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arabellasleopardcoat · 1 year

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Death in four moves (Aemond Targaryen x Reader)

Summary: Queen Alicent is starting to notice your lack of pregnancy. You discuss it with your husband, and come out a stronger marriage because of it.

A/N: No one dies in this one, guys. Just quoting Tyrion. For a more detailed warning, click read more and scroll until after the dots.

Warnings: Fluff. Discussions of SA, sex, erotic novels, infertility, miscarriages, and pregnancies (None actually happen in the fic)

Catapult /ˈkatəpʌlt/

noun

a forked stick with an elastic band fastened to the two prongs, used by children for shooting small stones.

In Cyvasse, a catapult can take out a dragon.

“It’s the third month you bleed.” Queen Alicent said, with a hint of disapproval. She had perfected just the right amount of passive aggressiveness when being nosy. Your eye twitched slightly. You understood now the resentment Princess Rhaenyra held for her, with your sheets being examined by the Queen daily, your moon’s blood carefully tracked and advised on when the best moment was to conceive. “When will you make me a grandmother?”

You sipped at your tea, buying yourself a few seconds to answer. You were having tea in Haelena’s chambers, a family meeting, if you will. More like an intervention, truly. Alicent sat next to Aegon, who was in his cups already and seemed uncaring about the discussion.

“Mother, you are already a grandmother.” Aemond pointed at the hostess herself, who was on her hands and knees showing a bug to her children. The twins blabbered to her, and you couldn’t help but smile at the sweetness of the scene. Seated next to Aemond, you gently squeezed his forearm in silent thanks. His lips barely curved up into a smile. Despite his kindness in helping you out, you knew what the Queen’s response would be. It was like you were actors in a well-rehearsed play, one that had been repeating for the past six weeks.

“Yes, but those are your brother’s children. I want you two to make me a grandmother, too.” The Queen explained, smiling at him. The first month, there had been relative peace. Aemond couldn’t have knocked you up that fast, everyone reasoned. Not while still attending to his duties in the way he did. But when the second month came, and the sheets were stained red once more, Alicent had been disappointed.

Being Aemond’s wife was not an easy task. At the rate it was going, you were starting to think it would have been easier, inheritance disputes aside, to be married to Aegon. It was not that Aemond was unkind. On the contrary, he was most amenable. He cared about you, treating you with respect and even making efforts to be friendly. His mother was the problem.

You see, when the time came for Aemond to be married, Queen Alicent had handpicked you, from all the eligible ladies in the realm. The bride for his favorite children had to be perfect. She had had, I kid you not, a list. The girl Aemond married had to be smart, to be able to match him and converse about the topics that interested him, but not too educated, less she had ideas about her role in society. Devout to the Seven, but not superstitious. Brave, but not brazen. Kind, but not overly so, less she was too familiar with those beneath her. Pretty, but not one of those intimidating beauties or too aware of it. A maiden, pure and sweet, but not innocent. And so on, the list went. You weren’t too sure what she had seen in you, but she had decided you were perfect for him.

Aemond, mother’s boy as he was, had been willing to try. And he was pleasantly surprised with you. Yours wasn’t the most passionate of marriages, but you were good friends. He enjoyed your sense of humor, and you two liked the same books. Marriages were built on less. But there was the issue of consummation. Or well. There was no issue, since it hadn’t happened yet.

Neither of you dared tell Alicent that the first night, when you had come to him in your wedding gown, shaking with fear, he had done you the kindness of sitting on the bed with a goblet of wine and pulling out a deck of cards. You remembered clearly the way he had drawled, so effortlessly self-assured “I was uncertain whether you knew how to play Cyvasse, but guessed this was a safe bet.” You had nearly laughed in relief, sitting next to him and explaining you didn’t know how to play it, but cards you could do.

It had gone like that, for three long months. Aemond came to your chambers once a week, and you two played cards or just sat down talking for the whole night. He had even started teaching you Cyvasse. You didn’t mind it. He was an attractive man, your Prince, but you two had been strangers before the wedding. It was sweet, and you were a practical woman. You had all the perks of marrying a prince, and none of the hardships. If this were what your entire life would be like, you could handle it. And you would have, were it not for your mother-in-law.

A knock on the heavy wooden doors jolted you out of your thoughts. The guards announced the Grand Maester.

“Just on time.” Queen Alicent muttered, and became him over with an imperious hand. The old man stepped closer, holding a jar with some dirt? At least to you, it looked like that. The Queen took it from his hands, and opened it, grabbing your tea cup and stirring it into the drink before you could protest.

“Hare liver, pulverized with salmon. I had the maester prepare it for you, dear girl! You will have it at every meal.” Alicent beamed. Your grip on Aemond’s forearm became deathly. Aegon started laughing, before flinching suddenly. You weren’t able to tell if the one who had kicked him under the table had been your husband or your mother-in-law.

“I truly think there is no…” Aemond started to say, before getting interrupted.

“It is said to aid conception.” The Grand Maester bowed. His tone showed he wanted to be anywhere else but here, trapped between Alicent’s hopeful look, Aegon’s amusement and your indignant glare. His urge to leave was evident, not even flinching at the glare Aemond directed him for interrupting.

“Thank you, my Queen.” You answered, graciously. “Thank you as well, Grand Maester.” The man bowed again and exited the room. You eyed your now ruined tea, and Alicent. Her smile didn’t waver. You could tell she was waiting for you to drink it, and so, you smiled back and brought it to your lips.

It had to be the most foul concoction you had ever tasted. It was fishy and oily and oh so salty. You nearly spat it out, but controlled yourself, digging your nails into Aemond’s arm until he squirmed in pain. Aegon laughed again, before nearly choking in his haste to speak.

“Hey, what are you doing?!” While he laughed, you quickly took his cup and intended to drink his wine to get the taste out of your mouth. He made a grab for the wine, but so did Alicent.

“I read wine could harm conception.” She explained, passing it back to Aegon, who gave you a superior smirk.

“Mother, please. She looks like she is about to throw up.” Aemond pleaded and took the cup again. Aegon protested, but he brought the cup to your lips, urging you to drink from it. “Let her have it.”

“Aemond, I’m trying to help you both.” Alicent huffed. You quickly drank, less she tried grabbing the cup again. “We should do all that the books said. I have been reading on the topic, and I assure you…”

“I read…” Aegon interrupted loudly, giving you a wink. You knew he was about to do something disruptive, and that he would hold it over both yours and Aemond’s head for letting you escape. “Female pleasure is of the utmost importance for the woman to fall pregnant. So tell me, brother. Have you been pleasuring our dear…”

“Aegon!” Alicent yelled, slamming a hand over his mouth. “How can you say such things, with your children in the room? By the Seven, what will your brother’s wife think? That we are a family of…”

Aemond grabbed your hand and pulled you out of the room.

“You have to tell her.” You said, as soon as you were outside. He was gently pulling you along towards the gardens. “I’m not drinking anymore of that stuff. And careful, or else I will ask her to give you some too.” It had been the last straw. Your sheets being checked, you could take. Her not so subtle nudges towards laying with your husband on certain days, you could too. But being prohibited wine, and forced to take the concoction with every meal, was not something you were willing to do. Not when it was not an issue of fertility, but of the lack of… Intimate relations between you two.

“I don’t want to disappoint her.” It was said quietly, but it broke your heart. You took his hand and squeezed. One of the things you disliked about your new life was the amount of pressure Aemond was under. He had quickly become your best friend, and you liked to think you were his too. It hurt you, to see how much he pushed himself and how the nerves and worries ate him away. You knew perhaps he didn’t return your feelings, which had been steadily growing since the chaste kiss you had shared in the Sept, and all the sleepless nights spent playing games and talking, but you loved him. And it always hurt, when those you loved were in pain.

“I doubt you will. She loves you. Just because you would rather not be a father yet…” You smiled at him, trying to sound sure of yourself. In truth, you knew the Queen would be disappointed. She so wanted Aemond to be a father. He was her favorite. A baby from him would be a dream come true.

“I do want to be a father.” It was said very quietly, almost a confession. You turned towards him, unable to believe your ears. Aemond was pointedly looking towards a bush of roses, not making eye contact. His posture, normally so perfect, was a bit slouched, as if trying to curl into himself. Ashamed. He was no fool, to not be aware of your feelings, so that meant…

“Oh.” You blinked. It felt like something shattered inside you. It was not children he disliked, but you. A few tears sprang to your eyes, but you blinked them back, determined. You wanted him to be happy, even if not with you. Lowering your eyes, so he didn’t see your heartbroken expression, you answered.“Oh. Well. I’m still a maiden. We could ask the High Septon for an annulment.”

Aemond turned to look at you, bewildered. Then, a scowl took over his face, purple eye narrowing in anger.

“Annulment? Why would I want that? Is that what you want, an annulment?” His voice was starting to raise, slightly. You shushed him, frantically. But he kept going, stepping closer, hands grasping roughly at your shoulders. Aemond forced you to look him in the eyes. “You dislike me that much?”

“No. No. But if you are not attracted to me…” A few tears fell down your cheeks. You hated it. You didn’t want him to think you were manipulating him. It was distasteful, your mother had always said. Crying for a man to stay, it was not behavior befitting of you. “A lady should never beg for any man to stay. Not even a Prince.” She had always said, and you tried to live by it. But she had clearly never met Aemond.

Aemond’s lips pursed in the way they did when he was thinking about something deeply. Was he actually considering your offer? The thought made more tears spring to your eyes. He looked torn. So, this was it, you were going back home. Annulment and ruin. No one would believe you a maiden with Alicent’s efforts, with how often Aemond visited your rooms. Who in their right mind would think two young newlyweds were spending their nights playing cards and board games? It stung, to think you had had one job, and you had failed. Bed your husband. Produce children. Any child, not even a boy. It was meant to be easy. You were a failure.

Before your thoughts could spiral even further, towards becoming a Septa and watching the man you loved marry another, Aemond surprised you. With a shaking hand, he brushed your tears away.

“It’s not that, either. I like you. I might even love you.” Aemond’s eye doesn’t meet yours, and it’s only that what halts your heart from roaring in happiness. You frown, rubbing at your temples. A headache is starting. Why must everything be so difficult? He is saying the words you have longed to hear for weeks, yet… Something is off.

“You can say that you don’t like me. It’s alright.” Perhaps it is dishonesty. Perhaps he is only saying it, so you don’t feel bad. Aemond is considerate like that, never wanting to upset your feelings.

Aemond glares, giving you a stern look, as if daring you to try to explain his own feelings to himself. You shrink slightly.

“No. I like you, truly. It’s just that….” He trails off, and you want to scream out in frustration. Your temper is starting to rise, too.

“What? If you are so attracted to me, you should find it easy to bed me.” You spit out, almost daring him to contradict you.

“Nothing is that simple.” Aemond says, rolling his eye. You feel the urge to shake him, but you don’t. You are a Princess now. A Princess would not shake her Prince husband, no matter how foolish he acts. You breathe in, then out. Your response comes out, tersely.

“Love is a simple thing. It’s us who insist on complicating everything.”

“It is not my love for you, what makes me hesitate. First times can be…” And at that, you almost laugh in relief. So, that is what makes him hesitate? Fear of hurting you?

“Painful? I know, but I trust you.” You grab his hands in yours and look up at him, trying to showcase your sincerity. Your eyes are wide and earnest. But Aemond pulls out of your grasp, frustrated.

“'Tis I, who doesn’t trust you.”

You recoil, immediately pulling back. Your mother had always said you were a kind girl if a bit self-centered. And it was showing. You had never thought yourself the source of his worries, or had you ever thought he could think you're capable of hurting him.

“Aemond…” It comes out in a broken little sob. You knew people said things in fits of anger they didn’t mean, but you could tell he meant this. He didn’t trust you with his body.

Aemond tangles his hands in his hair, messing it up.

“Not like that. Just… You come to me pure, but I’m not. I have laid with a woman before.” It only makes you more confused. You are trying not to make assumptions, but it is a strange thing to say. It’s expected, especially for a man of his station. You wouldn’t have dared demand purity from him, in the way men demanded it from their wives. It was natural, even. Your positions in life were different. No one, not even the Queen herself, chided a man for his lack of chastity.

“Alright. I don’t mind it.” You answer, tentatively. You really hope, this time, you get it right. But the silence that follows is defeating.

Aemond’s hands ball into fists by his side. He loosens them, before balling them again. He is trying to hide their trembling from you, you realize. A pit forms in your stomach, knowing that whatever he is about to tell you, it’s bad. Something so terrible it might be better to not even speak it aloud. You have seen this man get into fights with his nephews, spitting out the worst slurs. You have seen him defeated by Ser Criston, beaten up, bruised badly. You have seen him hurt by his father's lack of care, cast aside in favor of others. But never once, never once, shaking in the way he is now. It terrifies you.

You don’t dare touch him, or comfort him in any way, when he is trying to calm down so hard. His breath is shallow, posture hunched, as if trying to fight the instinct to flight.

“It was not a good experience. I… I fear it would be like that, between us, and taint our marriage.” Aemond says, very quietly. His eye looks watery, his mouth set into a grim line. As if about to cry. You can tell, that whatever happened, it was much worse than what he says.

“Oh.” It’s all you can say. It had not crossed your mind, that it wasn’t you what repelled him, but the act itself. You long to hug him, but can tell touch is not what he wants, right now. You remember then, all the times he evaded touches from others, so skillfully. The ducking of an arm when Aegon tries to hug him, turning it into play fighting and roughhousing. How he never initiates affection with the Queen or Haelena. How he has never touched you, apart from a pat on the arm or holding your hand. Or how his palms get so sweaty when he has to do it. How he has not kissed you since your wedding. Perhaps, even the fact that he is always dressed in clothes that cover him completely.

