#this might make being in my human flash prison worth it

[honeybeezgobzzzzz]

⚡ At War With Love

At War With Love: You, the companion and girlfriend of one Harrison Wells, haven’t exactly been honest with your friends, or your boyfriend. As it turns out, your secret isn’t a secret to all, and the man you thought you were dating has been keeping secrets of his own. 

Warnings: Language, Wound Description. 

To Note: Eowells x FemaleMeta!Reader.

Word Count: ~3.4k

You were still yanking your wrists against the restraints holding your arms to the chair long after Barry had run off with Professor Stein. He hadn’t known you were being held too and you figured that your friends were only now starting to wonder where you had gone. Well, you at least hoped they were wondering. You weren’t exactly sure where your worth as Harrison’s… companion, lay, amongst Team Flash. 

Looking down at your bloody wrists, you bit down on your lip at the sight of your cut skin. Your ability to regenerate was quite slow, so the cuts in your skin were in various stages of healing making you had been held prisoner for weeks, rather than six long days. Discoloration was scattered all along your wrists and forearms. The broken skin looked worse.

To be honest, you looked a lot worse than you had been dealt with, mainly because you had put up one hell of a fight when they took you, and not once had you made anything easy for them. Breathing as a fresh wave of pain cut further into your arms, your eyes lifted from your body to look at Eiling who was currently in the process of pouring himself a drink. 

“I’d pour you a glass, but you have proved to be far too much trouble to wander around free, Miss Y/L/N,” Eiling said as he recapped the bottle. You glared at him before yanking at your wrists some more, splattering more blood on the concrete floor beneath you. “Though your healing abilities might prove useful.”

“Doubtful, I can’t control it,” You spat back with a growl. "How useful can it be?"

“I'm going to go out on a limb and guess your friends don’t know about it, do they…” Eiling guessed, your flinch told him that he had guessed correctly. 

“Doctor?” 

The doctor you had seen hanging around walked forwards with a big nasty needle in hand and a betadine scrub in the other. Your eyes went wide and you started struggling more, yanking hard at your wrists. 

“No need to struggle,” Eiling spoke up as two soldiers walked over and put their hands on your shoulders, shoving you forwards in your seat to expose the back of your neck. “We just need some of your lymphatic fluid. If we militarize your healing factor, our soldiers will be that much better, nearly indestructible. Consider it your contribution of humanities greatest invention.”

Gasping and jerking against the hands holding you forwards, you found your struggles a fruitless task as your hair was shoved to the side and the betadine scrub was brushed over your neck. Nails curving into talons, your nostrils flared as your heart raced in your chest, the anticipation building. The moment the needle entered your neck, you felt sharp pain and your limbs twitched. 

A small whimper slipped from your lips and feeling the needle slide further, you dug your fingers into the chair until you could feel your fingernails breaking. A heavy wheeze flowed from your open mouth when the needle stopped going in and you could feel it pulling liquid out. That made you twitch even more against the hard hands holding you down. 

“And that’s what we need for now,” The Doctor said before yanking the needle out. Letting out a grunt, you shook off the hands on your shoulder while feeling fluid dribbling down your neck. You didn’t know what it was but you had a feeling that it was either blood or something much worse. 

“You know that they are going to find out that I’m missing eventually, right?” You croaked out, lifting your head to glare into Eiling’s eyes. 

“Oh I’m counting on it, you see, you are also my insurance that Wells continues to cooperate with me, you’re my way of keeping him in line,” Eiling said before picking up his glass and looking at the doctor. “Tell me what you find, if we can synthesize something that helps speed up healing. I want to know what makes her tick.” 

“Understood.” You drooped where you sat, dejected and wondering if you were going to end up as a lab rat because of some weak meta power you had gained. There was a sound of retreating feet and you knew you were left to bleed in your chair. Considering that you already had wounds your body was trying to heal, your neck wasn’t going to close up anytime soon.

A drop of what was oozing from your neck slipped around to the side and dropped from your skin, hitting your exposed knee. It was red, you think you prefer blood to spinal fluid. The ache in your wrists went onto the back burner, your neck burning in pain and echos of the needle jabbing in on replay in your memories. You trembled in place.

You chose to stare at your leg, watching the occasional red drop of blood slide from your neck and splash against your skin. Ever so slowly the frequency of the splashes slowed down, indicating that your healing was kicking in. You didn’t know how long you sat there, slumped over, your head hanging down as your predicament really started hitting you. 

You were the perfect lab rat for Eiling, a solider with self-healing capabilities was a better, faster, more robust soldier. No doubt the doctor would find some way to enhance the speed of healing, and as long as they had you, they would have an unlimited supply to test on. Softly groaning, your fingers twitched as a peculiar numbness started taking over your body. Were you going to pass out because your body was overwhelmed with things to heal? Perhaps, and maybe that would be a relief. You were hungry, so hungry, and the bags of saline occasionally pumped into you did little to curb the raw hunger in your stomach.

While you were trying not to wallow in self-pity and break down in tears because you truly were expendable… you heard electronics in the room crackle for a moment. Lurching your head up in confusion, because the last time you had heard that, Barry had entered the room a few seconds after, you looked around. Surely Barry hadn’t come back… had he? Your eyes blinked in confusion as Eiling picked up on the fluctuation as well. He didn’t even get out one word before he was gone, his glass shattering on the floor and the liquid splashing on the floor.

A gasp just barely slipped through your lips. It didn’t take your brain long to connect the dots, but what was he doing here? Dumbly staring at the broken glass as the soldiers in the room started muttering between themselves, you didn’t have to wait long for something to happen again. The crackle happened once more, and with your mind just barely registering that the restraints had been removed, you found your sluggish and limp body swung up into a pair of deadly arms. 

Whimpering out in pain at the sudden movement, you blinked hazily at a vibrating yellow suit and then red eyes. Despite your lethargic state, you were still freaking out on the inside. Yellow suit, Reverse Flash, pretty sure that was a bad thing? What did he want with you? Lying limp was all you could do while cradled in his arms, any movement you did only seemed to inflame your neck. One lethargic blink and the world was moving. Squeezing your eyes shut, you tried to ignore the sudden roll your stomach made at the movement. You had always hated it when Barry zipped around with you but at least now you felt so weak the thought of throwing up seemed the least of your worries. 

It seemed that just as quickly as the movement started, it came to a stop, causing yet another wave of nausea to briefly run through your body. Groaning softly as your stomach threatened to rebel, you felt your body being set down and your limbs flop around. You forced yourself onto your side to huddle in a small, trembling ball, pulling your torn-up wrists to your chest to fully hunker down. 

Leather fingers gently brushed your messy, greasy hair away from your neck and your automatic response was to whimper and shrivel. Nothing was jabbed into your neck again and a rather light touch brushed along the aching skin. Flinching slightly, you forced yourself to turn your fearful eyes to the glowing red ones of the Reverse Flash. 

“I was wondering where you had gone to, you aren’t one to wander or disappear,” His garbled voice said as he crouched down so you were at eye level. “I should have known Eiling would have gone after you.” 

“Why?” You whispered out weakly. Leather gloves were soon plucking one of your wrists, raising it to reveal your discolored skin and lines of scabbed over cuts. 

“Your gift of healing is quite valuable, Y/N,” You didn’t have the energy to question how he knew your name, or how he had come to find out about your healing factor. The Reverse Flash always seemed to know everything.

“It’s slow and I can’t control it, how is that valuable?” 

“It might not be powerful now,” He responded before his body stopped vibrating and he was pulling the cowl down. Your eyes widened as your next breath caught in your throat and you choked on it. Harrison smiled gently down at you. “But it will be.” 

“I don’t understand and I’m not sure I want to,” You croaked out while Harrison ran his thumb along your uncut skin. You should be feeling a multitude of emotions right now, but all you felt was exhaustion and emptiness. 

“I know,” Harrison said with a light smile, the smile not reaching his eyes which were storing with intense thoughts. “We will talk, Y/N, when you are feeling better. Try to get some sleep.” 

You would have snarkily shot back that how could you possibly sleep after being held captive for a week and then finding out that he was the Reverse Flash, but all you wanted to do was sleep. So that’s what you did.

You woke up curled up on your side with a blanket carefully tucked around your aching body. The aches in your body were nothing new, they always appeared when you had to use your healing abilities extensively. It sucked and you felt like a zombie for the days afterward. At least that feeling was also shortening in duration. Perhaps it was getting better.

Slowly lurching your tired body into a sitting position, you looked to the nearest window, it had been nighttime when Harrison had rescued you. Now it looked like it was late afternoon, maybe early evening. You had slept the day away. 

Holding out your right wrist while clutching the blanket around your shoulders, you looked at the fading marks from the restraints. Dried blood was smeared all over your skin, but the area around it looked well on its way to being fully healed. You lowered your arm and looked down at your leg peeking out from underneath the blanket. That too was smeared with blood. You were a mess, an absolute mess… and yet you barely had the energy to care. 

You tentatively reached out for the floor with your bare toes, intending to get to your feet and hunt down a certain man that had a lot of explaining to do. Standing up wasn’t exactly effortless, and several grunts and soft noises escaped your mouth before you stood hunched over without swaying side to side. 

Tottering over to the door with the blanket dragging behind you, you pulled it open and blinked when you were greeted with the familiar sight of Harrison’s house. You followed the hallway to the main area of the house. When in doubt, you would find Harrison somewhere on the first floor. Hopefully…

You reached the stairs and carefully started shuffling down them, using one hand to grip the railing. It was slow going, your legs still feeling quite wobbly underfoot but you managed to get down the flight of stairs without tripping and falling the rest of the way down. Your feet hit the first-floor marble, it was cool against them and soothed the aching feeling that dug deep into the pads. 

The first thing you picked up on was the lovely smell of freshly brewed coffee which made your feet start heading in the direction of the kitchen, blanket still dragging behind you. You walked through the hall of glass walls and tentatively emerged in the sleek, modern kitchen.

“How are you feeling?” You blinked at that mundane question before slowly tilting your eyes to the floor and shrugging half-heartedly while tightening your fingers on the blanket around your shoulders. “Y/N, I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what happens when you heal.” 

“I get sore,” You answered in a quiet, scratchy voice. “And my energy is drained, I sleep a lot, and I look sickly. It doesn’t feel good.”

You heard the sound of a chair soft scraping on the floor as he got to his feet. Your eyes stayed trained on your feet. You saw his feet come into view and seconds later fingers were gently pulling your chin up so you had to look him in the eyes. 

“When was the last time you ate?” Harrison questioned, you pressed your lips together before responding. 

“What day is it?” He let out a sigh at your question before guiding you over to the dining table. 

“Sit, I’ll fix you something to eat.” Slumping in a chair, you pulled the blanket further around your shoulders and buried your chin and mouth in the soft fabric. Your pretty sure you fell back to sleep sitting right there because one moment you were staring at the tabletop… and the next fingers brushing hair out of your face were drawing you from sleep. 

You jerked ever so slightly where you sat and stared at the table in front of you where a plate of the leftover pasta dish. With Harrison's proclivity to pull all-nighters, you always made several freezable meals for him in advance. This had been one of them. 

“Eat,” Harrison said while holding a fork out in front of you. Your hand appeared from your swaddled mess of blankets and gingerly took the fork from him. Slowly, you started picking at the food in front of you. 

Your eyes stared at the bathwater that was slowly turning pink from the dried blood on your body. You had food in your stomach, had slept some, and yet all you did was sit in the bath staring at the water with a vacant look. Your eyes drifted to your wrists and the fading bruises, the only evidence left of being tied up.

You suppose you should be feeling more than you currently were given the situation you had been in twenty-four hours ago. Pulling your knees towards your chest, you wrapped your arms around your legs and stared at your fingers. Soft blue light flickered between your fingers, fuzzy and unstable. 

Harrison reentered the bathroom, a change of clothes in hand. He paused for a moment before setting them on the counter and walking over to the side of the tub. A soft blue glow was sparking between your fingers. Your powers. They would manifest much quicker now. Harrison knelt next to you and reached over to take one of your wrists. 

“You are supposed to be washing the blood off.” He commented before taking the washcloth you were supposed to be scrubbing the crusty dried blood from your skin. “Y/N,”

Your blank eyes slowly lifted to look at his. 

“He did a number on you, didn’t he,” Harrison continued as he took your chin in hand and brushed his thumb over your lips. This was the first time he had ever seen you so out of it, so listless, almost broken even.

“He wasn’t going to let me go,” You finally responded numbly. “Not with my power at his disposal. He wanted to use me to make his perfect soldiers.” 

“Eiling won’t be a problem any longer, and he certainly won’t ever be setting eyes on you again.” He told you sternly, darkness flashing in his eyes. “I will make sure of that.” 

“Why?” 

“I protect my own, Y/N, you are mine, and mine alone.” He answered simply before running the washcloth along your bloody skin. Your brain didn’t have the energy to mull over his words any further as Harrison continued to gently scrub the dried blood from your skin. The water changed to a darker pink color as the blood was washed from your skin. 

Through your numb state and zero reaction to cleaning your body up from the mess, Harrison never once used more than a gentle touch. 

