#then after the event ended she like. stayed in her seat. after everyone left. to talk to him. i was like PLEASE LETS LEAVE

[kalique]

don’t think i don’t still remember in 2009 when my mom embarrassed me in front of eoin colfer 3 separate times

[yelena-bellova]

Twenty Years Later: Joel Miller x F!Reader - Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fourteen: Violent Innocence

Plot: A separated Joel and Y/n work different angles to try and best David and his men.

Word Count: 6.8k

Warnings: canon-typical violence, implied attempted SA, insinuated abuse, c*nnibalism, knives, guns, blood, wounds, language, loss of a child, ptsd, (16+)

A/N: This was a hard, hard chapter to get through, guys. If the quality of my writing isn’t up to its regular standard, it’s because it was truly emotionally taxing to write. I’ve also left out descriptions of certain events/discoveries/dialogue in an effort to keep the 16+ rating.

As always, this series is 16+ and I will not be adding anyone to the taglist who does not have their age/range in their bio. Gotta look out for younger eyes 👀

I advise everyone to take a breather, or just skip to the end of the chapter, if it’s too much to handle. Ep.8 was traumatizing and I don’t fault anyone for not wanting to put themselves through it again. I’m so looking forward to finishing out this series with y’all and the finale tonight. Thank you thank you thank you for your constant support and encouragement ☀️

——————

Unlike the movies, where the main character on the verge of death is miraculously returned to the living, Joel did not wake with a start. Still lost in the haze of blood loss, hunger and medicinal side effects, his eyes hurt to open. He registered the room, remembering being dragged down a flight of stairs and falling into a mattress.

One memory dripped down before the flood unleashed.

Ellie and Y/n.

Stay awake.

Men coming.

Leading them away.

Kill them.

The footsteps on the floor above startled Joel, the ticking clock and the realization that Ellie and Y/n were gone motivated him to roll off the bed. He stifled a groan, hurrying to his feet, clutching the knife that Ellie had placed in his palm. He wobbled his way to the rear of the room, falling against a water heater that could conceal him.

Joel listened for the footsteps over the blood pounding in his ears.

They crept through the room.

He waited…until the man finally passed the heater.

Joel couldn’t have possibly known that it was the same man who, five minutes before, had clubbed Y/n and ordered David’s men to shoot her and Ellie. But he slashed his knife through him as if he’d watched it happen.

After wrestling the man to the ground and assuring that he was dead, Joel rolled off him, wheezing for breath. He tried to gather his thoughts on his back. There were more men, all looking for him, Y/n and Ellie. They weren’t back yet, which meant they’d either been kidnapped or killed. Most likely kidnapped, so long as Ellie’s bite wound hadn’t been visible. Tortured, maybe, or worse.

Joel inhaled as deep as he could and began to drag his body across the floor towards the stairs. Towards his girls.

—————————

Y/n leaned her head back against the concrete wall, wondering why the fuck there was a cage inside a kitchen.

She’d carried Ellie into it, the butt of David’s follower’s rifles pressing into her back as they forced her in. They’d both been stripped of their winter coats and weapons. She had yet to get any answers as to why they wanted them there or what they were planning to do to them. Ellie hadn’t woken up, leaving Y/n on her own to try every conceivable possibility to escape. None had succeeded.

David entered then, finally gracing Y/n with his holy presence. He pulled up a seat across from the cage, smiling politely.

“How is she?”

Y/n turned her head, indignant at the fact that David’s men had shot at them, caused Ellie’s injuries, and yet he had the nerve to inquire about her wellbeing.

David tried a different approach, “I know this all must be a bit strange…”

Y/n bristled, “I lived in Texas, I’ve seen a lot weird shit, but, uh,” Y/n took a look at her surroundings, “Yeah, a jail cell next to a butcher’s block is an unusual feature.”

“We only use it when necessary,” David held up two innocent hands, “I’d love to explain our community more to you, but it’d be nice to know your name first.”

“Beyonce,” Y/n answered without hesitation.

The preacher chuckled under his breath, “You’re very quick. Stepping in to portect your daughter, your…what, your husband? Boyfriend?”

Y/n had been interrogated so many times, had sustained so many injuries in FEDRA lockup, that there weren’t many tactics that could work on her. David trying to get a feel for her and Joel’s relationship was a waste of breath.

He sighed, tapping his hands against his knees in wait. “You know we’re not here to hurt you,” he said softly.

“Gee, I wonder where I would have gotten that idea,” Y/n retorted, “What with my fucking head splitting and my kid unconscious on the floor.”

“An unfortunate turn of events, yes,” David corrected her, “But we’re protective of our own. You can understand that, can’t you?”

Y/n didn’t move a muscle, staring David down, “Oh, yeah. We’re one and the same there,” she cracked a smile, vengeance practically dripping from her lips, “And that should scare you.”

David, however, only found her threats mildly amusing. He exhaled with a small laugh, Y/n rather preferred being underestimated. It caused people to leave their weak spots exposed. She was sure if she looked hard enough, she could find David’s.

Beside her, Ellie finally began to stir, drawing Y/n’s attention. She scurried to place her hands on Ellie’s back, helping the girl to sit up.

“Me and your mother were starting to worry you wouldn’t wake up,” David said.

Ellie’s vision was blurry and her entire body hurt, her words didn’t carry their usual edge as she told David, “Let us out.”

“Well, that’s certainly the goal,” David nodded, “Hungry?”

“Why are we in a cage?” Ellie hazily took in their surroundings.

“Because I’m afraid of you,” David gave the same calm smile he’d given Y/n, “You’re a dangerous person. You’ve certainly proven that. The others want me to kill you two for what’s happened.”

Y/n held Ellie steady as she got to her knees, neither of them particularly alarmed by David’s words.

He leaned forward, “Did you hear me say the others wanna kill you?”

“Yeah,” Ellie breathed.

“But I stopped them.”

“Fuck you,” Ellie said on behalf of both her and Y/n.

“Why don’t we just start with your name?” David asked once more.

Ellie didn’t miss a beat, “Eat shit.”

“Hey,” David’s voice rose, “Listen to me!”

As he got to his feet, Y/n did as well, coming to meet him at the cage wall as Ellie scurried to the far end of their prison. Y/n wanted to rip into him purely for startling the girl.

“You can’t survive on your own,” David continued, his eyes looking past Y/n to land on Ellie, “No one can. But I can help you,” his gaze finally flicked up, “Let me protect you two.”

“We don’t need your help or your protection,” Y/n enunciated every word clearly.

“And we’re not on our own,” Ellie added from behind Y/n.

David nodded, “Right. Your friend,” his face changed to accommodate faux concern one might use on a child, “And how is he?”

Behind her eyes, Y/n’s mind flicked to Joel, beads of sweat around his temples, breathing so frighteningly shallow, his tan skin deathly pale. She couldn’t admit to the fear pooling in her belly that against David’s men, Joel might have lost the fight.

“I can see how much you care about him, so I know it hurts,” David continued, l having broken Y/n and Ellie’s first line of defense, “But even so…you gotta face reality.”

David turned and began to circle the cage. Ellie and Y/n moved as one, Ellie crawling in the opposite direction and Y/n standing in front of her as a shield.

“That part of your lives, it’s ending,” David went on, finally stopping on the other end of the cage, “And what I’m offering you is a beginning. But if you can’t find a way to trust me, then yes,” his eyes scanned Ellie, “You are alone.”

Without another word, David walked off through a door in the kitchen, leaving Y/n and Ellie to themselves.

Y/n was on her knees immediately, holding Ellie’s face in her hands and checking her head.

“Definitely got your bell rung,” Y/n lightly ran a finger over the pink bruise at Ellie’s hairline.

“What the fuck do we do?” Ellie asked, unconcerned about her injuries.

“I’m trying to figure that out,” Y/n replied, stroking a quick hand over Ellie’s hair, “I’ve already tried to window up there,” she pointed to a small pane of glass above them, “I can’t break it. Guns are over there in the corner,” she gestured to the edge of the room. And I can’t-“

Y/n was cut off by Ellie, throwing her arms around her body. The girl pressed the side of her face into Y/n’s chest, her short breaths warming Y/n’s skin through her layers.

Of all the horrible memories Y/n carried from September 26th, 2003, there was one in particular that lived in her chest every second of every day. As she had clutched Sarah in her arms, with Joel trying to assess her mortal injuries, Sarah had tried desperately to speak. Her lips pressed together, only able to make a humming sound. Y/n had shushed her, telling her that it was okay, she was okay, they’d all be okay…and that had been the last of it.

Whatever Sarah had needed to say died on her lips, but lived on in Y/n’s mind. She had spent so long, playing the memory back, watching the girl’s mouth, listening to the buzz in her throat, unable to rest until she knew what she’d wanted to say in her final minutes.

It took her one year to figure it out, and twenty to accept.

Mom.

Y/n had failed Sarah just as Joel felt he had failed. She’d spent the last two decades telling herself she could have jumped in front of them, she could have yanked Sarah out of Joel’s arms, she could have attacked the guard…all things her brain knew there hadn’t been enough time for, but guilt and logic never agreed on anything. Y/n had begged God, the skies, the earth, the universe, anyone, for a second chance. For some miraculous, mind-bending turn of events to send her back to that day and save her daughter.

And as she cradled Ellie in her arms, pressing a kiss to the girl’s head, she knew her second chance lay not in the past, but in the future.

“We’re gonna get out of this,” Y/n said, speaking with a strength she hadn’t in twenty years, “I promise.”

David was right about one thing, they had to face reality.

Joel wasn’t coming to save them.

They were on their own.

And Y/n would be damned if she failed to save someone she loved again.

————————————

Joel had tried to keep his violent side hidden from both Ellie and Y/n during their time together. He’d slipped with the FEDRA guard in Boston, remembering the terror in Y/n’s eyes as she’d watched him beat the young man to death. Whether or not he knew it, he’d tried from that moment on to be better.

But now, with their lives at stake, Joel didn’t care about better.

Every punch he drove into the raider’s face he had tied to the chair was pure rage, the only thing strong enough to keep him upright. The pleas of the bloody pulp of a man fell on deaf ears.

“Stop…stop, please…”

Joel rammed his fist against his cheek once more, silencing him.

“Leave him alone,” the raider who Joel had yet to touch urged from the other side of the room.

“You’re next,” Joel muttered, withdrawing the knife from his belt with a spine-tingling smirk.

“Please,” the man he’d been hitting begged, “I don’t know any girls.”

Joel was a human lie detector, having seen both the best and worst of humanity. He didn’t have to second guess whether it was the right decision to drive his knife into the man’s knee.

“Marco,” the guy tried to call, his voice strained from his screams of pain.

“No-no, no-no-no,” Joel cooed, his soft tone contrasting the roughness in which he pulled the man by his hair, “He can’t help you. You focus right here. Or I’ll pop your fuckin’ kneecap off.”

The man’s breath trembled as Joel gripped him, knowing that betraying David came at its own cost. “They’re alive,” he admitted.

The hope spread through Joel, but it couldn’t outmatch the anger that doubled at the thought of Y/n and Ellie being held and tortured. “Where?”

When Joel didn’t get his answer quick enough, he reached down and twisted the knife in the man’s leg.

“Ah! Fuck,” he squealed, “Fuck! Ah! The town!”

“WHAT TOWN?!” Joel screamed into his face.

“Silver Lake,” the man panted, wincing after.

Joel reached into his pocket, taking out his map and unfolding it.

“It’s not a real town name,” his victim said, his speech slow from the ache in his jaw, “It’s a resort.”

Now that was a word Joel hadn’t heard in a long time, “A resort?”

Feeling each precious second that Y/n and Ellie were still breathing slipping away, Joel removed his knife from the man’s leg and forced his mouth open, slipping the handle in. “You’re gonna point to where we are,” he held up the map towards the guy’s head, “And where your resort is. And it better be the exact same spot your buddy points to.”

Joel had a death grip on his hair, pressing their foreheads together and feeling his near-attacker’s body tremble with fear. Trying his best, the man aimed the blade at the map, pinpointing their location. Fear could always deliver results.

Joel sat back, examining the drip of blood that served as a marker. His body ached with exhaustion, but his chest felt the same pain it had for the last three months. The kind that was usually a precursor his panic attacks, except now, adrenaline was all that followed.

“That’s where we are,” the man whimpered, “I swear. Go ask him, he’ll tell you. I’m not lying.”

There had never been a question as to whether or not Joel would show mercy. These men had seen Ellie and Y/n, knew where they were being kept, they might have even laid hands on them.

Joel slid the blade into the man’s chest without a second thought.

Marco unleashed a string of expletives as Joel caught his breath.

“Why the fuck did you do that? He told you what you wanted,” Marco whined.

Joel took clumsy steps across the room, reaching for the lead pipe Marco had carried in with him that now lay across the couch.

“You motherfucker, fuck you,” Marco spat as Joel strode towards him, “I ain’t tellin’ you shit.”

“It’s okay,” Joel nodded empathetically, calling on the same disarming tactics he had in his days as a raider, “I believe him.”

In that moment, Joel wasn’t a monster.

He wasn’t the villain.

He was a father and a husband.

And he brought the pipe down with all the fury one could possess.

—————————

Ellie was relentless.

“El,” Y/n insisted as the girl continued to try and pick the lock, “I already tried that.”

“Well, maybe you didn’t try hard enough,” Ellie replied as she tugged on it.

“Yes, ‘cause this is just so pleasant,” Y/n spread her arms out to the cage, “Look, we’re not getting out of here like that. We’ve gotta wait for him to slip up.”

Ellie looked over her shoulder, “What do you mean?”

“He thinks we’re two little lost lambs or sheep or whatever, all alone without anyone to protect us,” Y/n explained, “We’ve gotta wait for the exact right moment when he fucks up and gives us an opportunity.”

“Okay,” Ellie nodded before quickly turning back to the lock.

Y/n slapped her hands against her legs, “I just gave you the plan.”

“I thought I felt it jiggle,” Ellie insisted, shaking the lock a few more times before coming to a sudden stop and stumbling backwards towards Y/n.

Y/n caught her in confusion, “What?”

She followed Ellie’s line of vision across the room to the chopping block, falling south to the floor. Y/n’s stomach turned at the sight…

An ear.

An actual fucking ear.

In all his perfect timing, David entered just then, carrying a tray and sliding it under the cage walls. Two bowls of soup and a cup of water.

David followed Ellie and Y/n’s eyes down to the butcher’s block, frowning when he realized what they were looking. “For what it’s worth,” he gestured to the bowls, “This is just deer meat, I swear.”

Ellie and Y/n were separately connecting all the dots of why they were being held where they were. They could have been trapped anywhere in the town, their weapons stripped from them and beaten into submission. This was a purposeful choice.

“You’re going to chop us into little pieces,” Ellie stated.

“I’d rather not,” David answered, “Please, just tell me your names.”

Y/n forced herself to exhale, wondering how the hell he could be so focused on a trivial detail.

“If you wanna judge me-“ David shrugged.

“Judge you?” Ellie raised her voice to a scream, surging forward to grab the metal bars, “You’re eating people, you sick fuck!”

She kicked the tray across the floor, it landed under the chopping block. David backed away from her anger.

“Yes,” David replied, “There are only a few of us who know. But I would’ve told you, sooner or later. I guess sooner.”

“You’re a fucking animal,” Y/n seethed, finally finding the strength to speak.

“Well, yes, we all are,” David said, his sociopathic calm tone beginning to worry both Y/n and Ellie, “That’s sorta of the point,” he took in Ellie’s disgust, “It was a last resort. You think it doesn’t shame me? But what was I supposed to do? Let them starve? These people who put their lives in my hands, w-who expect me to keep them save, who love me?”

“Yeah, maybe,” Ellie shot back.

“You don’t believe that,” David shook his head, “I don’t think your friend would either. Didn’t he take another man’s life to save yours?”

“Your men fucking attacked us,” Y/n added, her tone sharp.

“He was defending himself,” Ellie replied.

“He was defending you and your mother,” David corrected, even though he was calling on Y/n, his eyes were locked on Ellie’s, “But you knew that. You see a lot. So do I. And you know what I see when I look at you?”

Y/n watched the conversation in wait, it was beginning to alarm her that he was focusing all his attention on Ellie.

“Me,” he continued, “You remind me of me. You’re a natural leader, smart…loyal. Violent.”

Ellie froze at his words, while Y/n took a step forward.

“Keep going and you’ll see how violent I can be,” she threatened.

“Now, see, your mother,” David gestured to Y/n but never once looked at her, “She is deeply afraid, faking her confidence with threats. But that’s not who she actually is. I could unlock this door, hand her her gun, and she still might not be able to do what she needs to to protect you.”

Y/n’s nostrils flared at the assumption that she wouldn’t break his neck to save Ellie.

“But you, on the other hand…” David continued speaking to Ellie, “If I let you out of that cage right now, put that knife of yours in your hand, you’d stick me in a second. You have a violent heart. And I should know…” David took slow steps towards the cage, his eyes alight, “I’ve always had a violent heart. And I struggled with it for a long time. But then the world ended and I was shown the truth.”

“Right…” Ellie muttered, “By God.”

“No,” David breathed, “By Cordyceps. What does Cordyceps do? Is it evil? No. It’s fruitful. It multiplies. It feeds and protects its children, and it secures its future with violence, if it must. It loves.”

Y/n’s blood heated to a boil, her cheeks warming with rage. Cordyceps had taken everything and everyone she had ever loved. It was the purest form of evil nature had ever created. She wanted to cut through David, whispering the names of all her lost family into his ear as she did.

But this wasn’t her opportunity.

“Why are you telling us all this?” Ellie asked, she still believed it was a conversation between three people.

“Because you can handle it,” David said, Y/n may as well have not even been in the room, “The way the others can’t. They need God, they need Heaven,” David took another step towards the cage, “They need a father. You don’t. You’re beyond that. I’m a shepherd surrounded by sheep, and all I want…is an equal. A friend.”

Alarms rang in Y/n’s head so loud, she thought they were real. But Ellie was playing the game that Y/n had told her to, and she couldn’t stop her.

“What about our friend?”

“Like I said, loyal,” David nodded before taking another slow step towards them, “I can tell the others to stop looking for him. They’ll spare him.”

Ellie looked up to Y/n, convincingly filling her eyes with hope, before looking back to David. Y/n quickly adjusted her expression to match, pretending as if Joel’s safety was the only thing that mattered.

“Really?” Ellie took a step forward towards David, “They’ll just let him go?”

“Yes,” David answered confidently, “If he leaves us in peace, they will just let him go.”

It wasn’t hard for Y/n to whip up some tears, taking a choking breath in and following Ellie towards the metal bars.

“They do what I tell them to do. They follow me,” David was getting closer and closer, his gaze fixated, obsessed with Ellie, “And they would follow us. Lord knows, I could use the help. I-“ he chortled, gesturing to below the chopping block, “Look what’s happened.”

David extended his hand, gripping one of the horizontal metal bars between him from Ellie and Y/n. They stared down at it, considering their options.

“Think of what we could together,” David said, his voice alive with passion, “As strong as we are. We’d make this place perfect. We’d grow, spread out. And we’d do whatever we needed for our people.”

Ellie reached to grab the other side of the bar, her hand perilously close to David’s. Y/n had to fight every instinct to rip her body behind her own.

“Imagine the life we could give them,” David said wistfully, moving his hand to slide over Ellie’s, “Imagine the life we could build.”

David may not have been watching her, but Y/n made effort to drop two tears down her cheeks and sniffle as if it was the most beautiful idea in the world…

“Oh,” Ellie whispered, reaching a nearly shaking palm up to David’s hand, hoping that Y/n sensed that the moment was upon them.

Ellie pushed David’s finger back, a sickening crack erupting in his hand. As he cried out in pain, Y/n dropped down to her knees, pulling him in by his belt and grabbing the keys off their hook. Unfortunately, he wriggled out of Ellie’s grasp and reached through the bars, grabbing Y/n by the throat and squeezing. Y/n gagged and choked as his fingers tightened, but she still held onto the keys.

Ellie struck a blow to David’s abdomen, causing him to drop Y/n and stumble backwards. In the sudden movement, Y/n dropped the keys to the floor and nearly fell. David was quick to come back, grabbing Ellie’s hair and slamming her face into the bars twice before throwing her down.

“You little cunts,” he seethed, picking up the keys from the floor, “Let’s see what I go tell the others now.”

Y/n coughed violently, earning each and every breath back, but bent over Ellie to make sure she was alright. The girl’s blood painted the floor of their cell.

“Ellie,” she said, crawling past Y/n and towards David.

David turned, “What?”

“Tell them Ellie is the little girl,” the girl crawled to the bars, raising her voice, “Who broke your fucking finger!”

“How did you put it?” David asked, his tone mocking them now, “Hmm? ‘Tiny little pieces?’”

He stormed out of the room, slamming it behind him and leaving Ellie and Y/n to contemplate their impending doom.

“Fuck,” Y/n whispered, rubbing her already sore neck and forming a plan in her dizzy head. “Okay, when they come in, I’ll take them and you fucking run.”

“No,” Ellie replied quickly, stumbling to her feet, “No, we-“

“You’re going to get the fuck out of here,” Y/n continued, emphasizing each of the last words, “And you’re going to run.”

“I’m not fucking leaving you,” Ellie yelled, shoving Y/n’s arms.

“And I’m not asking,” Y/n yelled back, feeling her fate slowly approaching. If it bought Ellie time, it was all worth it.

She gripped Ellie’s shoulders, wrenching her closer and locking eyes with her. “You. Run.”

———————————

The snow outside had picked up, nearly blinding Joel as he trudged through the ice, clutching his abdomen the whole way.

He’d made it to Silver Lake, against all odds, but didn’t know the first place to look. He kept his good ear peeled, trying to listen for Y/n or Ellie’s cries, but the storm made that impossible. Leaned up against one of the resort’s buildings, trying to catch his breath, Joel tried to think clearly about his next move.

Then his eyes caught the trail of blood in the snow and logic went out the window.

Joel followed the crimson that led him to the building’s door. He broke the lock with the butt of his rifle and entered, clicking on his flashlight and drawing his pistol. He crept through the shed, bending down once to search under a table and finding only old clothes and useless supplies. Then, he spotted a nearly identical trail of blood leading into the next room.

All the while his heart thudded with fear, fear of failure.

Joel made no noise as he entered the room, shining his flashlight ahead to find what was left of one of their horses. They’d captured Y/n and Ellie while riding. The picture of their kidnapping was beginning to fill with color.

Joel shone his flashlight past the horse, finding tarps over equipment and…something…hanging on the other side. He moved around the animal’s body to get a closer look…

His stomach turned.

He had to fucking hurry.

—————————

David stormed through the door with James right behind him. Ellie and Y/n scurried away from the cage’s front. Y/n hadn’t expected a second set of hands, it made her entire plan impossible.

“No! No! No!” Ellie screamed, pressing herself into Y/n’s body in fear.

David and James wrenched the two of them apart.

“Don’t you fucking touch her,” Y/n screamed at the top of her lungs, hoping someone might hear them and come running, “No!”

“Get off of me!” Ellie shrieked, kicking at both of the men, “Get off of me!”

If Y/n had been on 10, Ellie’s pleas dialed her up to 12. She picked up her entire body weight and let herself drop to the floor, bringing James with her. He stumbled, but regained his footing and dragged Y/n out of the cell, kicking and screaming.

“No!” Ellie yelled, biting down on David’s all-too-close hand.

“Ow,” the preacher cried out, but stayed undeterred in his mission. He pulled Ellie out of the cell.

Y/n wrestled against Jame’s firm grip, flailing her arms as she tried to reach around and scratch him. She’d tear him to pieces with her hands, if the chance came.

“You motherfucker,” she cried, trying to catch her leg on anything that might slow them down, but he lifted her onto the chopping block as if she was nothing. James held her hands down at her sides, giving Y/n the opportunity to spit in his face.

“Wait, wait,” Ellie begged as David dragged her towards the block.

“Shut up,” James growled, narrowly dodging Y/n’s head butt.

David lifted Ellie up and dropped her harshly on Y/n, knocking the wind out of the woman with Ellie’s weight. He forced Ellie’s hands into Y/n’s, lining the two of them up.

“Wait, wait, wait, wait,” Ellie begged, Y/n’s coughs sputtering in her ear, “Don’t! Don’t do it! Please, don’t do it!”

“You had your chance,” David spoke over Ellie as he raised the cleaver above his head.

In her struggle for oxygen, Y/n let out a final cry. For Ellie, for Joel, for her grand failure to save all of them.

This was how it ended.

“I’M INFECTED!”

Ellie’s words echoed off the walls, David simply scoffed at her.

“I’m infected,” Ellie said once more, her voice low, “And now so are you.”

David glanced down at the bite mark Ellie had put on his hand. Y/n caught it too, fighting the urge to smile. The girl was smarter and quicker than she or Joel had ever taught her.

“Roll up my sleeve, look at it,” Ellie insisted, “Look at it!”

Biting down on his lip in frustration, David slammed the cleaver down beside Y/n and Ellie’s heads, causing both of them to flinch away. He tugged Ellie’s right sleeve up, revealing the ever-present mark that Cordyceps had left on her.

“God’s will,” Y/n strained, smirking below Ellie.

James looked up at his leader in concern, “David…”

“No,” David shook his head, “No, she would’ve turned by now. This isn’t real.”

Unable to speak without them hearing her, but needing to signal Ellie that she was on board with the plan, Y/n squeezed the back of Ellie’s hand twice.

“It looks pretty fuckin’ real to me,” James continued.

Ellie pressed her hand back into Y/n’s.

This was their opportunity.

Ellie reached to her side, grabbing the cleaver and lodging it in Jame’s shoulder. Y/n threw the girl off and kicked both feet into David’s stomach, buying them a few precious seconds to escape. Bullets chased them as they flew through the door.

Y/n and Ellie ran through the rest of the kitchen, making it out into the dining room. They went from door to door, banging and pulling furiously. Nothing.

Hearing David’s footsteps down the hall, they rushed back into the kitchen to look for any weapons. Ellie reached into a wood burning stove, grabbing one of the crackling logs before Y/n shoved her out of the room and down behind a wall.

The kitchen door squeaked, announcing David’s presence. Without her gun, Y/n knew she didn’t stand a chance at going up against David, but she could buy time. She crawled away from Ellie, ignoring the girl’s frantic looks and moved behind a table, popping up once she heard David’s steps.

“You’re very determined,” David’s calm tone continued, even as he clutched the cleaver in his hand, “I’ll give you that.”

“What a parent won’t do for their kid,” Y/n shrugged, “Right, Father?”

As Y/n put a period on her sentence, Ellie stood up from her spot and threw the burning log at David, missing him and giving Y/n the chance to duck down and crawl away. Ellie had, however, succeeded in starting a fire that quickly began to eat through the drapes of the dining room. Ellie crawled back, spotting Y/n and hurrying in her direction.

“There’s no way out, Ellie,” David called, moving away from the rapid fire, “The doors are locked and I have the keys.”

While she couldn’t see the flames, Y/n could smell and hear them. They were spreading as if nature herself had started it.

“Ellie?” David called tauntingly, “Ellie.”

Y/n knew that if there was any chance for escape, it would only come for one of them. David would have to be preoccupied with something else to let anything slip through his fingers and that anything had to be Ellie. Reaching down into her boot, she remembered she still had her knife on her.

She drew a deep breath and begged for Joel, dead or alive, to forgive her.

It was the only option that ensured Ellie’s salvation.

————————

Joel couldn’t move fast in the snow, the winds threatening to shove his fragile frame down into the ice. With every step he fought, trying to see something, anything through the gust of snowflakes.

In his mind, he was begging and pleading with the universe to give him a sign, a direction..he felt more and more panicked with each passing moment that he was too late.

Joel walked a little quicker, ignoring the stabbing pain in his stomach.

He couldn’t lose them.

—————————

“Ellie…” David called again, “I know you’re not infected. No one infected fights this hard to stay alive.”

Y/n belly crawled on the floor of the restaurant, away from Ellie and closing in on David’s voice. She clutched the knife in her sweaty palm.

“So…how did you do it?” David asked the room, “What’s the secret? Or are you just that fucking special?”

Y/n was near enough to the bar that she could see the panels swing open and Ellie’s legs trailing in. She was smart enough to try and find a true weapon.

“No one likes being humiliated, Ellie,” David continued his tirade, forgetting Y/n’s presence entirely, “You don’t know how good I am! You don’t know what I could have given you! If you had just let me!”

Y/n continued her army crawl before crouching behind the wall nearest to David, waiting for her perfect chance.

“Well, I have news for you,” the “pastor’s” tone softened back to its pulpit pitch, “None of us are dying today. You see, I’ve changed my mind. I’ve decided you do need a father, and your mother needs a husband.”

Y/n tightened her grip on her knife, waiting, waiting, waiting…

“So I’m gonna keep you two,” David promised, “And I’m gonna teach you.”

In her years, Y/n had heard and witnessed truly disturbing events. Nothing could have terrified her more than the sick headlines about corrupt preachers, using the Word of God as a deflection, coming to life in front of her.