Never having thought about it before, his quirks start to make sense in a way you don’t want them to. It hurts, to think of him being hurt in such a way. It is not something you had thought could happen to a man, but it makes too much sense to ignore. Whatever cloud appears in your eyes, it’s too much for Aemond to handle.

“Oh.” He mocks you, chucking your chin. It’s a gesture meant to put your mind at ease, show you that this is not an unsavable obstacle. You are thankful to him for it, even if it comes at the cost of being the butt of the joke that’s not even funny, much less with the topic you are discussing. But you can pretend for him. You smile, softly.

“Do you wish to speak about it?”

“Perhaps some other day."

Dragon /ˈdraɡ(ə)n/

noun

a mythical monster resembling a giant reptile, sometimes shown as having wings. In European tradition, the dragon is typically fire-breathing and tends to symbolize chaos or evil, whereas in East Asia it is usually a beneficent symbol of fertility, associated with water and the heavens.

In Cyvasse, a dragon can remove elephants from the board.

Aemond pulls down the screen dividing the board. He gives you a smug little look, laying down on the bed only in his sleep shirt. You try hard not to stare, focusing instead on the pieces on the board.

Your catapults are gone, and only your elephants remain. He has captured your King with a Dragon. It’s an odd move. You either are not remembering right or he is cheating.

“That’s cheating! You said the dragon could only move…” You start to complain, frowning at him.

“Diagonally, which is right.” He answers very calmly, looking at you in expectation. You examine the board from all angles, noting that he is right, and he has not cheated. Unless playing with a greatly disadvantaged player is cheating because in that case, Aemond most definitely is.

You take a deep breath and lay down next to him, forgetting the board. Oh, you can feel his pride at having bested you, even without looking at him. And of course, he keeps shifting on the bed, jostling you, lest you forget what you have to do. It’s the customary price, after all. A way to encourage to actually pay attention to his instructions about how the game is played, but also a way for a young couple to start getting to know each other. Your cheeks heat up immediately, when you decide what you will say. You scratch the back of your neck awkwardly and mumble so low, it can barely be heard over the crackling fire that lights up the room.

“Fine. As a young girl, I used to steal my father’s dagger and make other children knights with it. I loved playing Queen.”

Aemond laughs, a deep, sincere laugh. His eye crinkles at the corner, a pair of tiny dimples making themselves known. You like how true laughter lights up his face, you decide. It’s cute, but not something that often happens.

“That must have been adorable, wife.” Aemond smiles at you, boyishly. He is about to tease you, you know it. Your heart melts just a little more. “I apologize for being but a lowly Prince.” You start to laugh, but the laughter dies in your throat with his next words. “Perhaps I can indulge you.”

You rush to correct the treasonous words, scared. Aemond is an ambitious man, you have known that from the start. Just as ambitious as he is dutiful, your husband. But you can’t help but wonder if in this case, ambition outweighs the duty he feels towards his family. You don’t know him enough to make a judgment yet. So very gently, with your pulse ringing loud in your ears, you speak.

“I like Aegon. No matter if he is a drunk fool, sometimes. And your father is pretty boring, but alright. And Princess Rhaenyra." You don't say anything positive about her, not when you had learned through this same technique she had demanded Aemond was punished after losing his eye. If you had a chance, you would strangle her. But only a little. Otherwise, it would be treason, and it would be setting the wrong example. Queen Alicent always told you it was best to lead with your actions, and not only your words.

Aemond smiles, pushing your shoulder lightly.

"Not like that.” He complains, but gives you a long look regardless. You know he has noticed your slip, referring to Rhaenyra as an afterthought and only after Aegon. He knows now, without you having told him, what your thoughts on succession are. He is perceptive like that. “I was thinking more along the lines of crowning you my Queen of Love and Beauty.”

“You never compete in tourneys, husband.”

“For you, I would. If you wished to be Queen, for you, I would.” And it feels like Aemond is promising something else, something more than just being the one to get a crown of pretty flowers. It scares you a little, to be the focus of such devotion. Such honeyed words, too, which you know are unusual for him. The urge to kiss him is strong, but his confession, a few days backs, still weighs heavily between you too. He has definitely noticed you are more careful with your touches now. Still playful, but giving ample time to pull away. Yet, you can’t leave him hanging either. Not when Aemond is trying so hard for you two to work.

“I would, too. You would look handsome, with a flower’s crown.” And thinking yourself so sly, you slide your hand underneath his, laughing. Aemond laughs too, and pulls you towards him, trying to get you to put your head on his chest. You do so eagerly, listening to his heartbeat. At first, it is rushed, and he remains stiff, despite being the one to initiate the embrace. But slowly, Aemond relaxes and starts carding a hand through your hair. You think it feels much like what heaven must feel like.

The motion lulls you to that state between sleep and consciousness, where your head feels fuzzy and full of cotton, and your movements are sluggish. It feels like a dream, the way the shadows dance on the wall, and how his heart pounds steadily under you. You wish you could sink into him, fuse the two of you, as the Maesters of old said soulmates were. Nestle close to his heart, curl around it with greedy little hands, protect him from the world. Your eyelids drop, despite your fight to stay awake. Aemond smiles down at you, amused, and runs his hand over the slope of your nose, tracing the contours of your face. You scrunch your face at him, about to scold him for disturbing you, when he speaks. At first, it doesn’t make sense to you. And then, you realize.

“I was thirteen. Aegon took me to a brothel. I…” It feels like being stabbed, over and over again, tiny sparks of pain in your chest. In your mind’s eye, you can see him. A slightly younger version of Daeron, perhaps with longer hair. A big, purple eye, the other side of his face freshly scarred. Tiny. Terrified. And that you know because you know his growth spurt didn’t hit until he was fifteen, courtesy of your cyvasse games. You also know he was painfully shy and quiet, the product of a childhood filled with mockery and neglect. That, too, he had shared, after a game you knew Aemond had lost deliberately, feeling you were losing more embarrassing stories than he was sharing. Still, you hadn’t minded.

It hurts to think of your awfully kind husband being taken against his will. You doubt, had you been him, you could have survived it. Being violated so… It aches so bad, tears start filling your eyes. But you do not speak, less you break the spell and Aemond clams back up.

“I… I didn't want you to think I was weak. You are one of the loveliest things I have had, in a long time.” He says, voice breaking slightly. You shift in his grip, and look him right in the eye.

“You are not weak.” You enunciate, clearly and slowly. And you hope your sincerity shines through your eyes because you do believe it. Unable to speak a word, silenced as he was by shame, you think you would have broken much earlier. That Aemond stands, whole, before you and speaks the words aloud after so much time, says leagues about his character.

“I was meant to come out of it a man. It went…wrong.” He tries explaining, but you shake your head.

“You were not in the wrong.” You make a mental note to try to strangle Aegon later. You had known he was a… Interesting character, to say it kindly. But this… This took the cake on reckless, thoughtless behavior. He was at least three years older than Aemond, yet he had not half the sense his brother posses. Perhaps, your husband is better suited to be king. After living three months with the Targaryens, you were starting to doubt their closeness to gods. You stomp down your personal grievances, knowing Aemond needs love, not rage.

“May I hug you?” You ask, softly. Aemond laughs, a little watery, and pulls you on top of him. He hides his face in your hair, sobbing softly. You fantasize of killing half the whores of Flea Bottom, Aegon, Viserys and perhaps Alicent, too. You fall asleep like that, limbs entangled with each other and forgoing your ritual of messing up the room and your appearances. Despite it, the next morning, the maids who find you are more convinced than ever before of your closeness.

Elephant /ˈɛlɪf(ə)nt/

noun

a very large plant-eating mammal with a prehensile trunk, long curved ivory tusks, and large ears, native to Africa and southern Asia. It is the largest living land animal.

In Cyvasse, each player has multiple elephants.

It takes you a few sleepless nights to try to find a solution to your problem. Despite being praised often for how learned and bright you were, you couldn’t find an answer to your questions. You see, you have always been a planner. You tackled your concerns by doing research about them and then coming up with an action plan. But there was no research to be done here. You had to work with the facts.

You knew Aemond was not willing to confess to his mother. Nor were you about to betray his trust. But she would keep pressuring, for you to fall pregnant. You could buy time, faking an illness or perhaps even a pregnancy followed with a miscarriage. Yet, you had been chosen not only as Aemond’s companion, but to bring the next generation of Targaryens to the world. And both of you wanted children. He was too proud for letting you get pregnant and pass the baby as his own. Not with the situation with his nephews.

So. You were back to square one. You had to find a way for both of you to have children, and not traumatize Aemond about it. And get Alicent off your back. Research. You could do research about how a lady ended up with a child.

You poured long hours over medicine treaties and concluded this: It was not his member that had to go inside you, but his seed. It would also be useful if you broke your maidenhead in some way, less you ended up trying to give birth still a virgin. So, in theory, Aemond didn’t need to enter you. Just collect his seed, and perhaps you could pour it inside you with a jar or something. Still, you put that thought on the back burner, as a plan b. Oftentimes, the best solution was not the most complex one, and so, you had to at least try to perform intimacy with you. But you didn’t want him to suffer, and so, you decided to approach one of your maids about it.

“Dyana.” You said, as the girls were unlacing your gown and unpinning your hair for bed. “Stay.”

It was low, what you were about to do. But you knew of none else who had gone through something similar. Dyana had been appointed as your maid after having the unwelcome attentions of Aegon on her. There was nothing that could be done, not when the King was so ill, Alicent had told you. She wouldn’t subject him to having to pass judgment on his own son, not in his state. And besides, there had been no harm done, with the girl not falling pregnant. At the time, you hadn’t questioned it. Now, it made you sick to think your brother-in-law, who was always supportive of you in front of his mother, could have hurt her in such a way.

Dyana stayed behind, brushing your hair in front of the vanity. The other maids scurried out in a flock of dresses and chatter. You met her eyes through the mirror, in low candlelight. She was the Targaryen kind of pretty, with hair so blonde it almost looked like theirs. Perhaps that had attracted Aegon.

“I understand you were forcefully subjected to Prince Aegon’s… Advances.” You said, once you were alone. Dyana was very tense, obviously reminding the last time she had been alone with a member of the royal family. You decided to spare her the anxiety over what you wanted, if any, to make this shameful act you were committing a bit less traumatizing. “I have questions about it, from woman to woman.”

The brush clattered to the floor. Dyana’s eyes turned from anxious to terrified. She was frozen, unable to bend down and pick it up. You turned in your stool, to reassure her.

“I'm not going to punish you. I don’t want to know about the act, or reprimand you or blame you.”

Dyana bent down to pick up the brush. Her shoulders remained tense.

“I only want to ask a question. And you don’t have to answer it if you don’t want to… But if you do, I will reward you handsomely.” You tried putting her at ease, using a soft voice. Much like with Aemond, you stuck to not sudden moves and no touching. To show her that you were serious, you pulled a handful of gold dragons, letting them clatter on your vanity’s table, next to the bottles of expensive lotions and perfumes Aemond had bought you. “But my husband can never know. No one can ever know.”

Dyana raised her head at the sound. She looked at the gold, and stood, anxiously wringing her hands together.

“Milady… That’s a lot of gold for a question.” Dayna’s eyes were fixed on the ground.

“It’s an important question. It requires utmost secrecy.” You answered, handing her half. “For keeping this conversation private, even if you would rather not answer me.”

Dyana took the gold, quickly hiding it inside her pocket. She seemed to fear you were playing a joke on her and would take the gold away at any time. You didn’t blame her, with how badly she had been treated so far. Keeping her waiting would be even more cruel than what you had already done, and so, you asked.

“How do you trust again, after it?” It was a clumsily worded questions, asked in a rush and in a single breath. It came out more like “Howdoyoutrustagain, after… It.” Not the most dignified wording, either. You were supposed to be eloquent, smart. Yet, you were floundering as an overzealous child.

“I…” She had clearly understood, by the look on her face, but didn’t know what to say. How to approach it. Dayna stepped closer, scrutinizing your face. Searching. But for what?

“How can you lay with a man again?” You repeated, trying to sound a bit more self-assured and narrowing down your line of questioning. You knew she was currently in a relationship with a stable boy. He always picked her up on the nights you and Aemond were supposed to bed each other.

Dayna looked at you, expression doing a full one eighty. Her eyes stopped being frightened and turned sad. One of her hands went again to brush your hair, almost in comfort.

“It is not the same man. And. Um. Never in the same way, my lady. He asks. All the time. And not like…” She trailed off, concerned. You didn’t notice, too busy committing her advice to memory. “My lady, you should really speak to the Queen….”

At those words, your head jerked up. Why did she bring up Alicent? Did she really think you could ask her about intimate relationships? Unless… She thought Aemond was… Oh, by the Seven, that was even worse.

“Aemond is not mistreating me. But my cousin’s husband is. I just don’t know what to tell her, having been so lucky.” You lied, trying to sound as convincing as you could. But you knew she wasn’t believing a word out of your mouth.

“Can they mend things?” Dyana asked, and it was obvious she didn’t buy that you were asking for a friend.

“From what I gather.” You answered, tersely. Of that, you were certain. Aemond liked you enough to at least try. You would consult him first, making sure he was not uncomfortable with the idea, but you knew he felt the grains of sand on both your clocks draining, as you did. Time was something you didn’t have. But Dyana didn’t know any of that. She was asking you, even if covertly, if you thought your husband could not be a brute. It showed, in the way her eyes filled with pity.

“Tell her to ask him to be soft. And… Not that, right away.” Dyana blushed, lowering her eyes in embarrassment. You gave her a puzzled glance, confused. If not intimacy, right away, what did she mean? Kissing? “Go slow, do something else….”

“Like?” You tilted your head to the side, hoping for a clarification.

“Mouth. Fingers.” The girl looked like she was about to hide under the table from embarrassment. And truly, it was a bit strange. An unmarried maid teaching a lady about intimacy.