“I always found you and your gift to be stunning,” Harrison went on, slowly drawing the washcloth over your shoulder to clean the trails of dried blood from your neck. All that remained from the needle mark was slightly redden skin. “That’s what drew me to you, in my time, you are legendary.”

He went on to explain who he really was, and how he had gotten trapped in the past. Your numb state took it all in without reaction, and when he started washing the dirt, sweat, and grime from your hair, you stared up into his face. 

“For someone so brilliantly smart,” You started, blinking up at him. “I don’t understand how you could have ever been fascinated with someone like me.” 

Harrison’s lips twitched into a soft smile as he pulled the extra shampoo from your hair. He then pulled the drain on the tub and got the faucet going once more. 

“I wanted to know who the legendary woman idolized in my time was as a person.” He explained while running a hand underneath the stream of water. “And believe me, I have not been disappointed. You have no idea how bewildering it was to me when you of all people agreed to date me.” 

“Do you know how bewildering it was to me that someone like Harrison Wells would even give me a second glance?” You muttered underneath your breath as he started running the detachable showerhead over your hair. “If you haven’t noticed, I bumble around a lot, not exactly ‘legendary’. I’m mundane, boring, o one ever noticed me.”

“Maybe not now, but you will be.” He answered as he continued to wash the soap from your hair. Eventually, you were finally clean from your week-long captivity and Harrison was wrapping a towel around your body and pulling you back to your feet. Somehow, you found the will to change into the clothes he had grabbed from the stash of clothes you had kept at Harrison’s house when you stayed over. 

Dressed in a shirt and shorts, and with your hair hanging limp but clean around your shoulders, you crawled into the bed you had shared with Harrison. Only one thing was on your mind. Sleep. Curling up on your side, you allowed yourself to succumb to the strong urge to hibernate until your energy was replenished. 

You wish you could have said that your sleep was peaceful, but for some reason, Eiling’s face echoed in your subconscious and phantom pain from your previous injuries and torture pulsated underneath your skin. You found yourself thrashing among twisted sheets, your heart racing like never before as you nearly hyperventilated. Hands were grabbing at your flailing limbs and preventing them from flying about while noises of panic and desperation passed through your lips. 

“Y/N, wake up.” A strong voice said, jarring you out of your nightmare. "Y/N!"  

Eyes flying open as you gasped on air, your fear-filled eyes met Harrison’s blue ones before daring around, looking for danger.  

"You're safe, you're safe," He said gently as you shook in his arms like a leaf. Your lips pressed together as you tried to stifle the whimpers pouring from your mouth. You slumped against his chest and tried to control your rapid and heavy breathing. While you slowly drifted back to sleep, Harrison ran his fingers through your wild bedhead. One last thought entered your mind before you truly slipped back under.

You definitely still had feelings for Harrison, but knowing that he was the Reverse Flash changed everything. Was it even safe to be near the man that you had been dating for a long time? He said that he wouldn't let anything happen to you again, but would you eventually need protection from him?

You were at war with your love. Who was going to come out on top? Your love for Harrison? Or your love for your friends? 

Date Published: Heck if I Know

Last Edit: 6/22/23

EoWells Masterlist

The Flash Masterlist

[besidesitstoowarm]

"The Parting of the Ways" thoughts

[BASS BOOSTED] AND SO WAS I!!!

and thus we say goodbye to our friend and lover, christopher eccleston, never to return. i'll write a longer separate season retrospective but suffice to say i'll miss him dearly and wish we had more time with him. i'd trade all of seasons 2 and 9 for a few more stories with eccleston

so this is like, iconic doctor who material. not as flashy as i remembered, mostly tense, lying in wait for salvation that might never be coming (and never will). i totally forgot about the god-emperor and for some reason remembered this being davros (i forgot a lot about this story. i might be stupid.) watching this finale reminded me of watching s10 when it aired and thinking "fucking capaldi, strutting his stuff and flexing just when he's on his way out" like fucking eccleston. flexing hardcore JUST in his last ever story. he was amazing all season but "doesn't it just burn when you face me" god he's manic

the god-emperor gathering "the prisoners, the refugees, the dispossessed" for centuries to "pulp and sift" their bodies is like, profoundly disturbing and fascinating as a concept. one cell in a billion worth anything. i would love to know what that looked like. did they convert people, or steal them? murder them and use their meat, or torture them? it's serial killer logic, take the people who won't be missed. i would read a novel about that, idk if any have been written. they blow past that line pretty quick (and we get more dalek-human hybrid stuff later in the show) but wow what a concept. my favorite thing in any story is the "underdeveloped concept" i will pick at it like a loose sweater thread until everyone around me is exhausted by me. dalek jack the rippers out here

when they head back into the tardis all swagged up and nine just leans his head against the door as soon as it closes while "exterminate" echoes outside, you can feel him flashing back to the war. such a good little soldier

kissy kissy. i somehow forgot jack kisses both of them, we love a bisexual king

do we want to take bets on when this message to rose was recorded? i personally think after "world war 3" when the doctor was really FORCED to come to terms with knowing he might be the reason rose dies, and how jackie would never forgive him. i think "emergency program one" and the idea of saving the tardis from the wrong hands is a fairly recent thing, watsonian-wise. it sounds like a post-time war thing, bc there are no more laws, no safety net

"that's the decision i have to make for every living thing" god you can tell it just WEIGHS on him. this is such an atlas story, rose is the herakles trying to carry the weight for him except here he comes back and takes the world back himself without being tricked. god

"have you tried that new pizza place on minto st" "what are they selling" "pizza" mickey and jackie are so funny i want to throw up and die. this scene made my boyfriend say out loud "rose is a bad person when it comes to mickey huh" like yeah. yeah. i like rose a lot but wow poor mickey. "there's nothing left for me here" "nothing?" "no." cold as ice

i forgot that rose tells jackie about meeting pete. great reactions from both of them, great moment. jackie showing up in the big ass truck reminds me of barbara in "the daleks" idk if that was intentional but i choose to believe, jackie gets a lot of barbara energy to me

rose kind of does to the tardis what she did to the dalek, she's just... infectious. she insists on being in the world and being a part of it, to the point of corruption. it's very doctor-lite, it's a more understated version of the arc they try to give clara later. i like it a lot, she becomes part of the story in a very literal way, more so that (i think) any companion had been up until that point. new who companions are under different rules and expectations. that's why we'll probably never get a future/alien/historical companion again except as part-timers. kind of a bummer in that sense

"i want to see you become like me" babygirl he already is. you're both each other, hanging on past the point of extinction, damaged and destroyed and monstrous. the difference is that he has friends and you have subjects. you became a god and he became a coward

"coward, any day" is a great line but also like. he MEANS that shit. this isn't just the doctor risking his own life– sacrificing himself– it's him sacrificing EVERYTHING. EVERYONE. he can't pull the lever, he can't beat the trolley problem. the daleks WILL kill everything in existence, but HE CAN'T PULL THE TRIGGER. he's a soldier, he will die in battle. he should have died already so he's ready to die now, he sacrificed EVERYTHING if it meant destroying the daleks, and he failed, and he's ready to go. he's not dying to stop them, he's dying so that he doesn't have to see what they're going to do. it's profoundly sad, profoundly selfish, and i'm not saying i blame him but i don't think we ever really see him make this kind of choice again. there's always another way out, they stop the bomb from exploding at the last second time and time again, but i don't think we ever see him just... give up like this again. it's such a uniquely NINE thing to do, it fascinates me. incredible moment, i want to inject it into my veins

and then of course we get the famous bad wolf. welcome back to the world jack. kiss kiss i've been WAITING for them to do this ALL SEASON– brief primer on regeneration and we get his last words. "so was i." finally after 13 episodes of prickly secrecy, self-loathing to the point of rage, he can admit "i did something right, i did my best, i did good" and he's earned it. you were absolutely fantastic, nine

[westrangecountry]

Review: The Nice House on the Lake Vol. 1 (2021-2022) by James Tynion IV & Alvaro Martinez Bueno

Comic writer James Tynion IV first came up on my radar through an 8 page back up for Scott Snyder’s Batman run. The story was a series of characterful vignettes connecting the extended Bat-family (Robin, Batgirl, etc.) by showing the moment Batman inspired them to be a better person in some way but long before they became actual superheroes. It was effective and inspiring, and all done in 8 pages. I knew immediately either a) this is a skilled writer, or b) he got very lucky, as writers tend to do at least once, and would never do work of this quality again. 

My first experience with Tynion’s longer work is The Nice House on the Lake, not his currently more popular Something is Killing the Children, but guess what? Tynion isn’t lucky, he’s good. 

The fatiguing effects of the now overused decompressed comics storytelling, where a single conversation can be a full 20+ page issue, are not here. The same efficiency of story as with the Batman back up is present in The Nice House on the Lake, though this is not a superhero joint. This is—I think it is best described as sci-fi horror mystery.

To give you a better idea of what this whole thing is, the plot: a loosely connected group who all share one friend in common, Walter, get invited by Walter to a vacation week at a lake house. As everyone is chowing down and swimming on the first night, social media is suddenly flooded with news of mass death across the country. Less invasion, it's closer to extinction. It’s similar to a nuke attack, but stranger, leaving buildings intact but filling human beings with an intense burning feeling until their skin falls off. The skies glow cloudy and red. Walter reveals he is part of the attack and that he invited the friends he made over the years so that they would be saved in the part prison, part paradise lake house. 

This is only the first issue's worth of plot, and the mysteries only expand outward even as potential answers appear. What is Walter? What and why did all of humanity die? Why did he save them? What are the mysterious statues, like avant-grade art mixed with Buddhist temple sculptures, decorating the lake house? Why is there a stash of weapons inside the house? To find out, you will have to give it a shot yourself—the joy of discovery is strong in the first six issues of the story.

But comics are not just written into being, they are drawn, and Tynion is well-paired here with Alvaro Martinez Bueno. I have seen his past work on Batman Eternal, where he was just one of many artists, and while I don’t necessarily recall those he has a fluid take here that makes scenes flow. Hard to say without seeing a script how much of this is dictated by it, but this is a comic where each panel size and style is effective and considered as a whole. The writing alone wouldn’t carry in the hands of a bad artist. Characters are distinct, with recognizable profiles, too, which is important in this type of story: we might take a few issues to remember names and exact relations with 12-13 key characters all dropped in issue #1 but we can recognize them when they pop in and out. 

Special props must be given to the covers, also by Bueno. They have a presentation like the viewer is there with a phone or low grade DSLR and the flash on, capturing a different one of our protagonists in a normal scene with a dark twist. E.g., the first issue has a girl swimming in the lake but it’s full of skeletons. They all nicely capture the pleasant paradise of the setting with the offness that makes this horror. The voyeuristic nature of the covers also makes me wonder if they are all foreshadowing.

To say more would be to ruin the potential for new readers to discover The Nice House on the Lake, but for lovers of anything from character drama, horror, or unraveling a mystery that already has some wild twists take the trip. The commitment is just 12 issues for a complete story - due to be wrapped up August 2022 - and collected across only two trade paperbacks. It’ll just be some fun in the sun, I promise. 

Review copy provided by the publisher.

[lesser-mook]

DC HATES And Disrespects Superman

In contrast, they really REALLY want Supergirl to be relevant, to supplant him. Despite her just being a gimmick, a seasonal DLC. Every attempt to try to push her ends in a wet fizzle. Everytime.She's one of the most underwhelming characters in DC but WB can't keep her out of their mouths like she's deep or some shit. They'd sooner give us a "woman of tomorrow" movie than give Cassandra Cain or Jason, or Sodam Yat any time of the day.WE STILL haven't gotten Superboy Prime in a show, or a Starfire movie. Make that make sense to me. So on top of all of that, yea, they're going to neglect a superhero who represents the best of humanity, in an era where humanity is going to shit. And try their damnest to push the knockoff who in theory represents the same thing, just minus any authenticity because again, she's sloppy seconds, badly coped homework that the teacher wouldn't grade because it's so shitty. MOS was a mess, My Adventures with Lois-Chan was a fucking embarrassment. A rushed, wholesome piece of shit, New 52 with a side of Tumblr,  & some cameos because it can't stand on it's own two feet for obvious reasons, it's incompetent and it's garbage. *Just watch The Animated Series.* Superman & Lois, Smallville were decent. Red Son was trash. Injustice was a wet blanket. Somehow, the movie in some ways less insufferable than the comics. DCAMU had so much potential, and ended too soon. This new DC animated movie verse was basically non-existent for me, i don't give two shits. That man of tomorrow movie was a feverdream, the script had 3 things going on, didn't know what it wanted to be. Superman Returns is tricky, him leaving like that is out of character but the movie itself is more Superman than anything we've gotten since. As of 2024 *The most solid depiction of Superman in post 2000 DC, on-screen is the DCAU version.* The biggest issues there are the nerfs, but as for characterization? DCAU Timmverse pulled it off. Cause they definitely amped up his powerlevels as the seasons went on. Superman FOR TOMORROW by Lee & Azzarello. Good read. Also deals with Supes in a modern world where the old school boyscout shit doesn't always work. DC doesn't know what to do with Superman atm, because they forgot the point of Superman. Superboy prime was one of the earlier evil superman takes that worked because he was supposed to be a contradiction, a hypocrite, a glitch in the matrix. He should've been gotten a role as a game boss or something, surprised DCUO hasn't already done it, they're pushing Supergirl because they forgot that they have Superman already, you literally do not need her when Superman exists. They're trying to trivialize him by making him evil 24/7 and replace him with Kara BORE-EL or PowerTits, and no matter how hard they try and have been trying the past 10 years to do it. She'll never replace him. Never. She doesn't have the ability, and never will. She's a party trick. He's the ideal, the blueprint of modern superheroes. DC needs to remember that, they need to remember that they have THE Ultimate Superhero in their possession (until he's public domain & they might buy him again) So they need to put her lame ass to rest, and give love to better characters. Some of them queer, some of them not even humanoid. All they need to do to make Superman work, is just put him in a situation (like war world) where he's deprived of every reason to hope and through sheer will provide hope to the prisoners by never giving up. Like Gladiator but with Superpowers, Superman fighting his way back home, intergalactic action. OR? Just adapting the recent "UP IN THE SKY" story, that as a movie would be a narrative masterpiece for Supes, because that book perfectly embodies Superman. Perfectly. A race with Flash, time travel, inter-galactic battles, Superman going through hell to save one little girl, a serious question of how much one child's life is worth vs the rest of humanity- it's a good story. That is what should be a movie, that movie would fix the DC Superman problem, not entirely but it would be a reset, a needed reset.