Y/n leapt to her feet, spininning around the wall’s end and stabbing David’s shoulder from behind. The man cried out in pain, but didn’t fall as Y/n had needed him to. He faced her, swinging the cleaver past her before gripping her throat with one hand and shoving her up against the wall. Y/n struggled ferociously, speed kicking his legs until he dropped her. He wrenched her back, throwing her to the floor, and let one of the heavy dining tables fall straight onto Y/n’s abdomen. The pressure crushed her, stealing all the air from her lungs, and left her sputtering and choking for breath.

David leaned down, his lips grazing Y/n’s ear in a way that had only ever been reserved for Joel. “I’ll deal with you in a moment,” he growled.

Y/n was too breathless to speak and the table was too heavy for her to lift. It was almost guaranteed that David had cracked at least one of her ribs. She flailed about under its weight like a bug being crushed, frantically trying to escape.

With a lack of oxygen, her ears began to ring and her eyesight began to blur. From across the room, she could see David and Ellie’s figures fighting, with Ellie’s being shoved to the floor.

Y/n’s lips tried to form the girl’s name.

The corners of her vision began to darken just as David pinned Ellie down.

Her screams poured the air right back into Y/n’s lungs.

With strength only a mother whose child was endangered could have, Y/n strained to push the table off of her. She raised it enough to shimmy her abdomen out, letting it fall on her legs with a pained groan. She pulled and pulled her body out from under the surface, Ellie’s cries of terror giving her all the power she needed to roll the rest of the way. She grabbed her knife, stained with David’s blood and crawled across the floor.

David’s back was blissfully turned.

Ellie couldn’t see Y/n.

The flames were consuming the restaurant.

Y/n inched her way closer.

David said something Y/n couldn’t hear over the fire.

Ellie screamed louder.

Y/n reached her hand out, ripping David back by the collar, stabbing him in the chest with her knife and wrenching him off of Ellie.

Ellie reached above her head for the cleaver.

The rest passed in a set of thirty blood soaked seconds.

When it was over, Y/n stumbled to her feet, reaching down to pull Ellie up with her. The room was filled with a gagging smoke, the fames mere seconds from bringing the whole building down.

Y/n rushed them out through the kitchen, the back end was their best chance at escape. Down the hall were two large black doors, the lack of lock allowing Y/n to shove her and Ellie’s trembling forms out.

The cold air greeted their heated skin, both of them struggling to catch their breath. Y/n clutched Ellie to her as she maneuvered them down the stone steps and into the snow.

They both screamed as a pair of strong arms grabbed their bodies, tugging them backwards.

“No! Get off of me!,” Ellie shrieked, the reality of David’s death ceasing to exist under the strange touch.

“No! You fucking-“ Y/n tried to shove Ellie behind her, turning around and fighting hard against the figure before she even looked up.

Adrenaline somehow granted Joel enough strength to turn Ellie around in his arms and restrain Y/n’s hands.

“It’s me,” Joel coaxed as Ellie slapped his chest.

Y/n eyes turned up at the sound of his voice, meeting his eyes finally. “Ellie,” she breathed, awestruck.

“It’s me,” Joel repeated to Ellie, her hits finally stopping as she finally returned to reality. Joel took her face into his hand, cupping her cheek and drawing her gaze to him, “Hey, look…it’s me. It’s me.”

Ellie let out little whimpers as she took in his presence, miraculously in front of her.

Y/n ran her hands over Joel’s arm, in utter disbelief that he was actually there. His hand that rested on her back slid half an inch, the movement giving her the assurance that he was real. He had come for them.

“It’s okay,” Joel told Ellie, the girl mumbling and stuttering in shock.

Ellie didn’t think twice before looping her arms around Joel’s neck and burrowing her face into his shoulder. Y/n did the same, keeping one arm firmly around Ellie.

“It’s okay,” he promised once more, taking the full force of their embrace as if it were the very air he breathed. “It’s okay, babygirl,” he said to Ellie, “I got you. I got you.”

Y/n sniffled into Joel’s shoulder, feeling his hurried kiss press against her temple. She had gone from her most vulnerable to her most safe in the course of a single minute.

After a few seconds, wishing it could last longer, Joel pulled back to look at them both. He took in the blood on both their faces, there were big bruise marks on Y/n’s neck and she was clutching her stomach. He felt ashamed that he hadn’t been there sooner to spare them the pain of whatever they’d gone through.

“Okay,” Joel said softly, taking off his coat and wrapping it around Ellie’s shoulders.

Y/n finally noticed that Joel was carrying both his rifle and all three of their backpacks. She hurried to grab hers and Ellie’s, slipping one on her shoulder and carrying the other.

Joel and Y/n got on each of Ellie’s sides, wrapping an arm around the girl and setting off into the snow. The adrenaline began to fade in Joel’s body, weakening him once again till he was limping. The searing pain in Y/n’s chest ached with every breath, she had to time each inhale in between her steps.

But it didn’t matter to either of them. They locked their hands around each other’s arm, tightening their hold around Ellie, and took slow, unsteady steps towards the river.

—————————

That night, they sought shelter in a different neighborhood, hiding in someone else’s former house.

Y/n and Joel sat upright against the freezing concrete wall, Ellie sleeping soundly between them. They each kept one hand on her as they had soothed her to sleep, but they kept their hold long after. They needed the physical reassurance that she was okay.

All day, Y/n had held it together as they journeyed as far from Silver Lake as they could. She was too determined to get the three of them the hell out of dodge to fall apart. It wasn’t until Ellie had fallen asleep, under the safety of Y/n and Joel’s protection, that the weight of what had almost happened to them fell onto her.

Joel felt the trembling from Y/n’s hand gently shake Ellie’s body. He peered across her into the dark, the moonlight catching on her face to perfectly illuminate the silent tears down her cheeks.

As she stifled her sobs, Y/n felt Joel’s fingers intertwine with hers over Ellie’s torso. She squeezed her eyes shut, his touch sending her emotions right over their edge.

Joel squeezed, trying to tell her that in the silence, in the pain, he was there. He was there for the first time in twenty years for her to lean on.

Y/n squeezed back, savoring the press of his calloused fingers into her palm. They had come so close to losing one another, but they were alive. They were alive, they were together and if that was the only thing they had to hold onto, they’d cling to it like life itself.

——————

TYL Taglist: @bachiracore @stolenxkissess @kayleezra @the-wistful-reader @allthesesonsofbitches @goth-detectives365 @trippovert @rh1nestonecowg1rl @emiliaserpe @khaleesihavilliard @frietiemeloen @gracie7209 @dorck26 @thegirlnextdoorssister @alanis-altair @mariwinns16 @whosscruffylooking @endofthexline @alexiaricciardo @eonnyx @pedrosmexicangf @scarlettequinn @ao-sleepy @toinfinityandbeyonce2 @deanlovescassie @turmoil-ash @sorrowjunky @kpopslur @xxlilyxx90 @midgetpottermills @presidential-facts @scoopsnini @tubble-wubble @jamesdeerest @burninggracesandbridges @star-wars-lover @lucyhotchner @cococola-cocaine @witheringhqarts @fall-writes @alwaysdjarin @xxmoonn @emilia-the-artist @wand-erer5 @boneyarrd @lizard-zombie @themultifandomofmadness @cassidylea123 @paleepeaches @mxltifxnd0m @kettlekatie @ultimate-cinephile @gloryekaterina @caramelkatsukis-bitch @whovianayesha @memeorydotcom @deadunicorn159 @get0ut0fmyr00m @siriuslymooned @emmyeed @superbreadsoul @hellu-people1 @ourautumn86 @inas-thing @noraapple05 @givemylovetoall @luvwanda (tags cont. in comments)

[billybob598]

More Than You Know (Leah Williamson x Reader)

All right! So this is a F1 reader x Leah fic requested by anon. Again any feedback good or bad is welcomed! I'm sorry if there's lots of f1 talk and some don't get it. I have another f1 fic coming up but other than that nothing else so, if people want to start sending me requests, please do! I'll get more into that later. Anyways, enjoy!

Word Count: 2.1K (That's what Docs said anyways)

Set at Abu Dhabi GP, end of 2023

Thursday

“Hello everyone, and welcome to the final press conference of the 2023 Formula 1 season.” You fix your shirt as you settle into the seat. Max Verstappen, your teammate, on your left with Charles Leclerc beside him.

“Question for Y/N and Max, heading into the final race of the season the title battle is close between the two of you. What kind of mindset do you have for one of the most important races in your career?”

“To win,” Max says simply. All the reporters let out a laugh as you crack a smile.

“Y/N?” The guy who asked the question prompts you.

“Uh, well, I mean for sure to win is the goal but, trying to just stay calm and do what I’ve done for the last twenty-two races,” you explain. After a few more minutes of questions, they let you go. Walking through the paddock and into the Red Bull garage you can’t help but let your mind spiral. This was your first championship battle, this was Max’s third. You were only 22 years old, if you won on Sunday you’d be the youngest-ever F1 champion and the first-ever female champion. You knew you had to be a little lucky on race day, considering you sat five points behind Max. 

Entering your driver room you’re met with your girlfriend, Leah Williamson.

“Hey babe, what are you doing now?” She asks you, watching as you pace back and forth across the room.

“Track walk, I think.” 

“Okay, well I’m going to meet up with Alex in a couple of minutes so, I’ll see you later, yeah?” She presses a small kiss on your forehead. 

“Okay, yeah, see you later,” 

Friday

You loved racing around Yas Marina Circuit, it had just the right amount of technical corners and overtaking opportunities. You loved the lights and going underneath the hotel. Probably the worst part of it though, was the heat. Sitting in your car you feel like you’re going to die from the heat. Sweat just keeps pouring from every pore on your body, making your race suit damp. At the end of Free Practice 2 you were the fastest overall. This gives you a little bit of confidence, your race pace also seemed to be pretty strong so these were all good signs. Leah watches as you take your crash helmet and balaclava off, trying your best to fix your sweaty hair. You looked hot, and Leah was living for it.

“You’re drooling,” Alex, who happened to be right beside her, said. Leah shakes out of her trance enough to give Alex a light slap on the shoulder. 

“Whatever mate, if you had a girlfriend as hot as mine you’d be drooling as well.”

A couple of hours later, after all the media was done and the sponsor dinner was finished, you and Leah finally were able to settle into bed. Leah’s arm draped over you and her head nuzzled into your neck. She was just about to doze off when you spoke very quietly into the darkness,

“Would you be mad at me if I didn’t win?” Of course, Leah knew you were nervous, who in their right mind wouldn’t be? But, for you to think that she would be angry with you if you finished second? That was terrible.

“Of course not, love, I’d be sad for you, sure, but mad? Never.” This seems to calm you down a bit, and soon enough you both are sleeping soundly.

Saturday

“Good luck kiss?”  Your favourite blonde questions. It was a tradition in your relationship, whenever either of you were participating in a sporting event you had to make sure you kissed just before it started. 

“Of course,”  you say with a smile, not that she can see it. Your helmet already on with your visor up so she can see your eyes. Leah kisses where she imagines your lips are, you can’t help the dopey smile that comes across your face, the squint of your eyes making it obvious what you’re doing.

Leah watches on as your car pulls out of the garage and onto the track. After making it through both Q1 and Q2 easily now comes the biggest test, the top 10 shootout. Your banker lap for Q3 is solid, only six-hundredths of Max’s time and you know you can improve. As you cross the line to start your second flying lap you feel the adrenaline rush through your veins. Every turn of the steering wheel, every push of the pedals, and every G against your body feels just right. Heading into the final sector you know you’re going faster than your first lap. Crossing the line, your entire body relaxes as you hear your engineer over the radio,

“Okay mate, that’s P1 so far, P1 so far, but Max is yet to cross the line.” You wait anxiously for Max to finish his lap. Leah feels her heart sink as she sees Max’s name move above yours on the timing screen. 

“For fuck’s sake, fuck this shit, honestly,” you say over the radio.

“It’s okay Y/N, points come tomorrow,” your engineer replies.

“You’re right, you’re right, let’s get them tomorrow.”

Leah gives you a hug when she finally sees you after all the media and post-qualifying traditions.

“You did great love, don’t be too hard on yourself,” she says sweetly. You sigh, knowing she is right.

“Mhm, I’m not that happy but I’ll get over it. I think right now all I wanna do is go back to the hotel and cuddle with you,” you mutter with a little pout. Leah finds this adorable. So, when you guys do get back to the hotel she cuddles with you until you fall asleep, only hours before one of the most important races of your life.

Sunday

When you wake up you feel the nerves settle inside of you. Leah tried her best to get you to eat something before your race. Abu Dhabi was a night race so, you still had the whole day ahead of you. After going through the pre-race meetings with your engineers you feel pretty confident in the strategy for today. As you walk around the grid with the music in your headphones blasting you see your girlfriend walking towards you. Slipping one side of your ear so you can hear, you give her a questioning look. She never usually comes onto the grid before races, why would she now? 

“I just wanted to wish you good luck,” Leah says kindly, “I know you’re nervous, but don’t be, you’re gonna smash it out there.” Your heart melts at her consideration.

“Thanks Lee, I’ll do you proud I swear,” you say, looking at her with what can only be described as heart-eyes. 

“You already have, more than you know,” she smiles at you, giving one last kiss on your lips before heading back to the garage.

A couple of minutes later, you’re sitting inside your car mentally preparing yourself for the race. The entire formation lap your mind is blank, trying your best to not overthink. As you park in your grid slot as close to a billion people watch with their breaths held.

“And it’s lights out and away we go for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix!” Crofty exclaims into his microphone.

You get a good start drawing alongside Max heading into the first corner, but he pushes you wide. As the pair of you continue to the first of two long straights, you follow closely behind him gaining a slipstream. When you enter the braking zone you decide to go for a dive bomb, getting your elbows out a little to barge past your teammate and take the lead. 

“She can’t fucking do that, mate. She pushed me off the track,” Max voices to GP.

“If Max has a problem with that, then he can cry in a crib, that was clean.”

As the race gets past halfway done, both you and Max had made pit stops, while also exchanging the lead of the race multiple times. Leah had about chewed her entire nail off watching. She was nervous as hell, she could feel something bad about to happen, she just knew it in her gut. 

You once again closed up to the rear end of Max with DRS. As you got close enough to pass you slightly jerked out to the left before cutting back to the right, effectively dummying him. You were on the outside heading into the sweeping left-hander of Turn 9, you tried your best to give him space, but he completely misses the apex and rams into your front wheel/side of your car. Your neck whips to the side as you try to keep control of your car. 

“What the fuck was that?! What a fucking idiot, I gave him shitloads of space! Is there any damage on the car?” You are pretty much yelling into the radio. The anger you’re feeling showing through your choice of words.

“So, major front wing damage we are going to have to box. Box, box.” Swearing under your breath you pull into the pit lane for new tyres and a new front wing. Stopping on your marks you sit there for what feels like forever before finally getting the green light and getting back on track. Leah knows you are fuming but she also knows that you’re very good at turning that anger into motivation. She readies herself for a wild end to the race.

“Okay, so the gap to Max is 30 seconds.”

“Just leave me alone, I know what to do,” you say sternly.

For the next 24 laps, you put in of the most impressive comebacks in F1 history. Closing the gap a little bit each lap. You fully catch up to him on the final lap of the race. The entire world sits on the edge of their seat as you stick right up to Max’s gearbox for the majority of the lap. Entering the final sector, you find the gap to stick your nose down. Making an unorthodox move down the inside into Turn 12. When it becomes clear that you stuck the move your side of the garage goes crazy. Leah screams, thinking it is too good to be true. As you head around the final corner, the Red Bull mechanics hang off the side of the fence cheering and yelling as you cross the finish line. 

“She’s redefined motorsport as we know it, and as she crosses the line Y/N Y/L/N is CHAMPION OF THE WORLD!” Crofty shouts. 

“AAAHHHH OH MY GODDDD! YESSS GUYS COME ON! I’M GONNA FUCKING CRY!” You scream over the radio. 

“YOU” VE DONE IT MATE! YOU’VE DONE IT! GOOD LORD!” Your engineer screams back at you. You start to cry as you go around for your celebration lap. When you park in front of the number 1 sign you take a minute inside of your car to collect your thoughts. Finally, you get out and stand on top of the car, raising your arms in celebration. You jump down and start sprinting to your team. After receiving multiple hugs and slaps on the back, mixed with a varying range of screams and yells, you decide to look for your girlfriend. Looking around you spot your favourite person on Earth and make a beeline for her. She pulls you into a bone-crunching hug, tears streaming down her face. 

“I’m so fucking proud of you, more than you know,” she says tearfully. You give her an award-winning smile before moving to take your helmet and balaclava off. You surprise Leah when you connect your lips in front of God knows how many cameras. 

“I’m a World Champion Lee, a World Champion.”

“I know Y/N, I know,” she giggles at how excited you look. After completing the post-race interview you make your way to the podium.

“And your Abu Dhabi Grand Prix winner and 2023 World Champion, Y/N Y/L/N!” 

The crowd and paddock below you roar as you make your way onto the podium, pumping your fists with joy. Stepping onto the top step of the podium, a sense of relief washes over you, everything you’d worked for this entire season, your entire life basically, had finally paid off. You take your cap off when your national anthem plays and begin to scan through the crowd until you meet blue ones. You give her a grin and blow her a kiss. She returns it. When you are finally handed your first-place trophy you raise it high with a little yell. After the rest of the podium is handed their trophies, you get to your favourite part, the champagne. Spraying it in every possible place, you can’t stop the stupid-looking smile from taking over your facial features. When the celebrations seem to die down a little you look over at Leah, mouthing,

“I love you.”

“I love you too,” she mouths back.

“More than you know.”

[chrisdr3]

Last minute confessions ~ OP81

Fluff and a bit of embarrassment

Summary: In the drivers' dinner in Abu Dhabi, Y/N is forced to confess her crush to Oscar and vice versa.

The 2023 season came to an end with max winning the last race, making it the most dominant season in F1. After that, everyone decided to have dinner in the same restaurant you did last year, but not for saying farewell to someone. You just liked it and wanted to do it again.

Everyone was already at the restaurant, waiting for you. Some of them started to get a bit irritated of waiting. Fernando saw that and decided to talk. "Don't worry guys, you know Y/N, she's probably late because she always wants to look gorgeous for this kind of events." He smiled.

By the time he stopped talking, you entered the restaurant and approached the drivers' table. You had your hair down, some mascara, eyeliner and lipstick applied and you were wearing this. "Hello guys, sorry for being late." You smiled. "It's okay Y/N, you look stunning by the way." Daniel said.

You sat down in the remaining seat in between Daniel and Oscar. After a bit, everyone turned back to normal. They continued discussing, sometimes involving you in their convos. Except from Oscar. He was blushing slightly and wasn't taking part in any of the conversations.

You didn't really mind, as you knew pretty well that oscar didn't talk very much anyways and that he was more of an introverted type of guy. The dinner was going pretty well, and the food arrived quickly. You ate and after everyone finished, all the drivers decided to stay a bit longer and maybe have a drink.

Suddenly, Lando came up with the idea of asking everyone about their love life. Checo, Nico and K-Mag were married with kids , so they didn't bother replying, Max said he was doing fine with Kelly, Lando, Lance, Logan and Esteban claimed being still single, Lewis didn't bother to find anyone yet, Valterri and Fernando didn't answer, even tho there were rumours about them being seen with women.

There were 9 drivers left, including you and Oscar. Zhou didn't answer, as he was talking to the phone, everyone knew that Pierre and Alex were doing really good with Kika and Lily because of their posts on social media, so they just confirmed it. Carlos didn't want to give any info, just that he's doing pretty decent with Rebecca, George was okay with Carmen and Charles said that Alexandra was waiting for him to get back to Monaco.

After Charles stopped talking, Daniel was asked. He answered that he was more than great with Heidi and that they were planning to go at his family's house in Perth for the holidays. Then, only you and Oscar were left. "Y/N, what's going on with your love life? Are you with someone, are you crushing on anyone?" Lando asked, a smirk plastered in his face.

You blushed, embarrassed. How were you going to tell it? All the drivers turned to look at you. You were getting hotter and redder with every single second passing. "Come on, tell us!" Daniel said. You didn't respond. "Okay, I'll help you. Are you crushing on someone?" Max intervened, his voice calm. You nodded yes. "Is it someone from here?" Max continued. "Y-yes..." "Can you tell us who?" "N-no."

Max stopped, thinking for a bit. "Then we'll play a little game." "Okay..." "Is he blond or brunette?" "Brunette." "So it's not K-Mag, Nico or Valterri." "Yes." "Is he European?" "No." "So, that means we're left with Lance, Logan, Checo, Zhou, Daniel and Oscar." "Right." "Is he from America?" "No." "Then there's Daniel, Zhou and Oscar left. It's not Zhou, am I right?" "You're right." "So there ar the two Aussies left."

"It's Oscar..." You mumbled, looking at your feet, face red as a tomato. Then Oscar turned to look at you, blushing, rubbing the back of his neck a bit embarrassed. "Y/N..." He spoke, breaking the silence. You turned your face to look at him. "I-i like you too Y/N..." You looked at him, smiling a bit. He cupped your face with his hands and kissed you gently. After a little, he pulled back, blushing. "S-sorry..." You slid your hand in his under the table. "It's fine."

Everyone applauded for you and then left you to talk, discussing about other things. "Oscar..." You whispered. "Yes?" "Do you wanna be my boyfriend?" He squeezed your hand gently. "Yes."

[romanestuffsposts]

I love your page so much! You are so sweet and a great writer 💓💓💖💖

If you feel comfortable, if possible, 🥺 can you do one with daddy’s and the reader on the way from somewhere and they get into a car accident? 🥺 the reader gets hurt

Hi there love! 💜

Ohh thank you so much sweetie you're so kind!

Of course i'll write it for you, i'm sorry if you had to wait to see it written. I hope you'll see it ^^

Oh and if you want to go take a look, i already wrote something like your request, right here ❤️

Enjoyy <33

****

Warnings : car accident, blood, panic, hospital, traumatic, wounds, broken bones, comfort, pet names, emergency, mention of surgery, mention of being paralysed, accident happens during the night, shock state,

Pairings : Daddies!Stucky ; Daddy!Bucky x Papa!Steve x Little!Reader

Summary : you come back from a birthday party at the tower but end up in a car accident with your daddies

****

you were coming back from the tower. It was Kate's birthday today so eveyone came over to celebrate it with a delicious meal. Everyone came with something to eat or drink and everything were dropped on the dinning table to be eaten afterwards.

You had so much fun, you love everyone that’s there so of course spending your afternoon with these people is a good planning for your day. You couldn’t help but be sad when you had to leave. It was getting late and even tho it’s a party day you can’t forget your daily planning at home.

Your Daddies were talking while you were busy watching the side road passing by as you speed through the road. Your ears were concentring on the soft music playing at the radio. Everything were perfect, the day was, the moments spending with the family were, the drive back home was perfect and relaxing.. yea, everything were good. So why ?

Why do you find yourself on the middle of the road, in the middle of the night with no car to protect you from the cold night ?

You look around you, your vision is blurred, your ears are buzzing and your head hurts too much to ask yourself questions about what happened.

You can see your Daddy coming toward you, he has blood trickling down his left temple and his eyes are glassy. He cups your head in his hands and you see his lips moving but you don’t hear him. You just stare into his eyes.

‘’Steve she doesn’t react!’’ He yells panicked, his gaze never leaving yours ‘’is she still awake ?’’ He asks more calmly.

He’s used to event like this from his past in the army. He knows he has to stay calm for the three of you, if everyone is panicking, nobody will be able to help each others.

He tried to move but he’s blocked in his seat. He groans from frustration, he can’t move so he has to talk to explain what Bucky or you has to do and he hates it. He hates the fact that he can’t help manually.

‘’Bucky you have to listen to me’’ he breathed out ‘’Do not move her, even tho she seems fine you’re not sure of it so don’t move her’’

‘’but what do I do then ?’’

‘’You still have your phone on you ?’’ he hears Bucky says yes ‘’alright then call an ambulance, tell them where we are and explain the state of emergency we are in’’

‘’Steve she’s freezing cold, her shoes are gone and her t-shirt is completely worn and wet’’ he worriedly says

‘’the only way you can help her is if you call help!’’ Steve hears Bucky on the phone and he takes this time to breath out and check if he feels all his body. He knows his upper body is fine because he moved but he doesn’t know for his legs.

He wiggles his toes inside his shoes and sigh in relief when they move. Good he think to himself.

Secondes later, Bucky is at the window looking at Steve ‘’they’re sending someone.’’

~

The next morning you open an eye, it was hard at first but after some minutes you finally come back to yourself. You look around you, everything is white and it’s too much light for your tired eyes.

You moan in discomfort which is followed by other noises. Secondes later your daddies are by your sides ‘’easy baby’’

Oh, your daddy’s voice. It was a nice sound to your ear.

You open your eyes to see your two favorite heads looking down at you ‘’take the time you need, princess. We have water if you want to’’

‘’What happened ?’’ You quietly ask.

‘’We got into a car accident yesterday night but we’re all fine. The doctors took good care of us since we’re here’’ your Daddy smiles

‘’You had to go into surgery for your arm because it was broken and you hurt your ankle too but you’ll be back on your feet quickly. The doctors aren’t worried about that’’ your Papa reassures you. ‘’You hit your head pretty bad too, you had needed stitches’’

‘’And so did i’’ your Daddy shows you his temple where he had stitches with a smile to show you it’s nothing serious. It reassure you a bit more but it’s probably because you don’t have your eyes on it.

You look down at your ankle and see something white that start under your toes and that stop near your knee. You never had something like that before. You look at your arm and see the same thing. Your eyes start to tear up about the fact that you won’t be able to run around, or taking bath, or playing with your friends. You scared of the pain too.

‘’Hey babydoll don’t cry, you’re not going to have it forever, once it’s fixed we remove it. You will be able to do il the funny things you usually do I promise you’’ your Daddy kisses your forehead

‘’Yes and plus, during the time that you’re like this we’ll have to do everything for you. We’ll have to carry you, to let you sleep with us in the bed, to massage you’’ he sighs ‘’it’ll be horrible’’

You giggle through your sniffs. Your Daddies shared a look, they were scared to not be able to cheer you up.

‘’what your Papa said is good things for you but we also have some privileges while you’re like this’’ your Daddy grins, he walks toward the end of the bed as you watch him ‘’what ?’’ You ask

‘’Well’’ he sighs and looks down at your pink toes who are peering up from the plaster ‘’we can tease those little toes whenever we want and you couldn’t do anything about it’’ he lightly wiggles his index finger under your toes.

The sudden feeling make you laugh and then try to retract your feet which is impossible.

He laughs and stops ‘’yea, I’m sure we’ll have all lots of fun during this time’’ he winks

[stayyyyyyyyyyyy21]

RICH KIDS OF SK ( HYUNJIN X READER (Y/N) X BANG CHAN)

THE HWANG ART GALA

reader : part one part two, PART FOUR

TAGS: LOVE TRIANGLE, ANGST, BREAKUP, BETRAYAL

As Y/N dashed through the corridors of the college building, her heart pounding in her chest, she couldn't help but curse the chaotic night that had led to this mad rush. Wooyoung, I.N, and she had indulged in a bit too much alcohol and ended up bleaching their hair and wreaking havoc on Wooyoung's belongings. It took Felix's midnight rescue mission to restore some semblance of order, and by the time they settled down, the sun was already peering through the windows. After that they thought it will be fun to make tanghulu and make mukbang videos, and it was 8am by the time they were done.

So there she was, sprinting to class, desperately hoping to avoid any awkward encounters with Yeji and Hyunjin As she glanced back, she caught sight of another latecomer, a guy with curly hair and boba eyes, looking equally harried but undeniably attractive in his all-black ensemble.

Their eyes met, and without a word, he fell into step beside her. "Room 203?" he asked, his voice slightly breathless.

"Yeah," Y/N confirmed, relieved to have some company in her tardiness. "Let's stick together and minimize the scolding."

"By the way, I'm Bang Chan," he offered with a charming smile.

"Hey, I'm Seo Y/N," she replied, returning the smile as they found seats at the back of the room, accompanied by Bang Chan's friend Seungmin.

As they settled in, Y/N couldn't shake the feeling of Hyunjin's curious gaze from the middle row. What was that weird look about? She pondered, silently hoping that their morning wouldn't get any more eventful than it already had been. but a notification poped on her phone.

Teacher: "I think everyone understood what I am saying."

Y/N looked up as Seungmin cleared his throat, "Since you were not listening, you, me, and Bang Chan are partners for the first internal."

Y/N replied, "Oh, sorry, I had an emergency. Can you please give me a gist?"

Seungmin rolled his eyes, "We have to work together throughout the semester, basically work on a fake company and pitch ideas and all. You will get a mail today."

Seungmin added, "By the way, my name is Kim Seungmin."

Y/N replied, "My name is Seo Y/N."

Seungmin asked, "Are you Changbin's sister?"

Y/N confirmed, "Oh, yes."

Bang Chan chimed in, "You're Bin's sister?"

Seungmin teased, "Well, she has the same surname and dumb look on her face."

Y/N smiled, realizing what Seungmin implied, "Hey, I don't look dumb like Bin. But how do you guys know him?"