“Oh.” You frowned. Dayna squeezed your shoulder, with very soft hands. “Thank you.”

King /kɪŋ/

noun

the male ruler of an independent state, especially one who inherits the position by right of birth.

In Cyvasse, the goal is to kill the King.

Your research had led you to A Caution For Young Girls. A popular novel between the common folk and that had costed you great effort to acquire. The plan had included a horse, a chicken, Aegon, and a copy of the Seven Pointed Star you had had to defile. You prayed that the Seven forgave you, both for reading such dirty tales and for destroying a copy of their sacred book to hide the book you were really reading. That day, even Queen Alicent had mistaken your newfound devotion for the Seven for a lady praying for a child and had pointed to you as an example for Aegon. In truth, you had been on your knees before the effigy of the Mother begging for forgiveness, and not a child.

It had been for a better cause, you told yourself. If truly were the gods who gave the Targaryens their right to rule, it meant they were favored among the rest of the men. Surely, finding a way to procure a child to one of the most pious, gentle Princes the realm had to offer justified your actions. Surely, Aemond’s devotion made up for your sins, or at least, the seven prayers you had recited under each of their effigies did. Surely, right?

Besides, it wasn’t like you were doing something bad. Literature is meant to open the mind. That’s why yours and Aemond’s studies had been encouraged from a young age. And the novel had certainly opened your mind to new ways of being intimate. You had no clue there were so many ways one could use their mouth, fingers, and openings. And if you had felt aroused by reading it… Literature was meant to be enjoyed, too.

So, the next time you and Aemond were alone, you said there was something you needed to talk to him about. You brought out your notes, and took the Cyvasse board away from the table, placing your research there instead. Aemond’s eyebrows raised at seeing you pull out such an amount of parchment, yet he said nothing.

“You want to be a father. I want to be a mother. We are married. And you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to, but I have researched for two possible ways of achieving it. Watch…” You pulled out a diagram, crudely drawn. You grabbed a stick, much like the one your Septa used to teach you when you were a child, and were about to start explaining, when Aemond interrupted.

“Is that supposed to be…” Aemond had the slightest hint of a blush on his cheeks. He cleared his throat, awkwardly. “A… Um… Is that…?”

“Yes, now shut up. I’m trying to explain my plan.” You answered, not even the slightest bit ashamed. Couldn’t he see you were explaining your research? “You see, we don’t actually need to have any kind of sexual contact for me to fall pregnant. We just need to insert your seed…” It was said in a very clinical manner, but Aemond interrupted, again.

“Wife, I know how conception works.” Now he was fully blushing, and you frowned. It was not your intention to make him uncomfortable, so you decided to go straight to the point.

“Alright, so we will skip that part. Fine. We have two options. You either pleasure yourself and spill in a jar, or we build up to intimacy. I researched the way to make that the least traumatizing for you as possible, too.”

Aemond looked at you, for one long second. The silence stretched, and you worried this was going to end up with losing him in the most painful way you could imagine. Your blooming relationship, dead by your tactless hand. Aemond stared some more, his eye narrowed. Then, he burst out laughing. You felt so embarrassed you hoped the earth would open up and swallow you whole.

The both of you stayed like that. Aemond laughing so hard tears sprang from his eyes, and you, diagram still in hand, with what Aemond would later swear was the cutest pout he had ever seen.

“This has to be both the sweetest and strangest thing someone has ever done for me.” He finally said, drying his tears.

“You are not mad? Or hurt?” You asked, eyeing him a bit suspiciously, but with a smile of your own.

“Come here.” Aemond widened his stance, and you stepped closer, giving in to his unspoken request for you to stand between his parted legs. With a touch so light, it might not even be there, Aemond tilted your head down and kissed you. You felt as if the world stopped, for a minute. The kiss was clumsy, with him sitting and you standing but you could swear it was the kind of kiss the poets wrote about. You let him lead you, reminding Dyana’s advice, and you could feel the way he smiled against your mouth for it.

“I made my decision.” Aemond said, as you pulled away to take some well-needed breaths of air. Your mind felt like mush, with how dizzying the kiss had been. You had not a single clue what he was talking about.

“Huh?”

“We will try to have the children the normal way. I can learn to trust you enough for it.” And it felt like your heart was singing, with how happy you were. You smiled brightly at him. It was an honor that he was willing to trust you that much, that he was willing to try. You knew, were you him, you would have hesitated more. Aemond was a brave man, you had to give it to him.

You wanted to kiss him silly. But you had promised yourself to keep things at his pace, were he to choose this path. And so, you asked.

“Hug?”

Aemond laughed, and pulled you closer, burying his face on your chest. You hugged back, holding him.

“So, what did your research say? About building up intimacy?” Aemond shifted, looking up at you, purple eye shining with mirth. You spluttered, slapping his shoulder. He laughed again. “You know, in all seriousness… The Seven have given me a strange woman. But I wouldn’t change you for anything.”

Detailed warning: Aemond confesses to the reader that the reason they haven’t had sex yet is not a lack of desire but a bit of fear, and describes what happened to him when he was thirteen. The reader does her research and presents it to him, crudely, but he is touched by her gesture.

As a fellow SA survivor, I hope I have managed to portray the struggle to trust a partner again in a manner that is both tasteful and fluffy, with an adequate dose of humor and awkwardness. Writing Honesty raised a few thoughts on the matter of consent in Westeros. I never got to finish GOT because of the same issue. My heart ached for Aemond during the brothel scene, and I wondered about it a lot. I have yet to see it portrayed in any fanfiction. I apologize in advance if it made anyone uncomfortable.

#aemond targaryen #aemond targaryen x reader #aemond x y/n #aemond x reader #aemond one eye #aemond the kinslayer #aemond fic #aemond fanfiction #aemond #fluff #aemond fluff

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ohdeerfully · 5 months

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How would Alastor react to reader who is a cat demon and gets comfortable to try to cuddle with him?

hmmmmmmmmmmmm here are some headcanons! im sorry its pretty short (,: this leans more romantic, but could probably be read platonically/QPR i think

Alastor x Cat Demon!Reader

Alastor x Reader (headcanons/fluff) TW: none

join my discord!

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Surprising to nobody, it would take Alastor quite a while to become comfortable with you even sitting any closer than a foot to him

He had immediately noticed your tendency to cuddle up and nap against anything soft when he first met you, so he took care to not make himself seem like a cozy spot

For some strange reason, though, you were extremely interested in him from the get-go

The first few tries you made at leaning against him he was quick to give you a dangerous look, a threat, or to simply move away so fast that you fell on your side in defeat

After a lot of careful interactions, mutual respect soon developed between Alastor and you

First, whether platonic or romantic, you soon found yourself able to sit with your body leaned up against him while you both focused on separate tasks

He would often be doing some sort of paperwork, writing a script, or reading, while you simply relaxed up against him with your own book

Or napping. You love to nap

Next came the actual cuddling

This point took actual ages to get to, and you couldn't rush it, lest you destroy the progress you had made so far

Though, when you finally did... despite being Hell, cuddling with this man felt like Heaven

Maybe it was the knowledge that nobody else could get this close to Alastor, and nobody ever had, even when he was alive

Or maybe you just liked him

Plus, despite his previous efforts, Alastor was surprisingly rather comfortable to cuddle with

He was much taller than you, and could easily wrap you up in his arms and legs

He prefers big spoon, if anybody was curious. Though it's probably obvious

With the combination of his comfort and the light rumbling from his chest as he usually hummed, it was no wonder you were so keen on cuddling with him

You were always quick to lull into a daze, purring away with your tail curled comfortably over one of his legs or arms

He would never admit it, though maybe it was clear with him letting you get so close, but he also really enjoyed these moments

Your soft fur that he stroked his fingers through, the light tickle of your tail occasionally flicking, and the soft ambience of your purrs...

He found you quite adorable

He grew to love you, as much as Alastor could love, and would always welcome your presence against him

As long as it was private, of course

I don't think anything could make Alastor show any sort of PDA beyond a pat on the back or ruffle of your hair

If he saw you making your way up the hotel stairs, he would try to wrap up whatever task he was doing to join you in bed

When you got comfortable against him, he would either hum a soft tune or read aloud to you, to which you would respond with comments on the narrative till you eventually fell asleep

Alastor wouldn't sleep, it was hard for him to come by, but he found your warmth comforting through the otherwise cold, long nights

If you were to be redeemed, he knew he would miss you for the eternity he was doomed to spend in Hell

He wasn't sure if he would let you be redeemed. He didn't want you to leave

You were probably stuck with him, honestly

You couldn't complain, though.

#ohdeerfully #hazbin hotel #alastor x reader #hazbin hotel x reader #alastor #alastor hazbin hotel #fluff #alastor x you #alastor x reader fluff

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dwindlinghaze · 1 year

Note

Hi :)) im wondering if you could write a Remus fic with a suuuuper shy!reader? Reader loves him but poor baby can't even look at him omg. Love your fics darling🌙

hi lovelyyy,, thanks for requesting !! yes ofc i could :) i hope you like this !! ☁️🪽🫧🫧

one spoon for two

(remus lupin x reader)

contents : fluffy, shy reader, mentions of twoz book series bcs my ozian ass is obsessed with them😭🙏, not proofread

　 . • ☆ . ° .• °:. *₊ ° . ☆

it wasn't a secret that you were shy.

you don't talk much. you usually let the others do the talking and you listen. despite your lack of voice, your ears are fully open. which is not so much of a convenience really.

sometimes you worried that your friends get bored of you because you have nothing to say. it's not like you don't care, you do. you just don't quite know the right words to express what you think.

you only talk when it's necessary. when people talk to you first. that's why you've been getting frustrated lately.

sitting on the grass with a book open on your lap, you were focused on the neatly printed pages and illustrations on your book along with the sound of soft winds and dried leaves. well- that was until you saw the infamous marauder, james and sirius trotting on the ground while throwing a snitch at each other to catch.

you don't want to look at them. although every part of you wanted to steal a glance towards the kindhearted marauder, remus lupin.

he's the perfect combination of every good things in the world.

he is smart, funny, witty, caring, and so much more.

it takes everything in you to keep your little pupils away from his face. if you look at him, you were sure you'd blush and that would be embarrassing.

you got up slowly, escaping whatever you're feeling right now.

there he goes, averting his eyes to your moving figure. he frowns a little, knowing that you were quite shy in front of people and prefer being in the company of your own.

"whatcha looking there moony? your girl?" sirius quipped.

"she wouldn't even look at me," he shook his head. he wondered if you knew his feelings and were terrified.

"she's just shy, moony," james said, almost missing the snitch sirius threw.

the next time you were in the same room with him was in potions. you noticed how his hair flops in the prettiest way possible with the perfect shade of golden.

then the next second, he turned his head so you reluctantly look away immediately. thankful that he was turning to look at james and not you.

and god does the universe loves seeing you nervous!

your were partnered up with remus and james to brew a potion together.

the two boys walked towards your table. james skipping like a child while remus tried to keep his cool.

"hey darlin' i will be getting the ingredients yeah, and you and remus can set up the table," james grinned a friendly grin.

you nodded, whispering a 'yeah'. it wasn't loud, but remus heard it just as clear.

as you set up the table, remus tried talking to you, to hopefully get you comfortable and to show that he is a good person.

you didn't need him to do things just to prove he is a good person. you already knew that of course. he is nice to everyone. he's selfless and caring.

"hey, you alright?" he noticed your timid movements.

"yeah, m'fine," you said to him in such a quiet voice. you couldn't look at him, you're too shy to do so.

it was the middle of brewing when your hand brushed his while you were crushing pearls. "sorry," you mumbled.

"no need to apologise..." he frowned, confused as to why you were so... away from here yet you were in the same room. "you sure you're alright?" he continued, reaching for your palms.

he was shocked at himself. he just touched your hand? he's never done that to anyone except his marauders. but he didn't regret it though, your skin was so much softer than his. he felt like he's holding a ball of cotton.

your cheeks turned red when his hand grasped yours. your heart beating twice as fast. "remus, i'm promise im okay...," you answered.

remus squeezed your knuckles, sending a confused look to james in which he returned with a teasing grin that made remus rolled his eyes.

maybe he liked you. well- who's he kidding, of course he does! he saw you almost everyday, and you look so enchanting the entire time.

he thinks your hair is perfect. you styled it in the way that makes your pretty face prettier. your energy (or lack of energy) is cute too. you fumble with your words when people talk to you. and he thinks it's adorable and attractive at the same time.

the way you pushed your hair away from your eyes as you crushed those pearls. it was absolutely angelic.

"i think y/n likes you moons," james said when they were all sprawled on their dorm at the end of the day.

"i think so too" sirius agreed, chuckling as he threw a piece of crumpled up paper.

"me too." he said.

everyone stayed silent after that. mouth wide open. they never thought remus would be so confident saying that someone likes him (although it's not a bad thing, just out of remus' usual self deprecation).

"wha- no!" remus shook his head in disbelief. "i mean i like her too," he corrected shyly, his cheeks flushing.

"we know," the three of them said at the same time and bursted into laughter the next moment.

"it's quite obvious moony!" james said, "especially this morning when you held her hand. you never do that! let alone let us touch your little shoulder."

"it's different!"

"oh we know! you never look at me like you want to kiss my face off but you do look at y/n that way," james said.

"she always steals a millisecond to look at you y'know?" sirius snickered. enjoying the embarrassment his best friend is experiencing currently.

"don't lie, pads. she didn't even look at me the whole potions class," remus sighed.