[sam-t-a]

Okay. 

*Deep breath* 

I think I’m finally calm enough to put into words exactly why I hated the finale and why I wasn’t completely surprised that I hated it. 

(Heads-up: this is really long and pretty negative. If you disagree, I would of course appreciate your point of view and love to hear it, but just thought I’d let you know in case this is the kind of post you would like to avoid.)

To me, it felt like every character on the show got betrayed in some way or another, but the main ones are Han Seo (devastatingly), Chayoung (obviously) and Han Seok (bear with me). 

Cha Young: 

She started out as a solid FL who annoyed some people for sure, but who had so much promise as someone unconventional and bold. The way her mother’s death affected her and caused a clear shift in her personality was a super interesting plot point that really never got explored. We have no idea how she came to sacrifice her morality in joining Wusang, just that she wanted to spite her father, which is a very superficial exploration. She gets cute idiosyncrasies in lieu of an actual character and an actual character arc. 

We also, halfway through the show, seem to forget that her father's death was the initial trigger. Cha young does not suggest bold ideas or intricate plans, she doesn’t fill the gaps Vincenzo is incapable of filling (because that would require that Vincenzo have flaws, and that’s not something the writers can abide), and she’s literally victimized in episode 19 and bedridden in episode 20, and that is IT. 

Someone who started out supposedly as Vincenzo’s equal just became another piece in his chess set, no matter how important a piece she may be. 

So her role as a badass avenger is trashed. That leaves her role as a love interest. Now, as Vincenzo’s love interest, she was supposed to get kidnapped in like episode 5 or 6 at the most if the villain has any brains whatsoever (Han Seok may or may not, more on that later). We need a reason for that not to happen too early. Cue villain is somehow in love with her for all of 15 minutes or so throughout a 20-episode series because a love triangle is inconceivable with the show’s current structure and for its purposes. 

So, she spends 15 or so episodes making the first move on Vincenzo, every time, putting herself out there, creating cute moments, getting nothing in return, and then he leaves. No confession, nothing much, he wasn’t even going to say goodbye or give her the choice of coming with him. 

I’m sure more chayenzo-oriented fans have already expressed all the necessary outrage over this, so I’ll move on to the part that I’ve personally been way more emotionally invested in from the get go: the Jang brothers. 

Han Seo: 

I was among the minority that  hated the “Vinny hyung” angle from the get-go and I’ve ranted about it in another post, so I won’t get into it here in-depth, but basically it was because I felt like Vincenzo hadn’t earned it, so to have the last words Han Seo hears be “You deserve to be my brother” or whatever the fuck he was on about PISSED ME OFF. It’s VINCENZO who doesn’t deserve to be Han Seo’s brother and hasn’t done a single thing to earn it. He was a good ally. The situation he allowed Han Seo to be a part of was beneficial to him, but Han Seo’s attachment to him was neither healthy nor heartwarming, and it certainly wasn’t returned on the level he offered it.

Vincenzo’s disregard of his death didn’t strike me as odd because I never saw enough indications that this was a two-way street and Han Seo’s safety and well-being came second so often that I didn’t get the impression Vincenzo was doing much to keep him alive. This is what I meant when I said the show was glorifying a torture survivor’s trauma responses. Han Seo himself, as a torture survivor, meant nothing to them. He was just there to create one more contrived comparison between Vincenzo and Han Seok. Instead of recovering from the trauma, it’s simply employed to someone else’s favor. He doesn’t go to prison for Han Seok, he takes a bullet for Vincenzo, and we’re supposed to see that as so much better.

All of that might (JUST MIGHT) not have ruined the show for me if he’d died better. 1) It was narratively pointless and totally avoidable, 2) they could’ve framed it as heroic, but instead Han Seok’s hand patting his head is pushing it down, so he can’t even get shot with his chin up and his back straight, Taec’s already taller, so the angle’s fucked and the whole cinematography screamed “kicking an injured puppy” and most certainly NOT “survivor finally stands up to his abuser”. The final nail in the proverbial and literal coffin is that he is mourned by no one. They’re FLIRTING not 3 MINUTES LATER, it felt so tone deaf and left such a bad taste. As I said, I didn’t expect significant mourning from Vincenzo (gotta say, I didn’t expect no mourning, that was a shocker), and Cha young and the tenants had no real interactions with him and no reason to mourn him, which left only one person who could. 

Which brings me to Han Seok. 

Han Seok started out as a solid villain, clear goals, clear skills that help him achieve his goals and basically make him a villain worth defeating, and a very complex relationship with both his own psychopathy and his brother. 

Let me get it out of the way: I do not believe Han Seok is capable of killing Han Seo because he had every reason and every opportunity to do so in previous episodes and couldn’t do it (I say couldn’t because a certain degree of reluctance is in itself inability). Han Seo’s danger far outweighed his material value the minute he shot Han Seok and then completely lost any value once he came out to the world as the chairman and it became clear that the prosecution would be going after him if anything happened, and not his brother. But time and again, he’s proven he’s all bark and no bite when it comes to Han Seo (killing-wise, specifically). 

The scene where he asks him to beat Vincenzo to death could be interpreted as him wanting to give Vincenzo the “painful death” he would have given him, but honestly, I think he was way past that point. He just wanted him dead in the “You crazy? we have to kill him before he kills us” sense. To that end, killing off a key ally of Vincenzo’s, who betrayed you and almost got you killed a bunch of times, should take priority, but Han Seok’s priority is reclaiming Han Seo by forcing him back onto his side. Now, much like his “love for Cha young”, Han Seok’s keenness on not killing his brother was essential to the writers so that Han Seo can justifiably make it this far and still be useful to Vincenzo (he can’t help if Han Seok completely excludes him from all events, plans and management processes, so Han Seok needs to want to keep him on his side enough not to do that even when it’s more prudent). 

All of this isn’t to say it’s unbelievable that he would kill Han Seo, but it’s DEFINITELY unbelievable that he would stay the same man after killing him. Someone here (I’m sorry, I don’t rememebr who) once said that Han Seo had become, over time, far more of a foil to his brother than Vincenzo was. To me, this means that Post-Han Seo Han Seok would be out of balance (tilted screen), unhinged in a way he never was before. The Han Seok we see shrugs and “oh, well”-s and moves on in a flash, not really any different from the villain he was four minutes and a whole brother earlier. 

This is very consistent with the way the show has been de-humanizing him from the start. I’m not saying this to defend Han Seok in any way, he’s a serial killer, an abuser and a total maniac. But you can be all those things and still a human being. In fact, you can ONLY be those things if you’re a human being. The show used its villain vs villain idea to justify a lot, but in the end, Vincenzo had to be a protagonist. He had to follow up every “I’m a villain” with a contrived “but at least I’m not (insert something worse)”. 

On the level of humans:

1) Vincenzo is supposedly different because he doesn’t hurt children or women (unless the women deserve it, and shooting a parent in front of their kid doesn’t count as hurting.) 

But we never see Han Seok hurting women or children either. In fact, if we proceed with the “chayoung is the myung hee of the good guys” comparison, he hasn’t hurt any women nearly as badly as Vincenzo did. 

2) Babel vs Mafia 

Babel’s corruption is compared a lot to the mafia, with Vincenzo commenting repeatedly that the people are WORSE than the mafia...which is bullshit. Babel is a set of companies that provide goods and services, but use illegal means to maximize their profit, so they hurt/kill people in the process because they want more money and care about money more than ethics. The Mafia is an inherently criminal organization that functions PURELY on the basis of its criminality. Every single dime Vincenzo spends is blood money. None of it is clean. And while we’re on the topic, I find the whole “taking Miri under his wing” thing pretty unreasonable too because he tried to have her killed you guys, I cannot believe we’re just glossing over that. He had everyone who worked on that vault killed, just random fucking construction workers. And he’s not sorry. And the show tells you he shouldn’t be. 

3) Repentance

Han Seok says outright he won’t atone, and while Vincenzo says no such thing out loud he just...doesn’t repent, I guess. He keeps the blood money, he goes back to being a full-time mafia dude doing mafia things. He leaves the same man he arrived. 

So, if on the level of harm inflicted upon humanity, Vincenzo and Han Seok are pretty much equal (and Vincenzo might actually be worse), then why should we root for Vincenzo? 

Well, my friend, that’s where the dehumanization comes in! 

I was initially very excited to see their portrayal of a psychopath because of the very interesting ways in which the informal moral code and official justice system surrounding a psychopath/sociopath/narcissist affect their behavior and their chances of not turning out rotten, and the show looked like it was looking at corruption in general. 

But as the show went on, the villain vs villain thing proved not to be enough, Vincenzo has to be better in some way (or if you’re as obsessed with him as the writers are, then ALL ways), so it became a villain vs monster narrative. Vincenzo isn’t ethical or fair or in any way interested in having a remotely positive impact on society, but at least he’s A HUMAN BEING unlike SOMEBODY. So, the characterization goes to shit, Han Seok becomes a cartoon card-board cut out of a villain and emphasis is put on how pointless his violence is, as opposed to how purposeful Vincenzo’s is. 

This is dangerous on multiple levels (and I promise this is the last point I’m making). 

1) For people in general, dehumanizing abusers/murderers/etc. makes us very liable to forget that you don’t have to be “a monster” to cause harm, and it makes people complacent in their belief that they are “not bad people” since they aren’t total monsters. The Banality of Evil is a thing, and in this series, it goes completely ignored. No one is inherently incapable of good or inherently undeserving of humanity. 

2) For victims of abuse in specific, it’s dangerous to portray abusers (including serial killer and non-serial killer ones) as entirely bad and unlovable, because it poses the dual risk of making victims less likely to acknowledge their abuse if it comes from someone who cares about or loves them on some level because the idea that someone cannot both love and hurt you is so stereotypical. Your abuser can genuinely want you in their lives and need you and, on some level, love you, and IT DOESN’T MATTER if that love doesn’t stop them from hurting you. 

On the other hand, portraying the victims of abuse as capable of flipping an off switch and hating the abuser with no hesitation or second thoughts to the point of unapologetically and cheerfully helping someone kill them and having no mixed feelings about it sends the message that if you CAN’T do that, then are you really abused? Are sure you’re not complicit in your own abuse? Do you even want to get rid of them? 

So this is basically why the way the show ended was so painfully disappointing for me. And the main reason it hit so hard was that it was initially so good and had so much promise. I really expected more.

[erin-hollow]

Since I’ve seen Let There Be Carnage already and many people here haven’t, someone told me to write what I thought of it. This will be mostly spoiler-free.

First of all, content warning for the movie: 

physical abuse, verbal abuse (domestic) and some mentions of abuse (parental and domestic), 

a spider, a chicken, and several humans are killed on screen,

violence, blood, and eating people typical of the first movie, 

loud noises, 

flashing, 

something that could be seen as a suicide attempt, 

needles (but no hospitals), 

prisons, (and someone getting locked up just for being different)

kidnapping,

domestic fights,

guns, 

major eye horror, 

something that might trigger emetophobia,

A police officer shoots a black woman (and he’s present throughout the movie)

People (mostly gay men) getting possessed and their minds being taken over without their consent

(spoilers for this one) a black woman is mistreated then is killed

If anyone thinks of others I forgot please tell me.

Now for my thoughts on the movie. This is a very biased review because Venom is one of my special interests. I loved so much of this movie. Carnage’s design was terrifying beyond belief, many of the characters were excellent, and all the acting was great. 

The animation looked really cool. There are scenes where it’s almost impossible to believe that Venom’s floaty head isn’t really there. Tom Hardy has the same great performance from the first movie, and does an excellent job being two characters. The light shining off Venom’s body is beautiful, and occasionally Carnage looks real enough to touch. There’s even a short scene where 2D animation is overlaid over everything else, and the artstyle of it is really cute and creepy at the same time. I will say some scenes are a little dark and hard to see, but... look I’m assuming you’ve seen the trailers. You know how the movie looks. I liked it.

