became glassy and he rose to his feet without saying another word, leaving your apartment, and slamming the front door.

***

A month later, you found yourself in a police integration room again this time completely unsure of what they were going to ask. You hadn’t heard from either man but you knew they had to have been busy from what you saw on the news.

“Hey, Y/N.”, Detective Hopper sighed with a smile your way as he entered the room alone. “I’m sorry to be bothering you again.”

“I haven’t seen Eddie in a while so I don’t know how much help I can be.”

“You two are no longer together? Hm. Is that why Allen Munson’s associates are seemingly disappearing?”

“I don’t even want to know how you got from A to B and I still don’t understand how you became a Detective.”, you sneered. “Is that why you brought me down here? I told you that Eddie’s not a killer. Why don’t you ask the rival gangs like the Carvers or some shit?”

“Because Jason Carver and some of his men left down. We don’t know where or exactly but his father said he went on vacation. Personally, with other gangsters and police disappearing I’m not surprised.”

“Police?”

“Mhmm… we lost 3 other uniforms in the past month and upon searching their homes found some incriminating evidence that they were working for Edward’s dad. It makes me extremely nervous, Y/N, the things we’re uncovering.” Jim’s eyes scan you over as you fold into yourself and sigh. “Y/N, how well do you know Steve Harrington?”

Your head shot up as your brows furrowed at the question.

“Your partner? He’s a dick who’s always rude to me. Why? Do you think he’s involved with Eddie’s dad?”

“Honestly, no, but I have to take into account that he’s been building a case against The Munson’s for a while and hasn’t gotten any head way in over a year. Add in some coincidences I can’t ignore like him being jumped by the Carver’s and then a week later a few of their members turn up dead. He, um, also went to you for treatment and a couple of months later you’re dating Allen Munson’s son.”

“Well, Detective, like I said…I’m amazed you’re allowed to still work cases with the conclusions you jump to. May I leave now?”

“Yes you may.”, he grumbles. “We have a car watching every move he makes so don’t do anything stupid, doctor.”

“Hm. You have a cop watching him yet you didn’t know we broke up. May want to check your intel or become a better liar.”

After collecting your things, you power walk to your car and as soon as you slam the door shut, you break as you begin to sob. A soft tap on your passenger side window made you jump before you realized it was only one of the men responsible for your broken heart.

“What do you want, Steve?”

“Is everything ok? I didn’t know you were coming down here.”, he replied as he climbed into your vehicle.

“Don’t worry. I always told you two I would never rat either of you out so—”

“That’s not what I meant…”, he whispered before heavily sighing. “Usually, they keep me in the loop when it comes to things involving Eddie. No one told me they were integrating you. Did someone break in again?”

“No. No one broke in or has come after me. Probably because Eddie is slaughtering them all.”, you say with distain making him flinch. “You need to tell him to be more careful, Steve. He’s being too obvious with what he’s doing.”

“Yeah, well, I haven’t talked to him in a month so it’s not like he’ll listen to me.” As your head swiveled his way, he turned to gaze out the windshield not willing to meet your eyes for fear of you seeing how hurt he really was. “I call and he doesn’t answer. I went to the compound and they told me I’m no longer welcome.”

“Steve…”

“I guess that whole year we were together and he told me he loved me was all bullshit. Especially if he can throw me away so easily.”

“He’s in a lot of pain—”

“And we’re not?”, Steve snaps.

“You don’t get to do that. You don’t get to play victim when you left me to. I haven’t heard from you either, Steve. Why have YOU stayed away?!”

“Because it hurts too much! I love you both but what he’s involved in right now could get you killed. It almost did! You guys think I’m this big tough cop but seeing him get beaten the way he was… seeing you fucking shaking in his arms with those bruises on your neck… it kills me! I feel like I failed you both.”

As he wiped the tears he tried to hide, you did the same before turning to fully face him.

“They, or at least Hopper, thinks you may be working for Allen.”

“What?”

“The dots he’s connected brought him to that conclusion and with the three cops that have apparently wound-up dead—”

“I guess it’s not that big of leap but, Jesus, I’m not that much of an asshole. From the research I’ve done, I think those three plus Officer Douglas were the only ones in my precinct who worked for him. He may have some guards in the prison on his side especially with how easy it was to move Gabe and Eddie around to get them in the same block.”

When you become silent, he can’t help but release a heavy sigh.

“Thank you for telling me what they know. I’m still always working to keep you both safe.”

As he reaches for the door handle, your hand grabs his wrist.

“I may have an idea of how we can help him and we may only have to kill one more person.”

“We?”

“I want to help, Steve. I love him to.”

#############

“Miss Y/L/N, I’m sorry but… I was told to not allow anyone that isn’t a part of his crew up to the loft especially you or Mr. Harrington here.”

“I’m not asking for permission, Marcus. We’re going up there whether he likes it or not but I was hoping we could avoid any theatrics.”, you replied with a hard tone.

Sighing, he leaned over to call upstairs but before he could say a word you took the phone from his hand.

“Eddie, Steve and I need to talk to you.”

“I have nothing to say to either of you and there’s nothing I want to hear.”

“You said you loved us. The least you could do is face us one more time. Or is little gangster too scared?”

His growl reverberated through the receiver before you handed it back to the gentleman who nodded and tilted his head towards the elevators.

“Y/N, are you sure you want to do this?”

“More than ever.”

“Ok. If for any reason, you get uncomfortable or scared, tell me and I’ll—”

“Protect me. I know, Steve. Don’t worry. After the month I’ve had, I can handle anything he throws my way.”

When you both finally arrived on the top floor, you took one last long breath and entered his apartment. The smell smacked you in the face immediately, the scent of sweat, alcohol, and blood. His loft was a mess with papers and clothes thrown haphazardly everywhere. There was a chair placed in the middle of the living room with dried stains of his last victim underneath.

What killed you was the photos strewn along his coffee table of a young Eddie with his mother with a big smile painting his face.