"she's just shy, moony," sirius rolled his eyes. "if you really really and i mean really feel like you two can work out together, my advice is that you should reach out and talk to her. slowly but surely she'll be less nervous with you!"

and remus took sirius' advice. usually his advices are absurd and obnoxious but sirius has girls and boys falling for him left and right. surely he knows how to treat a girl right?

he saw you sitting at the library one evening. nose buried in your book. the only features he can see are your hair, forehead, and eyebrows.

and they all look pretty. your brows would furrow when you read something weird in the book.

it's hard to compose himself when you were there. just sitting peacefully with no care about the things surrounding you. you weren't even doing anything and he is smitten.

you heard shuffling besides you and you look up almost instantly, meeting a pair of honey green eyes in the colour like a comet in the sky.

you look away immediately, focusing on your book, growing nervous under his stare.

he smiled, "is it okay f'me to sit here?"

"yeah," you replied. you cringed at how short it was. you don't want to come off as rude or cold or anything but it's hard to speak a sentence.

"what're you reading there?" he asked, his voice sweet like candy.

"uh," you flipped your book around, to read off the title. "the road to emerald city of oz," you replied, tilting your chin towards him as you smile gently but still keeping your eyes firmly on the page.

"is it like a series? i heard about the wonderful wizard of oz somewhere," remus replied.

"it is," you nodded. it's hard to read when he's beside you like this. when you're the only thing in his view right now. when you're the only one in his head.

"do you have all the books?" he asked, just wanting to hear voice.

"i do," you finally flickered your eyes at him for a good two seconds before returning them back to your book. you blushed when you look at him. he was radiating comfort and care but you were too much in your feelings. eye contact is your weakness.

"can i borrow them?"

"you want to read them?" you looked at him again, this time a little longer and a little more confused. confused as to why anyone would be interested in what you like.

"why not? don't you like it?" he asked.

"i do," you replied. "i'm on the seventh book," you looked down again.

remus let out a soft chuckle, gazing at you like you're the most precious human being ever.

"huh?" you furrowed your brows. looking at his sweater instead of his face.

"you're so dear you know," he smiled.

your cheeks flushed red at his compliment. you didn't reply. didn't know how to.

"i'll get the book for you," you scrambled out of the library, heading to your dorm to give remus the first book in the series.

while being away from him, you collected yourself, taking deep breaths because he's so breathtaking that close. you've never been this close to him. he smells so good.

you were back in a jiffy, only to find out that remus has scooted more in the middle, making your legs touch when you sit down.

"oh yeah! just like what i heard "the wonderful wizard of oz," he nodded.

"sorry, it's a children's book," you replied in embarrassment, just realising that you were reading a book for children!

"oh i don't mind! i read cringy werewolf romance books and that makes you so much better than me," he laughed, seeing the small smile that appeared on your pretty lips.

the next time he was talking to you this close again was when he finished the first copy of your book. he had finished it in just two days, leaving you in surprise.

he read it so fast so he can find an excuse to spend time with you again. the story was quite alright, but he would not tell that to you.

"hi," he plopped down next to you in the library. same exact spot as last time. "i finished it!" he held up the book.

"oh that's great," you replied, surprised he was sitting here again next to you "did you like it?"

"i loved it! i can't believe the wizard of oz is just an old basic man! not even magic," he huffed childishly, making you giggle.

the sound is simply spa music to his ears.

"what's your favourite character?" remus asked.

"glinda."

"oh the witch... from the south?"

"yeah," you replied.

"next book?" he questioned.

you had it in your bag, ready to give it to him anytime. "i've got it here," you pulled it out.

remus smiled as your fingertips brushed past his in a quick incandescent touch.

this routine continued so and so until he noticed a few changes within yourself. you weren't that shy nor timid anymore. you still couldn't hold eye contact with him for more than five seconds but that's alright for him.

during those five seconds he is sure he has fallen in love. he couldn't help it. you're his crush since forever, it's bound to happen.

"hey, i finished glinda of oz!" remus cheered, putting down the book on his lap as he took in your appearance.

this was not at the dark library that shadows off your features. you were sitting on grass in the afternoon, making your skin glow under the golden rays of sunshine. he can see your pretty face clear now.

you smiled at him as he took a seat beside you, you actually feels secure enough around him to look at his face.

"that means you finished the whole series, rem," you let out a soft and proud but light chuckle.

"i now know why you love it so much!" remus smiled. he realised he always smiles when he's with you. you must have super powers.

"do you like glinda?" you asked.

"my favourite character is the tin wood man. he's funny, but yeah. since you like glinda so much then i guess she can be a favourite of mine too!" remus replied, rubbing circles in your knuckles.

just that little gesture he did made you shy all over again, unable to look at him like the first time you two were talking.

remus smiled again, gently taking your other hand with his other. "i want to ask you something, lovie," remus looked into your beautiful eyes.

your head is fuzzy. he called you 'lovie'. a nickname. you're sure you were warm in the face.

remus brushed his fingers on your left cheek with the softest touch known to men. "love..."

"yes...?"

"the next hogsmeade trip is this saturday.... do you want to er- like share the trip together- i mean as a date?" he looked at you with such fondness in his eyes.

"me?"

"yes you, lovie, look at me yeah?" remus gently cupped your cheeks.

you two were so close to the point that you can feel remus warmth radiating off of him.

"what do you say?"

"yeah," you nodded. embarrassment washing you again when all you said was just a 'yeah'.

"yeah yes or yeah no?" remus asked, a smile playing on his lips.

"yes i'll go with you," you were a blushing mess, trying to look away from his eyes but his soft hands kept tugging you back.

remus felt the heat from your cheeks in his palm. it was absolutely a fuzzy feeling knowing that you were showing likeness towards him.

he wanted to kiss you. doesn't have to be on the lips. he'd love to plant small kisses on your red cheeks. but he didn't of course. boundaries.

"settled then yeah? i'll be waiting at our common room, darling," he smiled.

#x reader #character x you #remus lupin x reader #remus lupin fluff #remus lupin imagine #remus lupin blurb #remus lupin x reader fluff

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midnightmah07 · 2 months

Text

daiggie's intro post ––✧

'Daiggie' is the ship name for my main oc x canon of Daisy and Ruggie, Daisy being my Yuu/MC based on Cinderella.

In this intro post I'll be sharing their relationship timeline, as well as a few random fun facts about them. This is mostly because I want to ramble about them, and because I think it's a nice way for newcomers to learn about them if they're interested! (⁠◡⁠ ⁠ω⁠ ⁠◡⁠) ♡

How'd they start?

Ruggie and Daisy officially met in book 2 as per canon storyline. During their first interaction (not counting the one where Ruggie used his UM to get Grim's sandwich) they felt attracted to one another, but since it was just physical attraction they paid it no mind, especially because they quickly made wrong assumptions about each other. Ruggie believed the "pretty Ramshackle prefect" was a boring goody goody and a pushover, while Daisy thought the "cute hyena from Savanaclaw" was simply an insensitive and cowardly thief. Ruggie stole Daisy's earrings during the part where HeartShackle chases him as a way to mock/tease her, and this made her dislike him even more because her pearl earrings were from her mother.

Daisy's ideas and thoughts about Ruggie started changing during Leona's OB. All of Daisy's prejudices against Ruggie changed once she saw him being almost killed by Leona but refusing to give up regardless; his will to move forward and his perseverance made Daisy start to admire him as an individual, and in a way relate to him because she also always strived for a better life back home.

As a way to apologize for judging him too fast she started trying to help him heal his arm, but Ruggie didn't feel comfortable with the idea, so Daisy told him that if he felt more comfortable with it, she could help him take care of his arm in exchange for her earrings back. He begrudgingly accepted but even after that Daisy kept checking on him because she was still worried about his arm.

In book 3 Ruggie still not accepting when it came to Daisy's help. He felt uncomfortable with her trying to take care of his health because in his mind there's no way she's doing it out of the goodness of her heart, so, when Daisy came asking with Jack for a place to her and Grim to say, he immediately went to convince Leona, telling him his injury was making it hard for Ruggie to fulfill his chores at Savanaclaw, and that Daisy could be a good help. After Leona let they stay Ruggie made it known that he only helped because he felt like he needed to do something to pay her back for her aid.

During the events of book 3, because Daisy and Grim were also helping Ruggie around Savanaclaw with his chores, they naturally became close. Daisy surprised Ruggie for showing that she was actually really helpful despite looking like "a spoiled princess", and he grew curious of her because of that. It was during this time that Daisy felt comfortable with him to share her life story before coming to Twisted Wonderland, and both of them bonded over the fact that they were orphans and needed to look after themselves from an early age. Their differences were on how Daisy clung to her parents' teachings of "have courage and be kind" while Ruggie grew learning to trust only on himself and the little family he had left.

At the end of book 3, after Azul's OB, Daisy finally allowed her body to feel tired and she immediately passed out. She had been trying to deal with Azul's contract, working at Savanaclaw and last time she stayed awake to force Leona to help her and Grim get Ramshackle back. She had been doing too much and she finally let her body feel it, so she passed out. Ace and Deuce immediately tried to pick her up and go to the infirmary, but Ruggie said he'd carry her since it was partially his fault that this happened.

After the ADeuce duo and Grim left Daisy and Ruggie alone in the infirmary for a while, he opened his heart to her for the first time and told her it was nice to have her back at Savanaclaw, not only because of the help but because he really did enjoy her company. He told her she was definitely not what he thought she was, and said he was looking forward to seeing more of her at campus. This is when both of them realized they started having feelings for each other.

In between book 3 and 4 Ruggie started being 'nicer' to Daisy. He usually helped her around, asking for minor favors in return that didn't mean much in the grand scheme of things, and after a while Ruggie started giving Daisy some of his food (mostly he gave her desserts the cafeteria would give to students, claiming he "didn't like it". They were usually pumpkin flavored because Daisy had told him her favorite food was pumpkins). This made basically everyone question him and lift an eyebrow to what their relationship was exactly, while Ruggie denied it by simply saying that Daisy's just a good friend who helped him out a lot, so he's paying her back. He said this because he never truly believed Daisy could ever feel the same way that he does, maybe she could like someone like Leona, Vil or Malleus if they ever happened to meet but him? Nope, impossible.

Meanwhile Daisy was left very flustered and very confused. She knew Ruggie wasn't the type to do this sort of thing for just anyone, but was she really that egocentric to believe that he might like her back? He was incredible, and she was just a useless magicless girl, there's no way he'd feel the same... But everyone kept telling her that he probably did, so she worked up the courage to tell him that she liked him.

One day Daisy confronted Ruggie about how he was acting and he obviously said it was just because he wanted to pay her back for all the help at Savanaclaw, but Daisy insisted, saying that she liked him, and that if he was trying to do all of this to win her that he should be more direct about it and just ask her on a date. She felt super embarrassed and self conscious after she said that but she stood there waiting for an answer regardless, and Ruggie said he would, but that she shouldn't expect anything too grand or expensive because ya know... He's broke.

After that they went on exactly 2 dates, and on the second one they had their first (very, very, VERY awkward) kiss and Ruggie asked her to be his girlfriend officially. They've been together ever since!

Fun & random facts

Daisy and Ruggie agreed to date each other a bit more casually (not in the sense of seeing other people, because they were just interested in each other, but in the sense of if they happened to break up then "that's just life") at first because Daisy was still trying to go back to her world, but they very much underestimated their feelings for each other since after a month or two they were in wayyy too deep.

Daisy and Ruggie's love languages overlap a lot, with both of them being very into physical touch, quality time and acts of services.

Daisy has the tendency to make a bit of extra food whenever she can to gift to Ruggie. His favorites are her pumpkin pies, a family recipe from her parents.

They both have pet names for each other. Ruggie calls Daisy "flower", "pumpkin" and "princess" (this last one is more in a joking way), while Daisy calls him "love", "dear", "Rugs" and "RugBug" (again, this last one is in a joking way lol).

Ruggie started walking Daisy to her class every morning so they can spend at least this amount of time together if he happens to get busier during the day (which mostly happens). Yes, Grim's complaining the entire time about being a third wheel.

I went a bit crazy once and made them soulmates... Daisy and Ruggie had constant dreams about each other a few weeks before Daisy came to Twisted Wonderland, but they didn't recognize they were seeing each other after much, much later, so when they first meet they have a sense of deja vu.

Daisy DOES stay in Twisted Wonderland bc I'm too attached to everyone and because I'm a sucker for happy endings.

All the content I post for them in this account can be found under the #💙! daiggie tag! If for some reason you're not sick of them (ily) I have posted a few of my stories about them in my writing account @mahs-dumpster <3

The dividers for this post can be found here.