Bang Chan explained, "Oh, I met him through night music school."

Y/N puzzled, "Music school?"

Before she could ask anything, Hyunjin cleared his throat, and all three of them looked at him. He was with Yeji, holding hands.

Hyunjin semi-hugged Y/N, "I saved you a seat, you know. Now we both won't be on the same project, very good."

Y/N thought, "How can he be so normal?"

Y/N replied, "Haha, it's fine."

Hyunjin gave Bang Chan and Seungmin a look and asked Y/N in a hushed tone, "Are you fine with doing your project with them? I mean, it has 70 percent of your grade."

Seungmin jumped in, "You know we can hear you, Prince?" (He called him prince in a mocking way)

Y/N retorted, "Hey, Hyunjin, don't be rude. Besides, yes, they are Changbin's friends."

Hyunjin brushed it off, "Whatever," after giving Seungmin one last dirty look and continued, "Can't wait for today's after-party. It's been like so long since we last talked. Also, I need to talk to you. Do you want to ride with me and Yeji?"

Y/N immediately replied, "Oh, no, I am gonna stay back and talk with them about the project."

Hyunjin said, "Okay, see you later," and Yeji smiled at Y/N.

Y/N banged her head on the desk after Hyunjin left. Seungmin quipped, "If I was you, I would have the same reaction."

Y/N gave him a confused look, and Seungmin added, "I use Twitter too."

Y/N hid her face, groaning, "Ugh, this is so embarrassing. I want to die."

Bang Chan looked confused, "How do you know what is happening to her?"

Seungmin smirked, "I keep up with gossip sites."

Seungmin suggested, "Since we are working together, let's exchange our numbers." Later, all three of them exchanged numbers and had a decent conversation. Y/N found Seungmin extremely funny, especially when he was teasing Bang Chan about being old.

As they were laughing, Bang Chan removed his mask to take a sip of coffee, and Y/N swear the whole world stopped. He had dimples and very cute boba eyes, his eyes were so pretty you could see the innocence in them. He had perfect hair paired with perfect curly hair.

Seungmin joked, "Hey, earth to Y/N!" snapping her back to reality. Bang Chan looked at her in a concerning way, "Are you okay? You zoned out."

Y/N stuttered, "Oh yeah, by the way, what is the time?"

Seungmin checked his watch, "4:30."

Y/N exclaimed, "Shit, I am getting late! Guys, it was so nice talking to you. See you later!" and ran.

Bang Chan and Seungmin looked at each other, and Bang Chan asked, "So what happened to her?"

[tetradynasty]

So, one thing that I’ve seen is people wondering why Fuuko seems to be doing a lot better in this last time loop than Juiz did in her own, especially considering she had 99 previous loops to practice with.

I think that there’s actually a lot of reasons why.

First, the loop itself. The first 20 loops or so were probably pretty useless. By that, I mean that loops without all of the master rules or any of the foundational ones, like kindness or burn, were probably incomparable to modern loops. There would be so many differences that information you gained there would be flat out wrong in later loops. I like to imagine a scenario where in an early loop Juiz and Victor try to prevent Burn from ever being added to try and depower the Sun.

Then there would be the one-off loops where something went wrong, completely dooming the loop. Somebody killed Tell, and now everyone is mute. Or Juiz trusted the wrong person and they rebelled against her. And you know Unluck ruined at least one loop from how much she wanted Fuuko dead.

Also about the loops, we know there is a bit of variance. The author’s deliberately been a bit vague on how much stays the same vs what differs, but people can be born later or earlier, in different places, and that can really fuck up a plan dependent on careful timing. Trying to recruit negators or manipulate events can pretty easily fail if they appear a couple years before you think they would. The missions are different too, so a mission that’s a cakewalk one loop could kill everyone sent to clear it the next. There’s no relying on a scripted plan, you have to be prepared to improvise a lot.

And speaking of plans, there’s also the underlying goal that Juiz has throughout her loops. It’s not actually to kill God. It’s to make the next loop more capable of killing God. Because her biggest advantage is the ability to carry over knowledge, and unfortunately, a low chance of killing God just isn’t worth it when it means she’ll lose all the knowledge she’s gained if she dies and can’t loop. This means that she can’t take huge risks. Staying alive and keeping all her knowledge is her highest priority.

And one of those risks that she doesn’t take is increasing the size of the Roundtable.

The bigger the roundtable, the longer they have to survive against God. During Ragnarock, we see the process of God reaching Earth takes about one minute. So if Juiz is the only member, that means that it is impossible for God to stop her from looping. With Victor as a guard, that time limit can reasonably be increased by a few minutes, so they can add a few more people. But any longer, and it no longer becomes a guarantee. And that means that Juiz has to deliberately fail any mission that adds seats, to not overstretch.

Now that she’s deliberately failing missions, that puts a hard time limit on how far she can get into a loop before Ragnarock occurs. And that’s not counting any missions that may fail for reasons out of her control, such as underlings getting suspicious of their leader who keeps on trying to fail missions.

And that’s where it starts coming down to human nature, and what I think is the biggest reason Juiz isn’t as successful.

Juiz and Victor aren’t as empathetic as Fuuko and Andy are.

UU is a shonen manga at the end of the day, and there’s a big focus on how teamwork and connecting with other people is the best way to overcome your problems. And Juiz and Victor aren’t going out and building the team they need, because of who they are as a person.

They have reasons for this, of course. Victor is overprotective, stubborn, and willing to sacrifice countless other people to protect Juiz. She’s the only person he cares for after so many others have left him, and is the only person that can understand what he’s gone through. Billions of years of suffering have worn away any softness he might have, any desire to reach out to others.

Juiz has gone through everything along with Victor, with the addition of the fact that Unjustice is implied to only work on people she doesn’t like/hates. So she is encouraged to dislike people she meets, in order to not be defenseless against them.

However, it’s not just all of the disadvantages that Fuuko no longer has to deal with. There’s all the advantages in this loop, that come from everything Juiz has done to increase their odds.

Juiz was the one that put G-Liner into the loop, which allowed Anno Un to save Fuuko in loop 100 and Fuuko to grab a bunch of artifacts in loop 101, creating Andy eventually led to Andy restraining all the master Rules and preventing them from fucking things up before the Union was ready to fuck them up which Victor refused to do, and lastly there’s all the general training and knowledge she gave Fuuko.

So I guess what I’m saying is that yes, Fuuko is doing better than Juiz did. However, that’s based on a hundred loops of Juiz’s hard work.

[its-vannah]

A Toast to the Bride and Groom | Graham Dunne x Reader

A/N: After all the angst Graham content I've been serving, you guys deserved something sweet.

Warnings: Implied sexual encounter (very, very minor), mentions of drug use, alcohol, alcoholism

Daisy Jones and The Six Masterlist

The sound of a fork tapping against someone's wine glass rang through the room, bringing everyone's attention to Graham.

"Before we get started and the band starts embarrassing me in front of my wife, I'd just like to thank all of you for coming today to celebrate with us," Graham said, smiling down at you as he spoke, "It was always my biggest dream to get married and I'm so happy I got to fulfill that with you."

Raising his glass, he looks around the room, grinning from ear to ear, "To Y/N Dunne."

The room erupted with applause and you couldn't help but lean into Graham's side. He eventually took his seat beside you, setting his class down.

Warren stood up not long after, clinking two classes together to get the attention that was already on him. When you come into a formal event wearing a fur vest, bell-bottoms, and round sunglasses, you brought attention to yourself.

Clearing his throat, Warren sat on the edge of the table, much to your parents dismay, "When I first met Graham, he was stick thin and getting over his first girlfriend who broke up with him at his locker. His dramatic ass acted like he'd never be able to move on. But he did, and when I say he upgraded, I mean it. I've never met a girl who puts a smile on my man's face more than Y/N/N. She really has become like a little sister to me. A wiser, smarter, prettier sister who puts up with my bullshit and Graham's."

Your mother cringes at his use of language, digging her nails into her fists as she throws you "the look." But you didn't pay her any mind.

Warren continued, "She allows us to continue our sword fights in their living room, encourages him to keep pursuing music, and loves him fully."

Looking around the room, clearing nearing being full on drunk, he winked at you and Graham, "I remember the night when she showed him how much she loved him."

To your left, your mother sank into her chair, her head in her hands. The two of you had told her you were waiting until marriage.

"To Y/N/N and peaches!" Warren said, holding up both glasses, pouring them both into his mouth, which ended with him pouring a glass directly down his chest.

Awkward silence and a few claps ensued, with Karen standing up next, waiting for everyone to quiet down.

"I'll keep it short and sweet, as I know half of have been very friendly with your alcohol, myself included," She began, "To go off of Warren, Graham—you're still awkward and you're still growing, but I think you have found the best woman to grow beside. And Y/N, let me know if you ever need any help babysitting these three."

She gestured to Warren, Eddie, and Graham, raising a brow before taking a seat.

Graham looked expectantly over at his brother, who was sat at his own table with Camila, Julia, and the twins. But Billy didn't move or even acknowledge him. His eyes were focused on the bottle of champagne in front of him, untouched.

Eddie went next, staying seated as he spoke, "Graham and I have known each other since we were kids in Pittsburgh. He was right when he said he was always dreaming of settling down. A big softy, really. But watching him meet and fall in love with Y/N made me realize how important it is to find someone who's right for you."

"Graham, man, I think it goes without saying, but we're happy for you. And Y/N, it's nice to see that he's not moping around anymore wondering if you like him back. Take good care of him, Dunne."

A smile grew on your face at his words, especially when he called you "Dunne." It was official, you married into one of the most famous families in America in the 70's.

Once again, Graham eyed Billy, waiting for him to speak. But he didn't even move.

Daisy stood, looking a bit out of place in her short, flashy dress and knee high boots, her ginger hair contrasting her heavy blue eyeshadow. It completely washed her out, as did all the drugs she was doing.

"Y/N was one of my first real friends who I could come to with anything. I trust her whole heartedly. She allows me to be—She lets—I'm the free spirit I am and she lets—She supports me."

Nothing she said was coherent, but she continued, "Graham, such a sweetheart. You two—congrats. You deserve the, you deserve... Congratulations."

Silence fell upon the room as she sat down in her chair. It broke your heart to see her like that, strung up on God knows what.

Graham squeezed your hand and before you knew it, your mother had raised her glass, tapping on it before rising to her feet.

"I remember the day I brought my daughter home from the hospital. She was so small in my arms, fast asleep as I carried her inside. It's hard to believe that she's married now. I feel like you should still be in my arms, asking me to check under your bed for monsters or sing you to sleep," She sighed, "Graham, you're a lovely boy. I never thought, and still don't think, anyone deserves my girl. But out of all the men she could've found, I'm happy it was you."

You knew her words were just for show, but for a moment, you let it all feel real.

She raised a glass, "To my sweet, beautiful, smart baby girl, and Graham."

He let out a small laugh beside you, shaking his head, whispering, "Only Mrs. L/N..."

Your head rested on his shoulder as Camila stood, "Billy's feeling a little under the weather today, so I'm speaking on his behalf, if you don't mind."

Graham felt like his heart was ripped out of his chest. His own brother couldn't put his own problems aside for one day? One day that wasn't about him?

Trying to restrain his tears, Graham nodded, forcing s smile on his face.

"Graham, I remember when Billy first introduced me to you. I'd never had a brother growing up, but you gave me the chance of getting firsthand experience. You were kind and funny, and especially good at the guitar then, and you're all those things and more now."

"Being married myself, I can't tell you what an honor it is to see the two of you finally together. There will be highs and lows for the rest of your lives together, but I have no doubt you'll rise above every obstacle that comes your way."

"Graham, Y/N, I'm so incredibly happy for the two of you. Mrs. Dunne, you've got a good one there, take good care of him for us."

For the next sixty five years, that's exactly what you did.

[reccyls]

Hii, If it isn’t too much can you give us some spoilers about victors xmas event? Ty;;

Sorry this took me a while to get to! Sure thing, I'll summarize beneath the cut:

Chapter 1

We begin on Christmas Eve, with Kate, Victor, Ellis, and Liam all going shopping for tomorrow's Christmas party. We learn that Victor throws huge parties for Crown every year and goes the whole nine yards. We also see Victor being very popular among all the townspeople: he's approachable and friendly, and he always seems to keep up with how everyone is doing. Ellis is also popular, and Liam's fans are everywhere, so they're similarly the center of attention. Kate thinks about how everyone seems to know the three of them, and yet the fact that they're working in the shadows for Crown still seems to be a secret from the greater world.

They have to split up to get all the shopping done on time, so Victor directs Ellis and Liam to purchase the necessary supplies, while he and Kate go handle the remaining tasks like purchasing the flowers to decorate the castle. Kate says she'd be happy to do anything she can to help out, and privately thinks to herself that she's happy she gets to monopolize Victor's time, considering he's so popular with everyone.

After finishing their shopping, they leave the flower shop and head back outside into the cold winter air. Victor offers Kate his jacket, but she tells him to keep it on or else he'll catch a cold. So Victor instead wraps his jacket around the both of them to keep them warm, flustering Kate.

Victor mentions a legend of how snow falling on a holy night means that someone's wish will come true, then asks what Kate would wish for. She thinks to herself that she'd wish for everyone in Crown to stay safe and unharmed, and for everyone to keep smiling. But then she asks what Victor would wish for. He says that he'd decided on his wish a long time ago, but since she didn't tell him her wishes, he won't be telling her his. Kate says that's mean of him and he goes, "Yes, I am mean. Did you just now notice?"

When he smiles at her, she feels her heart skip a beat. Kate thinks to herself that she doesn't feel like this when she's with the other members of Crown. Victor is the only one who makes her feel like this.

But Liam and Ellis are done with their shopping, and that's the end of that moment. So they reunite and go return to the castle to prepare for the Christmas party.

Late that night, Victor is leaving the castle when he runs into William. William asks what Victor is doing, and Victor says that he is going to play the part of Santa Claus and hand out presents to the children... well, that's what he would have liked to say. Actually, he does still have one last bit of business to take care of. William offers to go with him, saying that he feels like a bad surprise is coming. However, Victor refuses, saying that he knows William has his own work, so he's fine going by himself, then he takes his leave. Now alone, William turns his gaze out the window, saying to himself that it looks like it's going to snow tomorrow.

And it's now the next morning, Christmas day! Everyone greets each other as they gather in the dining hall. It appears that a letter has been left at everyone's seat from Victor, telling them that they have the day off and a feast has been prepared for them, so they're free to spend the day eating and drinking to their hearts' content. It is almost the perfect atmosphere for a party, except for one thing: the host, Victor, is missing.

Crown wonders where he is. Roger asks if Victor tired himself out from decorating the day before so he overslept; Elbert repsonds by asking if Victor sleeps at all. Just as Liam is about to go to the royal castle and look around for Victor, the man of the hour arrives with a joyful greeting to the members of Crown.

Immediately what catches everyone's attention is a collar around Victor's neck.

Kate: Um, Victor? What is that black collar around your neck? Victor: Oh, this? It's an explosive collar. Victor: Sorry, but I might die.

Chapter 2

While Kate needs a second to process that, the rest of Crown seems rather blasé about everything. Roger asks to see the collar, saying that explosives made like this are rather rare. The collar has a timer on it, and it appears to have around half a day left. It'll explode when the clock hits midnight.

Ellis says that it's a very strange Christmas present. Victor himself also joins in on the joking, and apologizes for making such a fuss for everyone. Kate almost wants to step in and say that this isn't a laughing matter, but stops herself. Just because everyone is joking doesn't mean that they aren't taking it seriously.

Harrison then speaks up. He says it doesn't particularly matter to him whether Victor's head goes flying, but those are just his personal feelings. He knows that Victor is essential to both Crown and to the country, so he'll look for a way to defuse the bomb. And one by one, the rest of Crown also agree to look for a way to save Victor (interestingly, Roger asks for national secrets from a particular country in exchange for his help. Wonder what that's about...)

Kate also offers to do whatever she can, so William assigns her the duty of watching over Victor until the rest of them get back. If Victor moves around too much or too extremely, the collar might detonate early. So she'd better keep an eye on him, right? And with that, he and the rest of Crown disperse to look for ways to defuse the bomb.

After the rest of Crown leaves, Kate and Victor are in Victor's office, as Victor is taking care of paperwork like nothing's wrong. Kate is brooding to herself: as part of her work in Crown, she'd been exposed to a lot of dangerous situations, and she has somewhat gotten used to it. But despite that all, there was some part of her that took Victor for granted. No matter what happened, Victor would always be there. And now, this situation with the explosive collar has upended that assumption; even Victor isn't safe.

Victor stops working to catch Kate's attention. She's been staring at him awfully hard. After a little bit of teasing about whether she's staring at him only because William tasked her with it or not, Victor says that he really does appreciate how hardworking and earnest she is. Though there are people who would scoff at her seriousness, Victor admires that about her. Kate thinks to herself that Victor has always seen through her and always knows how to lift up her spirits, and resolves that she shouldn't be stuck in gloomy thoughts. If anything, Victor is the one who should be feeling the most anxious in this situation, so she wants to be able to ease that uneasiness, even a little bit.

So, she suggests they go to the kitchens for a quick break. It turns out Kate's suggestion was to test a new extra buttery scone recipe, and now after some time spent baking, it's out of the oven and a smashing success. Kate gets some tea for them, and they have themselves a private little tea party. As the conversation flows, Victor stops to just stare at Kate, saying that he likes watching her eat, acting completely fine.

This is when Kate realizes: Victor is fine. He's not uneasy at all. The only one anxious here was herself; she suggested this as a way to ease her own anxiety. And that realization makes her wonder: is it possible for someone to be so unfazed by their own approaching death?

Ellis drops by to give them a status update: Crown hasn't found anything so far, but they're expanding their search. They will make it in time. So now Kate and Victor have nothing else to do but wait and wait... And so time passes, until about 11 pm. An hour left of Christmas, an hour before the countdown ends. And this is where Victor says that he has a request of Kate.

Chapter 3 (combining info from both Kate's and Victor's POVs)

Victor says that Santa Claus has left Kate a present in her room. And if she likes that present, to wear it to the dance hall. Kate agrees, and goes to her room, where she sees a large box sitting on the bed.

It turns out to be a jet black dress, which she wears to the dance hall, just as Victor requested. Standing beneath the chandelier is Victor, who was waiting for her. She's beautiful, and Victor wonders to himself when she started looking so mature. Or rather, he realizes he's been trying to ignore it because he wants to see her as a child.

He compliments her, and says that Santa Claus would surely be pleased to see her wearing it. Kate asks if he is happy, and he replies that yes, he is. He then extends his hand toward her, and asks her for a dance.

But, Kate can't make herself take it. She asks him why. Victor answers that rather than just sitting around and doing nothing to pass the time, he'd much rather spend it having fun with her. But that wasn't what Kate was asking. Here, all the unease and worries she has been holding back overflow with her tears, and she asks why Victor isn't afraid of dying. She's terrified by the possibility that Victor could be dead in less than an hour, she's afraid of losing him, his voice, his laughter, his entire existence.

She asks him to be scared of the possibility of losing his life. She asks him to value it. And Victor wonders how he should respond. Saying "I am scared" and maybe shedding a few tears with her would be a 'Victor-like' response, wouldn't it? And yet, he does not want to just brush her feelings off like that.

So with a smile, Victor apologizes to Kate. He says that he has already let go of those feelings a long time ago, thinking back to this flashback of his past. He and death are one. If death means to take him now, then so be it. But he has a feeling that he is not meant to die just yet. He is not meant for death, not yet.

Though he looks just like the Victor that Kate knows, there's something different about him. The atmosphere surrounding him is different, something entirely strange and foreign, emanating pure confidence as if he could control death and darkness itself.

The moment seems to stretch on. Victor thinks to himself that that he had sacrificed his human soul to death in order to get what he has now. And now looking at Kate, he can see something in her gaze, something that tells him that she knows she shouldn't be looking deeper into this, but that she still deeply wants to. He thinks to himself that she shouldn't be making that kind of expression. That he loves seeing people like her, pure and innocent, becoming stained by darkness. Half as a joke and half as a warning, Victor says that if she keeps staring at him, she may end up getting twisted with his destiny. Or maybe, is that what she is hoping for?

Before Kate can answer, a large clamor sounds from outside. It's the rest of Crown, returning just in the nick of time with the knowledge of how to defuse the bomb. With only a minute left on the timer, they get the bomb off of Victor's neck and safely defused. Liam calls Victor lucky; Victor thinks to himself, "See? I was right." Outwardly, he's laughing and smiling just as usual. As if the last few minutes didn't happen.

After that, Victor finds Kate in the garden staring up at the sky, just as it's started snowing. He goes to stand by her, and Kate repeats that legend he told her the previous day. "When snow falls on a holy day, someone's wish will come true." It's not Christmas anymore, but could her wish still come to pass? Victor says of course it can. And so Kate says she's decided on her wish: that until the day death claims Victor, he can continue to smile.

Even though she must have a mountain of questions for him, she has put them aside, and still wishes for his happiness. A snowflake falls on Kate's cheek and Victor wipes it away before it melts, and he tells her what she wished for the other day since she told him hers: that he hoped it was her wish, out of everyone else's, that would come to pass. Then he pledges to her that he will make her wish come true.

They never did get their Christmas dance together, but it's never too late. Amidst the falling snow and the night outside, they have their dance.

A few days later, Kate is browsing the newspaper when she comes across an article about the corpses of a terrorist group being discovered. And near those dead bodies were some broken mysterious collars...

Kate has a duty to write up what happened at Christmas in her reports, but sitting at her typewriter, she can't make herself start writing. There are too many mysterious surrounding Victor, the queen's aide. And she wants to uncover them all.

We turn back time, just after the dance in the garden. After Victor has escorted Kate back to her room, he runs into Harrison in the hallways, who says that he has a question for Victor.

Harrison says that Victor just reeks of lies. He thinks that the explosive collar wasn't just something that Victor got 'caught up in', and asks whether Victor deliberately put the collar on himself.

And Victor smiles, and goes, "Did I?"

Epilogue

Though it was a vague response, that doesn't deter Harrison at all. Victor thinks to himself that Harrison's curse likely allows him to see all of Victor's lies. He asks why Harrison thinks so, and Harrison responds that Victor isn't the kind of person who would let anyone approach him, and especially not his vulnerable spots like his neck. And furthermore, William hasn't been around for a while. He just has the feeling that there's someone going on in the background.

Victor just returns with a smile, knowing that Harrison will read into the true answer from that. He asks whether Harrison wants a reward for uncovering Victor's lie; Harrison says hell no, and that everything's probably already almost wrapped up anyway. But before he goes, he says that he knows Victor lies, and he'll be judging whether those lies are evil or not. But he tells Victor not to get Kate involved in whatever his business is.

Victor: And what if she takes the first step into darkness of her own volition? Harrison: ...Then I'll open her eyes to the truth.

Victor laughs and says that's a wise decision. Narrowing his eyes but otherwise not responding, Harrison leaves. Victor thinks that Kate has found herself some good friends... Aaaand, that it's time for the last bit of cleanup.

In a nondescript warehouse, Victor opens a secret door and heads down towards the basement. William greets him casually, saying that he's late and the Christmas party is nearly over. Standing next to William are a group of people crying with relief, and a pile of unlocked and defused explosive collars sitting on the floor.

Victor thanks William for working quickly, and muses that Harrison was indeed correct: Victor did put the explosive collar on his own neck willingly. Yesterday, on Christmas Eve, Victor left to deal with a terrorist group that was threatening the country. They had taken many people as hostages and fitted them with explosive collars, and were demanding the head of the queen in exchange for releasing the hostages.

Victor had put a collar around his own neck and made a bet with the group. If he can defuse the collar before the time limit, then they let all the hostages go and their lives are forfeit. Otherwise, they're free to do whatever they want to the queen and himself, the queen's aide.

He had done it for two reasons: the first was to put the hostages at ease. Surely Victor wouldn't risk his own life if he wasn't absolutely certain he could defuse the bombs, so they would be safe as well. And the second reason was to buy time for the rest of Crown to research how to safely disarm the bombs.

And in the end, everything worked out. William had taken the knowledge of how to defuse the bombs and went ahead to rescue the hostages. William says he'll take the hostages away and lead them to safety and leave matters here to Victor.

The terrorists are practically whimpering in fear, but Victor just smiles and tells them not to even think of fleeing for their lives. It's useless anyway. So... just how shall he sacrifice their lives...?

A little while later, Victor emerges back to the outside world. It's still snowing, which he finds fortunate: the falling snow will cover up the scent of blood, and his footprints. William had sent the hostages somewhere safe, so now it's just him and Victor. William notes that Victor is unusually down, to which Victor responds of course he is! He missed out on a fun Christmas with everyone. Do you think he could get everyone to redo the whole thing? William says that Jude would flat out not attend and Harrison would definitely make a face at the suggestion. So Victor says he'll plan something else, and William leaves him to it as he has somewhere else to be for now.

Now alone, Victor looks up at the sky, to the white snow drifting down from the night sky. He thinks it's just like Kate, thinking back to the time a few hours ago, when he was asking her if she had wanted to get involved in his destiny. His instincts then had been screaming at him, telling him to whisk Kate away, to drag her into the darkness. To dye her black.

He muses how he doesn't sound like himself. And so, he thinks that it's for the better if Kate doesn't know the real him. That they shouldn't be friends, much less lovers. He's the queen's aide in charge of Crown, and she is the fairy tale master who records their stories. They can be close in this way, but never anything that would bring them closer together. After all, pure white snow and jet black darkness cannot mix.

Letting out a short laugh that he doesn't intend for anyone else to hear, Victor sets off, trampling the white snow underfoot as he walks on.

[bluesylveon2]

omg, can I request number 13 with sebek please?????

I did it anon! I wrote this! The ending could be better but I think this turned out good. This prompt really fit Sebek too lol

Prompt: 13. We make contact before trying to steal the last seat on the subway/bus/train and I end up in your lap and fuck you, I’m going to stay here because I’ve had a really long day and this seat was mine

Note: Modern au and aged up characters

Word Count: 1691

Warnings: not beta read, possible OOC characters (Sebek is an asshole at first), and an attempt at writing subways (I based it off NYC)

500 Follower Event

Yuu was having a not-so-good, horrible, very bad day.

It had all started when she had slept past her alarm and woke up to Grim, the recent cat she adopted, making her sofa a scratching post. Then, after running out of her house with a white blouse, a skirt, heels, and a cup of coffee in her hand, she magically ran into someone, spilling coffee on her clothes. 

The person apologized, but Yuu wanted to scream. She only had 5 minutes left until her shift at the office started, and she did not want her boss or coworkers to get on her about it. 

(There was a redhead in the IT department who was strict and infamous for lecturing a coworker who was late by two seconds). 

It was a stroke of luck that Yuu made it on time. Everyone was too busy to notice her arrival except for Vil, who gasped at Yuu's current state. Luckily for her, he had a blouse and a skirt that he lent her (but not before giving her a lecture about her appearance). 

The rest of her shift was boring after that. Yuu quietly sat in her cubicle while the chaos happened around her. It was a typical day, to say the least, until her boss, Dire Crowley, showed up with a mountain of paperwork and wanted it done by the end of the day because he was oh-so kind. It reminded her of the infamous trio in Accounting and Finance, who she was 100% certain were in the mafia. And so, Yuu left her job with a massive headache, a plastic bag with the company label of her soiled clothes, and a list of how to get revenge on her boss. The poor girl was working like Cinderella, and she only wanted to sleep while cuddling Grim.

Yuu made her way toward the train station and mindlessly went to her stop. Yuu could not hold back her yawn as the subway appeared. She tiredly followed behind the crowd into the train, letting her feet guide her inside. It was partially full, and luckily, only a few people entered with her. Her eyes landed on the spot near the door, perfect for her to sit and decompress. 

Yuu only took two steps towards the seat when suddenly, a man with slicked back light green hair, yellow-green eyes, and the strangest green and black outfit she had seen sat down in HER seat. Now slightly awake but more annoyed, Yuu marched toward him. 

"Excuse me, sir. That is my seat."

The man looked her up and down at her appearance, and his lips curled up in disgust like she offended him. "It is clear that I saw this seat and sat down first. Therefore, it is my seat."

Yuu huffed and wanted to say some not-so-nice words to him, but some children were around her. She chose to look down at his stupid-colored eyes with determination. "Look, mister. Don't you know the saying 'ladies first?'"

The man scoffed, "Of course I do. Do you think I was raised like a barbarian?" He said and eyed the plastic bag in her hands. "Unlike some people. Besides, I must be in top shape after spending all day protecting my Master."

Yuu stared at him like he was a crazy person. "You- jjsndgondvisjdf" She could not form words and chose to say sounds instead. One parent covered her child's ears. 

"Do you not know who I am?"

Yuu stopped her rambling and looked at him. "I don't know and I don't care. If you don't move, then I have no choice."

The man's eyebrows furrowed, "What are you? HEY!" He yelled, causing some people nearby to silence him. Meanwhile, the girl on his lap made herself comfortable. "What are you doing?"

"Sitting," She said like it was obvious. She turned her head to look into his eyes; a frown etched on her face. "Look, I had a tiring day today too, but I need to sit down after a long day at work."