The man himself was in his kitchen with a seeming calm demeanor as he poured himself another glass of whiskey. Wearing only his black sweats, you were able to see that his bruises and burns were all mostly healed.

“I see you DO listen to me sometimes when I talk.”, you start as you gesture towards his chest.

“Is that why you’re here, doc? For a checkup? That usually doesn’t require a police escort.”

“That’s not why we’re here but it’s good to know physically you’re feeling better since you didn’t feel the need to update either of the people who love you.”

“Hm. Well, I’m busy so what the fuck do you both want?”

Steve chuckles beside you but even you can hear the pain hidden underneath.

“Still easy to cast aside huh? Even with us right in front of you.”

“You two have each other and I have my team. You’ll survive.”

“I haven’t seen either of you in over a month.” Eddie’s demeanor falters slightly at your admission giving you slight hope you can reach the man you met before. “Steve said it was a probably a mistake bringing me into your world and like you he left. I get to watch you fall apart all by myself.”

“Is that really why you haven’t reached out to her? To keep her safe?”, the gangster asks.

“Was I wrong? Between your fucking killing spree, detectives accusing me of working with your father—”

“What?”

“Hopper called me in today asking about the most recent deaths and then asked about Steve. The coincidences he sees drew him to that conclusion.”

“Fucking idiot.”

“I know.”, you agree with Eddie. “We want to use that to our advantage though. I was thinking Steve could make Allen believe the same thing.”

Eddie cackled at your suggestion to a mocking degree as he placed his hand on his stomach to control the laughter.

“Oh my god, sweetheart. That is the best joke I’ve heard in a long time.”

“Why? Why would it be so unbelievable for him to work with your father?”

“So you’re going to go undercover, Stevie? You’re going to do what he asks to get him to trust you like murdering innocent people; people like Y/N.”

“I’m not innocent. Not anymore thanks to you two.”, you growl.

“You’d be surprised what I’m capable of after finding out a year of my life was wasted on a man who didn’t fucking love me.”

Again, the gangster’s hardened image faltered, visibly so as his eye lids fluttered and he sauntered backwards to refill his drink.

“You think I didn’t love you?”

“I haven’t heard from you, Edward. After everything I’ve done for you and you just disappear without so much as a fucking goodbye? To be honest, after what I’ve witnessed recently, working for your dad will be a piece of cake since you want to be like him.”

“That shit… doesn’t hurt me anymore. Do you know why?”, he asks as he steps closer to you both. “Because I am better than my father ever was and now everyone else will know that to. If you cross me and align yourself with him, I have an answer for that.” Eddie pulls out his gun and places it under the officer’s chin. “And if you want to go play with his team have at it but if I find you robbing one of MY buildings or killing anyone on MY team, I’ll make an example out of you to.”

It was your turn to laugh as both men glanced your way.

“I don’t mean to laugh but it’s just so cute. Little gangster playing tough like his daddy. God, Eddie, when I first met you, you were a man to be respected. So many people were in your corner because of how you ran this city. Now you’re just this little boy pretending. You became exactly what Allen believed you were…weak.”

Stomping in your direction, his fingers wrapped around your throat as he pushed you back hard against the wall.

“You need to shut your fucking mouth before I do it for you.”

“Yeah? Do it then.”

Something flashes through his eyes then, a mixture of the man you fell in love with and the boy wanting justice against the person who continually hurt him from childhood to now. Releasing his grip, he slowly backed away from you but right as he turned around, you placed your body in front him.

“Come on, Eddie! You said when I met you that you and Steve had tempers that most women couldn’t handle. Well, I can, trust me. I can handle anything after what you both have put me through!”, you huffed as you shoved his chest hard. “What about you, Steve, huh? Or are you as much of a pussy as he is now?!”

The officer knew what you were doing. If you couldn’t engage the gangster, maybe, pushing his partner would entice him enough. His beautiful eyes penetrated yours and you saw the question within them.

Are you sure?

“Please…”

As soon as the words left your mouth, his eyes darkened and you were once again confronted with the version of him you hadn’t seen since he pointed a gun in your face asking you to help the man he loved.

######################

Steve’s feet slammed loudly against the hardwood as he made a beeline your way and grabbed your throat just below your jaw.

“You think we’re pussies, little girl?” When your head tried to turn to see if Eddie was even paying attention, the officer forcefully yanked you closer till his nose was practically touching yours. “No. Don’t look at him. Look at me. I’m asking the fucking question. I said do you think we’re pussies?” Answer. Me.”

“Yes.”, you answered roughly as you clung to his wrist. “You made me believe you loved me. You told me I was safe with you! You lied to me!”

“No.”, Eddie’s rugid tone responded beside you. “We warned you. We kill people. I kill people and don’t even think twice about it. I’m a bad man, sweetheart, raised by an even worse one. This past month I have proven to him and everyone else that I’M now above him. I’m someone to be feared. You should be afraid of me, Y/N.”

You’d be lying if you didn’t say the way he was speaking was scaring you but you tried to keep your resolve.

“I’m not.”

“You will be.” Abruptly, he shoved you to the sofa and climbed on top of you. You fought against him, your hand connecting to his face hard before he returned the favor and pinned your wrists above your head. After pushing your legs open with his knee, he rolled his hips allowing his hardening cock to rub against your pant covered core through his sweats.

Even with all the layers, he ground himself in just the right way to hit your clit making you groan.

“Eddie.”

“Fuck, that’s it, little whore. Moan my name.”

Fingers appeared above you and you glanced up to see Steve leaning to lift your shirt while the gangster took the opportunity to yank off your pants blocking his way. After pushing down his sweats enough to free his length, he maneuvered up your body till he was hovering over your face.

“Open.” You try and push against his hold on your hands but he doesn’t relent. “Open. Now.”

When you do what he commands, he mercilessly guides his cock between your parted lips. The sound of your gags mixes with his grunts as he thrusts his hips.