#💙! daiggie #twst #twisted wonderland #oc x canon #ruggie bucchi x yuu #i will eventually proof read this #but not now lol #anyways uhhh #ill be doing this for my other ships sometime #leobelle's probably up next

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wreckedandpolemic · 23 days

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thinking about white and gold and their first holiday together... they have at least a fortnight (knowing matty) all to themselves, freedom to do anything they want... what's the vibe

ooh yes this is good mads i love your mind !!! this happening relatively early into your relationship because we know how fast these two move lmfao maybe that couple of weeks after new year’s where it’s kind of just bitter and miserable outside. you’re in matty’s lap in the living room, sighing wistfully at the pool outside. what’s the matter, darling?

s’just a bit shit outside, you mutter. i miss the summer. matty’s typing away at his laptop out of your view, his free hand rubbing soothing circles into your thigh. you got anything important planned in the next few weeks? you shrug, don’t think so.

good, matty beams, turning his laptop screen to you happily, a confirmation email displayed on the screen. two weeks in the mediterranean enough to cheer you up? and of course, you roll on top of him, thanking and kissing him excitedly. pack light, okay? wanna spoil you while we’re there. immediately, you proceed to show him just how grateful you are (and maybe join the mile high club on the way there teehee)

the cottage matty’s booked for the two of you in rural southern italy is absolutely gorgeous, light and airy, all white stone walls and tiled floor. you change out of your airport clothes into something more fitting; a tiny, white sundress and nothing else but a pair of alexander mcqueen sunglasses. draping yourself in matty’s lap, you all but moan at the sight of him in just a pair of loose linen trousers.

mmm, what are you feeling like getting up to today? matty asks, cupping your jaw and kissing you softly. oh, a nice walk on the beach, a candlelit dinner, getting fucked dumb by my daddy, maybe a little swim? you tease, savouring matty’s sharp intake of breath. in no particular order.

needy girl, christ, matty mutters, shifting his hips under you. grabbing his hand, you slide his fingers up your thigh to your naked core. made it easy for you, daddy, you grin. he pulls the straps of your dress down, kisses, licks, sucks at your tits and slowly frees his cock, lets you bounce on it just how he likes. that’s it, sweet girl. make daddy feel good, yeah? your eyes are rolling back in your head in pleasure, matty’s fingers digging into your hips as he circles your clit. you come with a wail, matty following a second later.

sweaty and panting, you laugh into matty’s neck. think we need a shower, now. obviously, you fuck in the shower, then matty eats his cum out of you, then you suck him off as thanks. so, all in all, you only really have time for dinner before it gets too dark. it’s lovely, perfect really, matty gazing at you adoringly over the rim of his wine glass (despite your scolding him for ordering red wine and fish.) your italian is… passable, and you apologise profusely for his faux pas.

you go for a moonlit walk along the beach, his hand warm in yours and the sand soft under your feet. you stop for a little kiss by the water, trading murmured i love you’s before wandering back to your cottage… where matty eats you until you literally cannot take it any longer and absolutely soak his face.

the next day, you’re intending on getting an early-morning swim in before you start your day - there’s a practically private beach next to where you’re staying, so you might as well take advantage. matty foils your plans by being so fucking turned on at the sight of you in a red bikini that’s more string than anything that he begs for you. so you have a fun little morning with him at your mercy instead <3

then, you go for a wine tasting, heading home a little tipsy and laden with every bottle you’d even nodded at. you finally get to go for a swim, teasingly splashing matty when he joins you for a bit. not fair, you’re tanned already, you pout. you look so fucking sexy, you add, and he grins wickedly. that grin is fatal, and you end up blowing him in broad daylight on the beach teehee

so yeah it’s a lovely, slutty, sun-filled holiday that you wish would never end <3

#it hits september and im like Wow i wish i was on a beach in europe somewhere #preferably with white and gold matty #matty healy x reader #matty healy smut #toomuchracket #mutuals <3 #writing #blurb #smut #white and gold

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absolutebl · 9 months

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This Week in BL - Top 3 Are HEATING UP

Organized, in each category, by ones I'm enjoying most at the top.

Dec 2023 Wk 2

Ongoing Series - Thai

Honestly, 3 are neck & necking for top position! They are all so good in different ways. But The Sign had me hooting with laughter this week, so it scooped #1.

The Sign (Sat YT) ep 4 of 10 - This show is literally everything (except straight) all at once. It's BL, queer, band of brothers, romcom, erotica, paranormal, fated mates, mystery, suspense, slasher, and horror. It’s the king of genre mash-up chaos. I have no idea what I’m watching but I’m ON this ride. Is it a roller coaster? Is it a haunted house? Is it a twirl & hurl? Is there candy floss? Am I even tall enough? Who tf cares. All through the second scene, I was laughing. It was legit funny. Billy has great comedic timing. Guess he’s not just a pretty face.

Everyone should be watching this. Sure, it's madness but there is genius in it.

Last Twilight (Fri YT) ep 6 of 12 - Yech. August may be one of GMMTV’s least likable characters ever (and that is saying something). Meanwhile, MOAR language play! They spoiling me!

Mhok letting Day go then walking away at the party hurt so bad.

Argh this show is great!

Ep 6 so that kiss was right on schedule. I’m looking forward to the boyfriend eps before doom & pain in the new year. Carry on GMMTV.

Speaking of...

Cherry Magic (Sat YouTube) ep 2 of 12 - Oh they’re great. It’s great. It’s paced oddly, moving quickly through most of the key scenes of the original JBL in these first 2 eps. I think it’s intending to encompass more of the manga series than that one did. Which is good, cause that will get us all the way to The Library Kiss (TM). It's the best kiss in the manga. I also like the sides in this show (better than the JBL version).

My Dear Gangster Oppa (Thurs iQIYI) ep 8fin - What a lovely slightly unhinged little show. Tew, can we talk? Un-ironic suspenders, that takes courage. Also, the revolver was a crazy gun choice.

Final thoughts:

This show is just as ridiculous as its title. About a gaymer who falls in love with one of his in-game teammates, who just happens to be a IRL gangster. A real gangster, the kind that actually kills people regularly. The lead pair is doing their best with a ridiculous story and shoddy script, but I enjoyed it. Although I was grateful it wasn’t very long, what we got was oddly satisfying if, frankly, a little bit silly. Recommended. 8/10

That said, what's important about this BL is not the show, but the production and style. Let me explain... no, too much, let me sum up.

This is a chimera BL. Regarding characters: it has Japan's style otaku + Korea's style gangster + Thailand's style friendship group. It used Thai talent + Korean money (Kakao) & IP (adapted from a manwha) but aired on a Chinese channel globally (iQIYI). I'm delighted by the eclectic insanity of this production and truly doubt that any other genre but BL could ever produce like this. It's like diplomat's BL and it's the great wonder of our age that it happened at all. This BL deserves its place in the history books on production alone, even if that place is only in the footnotes. A remarkable little monster.

For Him (Thurs iQIYI) ep 3 of 10 - The sides are… messy. Using the same actor for the old bf is… odd. But in the end, this show leaves me smiling. Which means, I like it despite myself.

Bake Me Please (Mon Gaga) ep 4 of 6 - It's decent. It’s basically what I wanted Antique Bakery to be when I first watched that way back when (not to mention Bite Me). But there’s been so much BL since then that, for some reason, this is falling flat. I think it’s moving too fast for a Thai series. Although, say what you like, Ohm has to be one of the best soft kissers in the industry. He's just good at mouth tenderness.

Ugh, that doesn't sound right. But you know what I mean.

Twins the series (Fri GaGa) ep 7 of 10 - I love how First is so upset when Sprite starts chatting and being nice to Koh. Sprite is just a sweet easy-going likable boy. I enjoy Sprite as a main character, he’s a bubbly little communicator. And they had a cute kiss.

Pit Babe (Fri iQIYI) ep 5 of 14 - Because there was more Alan and Jeff and they were more key to the plot I was more into this ep. I do compare it to green smoothie down the pants in the Trash Watch.

Cooking Crush (Sun YT) ep 3 of 12 - Look OffGun are truly great. But I’m just not sure we need them in BL anymore. That said, it’s nice to see Off as "the one with the crush" for a change. Also, this show is only good when OffGun are on screen together, otherwise it kinda, well, sucks.

Night Dream (Sat YT) ep 1 of 6 - Cafe setting featuring a cook and a writer. *Seems awfully familiar.* Except these two are exes and this is a reunion romance. It’s stiff and very pulp but not bad (no crap sound effects) and I am a sucker for a reunion romance. That said, Rookie Thailand is not to be trusted, proceed with caution.

Absolute Zero (Weds iQIYI) ep 12fin - I'm grateful this is over. It was tense but for the wrong reasons - sadness and confusion. This final episode was fine, but that’s because it was mostly them being together + flashbacks. Plus all the familiar actor faces of the grown-up friends (hi, Karn my lovely, still stunning I see). But 2 of 12 episodes is not enough for the 10 of suffering and confusion that came before.

In conclusion:

A man is killed on his 10th anniversary resulting in a time paradox, for which the only solution is him never meeting his childhood sweetheart until later in life. Both lovers cycle back to the past at different ages, so that they each become their own 1st & 2nd great loves, but every time it ends in pain, until each also endures 10 years of separation. Finally it gets fixed, but leaves them with multiple memories of time's failures like temporal PTSD, and everyone around them has chronic deja vu. Me? I got both. This is one of those BLs that is high-quality with great acting but poor story. If you like your BL dwelling, maudlin, and tense due to angst and suffering, then you might enjoy this. But I just regret it, 6/10. Recommended only if you like confusing time travel emo pain.

In which case, just watch Tokyo in April is... instead. Give over Thailand, Japan does it better.

Middleman’s Love (Fri YT & iQIYI ep 6 of 8 - While our main couple isn’t working for me... the side couple isn’t working for me either. I really wanted to give LeoTai a chance, this is the 3rd show I’ve seen them in, and still nope. I like Jade a lot more when he’s sad. He’s a much more pleasant screen experience depressed. I would like him to stay hurt for a couple of eps, just so I can enjoy this show a tiny bit more. But then he just goes unhinged again. Argh. I just don’t like it.

My Universe (Sun iQIYI) Pisces of Me ep 17 of 24 - Codependent boyfriends in middle school planning for high school dealing with stuff. Including other boys being into them.

Playboyy (Thurs Gaga) 5 of 14 eps - Dear Playboyy, it's not you, it’s me… I hate you. You’re about as deep (and as palatable) as a shot glass of cum. While I'm sure you’re someone’s kink, you're my weakest link. Goodbye. DNF

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

VIP Only (Taiwan Fri Gaga) ep 5 of 10 - It’s cute but I don’t think BL in this short format is Taiwan’s strength these days. And this is quite slow and dull. Perhaps they should have whacked it down to 6 eps, not 10.

Sahara-sensei to Toki-kun (Japan Fri Gaga) ep 3 of 8 - This is one of those JBLs that I should like on paper but is failing me. The drag bit was ridiculous but handled gently. The kiss was… well… something wasn’t it? It’s all very odd. I like the photographer cutie character.

It's Airing But...

The Whisperer (Sun ????) 10 eps - Thai horror BL that ALSO involves cheating (what joy is mine). I don't think even the perfect single dimple can motivate me to watch. Word is... it's terrible.

7 Days Before Valentine (Weds WeTV) 10 eps - Giving me Luminous Solution vibes. I'm waiting to binge if it's safe.

Beyond The Star (Weds iQIYI) 8 eps - House of Stars meets Boyband. I was NOT impressed with ep 1. Been told I shouldn't bother.

What Did You Eat Yesterday Season 2 AKA Kinou Nani Tabeta? Season 2 (Japan Gaga) 10 eps - I find this series more fun to binge, so I'm waiting until after it completes its run next week.

Dear Kitakyushu (Thai/Japan movie) in theaters in country only, I know nothing about distribution.

Behind the Shadows (Korea movie) this is a historical I was interested in, but I've been told they kill the gay so I'm OUT.

Next Week Looks Like This

Still coming:

12/23 Dead Friend Forever (Thai horror) iQIYI

Original 2023 forthcoming BL master post (see comments, some are inaccurate, NOT KEPT UPDATED). With the end of the year upon us I'll do an "announced for 2023 but never happened list" soon.

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

He so pretty.

I forgot how likable TayNew are, and frankly I think New is a better version of this role for me, personally. I like him a lot. He's a conscientious sweetheart. And a good egg. (Cherry Magic)

Ah the rooftop my old friend. (Last Twilight)

I would like to point out that it's no accident the naga's sex dream happened in the shower, he's a water creature after all. (The Sign)

(Last week)

#the sign the series #was very hot this week #this week in bl #bl updates #Last Twilight #Thai BL #cherry magic #my dear gangster oppa #my dear gangster oppa review #for him the series #Bake Me Please #antique bakery #twins the series #cooking crush #offgun #Absolute Zero review #bl reviewed #bl reviews

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dreamingnights · 8 months

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Subtle games (part 1)

Larissa Weems x fem!reader

Author's note: this fic is based on the idea about Larissa and an innocent clumsy adorable Reader. English isn't my first language, so sorry for any mistakes! Enjoy, I hope you like it!!!

Warnings: none.

Y/N couldn't walk. The gray monsters were chasing her through the long passageways of Nevermore and her legs weren't moving fast enough to escape from their shadows. She could even feel the warm breath of the creatures at the nape of her neck just before she fell into an absolute void.

Her own screams woke her up but Y/N quickly realized that she was perfectly safe in her room's comfortable big bed. She had had another nightmare. When she calmed down she turned her head and tried to decipher with half-closed eyes the time her clock showed. Half past seven, she thought. Half past seven! She was going to be late for the staff meeting again. Y/N quickly sat up, cleaned herself up and put on her academy uniform at lightning speed. She left her room slamming the door and went down the stairs -two at a time- until she reached the small kitchen next to the meeting room, where she quickly made herself a strong coffee. At the precise moment when she was about to enter the adjoining room, where the weekly session was held, someone closed the door in front of her and the content of the coffee cup fell down due to the loud bang. When she saw the huge brown stain on her new shirt Y/N cursed outloud. However, she thought it was better to show up like that than to change clothes again, arrive embarrassingly late and make a fool of herself in front of her imposing boss. So, Y/N gathered all her courage and opened the heavy door to the office.

Nine serious faces stared at her from their seats. They were all the teachers of Nevermore, the school for outcasts. Y/N was the newest addition and she taught art and literature classes. She, like all of her students and mates, also had special powers. In her case, she was able to fleetingly give life to her own creations, something that could turn out to be her best dream and also her worst nightmare when her characters returned to their original inert state on the blank page of a book.

Nevermore's headmistress was Larissa Weems, a tall woman with platinum hair who wore a very elegant green suit. As usual she was the one who was in charge of the meeting.

- You're late again, Miss Y/L/N. -Larissa sighed. Later she looked at her stained uniform and drew an incredulous smile. -You have a curious sense of aesthetics. Anyway, take a seat.

- I'm sorry, Miss Weems. It will not happen again. -A blushed and hyperventilated Y/N sat next to Mr. Vlad, the fencing coach.