Despite what I’ve heard other people say, the humor wasn’t a big part of the movie for me. That’s not to say it was bad, but it didn’t factor into my enjoyment as much as the other things. The critics are right that it broke the mood of some of the scenes, but I didn’t really mind. Venom has a lot of great little one-liners and insults. He’s by far the most comedic character. Eddie and Dan have a few lines each, and Red has one joke. I thought most of it was really funny.

Carnage was so scary and uncanny that it took a lot of willpower for me not to scream in the theater. In full form he’s just a disgusting red version of Venom, but any time Cletus is mostly human but has some Carnage attributes it’s incredibly unsettling. If you’re a fan of horror, you’ll probably enjoy this movie just for that.

One thing I didn’t like was the queercoding aspect. The coding that they did probably counts as queerbaiting, and the metaphor they use is (in my opinion) homophobic. There is no arguing that the movie is very gay, but they way they went about it rubbed me the wrong way. The movie codes Venom being an alien as him being gay, which wouldn’t be that bad except for the fact that the “alien” traits that they focus on are him killing and eating humans (as in, the fact that he’s not allowed to eat people is the same as discrimination against gay people). The metaphor is also very mixed, especially where Eddie is involved. There’s even a scene where a female character successfully seduces the symbiote. I did enjoy the queer coding, but when it was like that I hated it and *in my opinion* I don’t think it’s something we should be thanking the director about. It’s 2021. Do better.

Carnage and Shriek’s relationship was really cool. For one subplot of a short movie, they managed to a lot with it. The writing of it wasn’t perfect, and Cletus sometimes seems a little inconsistent in this aspect of his character. I have no idea how comic-accurate it is, but I got the vibe very easily without reading the comics.

I’m not the biggest action movie guy, but I could watch that fight scene between Venom and Carnage a million times. It’s so interesting, with so many fun little moments. In my opinion it’s a million times better than the scene between Riot and Venom for several reasons. First, it seemed like the setting was made to serve the fight instead of the first movie where they were just stabbing each other on the launchpad. In LTBC, the setting both serves the actual mechanics of the fight and the aesthetics. Second, the characters have a dynamic, even before the fight. In the first movie Drake and Eddie interact maybe twice, and Riot and Venom’s relationship was never specified beyond them knowing each other. I won’t get into it too much, but here there is a very interesting relationship between Eddie and Cletus, and between Venom and Red, which factors into the fight. This might be a small spoiler, but in LTBC it’s not just the symbiotic pairs fighting each other, instead both sides have people to back them up.

Characterization is a hard thing to talk about without spoilers, but I’ll try. I don’t think any characters from the first movie have been taken out of character. Venom’s street smarts are incredibly inconsistent. Cletus isn’t for everyone but I there are definitely people who will enjoy him. One of Red’s motivations is kind of stupid. Shriek isn’t as active as I would have liked, in fact I strongly disliked what they did with her. If you liked Anne, Dan, and Ms. Chen in the first movie, you’ll like them here.

Overall, I did thoroughly enjoy the movie. It was well worth what I paid for the tickets and I assure you, if you liked the first movie you’ll like this one. Happy watching :)

The end credits scene. This is a SPOILER ALERT, but you’re probably gonna hear about it anyway. I’m still putting it under the cut.

They got teleported to the MCU for some reason that will probably be explained in the next MCU movie. Opinions will vary on this but for me personally I’m pissed off! They left all their friends behind in their own universe, sacrificed one of the things that makes this series so unique (Venom without Spiderman) and broke the MCU’s rules about no multiverses! And for what? to boost ratings? Because The Mouse wanted my favorite gay slimeball? Are they gonna put him on Disney+? Jail for Disney! Jail for Disney for 1000 years!

[pitviperofdoom]

TMA Fantasy Week, Day 2

Prompt: Fae

Summary: A faerie imprisoned by hunters receives a strange visitor. (Pre JonGerry)

Warnings: Imprisonment, forced obedience.

Part of a larger story I’m working on. I’ll be posting it on AO3 when I’m finished.

***

He smelled the she-wolf before he saw her.

When the door to his little chamber opened, he kept his eyes shut, as always. Why bother opening them? The hounds had become tiresome to look at of his own accord. If they needed him, then they could bark his Name and be done with it.

And so he smelled her first—fresh blood and grave dirt clinging to her fur—and heard her claws click on the cold stone floor, until the sound softened as heavy paws became lighter feet.

It was a shoe that nudged him, none too gently, before she spoke in a voice laced with a low growl. “Get up, Keay.”

He rose because he could not do otherwise, even with only a fragment of his Name in her teeth. Reluctantly he opened his eyes to find the she-wolf standing before him, windblown and bloodstained from a recent and successful chase.

That was odd. The hounds rarely hunted without consulting him first, wringing answers from his unwilling lips until they were satisfied that they knew their prey. But here she was, eyes bright and hunger sated, without his help.

“What do you want?” he asked.

“Shut up,” she snapped, and his jaw clicked obediently shut. Satisfied, Julia looked over her shoulder and called out. “Bring ‘em in, Trev.”

The other hound entered, though he stayed back by the door. And then, a moment later, a third figure crept cautiously through the doorway, skirting Trevor before coming to a halt at a respectful distance from Julia. In an instant, their eyes were on him.

They were small, though anyone would look small while standing near the hounds. They were nearly plain as well, but for a few flashes of beauty. Dark brown eyes, deep and sharp with curiosity. Dark hair that brushed their shoulders, shot through with silver. Slender hands on delicate wrists, that would have been graceful if they weren’t trembling so. It only took a glance to know why—their skin was darker than his, but he could still see the familiar bruises that marked their wrists. The wolves had been rough with them—another prisoner to share his cage?

No—they would never bother keeping a human. What good was a human to them, when they had him instead?

Only… someone must have aided in their hunt.

“Here you are, then,” said Julia, with a dismissive flick of her hand. “You want a story? He’s got plenty.” The human’s eyes narrowed at this—not angry, merely thoughtful. “Don’t look at me like that. We’ve heard what you do with stories.”

(His ears pricked at that—a human with sharp and curious eyes, aiding hunters and asking for stories in return. That could mean nothing, or it could mean everything.)

“Count yourself lucky we didn’t just rip your throat out too,” Julia growled. “Save everyone else the trouble.”

The human carefully shifted their shaking hands behind their back. “That won’t be necessary,” was their polite reply.

“Good.” Julia nodded shortly. “That’s our end of the deal, then.” She shouldered roughly past them, knocking them neatly out of her way as she rejoined Trevor. From some hidden pocket within her coat, she drew out a familiar slip of old, weathered sheepskin between her fingers and showed it off with a careless wave. “Give us a shout if he gets mouthy, and we’ll set him right.”

“You’re not staying?” the human asked.

“Trevor hates being around him too long,” Julia replied.

“Gives me the creeps.” Trevor’s lip curled past the tips of his teeth. “Looks human but ain’t. If it wasn’t so useful, we’d have killed it ages ago.”

“Door’s unlocked, so come out when you’re done,” said Julia. “Don’t worry about him escaping—he knows better.”

As the wolves left the dark chamber and closed the door behind them, not once did he take his eyes from the scrap in Julia’s hand.

The moment they were gone, he sat down again, and with a rustle of fabric his visitor joined him at a distance. Their eyes never left his face, even as he refused to meet them.

“You want a story,” he said. It was not a question.

“I don’t know if ‘want’ is the right word,” the human replied.

“You’re the Archivist.” The words slip easily off his tongue—the truth, then. “Why are you here?”

The Archivist was silent for a moment. “I led prey to them,” they replied. “I helped them hunt. I asked for a story in return, but they didn’t want to give one, so they brought me to you instead.”

He smiled at that, wide and angry in the dark, clenching his teeth until he could imagine the taste of blood. “Did they, now.”

“Will you tell me one?” the Archivist asked.

It was a question, not a command, and even if it were otherwise, without his Name in their hand it would have no teeth. “No,” he replied, savoring the taste of the word like fine wine.

It was not freedom that he felt in refusing, but if he closed his eyes and imagined, it felt close. It was his favorite word, if only because he so rarely got to say it. Sometimes it felt as if gold would fall from his lips when he did.

It was worth the pain that always followed.

The Archivist looked confused, but not quite surprised. “No…?”

“Their debt is not mine to pay.”

“I suppose it isn’t.” The Archivist regarded him thoughtfully, curiously. Their lips pressed together firmly, as if holding back a deluge of questions.

He waited for his visitor to rise back up, call for their hosts and demand they make good on their deal by forcing a story from him. There wasn’t much he could do to defy the wolves that held his Name, but defiance still tasted sweet in the moment.

But the Archivist remained where they were. Either they thought they could cajole or force him themself, or they simply hadn’t thought of it yet. If that was the case, then he wasn’t about to remind them.

“Then we’re at an impasse, I suppose,” they said after a moment. “Unless there’s something I can offer you?”

He bared his teeth in a smile. “Your name, if you don’t mind?”

“I do mind,” the Archivist replied without batting an eye. “You may not have my Name. But if you like, you may call me Jon.”

He spread his hands wide. “Then we are at an impasse,” he replied. “Jon.” A simple name, but it sat nicely on the tongue.

“I suppose we are,” said Jon. They glanced at the door, but made no move to approach it.

Perhaps they were simply stupid. Rather unfortunate, for someone so significant to the Court of the Eye. Then again, it didn’t take much in the way of cleverness to collect stories.

“Was there something else you wanted?” he asked.

Jon shrugged. “It hasn’t been enough time for a story yet,” he said. “If I leave now, they might wonder why.”

That was not the answer that he was expecting. “And?”

Jon raised an eyebrow at him. “Do you want them to rip one out of you against your will?”

He stiffened. “No,” he admitted, almost petulantly. Not stupid after all, then. “Don’t you?”

He didn’t like the way Jon looked at him after that, measuring him with a glance. “Not particularly,” they replied. “They’re the ones indebted to me, so they should be the ones to pay, not you.”

“Oh.”

From the other side of the room, the Archivist’s eyes remained fixed on him. “They have more than just your name,” they said, and though their voice didn’t rise at the end of it, he knew it for the question it was. “You’re a full faerie, or as near as you can be.”

He nodded. “Only half of one, by blood,” he replied. “But these things don’t really care much about blood.”

“Except vampires.”

“Obviously except vampires,” he snapped. The Archivist cringed at his tone, drawing in their shoulders to make themself even smaller. “What matters is power. And, for the Court of the Eye, knowledge. But I’m sure you already know that.”

“Yes,” Jon replied, a little hoarsely.

“Knowledge matters here, as well,” he went on. “That’s why they keep me.”

“They showed me that scrap she had,” said Jon. “They said it had your Name written on it. I thought it was awfully risky, showing me something like that when they want to keep you.” Their eyes narrowed in thought. “I’ll bet, if I called it right now without that slip in my hand, it wouldn’t work for me.”

It was not a question. In fact, the Archivist sounded like they were trying very hard to keep it from being one.

“What of it.”

Jon studied him for a moment longer. “Just curious,” he said. “In the meantime, is there something I can call you?”

The question puzzled him, though he didn’t show it. “You know my Name already.”

Their face spoke volumes—a tightening around the lips, to hold back something more telling. “I don’t think I’d like it if people used my Name, even if it was useless to them,” they said. “Is there something that you’d like to be called?”

The question tugged a “Yes” from him, though no more than that. He could have kept silent, and in spite of everything he knew about the world, he suspected that Jon would even let him. In the end, he replied, “Gerry.”

They smiled. He wasn’t sure what to make of that. “It’s a pleasure, Gerry.”

“No it isn’t,” he said, and the smile slipped from their face.

“No, I suppose it isn’t. I don’t suppose… is there anything I can do?”

“Steal my Name back from the wolves, and deliver it to me,” he replied. “You’d get a story from me then.”

He’d meant it as a joke, an impossible task posed to flaunt what little power he had. And yet the Archivist looked thoughtful, as if they were genuinely considering it.

“They’d rip you to shreds before you got close,” he said.

“Yes,” Jon mused. “I suppose they would. Considering how they’re trying to repay my favor, they don’t strike me as particularly fair.”

“Yeah, they’re big on foisting debts on others.”

“Sounds like you speak from experience,” Jon replied, and barely flinched when he showed his teeth. “From what I’ve seen, I doubt they won your name fairly in the first place.”

He ground his teeth. “I think it’s been enough time, don’t you?”

“Not really,” Jon sighed, but got up anyway. At the door, he paused and looked back. “One more question, if you want to answer.”

“What now?”

“Do you know if someone’s looking for you?” they asked. “Anyone you’d like to send word to? Anyone wondering where you are?”

“There’s no one.” Nothing was pulling the truth out of him this time, but it still poured hot and foul from his throat. “No one but the one who gave out my Name in the first place. My mother is gone, and my father died so long ago that I never even learned his name.”

Something sparked in the Archivist’s eyes. Not just emotion, but power—the very power revered in the Court of the Eye. He hadn’t expected that, and he couldn’t help wonder what his honesty had wrought.

The moment passed, and without warning, the Archivist smiled again. “Thank you, Gerry.”