“Goddamn it. That’s right, Y/N. We trained you good. Fuck. Breathe…breathe through your nose—”

When his voice cut off, you opened your eyes to see both men passionately kissing each other above you. Steve’s face softened for a moment as if he was glad to be able to taste the man he loved again before remembering everything he had been through as well.

“Look at you, baby. Being in charge…just like your father…a ruthless killer.”

“I’m better than he—mmm—ever was.”

“Oh, yeah? Show me. Show me what better looks like.” Eddie’s palm curled around the back of Steve’s neck and in return the officer leaned his forehead against his. “Come on, honey. You’re someone to be feared now, right? Show me. You already showed me you don’t love me; that you could use me. Use me again.”

At the accusation, the gangster tackled the other man to the ground and pinned his arms to the floor as you coughed, panting trying to catch your breath. You watched as they wrestled each other before Eddie flipped him onto his stomach, reached underneath him to unbuckle his belt, and pull down his pants to his ankles.

The sound they both made when Eddie guided his cock inside of him was a mixture of passion and pain. The pain of them missing how the other felt but the euphoria of being able to feel them again. You slid down to the floor, placing yourself beside them and tenderly ran your fingers through Steve’s hair as he moaned while the gangster slammed into him roughly.

Eddie’s breath warmed the back of your hand as he laid down flat on the other man’s back and rolled his hips as he clung to his chest.

“This is…who I am…Steven. Who—fuck—who I have to…be.”

The officer shook his head as his own fingers above his head squeaked as he dragged them along the floor beneath him.

“Excuses… Y-You’re afraid.”

“What the fuck do I have to be afraid of.”, Eddie grumbled in his ear.

“…Dad.”

The gangster delivered a couple of hard thrusts that had a high-pitched whine leaving Steve’s lips.

“I’m NOT afraid of Allen Munson.”

“No, you’re not.”, you clarified. “You’re afraid of your dad. You’re afraid of the man that hurt your mother and called you both weak. The man who sent adults after a child to jump him after school. Who hurt and tortured a little boy for not being what he deemed as perfect.”

Eddie’s rhythm slowed to almost a stop while he listened to you speak. His long hair was blocking his face but you could tell you were getting through.

“A coward who abandoned his only son with his brother to manage a gang of men who cared even less about his child than he did.”

A broken sob left his throat as he pushed off Steve and leaned his back against the couch. You crawled towards him, climbed into his lap, and pushed his hair back with your fingers as you kissed his forehead.

“Baby, you’re not that same little boy. You have more control now than you think and that scares him.”, you whispered as he wrapped his arms around you and held you tightly to him. “That’s why he did what he did, Eddie. You’re stronger than he will ever be so he had to make you feel like a child again. Don’t let him win. Don’t become him.”

When Steve sat up and laid his head on the man’s shoulder, he turned and smashed his lips messily to his.

“I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry. I do love you, Steve. I never once used you or Y/N. It killed me not having either one of you next to me. I’m sorry. I love you to, Y/N.”

Steve’s hands suddenly gripped your waist as he laid you back down on the floor and ran his cock through your folds before guiding himself into your cunt. Amber eyes locked with your own when he felt ring laced hands land on his shoulder and he grunted loudly as Eddie slid into the man above you again.

Your legs tried to wrap around them both as they pumped their hips. Steve fell against your body as his cock hit every sensitive nerve inside you, building you up as you ran your nails through his hair and down his back.

“I’m s-sorry, honey, for—mmm—for hurting you. I love you, Y/N.”

“Cum, Steve. I need to feel it.”

His pace hastened, his ass pushing back into Eddie who groaned and his length pushing deep into you. The sound of his heavy pants in your ear had you clenching around him till you came and he quickly followed, moaning your name as he warmed your walls with his release. With a few more rough thrusts, the gangster grunted as he spilled into his partner before collapsing on the floor beside you.

As soon as Steve pulled out of you, both men’s eyes followed you as you rose to your feet and headed to the kitchen to a get a rag to clean yourself. Coming back into the living room with a bottle of water, you threw on your shirt and panties as they quietly put on their boxers.

“So, Steve and I were thinking that he could pretend to work for your father so we could him in front of you on your own terms so to speak.”

When you spoke your tone calm but there was a shake behind it you prayed they didn’t hear. As a doctor you were trained to hold it together under pressure. This was no different.

“You can do whatever you want; torture him, kill him, I don’t fucking care. Whatever gets him to leave us alone. After that you can stop all this chaos and I can go back to my own life.”

“Alone?”, Eddie asked.

When you didn’t responded, their gaze shifted towards you just in time to see your eyes glaze over and your bottom lip tremble. The gangster kneeled in front of you, taking your hands in his.

“You left me… I wanted you to stay but… you left…”

“I know. I know, sweetheart and I will spend the rest of my life making it up to you; both of you. You were right. I became that little boy again and just…”

“How many people have you killed in this last month, Eddie?”

His Adam’s apple bobs as he swallows in fear knowing you won’t like his answer.

“Me personally or my team?”

“Jesus Christ.”, Steve sighs as he rubs his palms over his eyes. “My department clocked a total of 23 men. Three of them cops. How many were by your hand, Ed?”

“Eight were killed by me but I tortured them all for information.”, he answers flatly as his eyes remained locked on yours. “Those eight knew about Y/N or you, Steve. Pat Chase, a lawyer for a few of the gang members around town had pictures in his suitcase of you in your cruiser and Y/N…crying behind her clinic. Calvin Thomas, junior police officer at Steve’s station, threatened to murder a couple of your patients including that little girl with asthma. Mason Fletcher, manager at one of the local mechanic stores and a friend who I helped when his wife passed away, said when Steve’s chief sent the cars for a tune up, he planned to tamper with the brakes.”

Eddie’s jaw tightened as he continued.