During the course of the meeting Y/N gradually regained her composure and then explained the challenges posed by the new semester at the academy. Y/N could even see an almost imperceptible smile forming on Larissa's lips as she listened to her attentively. Or maybe she was imagining it again, Y/N thought to herself. She had to get the diligent headmistress out of her mind once and for all because if she didn't her vivid imagination would play tricks on her again. Despite being aware that her crush on Larissa was almost certainly platonic and unrequited, she couldn't help but be enthralled when looking at her. Her incredible height, her silhouette, her cold eyes and her red smile haunted her every day like the monsters in her nightmares. And she couldn't escape from her either.

-Miss Y/L/N. What do you think? I'm very interested to know your opinion on this matter. -Larissa's soft voice brought Y/N out of her fantasies.

Wow, it's time to improvise again, Y/N reflected. She knew that they were still talking about the same topic and used her ingenuity to try to get out of the situation.

- You have a golden beak, Y/N. -Larissa praised her, showing off her perfect pearly teeth. -Your wisdom and inventiveness never cease to amaze me.

Hearing the compliment that came from Larissa's lips, Y/N couldn't help but blush and emit a sincere and wide smile at the same time. This reaction did not go unnoticed by the headmistress, who found it tremendously moving. Larissa suddenly looked at her companions and radically changed the subject. She couldn't be so unprofessional and show that deep down the young teacher Y/N Y/L/N was her little weakness.

After an hour of proposals and debates Larissa ended the meeting. Y/N was about to leave the room when she noticed the shadow of the tall woman closing over her.

- Y/N, could I speak to you in private? -Larissa asked politely as she tilted her head.

The young woman got lost in the woman's blue gaze and once again she had to rid those longing fantasies away from her mind. After all, it was a passing infatuation resulting from her dreamy nature.

When the two women were left alone in the large office, Larissa gently placed one of her long hands on Y/N's shoulder, who seemed to perceive a tender admiration in the headmistress' eyes. Suddenly, Y/N noticed a certain electric tension in the air and thought it was strange that her bodies were so close in such an empty room.

- I always appreciate your original point of view, Y/N. Thank you for helping me make this school a better place for the entire Nevermore family. -Larissa spoke those words lovingly as her hand rested on Y/N's shoulder. - And in case you didn't know, you are wearing your jacket backwards.

Y/N got a goofy smile etched on her face. How was it possible that she had not noticed this detail? She was sure Larissa thought she was a total mess.

Although for Y/N the day had only just begun.

#larissa weems #larissa weems x reader #principal weems #gwendoline christie #wednesday

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dreeki · 2 months

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ᯓᡣ𐭩.ᐟ ⊹ my best friend's brother. [part 1]

pairing: bsf's brother!jake x f!reader

warnings: loser jake(not so loser, i don't know how to write jake as a loser... sorry), sunghoon is jake's brother and a year older than him, jake and y/n are the same age

syn: your best friend is busy with uni while you start your senior year of high school. what happens when your unexpected study partner turns out to be his brother?

note: not proofread! hope you like it 🙌 leave your thoughts in the comments pls!!

☆ you and sunghoon became friends during your freshman year of high school, despite being a year younger than him. he was the one that welcomed you to the unfamiliar place and the two of you bonded quite fast. ever since then, he would always hang around your house and you spent almost all of your time with him, whether you were celebrating an achievement or trying to comfort each other. neither of you liked to talk about your families, feeling like the topic would sadden the mood, thus why the only time family had been brought up was when sunghoon mentioned that he has a younger brother that is currently living in a different city, due to their parents being split up, each taking one of the brothers to live with them. he rapidly showed you a picture of his brother, jake, but you could barely catch a glimpse of his face before the photo was snatched out of your line of vision.

fast forward to the summer before senior year, you and sunghoon were still close friends, not even noticing that the boy had graduated high school already, since his university was in the same city. you would still regularly hang out and chat daily until your bodies would remind you it's time to rest. many people wondered how the two of you were so close, yet weren't dating; neither of you have ever thought about it. your relationship with each other just wasn't that way. you were simply good friends and you had always been grateful for that.

two weeks before the start of your final year of high school, sunghoon told you that his younger brother is gonna move back in with him. "why now though?" you asked a bit confused. "jake said he found a really good university here and thought i'd be easier for him to move now, rather than next year" "oh.. yea, sure, it makes sense" and that was the last conversation on the topic.

assignments had started to get sunghoon stressed once the first year of university started. he was extra busy now, making it harder for you to communicate the same way you did during summer break. of course you weren't going to blame him; you could imagine how hard uni was and how it must be so exhausting for him, especially as a first year student. you were just a bit bummed that you hadn't had the chance to meet his brother yet. sunghoon mentioned that he wanted you to meet jake at a fancy dinner, so now you had to wait until your best friend was finally free from the hell that university is.

senior year wasn't as bad as you expected. yes, the teachers wanted more from every one of you, but it was honestly less stressful than what you thought it was gonna be. since sunghoon was currently drowning in books, you decided that spending more time at the library, studying, will help you a lot too; getting better grades and filling the hole left by sunghoon's abscence. it was also nice that you got to see the handsome face of an unknown boy every time you studied there.

the third week after school started, you could almost swear that your physics teacher was trying to kill you with the amount of homework she gave you weekly. that particular wednesday though, it was worse. you spent a few hours at the library trying to finish your work but it was just way too complicated for you to finish it by yourself.

that's when you noticed the handsome boy was also doing his physics homework; the only difference was that he seemed to know what he was doing... without even wanting to, you had been staring at that boy for a good 3 minutes now, thinking how god was so unfair. "why not me?!" you squealed before you could stop yourself. looking around to see if you had disturbed anyone you notice the boy looked up at you with puppy eyes, confused as to why you seemed so distressed.

he tried to get back to his assignment but your sighs and cries were a bit too distracting. that's when you were suddenly approached by the handsome stranger. "hi.." he awkwardly said. "i couldn't help but notice that you seemed to be struggling with your paper, no?"

damn it. now pretty boy knows you're not as good as you try to make yourself look. "haha.. yea.. physics just isn't my best suit, you know." "totally!" he looked so dreamy with his long brown hair and cute black glasses sitting perfectly on his gorgeous gorgeous nose; you felt as if you were admiring a sculpture. "did you hear what i asked?" huh?? what did pretty boy say? "haha" he chuckled softly with a slight smirk on his face. "pretty boy asked you if you needed help with your homework" the mortified look on your face looked like it was taken straight out of a horror movie. "oh no. i'm so sorry. i did not just say that out loud, did i?" "i'm afraid you did, but don't worry, i think.. you're pretty too" and that's when your brain started short circuiting.

"i'm jake by the way!" jake? like sunghoon's.. nahh. "i'm y/n!" "oh! pretty name for a pretty face" you looked baffled "wha-" "sooo.. did you say you needed help with that?" "yea.. yea.. that would be really great actually!" and that's how you got yourself a studying partner.

if only you knew what was waiting for you in the future...

a/n: thank you so much for reading!! 🫶 sorry for not making this only one part but it's actually taking me longer than i expected to write this 😭

#enhypen #enhypen jake #sim jaeyun #enha jake #enha #enha x reader #jake x reader #enhypen imagines

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bella-rose29 · 1 year

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How's your sister?

Nikolai x f!Verkov!reader

Nikolai falls in love with his best friend's sister, much to Dominik's (apparent) annoyance.

I've mixed stuff from the books and from the show which is why they're Verkov's (I don't think Dominik has a last name in the books but someone let me know if he does).

This is also an apology for Golden Boy (please forgive me, part two will be out soon).

Word count: 3k (It wasn't meant to be this long I got carried away oops)

Warnings: mentions of being shot, people getting punched (really only Nikolai, poor guy), swearing, a very fast-moving relationship at the end

Tag list: @bubybubsters, @hauntedenthusiasttragedy, @karensirkobabes, @kentucky-criedfricken, @notoakay, @naushtheaspiringauthor, @el-de-phi, @simbaaas-stuff

Nikolai met his best friend when he was 9 years old.

He didn't know it at the time, but Dominik would be his rock in the tidal wave that was life at court, and the two boys would be inseparable, no matter how far they were from each other.

They were sat in class, Dominik terrified of every movement, jumping and startled at any loud noise or harsh word, and when Nikolai's misbehaviour led to Dominik's pain, the prince knew that he had to change his attitude, the kindness in his heart outweighing his love for pranks. After that day, Nikolai was the perfect student, attentive and listening, although he quickly became friends with Dominik, creating a secret code to talk to each other in lessons, and spending the rest of their time running around in fields with the each other, covering themselves in dirt and grass stains.

When the two boys were 12, Nikolai had his first proper family meal at Dominik's house. He had snuck out in the evening, going unnoticed by everyone, and knocked on their door. Dominik had answered, giddy with joy that his friend had made it, but embarrassed at the state of their farm compared to the luxury that Nikolai was used to. Nikolai didn't mind at all, complimenting every detail and feeling more at home in this run-down house than he ever had in the palace, and Mrs Verkov's cooking was so good he thought he might have died and gone to heaven. He did the washing up, despite the family's protests, then reluctantly let Dominik help with the drying. His older brother was soon to go join the army, as Nikolai found out that night, and Dominik was worried for his safety.

It wasn't until years later that Nikolai would be able to help their family, but for now they were the ones helping him, giving him an escape and a place to just be himself (although Dominik's parents kept calling him 'moi tsarevich', and refused to use any other name).

One summer evening, the boys now 14, Nikolai was having dinner with Dominik's family again, laughing as he set out the cutlery and joking with his friend. A knock sounded on the door, startling the prince and making him drop a fork. Dominik rushed to the door, practically bouncing off of the walls, and as he bent down to retrieve the implement he listened to the sound of excited voices by the door. He had barely finished standing up and brushing the dust off of his knees when Dominik returned, pulling a girl along by her hand and chucking her bag in a corner.

"Dom! Be careful with that, it's got all my stuff in it!" she scolded lightheartedly, and Saints her voice was the most magical thing he had ever heard. She poked his friend in the side, laughing when he recoiled, and Nikolai decided that her laugh was even more magical than her voice.

"Oh, this is my friend, Nikolai," Dominik said, gesturing towards the golden haired boy. "Nikolai, this is my sister, Y/n. She just got back from boarding school in the south." Nikolai stared dumbly at her, face going pink. She was beautiful.

"Hi," she said, sticking her hand out. He took it, offering a shaky smile.

"Hi," he replied. "Wait." He furrowed his brow. "Are you sure he's your brother? Because I'm not seeing any resemblance here. I mean, you're gorgeous and he's... Dom." At her laugh, he flushed more deeply, and realised he was still holding her hand. It was warm, and soft, and he never wanted to let go.

She leaned in close, speaking in a loud whisper. "I'm fully convinced we're not actually related and he was swapped with my real brother, because you're totally right, I am stunning."

"You know that I can hear you both, right? I am stood right here. But please, by all means, go ahead." A wicked gleam entered his expression, and he opened his mouth to speak again. "Maybe I should talk about the time that Nikolai-" he was cut off by a hand slapping over his mouth, eyes going wide with silent laughter as he took in Nikolai's panicked expression.

"Please. I'm begging you, no embarrassing stories." Dominik nodded, still holding back his laugh, and Nikolai slowly removed his hand.

"I'll consider it. I'm expecting you to make it up to me at some point, you bastard."

"Language!" his mother shouted from the second room, and all three of them burst into giggles, with Y/n snorting loudly. "Dinner's ready too!" They made their way to the table, Nikolai engineering it so that he was sat next to Y/n after getting another set of cutlery for her. They talked about anything and everything, learning things about each other and pelting mash at Dominik when he commented on how close they already were.

"How come you go to boarding school?" he asked at one point, curiosity getting the better of him.

"My aunt is on the governor's board, but she refuses to send us any money. Luckily for me, she believes that 'all young ladies should have a proper education'," - at her fake posh voice, Nikolai laughed - "so she convinced them to take me in on a scholarship. Don't have to pay for a thing."

When dinner was over, washing up done and goodbyes said, Nikolai didn't want to leave. He'd had fun, more than he had in a while (which had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that he had a crush on his best friend's sister), and he knew that tomorrow would be gruelling, filled with meetings and extended time with old ministers. The walk home was cold, the sun having set hours ago and clouds covering the night sky. When he went to bed that night, he couldn't stop thinking about Y/n.

~~~

The next time Nikolai saw Dominik, he immediately asked "How's your sister?" and his friend groaned.

"No, absolutely not. I am not doing this with you," he wagged a finger in Nikolai's direction, walking off in the direction of the lake, the prince jogging to catch up.

"Not doing what? I'm just asking a question," he said.

"You're not though, because I saw you the other night, chatting her up and everything, and as much as I love you, Nik, I also love my sister."

Nikolai spluttered, searching for the right words to convince his friend that his sister was Nikolai's soulmate (maybe a little over the top, but then again Nikolai was always one to have a flair for the dramatic).

"I was not chatting her up! And if I was, I would have done it so well we'd already be married, thank you!"

"You have far too much confidence in your abilities, Nikolai. You were chatting her up, and you were doing it badly." They reached the lake, sitting down on the grassy bank and going silent for a few minutes. Dominik sighed. "She's fine, if you must know. Asked where you were yesterday, since we were having a whole family meal again."

"Really? She asked about me?" He perked up at that, mind already racing with thoughts of her.

"Yes, she did. But not in a 'I want to marry him' way, just in a 'I'm a nice person and I'm curious' way, so don't get your hopes up." Nikolai nodded, smile on his face. He couldn't stop thinking about it all day, or the next, or in fact for the rest of the week, and when he next saw her, he'd planned everything out so meticulously, nothing could go wrong.

~~~

He face-planted in front of her.