They said it precisely and clearly, with obvious intention. It made him balk; the Courts worked in deals and trades and favors, and words of gratitude came with the risk of accepting a debt. He had to wonder once more if the Archivist was stupid.

But he wasn’t going to get an answer. Jon knocked on the door, and moments later Julia opened it.

“All done?” she asked gruffly.

He sat back, tired and vaguely curious. The Archivist was odd, odd enough to reawaken his own curiosity, long since buried after the wolves took his Name. It was a shame to see him leave so soon.

“Not quite,” Jon replied, startling him. “I have business with the Court and I have to leave, and I was only able to hear a piece of his story. I’ll be back later for the rest.”

What?

Irritation flashed in Julia’s eyes, but she stood to the side with an impatient huff. “Fine then. Guess the quarry you found us was worth a lot.”

The Archivist glanced over their shoulder before they left, briefly meeting his eyes. That strange light still shone in Jon’s gaze, steady and curious and otherwise unreadable. They were gone before he could properly decipher it.

Julia barely spared him a second glance before shutting the door on him and leaving him in the dark. He sat back with a sigh, thoughts running through his head with frantic energy. Had he caught the attention of the Eye? Had Jon caused it, or was he merely a symptom of that attention? Perhaps he would find out, the next time the Archivist came to visit him.

It was an odd feeling, to have something to look forward to again.

[redstainedsocks]

Human Again

For @amonthofwhump’s March Madness for the whump trope: choking

Here’s my whumpee Zach having a very bad wake up call. I know the previous four Zach pieces have been post-escape but, and hear me out here, he was just in need of some whumping. So have some out of context, out of order, pain. (Read more high up the piece for vaguely referenced thoughts of noncon)

Warnings: Forced nudity, implied torture, implied past noncon, choking, noncon kissing, shotgunning cigarette smoke, smoking, cigarette burns, manhandling, antagonistic language, blindfolds, captive whumpee, nausea mention, food mention, prisoner denied food

Zach woke up naked. He woke up stiff and sore, and though he knew he was on the thin mattress that was granted as his bed—he could smell the musty stink of it—he had no idea how or when he got there. 

The two things combined were enough to turn his stomach, and bile crawled up his throat. There were fuzzy memories, blurred indistinct ones of beatings and being bent over a table… but was that the last thing that had happened? Or was there more? Was that even yesterday, or two days ago? It all mixed up together, and he couldn’t work out what had happened when, or which thing it was that had made him lose consciousness. Was it drugs again? An electric shock? Or just the accumulation of pain and fatigue and he’d passed out naturally?

He only knew he must have been out a while to have been brought back to his cell. Not knowing if anything more had happened while he was unawares he shivered and curled up, wishing for a blanket to cover himself with. As he moved he felt the protest in his bruised ribs and moaned as he clutched his side. 

“Ah, he lives,” came a smarmy, grunt of a voice. 

Great, Mack, of all people, was here. 

Zach opened his eyes to better defend himself against whatever Mack had in mind and found something still blocked his sight. He groped for his face, arm numb from his own dead weight crushing it. 

“Leave that,” Mack said. “Don’t you fucking dare touch it, that’s your first rule of the day.”

Zach swallowed, groaned again and pushed himself to sit up, hyper aware of every inch of skin on display. He smelled Mack’s cigarettes before he heard the man move, felt the stale smoke waft over his face and another roil of nausea that it brought with it. He lifted a hand to rub his nose and coughed onto the back of his hand to try and rid the smell and the almost-taste of it from his body.

Mack’s hand—probably, unless someone else was here too—caught his wrist and squeezed painfully. “You deaf today or some shit, I said don’t touch your fucking face.” Mack twisted his hand until the skin pinched beneath his grip, and the joint protested. Zach hissed in pain and lurched into action to try and grapple his hand free, digging nails into the back of Mack’s hand.

Mack held on for a few more long moments before he shoved Zach, freeing his wrist, and he scooted further away from where he thought Mack was crouching.

“Actually you said not to touch the blindfold,” he replied tersely. “Try thinking before you speak it might help you get your point across.”

Mack grabbed the back of his neck, fingers curling into the ends of his hair and yanked his head back. Zach hadn’t known to brace for it and the jerk sent a wave of pain that ricocheted down his neck and jarred something in his aching hip. “Far too mouthy you little shit. If it were up to me I’d sew that mouth of yours shut.”

“But then how would we have these little chats I know you love so much?”

Another puff of smoke rolled over his face and he wrinkled his nose, stomach churning. He needed food, water... he needed proper rest, not just to pass out after some torment or other and wake up bruised and sore. Resigned to not getting enough of any of those things he focused on the slight sense of satisfaction of irritating Mack instead.

He heard the hiss of the cigarette being dragged on and hoped it was nearly gone. It was fruitless hoping when fingers gripped his jaw until his lips puckered, the heat of the cigarette sizzling far too close to his skin, held in the fingers that gripped him. Then Mack’s lips were on his and he sucked in a breath of surprise only to inhale a mouthful of smoke.

He sucked it down, drawing it into his lungs in surprise, hoping and hoping for clean air to come on the back of it. Mack’s lips were a seal over his own that breathed the filthy, cloying stuff from his own mouth—expelled it forcefully right to the back of Zach’s throat. 

Zach’s lungs grew tight and full and he needed to exhale but Mack’s mouth was still smacked over his own and his tongue was in Zach’s mouth too, invading and claiming and bitterly acrid. Zach grew dizzy, swayed forward as his lungs tried to force the shotgunned smoke back out, he coughed and wheezed and batted at Mack weakly. Over the sound of his own hacking coughs he heard Mack’s laughter. Why was it always funny to these pricks? Why did they have to delight in making him suffer or making him ill? 

The weight of it all was enough to drive him flat back onto the mattress, gasping for breath, aware he wasn’t going to catch a break here. Not even given a moment to try and process and remember the previous day’s horrors before the current day’s began.

“Your mouth has other uses too, I guess. Wouldn’t want to miss out on those,” Mack’s shoe nudged him.

He was about to respond when Mack’s heavy weight descended on top of him, driving more air from his lungs. The hand was back and it caressed his jaw as he grew tight as a bow string, muscles locked like he could fight this, change whatever was about to happen by being ready. Mack’s calloused hand slipped lower and closed around his throat... and squeezed. 

It trapped the air in his lungs, stopped the coughing in its tracks and he arched up, kicking his legs looking for the pressure to lessen. Mack held him on the knife edge of breathlessness until he went limp, allowed him a precious few wheezing breaths and then closed his hand again while he blew another round of smoke into Zach’s gasping mouth. 

Zach squirmed as his chest failed to expand and his lungs didn’t fill, the black behind the blindfold going haywire with flashes of light and colour and then fading to grey. There wasn’t room for breathing or thinking, he was only animal—desperate, hungry and directionless with the fear that came hot on the heels of being pinned down and choked out.

He clawed and kicked, begged with soundless words as he tried to make the shapes and couldn’t find enough air to give them voice.

Mack pressed tighter one more time and then released. Just as Zach thought it was over a burning, blinding pain sparked to life on his shoulder. He writhed, still sputtering inhaled smoke while a scream—half surprise as well as pain—was forced out of his throat. He smelled his singed flesh as well as the ashes of a cigarette on his shoulder. With a heavy hand he blindly flicked the hot ash from his skin, feeling it smear on his fingers with intense heat. He knew the scent would linger on his hands for a while, like some sick sort of reminder of the mornings activities.

“I’d miss that scream too, oooh man, you’re like a little girl sometimes. Can’t handle a little ciggy?”

Zach grit his teeth while tears swelled hotly behind his eyes and he only hoped to keep them at bay. He felt sluggish, no idea if it was from whatever knocked him out, or the lack of breath in his body, or just the general exhaustion and constant suffering. He almost began to laugh, and caught it before it turned into a pitiful whine. Drawing more attention to himself for being strange wouldn’t help him now.

“Think fast,” Mack said and a thud of something heavy landed on his chest with a slosh and a thud. “Drink up. Boss wants you in the training rooms today.”

Grateful for the fresh bottle of water, and hating that he was, Zach fumbled to screw the cap loose. The water soothed his abused throat, settled his stomach a little. Made him feel, briefly, more human. 

Mack pulled him off the mattress and to his feet and shoved a pair of loose trousers into his hands, holding him steady with a thumb pressed firmly on the spot Zach had just been burned. Zach steeled himself and ignored the sharp pain. He stepped one foot and then the other into the trouser legs, leaning on Mack for balance while he couldn’t see.

“Now you’ve got your modesty let’s fuckin’ get on with it, step to it Griffin, time to go see what else you’re good for today.”

With tired, heavy feet Zach followed where Mack steered him. Whatever dregs of human decency he was given were always taken away sooner or later. He wondered if today would be a day he remembered, or if it would fade and be lost to some indescribable pain like the day before. He shuddered, unsettled by the idea that maybe it was kinder if he forgot; if the memory was choked out of him into oblivion so he could sleep deeply and soundlessly. If all the days bled into one, would he really be living them? Or could he float through them like the moments he drifted, lacking in oxygen, somewhere between consciousness and sleep. 

He hated that that seemed appealing and wrapped a tentative hand around the bruises forming on his throat and pressed down, just because he could, just to feel the pain because he chose to for once; just to remind himself he was still very much alive, awake, and human, and that was worth fighting for.

[thefreakydeaky]

Call Out My Name

Chapter One Title: All I Know

Characters: Negan x Plus Size Reader, The Saviors, The Wives, Eugene

Summary: You belonged to him.Try as you might to pretend indifference, Negan’s very presence has awakened feelings in you that you believed had died with the old world.Is the ruthless King of the Sanctuary still human enough to fall in love?

Warnings: Language, Canon Gore & Violence.

Word Count: 2,930

Careful to avoid making any noise, you pressed down on the stainless steel lever.As discreetly as you could manage, you peered into the communal living space.Sherri and a few of the other wives sat together on the large sectional speaking in hushed tones. Your prison guard however, was absent. You grinned. Dropping all pretense, you stood up straight and let the door swing shut behind you.

“Good Morning.” You called out cordially.

Her eyes gave you an appraising once over. They paused at the sight of the old flannel you had on over your dress.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Negan’s first wife asked sternly.

“Where ever the wind takes me on this fine day, Miss Sherri.”

The remnants of a southern upbringing scolded you for being rude.You knew well that all of these girls had to put up with the boss man same as you,but you couldn’t risk getting caught just to be polite.

“He’ll be angry.” You heard her call after you, but Negan was always angry. So you didn’t let that stop you.

There was no way of knowing how long you had, but you intended to explore as much of the sanctuary as possible. You had been out of the room before, sure, but you had only seen flashes of the place as you ran past.Then there was the mini-mission you went on two months ago to find out what was making Joey late. Once you figured out what day of the week Pastry day was, it was simple.Third day of every week, Joey headed straight for the bakers and stood in line for a good half hour. You left when they handed him the sweet bread and found you could beat him back to the room.That was the most you had seen of the sanctuary since your arrival and was not the best way, you were convinced, to get to know and appreciate the beauty this place might hold.

The Sunlight felt nice for the first few seconds after you stepped out of your building, but soon enough the humidity ruined the moment.

You stayed on the greenery beside the road to avoid burning your feet, following the gravel path to the market place.Careful to avoid the baker’s side of the warehouse, you walked idly passed stall after stall of goods and services.

Your eyes caught on a table of battered shoes. You recognized the pasty ex-alexandrian running the table.Eugene, he was called.You knew this from the stories Tanya told you at dinner time.He was nothing but a blubbering wuss from the sound of it, so you figured you could handle him.You strode confidently to the front of the line and smiled.

“Excuse me?” You found yourself demanding not two minutes later.You glared at Eugene until he looked away.

“You don’t have credit.”

“The hell I don’t!”

“How many more times do you need me to say it?”Eugene repeated a smirk on his lips.

He leaned back in his chair looking entirely too pleased with himself.

“How fucking dare -” You started to shout, your voice ringing out through the warehouse.

Calling attention to yourself was the last thing you wanted to be doing you reminded yourself anxiously. You scrambled to come up with a different tactic.The corners of your mouth pulled up into a practiced grin that you never thought you would have cause to use again.

“My my,” Injecting sugar into your voice, you leaned across the table until you were nearly close enough to touch him.“Look at you! You’ve been runnin’ with the big dogs long enough to do a halfway decent impression, Eugene.”

Eugene’s shifty eyes widened. “You know my name?”

“Negan only ever talks about one genius with a mullet.”You lowered the volume of your voice conspiratorially, “How fortunate you are that my darling husband hasn’t seen through you yet.” You postured, taking a risk. “Maybe, I ought to help him see you for what you really are?”

“He will never believe you.”

“Why not? It wouldn’t make any sense for me to lie about a man I have never met. All i have to do is call into question your history with the people of Alexandria and make it seem like I feel concerned for his safety.”

Metal chair legs scraped against cement as Eugene pushed his seat back and stood.

“I’m g-going out for a smoke.Them shoes better be the only thing missin’ when I get back.” His trembling lower lip killed any affect his wrathful tone might have had on you.

You snickered at his retreat.