“I remember each and every one of them still. Out of those 23 people, ten of them were people I trusted and do you know who commands them? Allen Munson. This is the kind of man they follow even after everything. Y/N what you’re suggesting is very dangerous but even more so because… I don’t know if I could follow through with killing him if given the chance.”

“What if you don’t have to kill him but we can still separate him from his allies. Cut the head off the snake.”

They listen as you speak, allowing the details to sink in before agreeing with what you have in mind. Taking his hand in yours, you start to head towards the stairs to guide him to his bed but are tugged back when he doesn’t move.

“You never answered my question. When this is over…will we be over?” When your gaze shifts to the floor, Eddie wraps his arm around your waist and brings you closer to him as he leans his forehead on your own. “I understand if you want to leave but if you stay, Y/N, I promise I will do whatever it takes to make sure you never feel alone or hurt like that again. I love you so much. I’m so sorry.”

Your lips meet his as hug him tightly to your body while he continues to whisper apologies.

“I’ll stay, Eddie. I forgive you.”

After the gangster prepared a bath and slowly placed you in the water, he paused when he noticed Steve’s moving was a bit more rigid than he normally is. Rising to his feet, he scanned the man over.

“Steve, are you ok, sweetheart? Did I…was I…too rough?”

Shaking his head, the officer carefully climbed in behind you before taking you in his arms and pulling you against his chest.

“I forgive you to, Steve Harrington.”, you murmur as you lean back to kiss his cheek.

Placing a finger under his chin, Eddie tilts his head till Steve’s eyes meet his.

“I’m sorry, baby. I—”

“It’s ok, honey. I’m just…sore…and tired. I missed you both.”

The three of you sat there in silence fully absorbing the events of the last month and how things were about to get a lot harder. As you were being dried, your fingers ran over Eddie’s remaining bruises and burns.

“I’ve still been doing what you said, keeping the wounds iced and clean.”

“They look a lot better.”

Steve passed by you both and placed himself on the edge of the bed as he pulled his shirt over his head. The other man kneeled in front of him and took his hands into his own.

“My Paladin. You do so much for me and yet I pushed you to the side. This past year, I’ve been the happiest I’ve ever been and not because you help me with my organization but because you loved me for me, Steve. You don’t see a gangster or a Munson. You always saw Eddie.”

The officer’s eyes water as a heavy breath escapes him.

“This will never happen again, baby. I promise.”, the other man coos as he straddles his lap and circles his arms around him and you watch with a small smile while they cling to each other. “I love you. I missed you so much.”

“I missed you to, nerd.”

When they finally detached, they laid down in bed, reaching for you and putting you between them.

“Are you sure you want to go through with your plan, Y/N? It’s not going to be easy…for you or Steve.”

You nod as you tenderly reach out to caress his face and fold the officer’s hand that’s resting on your hip.

“I’m sure.”

########################

Three Days Later

Allen grunts in frustration as he steps up to the glass partition and throws his body into the chair across from the man he believes to be his son’s best friend.

“Mr. Harrington, how can I help you today? Any friend of my son is no friend of mine.”, he says all too casually as he chuckles under his breath.

“Yeah, well, I’m not your son’s friend anymore.”, Steve growled in anger. “He took something that belonged to me. I warned him but that fucker didn’t care.”

“Oh? What did he take?”

“Y/N.”

Allen’s eyes widened in amusement as he crossed his legs and leaned back in his chair.

“Jesus. This woman must be fucking special. How did she end up with him and not you?”

“I saw her first when she helped me at her clinic. After Eddie was hurt, I took him there so she could help him to. I didn’t expect it to become romantic. I told that fucker I loved her and she was mine but he still went after her. I did everything I could to split them up but, unfortunately, she’s loyal.”

“Hm. Sounds like my wife; weak. So what exactly do you want, officer?”

“It’s not so much what I want but what you do. I want to help you take Eddie out of the game.”

Allen laughed as well as a few of the guards who could hear the conversation.

“You want to help me? Why don’t you just arrest him again and bring him in?”

“On what? All the charges we have aren’t sticking and even though he’s running around killing your people, he’s not leaving anything incriminating behind.” At Steve’s mention of the men he was losing, the prisoner grumbled low as he glared at him. “He’s going to keep coming at you till either all your people are dead or he is. I can help you, Allen.”

The man thinks for a long moment before smirking his way.

“How do I know I can trust you? How do I know this isn’t something my son conjured up.”

“Well, one, Eddie isn’t that fucking smart and two, I did something you haven’t been able to in almost 2 months.”

“Yeah, Harrington, and what’s that?”

“I killed Y/N.”

Allen’s head tilts as he tries to hide his shock at the officer’s statement as the other man smirks his way.

“How’d you do that?”

“I slit her throat in his apartment.”, Steve answered as his smile grew. “You should have heard the way Eddie cried over her. That’s what that selfish asshole gets. She was mine.”

No longer amused, the prisoner leaned on his elbows and met the officer’s angry expression with one of his own.

“I don’t believe you.”

A loud thump filled the area as Steve smacked a Polaroid picture against the glass.

“I thought you might say that. She’s buried next to his mother if you want to go look. Oh wait…”, he teases sarcastically as he gestures to the prison.

Loud shouting startles the guards as a door flies open just in time for Eddie’s father to see them tackling Wayne to the ground.

“What the fuck did you do, Allen!? She was a good woman and you took her away from him! You fucking asshole! Get off me!”

“Self-righteous prick.” Allen thinks for a moment as he fully takes in the man in front of him. “Ok, Steven. Ok, I may have some use for you.”