He hadn't meant to, obviously, but he'd been distracted at seeing her in the Palace gardens, and had lost his footing, tripping over his own feet. She'd seen him walking and waved, shocking him and making him fall.

Rushing over and very clearly trying not to laugh, she helped him up, asking if he was okay.

"I'm alright, Y/n. Thought I was going to step on... a frog," he winced at his terrible excuse, then at the state of his clothes (state: covered in mud), but she didn't seem to mind. "How come you're here?"

"School trip. Something about how one day we'll all be in court if we're lucky, and marry rich. Personally I think prof just wants to get a good look at all the fancy women, since he's apparently a 'ladies' man'," she jabbed her thumb over her shoulder as she gestured to her teacher and Nikolai laughed. "Are you sure you're okay? Can't have been a soft landing."

"Seriously, I'm fine. I've had worse, like when Dominik shoved me in the river that one time."

"Well, as long as you're alright. Wouldn't want to damage your pretty face now, would we?" she said, then turned and walked off, a skip in her step as she rejoined her friend. He stared at her retreating form, blush creeping up his neck and onto his face as he took in her words.

Did she just...?

How come he was the hopeless one, and she was the one flirting? He chalked it down to the fact he'd fallen over, and wasn't quite himself because of it, then brushed himself off slightly and kept walking.

~~~

When Nikolai was 16, he was obligated to take his year of service in the army, and Dominik went with him. Instead of taking the usual position of power, Nikolai joined the infantry, becoming a normal soldier with the people of his country and building up connections with them.

For the past two years, every time he had seen Dominik (which had lessened the past year after Dominik's family were banned from the Palace) he had always started off with the question "How's your sister?" and although he had said it was just a joke now, Dominik knew his friend better. He always rolled his eyes in response, and eventually smiled about it too, after the night before they left for the army.

Nikolai had come over after the celebration at the Palace, sneaking out in the dark despite having been caught by Vasily the year before, not needing light since he knew the way like the back of his hand. Arriving at the farm, he knocked on the door, catching his breath for a moment.

He promptly lost it, however, when Y/n answered the door, juggling the handle and a towel as she dried her hair. She'd been back at school the past two years, staying there over the summer, so he hadn't seen her, but Saints, had she gotten more beautiful? She'd clearly just washed her hair, robe tied tightly around her and her hair wet and limp around her face, but Nikolai couldn't help but think of her as stunning.

"Are you going to come in, or keep standing there with your mouth open?"

He quickly shut it, then the door behind him, blushing (he seemed to do that a lot around her) at having been caught. He could never tell if she felt the same way or if that was just how she acted, but he hadn't seen her with anyone else to know.

"Aren't we all banned from seeing you, or something?" she asked, and he nodded.

"Everybody's having a party about me being sent off into certain doom, so it was easy to get out. I won't stay long, I just wanted to see your parents before I leave tomorrow."

"Well we're all in here, sorry about this," she gestured to herself. "Just had a bath since I got back from school about an hour ago. Carriage was boiling, I was practically sweating my tits off in there." He malfunctioned slightly as he tried to not think of her in the bath (it didn't work), laughing belatedly at her final comment. She looked at him weirdly, smiling in confusion, then moved into the family room.

"Nik! What are you doing here?!" Dominik jumped up, swiftly embracing his friend in a hug so tight he thought his lungs might burst.

"Couldn't resist. Besides, how's your sister?" the last part was whispered, a smirk on Nikolai's face.

"Why don't you ask her yourself, dumbass, given she is also in the room."

"Ask who what?" Y/n piped up, picking up on the fact the boys were having a conversation.

"Yeah Nik, what did you wanna ask?"

"Oh, just... How are you, Y/n? Haven't seen you in a while, is all. You still look gorgeous, by the way," he finished with a wink, revelling in her faint blush and small laugh.

"Thanks, Nik. I'm alright, school's horrible, though. Not that I'm complaining, mother, I just don't enjoy having to sit with a pole up my back for 10 hours every day." Nikolai and Dominik winced at the idea, and the prince could sympathise. He'd had the same training when he was younger, and eventually it got so bad he sat with such perfect posture the broom was never seen again (and definitely not because he'd burned it).

Dominik's mother stood, wrapping Nikolai in a hug similar to the one he'd received from her son not too long ago, and Nikolai mourned his possibly bruised ribs. His father did the same, slapping both boys on the back and congratulating them, wishing them the best.

Nikolai sat with them for another twenty minutes (at the request of Mrs Verkov, and he couldn't really say no when she presented a cup of tea), then got up to leave, saying his goodbyes to Dominik's family and promising to find his friend tomorrow.

"I'll walk you out," Y/n said, and he followed her out to the front door, waving at her parents and Dominik.

She stood nearby as he shrugged his jacket on, then as he turned to leave, she pulled him into a hug, and he realised she was crying.

"Promise me you'll be careful?" she sniffed, wiping the tears off of her cheeks when she pulled back from his chest. He moved her hand away, brushing his thumb over her face in a softer attempt to remove the tears.

"Promise."

"Okay. You'll... you'll come back to me- to us, right? Alive and in one piece?" His heart leapt at the idea that she wanted him to come back to her, and he nodded, hand still holding her face.

"Alive and in one piece. I'll come back to you, I promise." She nodded, then hesitated for a split second before pushing herself up onto her tiptoes and kissing him on the cheek.

"I'll see you in a year then, Kolya." And she turned and walked back into the other room.

"See you in a year," he muttered, fingers pressing to the space where her lips had been.

~~~

When Nikolai returned from the army, he redoubled his previous efforts to get the court to like him, becoming even more charming and likeable than he had been before. He told himself it was because he was the spare, and therefore needed some way of garnering support within a group of people that were more likely to favour his brother, but really it was because he'd heard that Y/n was getting married.

He hadn't seen her since he'd come back, but when he had met up with Dominik a few days ago, he asked his usual "How's your sister?" expecting the normal rolling of eyes and vague response. Instead, he received a wary look, and the knowledge that she was engaged. Nikolai had gone numb inside, and had thrown himself into becoming the person that court wanted him to be, all the way up until he had gone to University.

Running away and becoming Sturmhond was one of the best decisions he had ever made, but he thought about Y/n every day. Sailing the True Sea had been a dream they'd had together, and now that he was doing it without her, he couldn't help but feel the pang of longing for her company, married or not. He couldn't bring himself to find out anything about her life, not wanting to die of heartbreak when he found out about her incredibly handsome husband, their five children and a dog (maybe a little dramatic, but still).

Then Alina Starkov had turned up, and turned his world upside down.

After spending time with her hunting the Sea Whip, he figured that a back up plan would be needed, and decided that an alliance between the Lantsov throne and the powerful Sun Summoner would be beneficial. She would make an excellent leader, and in time he was sure they could grow to love each other.

Then he'd had to reveal his identity when they crash landed in the Ravkan first army, and she'd punched him in the face.

Dominik came over, laughing at his friend who was now clutching his nose, but bringing him into a tight hug all the same.

"Long time no see, how have you been?" he asked.

"Oh, same old, same old. Sailing around, destroying enemy ships, tracking mythical sea monsters, the usual. How's your sister?"

Dominik rolled his eyes, a smile forming on his face. Nikolai had told him that Y/n had kissed his cheek when they were in the army, gushing about it and how hopeless he was, and Dominik had agreed. It wasn't long after that his friend, albeit reluctantly, decided he wouldn't mind having Nikolai as a brother, and had warmed up to the idea of his best friend and sister being together.

"She's alright. You could always ask her yourself, though." Nikolai frowned, not understanding his meaning.

"Why do you want to know about his sister?" Alina cut in, still mad about the betrayal but curiosity outweighing it.

Dominik laughed. "Because he's hopelessly in love with her. Seriously, I can't get him to shut up about how she's 'the most beautiful girl I've ever seen', or how 'she's the-'" Nikolai shoved him, and Dominik stopped talking to prevent himself from falling over, breaking off into more loud laughter.

"Shut up," he muttered, face going red. Alina was smirking, and had apparently (for now) gotten over her earlier fury. "What did you mean, ask her myself? She's off in some country house with her rich husband, isn't she?"

"Nope. Never actually got married. Not when he found out I didn't like riding a horse sidesaddle."

Nikolai whipped round at the new voice, then stared in shock at the woman in front of him, looking somehow even more beautiful than the day he'd left her.

"Y/n," he said, the word spoken almost like a prayer. "You're... you're here. Wait, why are you here?" She laughed lightly, and Saints he'd missed that sound.

"Joined the army. As a medik, don't worry. I'm not actually on the front lines or anything, I just stay back here, tending to the wounded. Speaking of wounded people, who punched you? Because your nose is bleeding a little bit."

"I did, sorry," Alina spoke up, and Y/n just smiled, shaking her head.

"He probably deserved it, to be honest. I don't know what he did, but I'm sure I would have done the same."

Great, now they were bonding over the desire to punch him in the face. Y/n walked over, using a scrap of cloth to wipe the blood off his face, then throwing her arms around him in a hug.

"I've missed you, Kolya."

"I missed you too."

She pulled back, inspecting his face for a few moments. He was nervous, butterflies fluttering in his stomach as he realised that the last time they'd been this close, she'd kissed him on the cheek. He didn't have to worry about that this time, though, since she pulled even further away, and before he could miss her warmth, she slapped him.

"What was that for?!" He held his face for the second time in the last ten minutes, looking at her incredulously as she stood with her hands on her hips.

Pointing a finger at him, she said "For getting shot, you dipshit! And for leaving without telling me, and for never writing!" Before he could apologise, however, she brought her hands up to his face and kissed him on the lips. He froze, arms hanging in the air awkwardly and eyes open wide, then relaxed, bringing his arms around her waist and closing his eyes as he kissed her back. He was just about to slip his tongue in when a very obvious cough sounded from his left, and he reluctantly pulled away to see Dominik watching with a disgusted look.

"If you're going to suck face, please do it where I can't see you. I do not need to ever see my best friend and my sister making out ever again, thanks." He shuddered, then pretended to gag.

"Okay," Y/n replied, and before Nikolai could do anything, she'd grabbed his arm and was dragging him off to a tent. When they were inside, he realised it was her tent, seeing the little decorations that were so completely her. She stopped abruptly, causing him to crash into her back. "Shit, sorry, I didn't think I was gonna have anyone in here, to be honest, so it's a mess. Let me just-"

"Darling, you know I've seen Dominik's tent, right? This is perfection compared to the mess he creates," Nikolai cut her off, stopping her from tidying the space. "What was the kiss for?"

"You- what?! Saints, Nikolai, I thought you were meant to be smart?" She pinched the bridge of her nose. "Because I love you, idiot. I always have." He gaped at her, before remembering himself and closing his mouth.

"You have?"

"Yeah. Dom was pissed when he found out I liked you, though. Not sure why, given how close you two are. Thought he would have been glad to have you as an official member of the family, as an actual brother. But yes, I have loved you since that night we talked about what we would do if we were free, and you spoke about it as if we were both going. I knew I was a goner then, because of how easily you talked about your future as though I would always be a part of it. So yeah, I love you, Nikolai Lantsov. That's what the kiss was for."

"I love you too. I would have taken you with me, on the True Sea, like we'd planned, but I thought... well I thought you were married, so I didn't ask. Also it wasn't really planned, I just had an opportunity so I took it and-" he was cut off by her mouth on his, and she was smiling into the kiss.

"I get it, Kolya, you don't need to explain, alright? But next time I'm expecting an invite, no excuses."

"Of course. I love you," he said again, smiling broadly. He would quite happily spend the rest of his life telling her those three words over and over again, doing nothing else, and having no regrets. The next two words that came out of his mouth he hadn't planned to say, but they happened anyway.

"Marry me."

She froze in place, and Nikolai worried that he'd gone too far, opening his mouth to take back the words.

"Yes."

Now it was his turn to freeze, seconds later breaking into a grin as he picked her up and spun her around, kissing her when he set her down.

"Wait," she said, brow furrowed, and his heart skipped a beat in fear. "What about the court? They'll never accept me."

"I don't care. I love you, and I'm not wasting another minute of my life being without you. Besides, it'll be good for them. It's not like you're uneducated, you went to a fancy boarding school. And if that's not enough we can come up with some bullshit story about how we're marrying to 'unite the different classes of Ravka' and it'll be beneficial for keeping the 'commoners' on side," he used the same fake posh voice she had all those years ago at the dinner table, and she giggled, nodding as he made his argument. "We'll know that we're marrying for love, and so will the people that most matter, like your family. They're the only opinions I care about, alright?"

"Alright." She was smiling widely, joy written all over her face as she took in his words. Seconds later, fear crossed her features. "Oh fuck."

"What? What is it?" He panicked, thinking she was already having second thoughts.

"Dominik. He's going to freak out when we tell him. Poor boy can only just handle us kissing, what's he going to do when we're married?" Nikolai laughed, loud and booming, hands coming to hold her waist.

"He'll just have to deal with it. He dealt with all the pining for years, I'm sure he'll be fine."

"Pining? You were pining for me? Aw, Kolya, that's adorable!"