The man blushed at the close proximity and looked away. His face was slightly red, and a pang of guilt filled his chest. "I'm sorry for being rude to you. I was unaware."

Yuu waved him off, "It's alright. You didn't know." She suddenly yawned and rested her head against his chest. She could feel how fast his heartbeat was going but was too exhausted to ask why. She felt like she was covered in a blanket. "You can just chill until it’s your stop. I'll get up when it is my stop."

The man looked at her curiously, "Where is your stop?"

Yuu yawned again. Her eyes felt heavy. "Ramshackle Street," she replied, her eyes getting starting to close. "You are so warm and comfortable," she said absentmindedly, wrapping her arms around his torso. 

"Hey! What are you?" Sebek stopped talking and stared at Yuu's sleeping face. He moved his arm to shake her awake but stopped. He could see how exhausted she was by looking at the eye bags under her eyes and how she managed to sleep so quickly. It reminded him of Silver, but slower by two seconds.

Speaking of, Sebek's suddenly rang, and his friend's name was on the caller ID. 

"Hello?"

"Ah! Sebek! There you are! We were looking for you. Where are you right now?" His other Master and Silver's adoptive father, Lilia's voice, replied. "My phone died, so I must use Silver's khee hee."

"Father, that's because you misplaced your charger." Silver's voice called out. 

Lilia laughed. “Silly me!”

Sebek rolled his eyes, “Is the Young Master safe?” 

Lilia huffed. “Malleus is next to me, eating some ice cream. You know how he is, but we have a more important matter to discuss. Where are you now? The city must be so big for you to accidentally wander off."

Sebek sighed. He should have been more diligent and kept sight of Malleus (the tallest person he knew) or Lilia, but he didn’t. And now he was stuck on a train with a random girl sleeping on his lap. 

It was like the girl knew he was thinking about her because she mumbled something about 'that damn Crowley' and was loud enough to be heard by Lilia.

"What was that?"

Sebek scrambled to say something, "I apologize, Master Lilia! I am taking a train that will stop in the Diasomnia area, but I might be delayed. You see, there is this girl-"

"A GIRL?!?" Lilia exclaimed, "Why didn't you say that earlier? Is she your girlfriend? Did you meet online and finally get to meet in person? Am I finally getting grandchildren???"

Sebek could tell that Silver was rolling his eyes at the last part. "No, Master Lilia. She was exhausted from her work and ran into me on the subway. She is taking a nap right now."

"Oh, crumbs," Lilia sighed dramatically. "I thought I would finally experience what it is like being a grandpa. You know I am not getting any younger."

"We know." Silver and Sebek said at the same time. 

"Well, make sure that the girl gets home safely, Sebek. Do you know where her stop is?"

"Ramshackle Street."

"Perfect!" Lilia exclaimed. "It is actually nearby Diasomnia, so we can meet you there. Malleus has always wanted to explore it anyways. It is known for its historic mansions, you know. Make sure to send your location or call Silver so we can find you."

Sebek nodded and adjusted Yuu by securely wrapping an arm around her so she did not fall off his lap. "Understood. It should be one of the upcoming stops, so I should be there soon."

"Good. See you soon, Sebek!" Lilia said and hung up. Sebek pocketed his phone and looked down at the sleeping Yuu. She looked peaceful, and she was breathing quietly. However, she did look cold, and her thin long sleeve did not look like it was enough. Sebek took off his coat, leaving him in his white shirt and tie (it surprised him just how he did it, given the complex design), and wrapped it around Yuu's body. He wrapped his arms protectively around her again and sighed. 

"Next stop is Ramshackle Station. Stand clear of the closed doors, please," the intercom's voice called out. 

Sebek gently shook Yuu's shoulder. "Hey, you need to wake up. Your stop is coming up."

Yuu slowly opened her eyes and looked around her surroundings. "Huh?" Her eyes landed on Sebek's face. "Oh, right. I took a nap on you. Let me get out of your way." She moved to stand up but was stopped by Sebek holding onto her hand. 

"You have a few minutes until the train stops. You can stay until then..." His voice trailed off. 

Yuu chuckled, her laugh sounding like music to Sebek. "Where are my manners? I'm Yuu." she smiled, causing Sebek's heart to skip a beat. 

"I'm Sebek Zigvolt." Yuu's smile grew even wider as she clung to Sebek's coat. Realizing the unfamiliar fabric, she looked down in shock.

"Is this yours? Here, let me return it-" She began to take it off only to stop when Sebek shook his head. 

"Keep it. Besides, you can wear it even longer if you allow me to walk you home."

Sebek expected her to say yes, not jump on him, and wrap her arms around his neck. "Yes! Thank you, Sebek!" She grinned. Maybe her day was finally getting better after all.

Bonus: Sometime during the walk back to Yuu's house. 

"You know, this fabric seems pretty fancy. Are you a bodyguard or something?" Yuu asked while rubbing Sebek’s coat between her fingers. 

Sebek nodded and smiled proudly. "Yes, I am. In fact, you might meet my masters when I drop you off."

Yuu's eyes widen. "Really? They must be important people for you to call them that."

"Of course! It is none other than the great Malleus Draconia! He is so great and powerful-"

Yuu sweatdropped as Sebek went on a rant about Malleus when all she wanted to do was to go home. 

Disclaimer: I do not own Twisted Wonderland and its characters. Those belong to Aniplex, Walt Disney Japan, and Yana Toboso.

©: This story belongs to bluesylveon2 2020-23. DO NOT modify, republish, or plagiarize my work.

[sorryimananti-romantic]

Stay

archer!yeosang x princess!reader

friends to lovers au

genre and warnings: fluff, angst, violence warning

word count: 18.6k

synopsis: you encounter archer yeosang not in the sports competition you had just sneaked out from, but in the forest where he saves you on your way to meet your 'boyfriend'- you're not sure what to call him. yeosang doesn't recognise you as the princess of this nation, however, you encounter him again as your replacement tutor and you become friends with him, sharing problems you face and sneaking out with him because you crave adventure. you find yourself falling for him because he makes you feel like no one else, and he finds himself falling for you but he thinks he's not worthy of you- even when you tell him again and again how brilliant he is. will he end up staying?

The air was filled with the cheers of the athletes, of the women wooing over the young participants, of the men howling in glee because they had waited the whole year for this day. The day where everyone- from the most royal to the peasants- gathered under the same sky, bathing under the same sun. The day where everyone had an equal chance of winning- if they were blessed with the right skills. The Athletics Championships- the annual sports event where people of every status, regardless of gender, participated. 

There was no shame in admitting that everyone from the oldest to the youngest throughout Eden waited eagerly for this day. The athletes practised all days of the year, stayed fit so they could show off. After all, a position in the palace and a cash reward wasn’t the only prize they won that day. Even the most lacking of the athletes could win someone’s heart that day. Since there was still a majority of men participating in the competitions, the women still new to being allowed to participate, the women were usually watching the athletes with eagle eyes- not for their skill alone. And the men never failed to show off- most of them anyway. 

You would have been one of those women too, but there were a number of things hindering that. Firstly, you were the Princess of Eden, seated right at the stage they’d had built for the royal family for the best view. That also meant the people could get the best view of you too, and you had to be cautious of where you let your eyes stray, of your reactions, which is why you opted to remain unfazed throughout the games, only clapping for the victors. 

Secondly, you had a really, really bad headache from the way the Queen, your stepmother, had chewed off your brains so early in the morning. His son, your stepbrother and the Prince of Eden, seated on your left was the only reason you could mildly enjoy the event. His mother might be an ambitious, greedy witch who wanted her son crowned the heir instead of you, but his son was very much the opposite, having little to no interest in the position himself, only doing it for his mother (at least, that’s what he insisted) and opting to fool around. The Queen scoffed loudly when his son passed you a bowl of candies and you took two, hiding it in your sleeve. She passed a glare to the Prince who only pretended not to know what it was about, making you smile a little at his childish antics. He was still a kid at heart.

Last, but not least, you couldn’t wait to get out. Yes, the competition was mildly interesting (mildly only because this time’s female competitors were giving the men a hard time and you enjoyed that and hoped you’d see more of them next year) and you were comfortable, but you had a little… date with your… boyfriend? 

You didn’t know what to call him. Yes, he was attractive, not bad to look at. He was a noble, and it made it easier for conversation to flow between you. He had a nice sense of humour (or maybe your scale of judgement had a very low base to start with). You two were friends, but at the same time, not really. And you two were dating, but not really. Currently, you were still figuring out why you were risking so much meeting a man in secret- the one you weren’t even sure about- yet. You hoped to be sure, though, soon. You just had to meet him a few more times, stop testing the waters and take a little dive, and see if he was someone you really liked.

You chewed loudly on the candy, earning some groans from the Queen. You glanced at her right where your father, the King, was sitting almost at the edge of the seat, looking as if he wanted to join the spectators instead since they could see the current game of fencing better from down there. You pretended to cough and your lady-in-waiting, Siyeon, took the signal and came forward, asking you if you felt alright.

“I just have a bad headache, is all,” you sighed loudly, making the Queen look at you two interact. 

“Goodness, you look pale, this won’t do,” Siyeon shook her head. “You should let me accompany you back for a while. A cup of tea or maybe some soup would do you good.”

“You can bring that here,” the Queen shifted in her seat. “We should maintain our attendance.”

“It would only take a few minutes, Your Majesty,” Siyeon insisted, bowing respectfully, and before the Queen could scold her, you got up.

“She’s right- I don’t want to create a scene here if I faint. I’m sure you wouldn’t like that, Your Majesty,” you smiled sweetly but the Queen could see right through you and she only rolled her eyes.

“You better be back before the hour is over.”

“You got it,” you winked at her, satisfied at the gasp that left her, grinning to yourself as you followed Siyeon. Once you were out of earshot, you slapped Soyeon playfully on the arm. “Nice work back there.”

“You’re going to get me executed, Your Highness, I haven’t even had the joy of marriage yet,” Siyeon grumbled, straightening her midnight blue gown, the uniform. “Please don’t take too long- I don’t want to go after you. In fact, going in the woods is a very, very bad idea- you’ll get lost, and I’ll get fired and executed for being lazy-”

“I’m glad you’re selfish,” you laughed. “I’ll find my way, don’t worry. Mingyu will be waiting, and he’ll make sure I get back safe. Just stay in my room and cover for me while I’m gone, will you?”

“I hope after all this trouble you go for this man, he treats you well,” Siyeon said and your smile didn’t meet your eyes. You entered an empty room outside your chamber, removing the outer layers of your clothes, the gown that indicated you were royalty, leaving you in normal clothes. You handed your tiara to Siyeon as well and she gave you the signal- no one would look at you twice today, at least. Not when you would be passing by as a noble woman, nothing more.

It was exciting, you had to admit. The thrill of sneaking out to meet someone- it would never get old. The way people met your eyes but didn’t look twice- it was refreshing, since all your life whenever someone dared look at you, it was either with wonder or fear. Mingyu, however, was different. He looked at you as if he was amused to find you to be the potential heir of the crown, and you couldn’t resist asking him what was so funny the next time you met him accidentally in the streets.

“I just think you’re too lovely to be wearing the heavy and dirty burden of the crown.”

“What makes you think I can’t handle it?” You had challenged, and he had laughed at that. 

“I never said you can’t handle it.”

You had smiled at that, and he had treated you to some ice cream, and you had found his company entertaining. You didn’t realise how you started encountering him more- in the palace when he came to meet a friend- which was an excuse to see you, or in the streets whenever you went out- having known from his acquaintances in the palace, but somehow, you didn’t mind him popping out of nowhere. He looked at you differently, and it got you.

You smiled at the thought as you navigated through the woods, the daylight a relief, trying to recall what Mingyu had said the last time he had come to the palace and sneaked into your room for a very short, dangerous moment to kiss your cheek and tell you to meet him in the woods near where the stream parted, when the fencing matches would start. You strained your ears to detect any signs of a stream but it seemed like you were still far. 

What you last expected was for two young men to spot you and grin at each other as they made their way to you, even when you had ignored them. They looked like they were athletes participating in the competition as well, since they wore the uniform. Perhaps they had come here as they waited for their turn, or perhaps they were done- it didn’t matter. It was your fault for thinking you could go alone in the woods on your own.

“And what’s a pretty little thing doing all alone? Lost?”

It was your fault. You rolled your eyes. “Making my way home- my brother’s picking me halfway. Have a nice day, gentlemen.”

You tried walking past them but they stepped in front of you. “We could drop you there- the halfway point.”

“There’s no need,” you insisted, this time pushing between the two and walking past, trying to ignore the way they laughed. 

“Why don’t you stop and have some fun with us? Won’t do you no harm.”

You should have turned and slapped them or punched them- you could do that. You had the training. But you did the most stupid thing you could have done. You ran- and that made them chase you as well. You couldn’t think straight- this was all so new, so you did the next best thing. You screamed for help, once, twice, before deciding the birds that were listening weren’t going to be much help.

But what you didn’t expect was the familiar sound of an arrow whooshing in the air and you only had a second to make a quick jump as you ran, the arrow lodging in the arm of the one who had been right behind you, making him stop and scream as he clutched at the arm. You turned back, trying to figure out the source, but you saw nothing. The second man who had been looking after his friend lunged for you but he, too, got shot by an arrow in the leg. You started running again, fearing you were next, finally hearing the damned stream and making the way there, hiding behind a rock.  

You watched the men struggling to run for their lives away from the stream and you sighed in relief, your breath catching when you finally spotted the person you definitely owed now- a young man with the most beautifully sculpted face you had ever seen, his physique radiating strength especially when he drew back another aimed arrow and put his bow down. You didn’t realise you were watching him shamelessly until he turned his full attention to you, flipping his hair back, and you immediately hid back behind the rock, praying to the heavens above that there was a small chance he hadn’t really seen you (even if you knew he had) or he would just call it a day and go back to wherever he came from-

“I saw you, you know.”

It was unfair, how even his voice had the strength to call your full attention- deep and rich, making you feel like it reverberated through your brain for a moment. You took a deep sigh- you had other problems to worry about, such as the fact that you were the Princess of Eden and this is the last place and situation you should be in.

“You do look awfully familiar, I have to say,” the man jumped in front of you and you put a hand on your heart- no living man had ever dared to pull such a stunt- not even Mingyu, yet. “Are you okay? Did they hurt you?”

“I’m- I’m okay,” you managed to say, finally meeting eyes with him, finding them a rich brown. “Thank you for saving me back there.”

“No problem,” he looked down as he brushed his clothes. “But you shouldn’t have been out here all alone- not today of all days.”

“I was meeting someone here,” you explained but he shook his head, handing you his flask of what you presumed had to be water- he must have noticed how you were still out of breath. You took a swig, wiping your mouth with your sleeve.

“That someone must either live under a rock or must be stupid enough to call a girl here,” he frowned. “Men fool around here especially at events like these.”

“And why are you here?” You raised a brow, making him raise a brow at your sudden shift of tone. You were back to normal. “With an aim like that, you should be participating.”

He pursed his lips as he smiled. “I’ve got better things to do.”

“Like saving damsels in distress?” You scoffed, finally moving from the rock and going to sit by the stream, washing your hands in the cool water, wondering if Mingyu really was waiting. “Can you tell me where this stream parts into two?”

“Is that where you’re meeting whoever?” He asked, sitting a respectable distance beside you. 

“None of your business, but yes,” you sat cross-legged, retying your hair. It looked like he really didn’t recognise you and that was good. “So?”

“Just a few feet down the stream,” he pointed at your right. “Shouldn’t you go back though?”

“Maybe,” you shrugged, your shoulders slumping. “Can I just say he’s an asshole for asking me to meet there? He should have come to meet me! Why am I even making the effort?”

“Tell me more,” he turned his full attention towards you, resting his face in his hands, really eager as he waited. You glared at him but you needed to blow off the steam- the adrenaline from that experience was still there, and as someone who rarely encountered such incidents, you were finding that rambling was your coping mechanism.

“Yes, I’m meeting a guy. Here. Down the stream, actually. I’m not even meeting him anymore, he can go to hell. I don’t know why he thought I could even make it there or pass undetected. He really tests my patience sometimes.”

“And who is he? Your boyfriend?”

“I don’t know, maybe?” You shrugged and he gasped. 

“You don’t know? Interesting.”

“No, what are you doing here?” You scanned him. “Hunting? You do know hunting is banned in this part of the woods, right?”

“I prefer the term ‘practising’,” he straightened a bit. 

“Do you usually practise shooting on living breathing humans? Because if you do, we have a serious problem here-”

“Of course not,” he laughed a bit and you finally cracked a smile. “You really should go back- it’s going to get dark soon.”

“My time is up anyway,” you muttered as you got up, brushing your clothes and looking around. You had no idea which direction to go after running earlier. You asked him where the event was being held, making a story of how you sneaked here and your friends must be waiting. The way he looked at you made you wonder if he bought that story- he probably didn’t. He offered to drop you at the outskirts of the town and you agreed.

“I’m really curious though- why are you not participating? You’ve got a killer aim.”

He side-eyed you and you smirked. Groaning, he said, “I just don’t like being the centre of attention- not like that.”

You made an impressed face- you wished you had the luxury of deciding that for yourself too. “Well, I hope you’re doing something good or worthwhile with your skill. Wouldn’t want to put it to waste, would we?”

“I have better things to do-”

“You always do,” you interrupted and he smiled at that. 

“I just mean… I’m actually a strategist in one of the royal legions,” he admitted and you wowed at that- he was quite young. You thought strategists were always old or experienced people- at least from what you had seen. “So really, I do have better things to do.”

“Suit yourself,” you bowed in thanks when you spotted the hustle bustle of the town, the sound of the drums in the event not far. “Thank you for accompanying me.”

“Be careful,” he simply said, turning before you could ask his name. You would probably never see him again. You sighed deeply before making your way back to your chamber where Siyeon was already waiting, scolding you for taking so long. You didn’t tell her that you didn’t meet Mingyu, nor did you tell her about the person you had spent the hour with. However, he was all you thought about for the remaining part of the event, seated back as a royal. 

What different worlds you two belonged in. It was both thrilling and a little sad.

—------------------

“Good morning, Your Majesty,” you bowed deeply to your father, the King, before sitting down in front of him in his room. He watched you with mild amusement and you raised a brow in question, wondering what was going on in his mind. 

“Good morning to you too, I suppose,” he was taking quick puffs of his cigar. “Though I’m not quite sure it will be good by the time you leave this room.”

“Ah,” you scoffed, dropping all formalities since it was only father and daughter in the room- not king and princess. “Mother dearest must be on her way here.”

“With Chan,” he referred to his son, your stepbrother. 

“Isn’t that good?” You were smirking and your father practically glared at you.

“I don’t know why she thinks you are plotting something against Channie when you two are always partners in crime,” he shook his head, pinching his nose bridge. “If anything, with the relation you two have, you should be able to rule side by side, but-”

“But there can be only one ruler on the throne, for the peace of this nation,” the Queen entered, Chan right behind her who threw a wink in your direction. 

“For the peace of this nation, I never should have married you,” your father joked and the Queen rolled her eyes. “And then we wouldn’t be dealing with this… mess.”

“We’re a mess?” Chan put a hurt hand on his chest as he bowed and sat down beside you. “I bet your father thought so too, about you-”

“Chan-” his mother warned but you could barely contain your giggle and that made your father laugh too, making the woman shake her head in annoyance. 

“Anyways, back to business,” the King straightened and so did all of you. “The governors are all demanding a quick decision about who is going to be accompanying me when we go to the West. They think it would make a statement about the heir if I choose only one of you, so I’m suggesting you both join me.”

“Nonsense,” the Queen started. “Why would you take the Princess in a place where there will only be men? Just take Chan.”

“It’s not like there won’t be any women there,” your father began but you shook your head at him, asking him to not bother explaining himself. “Besides, she is older than Chan. He could learn from her.”

“If you insist, I’ll accompany you, but I think Chan should come with us too,” you looked at the Queen who narrowed her eyes as if you were cooking up a scheme. “I’ll feel more comfortable, and he should really start involving himself more in the court matters.”

“I don’t want to inherit the throne though,” Chan muttered, only for your ears. While the King and the Queen argued, you turned to him. 

“It doesn’t matter if you want to or not; you should still know how the court, how the palace works. That’s your duty, okay?”

“Okay,” he shrugged, “I know you’re only making me tag alone so you won’t be bored.”

“Duh,” you smiled and he grinned at you.

The King asked to be left alone after you two watched them argue senselessly for a few more minutes. As you exited the room, Chan scurried off before his mother could rant to him, which left you as her target.

“You,” she sneered. “I know what you’re thinking. You’re going to make a fool of my Chan and win your father’s favour.”

“In case you forgot,” you folded your arms, not bothering to be courteous when she always assumed the worst of you. “Chan despises the throne, and it’s not my favourite job either. We all know father only favours me because Chan hasn’t shown much interest.”

“That’s not true. He thinks you’re interested, and you’re older- that’s the excuse he always gives. Does he not realise you won’t make a good ruler?”

“And would you?” You challenged her, taking a step towards her, making her glare at you. “Aren’t you only pushing for Chan because you want to use him as a puppet while you run the palace?”

You didn’t wait for her response but got the satisfaction of her gaping at you. Siyeon, who was watching all of this from a distance, shook her head at the Queen and passed you a smirk as she fell in step with you, reciting your schedule. 

“Before you go to your room… there’s someone waiting for you in the guest chambers.”

You raised a brow and she nodded. You let her accompany you- it had to be Mingyu, and you were still a bit pissed at him. Siyeon made sure no one had followed you before letting you in, waiting outside.

“Your Highness,” Mingyu’s honey voice was laced with amusement and you got the sudden urge to accompany him to the palace prison. 

“I can’t believe you asked me to meet you in the forest, Mingyu,” you were angry and he was finding that funny, which was annoying you further. “As you suspected, I almost got lost and made my way back before someone would think my head was a nice place to land their weapon.”

Mingyu laughed at that, running a hand through his dark hair. “I waited for you, you know.”

“You shouldn’t have. Let’s not meet anymore,” you announced, about to turn back but Mingyu grabbed your wrist, turning you around and into him, putting a hand beneath your chin and lifting it up to make you face him.

“Did I ever tell you you’re cute when angry?”

“You don’t need to,” you scoffed but he had you- you were smiling now. “I know so.”

“Hmm, I like this confidence,” he tucked your hair back and kissed your cheek, making your hand go to the back of his neck, resting at the nape. “You know what else I like?”

“We don’t have much time, so shut up and kiss me,” you muttered and immediately, you two were tangling yourselves in each other as you kissed, fiercely and desperate, being chased by time. 

It was always like this with him. A few moments, stolen kisses, no promises of the future. No prying into each other’s personal lives. Just two people who got attracted to each other by chance, and decided to test the waters- you were sure he had better reasons for why he decided to play with fire, but you? 

Your cheeks would flame whenever you would think about it. You weren’t sure how much you liked Mingyu yet, but you did like him. He was smart, and comfortable to be with. As a Princess, you didn’t have the luxury to explore much, so being with Mingyu sometimes made you feel like you were in the clouds. He would listen to you if you had some steam to blow off, and he would kiss your worries away. So simply put, you were lonely, and he wasn’t bad to be with.

What Mingyu was expecting out of this, you didn’t know, and you didn’t want to know yet. He was a part of the court, though, and that was the only thing about him that set you off. People were always greedy for something. And you wished Mingyu was greedy for the right things- like you were. Greedy for love and acceptance. 

“Where are you?” Mingyu paused to look at you, caressing your cheeks. “You’re lost somewhere, aren’t you? Is something the matter?”

“Nothing,” you smiled weakly. “Just the usual. Have you been well?”

“I have,” he kissed your forehead. “I’ll be coming officially soon- maybe we could spend time together then.”

“I’ll see,” you assured him, pecking his lips. “I have to go now.”

Mingyu nodded, scanning your face with a smile on his face before he kissed you again and then let you go. You left first, spotting Siyeon who looked like she was going to have a stroke. 

“What took you so long, Princess?” She huffed. “My heart stopped like ten times whenever someone passed by and spotted me.”

“You’re too dramatic,” you laughed at her, letting her accompany you to one of the scholar’s offices, where you were getting trained in strategy. You made sure you yawned wide and good as soon as you entered, and the old man shook his head at you.

“This doesn’t work on me,” he let you know.

“I’m feeling sleepy because it’s you who’s tutoring me, Professor Seo,” you teased, joining him at the desk. “So? Let’s start.”

The day passed like any of the other days. Professor Seo told you to meet him in the library when you would be free from your duties in the evening, and though he was an old man and a boomer, if you were honest, you respected him as your teacher a lot. He had honed you into who you were. You owed him much more than that.

However, the last thing you were expecting was to see another presence with him, one that was both familiar and unfamiliar.

“This is Kang Yeosang, one of my friend’s son, a strategist in the royal legion in the North,” your tutor introduced him and the man first bowed to you, but as soon as he raised his head to look at you, he frowned.

And you frowned.

And then it clicked.

“Uh, nice to meet you,” you glared at him a bit as you shook his hand, silently asking him to keep his mouth shut. However, he was thoroughly amused. 

“The pleasure’s mine… Your Highness,” he almost mocked and you two took a seat, your teacher looking between you two.

“Have you both met before?”

“Not at all-” “Never-”

“Alright, I get it,” the old man sighed. “Your Highness, I have an urgent matter to attend to in the North. I’m afraid I won’t be able to join you in your lessons, which is why I arranged for a replacement.”

You made an impressed face. “He’s… quite young for your replacement, I must say.”

The two of them laughed at that. “He’s the best I could offer. He’s a… prodigy, if you will. And if you like him better than me, maybe I can finally retire.”

“I got used to you, so I don’t know about that,” you fiddled with the hourglass on the table as you thought. “Is everything okay in the North?”

The old man looked at Yeosang and he cleared his throat. “There’s some conflict at the border, which he must inspect. I may be a prodigy but I’m not more experienced than him, which is why he suggested that we shift.”

“I understand, and I hope you return back well and healthy,” you smiled at your teacher and he relaxed visibly, making you roll your eyes. “It’s not like I was going to, I don’t know, throw a tantrum about you going. In fact…” you looked at Yeosang, “I think I’ll enjoy his company more.”

“No funny business, you hear me?” He pointed at you two and Yeosang raised his hands in surrender. “She’s quite difficult to handle, but hear me, Princess. He’s here for a reason. He’ll tame you.”

Yeosang coughed at that and you shot him another glare- he was making it too obvious now. Thankfully, the old man got up and told you both to acquaint yourselves, leaving you two alone in the library, both of you mirroring each other’s posture and expressions- folded arms and sceptic looks. 

“So, Princess,” he started. “I believe this is the first time we’re officially meeting.”

“Officially, yes,” you nodded- no point pretending that time in the forest three days ago didn’t happen. “Shouldn’t you be, I don’t know, roasting some squirrels in the forest or shooting strangers?”

“And shouldn’t you be on the way to meet a certain someone-”

“Not one more word about it, not here, you hear me?” You were almost whispering, to his amusement. “The palace has ears everywhere.”

“Well, you don’t have to worry about anything,” Yeosang adjusted the collar of his shirt as he spoke. “We’re meeting for the first time. It seems like I’ll be your replacement tutor for a while, so I expect you to match my pace. Let’s be punctual in the mornings, shall we?”

“Of course,” you almost scoffed. “I’m guessing my dear old Professor must have complained.”

“Not really,” Yeosang leaned in, as if sharing a secret. “I figured you’re that type of a person.”

“Really?” You leaned in as well, more surprised to see him not backing off like others would. “What made you think so?”

“What do you think?” He almost laughed, getting up. “It’s getting late so let’s continue this tomorrow.”

—-----------------

“I can’t believe you asked me to be punctual and all when you’re late yourself and you’re trying your best not to doze off.”

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t sleep last night- Professor Seo took me out for drinks to introduce me to his friends here and you know how it gets…” Yeosang faltered when he saw your annoyed face. He smirked. “Are you the type that’s a teacher’s pet? Because you seem overly eager to be tutored-”

“I’m not,” you groaned, sighing deeply. “But you yawning widely when I’m reciting what I’ve learned so far really was the last straw.”

“I was only yawning, doesn’t mean I wasn’t listening,” he raised a brow and you glared at him.

“Did you hear the part about how I have to go to the East with the King?”

“You have to go to the West,” he smirked and you grinned. “See? I was listening.”

“I can’t concentrate if you look so sleepy, though,” you pouted. “It will make me sleepy too.”

“Then let’s just ditch all this,” Yeosang practically threw the register on the table to your left. “And take a little nap.”

“I ought to tell Professor Seo-” you were about to get up but Yeosang laughed, holding your sleeve and pulling you down and you raised a brow. 

“What?” Yeosang scoffed. “Don’t expect me to apologise or something. You still owe me for saving your life back there.”

You were the Princess of Eden, possible future Queen of an entire nation. But this individual seemed to not care about your status or the fact that you could end his career or life with a mere command alone. Perhaps because he had seen you as a damsel in distress, or perhaps because he was just like this. Peculiar. Interesting, even.