###################

@5tud10-54r4h @munsonzgf @eddiesguitarskills @supraveng

@lilaclazer @ima1986 @micheledawn1975 @foreverminliv @corkadymu

@lemme-slytherin-that-dick @joannamuns9n @dashingdeb16 @sashaphantomhive @corrodedcoffincumslut @aactuaaltraash @nailbatanddungeon

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dawnwriterimagines · 2 months

Note

Kate got me legitimately pissed in the last piece. The fuck you mean we’ll have to come crawling back when you call? We are permanently disabled and broken because a call *she* made, and she didn’t even have the balls to talk to us after it all, waiting for us to hunt her down? She was going to make us stay with the team that tortured us into a shell of a human being and we are supposed to be grateful she allowed our resignation enough to come running when she calls? I would’ve just said “you either let me resign or I finish what you started and kill myself in front of you, since that’s what you and the rest of the team so desperately wanted”.

And all of them acting like they just now realized what they did to us?!??! They were there!!!! They did those things to us and they want us to forgive them??? They were hoping for our death, wanting to maximize our suffering at every fucking point, but they shed a few tears and say “I’m rweally sowwy 🥺👉👈” and it’s all forgiven? “We had bad intel, but we thought it was good at the time”, cool, I’m permanently disabled, I can’t feel water without being brought back to the torture my closest loved ones did to me, I’ve been disowned and blamed for my own torture by my family, all my shit was broken and left for me to find, and even now the people who I thought loved me before they tortured me won’t respect me enough to listen to my boundaries and kept triggering my PTSD for their own gain. Let me just wipe away all of that because you said “sorry bad intel”.

I love this hahaa, Laswell is a piece of shite though.

Honestly, I imagined her to be someone that would've seemed to be a girl's girl, on your side to think better of you, but she definitely wouldn't be realistically. She'll take you down in a heartbeat if she thought it'd better the squad or her career.

Same goes for the team, little boys that think they'll be forgiven with just a slap on the wrist. But, reader is ready to wring their fucking necks and it still won't be forgiven.

#i love my readers #traitors among us series

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minarinnn · 8 months

Text

content/trigger warnings: angst, tlt spoilers!!, slight manipulation, yelling, aggression, implied relationship, inspired on favorite crime but not really that noticiable

you knew. you knew from the start that luke was the lighting thief. even worse, you helped him.

you knew that it was wrong, that he was wrong. that the path he was taking wasn’t the right one. but how could you tell him that when he so lovingly asked you to help him with his plan??

it was torture for you, having to keep such a thing from everybody at camp. watching the new kid, who seemed so sweet and innocent, be blamed for it and sent on a dangerous quest. one that would likely kill him. then finding out from luke that they suspect clarisse, one of your closest friends, to be the lighting thief.

“luke, hasn’t this gone too far? i mean, what if something bad happens to clarisse??” you asked, completely worried for your friend. afraid of the god’s wrath, for they are not know for showing mercy. “too far?” luke scoffed, turning to look at you “you wanna be a slave for the gods until you drop dead?”. he was clearly offended by your statement. “there’s bound to be collateral damage”

you sat in a secluded part of the forest, barely crossing the camp border. everyone was celebrating percy’s accomplishment, y’know, stopping the war and all. luke had told you to wait there, he didn’t tell you what he was going to do, he never did. but you sure knew what you were gonna do.

it was time to get away from this mess. even if it meant losing luke, you didn’t wanna be a part of this. and to be completely honest, you’re not sure that was your luke anymore. he’d gotten so different, and you were so worried when you first noticed the change. but after he told you and asked you to join him, could you really say no?

what seemed to be a portal opened up from a nearby tree, luke stepped out of it. he was panicked, almost scared, sweat rolled down his forehead and his eyes were almost glossy. you got up so fast it was almost instinct. “luke?” “we’re leaving, right now” he spoke urgently, frantically looking around.

“i’m not going with you, luke” you felt your breath escaping your body. luke froze, as if he couldn't believe what he had just heard. his eyes are practically glued onto your face now, even more hurt than they were a moment ago. “what?” he breathed out, eyes and eyebrows narrowing at you in disbelief.

“i don't want to turn my back on my friends and watch them suffer" you could feel a lump building in your throat as you stare back at luke. "i know how much this hurts, believe me. but this path you're taking it’s.. it's not the right one. and deep down, i think you know that too..”.

luke’s face contorts into a mixture of pain and anger. "you’re wrong" he spat out "you don't understand. we’re fighting for something bigger than ourselves. we’re fighting for our freedom” you took a step back, trying to protect yourself from his anger and desperation. "i understand that" you said “but i just don’t think that this is the way to do it. you’re hurting people, people who used to be your friends.. you're putting yourself in danger”

luke let out a bitter laugh, his hands clenching into fists, knuckles practically white. "danger?" he scoffed "danger is all around us— we’re demigods, for heaven's sake! danger is part of our life. but at least i’m doing something about it, instead of just sitting back and waiting for inevitable death”

you shook your head, tears threatening to spill from your glossy eyes. luke stares back at you in and his eyes soften, his expression shifting from anger to sadness. "why do you have to make this so hard?" he whispers, voice breaking slightly “just come with me and we’ll finally be free from all of th-“ "i can't be a part of this anymore, luke.. i’m sorry”

"i thought you loved me" he spoke with sadness and bitterness in his voice, taking a step closer to you while his eyes travels through yours. “i do love you” you exclaim, tested finally streaming down your cheeks “and that’s exactly why i cant watch you do this to yourself”

luke’s expression froze as he processed your response. he was clearly hurt, but perhaps more so by the realization that he had lost your support. he had been so sure that you would choose to go with him, that you would stand by his side no matter what. but now he saw the hesitation in your eyes, the resolve within you.

"i see..” he says, voice barely above a whisper. his hands travel up to the side of your face and he pulls you in for one final kiss. the kiss is sweet yet the only thing you could both feel was regret, regret of leaving the person you love most behind.

“stay.. please, stay” you whisper. his sad eyes answer for him, and you close your eyes in disappointment. "i’ll miss you” he added, kissing the top of your head.

luke turned and disappeared through the portal, leaving you alone in the forest. as he walked away, you catch’d a glimpse of tears in his eyes, but he didn’t look back. you feel a pit in your stomach, a mix of guilt and anger, as you stand alone in the forest, unsure of what to do next. in your point of view, you were just collateral damage to him.