"Yeah yeah," he grumbled. "Like you weren't also pining for me, darling."

~~~

When they emerged from the tent a while later, holding hands and blushing, speaking to each other in soft whispers, Dominik could only smile affectionately, having overheard the whole conversation.

"Idiots. I've been planning this wedding since they met."

#grishaverse #netflix shadow and bone #nikolai lantsov #nikolai lanstov x reader #nikolai x reader #nikolai lanstov x y/n #nikolai x y/n

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sissylittlefeather · 1 year

Text

This is the Story

Chapter 3

A/N: I'm sorry this took so long. I had a hard time getting this one down. Special thanks to my besties @elvisfatass and @ccab for helping me with some ideas! I know this one is a sloooooowwww burn, but I'm enjoying the ~tension~ and I hope you are too!

If you're new to the series, this is about the OC Grace Dubois, an author assigned to ghost write a book for Elvis in the fall of 1973. Read the first two chapters here:

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Warnings: none really, smoking and cussing, but that's about it. It'll get spicy eventually!

Song inspo:

******

He swallows the lump in his throat and looks towards the door. He has to find a way to get her to come back.

******

"Frank, I'm not going back. You should've heard the shit he said to me." Grace sits in the little office across the desk from her editor, cigarette in hand. It's been three weeks since she came home from Vegas. She's spent the majority of that time playing with Wendy and trying not to think about Elvis. He's tried to contact her several times, including a few phone calls, cards in the mail, and flowers twice. The message is always the same: "I'm sorry. Please come back."

"He actually asked us to have you return. He wants to continue working on the book." Frank looks at her apologetically.

"I'm not going back to Vegas." She insists. He shakes his head.

"He's asked you to meet him in Memphis when he comes home next week. I recommend you do what he's asking." Grace looks up to the ceiling and curses under her breath. She doesn't want to see Elvis again, but it looks like there's no way around it.

******

Elvis is in the TV room when Jerry comes in.

"She's here."

He tries not to sit up too fast or appear too eager, but his heart races and his breathing picks up. It's been almost a month since he read her notes about him. He hasn't thought about much else, despite the shows and the parties and the girls he's occupied himself with.

He nods his head and walks out to meet her. When he sees her in the foyer, standing awkwardly with her purse under her arm, he has to stop and take a deep breath. She's wearing the brown pencil skirt again with a light blue button-down shirt. Her hair is pulled up in its signature style and her glasses have started to slide down her nose. He also notices a sheen of sweat on her forehead. Despite it being September, the weather is unusually warm. Still, even though she's sweating, he's attracted to her.

She's looking into in the living room and hasn't noticed him standing next to the staircase. He can't believe how seeing her again is impacting him. Why? She is not anything that he's looking for in a girl. First of all, she's not even a girl. She's a woman. That alone makes him nervous. And she's a mother. Normally, that would bother him, but with her? It's the opposite. It feels like she can understand his love for Lisa and he appreciates it.

"You're here." She whips her head around to him.

"Yeah, I was told I didn't have a choice." Her words sting a little, but he can't really blame her considering their last encounter.

"Well, I appreciate that you came, even if it's not your choice." He tries to keep his voice even, matching her chilly demeanor.

"Let's go to my office." He turns and gestures for her to walk up the stairs in front of him. It takes everything in him not to watch the back of her skirt as it moves from side to side with her hips. He clears his throat and tries to gather himself when they reach the landing at the top. He points to the office and she walks in, sitting in the chair across from the desk. Once he's settled in the one behind the desk they make eye contact, each waiting for the other one to speak.

"So-"

"What-"

They start talking at the same time. He chuckles awkwardly.

"Go ahead."

"Thanks. So, you wanted to talk more about the book?"

He swallows hard. Not really, but if it gets her back here then he'll let her write whatever she wants.

"Um, yeah. I figured we had a good start before... well, before."

"Yes, so we had gotten up to just before you were drafted. However, I seem to have misplaced my notebook, so we might have to go back a bit."

"Oh, I-I, well." He opens one of the drawers of his desk and sets the notebook down in front of her. Her eyes widen.

"Did you-"

"I didn't read it." He lies. It's better to let her think he has no idea what she wrote about him. And technically, he didn't really read the notebook. She flips through it and he prays she won't notice that the little notes are probably in the wrong place. She doesn't seem to, though, because she accepts it from him without commenting.

"Thank you."

"I tried to catch you as you were leaving but you left in such a hurry..."

"Yes, well, I was pretty upset." He looks down at his hands, unsure of how to respond. He keeps his head lowered as he speaks.

"I know. I'm sorry. What I said was uncalled for and mean. And I'm sorry." He looks up at her and meets her eyes, searching for a sign of how she's going to take his apology. She's difficult to read, though.

"I appreciate that and I'm sorry too, Mr. Presley." His heart sinks. This might be harder than he thought. But he's not exactly one to back down from a challenge. Especially one as rewarding as this one could be.

"Thank you. So you want me to start with the army?"

"That's what comes next, I believe."

******

As he talks, Grace notices that he's not quite as animated in his storytelling as he was the last time. But she's having a hard time paying attention anyway. What if he read her notes? Would he figure out how much she had liked him before? It doesn't seem like anything is out of place, but it's been so long it's hard to know for sure. But surely he wouldn't have asked her back if he did. This man views her with little more than contempt. She knows she's only here to satisfy the Colonel. If he had read her notes, he would've sent her packing and never wanted to see her again, she's sure of it.

"And then my mother..." His voice catches and he trails off and looks over to the side away from her. She forgot that talking about the army means talking about his mother's death. He sniffs and rearranges himself in his chair, still not looking at her. Inside, her icy demeanor melts. Seeing him so affected has her wishing she could walk around the desk and comfort him. She doesn't. But she wants to.

"Your mother got sick." He looks back at her. The softness in her voice seems to have caught him off guard.

"She did. So I came home. And-" He cuts off again and looks up at the ceiling. She can tell he's trying very hard not to cry. Again, she's overwhelmed with a need to hold him in her arms and let him feel the sadness fully. Instead, she reaches across the wide desk and puts her hand on his. When he looks back down at her, she's just as shocked as he is. This is the first time she's really touched him, aside from the handshake on the first day. The feeling of her hand on his is electric and her heart jumps. His mouth drops open a bit and she pulls her hand back quickly.

"I'm sorry."

"No. It's okay." It seems like he wants to say more, but he doesn't.

"Maybe that's enough for today." She needs to get out of this house before she does something she will regret. She stands to head for the door but he stops her.

"Oh, wait, I have something for you. Or, rather, for your daughter."

"You have something for Wendy?"

"Yes." He pulls a pink envelope out of the desk drawer. "It's from Lisa Marie."

"How does your daughter know about my daughter?"

"Because I told her. She has a hard time making friends because of, well, me. We can't just invite anyone over here."

"Invite? Is this an invitation?"

"She just wants to meet Wendy. I thought she could be a safe friend for Lisa." Grace looks at the envelope in her hand and feels her cheeks flush. It has "Wendy" written in kindergarten scrawl on the outside. How he managed to remember her daughter's name, she will never know.

"Yeah, okay. I'll see if she's interested." The prospect of coming back here for something that isn't work related terrifies her, but Wendy struggles to make friends too, with her mom working so much.

Once she gets out to her car, Grace looks again at her notebook and then at the envelope. This Elvis Presley is far more complicated than she thought.

******

When the door closes behind her, Elvis leans against it and sighs deeply. His mind is reeling from everything that just happened. First, she called him "Mr. Presley." Then, she seemed to melt a little when he talked about his mother. He didn't do it on purpose. That's just how thinking about her makes him feel. But she seemed to be affected by it somehow.

And then she touched him. He's not sure if she felt the electricity too, but based on how quickly she pulled her hand back, she must've noticed something.

He lays his head back against the door and closes his eyes. What kind of hold does this woman have on him? Does she feel anything for him other than disdain?

"You good, boss?"

The sound of Jerry's voice jolts him back to reality.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm alright." He walks back down to the TV room. Hopefully, she will accept the invitation to bring Wendy over.

******

"Mama, pleeeeease. She asked us to come swimming. I love swimming. Can we please go? Pleeeease?" Wendy begs Grace. She had originally intended to say yes, until she realized the invitation, which appeared to be written by Elvis but dictated by Lisa Marie, said "swimming". She also made the mistake of not reading it before she gave it to Grace.

"Wendy, I don't know. We barely know these people. And you've never even met Lisa."

"Mama, her name is Lisa Marie." Wendy has chosen a side. She will be Lisa Marie's friend whether she likes it or not. Grace knew it was no use arguing at this point.

"Alright, we'll go."

******

On the Saturday of the big swimming play date, Lisa Marie is bouncing on the balls of her feet, looking out the window for her new friend. Elvis feels the same kind of nervous excitement, but instead sits on the piano bench with a cigarillo that he's smoking way too fast. He tries to play something to calm himself down, but he can't focus enough. What if she changes her mind? She had called to confirm several days ago, but things happen. Just then, he hears her car coming up the drive.

"Daddy, they're here!" Lisa Marie squeals with excitement. Elvis tries to temper his own excitement and casually walk to the front door. When he opens it, though, Lisa sprints out to the car. Wendy jumps out and they greet each other with a hug like they've been best friends for years. He hears them chattering about the swimming pool as he opens Grace's car door for her.

"Oh, thank you." She seems surprised and he's not really sure why he did it.

"Is it okay if I park here?"

"Of course. Come on in." He wants to offer her his arm like they're in some Victorian novel, but he realizes how strange that would be and instead settles for walking beside her. The girls are already both in their bathing suits, so they move through the house quickly to the yard where the pool is.

"Can Wendy swim?" Elvis asks.

"Yes, she's had lessons."

"Good. Should we sit by the pool?" She nods. They walk through the doors to the outside. The weather is perfect for laying out and for the first time, he's glad for the hot September they're having.

As the girls get in the pool, Elvis and Grace settle on the chairs. He's wearing a robe over his swimming outfit that he takes off before sitting down. He can feel her eyes on him, but he's not sure why she would be looking at him. Once he's comfortable, he tries really hard not to look at her while she slips off her cover up. He was right to want to see her legs on the first day. They're slender and shapely and coppery tan from a summer spent in the sun with Wendy. She slips off her sandals and her feet are just as beautiful as her legs. Her black bathing suit accentuates her curves and he has to actively look away to keep his eyes off of her breasts. Seeing her like this takes his affection for her to a whole new level. He prays she doesn't notice the physical effect she's having, even though his shorts won't conceal much. He pulls his robe across his lap, just in case.

"So, how are you liking Memphis?"

"Oh, aside from the weather, it's fine. Wendy seems to like her new school. Thank you for arranging that, by the way." He had enrolled Wendy in school and set Grace up with an apartment, so she could stay close and finish the book.

"Oh, you're welcome. Thanks for coming today. I really wanted to... keep working on the book." He stopped himself just in time from saying that he really wanted to see her again.

"You want to talk about the book now?" She raises her eyebrows.

"N-no, not really I guess." He looks over to the girls, who are taking turns jumping into the pool and giving each other scores on how big the splash was. "Can you believe how well they're getting along?" He nods his head to the girls. She smiles.

"I'm afraid Wendy is a little friend-deprived too. She was so excited to meet Lisa."

"Lisa was excited to meet her too. We have a hard time finding people who take the time to get to know us for who we really are." He says we but he's talking about himself now. When he looks over at her, she has her head cocked to the side with a soft look on her face.

"What?" He smiles.

"Nothing. You're just... not what I expected." She says with the same soft look.

They continue talking about everything and nothing and he's surprised at how easy it is to talk to her, even outside of the context of talking about the book. He also listens eagerly as she speaks, loving the sound of her voice when she's passionate about something. They connect on topics like books, spirituality, family, and music. When the girls decide it's time to go inside, he's reluctant to let the conversation end.

"Why don't you girls play in Lisa's room for a while?" He says, not breaking eye contact with Grace. She nods.

"Go on Wendy." They run off to play and Elvis takes her on a tour of the house. He lightly touches the small of her back to lead her from one room to another and again the contact sends sparks all through his body. They end the tour at Lisa's room and there really isn't much reason for them to stay, other than he just wants them to.

"Mama, look at this!" Wendy comes running up to Grace with a toy in her hands. It's a little mock movie camera that plays actual short movies when you crank it. "Will you get me one of these? Please?"

"Oh, honey. It's very neat, but I don't think we could afford it at the moment. Now, let's say goodbye to Lisa Marie and Mr. Presley."

"Aw, Mama, do we hafta?"

"Yeah, sweetie, I think it's time." She turns back to Elvis and smiles. "Thank you for having us over."

They all make their way down the stairs and to the front door. When they get there, Elvis searches desperately for a reason they should stay, but can't come up with anything. Wendy and Lisa Marie embrace again with promises to see each other soon.

"Thank you for coming." He wants to hug her or kiss her cheek, or not her cheek. Still, he knows anything more than a handshake is inappropriate. But when she puts her hand in his, he lifts it to his lips and kisses it softly before he even realizes what he's doing. She freezes, her eyes widen, and her cheeks flush.

"Goodbye, Elvis." She practically whispers, her hand still in his. Finally, they break apart and she and Wendy make their way to the car.

******

"Lisa Marie is my best friend." Wendy is chattering in the backseat, full of excitement about the day. Grace can't stop thinking about the day either. The way he looked in his shorts, how easy it was to have a conversation with him, when he touched her back as they toured the house, and the kiss. Every time he touched her, there was some kind of fire, but the feeling of his lips on the back of her hand sent lightning bolts from her fingertips to her toes. She shakes her head, trying to remove the fantasy of what his lips would feel like on other parts of her body. This can't happen.

******

Grace continues going to the house everyday to talk about the book. Nothing of note really happens and she starts to think she imagined everything at the play date. Then, on Friday, she comes home to a large package that's addressed to Wendy.

"Mama, what is it?"

"Well, let's open it and find out!" As Wendy rips the paper off, two cards fall to the ground. The first is for Wendy from Lisa Marie. Grace can tell by the handwriting on the outside. But, the second has her name on it in Elvis's script. She is so distracted by the card that she isn't paying attention to what's in the box.

"Mama LOOK!" Wendy squeals. It's a toy movie camera just like Lisa's. Grace's heart skips a beat and she tears open the card.

Grace,

I hope this is okay. I enjoyed our time together last weekend. I'd like to do it again sometime.

Yours,

Elvis

Grace stares at the way he signed the note: Yours.

If only.

******

Chapter 4 coming (hopefully) soon!

Taglist:

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