Your white dress fanned out behind you as you hurried away brown leather contraband on your feet, eager to begin your self guided tour.

Building after building of industrial rot, a few rusty tin shacks, and a sad row of herbs and spices later, you found yourself in front of the main building itself.

The Sanctuary’s weather beaten concrete face was made of cruel sharp angles. Her broken windows were yellowing jagged teeth.She stared brutally down at you until you couldn’t bare to meet her eyes anymore and turned, walking brusquely away from her frightening visage.

You turned the next corner only to freeze in your tracks.The wet raspy growling filled your ears before the smell hit you.

Walkers

Your eyes swept from left to right a few times trying to count, to keep track and then you realized, that they weren’t coming for you. There was a chain link fence separating them from you.Your brow knitted.They were tied down.They were, for the most part, stationary.Some chained up, some tied up, some stuck through with pipes. It took a twisted mind to come up with such a gruesome thing.

You wondered if Negan had come up with the idea himself.You shook the thought away. You didn't want to know. You made for the only corner of the god forsaken place you hadn’t yet visited.

The stolen too-big boots kicked up loose bits of gravel behind you as you headed for the backlot. Little did you know that you had an audience.Eyes followed your trek down the road from the loading dock behind you.

The field was inhabitted by broken wood pallets, a rusted up old mercury with bullet holes along the side, some old crates, a busted up head board, ruined tires, and tin sheeting. They lay rotting in the grass.Nearer the chain link fence, lay the final resting place for the few men who managed to stay on good terms with Negan until their last moments. Crude wooden headstones marked with paint stuck out in a bad attempt of making a row.

You slowed down as you reached the end of the pavement and waded into the living green sea of grass hoping not to encounter any snakes.The damp blades were staining the skirt of your dress, but it’d be worth the scolding. A long jagged claw snagged at your dress.You cursed. As you pulled it loose, you realized it was a foot and a half of wood that likely came off of one of the pallets.You tossed it aside and smirked.Now that you’d gone and torn the thing, he would be extra pissed. Hell if you were going to get him good and mad you had better do it well you thought, untieing the bright orange ribbon from around your wrist. Negan's latest gift to you. Each time you saw it, it reminded you of who you belonged to. You frowned as you let it flutter to the ground. It may as well have been a dog collar.

Negan was following you, keeping far enough away not to draw attention.He cursed Fat Joey for letting you out.That idiot was going to pay.He grit his teeth as he watched you wade into the tall grass.Flannel shirt or not you were ruining your dress.Where the fuck was he supposed to find you another dress as nice as the one you had on? The sight of you tugging on your skirt brought his eyes to your wrist. He saw you take off your bracelet and let it fall. Did you have any idea how hard it was to come by anything in bright colors these days?Of fucking course not!You were a spoiled selfish ungrateful untamable thing.He was not going to be taking it easy on you this time.He spotted you staring at the barbed wire topped fence and froze.

He didn’t have to imagine you attempting to clamber over the high fence, face full of determination fueled by spite.He would never forget it.Your last attempt to leave made it clear that you didn’t give a shit about your own well-being anymore.Negan cursed under his breath. God help you if you were stupid enough to pull another stunt like that.Yet he knew way down deep inside, somewhere primal, that you belonged to him.After three years and fifteen failed attempts to leave him, Negan had come to the conclusion that he had to do everything in his power to make you want to stay.

Despite the show and the accusations he had made, alternately burning and bashing some person or another, every time you fucked up Negan went easy on you.The second he’d laid eyes on you, he’d chucked his personal rule book out the window. He was afraid that this made him look soft and that burned his pride like nothing else could.

However, women with your body type had always been his preference and He knew, a figure like yours was a rare find these days. He wanted you. Negan wanted you badly. More than anything, he wanted you to want him to fuck you.It was a frustrating blue balls inducing shit show of a situation.Charming women had always come easy to him. It was his shit luck that you weren’t easily charmed. He followed you into the field. His eye caught the shine of the ribbon easily. As He pocketed the scrap of orange cloth, the memory of your first meeting came to mind.

Your hair pulled back into a braid, a lovely face, enough cleavage showing to catch his eye. Your faded jeans had holes in the thighs and your breathing was heavy from your attempt to out run The Saviors.

You looked so darn pretty kneeling before him.You’d had the audacity to meet his gaze. It pissed him off and turned him on in equal measure.Your eyes captivated him.They were burning with resentment, but no tears.Not his Y/n. You didn’t cry, didn’t beg, and didn’t flinch at the sight of Lucille.Not even after he’d dirtied her up a bit.Near the end of his speech,some traitorous switch inside him had flipped.

“Darlin’, You have got a look in your eyes that says you haven’t been fucked right in years.” He drawled smiling his slick easy smile.”Why don’t you come on home with me, I’ll show you how good it can be with a real man.”

“You expect me to believe that a bean pole like you can handle curves like mine? Honey, I would eat you alive.”

He laughed low and long.The genuine mirth startled everyone, but you.

“Come on, baby. Don’t be like that.I just wanna love you right.”

“Well, I am sorry, Mister Real Man, but your pick up lines are bad jokes at best and that mouth of yours...” You shook your head in disapproval. “So dirty.”

You were meant to be his. No doubt about it.

“Mmm, there are plenty of good things I can do with this dirty mouth and you are curious to find out, I can tell.”

Negan’s big strong hand had fisted into the collar of your flannel pulling you toward him. You stumbled onto your feet to keep from being dragged. Before you could catch your balance, his lips were on yours.

Unbeknownst to Negan, unlike his bat and savior show, the heated kiss he gave you impressed you.

He nipped at your lower lip and turned back to what was left of your group.

“We are gonna do just fine, Dollface. As for the rest of you sorry shits, You are going to bring me my stuff and then go out and get me something nice.”

His hazel eyes gleamed down at you. “We’ll consider it a wedding present.”

Your exclamation was drowned out by the saviors’ hearty laughter as you were forcefully led to his truck.

From the moment Negan made you a wife, you vowed that you would get away from him even if you died trying. After three years and fifteen failed escape attempts, you had come to the conclusion that making him hate you was the only way out of the wives club.

You rummaged through the crates and found quite a few empty glass bottles. They would do. You put them all in the same crate and carried it with you as you counted your steps. You waited until you were at least two yards away to throw the first one.

Thunk

Wading further into the tall weeds and grass he frowned at the unfamiliar sound.

“Well I’ll be damned.” You murmured to yourself as you bent to pick up another bottle.

You glared at the Mercury, closed your fist around the neck of the bottle, and swung. It grazed the roof, but landed on the other side of the car.

“Have you lost your freaking mind?”

Your shoulders tensed at the familiar deep baritone of your husband’s voice. You stood there clenching your teeth, frustrated with the intrusion.You schooled your features before turning to face him.

“Hey there, Sugar. What are you doin’ out here?”

Negan came to stand before you, but he didn’t ask the questions you had expected him to ask.Perhaps, Where in the hell did you get shoes? or How in the hell did you manage to escape a locked room with a savior standing watch?Instead, Negan swallowed his anger and made himself the very picture of patience.

“I could ask you the same question, Darlin’.” He replied.

You stared at him, curiosity battling the wrath within you.

“Well?” Negan prompted after a minute or two of your silence.

Your thoughts raced.

What the fuck?!Why was he being nice?!He should be letting you have it right now! He should be cussing up a storm!

“Just... keepin’ busy.”You said lamely.

“In the junkyard? Playing with glass? That’s a hell of a thing for a Queen to do.” He murmured.”You could have hurt yourself.”

You were disgusted by how genuinely concerned he sounded and cringed at him calling you “Queen”.For weeks now, you had been working on him, from picking fights, to ruining belongings, to giving him the cold shoulder.Until finally you’d been able to break out again.You wanted him good and mad and Negan was not cooperating.

You clicked your tongue against the roof of your mouth.

“Actually, I haven’t been here long.I walked the whole Sanctuary first then ended up here.”You shrugged and made to pick up another bottle.”It seemed like a good idea at the time.”

“Who do you think you are?”

You should have known his anger couldn’t stay contained for long.

“Beg your pardon?” You snapped.

“I said,” Negan growled pulling you toward him by your shirt collar, “Just who, in the fuck, do you think you are?” His eyes glowered down at you.

“Y/F/N Fucking Y/L/N.” You declared and kicked him.

The shock on his face turned to fury. Familiar though the expression was, Negan had never turned it on you.Adrenaline spurred you into action.You yanked out of his grasp and tore through the field.

“Y/n!” He bellowed.

You didn’t dare look behind you as you pushed yourself to run.

[xmagicxshopx]

🦇 The Funhouse 🦇

Genre: Fantasy Adventure, Fluff, Romance Rating: M Warnings: kidnapping, smut (consensual, mind you), sub!JK for a hot minute but then turns into a dominating beast, bondage, Kook’s a pantie sniffer, gambling (they make a bet XD) Pairing: vampire!jungkook x reader Notes: AU fic. Not idol!jungkook. Single quote marks ‘ ‘ are for thoughts and double “ “ are for talking. Additional Notes: This came about because I just can’t let go of long haired Jungkook. I can’t!!

Tagging: @grxnadxs​ @catsandstrawberries​ @jkeuphoriadreamland​ @jjungkookislife​

Summary: The carnival was in town and you couldn’t wait to hit the streets full of greasy fair food and the classic rides you grew up on. Accept there’s a new attraction this year. A funhouse. You wonder just how fun it is.

MASTERLIST

The carnival. Something you looked forward to every year for as long as you can remember. Even now when you were in your early 20s, the carnival never lost it’s shine. Although you of course outgrew a lot of the kiddie rides and had upgraded to more of the grander ones that were meant to appeal to adults rather than children. The classic Pharaoh’s Fury swinging boat ride was still your favorite to this very day.

However, as you walked along the streets munching on a corn dog in one hand and sipping on your large soda in the other, you couldn’t help but notice something that ended up catching your full attention. Not wanting to make a better roadblock, you quickly scurried off the street path and onto the sidewalk instead; heading for the direction of what appeared to be some kind of new attraction this year.

“The Golden Funhouse, folks! Like nothing you’ve ever seen before! Come on in! Buy a ticket and embark on the adventure of a lifetime!”

Standing there, you expected to see at least some kind of line to get in. Hell, you weren’t sure if anyone else was even listening to the guy as he shouted loud enough for the whole street to hear. Looking back behind you, it was kind of eerie, really. Not a soul was paying attention. It was almost like you were the only one who could hear the man or see the attraction.

“You! Miss! Come, come! I see you standing there eyeing my funhouse. Don’t be shy, now.”

Great. Just great. It wasn’t like you actually wanted to go inside the attraction. You were just simply curious, is all. Mostly curious as to why no one else was giving this place a first glance, let alone a second glance. But perhaps this attraction was something that you had been the last to discover and everyone else already knew about it? Yeah. That was always a possibility. So nothing strange or out of the ordinary here.

Sometimes you were a bit too paranoid for your own good.

“Come on, sweetie! Nothing to be afraid of. It’s called a funhouse for a reason! In fact---Your ticket is on me! Here---”

You stood there in amazement as the gentleman offered you a few bills to pay for your ticket into the attraction. Dang. Well this was unexpected. It wasn’t every day that you were getting a literal free ride. Deciding that it couldn’t hurt and you weren’t about to turn down something free, you shrugged and gave a bashful smile before finishing off your corn dog so you could throw the stick away in the nearby trash can; freeing up a hand to take the bills from him.

“Thanks, sir. I promise that if I enjoy the house, I’ll give you your money back.”

“Sir? Pffft. Please---- Call me Jin. And nonsense, my dear. No refund necessary. Just walk in and have a good time!”

Flashing a friendly smile to the guy you now knew as Jin, you nodded and took the bills from him before taking one last sip of your drink and tossing it in the trash. For it only being a carnival attraction, you felt awfully tense and anxious. Maybe it was because you had never actually walked through a funhouse before. They had simply never sparked your fancy. You were more of a roller coaster kind of girl.

Walking in, it only made your anxiety worsen.

“He calls this a funhouse?”

It.....well......you weren’t exactly sure what it looked like. But a funhouse was the last thing on your list. That’s for sure. Trying to keep your hands steady, you looked on ahead to see a booth of sorts with a-----good lord.

Perhaps you should just turn around and give Jin his money back. Say thanks but no thanks. Turning on your heel, you quickly went for the knob on the door only to discover that it wouldn’t budge. Panic started to flood your system, making you feel a dreading kind of high and lightheaded; your heart now pounding in your ears.

“It’s of no use, little human. You might as well come forward and claim your golden ticket.”

This wasn’t a funhouse.

This was a frickin’ haunted house.

The voice was deep and calm. Not threatening despite how you were feeling at the moment. You felt trapped. Trapped like a rat. Breathing heavily, you spun around back to the voice and got a better look at the booth. It indeed was a ticket booth but the ‘employee’ inside looked anything but a normal human. Well.....maybe he was. The voice was male but he was wearing a cloak and a creepy looking mask. If you hadn’t been so scared out of your whits, you’d have thought he looked kind of cool, really.

“Come. Adventure awaits you, child.”

“I don’t think a haunted house is the kind of adventure I wish to go on, dude. Now let me out of here. You can’t force me to do anything.”