#luke castellan apologist #luke castellan x you #luke x reader #pjo luke castellan #luke castellan #luke castellan x reader #pjo x you #pjo x reader #pjo fandom #pjo #percy jackon and the olympians #charlie bushnell #luke castellan angst

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writteninlunarlight-years · 5 months

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Could I ask for an Alastor getting Hanahaki over Reader and everyone has to chip in to help him out? He's afraid of losing them as they're the only one who's never been afraid of Alastor (sure the Radio Demon part is creepy asf but Reader looks past it to befriend him) and would rather die alone then lose their presence.

The others figure out what Hanahaki is after finding him coughing up flowers one day and they each pitch in to help him through it; even Lucifer helps. And Charlie threatens Al with telling Rosie and Mimzy (you decide if they need to get involved)

Just everyone helping Alastor not second-die, him being confused as to why they're helping him and learning he has more friends then he realizes (and is nicer to them as it goes on) and also Reader being incredibly fucking confused as to what's been going on.

Sorry if it's a lot! And thank you in advance if you decide to write it ^-^

Hanahaki! Alastor x F!Reader

'A flower cannot blossom without sunshine, and a man cannot live without love." - Max Muller

Trigger Warning: mentions abuse, vomiting, near-death experiences, cringe obliviousness

Alastor knew he was feared among mortals and sinners. He was the equivalent of a boogie man, so to speak. He had no time for trivial things like love, relationships, or weakness. He had to be strong, always ahead of the game, and ready to take anyone who dared to oppose him. Well, that was till you came along. You were an enigma; he had heard about you when you appeared in the realm of sinners; however, you were fierce in the human world. Every man that wrongly touched a woman or attacked a woman was soon dealt with by your hand. You tortured them, strung them up, and ended their lives slowly. Alastor was impressed, to say the least.

However, when you turned up on the Hotel's doorstep six months ago, you were anything but scary. You looked innocent, almost too innocent. Alastor tried so hard to hate you to think nothing but the worst in you, but you had a grip on him. It's not every day that someone is entirely unphased by him. The day you two met was like nothing before; everyone in hell knew of him and his reputation. You even did, too; you had to have known of this since Rosie was the one who suggested you find refuge in the Hotel. Yet you looked up at him when he loomed over you and just smiled.

The Radio Demon was known for the catchphrase 'never truly dressed without a smile,' but somehow yours was just as off-putting as his, like you learned something no one else ever would. He enjoyed that about you. That you were so full of kindness and energy but also something so dark and twisted. Before Alastor knew it, he took you in as an apprentice. The end goal is to teach you his ways and your soul; well, that would be his. That was always the plan to create a powerful accomplice to assist in his dirty deeds, yet something changed over time.

Alastor didn't remember when he started protecting, defending, or even fighting for you. It all happened out of nowhere. He hated all of it, but he couldn't stop himself. Slowly, as time passed, he sought guidance for these newfound emotions, leading us to now.

Alastor made his way to the bookshop in town, the best place to get anything involving the damned and dead. These newfound feelings could be an ailment of sorts, perhaps. As he perused the books, he bumped into you, of all people. Shocked, he spoke, "Hello, doll, good to see you here. Are you catching up on some light reading?"

As he said this, he looked down at the book in your hand and noticed the book was covered in an arrangement of flowers. It's odd for being a book in hell for it to look so innocent and cheap. As he was questioning the existence of this book, you spoke up. "Alastor, what a pleasure it is to see you here! I was researching sicknesses and curses from the mortal realm when I stumbled upon this book. It's pretty, no?"

Alastor looked at you and the sweet look in your eyes and couldn't help but nod in agreement with you. God, if he truly existed, needed to help get him whatever cure was necessary for these stupid thoughts. Alastor took the book from your hands, observing the details, and flipped through the pages gently. He looked back over to you when he spoke. "Dear, why don't I buy this for you? If I remember correctly, you have a date with Ms. Rosie soon. I would hate for you to miss your confidential meet-up."

You nodded gently, smiling that same eerie smile as always, making your way out the door, not before leaving a generous tip for the demon at the counter. You were always kind and gentle to those who had done no wrong to you or your loved ones. Yet when someone wronged anyone close to you, they would coincidentally go missing. You were like a gorgeous rose with those incredibly thin secret thorns. Alastor went to the front soon after you and placed the books you two had found on the front counter. As the shopkeeper looked up to see the grinning radio host, he just ducked back down, minding his business. Alastor smiled, dropping some coins in the jar before returning to the hotel.

Once inside, Alastor made his way to his tower, ready to read the books that may cure these insufferable feelings he has been having towards you. The first book on the document, "Freudian Emotions," As Alastor read through the book, he couldn't help but be mildly disgusted and enamored with the literature. Who just openly admits they were in love with their mother? Who was the man who wrote this book? Deeming the book unsatisfactory, Alastor moved on to the next, "How to know understand your darker feelings". This book pertains to many of Alastor's emotions when he was in the mood to kill or harm. Only the chapter 'Lust' has mild insinuations of the random emotions he was suddenly feeling. Another dud he surely would need to pay that shop keeps another visit to request better literature.

As Alastor thought everything was lost, he noticed your book again. Taking a closer look at it, one would call it eloquent. The sage green cover was adorned with thousands of different flowers. The title reading, "Ancient Alments of the Flowers and Gods," piqued his interest greatly. As he skimmed through the pages, he saw countless excerpts about those who scorned the gods and curses placed upon them. One specific page really caught his attention, it was about an ailment called 'Hanahaki'. Someone with feelings of unrequited love would profusely vomit flowers till their feelings were requited. The other option was an intense surgical procedure that would leave the person affected loveless. Underneath a picture of a young girl with flowers around her and coming out of her mouth was a message. It was hard to make out; Alastor moved the book closer to his face.