You rested your face in your hand, elbow on the table, as you stared at him. “I thought I told you to forget about that. It never happened. Nothing. Erase it from history.”

“I wasn’t aware the Princess of Eden had such secrets,” he mirrored your position. “And I wasn’t aware she was someone who took favours for granted.”

“Well, what do you want me to do? Pay you in gold? I can do that if you’d like.”

“I’m not interested in that, sadly,” Yeosang sighed as if it really was such a shame that he wasn’t. “I’m a rather humble person, which is why I only ask that we do not pretend that it never happened. I have an unfortunate habit of teasing, and if you can put up with it, that would be enough.”

“You’re an interesting person, Kang Yeosang,” you said and he smiled cheekily. “And your methods of teaching are also unconventional.”

“This is my first time tutoring someone,” Yeosang admitted and you were surprised at that. “So you can expect that. I think strategy is better learned from practical examples than by theory. And you don’t have to stick to battle. In your position, if you’re not strategic with every step you take, people will take the chance to pound at you from all directions.”

You considered that for a moment. “Did Professor Seo tell you something?”

“What he told me was enough,” he admitted and you relaxed- if he was someone Professor Seo trusted, that meant you could trust him as well. After all, the Professor was more a father than your own. “I still have to ask one question, if you would be so kind as to answer.”

“Go ahead,” you urged him.

“Why are you not interested in the throne, apart from the obvious reasons?” Yeosang leaned in, pushing back his dark hair. “You seem to have a rebellious streak within you, and I’m not sure why you’re not attracted to that offer- you could break the norms in Eden by being the first true Queen of Eden.”

“I know how big that sounds,” you sighed. “I’d be setting an example for all the females ahead- that there doesn’t necessarily have to be a Prince who rules the throne, but a Princess too. All these years in Eden’s history, if the eldest was a daughter, she would be considered negligible.”

“That’s right,” Yeosang nodded. “And Prince Chan isn’t too interested in the throne either. Everything seems perfect, yet…”

“Yet,” you almost smiled. “Do I really have to? I mean, I could. I’m ready, even, it’s what I’ve been trained for my whole life. Besides, my father, the King, would like me as his heir too. But as a person… I think I’m not good enough for that job. I have a few threats on my head if I am appointed the heir too, so I can’t jump on that chance without taking care of that matter- unless I’m okay with getting murdered which frankly, I’m not because I haven’t even lived yet-”

There it was. Yeosang’s knowing smirk- and your rambling mouth that was your besetting sin. Yeosang cocked his head. “You want to live a little, don’t you? Before you inevitably become bound forever? Is that why you’re risking so much meeting strangers in the forest?”

“First of all, you have no right,” you sneered but when he didn’t so much as twitch, you slumped back. “But yes. I guess so. I don’t know what I’m doing, but I don’t want to stop, yet. And anyways, our time is over,” you pointed at the clock. “Let’s continue this later, I have places to be.”

“Of course,” Yeosang nodded, resting his head on the table. “I’ll be taking a little nap here. You can go, Your Highness.”

You got up and stared at him, making him open one eye. “What?”

“I hope you won’t be rambling off whatever I said when you go to one of your drinks or something,” you muttered. 

“I’m not the one with the big mouth here, Your Highness- ow!” He rubbed his head when you not-so-gracefully threw your pen at him. You left, laughing loudly to annoy him but you could feel him smiling even though you couldn’t see him.

You didn’t know what it was about him that made the flow of conversation easier, that made you ramble without a second thought, that made you answer his very personal questions even when you hadn’t allowed this luxury to Mingyu, but… he really was an interesting person. You were having the sudden urge to ditch your next lessons and talk to him more, get to know him and judge him, see if he could be of more help, but you reminded yourself this was only your second (or third) meeting and you should take it slow. 

You shouldn’t make the same mistake you did with Mingyu.

Again, you found yourself pausing- whatever you had with Mingyu was a mistake, and this was the first time you admitted it to yourself. But… not all mistakes would bring bad consequences, right?

—------------------------

A few days later, Yeosang and you decided to take a walk around town- another one of his unconventional teaching methods. You were to dress as a noble lady, not the Princess, and learn the art of blending in.

You were also finding him wiser than you had initially thought. You two were crossing the road that led to the middle of the town from the palace when he explained the purpose of today’s lesson. “Strategy for you, Princess, is the art of disguising. When you are in the middle of planning an actual strategy for let’s say, a situation at the border or potential battle threat, or even civil war, would you trust everyone who’s in the same room with you as you plan?”

“I suppose not,” you nodded, adjusting your hanbok, walking comfortably for now due to the lack of the passersby. “As a Princess, I can trust no one. Not even family.”

“Exactly,” Yeosang clapped once. “You are capable of making several layouts in your head for any plan, I’m assuming?” When you nodded, he continued. “Real strategy lies in letting those people hear what they want to hear but doing what you want to. Please them but use them.”

“Ah,” you smirked to yourself. “I’m good at that.”

Yeosang gave you a doubtful look. “So, to make it seem legit, what will you do? You will need to blend in- not just in appearance, but in emotions, in their feelings. Now, we’ve almost reached town. I’ll let you lead and give you my judgement on our way back. We’re shopping in the marketplace first, and then we’re having lunch in public.”

“I wonder who allowed you to take me without guards-”

“I am the guard, in case you forgot,” Yeosang proudly pulled at his clothes and you scoffed. “I’m an excellent archer. Need I remind you how I-”

“I don’t see your bow and arrow today, though,” you pointed out. Yeosang paused as he looked at you.

“What makes you think my aim with daggers would be any weaker?”

“Wow,” you were actually amazed this time. “Maybe I should have paid attention when they were teaching self defence.”

“It’s never too late,” Yeosang resumed walking, urging you with a casual hand on your back. “Everyone should know the basics so they don’t encounter a situation like you did in the forest.”

“You’re never going to let me live that one down, are you?” You asked, tensing when you saw a couple looking in your direction and scoffing. Yeosang smiled to himself, not pausing, his hand keeping you walking as well. “Why did they laugh at us?”

“Why do you think? Now stop looking like you’re about to commit a murder and blend in.”

“But I am-” you shut up when you two took the final turn that led to the marketplace and this time, Yeosang let you take a deep breath as you took in the scene. 

There were people of all ages in the market- from old people who couldn’t even walk properly to kids running around, a group of them circling around you as they chased each other, making you almost yelp. Instinctively, you tried hiding behind Yeosang but he shook his head- this was your mission, after all. Blend in. the question remained- would people recognise you? Would they look at you twice?

“You have to stop at at least three shops and buy three things of different categories. So let’s start,” Yeosang said as he smirked. You glared at him before holding your head high as you walked. 

“Do you think you should walk so arrogantly?” Yeosang leaned in to whisper in your ear and you swatted him away, thoroughly annoyed.

“You think I can’t blend in? Fine- I’ll show you how good I am at it,” you said and didn’t bother waiting for Yeosang as you marched to the stall selling some candy. 

“What’s this called?” You asked the shopkeeper and both him and Yeosang snorted.

“It seems like she’s not from around here,” the shopkeeper smiled at Yeosang. “It’s called marshmallows.”

“Yeah, I’m not from around here, so I wouldn’t know,” you smirked at Yeosang and he raised a brow at how you had managed to twist the situation in your favour. “Is it a local delicacy? I haven’t seen it in the West.”

“Ah, yes, you wouldn’t see it in the West, I suppose,” the shopkeeper folded his arms. “Which ones shall I pack? They all taste the same so choose your colours- and add some flavoured jelly with it.”

“Hmm, let me see,” you took in the variety of the pastel marshmallows. “A few of each would be nice.”

The shopkeeper packed it for you with sticks for both of you and Yeosang paid for it. You were smiling cheekily at him as you waited for him and he scoffed when he saw you. “The day is not over yet.”

Yeosang wasn’t very surprised when you managed to shop for a few trinkets, a calligraphy brush and even a neck scarf. He had already judged you to be quick at adapting. You didn’t attract much attention at all, and he found you relaxing more and more as the day passed. Lunch was normal as well, choosing an outdoor dining as you ate noodles. However, the real test would be when someone would recognise her.

And he was going to make sure someone did. While you were busy admiring roses at a flower shop, Yeosang called a group of kids over and whispered what they needed to do, handing them some coins. The kids disappeared, unnoticed by you. However, as you turned, the kids (excellent actors, Yeosang laughed to himself) halted when they spotted you.

And you halted as well, frowning. Had the kids recognised you or what?

“Are you the princess?” One of the girls asked and you let out a nervous laugh, peeking at Yeosang who was currently too interested in his fingernails. 

“I told you, she is,” a boy elbowed her. “I saw her at the Athletics Championship.”

“You’re lying,” another girl argued. “Why is she not wearing her princess outfit?”

You snorted at that and the kids looked at you. “What? Do you think the Princess even sleeps wearing a fancy gown?”

“She doesn’t?” the first girl frowned. 

As the kids bickered among themselves, you turned to Yeosang. “I thought you could do better.”

“What?” Yeosang pretended to feign ignorance and you rolled your eyes. You were about to tell the kids to scoot off, but a woman came rushing towards the kids, scolding them for straying too far. You watched them, forgetting everything else for a moment until the woman looked at you and gasped.

“Your Highness!” She bowed deeply, and the kids burst into an excited fit that panicked you and you looked at Yeosang who was equally surprised. So this wasn’t planned…

“Your Highness?” A man who had been passing by also followed the woman’s suit and you groaned.

“Please, rise,” you commanded and they did, and you looked around, grateful for the lack of audience. “I am visiting town unofficially, so I hope you’ll keep my presence a secret.”

“Of course,” the woman nodded. “I’m a palace maid- you probably don’t recognise me. I’m happy to see that you’re out of the palace! You’re always inside- I hope you enjoy today.”

You were surprised at that- not her being a palace maid, but her observation about you. You thanked her, and the man grinned at you as a sign that he would keep it a secret as well and when they were gone, you finally looked at Yeosang who looked a little guilty. “Do I look that much of a bore?”

“What?” Yeosang laughed, not expecting that question so not understanding what you meant either.

“I mean,” you sighed. “The woman basically said that, right? That I’m always cooped up in my room?”

“Was she wrong?” Yeosang scoffed.

“No, which is why it hurts,” you laughed sadly. “I need more adventures in my life-”

You spotted a familiar face in the crowd- Mingyu. What were the odds? 

“Uh, Yeosang,” you kept your eyes at Mingyu who was alone, thankfully. “Do you mind if I go meet an acquaintance?”

Yeosang followed your gaze, right beside you. “Oh, is that the boyfriend? What a coincidence. I promise this was not arranged by me.”

“I know,” you tapped his arm as an indication that you were going. “You better wait right here- I’ll be back soon.”

Yeosang watched you boldly walk to the man who had to do a double-take as he saw you, and then you both disappeared in the alley, Yeosang laughing silently to himself. He had to admit- he was curious about what exactly was the relation between you two. He resorted to sitting on the bench and staring at the sky, while you?

You practically dragged Mingyu in the alley, the two of you stifling your laughs and hiding in a corner, you two were all over each other. You two were kissing like you were teenagers who had snuck out behind their parents’ backs, like you were past curfew. When you finally broke apart, Mingyu was grinning. “What are you doing here, Princess of Eden?”

“I was out with my tutor on a mission- blending in with the crowd,” you wiggled your eyebrows at him. “We haven’t properly sat in so long, Mingyu. Are you ever coming to meet me properly, or should I forget about you?”

“I promise I will,” Mingyu rubbed your arms. “I might get a job where I’ll have to frequent the palace often, so I’m concentrating on getting that first.”

“Really?” You were pleased. “What job?”

“My dad’s sick, so he might push me to handle his current affairs,” he said and you recalled how his father was a court member. “Let’s see how it goes.”

“Yeah, I’ll… look forward to seeing you,” you smiled at him. “I shouldn’t keep him waiting- I should go.”

“Okay,” he pecked your lips. “Go.”

Though you had just met your ‘boyfriend’, you didn’t look lovestruck, Yeosang thought, as you walked to him and joined him on the bench, slumping down with a sigh that made him feel as if something was bothering you. Yeosang simply offered you the same candy bag and you took some, the both of you staring at the sky.

“If you sigh anymore, I’m going to have to assume you broke up.”

“It’s not that,” you laughed. “It’s… I don’t know. He’s not my boyfriend, by the way.”

“Yet…” Yeosang raised his brows.

“Yet…” you sighed again. “He makes me forget that I am a princess when I am with him.”

“In a good way or a bad way?” Yeosang asked and you frowned- you had never had anything to compare it with, but today…

Or rather, with Yeosang, you hardly felt like a princess at all as well. And though Yeosang obviously treated you like just any other human… it was somehow better than Mingyu walking on eggshells with you or looking at you as if you would break. As if you were brittle- that you couldn’t bend, you’d simply break. So you only shook your head in answer, and that was enough for Yeosang. 

“Can I confess something?” You asked and Yeosang shrugged. He didn’t seem like someone who would judge you. “I don’t think Mingyu is the type of person I’d be happy with in the long run.”

“Ah, so that’s the name-”

“I think,” you ignored him, finding the fluffy clouds in the sky strangely comforting. “I think we’re both using each other one way or another. He’s handsome and I’m not the prettiest girl alive, so I wonder what he’s using me for. It’s obvious why I am, but I don’t think I want to know why he is. I don’t think I’d like the answer.”

“Then you don’t need to ask the question,” Yeosang commented. “You could part ways on good terms too.”

“That’s true,” you looked at him, smiling. “You know, you’re feeling more like a friend than a tutor or whatever you’re supposed to be. I like it.”

Yeosang put a hand on his chest and for a moment, you thought he was touched, until he said, “Then I have failed.”

You smacked his arm harshly and he laughed, shaking his head. “You’ve never had a friend, have you?”

“There’s Siyeon but she’s more like an elder sister,” you admitted. “Also, tell me you think of me as a friend too. I’d be hurt if you don’t.”

“As you know, I’m not the type of person who cares whether you’re hurt or not,” he brushed his clothes, getting up and offering you his hand, which you took as you got up as well. “But I think we could be friends. Only when I’m not tutoring you- I don’t want you to have the upper hand.”

You squeezed his hand, grinning. You could work with that.

—-----------------

“I can’t believe I thought you wouldn’t suck so much,” Yeosang was shaking his head in disappointment and you aimed an arrow at him. He didn’t even flinch when you let it loose- he already knew by what margin your arrows were always off, and he didn’t need to move- the arrow flew well past him. 

“It’s insulting that you didn’t even flinch,” you were laughing in disbelief at his guts. “How are you so good with all this calculating and aiming?”

“I grew up surrounded by archers,” Yeosang admitted, collecting the arrows as he walked around. You slumped down on the bench, waiting for him to continue. “I still think your case can be improved, so let’s not give up.”

“You remember what we promised, right?” You wiggled your brows at him and he rolled his eyes.

In the course of the past few days, there was a certain air of comfortableness between you two, growing casual with each passing day. As a tutor during the early hours of the day, you stopped giving him a hard time (only because you had the rest of the day to annoy the fuck out of him) and focusing on what he taught you- he was brilliant, you had to admit. He had taught you more tips and tricks than you had learnt in the entire course of your life. You would never admit that to him, or even to Professor Seo since he had shaped you at a good pace, but he really was amazing.

He kept insisting that you get basic self defence training before you go to the West. The civil war threat was still growing and the locals there were kind of brutal. You agreed that you’ve had enough of being the damsel, so you were going to learn to fight, at least enough to not get yourself killed in a stupid way. And Yeosang had been kind enough to try to teach you, albeit with little progress in the past two days.

Today, though, you struck a bargain with him- if your aim got better today, he would help you sneak out at night so you could meet up with Mingyu. 

Though he pretended to puke at the idea of it, he agreed only because you thought you wouldn’t get any better. He didn’t care if you met Mingyu or any other person, he didn’t care what you did with them, as long as he wasn’t involved, but for someone who didn’t bat an eye when others would very well crucify you, he was awfully curious. You were guessing curiosity was his besetting sin. Or maybe because you were the Princess of Eden, he was taking more interest in your life than he would have in any other person’s. Whatever the reason, you didn’t mind. You were very used to people prying into your private matters, but Yeosang was different- you just knew he didn’t have any evil intentions.

“You won’t ever hit your target at this rate, let me show you,” Yeosang said as he got up, making his way towards you. He stood next to you with his own bow and arrow, instructing you on how you should place your legs, how taut your arms should be, how you should hold the weapon properly.

“Like this?” You mirrored his position- or at least tried. He didn’t look satisfied but he nodded, urging you to try. You did, and surprisingly, this was the first time you hit the target on the tree, though you had almost missed it. 

“Again,” he instructed and you did, twice, watching him walk around you as he checked your posture. “I need your full focus on your target, not on me.”

“Yes sir,” you muttered, trying to pry your eyes from Yeosang who, frankly, looked absolutely ethereal in the glow of the sun. It was unfair how handsome he was. Sometimes you wondered how his parents looked like to have a son who looked like him. 

“Let me,” Yeosang met eyes with you, his hands raised in the air in front of you and you nodded. He fixed the position of your bow and then stood beside you, prying your fingers loose and positioning them correctly, his hands unexpectedly warmer than you had expected. With a hand on your back, he muttered instructions- which parts to relax, which parts to stretch, and the way his hands travelled all over your upper body-

Even though you were wearing a good amount of layers, you had to suppress the shiver with all your strength. Especially when he stood right behind you, snaking his arms around you as he positioned the bow and arrow.

“Shoot,” his breath caressed your ear and you were sure that was why you let go of the arrow, instead of the command. Yeosang drew back, clapping. “That’s much better. Let me see,” he said, standing in front of you and scanning you. 

“Relax that frown,” he pointed at your forehead. “And exhale with the arrow. Come on.”

You shifted your focus to the target and did what he said- this time hitting the arrow only a few inches above the bullseye. You lowered your bow, sharing a grin.

“See? Now you only gotta practise. And for the aim, try shooting daggers as well. Let’s do that next time.”

You continued to practise, your aim getting much better, while Yeosang lied casually on one of the benches, reading a book- or pretending to. You were pretty sure he had passed out at some point, and when you couldn’t shoot any more arrows, drained, you made your way to Yeosang, glancing around for any maids or guards- after all, you were still in the palace. Finding none, you flicked Yeosang’s forehead to wake him up-

Which resulted in him grabbing your wrist before you could blink, scaring you for a moment before he relaxed, letting go. “Sorry, I thought it was someone else.”

“Who would dare?” You rubbed your wrist, trying to calm your pounding heart. “You’ve got killer reflexes.”

“I do?” He laughed, tapping the space beside him and you sat down, stretching your arms and legs as you sighed deeply. “You’ve gotten better.”

He was staring at the arrows lodged in the target board. You grinned. “Now you’ll have to sneak me out.”

“I shouldn’t have helped you,” he shook his head but gave in. “As promised. But if we get caught, come up with a story before they send me for execution.”

“Of course,” you promised. “He’s coming tonight, you know. Mingyu. Should I see him before dinner or after?”

“Before would be better, night time makes everything more suspicious,” Yeosang ran a hand through his hair. “But then… everything is so visible before the sun sets down.”

“Night time is better,” you were thinking to yourself, folding your arms. “I can make the excuse of feeling under the weather and retiring early from my activities, and then wait for him in one of the guest rooms. All you have to do, Yeosang dear, is keep watch and alert me with three knocks on the door so I can sneak out from there and run.”

“What would happen if you got caught?” He asked and when you narrowed your eyes at him, he explained that he was just curious.

“I don’t know, actually,” you took a deep breath. “If it gets public, I guess the people will frown upon me, and then father’s plan of making me his heir would get more complicated.”

“You don’t seem particularly sad about that,” Yeosang observed.

“Well, it seems like I’m not hungry for that power yet.”

Oh, power was boring- you had seen enough of it in the two decades of your life. Sure, it had its perks- especially when you get to pull rank at times, however, once you took the crown and ascended as Queen, the little freedom you had? It would be gone like it was never there to begin with. So, yes. You did not like the idea of being his heir- at least not yet, and you were pretty sure you would never-

“Ah, so you’re simply hungry for an adventure,” Yeosang’s eyes practically gleamed as he made the connection.

You supposed he was right. After all, why were you still agreeing to meeting Mingyu, sneaking around the palace like a rat, walking on your tiptoes afraid of getting caught, all for someone you weren’t even sure about? Especially when you finally entered a guest room, finding that the thrill in your heart was not because you finally got to see Mingyu after so long but because of the excitement that came with the process?

As Mingyu smirked and walked towards you with light steps, tucking your hair behind as a greeting, you wondered if there was something lost in you. You wondered if you would ever find true love in your life- the kind of love they talked about in the books, the kind of love that people gave their lives for. Mingyu was not that person for you. And what turned you off the most about him was that he never tried to get to know you. Yes, he would listen when you would talk, but he never asked questions. He wasn’t interested in you.

Which meant there had to be something else that he was interested in. As far as you knew, he was only meeting you. He didn’t have someone else in his life, so what was he after?

“You feel so distant tonight,” he commented as he caressed your face. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, just tired from all the practice,” you passed him a weak smile and he didn’t probe further, fishing out something from his pocket.

“Remember when we met in the market?” He grinned, “I may have gotten you something.”

You made an impressed face and opened the box- it was a necklace with a little golden heart pendant, intricately carved. “It’s pretty. Thank you.”

“You like it?” He pressed a kiss on your temple and you nodded, shy when he let his nose trace the angles of your face, his breath caressing you. “What else do you like, Princess?”

Well, the one thing he was good at was… whatever he was doing right now, snaking his hands around your waist and pulling you forward as he kissed you, letting his lips trail down your neck, peppering kisses and sucking at a few spots, drawing the collar of your dress away and making you gasp, drawing it away even further-

“Wait,” you suddenly pulled back, drawing your dress up and frowned when he looked disappointed. “I- I should go, we don’t have the luxury of time, Mingyu. Not right now.”

“It’s okay,” he got up and straightened his clothes. “I should leave anyway. My friend is waiting for me right outside the palace gates.”

“Oh, okay,” you nodded, getting up yourself. “See you soon?”

He smiled, tipping his hat before leaving and you didn’t realise how long you kept staring into the distance until Siyeon finally entered after a knock.

“Are you okay, Princess?”

“Ah, yes, I am,” you nodded. “Just taking a breather. Let’s go.”

You made your way to your room, not noticing Mingyu walking not towards the palace gates but to the direction where the Queen’s private chamber was. However, Yeosang who had forgotten his book in the library noticed Mingyu conversing with the Queen herself, hidden from sight- anyone else would not have noticed but Yeosang was more observant than the usual person. He wondered why the two were talking, dismissing it as their private matter, but as he tried to sleep that night, he kept wondering if you knew that the Queen and Mingyu knew each other enough to meet out of plain sight.

—------------------

“I didn’t know there was a place like this in the palace,” Yeosang commented, looking around after dusting himself. You passed him a grin.

“I found this when I was 11,” you told him. “My mother used to come here when she wanted to get away from things- I once followed her. After she passed away, I forgot all about this place until one day, I found myself walking here.”

“I can see why she would want to come here,” Yeosang folded his arms, nodding.

Away from all the hustle and bustle of the palace, at the far-east corner of the vast gardens that stretched at the borders, there was an opening in the fence, hidden from the overgrown vines. You supposed when your mother was alive, she must have maintained the place, but now… it was just a collection of forgotten memories, dust and overgrown plants. The hut was dark and home to spiders and other animals- you never dared go inside, preferring to rest on the stairs that overlooked the pond and the large tree which was the highlight of the little place- purple flower petals crowding the ground and the pond.

“Ah, there’s a cat here now,” you waved at the cat but it sneered at you before taking off, making Yeosang chuckle as he sat beside you, peeking inside the veranda. “What a rude cat!”

“You’re the one disturbing the poor cat’s peace,” Yeosang commented. “So? What are we going to do now that we’re here?”

“Well, I don’t know, not study for once?” You narrowed your eyes at him- he had been pretty strict with keeping the studying schedule. He had also been strict with your other classes- you were pretty good with weapons now- Yeosang would never admit that, always dismissing you off as ‘average’, but his proud cheeky smile? He couldn’t hide that. 

“Ah, so it’s just you and me then, huh?” Yeosang asked and you poked your tongue in your cheek as you wondered how to respond to that. He seemed to realise that and he shook his head. “I mean, as friends? That’s how we decided to go, right? Unless you’re planning to bury me here… pretty sure no one would find my body if you do-”

“Yes, let’s just talk and relax, and by the end of it I will decide if I really want to bury you here,” you passed him a sarcastically sweet smile. “Have you heard from Professor Seo yet?”

“I received a letter today, he’s doing fine and the situation is handled, but he decided to visit his family before returning,” he told you and you found yourself more relieved than disappointed about his late return. Yeosang spotted that right away and smirked. “Pleased that he’s not coming back soon?”

“He’s kind of boring and you’re… kind of not?”

“Why did that end as a question?” Yeosang frowned and you shook your head. 

“Anyways, you said you wanted to talk to me about something- what was it?” You asked and saw him visibly struggle as he decided whether he really wanted to say it or not. “Just spill- don’t make that face.”

“Well, it’s about Mingyu- let me make a few things clear first,” he cleared his throat and you raised a brow. “I am not interested in your relationship with him or whatever you do, and I don’t mean to pry, but what you said about him wanting something from you…”

“Well?” You urged him.

“Do the Queen and Mingyu know each other in some way? Because I checked and Mingyu wouldn’t need to privately converse with the Queen over his work matters.”

You felt your heart sink at that but tried to think rationally- maybe the Queen spotted him and called him? Maybe she found out about you two? But you couldn’t help but think of the worst- that the reason Mingyu was wasting his time on you had something to do with the Queen.

“Again, I could be wrong,” Yeosang sounded cautious. “Maybe it was a one-time thing and you don’t need to worry about it, but… you’re the Princess. You always have to be cautious, don’t you?”

“You’re right,” you nodded slowly. “It could be anything, but I have to be cautious. Thank you for letting me know, by the way,” you smiled at him and he pursed his lips, nodding. 

“I’ve ruined the mood, haven’t I?” Yeosang said after a moment and you finally huffed, laughing. “You said you wanted to ask me something as well?”

“Oh, yeah, did I?” You laughed nervously and Yeosang frowned in confusion.

For the past two days, you had been meeting with your father who decided he would have both you and Prince Chan accompany him to the West, despite the continuous attempts of the Queen to somehow make him choose their son over you. You felt better since Chan would be there and you wouldn’t be alone with the King and the generals and whatever officials you were going to find there, but you had an idea-

“If I asked you to accompany me to the West, with the King and the Prince, two days from now… would you agree?”

Yeosang raised a brow. “Is there a specific reason you want me there?”

“Uh…” Was there? “Just… it won’t be as awkward with you there, I suppose. Chan has his own friends there and I know as much as he likes me, he doesn’t like me enough to call me a ‘friend’. Besides, you’re a great strategist, Yeosang. We could actually use some help there. You’ll of course be representing me if you decide to go, so the court members realise I don’t have allies myself-”

“You don’t need to explain all of that,” Yeosang laughed to himself, shaking his head at you. “Come on. You’re the Princess. All you had to say was ‘it’s my order’.”

“I would have added it in the end,” you muttered, slumping but he knew you wouldn’t.

“You’ve warmed up to me, huh? Just admit it- you don’t want to die of boredom there. I make you laugh, I keep you on your toes, I even let you take those naps when we should be studying-”

“Fine, yes, you’re mildly amusing. I won’t say I’d die of boredom without you, okay? Don’t think too highly of yourself-”

Yeosang leaned forward until he was inches away from your face, making you blink in surprise. “But I think you would,” he almost whispered and when you didn’t push him away or respond, he seemed to realise just what position he was in, drawing back smoothly. “Talking about boredom, is there something fun to do right now?”

“I have dice hidden here somewhere,” you jumped down, pretending to search under the stairs while calming your pounding heart and trying to ignore the knot in your stomach. “Here it is. Let’s play?”

—---------------------

You were finding it extremely hard to get Yeosang alone once you arrived at the town in the west of Eden, where the Westerners were going to have meetings with your court to try and resolve the political problems they had with the King’s policies. The reason the King, his children and a good part of his court went themselves was a sign of good gesture- that you all were willing to listen and resolve this peacefully, but this was also a warning- that you would be assessing the situation and taking appropriate and immediate measures according to it.

However, you were warmly welcomed by the dwellers, and a large amount of the first few days were spent partying. You were, of course, the Princess and with that title, you had to display a certain amount of elegance, which Yeosang made sure to roll his eyes at whenever he came into your vision. He also made a note of telling you “I can see how hard it is for you to hold back” which only made you restrain yourself with a smile since the public was watching.

However, Yeosang clearly hadn’t expected you to sneak out in the middle of the night, leaving Siyeon alone in the room and tiptoeing to Yeosang’s room, following Siyeon’s map that she had drawn on your hand after you had begged her to let you breathe. Your heart was rhythmically matching your excitement, but you paused before you knocked on Yeosang’s room-

“Are you sure you and Yeosang are just friends?” Siyeon had asked.

“Of course we’re just friends, what are you implying?” You frowned.