“The only exit to this building is located on the other end. In order to get out, you must walk through the funhouse in it’s entirety.”

This sounded way too shady to you. But on the other hand.....it wasn’t like he was keeping you trapped here. He was telling you the way out. But.....things just weren’t adding up here. This all felt way too.....ominous??? Heaving a sigh and feeling a bit more calmer now that you knew there was at least one way out, you simply caved and stepped forward to give the creep your money. Weirdo.

“Your ticket, madame.”

“Thanks. So which one of these paths over here do I take? Does it matter?”

“It matters not, madame. Each path will eventually meet at the exit. I can assure you, no which entry is more thrilling than the others. They are all different but equal. Trust your gut instincts.”

“My gut instincts are telling me to get the hell out of here.”

The mystery creep simply chuckled and with that disturbing sound and imagery burned into your brain, you turned your attention to the paths that lay before you. Ugh. You were naturally indecisive with just about anything you did in life. Heck, it was hard for you to pick out the best looking veggies in the produce aisle at the supermarket.

“Whatever. I’ll just take the middle one. Screw this.”

With a huff and a puff of annoyance, you practically stomped your way into the darkened hallway. Couldn’t they have lit the place a little better? Geeze. You could hardly see your hand in front of your face. What was so fun about this??? Grumbling and trying to ignore the gut wrenching anxiety that was threatening to make you blow chunks, you finally found yourself in an area with a little more lighting. Finally. You could see.

They say be careful what you wish for.

“Good gravy. Another hallway?”

Just then, the floor and the walls started to rumble around you. Not really knowing what to do, you ended up wobbling and stumbling to the right side of the hallway and used the wall for support. The rumbling softened only for you to hear a loud crack behind you. It sounded as if the wood was giving way.

That’s because it was.

“Holy sshh----”

The floor was falling. Like----Falling falling. Like collapsing. Right from under your feet. Your fight or flight mode kicking in, you made the wise decision to fly as you started running down the hallway as fast as your legs could carry you. A scream that fell silent on your own ears filled the narrow space as the only thing on your mind was escaping a horrible, inky black death. Up ahead-----a door!!

Practically flinging yourself through the entryway, you not-so-gracefully collapsed onto the floor as you gasped and choked for air. Running wasn’t exactly something you were prepared to do when walking into a not-so-fun funhouse. Catching your breath, you subconsciously licked your dry lips and mumbled out loud,

“When I get out of here, I’m suing that Jin guy.”

Standing up and brushing yourself off, you notice you’re in what appeared to be some type of living room. But all the furniture was covered with sheets as if to keep them protected from dust. Speaking of, it was definitely everywhere. Fanning some of it from your face, you let out a small cough before walking further into the room.

Everything was covered save for a lonely glass lantern that held what appeared to be a single purple rose. Curiosity getting the best of you and figuring you might as well get your money’s worth, you approached the lantern that was perched on an elegantly vintage accent table and carefully opened it up.

All you wanted was a smell. Roses always smelled so good in your opinion. With just as much care, you eased the delicate flower out of it’s glassy prison and lifted it to your nose. But then.....things went horribly wrong. Again.

Everything happened at once. One minute you were smelling the rose, and the next your fingertip was pricked by one of the thorns. With a soft gasp, you kept the flower in your hand but managed to move the stem so that you could investigate the damage. It only hurt because it surprised you and you weren’t expecting it. Pouting, you put the rose back in it’s casing and went to go suck the blood off your fingertip till your blood would clot and the wound would close.

But you never got the chance.

Like getting hit with a freight truck, you suddenly became dizzy as the room in front of you started to spin and twirl this way and that way. Stumbling, it didn’t take you long to hit the floor as you tried to get yourself oriented again. God wow! What was going on?! Groaning when the spinning didn’t seem to stop, you tried closing your eyes but that only made you nauseated. Opening your eyes once more, you nearly screamed when you saw something moving from the other end of the room.

“Ease, my precious flower. You are safe.”

The dizziness had passed but severe grogginess took it’s place. Your head as well as your whole body felt like a three ton weight as you tried to look up at the approaching figure. It was a man. Another man. Weren’t there any women in this place??? With a slurred groan and letting your head lull against the hardwood floor, you managed to say,

“Need help........Help me.....”

“Sshhh. Ease, little one. Just close your eyes and take a nap. All is well.”

The voice sounded so soothing and you were absolutely exhausted. A nap did sound really good right now. But.....didn’t you have something important you needed to do? Your head was just so foggy that it was hard to think straight. Didn’t you have something.....like......Ugh. Screw it. Whatever. The voice was right. A nap was exactly what you needed and so you allowed yourself to fully succumb to the blissful darkness of sleep.

When you finally started coming around, the first thing you realized was that it was way too bright. Way too bright. Even from behind your closed eyelids, you could tell the sun had long been up and was trying to blind you through the window in your bedroom. Speaking of.......this bed felt way too soft to be yours.....

Eyes snapping open and completely ignoring the sun trying to burn through your retinas, you quickly scanned the room only to confirm you were indeed not in your own bedroom. Just like that, the events prior to your passing out were all rushing back to you in one massive headache. Groaning in pain, you instinctively placed a hand to your head while you tried to ignore all the vivid images and the thumping of your poor skull against the pillow.

“You are awake, little one.”

‘Dear god. No more surprises. Please. No more surprises.’

“Please, open your eyes, beautiful girl. You need to take this medicine. It will help with your headache.”

Against your better judgement, you cracked your eyes open only to see a very handsome looking young man crouched down next to the side of your bed. Well......perhaps it was his bed? You watched him sporting a million dollar smile as he carefully placed two pills and a bottle of water on the bedside table before making himself comfortable and plopping his bum down on the floor.

He looked otherworldly, really. Yet all he was sporting was an over sized t-shirt and some sweats. Some of his hair had been pulled back into a small ponytail so that you could see his face in it’s entirety. Perhaps it was his face that made him appear so......ethereal? Yeah. It had to be. Because otherwise, he just looked like any other normal young man.

“You’ve been out for quite awhile, I was beginning to worry, little one.”

Why did he keep calling you that? And why was he talking so......funny? Different? You couldn’t quite place your finger on it but it was almost like he was speaking in a fashion as old as time itself. His tone didn’t match his young appearance at all. With your eyebrows furrowed in confusion, you simply laid there watching him like a hawk. He must have been able to sense your hostility because he gently raised his hands up in surrender and spoke just as softly,

“I mean you no harm, dear. It was I who brought you to this place. You are in my home. I found you laying unconscious in an alleyway just on the outskirts of the town I live in.”

You knew that was a load of bull. Despite your pounding headache, you remember quite clearly the events that transpired right before you passed out. Giving him your best glare silently telling him that you were not impressed at all with his story telling skills, you spoke up with a scoff,

“Liar. I was in that funhouse same as you. Now you better be giving me some real answers before I have you arrested for drugging and kidnapping.”

However, all that threat got you was a soft but dark chuckle along with a gentle shake of the head. The male looked anything but threatened as he flashed you a small but warm smile of endearment. Were you some kind of joke to him??? Was he seriously going to act like this when he had basically just----Ugh! There was so much wrong with this picture!!

“Relax, my flower. You are safe here. I do apologize for the way we had to meet, but it’s critical that I keep you here for the time being. Just until I get some answers.”

That was NOT what you wanted to hear.

“Excuse me??? You get some answers??? What about me!?!? Don’t I deserve some frickin’ answers too!?!”

Honestly, he liked you better when you were sleeping peacefully and all he could hear was the soothing sounds of your breathing and your heart beating. But this screeching of yours was something he could do without. His poor sensitive ears just couldn’t take it. Wincing and resisting the urge to cover his ears, the male instead tried to soothe you by replying a bit hesitantly,

“Yes yes, of course you do. Please, ask away and I shall answer to the best of my ability.”

You couldn’t help but narrow your eyes suspiciously at him when he suddenly became so complaisant. There had to be a catch, right? Or maybe he was just saying anything he could to pacify you? Eyeing him with just as much suspicion, you asked in a voice dripping of uncertainty,

“How can I trust anything you say? You’ve already lied to me once.”

“Then what’s the point of seeking answers if you won’t believe a word I speak?”

Well dang. You weren’t expecting that as an answer. He really had you trapped, didn’t he? Here you were, stuck with a creep who talks funny. Not only that, but you’re pretty sure he was the one who drugged you back at the funhouse. You don’t know how and you don’t know why but something told you he wasn’t going to be very forthcoming of such information. Heaving a heavy sigh of defeat, you asked half-heartily,

“Can I at least have your name? Otherwise I’m just going to start addressing you as Jerkface.”

Watching him shake with soft chuckles, you couldn’t help but notice that his smile reminded you of a bunny rabbit. Or maybe it was the way his nose scrunched up in amusement. Heck, his whole face reminded you of a bunny. Come to think of it......this whole thing reminded you a lot of the tale Alice in Wonderland.

“Jungkook. My name is Jeon Jungkook.”

3 WEEKS LATER....

“Do vampires even need to exercise? I thought you guys had super strength or something.”

Yeah....It’s been three weeks since you were kidnapped by Jungkook and a lot had happened in that span of time. To sum it up, your life has been completely turned upside down. Fun fact, vampires exist. You had to admit, you didn’t see that one coming when Jungkook had revealed his red eyes and elongated canines to you after he had confessed his true nature.

In fact, you had laughed in his face and called him crazy; feeling a bit crazy yourself. Vampires weren’t supposed to exist, right? They were merely a tale to tell gullible kids during Halloween. But when the male calmly took out his brown contact lenses and you sat there and watched his pointed teeth grow in length.....that was no magic trick.

Being held captive by a vampire wasn’t all bad, you supposed. It wasn’t like he was starving you or keeping you in a cage. Heck, he left you wanting very little, actually. Aside from wanting to see the outside world. Otherwise, he took care of all your bills, provided you with whatever you wanted to eat and drink, and gave you your own room to decorate and furnish however your heart desired. Online shopping? He had you completely covered. Bought you whatever you wanted with no questions asked no matter the price.

It honestly felt like Jungkook was your sugar daddy, really. And maybe, just maybe, you felt a bit guilty because it seemed like you were taking advantage of him and his money.

Then your mind would jump back and remind you that he was keeping you here against your will and that it served him right for you to spend all his money. It was like a constant tug of war in your mind. Were you really still being kept here against your will? Or were you finding yourself more and more willing to stick around?

“Despite what you may believe, little human, I do not bask in the reality that I am a mutation of my former self.”

Watching you stand there in his personal exercise room blinking in confusion, he couldn’t help but chuckle while standing up from the piece of equipment he had been working at and started to wipe it down as he clarified in words that he knew you’d comprehend a little easier,

“In other words, I don’t enjoy being a vampire.”

Well if he had just said that the first time around. Rolling your eyes before you could help it, you walked further into the room and just like a curious feline, you reached out to experimentally poke at one of pieces of weight lifting equipment. Some of these contraptions looked like they could eat you whole.....Kinda like Jungkook. Speaking of, his words finally dawning on you, you quickly turned to him and asked in genuine shock,

“Wait----You don’t like being a vampire???”

Not being able to hold back a soft snort of amusement, the male set down the cleaning supplies he had just been using to wipe down the piece of equipment before taking a seat on the padded floor itself. Sitting with his legs crossed in an indian style, you decided to follow suit and plopped down across from him so that you could see him in case he tried to pull any funny business.

��No. In fact, I quite despise it. Being a vampire has meant giving up a lot of things that I used to love doing when I was human. Like exercising. And food? I absolutely loved food and even enjoyed cooking in the kitchen. Now? It all tastes like damp cardboard. And something that should taste like disgusting copper now tastes like liquid paradise. Worst about that? I don’t have much of a choice. Granted, there’s different types of blood but.....in the end.....it’s all the same.”

Dang. You weren’t expecting him to be so.....open about it. Was this seriously the first time you’ve had a real conversation with him since he kidnapped you? Come to think of it.....You really hadn’t given him the time of day because you were still ticked at him. However, seeing him sitting here now as he shared some of his history with you, things felt different. He flashed you a warm smile before looking around the room and adding casually,

“Exercising was something I had quickly became addicted to in my younger years as a teenager. In fact, I was supposed to go to college for physical therapy but that never happened. There’s just something really rewarding about treating your body right, you know? Something empowering about being able to pump your body and strengthen it more and more with every passing day you hit those weights.”

He paused long enough to look you in the eye with his majestic red ones and added softly,

“I refuse to let my undead genetics take that happiness away from me.”

Wow......You were pretty sure your mouth was hanging open by the hinges as you stared at him in utter amazement. This had to be the most sincere and, dare you say, vulnerable you’ve ever seen the vampire since being brought here. Had he just seriously opened himself up like a book for you to read? You felt kind of bad now for making such a snarky comment earlier. The guilt must have shown on your face as he smiled a little wider and added,

“Please, do not feel bad. I used to let it bother me but I no longer do. No amount of sulking will change what I am. There’s no magic potion or incantation that can reverse what I’ve become. What’s done is done and I must make the most of it and keep moving forward. Speaking of----”

You watched him while still in a daze as he stood up and dusted off his bum and knees. That seemed to be enough to snap you back to reality and you as well got off the floor only to eye him curiously. You were getting used to his smiles as they often revealed his slightly longer than normal canines. And now that you knew what he was, he didn’t bother to wear his brown contact lenses around you; red eyes on full display.