Squinting closer at the message, Alastor mumbled, 'A Flower Can Not Blossom Without Sunshine, Just As One Can Not Live Life Without Love.' As those words left his mouth, his fate was sealed. A sudden urge to get sick overtook Alastor as he dropped the book on the ground and ran to the bathroom down the hall. There, he passed a confused Angel Dust, putting on more makeup in the mirror. Alastor made it to the toilet where he proceeded to get violently ill.....with......flowers. Flowers? Why flowers? As Alastor tried to process the turn of events, Angel Dust popped his head in. "Uh, radio man, you good? I don't think I have ever seen you get sic- Oh god, why are there flowers everywhere?"

Before Alastor could pop his head up enough to respond, he threw up more flowers. Standing up woozy, he washed his face in the sink before turning to the spider demon. "I don't know what's wrong. I read this book Y/N bought, and now I am seemingly throwing up flowers."

Angel nodded, lending a hand to the demon and helping him straighten himself out. The two started to head out of the bathroom when the woman herself appeared out of nowhere. "Hi, guys! Oh, Alastor, are you okay?" Concern was evident in her voice, and it was adorable when she worried about him.

Before Alastor knew it, though, he was pushing Angel towards the girl and returning to throw up some more. With some gentle words from Angel and a lot of persistence, finally Y/N left. Once she was far enough away, Alastor was freed from the clutches of flowers once again. Sighing, he turned to the spider demon, "Angel, good fellow, I need to find where I dropped that book."

Angel joined Alastor in the hunt for the book and kept Y/N away. Luckily, they made it back to the radio tower unscathed. Once the book was found, Angel and Alastor began digging into it. Nothing came of it except a simple smirk from Angel. "Alastor, do you have feelings for little Miss Y/N?"

Alastor looked at the demon, puzzled. What a stupid question to ask while he was here, vomiting flowers. Yes, he had some odd feelings he didn't understand right now, but nothing like what that stupid book described. Angel sighed, shaking his head, and went for the door. Alastor was in a panic, "Where are you going? Are you not going to help me?"

Angel turned to Alastor, "I'm going to get more help because you obviously don't realize what everyone has been seeing since the day that girl arrived."

Alastor looked at Angel quizzically as he left. Sitting on the floor of the tower, he thought about everything. He understood the explanation of the curse in that stupid book was about someone loving another who didn't return the feelings, but he had never experienced love before. Well, he had for his momma, but not another. Would he describe these odd feelings he had for you as love? While lost in thought, Angel appeared with Husk, Charlie, and Vaggie hot on his tail.

As Alastor was snapped out of his thoughts, a concerned Charlie appeared before him. "Alastor! Angel told us everything. Are you alright? Where is Y/N? Should she be here too?"

As the young girl's name left the princess's lips, the sick feeling happened again. He turned to his side and started to vomit more flowers. Everyone was in shock. When he was done, he turned and looked up at the others. Angel picked up the cursed book and handed it to the others for them to read. It clicked for everyone as soon as they got to the message at the bottom. Alastor was in love but didn't realize it.

Alastor sat weak and groggy, observing from the sideline as everyone huddled together. Rolling his eyes, he went to stand and go about his day when he was ushered into his seat by the group. Now, sitting in his hosting chair, everyone lined up before him. Charlie stepped forward, "Alastor, you are in love with Y/N!"

Again, as the name left Charlie's lips, Alastor doubled over, vomiting profusely. Flowers littered the room; all anyone really could think was that at least it smelt good. Angel placed his hand on the Radio Demon's shoulder and turned to Charlie, "Toots, I think we should avoid saying her name for now until at least we come up with a plan."

Alastor shook his head and looked up. "Where is she? I don't know what will happen if I see her again right now. Just her name is causing this. I would hate for it to be worse."

Everyone nodded. Husk said, "After Angel told me what was happening, I convinced her Rosie needed her." A sigh of relief was heard from everyone in the room. Alastor looked to the crew in front of him and spoke again, "I don't even know what love is, so why has that damned book cursed me?"

The group looked at each other and nodded, lining back up. Angel stepped forward first: "Exhibit A, When she who shall not be named appeared at the hotel, she was unafraid of you. You came to me later that evening and asked if your name was still prevalent in the demon community. When I confirmed it was, you stared at her for hours and kept mumbling, 'Fascinating, truly fascinating.'

Alastor blanched at the omission, not ready for the retelling of the last six months of his life. He couldn't deny, though, that having someone not immediately afraid of him was refreshing. Over the six months he had known you, he repeatedly tried to make you scared. Nothing happened, though. You always just smiled and went about your day with him.

Next up was Vaggie, "When we were all practicing for the war with the angels, and she was fighting with one of the cannibals, you asked me how her form was so perfect. You were enamored with her when I explained that she had to have been a fighter in one of her lifetimes. I don't think you stopped staring at her while she was practicing that whole day."

Alastor turned his head away from his friends, feeling a bit warm. He couldn't deny your fighting form was gorgeous. You were fierce on the field that day. Constantly slaying enemies, though you were beautiful in red, the Gold that adorned your face after you slew the angels was something else. Not to mention, you were the one who found him in the wreckage of the radio tower that day. You helped him and tended to his wounds before returning to the others during the rebuild phase. He vividly remembers how you were right there, so close yet so far.

Husk stepped up to the plate: "The night that she drank herself silly at the bar after losing Pentious, you sat with her the whole night while she talked. You never do that, and I would know. You even carried her to her room when she passed out."

It was confirmed that he watched you drink your heart out once the hotel was rebuilt. Crying profusely over the snake man. A part of him felt anger that you felt so strongly towards another, but it also hurt him to see someone he 'cared' for hurting. When you finally passed out, he realized how soft your features were. You were so calm and delicate but also so fierce and aggressive. He picked you up so delicately and carried you to your room across the hotel. When he laid you down, you gripped him and mumbled, 'Be safe, Alastor, please.' Hearing that, his heart was alight.