“You’re different when you talk about him,” Siyeon smiled knowingly, which only confused you further. “I’ve not seen that smile once before. Not even with Mingyu.”

“Get your head out of the gutter,” you had muttered and she had laughed it off, but now that you stood-

The door slid open and Yeosang couldn’t keep from mumbling a curse when he found you standing with a hand outstretched. “What are you doing at this ungodly hour, Princess? And outside my room? Finally decided to kill me in my sleep?”

“It’s not even midnight yet,” you rolled your eyes, making your way inside his room and Yeosang watched you, peeking outside to see if you had eyes before shutting the door. “I knew you would be awake. Are you busy?”

“Not really, no,” Yeosang sat down on the couch, ruffling his hair. “Was just about to sleep, as you can see,” he pointed at his pyjamas. “Is something up?”

“I thought we could… I don’t know. Sneak out and enjoy the festival. I know we decided not to go because of security measures, but I learnt from my very wise tutor-” you pointed with both hands at Yeosang and he groaned, “-that the art of disguise comes handy. So we’ll blend in tonight, you and I, as civilians. No one would recognise us anyway- not when we dress up all fancy and… voguish, like them, eh?”

You could tell Yeosang didn’t hate the idea because he was not kicking you out of his room. “You do realise what you’re saying, right? You didn’t drink, did you?”

“I’m perfectly sober, thank you,” you got up and unbuttoned your cloak, revealing a pair of red jewelled velvet tunic and pants, and you revealed your hair tied in a bun- a mess of braids and curls. You waved your matching red mask at him as well, laughing when he gaped at you. “I’m ready. Are you?”

After a few protests and you dragging Yeosang and throwing clothes at him after shuffling through his bag, earning snarky remarks and how you looked ‘overdressed’, you finally got Yeosang to change. He looked perfect in his black outfit with a jewelled jacket, and then you made him sit on the chair in front of the mirror so he would take care of his hair.

“Don’t make me comb it myself,” you scoffed. “I haven’t ever done even my own hair apart from a ponytail, just so you know.”

“Snobby little princess-”

“It’s because I naturally suck at it,” you slapped his head and he glared at you, wondering why he was even doing this. 

“You know,” he started parting his hair to one side, shrugging because if he was going out anyway, he might as well look the best. “All you have to do is be yourself. People won’t recognise you even if you wear your crown over your head.”

“That’s insulting,” you leaned in the mirror, cleaning your slightly smudged lipstick. “But also, somehow good to know.”

Yeosang shook his head, finally done and you gave him an okay. “Now, how do we sneak out?”

“Leave that to me,” you smirked.

A few minutes later and one guard down after a random rock fell on his head (only knocking him out, you told Yeosang), you were in the brightly lit streets, the noise of the people and the music almost overwhelming, but even Yeosang was surprised how perfectly you two blended in- you had clearly planned this long ago. You stopped at a stall to get some cake and you slid down your mask, peeking around but no one recognised you- you felt safe.

“This is stupid, but I can’t say I’m not enjoying,” Yeosang took a bite of the cake. “I mean, when will I ever get the chance? The Princess of Eden in the streets with her replacement tutor, unrecognisable.”

“We’re friends,” you narrowed your eyes. “If you’re still calling yourself my tutor, go home, Yeosang.”

“I don’t know when the boundary blurred,” he pondered.

“Probably when you saved me in the forest,” you muttered. 

“Ah, saved you, did I?” It was the first time you had admitted and you scoffed. “If we hadn’t met that day, would we be here right now?”

“Maybe,” you shrugged. “What do you think?”

Yeosang looked at you as he finished his cake and waited for you to finish yours before stepping forward and you almost jumped when his hands went behind your head to untie the cloth you had been using as a mask. He locked eyes with you. “Can I?”

You didn’t nod but he presumed to tie it around your neck like a bandana, and he rested his hands on your shoulders when he was done. “That’s better. You look beautiful.”

As if just realising what he had said, he abruptly drew back, clearing his throat. “Evil. I meant beautifully evil. Or evilly beautiful?”

You couldn’t help but laugh at that, smacking his arm. “You don’t have to be awkward about it, Yeosang. You don’t look too bad yourself.”

You were the last person to talk about being awkward when you stood there with a silly grin until someone asked you two to move. You took a deep breath. “Let’s go watch the games?”

You got the first row in the audience that stood to watch the fire show and you didn’t realise that you had been holding on to Yeosang’s arm when he guided you through the crowd, but he didn’t mind- he liked it when you squeezed it whenever you were surprised. At some point, Yeosang himself had stopped watching the show, instead watching how your face looked in the glow of the fire, how your eyes reflected your excitement which was contagious at this point, how your red plump lips parted and pursed. He was smiling faintly when you caught him staring at you.

None of you looked away. You raised a brow. “Bored?”

“Not at all,” he shook his head. “Just want to get some air after this ends.”

“Let’s go right now,” you told him and he insisted that you finish watching the show because according to him, you looked like a cat who had seen a mouse for the first time, but you only held his hand and dragged him, almost exiting when you met a pair of mimers.

“Ridiculous,” Yeosang laughed when they started mirroring your movements.

“That’s not how we look,” you pointed and they mirrored that as well, making you gape at them. “That’s a personal attack! Choose someone else from the crowd!”

Yeosang burst out laughing at that and the mimers continued to mirror your exasperated expressions and movements, until Yeosang grabbed your hand and started running away, the mimers mirroring even that and following you, making all of you laugh because this was unbelievable but fun. The two of you kept running even after you had lost them and just when you were about to stop, Yeosang spotted them and slid into a dark alley, turning you and making you stop against him as he rested against the wall, out of breath.

“They’re right outside,” he whispered, shaking his head as he laughed. “Don’t move.”

You nodded, aware of your hands on his chest and shoulder, aware of his hands holding your wrists loosely but not letting you go, and you rested your head against his chest, out of breath as well. “Tell me when they’re gone. Or should we give them a little scare?”

“I’ll tell you when they’re gone,” Yeosang said and you hummed in agreement, not daring to move but feeling glad when you felt his tense body relax against you. His hands slid down your arms but didn’t let go, and even when he saw the mimers leave the area, he didn’t tell you. 

He wanted you all to himself just for a little longer.

And that realisation made him so utterly confused. He hadn’t intended to cross the line, yet… he knew you two weren’t friends at this point- at least he wasn’t, because he was falling. 

But you still liked Mingyu, didn’t you? Even when he had told you about the Queen and Mingyu’s meeting, you met him twice after, and Yeosang helped you. You told him you wanted to feel him out and see what exactly he wanted so you could catch him in the act, but… he was starting to realise why he hated it when he saw Mingyu touch your face- that guy was clearly not sincere.

Were his own feelings sincere then, he wondered. Is that how you felt about Mingyu? Unsure but wanting?

“They’re gone,” Yeosang finally whispered and you took your head off after a moment, looking up at him and finding him incredibly close. You grinned and let go of him. “Well, that was an adventure right there.”

“That sure was,” Yeosang brushed his clothes and you walked back to the streets, just walking and chatting and grabbing more snacks until you both were very tired, which was when you decided to walk back, sneaking past the guards into Yeosang’s room which was thankfully on the ground floor. 

Yeosang shut the window behind him and you secured your cloak, smiling at him and asking, “Tell me how tonight was. Tell me honestly.”

“Well, Princess,” Yeosang stepped in front of you, smirking and flicking your forehead. “It was the most fun I had in a good few years.”

“Really? You’re not lying?” You asked and he nodded, crossing at his heart. You smiled wide and slumped in relief. “Glad you don’t hate me.”

“I don’t hate you, why would you think that?” Yeosang’s voice was incredibly soft. “I like you. A lot. I like whatever we have, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I just hope you don’t forget all about me when you’re busy or when I have to go, y/n.”

Your heart did a somersault and you took a step towards him as well, almost closing the distance between you two. “This was the most fun I had too. In my life. Thank you, Yeosang. And I won’t forget you, ever. I hope you don’t if you go back.”

‘If’, you had said, Yeosang realised with a glimmer of hope. You didn’t want him to go back. It was up to him now. But he had to be sure about you first-

He didn’t expect you to lean in and kiss him on the cheek and then shyly look at you as you grinned. Oh, he wanted to cross the line so bad. “Thank you for tonight, Yeosang.”

Before he could respond, you scurried off, and he stood dumb for a few minutes until he smiled and sat in front of the mirror, taking off his accessories and looking at where you had kissed him-

Where the red smudge of lipstick welcomed him.

So that’s why you were grinning, he thought, laughing to himself as he wondered if he should just let the mark remain.

—-------------------

The situation in the West had been resolved and you made your way back, making the visit last for about a week and a half. A week after that night you spent with Yeosang at the festival. You had attended a meeting together where you got to see just what kind of a strategist Yeosang was, and he was one hell of a strategist- he managed to keep the political interests of both the parties in balance as he suggested ways to resolve the conflict, along with his seniors. He was applauded by the King himself and that made you giddy. It didn’t help that he looked incredibly hot when he was in operational mode, you told him.

“There’s something wrong with you,” Yeosang had made a face and you had only laughed.

“You know, my father approves of you. He even asked me if you’re my replacement tutor.”

“I should go and tell him how disrespectful my student is-” 

And that ended with the usual bickering as well. In the few days you spent in the West after the festival, you only got to meet up with Yeosang once during the evening when you two were walking around, and Prince Chan had joined, which ended up making you the third-wheel. They surprisingly had much to talk about.

Your lessons with Yeosang were going to resume today. You had also just received a letter from Professor Seo which said that he would be returning in a week or two. You felt anxious for some reason- could you keep Yeosang all to yourself? Would that be selfish of you? After all, Yeosang’s family and friends weren’t in this town.

You went inside the library, finding it utterly quiet. You almost called out loud for Yeosang, but you saw him dozing off, sitting crossed legged on the floor with his head resting on his arms on the table. You smiled to yourself- what a sight he was. You tiptoed towards him, sitting in front of him across the table and waiting for a while- he was probably tired. You heard a muffled groan and watched him as he frowned in his sleep- was he having a nightmare?

“Yeosang?” You whispered, but he didn’t stir. You slid away from the table and went to his side, carefully pushing a few strands of his dark hair away from his face- he seemed to be caught in a dream-

You noticed the redness on his temple that you had spotted before too- you hadn’t asked him about it and the way he styled his hair, you couldn’t detect it unless you looked carefully, but it looked like it was a birthmark. You touched it lightly, smiling-

You couldn’t even let out a scream when he went for your neck making you fall flat against the floor and him on top of you with his dagger threatening to slit your throat.both of you were looking at each other in surprise with wide eyes and you patted his arm cautiously. “It’s me… Yeosang, it’s me.”

Yeosang came back and sighed deeply, drawing back and immediately apologising. “I don’t know what I was thinking, I have nothing to say.”

“It’s okay,” you frowned as you straightened your clothes, getting up to go back to your place. Yeosang, confused, got up as well. “Are you alright, Yeosang? Are you haunted?”

Yeosang snorted at that. “Actually, I’m not always like this. I was attacked on the night when we came back, in my room. I didn’t get who it was, but someone’s after me, which means… someone’s after you.”

“Oh, come on,” you shook your head. “It might be something you did. You’re not a saint, Yeosang dear.”

“Could be, but I’m betting it has something to do with you-” Yeosang stopped mid-sentence and pulled you by your arm into his chest as a vase fell and crashed on the floor, making you scream and clench onto his clothes. 

“Wait here- someone’s definitely after you,” Yeosang said and before you could stop him, he went for what you figured was whoever he spotted. You took out your own dagger, waiting for him or whoever it was that dared attack you in the library, of all places. 

However, the last person you expected to see was Mingyu, calling out your name before he stepped in your line of vision and you frowned. “I heard a crash and a scream, I was just passing by. Are you alright?”

“You were just passing by?” You almost spat but then shook your head. “I’m sorry- it’s just been surprise after surprise today. I’m overwhelmed. Did you perhaps spot someone else leaving?”

“Only Kang Yeosang,” he said, stepping towards you but stopping when you raised your hand. 

“Do you know him?” You asked.

“He’s made quite a name for himself after the tour in the West,” he pointed out and you lowered your dagger. “He’s your replacement tutor, is he not?”

“That he is,” you nodded. “He’ll be back any minute.”

“Can I see you tonight?” Mingyu asked, shooting a playful smile in your direction.

“If you tell me why you’ve been meeting up with the Queen, sure, I can see you tonight,” you countered. You refused to believe him passing by was a coincidence- not after you’ve been suspecting him for so long.

However, Mingyu clearly didn’t like what you were implying. “Do you think I’m a spy or something? That’s a low blow.”

“What else am I supposed to think, Mingyu?” You countered. “You’ve been meeting up with her- I saw you myself. And you didn’t bother to tell me? A simple explanation would have done. You could have lied and I would have believed you. But you didn’t even tell me. You never tell me anything. You only call me when-”

“And what do you tell me about yourself, Princess?” Mingyu walked towards you. 

“I tell you enough,” you seethed. “I risk meeting you and tell you enough. You have no idea what the consequences would be if I got caught meeting you.”

“Well, no one would know unless you spill,” he stopped in front of you. “Have you?”

“I just- I can’t continue meeting you like this forever, you know it,” you sighed. “And you’re still not telling me why you met her.”

“I tell you enough as well,” he countered. You couldn’t believe him. You were about to walk away but he caught your wrist. “Come on. Don’t ruin this-”

“Ruin what, Mingyu? What are we?” You locked eyes with him, surprisingly relieved when you saw no signs of longing in them. “We never address that though, do we?” 

“Well, what are you with Yeosang then?” He countered and you raised a brow. “I’ve seen you both. He’s not your tutor-”

“He’s my friend,” you sneered, trying to break away your wrist from him but he wouldn’t let go. “And let go of me. You’re hurting me.”

“Friend?” He laughed. “Friends don’t look at each other the way I’ve seen you-”

“I suggest you let go of her right now, Mingyu,” Yeosang’s voice boomed as he walked to the two of you. “Let go of the Princess.”

Mingyu scoffed at him. “No, what do you two even do in here? I’m pretty sure it’s not just studying-”

The crack of the slap on his left cheek was the most satisfying sound you ever heard out of him, and you didn’t regret it, even when he looked betrayed and surprised. “Who do you think I am? You’re the first person I’ve been with, Mingyu, and you’re the only one. I can’t believe you think so lowly about me. I guess I should have thought that about you too,” you rubbed your wrist- he had finally let go due to the initial shock. “Meet me tomorrow night at the same place. We’ll end this- only after you tell me what you’re up to with the Queen. And don’t bother lying- I know what you’re up to. I only need to see if you’ll tell me the truth or not.”

Mingyu huffed, laughing in what you could only presume was disbelief. “I think we should. We need to think with clear minds, huh?” He looked at Yeosang and left the room, leaving you glaring at his passing figure. Yeosang stifled his smile as he stood next to you. “Well… that was one hell of a slap.”

“Shut up, Yeosang,” you muttered but smiled, looking at him. “I should have done that earlier. I don’t know what took me so long.”

“Do you really know what he’s up to?” Yeosang patted your back, urging you to settle down before sitting in front of you.

“I don’t, actually, but it doesn’t matter. I don’t want to continue whatever it is we had. It was only physical, and that’s… it makes me shameful to think of it.”

Yeosang looked proud of you though, especially when he said, “I don’t think I need to be your tutor anymore. You’ve learnt all you need to- at least about strategy and offence.”

You laughed at that. “Have I? You still have to teach me the damned nonsense the old scholars left for us that’s not even relevant-”

“Don’t disrespect your ancestors,” he shook his head, grinning. 

—------------------

When Mingyu entered the room, you didn’t get up this time. He didn’t approach you either, simply sat down next to you.

“I’m sorry for slapping you earlier- I could’ve dealt with that differently,” you told him. You were sorry- that wasn’t a lie.

“I deserved that,” Mingyu looked at you and you both shared a laugh. “I was being an asshole.”

“Glad you realise that,” you shook your head. “So?”

“The Queen… the first time that she called me, she only wanted to know who my father was- apparently, he used to do some of the Queen’s private tasks, so she thought she could trust me as well. I didn’t realise what she was on to until the second time, when she casually asked me if I was interested in you.”

“Wow, she’s still digging for something to bring me down,” you made an impressed face. “What did you tell her?”

“I told her the truth- that I admire you as the Princess. That’s exactly what I said. Not a lie, but not the whole truth either,” he winked.

“That’s smart, I’ll give you that,” you nodded. “How did she respond to that?”

“She told me I should meet up with you, that you might be interested in me as well. Honestly, I was confused- I didn’t know if it was a test or some twisted game where she wants us to get caught because it’s no secret that she hates you. So I just told her I’ll look for a chance. Now she just asks me if I made some progress.”

“I wonder what’s going on in her head,” you sighed. “You should have told me, Mingyu.”

“I know,” he admitted. “I should have, but honestly… I’m not interested in you that way- at least not yet.”

“Neither am I,” you admitted. “We should end it, though. There’s no use continuing whatever we had, but I hope we can part on good terms, and possibly be allies in the future. You’re smart, Mingyu. I hope you won’t use our relationship to bring me down one day- I’d rather you be my ally, my friend.”

“Now that’s one tempting offer,” he laughed, tucking your hair behind your ear. “No hard feelings?”

“None,” you nodded. “Unless you pull something, in which case you can expect not to wake up after you sleep,” you smiled sweetly at him and he shook his head, raising his hands in surrender. “Also, yesterday… were you really passing by the library?”

“Ah, about that,” Mingyu straightened, recalling the detail he needed to tell you. “I did spot someone suspicious- dressed like a guard- around the library, so yes, I was just passing by but made a detour because I thought I saw something.”

“Who do you think could be behind it?” You wondered.

“Could be anyone at this point, but maybe start from the people closest around you,” Mingyu said. “Should I look into it?”

“Will you?” You asked and he nodded. You thanked him- that really was a kind offer, perhaps to make up for his behaviour.

After that meeting, you walked to your secret place just to have some alone time and think things through. You had just been in your room, and Siyeon had been beyond relieved after she heard that you broke things with Mingyu. 

“I’m just glad I don’t have to be the watchdog anymore, you know?” She told you as she prepared you for bed, about to go and bring your tea when you told her you wanted to get some air first. She let you go willingly this time.

But when you sneaked in through the vines around the fence, the last person you expected to see was Yeosang. What was more surprising were the empty bottles around him- he was drinking. 

He never drinked this much, from what he had told you. You whistled at the sight and went to sit next to him, shaking your head at his flushed cheeks. “You need to stop before I wake you up by pushing you in the pond.”

“What are you doing here?” He sounded surprisingly sober.

“What are you doing here? Why are you drinking?”

“Just needed to stop thinking for a few moments,” he admitted, offering you a bottle. You took a sip and told him you weren’t going to drink more. “Boomer. Look at the moon- it’s a wonderful sight. That calls for a few drinks as we admire the sight, no?”

“Yep, you’re drunk,” you folded your arms. “What’s keeping you up at nights, Yeosang?”

He was silent for a few moments, and you almost thought he faded into unconsciousness when he mumbled something. You frowned, “What was that?”

“You,” he said, and your heart sank. “You. You keep me up at nights. You don’t let me sleep.”

“Hmm, really?” You pursed your lips, stifling your smile. “And what exactly about me?”

He glanced at you and it was your turn to get flushed- he had rarely ever looked at you that way, but whenever he did… it drove you crazy. “I wish I hadn’t met you, y/n.”

Your heart broke like never before- it was a sharp blow. You managed to ask why.

“I’m not worthy of you. I cannot be with you. But I think I want to be with you. But… you don’t want me. So I wish I hadn’t met you- at least that day in the forest. Maybe if we hadn’t become friends-”

“What are you saying?” You shook your head. “What’s this bullshit about being worthy? I’m not some prized possession you need to win.”

“Oh, but you are,” he smiled, looking down. “You’re… wonderful. You’re brilliant. I’m nothing.”

“God, if you were sober right now, you would be saying the opposite. And that’s making me confused,” you tugged at his sleeve, making him look at you. “Are you joking right now? Do you like me or something? Because I’ve been the one afraid to take that step-”

Yeosang leaned in and kissed your cheek, making you pause. He drew back slowly. “That night… I wanted to keep you all night. I wanted you so bad.”

“Yeosang,” you whispered, “You can have me. You’ve had me long ago.”

“Is that so?” He traced your hairline, tucking your hair behind your ear, and you couldn’t help but shiver. You couldn’t help but compare- Mingyu had done this so many times, yet this single action had never made you a puddle, a mess like you are now. 

Yeosang continued to trace the outlines of your face. “I don’t want to let you go,” he whispered, “Are you real, or am I hallucinating? Am I too drunk?”

“I think you are drunk, but I’m real,” you managed to say, locking eyes with him.

“Even if you’re not…” he put his fingers under your chin and tilted your face up, gazing at your parted lips. You stifled a groan- his touch alone was making you go crazy.

And when he leaned in and finally pecked your lips, holding on to his shirt was all you could do to keep from falling down. As if realising you were real, he pecked your lips again, and again, until you parted your lips and kissed him back, making him cup your face and bring you closer as he kissed you like a man deprived of air, tongue colliding and swallowing each other’s moans. You had never felt like this, feeling his touch in every cell in your body, feeling the kiss as if he was caressing every part of you. 

When he drew back, you rested your head against his, and you wanted more, you wanted to kiss him all night, but he dozed off and you couldn’t help but laugh. You let him rest his head on your lap, caressing his soft hair and running your fingers through them, smiling because he looked like a cat. After you almost fell asleep yourself, you decided to leave him here- he needed to face the consequences of his actions.

But the next day, when he sat in front of you teaching you about one of your ancestor’s history, you weren’t listening- just watching him with a smirk. He seemed to be annoyed at that when he shut the book and glared at you.

“What’s so funny?”

“You look like you had one too many drinks last night,” you told him. “Don’t tell me you don’t remember.”

He didn’t.

“I remember. I never forget when I drink,” he said haughtily.

“Is that so?” You made an impressed face. “Do you, perhaps, remember meeting me last night?” He frowned in confusion and you scoffed. “Maybe you shouldn’t think too highly of yourself, Yeosang.”

“You came last night? There?” He groaned loudly, hiding his face. “I hope I didn’t do something embarrassing.”

“Nothing at all,” you shook your head. “Just did this weird dance and twirled around-”

“Now that’s a lie,” he declared and you laughed.

“If you do recall the events of last night, come find me,” you winked at him, opening the book back and leaving him confused.

—-------------------

A few days had passed when the King called you in his study to have a private conversation with you. You went after having breakfast and had tea with your father, chatting about the weather and Chan’s silly pranks when he steered the topic to what he had called you for.

“I want you to participate in court matters regularly as soon as you’re ready,” he sipped on his tea- basically telling you he was going to make it public that you were his choice.

“And what does the Queen say about this?” You asked, taking the umpteenth cookie.

“What she says doesn’t matter,” he told you.

“I think it does, a little,” you began. “She’s been sending some people after me- I don’t know if she wants to simply hurt me or kill me, but she’s out for me. I thought I should tell you.”

Your father stopped mid-air, bringing his cup back to the table. “Are you sure?”

“I am,” you nodded. “I have an ally in the court, you see. He personally caught and interrogated the guard she used. She made it a bit too obvious- it was one of her personal guards. Caught in the act.”

You weren’t lying- Mingyu had done exactly that. You had been practising archery when he sent an arrow for you- and if he had hit, all suspicion would have gone to Yeosang. However, Mingyu had been following him and knocked the guard out, and by luck, you had narrowly escaped from the arrow. 

“I don’t know what to do about her,” your father rubbed his eyes. “It would’ve been one thing if Chan himself was interested in the throne, but… he’s the least interested.”

“And so am I, but father… you know there’s another reason you didn’t groom Chan like you groomed me. You’re afraid of what the Queen would do to you. After all… She was royalty too, before you became your wife. She owns a lot of land, and a good majority would support her if she decided to do something about you.”

“I don’t know why I ever agreed to marry her,” he sighed. 

“Doesn’t matter, but… you don’t need to do anything about what the Queen did to me. She’s been after me all my life- I’ll deal with her myself. It would be wiser if you don’t interfere. She’ll never admit she was behind it anyway.”

“I should warn her though,” he said. “You’re my daughter. I don’t want anyone hurting you. Even if she gets Chan to inherit the throne, she’ll never let you stay here.”

“There’s always going to be someone after us, father,” you pointed out. “We’ll never feel safe. That’s the price we pay.”

The two of you concluded the discussion on the terms that you’ll both confront the Queen and ask her to back off, and that both you and Chan would sit in the court matters regularly, but you would eventually inherit the throne unless Chan is interested, in which case the King or the court themselves would cast their votes. However, that time would hopefully be after a good while. You wished your father lived long and healthy so you wouldn’t have to inherit the throne so young.

After leaving, you went to the library for your lesson with Yeosang, who had been acting a bit suspiciously himself the past few days. You didn’t know if it was because he recalled what happened that night, if he even believed, or if he regretted that, but you weren’t going to bring it up. Professor Seo was arriving in three days, and each passing day was making you anxious because with each passing day, you only became sure that you wanted no one else but Yeosang by your side. For the rest of your life. If he would return the feelings- you hoped he did, because you weren’t sure you could ever love someone like you had begun to love him.

Love- you never thought you’d get to experience that. Even as friends, there was love between you two, the kind that friends had in the books you read, where they looked out for each other and knew each other’s secrets, their likes and dislikes, and such. But the line between friends and more… it was always a little blurred between you two.

You found Yeosang waiting for you not at the usual spot but at the window. He looked at you with a mischievous smile and you raised a brow. He took a deep breath. “Do you want to go to the mountains? A little trip?”

You smiled slowly. “What took you so long! I’m ready.”

It was a thing between you two- sneaking out disguised as random civilians. You borrowed one of Siyeon’s pretty dresses (she always had prettier dresses than you while you wore ugly uniforms for the court) and hid most of yourself in a cloak, walking to the foothills of the mountain which was fairly near, just a long walk that passed by in a blink because Yeosang was suddenly feeling nostalgic and told you about the time he was a kid and climbed all the way to the top of the mountain as a challenge. When you finally started to climb, Yeosang held your hand, surprising you but you let him guide you all the way up until you asked for a break.

“This is a nice spot,” Yeosang stood near the edge of the rock and peeked down. “This shall do.”

“I’m glad,” you huffed as you sat down, Yeosang joining you. “I thought my legs were going to break.”

“I think we should ditch history and start working on your stamina,” Yeosang narrowed his eyes. “Imagine someone comes after you and you give up because you got tired after running a little distance.”

“I’m sorry but no one’s going to chase me up the mountain, I can run just fine,” you said and he laughed. You drank water from your bottle and he sighed, looking up at the cloudy sky.

“I told father about the Queen, by the way,” you said after a moment. “I thought you should know so you don’t worry your ass off.”

“What makes you think I worried at all? It’s a regret the arrow didn’t strike-”

“Hey!” You smacked his arm, pouting at him. “You’re so strange, Yeosang. You say one thing and mean another.”

“Oh? And what do I mean when I say I wished the arrow had hit you?” He turned towards you, appearing very interested. 

“Well, how about ‘oh, I wish I was there and could have taken the arrow for you’. Okay, I admit that was too much,” you sulked when he laughed out loud at that, very sarcastically. “You hate me, that’s fine.”

Yeosang scoffed. “You know what I would have done if I was there?” When you didn’t answer, he put a hand on yours, caressing it. “I would have shot an arrow back, not caring who it was. If it had been the Queen, the Prince or even the King… I would have shot them.”

You were about to smack him again for teasing you but when you saw how serious he was and his gaze- the same gaze you dreaded but wished to see again and again forever- it made you pause. “You’re serious?”

“I am,” he admitted. “And it scares me because I’m the type who weighs all the pros and cons before striking, as you already know.”

You scanned him for a few moments. “Do you finally remember what happened that night?”

Yeosang answered by sliding closer and capturing your lips in an eager kiss, smiling into it when you immediately responded with a surprised moan, clenching his shirt in your hands as he continued to slide closer and kissing you without a break until you two were out of breath. You locked eyes with him, laughing in disbelief. “You’re gonna tell me now that you’re sober?”

“Am I?” He made a confused face and you pushed him back, laughing again but he caught your hands in his. 

“Well, Princess y/n,” he began, smiling cheekily, making you bite your lips because gosh, he was criminally handsome. A walking sculpture- Siyeon had made the right observation. “I may have developed a… liking towards you.”

“That’s it?” You frowned, pushing him away properly this time, making him laugh until he couldn’t breathe. “Come back when you’re sure.”

“Okay, okay, hear me out,” he took both your hands in his. “I don’t want to go back, y/n. If you’ll have me… I want to be yours. I love you more than I thought I did. I don’t know how it happened, but it did. I fell for you before even realising- wait, you’re not taking this seriously!”

You let out the laugh you had been stifling. “I’m just in disbelief, because I love you and I thought you hated me and made a mistake that night or something. Okay, not hated me, but didn’t like me like that or something. But you’re telling me that…”

“That I love you,” he nodded, grinning. “And I don’t know what to do.”