Finally, Charlie took center stage, " On top of all these instances, you've not once asked for her soul, nor have you made a deal with her, nor have you made any insulting comments."

Alastor stalled....was that true? He knew deep down it was. He continually lied to himself; he was only interested in you because he wanted your soul. Did he really want to force you into servitude, though? Everything came crashing down on Alastor so quickly. There was no way was he....was he...in love. As the pieces clicked for the Radio Demon he hunched over in the chair spilling his guts full of flowers out, this time they weren't just any flowers, they were Roses. He always compared you to roses, your beautiful soft exterior covered with those hidden thorns.

As the coughing of flowers ended, he looked at his friends. They all were smiling, waiting for him to admit it himself. Alastor didn't know what scared him the most: that he loved you or that all these people cared enough about him to remember such antics. Did these people actually have so little time in their dreary lives? "Thank you all for the trip down memory lane, though I understand I apparently love......her......how does this help my situation?"

The group looked astonished at the thanks but contemplated the weight of his words. It's great he understood, but how did you feel? You were an enigma to everyone, eager to help and lend a hand but keeping your heart close to your chest. Charlie, in all her wisdom, spoke, "Go to Rosies and profess your love right now! No woman can resist a sweet confession!"

Angel laughed, "Sorry, toots, but I would deny a man who went to tell me he loved me and then vomited on me."

Husk said, "At least the vomit is flowers that could be a plus if not mildly concerning for the girl."

Alastor listened to everyone's points; going to Rosie wouldn't do, and it would just be too much and embarrassing. He had a front to keep all these other demons in the realm, still had to know who was in charge. While everyone was deep in thought, the door to the radio tower opened. Everyone turned to the noise. Alastor, still sitting, couldn't see what was happening. "I heard from a little birdie's phone that we need a magical love confession!" Oh god not Lucifer, may an Exicutioner strike Alastor down now.

"Dad! Yes, Alastor needs an amazing proposal that won't be hindered by his uh issues." Charlie exclaimed.

"Oh, you are talking to the king of romance, baby! Here's the plan!"

~~~~~ Time Jump ~~~~~

A week had passed since Alastor came to terms with his feelings and realized he had more friends than not. However, this elaborate plan for each person in the hotel to try and get Y/N to confess she had feelings too was becoming too much. The symptoms of the Hanahaki were becoming too much. Her voice alone now was making him vomit. So far, each attempted love confession ended with the girl being overly confused and concerned about where Alastor was hiding. They usually were inseparable, but he had avoided her for a week since the bookstore.

This is where Lucifer's plan came to a head; see what he told everyone to do: get her to confess. In reality, he planted the seeds of worry and doubt in the young girl's mind. If she also loved Alastor, she would seek him out and confess herself. Maybe she was just as oblivious as the Radio Demon. The sweet, innocent young demon was starting to bear her fangs and claws, as luck would have it. Lucifer was an avid Kdrama stan. Of course, he knew how this troupe would play out and took the right amount of push from the group.

Alastor was also growing to miss you; the more he agreed with his feelings, the more he was worried about what you were doing if you hated him for disappearing, and if you were going to accept him. As the thoughts plagued his mind, a timid knock was heard on his door. Standing up and straightening himself out, Alastor opened the door. There you stood in all your glory. He could tell you hadn't been sleeping from the bags under your eyes, and you looked a little pale, probably from not caring for yourself from worry. He was so happy to see you, ecstatic that you cared! Well, till he started to vomit flowers again.

Panic ran across your face as you reached out to help Alastor; however, your touch only worsened things. The flowers were changing colors; rushing to sit him down, you noticed the book you had wanted to buy a week ago. Picking it up on the page it was on, you saw the term 'Hanahaki.' Reading through the page after noticing the girl in the picture had the same ailment as Alastor, you grew upset. He was in love with someone....who? You got to the part of the passage that has a message. 'A Flower Can Not Blossom Without Sunshine, Just As One Can Not Live Life Without Love.' As you spoke those words, Alastor grew worried. What if the same aliment that was affecting him now also affected you. Not only would he worry about your health, but he would know you didn't love him.

After a few minutes, nothing happened; Alastor didn't know how to feel. Were you not in love at all? While contemplating all these thoughts, the flowers came up again, so you didn't love him back; he would have to resort to some stupid surgery to be okay again. Coughing out the last flowers, Alastor stood, "I'll be fine, doll. Just leave me be."

"Who is she...or he...whoever?" He could hear the sadness in your voice. Why were you asking him who caused his ailment?

"Never mind....we should get you help.... or get you to confess something so you can live normally again." You were doing everything in your power to hold back the tears. Alastor reached out and moved some fallen hair behind your ear.

"Who do you want me to be in love with?" Alastor spoke timidly for the first time in his lifetimes since he was a child. He was afraid of your rejection, the illness, something, anything. You did so many strange things to him. As you looked up into his eyes and he saw the hints of tears forming, for once, he didn't feel like vomiting. Slowly inching forward, he placed a soft kiss on your lips. Gently, like at any moment, everything could be ruined.

When you kissed back, Alastor felt light. Once you two pulled away for air, he was prepared for more flowers. Your voice alone made him throw them up; he was worried about touching you. Nothing came. He looked down at you once more and smiled his signature grin. "Doll, I dare say, do you love me back? No wonder you didn't get cursed with the ailment when you read the passage."

You smiled softly at him, wrapping him in a hug. Things were back to normal again, and now, with you two together, hell had a whole new list of worries to deal with. Who knew the Radio Demon would only grow stronger once he found the love of his lifetime?

#x reader #alastor #alastor the radio demon #hazbin alastor #hazbin hotel alastor #alastor x reader #radio demon #hazbin #hazbinhotel #hazbin hotel #hotel hazbin #hazbin hotel x reader #alastor hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel fanart #hazbin art #hazbin hotel x you #alastor x you

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