“Well, you don’t need to do anything, just… stay and we’ll figure out, huh? But… stay at your own risk because I will not let you go if you stay-”

He shut you up by kissing you again, this time with a force that had you arching back until you were flat against the grass. You broke apart, “You have a habit of not letting me complete my sentences.”

“You love it, don’t you?” He caressed your face and you felt knots in your stomach. “What do you want me to do, then?”

“Kiss me until I can’t speak anymore?” You suggested and he started by peppering kisses all over your face, making you giggle. Then he kissed you ever so slowly, as if he had all the time in the world, making you melt into a puddle. He earned quite a few moans with the way he kissed alone, and when he started at your neck, it was the end of you- especially when he started nibbling at your sweet spot, sucking and licking and leaving a mark that he looked at proudly.

“Tell me you’re mine,” he whispered, caressing your cheek.

“I’m yours,” you nodded. “Tell me you won’t go.”

“I’ll stay,” he promised, sealing it with another kiss. 

“Even if I have to inherit the throne?” You asked. 

“I’ll be honoured to be by your side then,” he kissed your forehead. “If… if you would have me.”

“Well, you’re one hell of a strategist, and an archer- you shot that arrow at my heart-”

“Come on, you can do better than that,” he shook with laughter at your cheesy line and you pouted.

“No, I can’t,” you said. “But yeah. I’d be honoured to have a mind like you beside me. And a body and a face like yours to look at for the rest of my life, because honestly, you’re hot-”

“Ah, here we go,” he shut his eyes, basking in the compliments. “Carry on.”

You scoffed. “That’s all, Yeosang dear.”

He glared at you, lying beside you. “Can I take back everything I just said?”

“Yeosang!” You turned to slap his arm, getting half on top of him and grinning at your position, letting his hands on your waist guide you up on him. You spent a good few moments admiring him before you kissed him.

“To always and forever,” you said when you broke apart.

“To always and forever,” he nodded, about to bring you in again when you interrupted.

“What are we going to do about Professor Seo? Maybe I should ask him to retire,” you pondered.

“Can you not talk about other people when you’re on top of me?” Yeosang commented and you poked your tongue in your cheek, realising exactly the position you were in- practically straddling him.

“As you wish,” you let him kiss you senseless after that.

It was sweet, and it made your heart feel alive for the first time. You wished in that moment to have a forever and always with him. You would have no one else.

And weirdly, you were glad Mingyu had called you in the forest that day. How fate had worked for you two- meeting as strangers and meeting officially in the palace, finding an unexpected friendship and love along the way. Unexpected but welcomed.

For the first time, you felt safe too, when you lay in his arms. Even though you had told your father earlier that you didn’t have the luxury of feeling safe, you decided to one day tell him that you had found your home- the person that made you feel utterly safe.

[meredith-harper81]

I’ve Always Loved You💔

She Moved On

Chapter 1:

Paring : Chris Evans x Lana Parker

Word Count: 2k

Chris Pov

I had already gotten messages from my family and friends wishing me all the best and saying they couldn't wait to see me super soon.

I look up from my phone, and the black SUV arrives. I open the door and get in.

"Ready to go, Chris?" Megan asks me as she hands me a Bud Light seltzer.

"Ready as I will ever be," I smile, opening the can and taking a sip to cool my nerves. I am so nervous and excited about tonight. It would be my last premiere for awhile, and nobody knows just yet.

"Okay, so nobody knows the news except for me and your agency, so when the media ask about your next project, just try to project them away from asking more questions, or I will try my best to drift the question away," Megan tells me, and all I do is nod.

The driver pulls out of the driveway, and we are on our way to the Dolby Theater.

After a twenty-minute drive, we pull in, and I can hear people shouting. I get out of the SUV and wave to some people, and Megan directs me along to the carpet to take some photos and answer some questions about the movie.

I'm waiting in line and can't help but notice Ryan and Ana both have their families with them tonight. Ana brought her boyfriend Paul, and Ryan is here with his kids and wife, and I feel a little jealous of them and their loved ones tonight.

Normally I would bring my brother or family to events like these, but everyone is busy living their lives.

...

I take some pictures, greet some fans, and answer some questions about the movie and some even about what I'm wearing tonight, and then we get pulled into a group photo with the rest of the cast. I look around me, and everybody just looks so happy and content, but the dagger in my heart is bleeding out bit by bit every day. I just wish she was here to support me like she always did.

After we got introduced on stage, I am sitting by the bar, and for some reason, I can't get her out of my head tonight...

'Lana Parker'

The only love of my life.

We were once engaged in 2019 and even supposed to get married, but I ended things with her on a bad note, half of which I don't even remember.

I just remember walking out. It was one of my biggest mistakes, and I still regret it to this day.

It had to do with my career. We were supposed to get married, and I was going to quit acting, but—I can't remember—I lashed out at her and woke up the next morning and left her.

I sold my house and moved to LA, and most of my belongings were placed in a storage unit with the help of Ma and Tara. I stayed down here during the lockdown and just worked for three years.

My family was really mad and didn't talk to me for a few months, but eventually we made up when Shanna got married. Now that Scott is engaged... I'm thinking about going back to Boston and trying again with her unless she's moved on or found someone else.

I was deep in my thoughts when Ana came up with her boyfriend, Paul.

"Chris I want you to meet Paul," Ana says.

I get out of my seat and pull my hand forward to greet him.

"Oh yeah, man, how are you? I say I'm pulling him into a hug.

"Good, good. Huge fan," he says and pulls back.

"Thanks. Nice. So let's get a picture. I say, breaking the awkward tension. He nods, and Ana takes the photo.

"And I guess Paul is on to his next victim," Ana jokes as she orders an old-fashioned.

I smile and finish my beer.

"So rumors say Chris Evans is retiring soon? Is that right? She asks me, taking some of the beer nuts I have in front of me.

My head is hung low, and all I do is nod.

"That's great, Chris. So are you planning on settling down with Lana soon?"

I look up at her, and she immediately has a look of regret on her face.

"I'm so sorry I didn't mean to; it just slipped out since you guys were last together," she says.

"It's okay. Umm, I'm not sure. I need to get to Boston first," I say, looking at the time, which reads 6:45 p.m. I get up and tell Ana to have a good night.

I decided not to go to the after-party and just head back home to Dodger Stadium and finish packing.

Once the car service arrived at the gate, I gave him some cash and walked inside, where I was greeted by Dodger. I know he is probably hungry, and with all the moving boxes and things, I can't find anything.

"Yeah, Bubba, hold on," I say, finding the bag behind some random moving box near the living room. I scoop a few cups and place them in his dog bowl.

Meanwhile, I head to the bedroom, change out of this suit, and take a much-needed shower to wash all the stress of tonight off.

After my shower, I warm up some leftovers from last night and sit down to eat when a whiny Dodger comes by with his puppy eyes.

Which either means he did something bad or wants me to grab his favorite dog toy, which he probably tossed somewhere.

I get up and start looking under the sofa, and I'm about to give up when I find the darn lizard's tail hidden under the curtain.

I walk over and lift the curtain, pick up the stuffed animal, throw it across the room, and step on something cold.

I pick it up, and it's a gold infinity necklace. I open the clasp, put it around my neck alongside my Christopher necklace, and go back to eating dinner.

I remember Lana losing this necklace when I brought her here for a week, and she loved this necklace in an Instagram ad. I bought it for her and surprised her, and the look on her face when she lost it was devastating.

I wonder if she's doing well or has moved on. I haven't had the time to keep a tab on her, but I miss her so much.

I pull out my wallet and put my hand over the picture I have of us laughing, taken at Ma's house one Christmas. She is sitting on my lap, laughing at something I said.

I take out the engagement ring I remember taking off of her and throwing it.

I regret that day so much. I was so drunk, I don't even remember it. Ma was the one who found the ring and gave it to me at Shanna's wedding, and since then I've kept it in my wallet.

.....

I was leaving LA for good and leaving my house to my pal Jimmy to look after and move into.

After dinner, I take all my boxes with my personal belongings and place them in my room. I will deal with them later in life if ever needed. I call Ma, letting her know I will be home by early lunch, and she answers very coldly and tells me it's okay.

And after tonight, I'm ready to settle down and start a family of my own.

I mean, I'm forty-one, for crying out loud. These swimmers are even more likely to drown if I don't plant them somewhere.

I started up at the ceiling, daydreaming about how my life would have been if I didn't leave Boston; maybe I would've had a family of my own... I turn off the lamp and Dodger layers next to me, and I give him some cuddles and try to get some good shut-eye.

...

I've just landed in Boston, and before I left LA, I met up with Megan. She told me to just give her a call, and she can have statements sent and ready for the press. She gave me a hug, wished me all the best, and hoped I got the family I'd longed for.

I grab Dodger's leash and have him sit in the car as I load my things in the back. I run over to the other side, and the Uber takes off for Ma's home.

When the driver drops me off, Dodger runs off to the front door while I am slowly wheeling in my two suitcases.

I walk over to the front door and ring the bell and knock, but nothing happens.

I look under the mat and see the spare key. I use it and let Dodger in, and he starts to sniff around and bark, plants himself on the sofa, and goes to sleep. I walk further into the house.

"Ma?" I walk over and see a note on the table with a key.

The note said my room for a while is in the basement, and this is the key for the basement, and lunch is in the oven, and Ma is out with a friend.

Since when does Ma go out on a Friday afternoon? I shrug it off, and I wheel my things down to the basement.

I head downstairs, walk into one of the guest bedrooms, and decide to take a shower. After my shower, I head back upstairs and notice Ma is still not home. I heat up some food, eat it, and decide to take Dodger on a walk to his favorite park, which we used to go to all the time.

I pull on some running shoes and take his leash, and we take off. I text Tara, letting her know I need to find a new place, and we decide to meet up for dinner at Ma's tonight.

I've known Tara since I was in middle school; she has been one of my all-time best friends, but she and Lana never got along. I sort of remember Tara always bringing something up about Lana being selfish or using me for her money.

Recently, Tara got a divorce, and I wasn't there. I feel like a shy friend, so I also need to make up for that. Ma is inviting all my siblings for dinner tonight, and I called Tara and invited her as well.

...

I arrive at the park, and as I let Dodger off his leash, I notice it isn't busy for a Friday afternoon. Which I find a little strange.

I walk over to one of the beaches and take a seat, watching Dodger jump around, waggling his tail. I had a huge smile on my face. I really missed this place, and by the looks of it, so did Dodger.

After I let Dodger run around in the dog park, I called him over, and just as I put on his leash, he took off, catching me off guard. He starts to run in the other direction, running at full speed.

"Dodger! Bubba Stop! I yell after him, trying to catch up, but he is not stopping; in fact, he is running faster now.

What has gotten into him?

Dodger keeps running off across the dog park to the larger area of what looks like a children's park.

As I catch my breath, I hear a little baby crying, and Dodger is running faster.

I catch up to Dodger, and when I look up, I see him lying on top of a little girl as she giggles and Dodger licks her face.

The little girl is cooing to Dodger in some sort of baby nonsense...

I find it weird that Dodger only plants himself on humans he knows, and he is fully playing around with this baby he's never met.

"Dodger, you don't do that," I say, and I grab his leash, pulling him a little back off of her. I get a good look at this girl; she is wearing overalls, has pigtails, and has bright blue eyes.

I look at her jeans, and they are a little ripped, and she has a cut. I'm guessing she tripped on the tree root. I look around us, but I don't see anyone near us. I wonder where she came from and where her parents are.

"Swilly Doggy," I hear the little girl say as she is underneath Dodger and still giggling. I smile and move Dodger a little off of her.

"Hi, my name is Chris, and this is Dodger," I say, smiling and getting on her level.

"My nawe is Awia," she babbles as she pets Dodger as he starts to lick her tiny finger.

"Well, nice to meet you, Awia. Where is your mama? I say it, and then I hear it.

"Mawa," she says as her head turns, looking around.

"ARIA! ARIA, HONEY, WHERE ARE YOU? I hear a voice coming closer.

Just as I was turning, Dodger got up and ran across the grass, and I pulled him by his leash this time.

"Oh, my God, Aria. Here you are." I hear a voice coming closer. The voice... Lana's voice.

It's like the wind is sucking the wind out of me. It can't be, and then I see her standing far across the sidewalk. Her hair is in a ponytail, and she's wearing jeans with a black long-sleeved shirt. She's more beautiful than I can remember. Dodger gets up and runs toward Lana, almost taking her down.

Lana makes eye contact with me and wastes no time running up to the little girl and grabbing her, pulling her to her chest as she lets out a deep breath and kisses her head.

"Aria doesn't scare me like that. You were supposed to stay with Steven," she says.

"Ouchie, mawa," Aria says, pointing to her leg.

"Mawa, look dodgy doggy, Aria says as she gets distracted from what she was saying. Lana holds her close, kissing her chubby cheeks.

Just as I was about to say something, another man walked up to them.

I look over, and I don't see Lana wearing a ring or even this man.

"Oh my god, Aria," he says as he reaches and rubs her back, and Aria clings to her mother.

"Thank you; have a good day, Mr.," she says, leaving me and Dodger both baffled.

'Mister?' Did she really call me Mister?

"LANA!" I yell after her and I see her walk faster.

I see Lana walking away as Aria is babbling some more baby talk and waving to us, and Dodger is barking and nudging my leg to follow.

I am just frozen. Lana moved on and now has a baby. Maybe she's even married. I couldn't even get a word in, and she just walked away like nothing had happened. She didn't even acknowledge me or Dodger, and she just walked away. Did she not recognize me? I'm utterly shocked, as Dodger is whining.

...

I walk home with so many questions in my mind. I open the front door and take my shoes off, and Dodger runs into the kitchen, and I can smell Ma making something. I follow Dodger, and I walk in and see Ma in the kitchen cleaning up.

"Hey Ma," I say, walking over and hugging her.

"Welcome back home; how are you? She asks

"I just saw Lana in the park with her daughter," I say, and Ma's face changes all of a sudden.

Yeah, she had a baby two years ago after you left," Ma says while she rubs my back.

"I'm so sorry, Christopher," Ma says as she rubs my back.

"Are you ever going to tell me what happened between the two of you? Ma says, and I just look at her, and she frowns.

"You should get ready for dinner; everyone is coming soon. I nod and walk downstairs to get ready for tonight.

[anonymousonlyanonymoud]

The Lost de Rolo Chp. 3

Trinket

Previous Chapter.

Next Chapter.

Obligatory Trinket POV. Pre-stream events are referenced here.

TW: Blood, body modification, mentioned death

Trinket was not in his armor for once.

The bear had grown accustomed to the weight of it, so it felt a bit weird as he ambled around without it.

His Vex was currently in the food room with Keyleth and Scanlan as they went through the sticks and bottles they'd traded shiny things for. Grog was with them, not paying attention as he focused on his sharp thing, scrapping a rock across the edge to make it more sharp.

It was a new sharp thing, one that was dark with a red shiny thing on the not-sharp end and didn't exactly smell right. The bear preferred Grog's other sharp thing to this one.

Trinket eyed the dark sharp before huffing as he flopped onto the stone floor at His Vex's feet, tapping his claws against it in boredom.

His Vex smiled and offered a quick head scritch before giving her attention back to Keyleth while Scanla said something that had His Vex glaring.

Trinket didn't care about what they were talking about. He just wanted to go with them this time.

He'd been left behind after those... Not good things had attacked.

Trinket didn't know what they were, but they were bad. They had hurt Vax, then sent other not-good things to hurt his friends! Trinket hadn't been able to protect his friends either time and then His Vex told him to stay behind.

He hoped that despite not protecting them last time, he could follow them on their next adventure.

Like the last time, it had something to do with Percy's family. A missing piece of it.

Trinket wanted to help Percy find this missing piece, he knew what it was like to miss family and didn't want Percy to feel that again.

But his armor was gone, taken off of him.

It seemed like he would be left behind again.

Keyleth and Vax could want to braid his fur and make him look pretty again, (He didn't like it, but it had made them happy. Trinket would sit through it again if it made Vax and Keyleth happy.) But, it looked like he wouldn't be coming with them. Again.

A sad huff left the bear and he shoved his head into Vex's lap.

He didn't want to be left behind.

The front door opened and shut as two sets of footsteps came down the hall and into the room.

Trinket recognized the sweet, warm smell that came with Pike and the smokey-powdery scent that came from Percy. 

Percy used to smell like something was constantly burning, but he didn't anymore. Trinket was glad that he didn't smell like burning. That smell was something, bad. But it was gone, and that made His Vex happy.

Percy made His Vex happy.

Just like how Keyleth made Vax happy. Or, used to.

Keyleth still made Vax happy, just not like she used to. He seemed sad when he looked at Keyleth now.

A few days after they came back, Scanlan said Vax and Keyleth were having a long talk. Pike had smacked Scanlan across the back of his head and said it wasn't that kind of talk. Trinket didn't understand what they meant. Their language, though being the same as His Vex's, was weird,

"Where's Vax?" His Vex asked, making the bear lift his head to see that Vax hadn't returned.

Pike scratched his ears as she walked past to sit beside Grog who set his big sharp aside,

"He was still talking to Father Tristan when we left,"

"Whatever for?" 

Pike shrugged at His Vex as Percy fell into the empty seat next to Trinket.

Percy was drawn tight up on the chair with fingers tugging at his short hair. Trinket knew from experience that it was painful and shuffled over to plop his head in Percy's lap.

The human didn't even question it and dropped one of his hands to Trinket's head. He didn't give any scritches though, which made Trinket huff,

"But did it go good at the temple?" Grog asked, which made everyone turn to Percy who sighed while removing the circles on his face,

"It did work, Grog," Trinket saw a slight smile on Percy's face, "I saw her. My sister's alive,"

"Well dat's great!" Grog exclaimed while clapping, "When we leavin'?"

"And, uh, where are we going? Exactly?" Keyleth asked, 

"Westruun,"

"That's great! That's really close, Percy!" Keyleth sounded happy to Trinket. 

His head was still under the table so he couldn't see her,

"I know. It's... closer than I ever thought she would be..."

"However," Pike's voice cut across Percy's quiet talking, "We should talk about Vax's reaction,"

There was a very long pause that made Trinket wonder if something had happened. He shuffled until his head was no longer on Percy's lap and plunked it onto the table.

Nothing had happened, but everyone was looking at Pike who appeared worried, 

"What do you mean Vax's reaction?" His Vex questioned while gently rubbing his ears,

"I don't know. He just... Didn't seem happy? About where Ciara was,"

Percy spoke up after Pike, the hand with the stone rubbing the ear His Vex wasn't touching,

"Vax recognized the building she walked into quickly. Almost immediately, in fact," Trinket's ears twitched at the soft footsteps that came into the kitchen, "I'm certain he knows where Ciara is,"

"You would be right about that, Freddie," Everyone turned to see Vax leaning against the wall.

Trinket didn't like the look on Vax's face. It didn't look okay, it looked sad and angry. 

Trinket didn't like when Vax, or any of his friends, were sad or angry. That meant something was wrong,

"Where was she, Vax?" His Vex asked.

Vax's eyes darted around the room before looking at the floor. Trinket looked too, but there wasn't anything at Vax's feet,

"Entering the Clasp's tavern,"

A low growl escaped Trinket as the rest of the room went silent. 

He remembered that word.

Clasp.

Trinket didn't know what a clasp was, but he knew it was full of people who had hurt Vax and Pike a while ago, forcing them to fight some kind of monster after kidnapping them. They had killed someone important to the clasp thing, and surprisingly, it had been Scanlan who had gotten them out of that situation.

Trinket still doesn't fully believe that Shorty was able to do that by himself. He most likely had help that Trinket didn't see.

But that clasp thing was back and Trinket didn't want any more of his friends being put in danger because of that clasp and Grog was agreeing with him,

"T'ose asses!" He growled while reaching for the dark sharp, "We got t'deal wit' them again?"

Pike sighed while leaning against the big man, "Looks like it Buddies," She glanced at Vax who was rubbing the back of his neck, "Last time, you mentioned that you were a member,"

"Yeah, I did. And that didn't go so well. But, we were dealing with the Emon chapter. I was, for lack of a better term, initiated into the Westruun chapter,"

"And, even though that sounds great, amazing, and something that could totally help us, I have the feeling you're about to tell us something not good," Scanlan piped up as he crossed his arms on the table as Vax sighed.

Vax tugged at his hair before shaking his head and saying,

"The only reason I joined was because I discovered that someone had contracted the Clasp..." Vax stopped talking before looking at Vex.

Trinket recognized that look, it meant His Vex wouldn't like what came next,

"Someone had made a contract to have a member of the Clasp, bring him my sister. l managed to make a deal with one of the Spirelings-"

"What kind of deal?" His Vex's voice was tense as she stood up to look Vax in the eye, "What kind of deal did you make with the Spireling?" 

Trinket could tell this topic made His Vex nervous, and with the way Percy's fingers briefly tugged on his ear, Trinket knew he was uneasy too.

And when Vax didn't answer right away, Trinket grew nervous too.

Vex may be Trinket's person, but he'd known Vax since he'd been a cub! Trinket didn't want Vax to be taken away by some kind of deal! From what the others have said about their time away, that had almost happened to Percy!

Trinket wasn't going to let some, deal, thing, take Vax away!

"In a way, I had to complete the contract. They wanted me to bring them a body, and I brought them a body. They brought out a stick made out of tongues, and used it to turn the person I brought, into you," Vax sighed and kept looking toward the ground.

Trinket still didn't know why the floor was fascinating to Vax,

"And, they branded me afterward. The Spirelings had me swear loyalty to the Clasp. So, if they ever called upon me, I would have to answer,"

Vex's hands were clenched around the edge of the table and her fingers were turning white. Trinket worried he would hear something snap if she didn't let go so he lathered a slobbery lick to her fingers.

It did the trick as her hand found its way to Trinket's head and settled against his fur. But, the bear could feel the tension of his human from the stiff way she stroked his ears,

 "Have they ever called on you?" Trinket didn't like how tense His Vex's voice was.

Vax shook his head, "No. Never,"

"But that doesn't mean they won't-" Trinket felt Percy's hand grab Vex's atop his head and her voice cut off with a sharp, angry breath before she slowly sat back down.

Trinket shifted his head to look at His Vex.

She was still angrily looking at Vax while her mouth had pressed into a thin line. The bear knew Vax was in for a long and loud yelling at some later point.

Keyleth carefully twisted her stick between her fingers while nervously looking between the twins,

"Could the, membership, help? I mean, I know it didn't help last time, but, you said that you were a part of the Westruun Chapter, and, we are going to Westrunn, so, could that be in our favor?"

Vax shook his head, "I don't think it does, Kiki. I'm not in any position to ask for any favors,"

"Also, and this is just a thought, the person who paid to have Vex kidnapped might want to try again if he sees her in Westruun," Trinket growled lowly as Scanlan talked.

If that bastard so much as looked at His Vex, Trinket would bite his head off! He would rip him apart and crush his bones into splinters!

"Scanlan, for once, has a point," Percy said as Scanlan let out some kind of protest about always being on point, 

"Then we kill 'im!" Grog exclaimed, still holding onto the dark sharp that made Trinket uneasy,

"I was never told who he was, Grog," Vax said, 

"Then how did you know about this contract to kidnap me?" Vex's voice was still tight with anger and not even Trinket nuzzling her side was able to calm her,

"I politely asked the man why he was following you,"

"An' he jus' told you what he was doin'?" Grog asked, finally putting the bad sharp thing back down, unknowingly allowing Trinket to marginally relax against Vex.

The bad sharp was still there, but out of Grog's hands,

"The main problem will be what happens if they try to open the contract again," Added Pike which made Percy ask,

"If that is a possibility, then maybe-"

"Percival Fredrickstein von Musel Klossowski de Rolo III, if the next words out of your mouth are that I should stay behind I swear!"

Trinket watched the unfolding argument with disinterest. He would like it if His Vex stayed behind with him. It wouldn't be as lonely as last time.

But, he knew that Percy meant a lot to His Vex and she would want to help him find the missing piece. Which meant that if she were forced to stay with Trinket, she would be unhappy. Trinket didn't want His Vex to be unhappy, but he also wanted His Vex to be safe.

The shouting continued around Trinket, but he only pressed further into Vex until she shot up from her seat and proclaimed,

"I am not staying behind! And the next person who suggests that will find themselves hogtied in the dungeon! Now get your shit ready!" 

In the silence that followed, Vex grabbed the sticks and two bottles off the table and stomped out of the room.

Vax sighed while pushing off the wall, "Well, you heard her,"

Vox Machina began packing their things so they would be ready to leave early the next morning, but Trinket stayed in his place at the table.

No one said anything about Trinket going with them. It looked like he would be left behind again.

He huffed in despair and lay on the ground, sad that he wouldn't be able to help until His Vex called out from further in the Keep,

"Trinket, come here. Your new armor's arrived! We have to make sure it fits before we leave!"

The bear shot up from his place on the floor and began running to where he had heard His Vex, almost trampling Scanlan in the process, but he was too excited!

He was going with them!

They flew over Westruun, their Matron watching through their eyes as they followed their Girl.

They had been watching her since she was a child in Whitestone, climbing trees in the gardens to hide from the adults, running and playing with the other children when she wished to join them in their games.

They'd always watched over her, until those things came.

Those things hid her from their Matron's sight for three years.

They could not find a way to see her, even their Matron could not find her inside that castle. But they watched as Whitestone became a dark place from the roof of their Matron's temple. 

The ravens watched as the people fell into despair as the sun hid from the sky while dark magic leaked from the castle.

Years passed, they felt the darkness spread and their Matron's sight on Whitestone weakened. The dark magic in the land was suffocating, but the ravens stayed. No matter how many of them fell to the darkness, they stayed.

What had started as seven, dwindled down to two when they once again caught sight of their charge.

She was different.

Her hair was no longer dark but a shock of startling white that looked paler than the Matron's mask. Dark blood stubbornly clung to the changed hair despite the pouring rain, and her right arm hung uselessly at her side. 

That was another change, the arm.

What had once been flesh and blood was now dark and metallic. Gears replaced joints and rods were speared into whatever remained of her shoulder.

Their Girl was in pain and scared.

She's been in pain since they followed her into the woods and out of Whitestone.

They did what they could for her. 

They brought small animals they hunted, knocked fruits and nuts from trees, and stole what they could from small parties of humans they came across. She took what they brought her without question.

She began to teach herself how to steal, and they would distract her targets when they could. But she soon became proficient enough to not have to rely on their help. Their Girl began stealing coins from pouches and food from stalls and tables.

They watched her teach herself how to wield weapons with her left hand. 

They watched her learn the new movements of the metal arm.

They listened when she began calling them Adrik and Nyx.

They watched her discover the city of Westruun, and the temple dedicated to their Matron.

They watched her enter and peered through the windows as she hesitantly began to pray after placing nine coins on the altar.

They watched their Girl find solace with their Matron who rejoiced that one of her own was reaching out.

They watched over her, but they could do nothing when she was grasped by the Spireling.

They could only watch as what little spirit she regained was crushed by the Clasp.

They could hear their Matron weep when their girl fell back into a darkness that clouded her mind.

She stopped seeking solace with the Matron and began ignoring the ravens who had watched over her for years. 

They asked their Matron to intervene, but she would always say it was not time, her voice full of sorrow. 

But today had been different.

Their Matron told them the Other was coming. 

They didn't know much about the Other. Only that his gold thread was entangled with their Girl's and that their Matron's eyes had been on him since he'd encountered those things that had taken their Girl's light.

The ravens knew he was coming, and that one of them would have to lead him to their Girl.

But he wasn't here yet, and until he was there, they would both stay with their Girl.

[hoodharlow]

If You See Me Out in Public, You Don't Know Me

AN: after many months here's the next part. Ty for all you who waited patiently for this update. Tbh it's not my besy work but I pinky swear the next chapter will be better

Requested? @nattinatalia sent me some concepts that help me with this chapter

Warnings: slut shaming (from Joe) and smut bc I love mess lol

Word Count: 2.7k words

Jan. 2023

It wasn't the first time Astrid was going to some hotel room to meet up with an athlete, nor would it be her last. What did surprise was that it was Joe who dm'ed her. She still had no idea why he left that night. And unfortunately for her, Astrid saw him at places and events thanks to her best friend’s boyfriend, but Joe avoided her like the plague and when they were forced to be together he acted like she wasn’t there. She had no idea what his deal was. She thought everything would be fine between them when he started dating a fitness influencer but that shit hit the fan when she got exposed for using him to get at Jack Harlow, Amira's boyfriend, by another influencer. After that shit show, he got even moodier when Astrid was around he made it everyone’s problem.

And yet, there she was walking down the hallway to his suite. She fluffed up her hair and snapped a quick selfie in the hallway. She scanned the doors looking for his room number, 304.

Astrid wondered why he even hit her up. She saw him yesterday at a steakhouse with her brother’s and a few of his teammates. Over the summer Stevie, aka Esteban, was finally drafted for the Padres from his minor league team. A few of them were football fans and got tickets to some championship game in Kansas City. Esteban asked Astrid to come with him. She agreed. Her schedule was pretty open until March. Had she known Joe was going to be playing she shouldn't have flown out to Missouri, which she later learned was where the Chiefs resided and not in Kansas like she originally thought. 

She finally found Joe's room and knocked. He opened the door seconds later, revealing himself in only low hanging pajama sweats. 

"I have an hour before my brother wakes up and sees that I'm missing." She said, walking in. She took a seat on a couch in the living room part of the suite. 

"Your brother?" He asked, confused. 

"Yeah, you literally shook his hand when he and some of his teammates walked over to greet you and your teammates." Astrid got up and helped herself to some fruit in the food cart. She opened her small purse and pulled a small bottle of Tajin. 

Joe was quiet trying to sort out all the information she gave him. At dinner he saw one guy have his arm in the back of her chair while he engaged with his teammates. Astrid nodded along but she mostly kept to herself. He remembered she mentioned that she had a brother who played baseball but he didn't know it was him. He spent the whole dinner shooting glares at the guy everytime he heard Astrid laugh at whatever her brother said. 

"I don't even know why I agreed to this." Astrid said, getting up after Joe didn't talk. "I bet this is some photo op for your team. Oh look Astrid Romero came out of the hotel where the Beagles were staying. Did she fuck the whole team? Or which player is her latest conquest?"

Astrid hated how she got labeled as a jersey chaser. Her dms were filled with athletes from all sports begging to take her out. At first she agreed to go out with them, but it always ended the same. Someone heard from a friend of a friend that she put out and that was all they expected from her. Some were more slick and pretended to be interested in what she talked about during their dates while others flat out told her they just wanted to hook up. A handful didn't even take her out or sleep with her. Their teams would call the paps and make it seem like Astrid and whatever athlete went out so the athlete would get clout. 

At first it bothered her, but now she's used to it. She was tired of having to explain herself every time she would be seen with a man so she just let the gossip pages run their mouths. She had better things to do than argue with people on the internet about who she did or didn't sleep with. 

"It's the Bengals." Joe corrected her.

"Like I give a shit." She rolled her eyes. "It's the same shit at the end of the day. Your team gets some clout and I'm the bitch that puts out." 

"Like you don't do it for the clout either." He scoffed. 

"You figured me out." She said sarcastically. "Fuck all my hard work and the awards I won for my work. All I want people to know about me is who lasts three minutes in my pussy and ass." 

"Don't pull the victim shit on me. You did it first to me. It's only what you deserve." He spat. 

"What are you talking about?" She frowned. 

"That night we hooked up. My publicist called me about some pictures of us at the place we went out to eat?"

"What pictures?" Astrid only knew of the ones where they walked out of the club, but her face was covered. To this day people still wondered who the girl in the sparkly dress was. 

"They never made it out because I had to pay a pretty penny to make sure they didn't." 

Astrid thought back to that night. She remembered that at some point he got a call. He stepped out and took it then came back a bit annoyed. She asked him about it but he waved her off and fucked her from behind. Then they had another round and he left soon after that. 

"And yet you still continued to have sex with me?!" She yelled. "You're a fucking dick!" 

"Don't turn this around on me." He snapped.

"Don't you dare make me the asshole in this. I never once used you!" Astrid wiped a few tears. "Why didn't you fucking go? Why did you wait until after we went a few more rounds?" 

Joe knew it looked bad when she said it like that. She was right. If he was really pissed like he claimed, he would have left. But he didn't, he couldn't. He was captivated by her. He never felt a connection with someone like he did with her. There was something about her that made him dive in head first. 

"You're a real piece of work." Astrid said, slinging her bag over her shoulder. 

"Astrid, wait," he said, reaching for her hand. 

He pulled her to his chest. One glance down at her hazel green eyes and everything was out the window. They weren't sure who kissed who first nor how they ended up on the couch. 

Astrid pushed off her jacket and tossed it aside. She pulled her hair into a bun and straddled Joe. He pushed her up so that his hands were on her ass. With both hands, he kneaded her ass and then pressed her down on the growing tent of his pants. Astrid held his face as she leaned down to kiss his lips. They moaned into each other's mouths as Joe kept moving Astrid’s hips on him. He held them in place and pushed his hips up for a different sensation. After what felt like an eternity, he finally let them go and wrapped his arms around her waist as they continued their makeout session.

She pulled away and dropped to her knees, opening Joe's legs so she could fit in between them. Knowing where it was leading to, Joe lifted his hips and pulled down his pajama pants. He sighed contently and ran his hand over his erect cock. If he hadn't pulled it out, he was positive he would have come in his pajama pants with Astrid grinding on him. 

Astrid leaned forward and pushed his hand off. She swirled her tongue around his tip.

She slipped him as far as she could take him. He let out an incoherent sound until she reached the back of her throat. She did it a few more times, egging him on. She pulled away, with a trail of saliva spilling from the corner of her mouth, and kissed down his length. 

He moved to the edge of the armchair and spread his legs more. He bent down and pulled her up her neck, claiming her lips with his. Joe reached for her hair and made a makeshift ponytail with his hand. Joedidn't bother to give Astrid a response. He tightened the grip around her hair and guided his cock back in her mouth. They moaned in unison. He slowly bobbed her head up and down his length, getting used to her mouth. She took him a little deeper each time. Several minutes passed and Joe began to thrust his hips up as he held her head in place. His grunts and moans filled his suite. 

After a while, Joe loosened his grip on her head and let Astrid do her thing. Her eyes never left his as she took him back in her mouth. His stomach began to contract after a few bobs, letting her know that he was close. Slowly, she pulled him out of her mouth until only his tip rested on her tongue. Within seconds he came into her mouth. She took every single drop and continued taking him until his climax ceased.

Astrid’s phone rang. She removed Joe's semi erect cock out of her and reached to her back pocket and answered. 

"Hey," she said cheerfully. 

She nodded along to whoever was talking to her on the other end. Joe sat dumbfoundedly. His mind went completely blank. Not only did Astrid suck the soul out of him, but she sucked his thoughts.

"I gotta go." She said, breaking his trance. "Can I use your bathroom so I can clean myself?"

"First door," he said. 

Astrid nodded and got up from the ground. She went into the bathroom and a few minutes later she came out. Her face was washed and her hair was pulled into a loose bun. 

"I still don't know why you called me up, but, uh, I'll see you at the game. Good luck or whatever." She said before opening the door. 

A few of Joe's teammates were out in the hallway, hyping each other up for the game. A few pretended not to eavesdrop on their quarterback as THEE Astrid Romero, lingered by his door. 

"Wait, here," Joe said, handing her the extra key card. "Come over after the game, we haven't finished talking."

Astrid didn't respond. She simply took the keycard and put it in her purse. She turned on her heel and made her way down the hall.

*

Joe heard the key card reader ding, unlocking the door. He scrambled to change the channel. HBO was doing a marathon of Astrid’s show because there was a season premiere and he decided to watch it for the millionth time. He needed a distraction from the team's loss and what better way than to watch Astrid for a few hours straight. He got up from his bed and went to meet Astrid in the living room area. 

"You came." He said. 

"I had nothing better to do." She shrugged. 

"Do you want something to eat or drink? We can order room–" 

"Why the sudden change in attitude? I thought you hated me because I allegedly used you for clout?" 

"Yeah, about that…" he scratched the back of his neck. "I talked to my publicist and apparently they have it on record that you didn't pay or call anyone."

Astrid gasped, "You don't say." 

"I wanted to apologize for that night." He said, earning an eye roll from her. "What I did was shitty. You were the first high profile person I've been with. But I was used to people wanting parts of me in exchange for clout or something. When my team called me about the pictures. I was pissed and didn't think properly. You were right: I should have just left. But I didn't. I ended up using you and took out all my frustrations from past relationships on you. And I'm sorry for that. You didn't deserve that."

"Oh…" Astrid wasn't expecting a full apology. "Um, apology accepted, I suppose." 

"If there's any way for me to make it–"

Joe was cut off by Astrid cupping his cheek and brought their lips together. He slowly pulled away, making her whine, but he quickly made it up to her by kissing her neck.

Clothes were shedded off and thrown haphazardly as they made their way to Joe's bed. He settled between her thighs and placed her thighs on his shoulders. Joe peppered kisses all over her thighs. Astrid squirmed at the feeling of his lips. They got closer and closer to where she needed him the most. She let out an inaudible gasp of pleasure when Joe licked her. She tried closing her legs, but Joe's grip on them kept her in place. He moaned at her taste and savored her, taking his time with his tongue. He pushed one of her legs to her chest, giving him better access to her as he sucked her clit.

He inserted another while he pressed his thumb on her clit. Astrid felt something build up in her. She felt pleasantly overwhelmed with Joe's fingers and tongue. Joe felt it too. He sped up his fingers and circled his thumb on her clit roughly.

"Joe!" She moaned out.

Joe lapped up her release. He dropped her legs down and laid next to her. He knew she was going to need a moment. He traced his thumb under her bottom lip. He leaned down and captured her lips. They kissed for a while with some touches here and there.

"Do you have a condom?" Astrid asked against his lips. 

Joe nodded, "hold on." 

He went to his duffle bag and pulled out an unopened box of condoms. He grabbed about three and tossed them on the nightstand. He laid on his back and skillfully slid a condom down his shaft. Joe leaned over to kiss her. While they made out, he collected some of her arousal with his fingers and stroked himself. He lined himself up against her and slid into her. Astrid gasped and dug her nails in his biceps. He knew she was going to leave marks.

"You good?" He asked her.

"Yeah…it's been a while that's all." She reassured him. 

Joe nodded. He did a few shallow thrusts, slowly pulling out and pushing himself back in so she could get used to the stretch. She felt so good around him. After a few minutes he picked up the pace and her moans filled the bedroom. 

He tilted her head up so he could kiss her. His lips and tongue went at the pace he thrusted in and out of her. He wrapped one of her legs around him, bringing them closer as he took her. Her breath hitched at how good it felt. Joe must have noticed, and continued thrusting in that spot. The familiar feeling came over her once more. Astrid was about to come, and Joe knew it. His thrusts got more precise, hitting where she needed him.

“Come on, Astrid, let go for me.” He encouraged her. 

That pushed her over the edge, and she repeated Joe’s name over and over until her high faded. Joe continued thrusting in and out of her. His thrusts grew sloppy. After a few minutes passed, he stilled, shuddering he quietly moaned out, "shit," as he came inside her. He relaxed his body plopping on top of her. Their heavy breathing filled the room as they tried to calm themselves. Joe pulled out of her and laid on his back.  He excused himself and went to the bathroom. 

Astrid laid in bed thinking. She looked over to the bathroom and then back toward the room. She could easily make a run for it. Was it petty? 100% but she was on a sex high and not thinking straight. She quickly got dressed. Next to her boots was Joe's white pink teddy bear shirt. She put it on over long sleeve and draped her jacket over it. She placed the keycard Joe gave her and left. 

Joe was still in the bathroom, unaware of how the tables turned on him.  

Taglist: @heavyhitterheaux @nattinatalia @cherry4everrr

[bonniebird]

Forgotten Part 3 (Smut)

Daemon Targaryen x Targ!Neice!Reader

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Warnings: Uncle/Neice sexual scenes, oral, male receiving oral, virgin giving oral, humping, Targcest, "Uncle" + "Sweet girl" Used like pet names.

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Forgotten masterlist

The tourney was awful. Nothing overly eventful happened, the heat bore down on the day as if it wished to starve Westeros of water. Daemon sat behind Viserys and Otto who spoke of the upcoming travel plans and what needed to be taken care of while the king was away. You sat up at the front with Rhaenyra who was pointing out which contestants were which.

Daemon even felt sympathy for poor Alicent, pregnant and expected to travel in such heat. Even with her hand fan, she looked as if she were struggling. It seemed cruel to him, to make her travel.

“Father must we stay much longer, the heat is dreadful.” You said as you turned to your father and gave him a pitiful look. Viserys sighed and waved to one of the servants who stood to the side of the balcony that overlooked the tourney arena. They hurried to fetch larger fans for you and Rhaenyra. Daemon noted that one was not offered to Alicent

“I am afraid we must.” Viserys said as he leaned forward.

“The tourney is almost over now. Only a few more rounds left.” Otto said and waved a hand to have you turn back around.

“Few more rounds! There is over half a tourney left. Pass this down to the princesses.” Corlys said from his seat. He and Rhaenys had brought cool drinks from the keep, having them prepared and ready for the hours in the heat. A servant hurried to bring the large jug from Corlys to you and Rhaenyra, pouring you both a cupful before taking it back. The servant Viserys had gestured to hurried over to fan you. By the time the tourney ended, you were tired and bored. Which meant the fuss over the carriages after a late lunch was all the harder to deal with.

“Why must I ride with you? There will be more room if I go with (Y/N) and Daemon.” Came from Rhaenyra several times.

“Why can I not ride with you?” You whined to your father who was holding his head in his hands. Daemon smiled and watched the chaos. Either way, he would be in a roomy carriage for the long ride. Eventually, Alicent shyly resolved the issue.

“You ride with your father and I because we have two stops to make on the way. (Y/N) and Daemon are not needed to make an appearance. Perhaps if we moved some of the supplies from there into the others it would work. It would mean we would not need to stop to catch food from the third carriage or be uncomfortable if one of us wished to rest before we stop for the night.” She smiled and looked relieved when no one could find an issue with her plan. The third carriage was emptied of its supplies which were neatly tucked under the bench seats in the other carriages and everyone began to prepare to move while you and Rhaenyra said a dramatic goodbye as if you wouldn’t see each other for years, rather than several hours.

“Is it just us?” You asked as you took a seat opposite Daemon who had already made himself comfortable.

“I suppose if you insisted Otto would join us. Though it would make us enemies for the rest of my life.” He joked. You smiled and nodded as the door to the carriage was slammed shut and the travelling party began to move.

“How long will it be until we reach our next stop?” You asked curiously.

“Until the sun begins to set. Then a little ways after that. We are to stay with an old friend of Viserys’.” Daemon spoke as if he wasn’t fond of your father’s friend though Daemon seemed to be fond of very few people so it didn’t say much about the friend in question.

An awkward silence fell between the two of you as you watched him curiously. You wished to ask him questions about the night before. He seemed to know and stared down at his hand in his lap.

“Alicent is upset with you.” You said suddenly with a desperate attempt to break the silence. “She hates me. So she is always upset with me.” He muttered as he shifted in his seat and leaned into the corner, legs spread and fingers drumming on the wall of the carriage. “Why is she upset?”

“Because she thinks you convinced Father to let me fly my dragon when we return from the tour. Father said he did not like the rule, to begin with, but only agreed to appease her. She is worried I shall fall or that you shall push me.” You explained. Daemon nodded slowly and the silence returned. Looking at him you couldn’t help but think back to what you had seen the night before. The warm feeling returned and you tried not to squirm about in case Daemon noticed. His eyes closed as he leaned his head back and a fluttering in your chest began to build.

“Did it feel… good?” You asked. He didn’t open his eyes but he hummed in acknowledgment. “To fuck her mouth?”

“If it did not feel good then I would not have done it. Did it feel good to watch?” He asked without moving. You went quiet and he opened his eyes smiling to himself. He knew very well that you had enjoyed it. He had seen how you enjoyed watching at the pillow house. When you said nothing Daemon closed his eyes again hoping to doze in the warmth of the afternoon. “Your sister certainly enjoyed watching… and touching too.” He muttered. He wasn’t sure if you had heard and he didn’t care. It wasn’t as if you would say anything. A few moments passed and then he jolted slightly when he felt your hand pulling at the string of his trousers and found you on your knees looking up at him.

“She is not the only one who enjoys it.” You said firmly and looked up at him through your eyelashes. He chuckled as he leaned down, holding your face in his hands and stroking his pointer finger over your lips. They parted for him and you took his finger into your mouth, suckling at it sweetly. He could tell by the way your chest rose and fell with heavy breath and the way you squirmed as if your core needed friction that you were riled up enough that you would not calm unless he intervened. Reaching down he lifted your skirts so that he could position his booted foot between your legs. He didn’t need to touch you to know that your small clothes would be ruined. His cock ached, twitching as he grew hard, revelling in the way that your hips moved so that you humped his foot without his guidance.

“Please, uncle.” You begged as you rested your cheek against his leg. “Damon please!”

He relented, pulling the strings of his trousers so they were fully undone. “Open your mouth, sweet girl.” He said as he pulled his cock from his trousers. It was hard, thick and veined. The head was heavy on your tongue as he guided himself into your mouth. At first, you spluttered and struggled but Damon carefully manoeuvred you so that you take almost his entire length with ease and a little assistance. The carriage ride was spent with him lazily thrusting his hips up into your mouth while you took all he was willing to offer. His rough fingers brushed through soft silver locks as he felt his cock twitch in your mouth.

“Such a good girl.” He said quietly. You moaned at the praise and sighed at the gentle way he stroked your hair and the back of your neck. "My sweet girl." Suddenly he was holding you more roughly. His thrusts became quicker and you struggled to adjust to his pace as he repositioned himself. He continued his new pace while whispering praises. His cock twitched again and you felt warm saltiness fill your mouth. You tried your best to swallow it all as he instructed you to do as he gasped out through a moan.

“Your mouth feels so good my sweet girl.” He sighed. Copying the maid you’d seen with him the night before you licked and sucked at his softening cock until his purring moans became higher and more sensitive. He pulled you up off your knees and sat you so you were straddled on one leg. You leaned closer, kissing his cheek, as he leaned back against the wall of the carriage. He could feel the heat of your needy cunt through his trousers as you began to hump his tight, soft little gasps filling the carriage and drowning out the squeak of rickety wheels.

“Will you take me now uncle?” You asked. The question was asked so sweetly that Daemon almost agreed right there and then. But he liked this begging, this need for him. Besides the first stop would be coming up shortly and no doubt someone would check in on the two of you.

“No sweet girl.” Was all he sighed out. You whined and pleaded, kisses pressed to his cheek as if to convince him. The wheels of the carriage slowed and he moved you to the seat opposite, fixing his clothes. There was still a glow about you that he hoped would look like excitement. After all, you had not toured all of Westeros before. As he thought the carriage door was ripped open and Aliecent gave him a dubious look. An innocent look, which must have been convincing, crossed his face and she turned her attention to you.

“Come (Y/N).” Alicent muttered and gently led you out to greet a gathering of lords who were already fussing over your father and Rhaenyra.

Daemon tags:

@the-caravello-post @killing-gremlin @aegonandaemondtargaryenslut18 @lchufflepuffcorn @lightqueen16 @savagemickey03 @evattude @kaitieskidmore1

[ash5monster01]

Goes On Chapter Three

Pairing: Charlie Dalton x OC!FemReader

Warnings: 18+, depression, mentions of suicide, heavy topics, eventual smut, slow burn romance, fluff, gender themes/stereotypes.

Summary: Against his best efforts Charlie has to start at a new preparatory school after the tragic events that took place at Welton. The very events that led to the loss of his best friend and getting expelled in the first place. He has no plans to make friends let alone get close to anyone ever again. That is until he meets Evelyn and her interesting group of friends. No matter how hard he tries to push them away he finds it to be impossible. So he caves and in the end learns that life can still be enjoyable even if it feels like everyone is against you.

word count: 2.2k

Two ←→ Four

Masterlist

Ridge Academy, NY

1/14/60

The one thing that was good about a co-ed boarding school was the sports. Normal boarding schools consisted of only soccer and rowing for boys and nothing for girls. At Ridge there was every sport you could imagine and Evelyn’s was basketball. At least when it wasn’t soccer season. Yet wasn’t that the beauty of it all, that neither sports overlapped at any point in time and she could love them equally. It wasn’t the sport particularly that was her favorite but the attractive boys who played them. Like most boarding schools the girls weren’t allowed to participate but they were provided volleyball in the spring. Evelyn tried out once. Safe to say she never made the team but she did get her very first black eye.

So like every Friday Evelyn made her way from the dorms in search of Violet who was sure to be front row and cheering on Marty. Laurie was more than likely cheering from the sidelines until the Dean pulled her away and she begged him for a cheerleading squad. It was Evelyn’s normal routine, almost mechanical movements at this point. So it should’ve been simple sitting with Nathan and Violet when she entered the gym but when her eyes fell on the dough eyed boy at the top of the stands she couldn’t stop her feet from leading her in that direction.

“Hey new kid” she spoke with a grin, plopping into the seat beside him. His eyes left his book for a moment, spotting her in a Ridge crew neck and black skirt. He wished she wasn’t so beautiful.

“I’ve told you it’s just Charlie” he tells her, briefly closing his book and leaning back against the cool wall.

“Well just Charlie, what’re you doing here? Shouldn’t you be off in whatever cave you hide in?” Charlie freezes at the words he knows she doesn’t understand. He quickly tries to push flashes of memories away as he looks at her.

“I’ve never seen a basketball game before” he admits and now it’s shock covering Evelyn’s features that she quickly wipes away.

“Can’t really watch it if you’re reading-” Evelyn pauses as her slim finger lightly lifts his book. “Byron’s most popular works, you like poetry?”

“Apparently more than basketball” his quick response has Evelyn snorting in laughter and a brief smile crosses Charlie’s face before rushing away. He had just smiled, he couldn’t quite remember the last time.

“You’re something else new kid” Evelyn says before leaning back against the wall and Charlie realizes quickly that she’s getting comfortable. She was planning on staying. It was at that moment Nathan looks up to spot Evelyn had abandoned her normal spot next to him for his reserved roommate.

“Oh don’t pout” Violets voice pulls him away from the unlikely pair and Nathan looks at her a bit shocked.

“I’m not pouting” he defends and Violet quickly rolls her eyes before looking at him.

“You’re pouting and getting all grumpy that Evelyn is showing interest in the new kid. It isn’t cool, she’s free to do what she wants” Violet tells him and Nathan instantly feels guilty. It’s because it’s true, she wasn’t technically his. He’s just loved her so long it felt like it.

“But-”

“But nothing dude, so what if shes got the hots for your roommate? You’re the one who won’t tell her you like her” Violet tells him before Marty makes a basket and she’s screaming and cheering. Nathan is amazed at the way she can juggle a conversation with him and support for her boyfriend.

“That’s not fair, she’s never given me a chance either” Nathan defends after the cheering has calmed down and Violet chuckles.

“Of course she hasn’t. You don’t let her see you like that, you still act like a thirteen year old boy around her. The same boy whose voice used to crack during public speaking in english and threw food in her hair at lunch” Violet tells him and Nathan glares almost instantly. He was so not thirteen anymore.

“That was flirting” he tells her and Violet lets out a bellowing laugh. He should’ve expected that.

“God, you’re such a boy. You’ve been friends with her since you guys were kids, she trusts you, you’re safe. I hate to say it but like a brother. So either you need to man up and show her you’re more than the boy she knows or deal with what you’ve already got” and Nathan knows she’s right. Even if he desperately hopes she isn’t.

“I just don’t get why she likes him” he grunts, crossing his arms as he glares at the floor.

“Why wouldn’t she?” Violet questions back, momentarily taking her eyes off of the game to glance at her friend.

“He’s not good for her, he’s a loner and he ignores me half the time. He’s a jerk” Nathan defends and his dislike towards the boy doesn’t revolve around Evelyn entirely. Nathan was hoping for a real guy friend. One he didn’t obtain through his girl friends. A friend for himself but Charlie rarely even looked at him.

“He’s not a jerk” Violet says and Nathan gives her an incredulous look that has Violet sighing and turning to face him. “Look Nate, he is quiet and a loner but don’t you think that comes with reason? It’s not everyday somebody gets kicked out of a school like Welton. If I had to guess, something happened, and Charlie is still recovering from it. We have no place to judge him when we have no idea what he has been through”

“I hate that you’re always right” Nathan grumbles and Violet giggles as she turns back to watch her boyfriend. When her eyes meet his they share a small wave that has Nathan wanting to throw up. He hated love, but maybe that was because he had only ever loved one girl who never loved him back.

“You play any sports at your old school” Evelyn asks when she realizes Charlie has gone back to reading beside her. She wasn’t going to let him off the hook so easily.

“Soccer and rowing” he answers briefly, eyes glancing up at the brunette girl.

“Wow, big leagues. What position in soccer did you play?” Evelyn further questions, nudging her shoulder with his own.

“Goalie” Charlie almost whispers and Evelyn smiles widely.

“Well that just makes so much sense. I mean you’re the most reliable guy on the team. The protector. You know we need a good goalie around here, should go for tryouts in the spring” she tells him and Charlie chuckles lightly and shakes his head.

“I’m kinda done with the whole team thing, but maybe. Why do you know so much about soccer anyway?” Charlie asks, trying to direct the conversation off of himself and soccer. He only ever joined the team because of Neil and it was Neil he always played with. What was the point in playing if he was no longer around?

“Nothing particularly, just that cute boys play it” Evelyn’s responds so easily and Charlie burns a deep red knowing half that comment was directed at him.

“You know I’ve never quite met a girl like you” Charlie finds himself saying, the old cool Charlie confidence escaping. For some reason Evelyn made him feel like who he used to be.

“Not sure if I should take that as a compliment considering you’ve never really met any girls in your life” Evelyn grins deviously at him and Charlie chuckles, closing his book again that Evelyn takes notice of.

“Just because I went to an all boys school doesn’t mean I didn’t have my ways” Charlie says really looking Evelyn in the eyes for the first time. Suddenly the air is heavy around them and even if he hadn’t meant it like that, now it was all they both were thinking about. Charlie Dalton was a play boy and this whole time he had been pretending to be quiet and shy.

“Well Mr Dalton, I wouldn’t mind being shown these supposed ways” Evelyn smirks before turning away, glancing at the boys who run up the gym floor, sneakers squeaking in their midst.

“Are all girls around here so forward like this?” Charlie asks, eyes turning away from the girl as well and Evelyn shrugs.

“I don’t know, but maybe I suppose. Being in a co-ed school my whole life taught me there is no point in being so reserved. You tell people what you think of them right away and get to avoid the confusion. I never wanted to be one of those girls crying over if a guy likes me or not when I could just ask” Evelyn explains and Charlie finds his heart contracting over the girls sentence. She was so different, so real. She actually reminded him of Neil, in the ways that made him so happy and free. He was glad at least Evelyn would survive a school like this with her spirit intact. Especially since most people he knew did not.

“I guess you’re right, but sometimes reservation isn’t always a choice” Charlie says and Evelyn furrows her eyebrows, looking at the same boy who was still just as mysterious as before.

“I hope that’s true, or else I’m disappointed that I still don’t really know who you are” Evelyn says before looking away, not wanting to see the reaction to her words.

“There nothing to know” Charlie’s voice fills her ears and suddenly the boy stands and gives her a soft smile. “I’ll see you later”

Then the boy is descending the stands and Evelyn sighs because she knows it isn’t true. Charlie seemed like the type of guy who had one of the most beautiful stories to tell but Evelyn had to keep in mind that not every story had a happy ending. That could be the very reason Charlie was so quiet in the first place. Tragedy could change a person and based on the dull look in his eyes Evelyn knew he carried the weight of sadness like a blanket draped around his shoulders. She wondered what the real Charlie was like, when he was happy.

“Hey guys” Evelyn’s voice causes Nathan to jump as she joins them. Nathan takes a moment to register she’s beside him, eyes darting up the stands to see Charlie was now gone.

“Hey Ev, how was Mr. Loner?” Violet questions and Evelyn chuckles as she watches the boys dribble around the ball.

“He wanted to be alone” she responds and Nathan notices the disappointment all over her face. She was sad that he was so reserved. She liked him and that thought made him sick.

“Figures” Violet responds before a loud whoop leaves her mouth and she’s standing and cheering Marty for stealing the ball back.

“Laurie make it back from the deans office?” Evelyn asks, bumping her shoulder with Nate’s and he shakes his head.

“No, she’s probably still on her hands and knees crying for a cheerleading squad” Nathan replies, not looking at her to show he’s upset with her. Yet the giggle that escapes her lips and the way her head falls on his shoulder takes away all reservations he had towards her.

“What, you don’t have any interest in joining the cheerleading squad?” she asks once her giggles calm down, head still propped perfectly on his shoulder.

“You of all people know I have two left feet plus I’m already not very good with girls, I’d be worse off dropping them all the time” and Evelyn giggles sweetly again, leaning on her best friend. The boy who had always been there and loved dearly.

“I think you do just fine, just need to find the right girl to support” Evelyn tells him, her hand reaching to squeeze his arm and Nate sighs. He doesn’t know how she’s so oblivious. How she hasn’t seen how in love with her he has been all these years. That he had been supporting her the whole time.

“Speaking of girls to support, you think it’s about time to go break Laurie out?” he asks hoping for some distraction and Evelyn finally lifts her head and smiles.

“Yeah, let’s do it” Evelyn cheers and Nathan chuckles as he taps Violet and nods his head towards the exit. She knows exactly what they’re doing so she nods back and Evelyn is grabbing Nate’s hand as she drags him out the gym doors.

She holds his hand the whole way and he relishes in the feeling, hoping and praying that he can get her to consider him before falling in love with Charlie. It didn’t matter if Charlie tried to stay away. Evelyn was not only determined but special and Charlie was sure to have seen that by now. If Evelyn worked her ways like she always did, Charlie was sure to come out of his shell, and when he did he was bound to fall in love with her. She was Evelyn after all.

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