“What would you like for dinner tonight? I was thinking of cooking something for you since I indeed do miss it. Being in the kitchen and all.”

5 MORE WEEKS LATER....

If anything, you were only growing more and more comfortable with your new way of living. In fact, after getting over your pride, you allowed Jungkook to show you around the exercise room and even let him show you how to use each piece of equipment. Truth be told, getting a gym membership had always been something you wanted to do but could never seem to find the time or the money. Now it was like you had your own personal trainer with your own personal gym and it was all free.

Jungkook wasn’t all bad despite the fact that he had kidnapped you and was holding you captive. Despite being a vampire with his long canines, his red eyes, and his love for blood spiked wines, he wasn’t any less human than yourself. He wasn’t kidding when he said he loved to work in the kitchen. The guy was an amazing cook! Meals that you would have normally paid an arm and a leg for, you got for free because Jungkook made it for you.

The guy worked a normal day job, cooked, did yard work, had hobbies. The only reason he didn’t clean around the house was because you had insisted that you needed something to do while he was gone during the day. Not to mention you felt absolutely terrible now. As in you felt like a Grade A Moocher. It was hard to remember that you were technically being held here against your will when you were living such a high life.

You had just finished up cleaning your personal bathroom and was putting the cleaning caddy away in the storage closet located in the hallway when you heard the front door open. What you weren’t expecting was to hear high pitched squeaking sounds filling the bottom floor of the house along with a very panicked sounding vampire.

“Yah yah. Shush. You’re supposed to be a surprise!”

Curiosity getting the better of you, your feet quickly guided you to the top of the stairs only to see a very flustered looking Jungkook trying to keep a squirming----

“Puppy!! Oh my god!! Look how cute!!”

Yes. In the vampire’s arms was a very excited looking puppy. It’s coat white as snow. Couldn’t have been more than a few weeks old because you could tell it had just opened it’s eyes and it’s paws were still very fleshy and pink-like. Along with that, the ears looked like cute little flaps on the top of it’s head. Not even listening to Jungkook telling you to be careful about going down the stairs so fast, you quickly reached the bottom and nearly ran into him in your haste to get your greedy hands on the cute little fluff ball.

“Oh my gosh!----Gender? Name? Breed? Details, Kook. I need details. Oh my goodness you’re such a cute little thing, aren’t you!?”

The male couldn’t help but smile fondly with amusement sparkling in his ruby red eyes. Honestly, he had been on the fence about doing this. Getting you a pet. However, seeing the look on your face and how you lit up like the brightest star, he knew he had made the right decision. It was no secret to him that you felt lonely and cut off from the world because that’s exactly what he had done to you. He cut you off from having any other human interactions. Despite how good you had it here, he knew this was no way for you to live.

The guilt had ate away at him and he knew he needed to do something to give himself peace of mind. Otherwise, he was just going to sit in that stupid study of his reading through books trying to find answers and only causing himself more grief knowing what he was doing to you. Honestly, that’s why he always went the extra mile to make you happy. Whether it be fixing your favorites for dinner or buying anything you wanted online and throwing in express shipping. It was a constant tug of war in his mind and in his heart.

“It’s a boy and he’s a pure bred Korean Jindo. I felt he would be the best for you because jindos are extremely loyal and smart. They’re Korea’s hunting dog after all. I figured he could keep you company and look after you while I’m away during the day at work.”

Hearing all of this, it clicked in your mind what he was actually saying and you couldn’t help but ignore the puppy trying to lick your face as you gave your full attention to Jungkook; surprise and shock written all over your face. Not even registering the fact that you were being smothered in wet puppy kisses all over your cheek, you asked in genuine surprise,

“You mean.......he’s mine? You mean....you got him for me?”

Jungkook couldn’t decide if your surprise amused him or broke his heart. Your shock was so pure and genuine. There wasn’t a trace of bitterness or sarcasm in your voice either. He could see it in your eyes and hear it in the change of your heart beat. You were touched by his gesture and perhaps that was something comforting rather than something sad. Smiling and nodding, suddenly feeling a bit timid, he replied in a small and shy voice,

“Yes. He’s yours. That’s why I haven’t picked out a name for him yet. You’re his mother now so you should be the one to name him.”

Touched. You were absolutely positively touched by this huge gesture of his. Taking it all in, you realized this was the first thing that Jungkook’s done for you without you having to ask for it. Sure he had made you meals but not before asking what you wanted to eat. But this......Gosh this was on a whole other level. Staring down at the precious little canine as he let out an adorable yawn and a squeak to go along with it, you knew the perfect name for him.

“Hajun. His name is Hajun.”

You looked up from the pup who was making himself comfortable being cradled in your arms and saw the odd look on the vampire’s face. It was a look you had never seen before. He looked....so happy and at peace? Perhaps there was even.....love in his eyes? No---Maybe it was just fondness? Gah you didn’t know. And just like that, it was gone. Clearing his throat, said vampire put on his usual dazzling smile and offered casually,

“Why don’t I start dinner and then while it’s cooking, we can hang in the kitchen and look up some stuff for him, hmm? He’s going to need a lot of stuff. Like a dog bed, food and water bowl, some toys. And if we want to start him out on puppy pads, we’ll need some of those too.”

“Okay! That sounds awesome!”

You had spoken in an excited whisper as you didn’t want to disturb the cute little pup still trying to nap in your arms. Gosh he was so precious and small. Well to you he was. He’d occasionally let out a tiny squeaky whine and you just wanted to coo out loud over how adorable it sounded. Gosh were you getting baby fever or something? Then again......Jungkook had said himself that you were this little guy’s mother. Not even thinking anything of it, you said out loud in a casual tone,

“We’re gonna co-parent, right? I’m his mother but you’re his father, yeah?”

Dear god he nearly dropped the jar of pasta sauce he had been holding. Did you have any idea what you did to him just now??? His heart hadn’t moved within his chest for years but it seemed like you were doing your hardest to make that change. Thank goodness you were still in the foyer and he was in the kitchen so that you couldn’t see what an emotional mess he was. Composing himself, he replied back casually,

“Of course. It would be my honor to be his father. We’ll make the best puppy parents.”

Okay his voice cracked a bit there and went up an octave but hopefully it didn’t seem out of the ordinary to you. Jungkook was a freaking vampire. Nothing was supposed to make him sweat but boy were you pushing it. He really really needed to find some answers or the mystery that was you was going to be what drove him to insanity. If only you knew the things you did to him by merely existing. He was beginning to think those dusty old books in his library weren’t going to tell him squat and that irked him.

And yet it gave him the best excuse to keep you here. Close to him.

While the pasta boiled and the sauce was simmering, you had since plopped yourself into one of the chairs at the dining table that shared an open space with the kitchen itself. So it was like the dining area and kitchen were all one room, really. Which you kind of liked for when you wanted a second helping of Kook’s amazing cooking. Kook the Cook as you had once called him. You’d never forget the way he had cutely scrunched up his nose, acting as if he didn’t totally love it.

After picking out an adorable bed along with a set of water and food bowls that had cute sayings on them, it seemed super easy from there on out to pick out the rest of the items that Hajun would need. Speaking of, the little pupper was currently wobbling all over the table as he was just learning how to walk. The sight was so precious but you also wanted to focus, so Jungkook offered to watch the little guy and make sure he didn’t fall overboard while you picked out what you wanted.

“Okay. I think I got everything I want for him. Gosh he’s going to love his bed!! And the bowls are so cute!! ‘I woof it down’, how adorable!!”

The vampire couldn’t help but snicker in amusement as he had since then been gently bouncing the puppy in his arms while you practically had spasms over every little thing you bought for the fur ball. He wasn’t sure who was more cute, you or Hajun. With a chuckle, he offered the pup to you so that he could take the laptop and put in his billing and shipping information. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see you gently rubbing your nose against Hajun’s as the canine tried to lick your lips in pure innocent joy.

He had definitely made the right decision.

“Okay. Everything’s ordered and will be here in two days. I’m gonna finish dinner but I’ve got another surprise where that’s concerned so shoo shoo. Out of my kitchen. Go give Hajun a tour of the house.”

4 MONTHS AFTER YOUR KIDNAPPING....

“W-What?”

You sat there in shock as you heard the words fall from Jungkook’s mouth. The two of you were in his study. The first time you had ever been allowed in the room. You had just finished lunch and took Hajun for a walk around the estate (yes Jungkook had even let you out of the house!) when the vampire had called you front the sliding back door and requested that you join him for a conversation. You hadn’t thought anything of it......till now.

He looked so sad, too. Although he was trying his best to conceal it. You’ve been around him long enough to know when he’s trying to put on a brave face and right now he was failing miserably. As if it caused him physical pain, he cleared his throat and said once again,

“You are free to go. I am a man of my word and I told you that once I found the answers I was looking for, I would let you go.”

This didn’t feel right. None of this felt right. No......No no no no no no no no. You refused to believe this was happening. There was this uncomfortable feeling in your mouth like you wanted to puke. You felt weak and shaky and apparently it must have been pretty obvious because the vampire himself looked at you with worry more than sadness.

“Please, little human, say something.”

“I----I don’t understand. I----I don’t know how to feel right now. I----We----You---”

Letting out a groan of frustration, you were happy to see that he was giving you your time to get your thoughts together so that you could continue. It just didn’t make any sense. In fact, he had never even told you why he was looking for answers or what answers he thought he was going to find. He had kept you completely out of the loop and now he was just going to let you go? After you had time to......to.......

Get attached.

“What did you find? You’ve not told me anything about these answers you’re looking for that you’ve suddenly found. Don’t I get to know too before you just throw me out? And what about Hajun? He needs both of us. Both his parents.”

There you go again. Warming and breaking his heart all at the same time. He was beginning to think you had some magical abilities of your own. Trying his best not to anger you any further than you already were, he offered an apologetic smile before speaking softly in that soothing voice you had become so accustomed to hearing.

“My sweet little human. My precious flower. I am sorry to have upset you. I figured you’d be happy to finally be free. You can go out and live in the world again just as you had done before. You of course will be taking Hajun with you. I would never keep you two apart.”

Well now you were just ticked to the point of tears. Your eyes burned as the salt water welled up around them. Jaw tightened as you tried to control your breathing through your nose. To say you were upset would be an understatement. Throwing your hands on the arm rests of the chair you were sitting in, you suddenly shouted,

“I don’t want to leave, you idiot! I love you!”

Well dang. It seemed neither one of you expected that to be what came flying out of your mouth. Well.....you had known quite some time ago that you didn’t want to leave. Granted it had taken some time to come to terms with but you eventually did it. However, you hadn’t dared tell the vampire such news because.....well......you didn’t really know why you hadn’t told him.

You had just told him you loved him. Jungkook stared at you for what felt like an eternity when it was really only a couple minutes. It was hard for you to read his face as his expression was fairly blank save for the surprise in his eyes. Despite how mysterious he tried to be, his eyes really were like windows to his soul. Perhaps he had even been that way when he was human.

“You......You love me.....”

“Ye---Yes. I do. Don’t ask me why right now but yes. I love you, Jerkface. And you better tell me you love me back or I’m gonna have Hajunnie chew your balls clean off.”

Of course this caused the male to bust out laughing as his face instantly scrunched up in that adorable way that you had become so used to seeing. His eyes squinted shut and his nose did that cute scrunch and dear god those cute bunny teeth of his. He ended up throwing himself back into his chair as his laughter rang through the room.

Seeing him happy made you happy. And perhaps that’s when you realized you were falling in love with Jungkook the Dorky Vampire. Kook the Cook. Hajun’s father. Perhaps you finally understood why people in love always claimed that their significant other was their everything.

Jungkook was your everything.

Wanting to wipe that smile off his face, you smirked and practically snuck up on him as you suddenly made yourself at home in his lap; straddling him and placing your hands on his shoulders. This immediately quieted him as his head that had been thrown back in laughter was quickly snapping back up to see what you were doing. This was the closest you had ever been to him physically and now that you were, you didn’t realize how vibrant his red eyes really were.

“What do you think you’re doing, flower?”

“Want to know why I picked Hajun for a name?”

He hadn’t expected you to reply to his question with a question of your own. It seemed kind of random to him. The conversation had been about the two of you, not the fluffy little son the both of you shared. However, now curiosity was getting the better of him, so with a nod of his head, you grinned and said casually,

“Ha can mean summer, great, and grand. Since it was summer at the time, I though that would be appropriate. However, Jun means approve and permit. Meaning.....”

He was still trying to figure out where you were going with this little explanation and how it related to the two of you when your mischievous grin turned into a warm smile filled with love and soft eyes to match. If his heart could beat, it would have pounded right out of his chest. Feeling your fingers lightly caressing his cheek, you finally said,

“Meaning I accept this. I accept you. I approve of you and I am officially permitting you to keep me captive permanently.....Because you’ve managed to successfully hold my heart captive for a while now and I don’t want you to set it free.”

Dreaming. This has to be a dream. Jungkook was going to wake up any minute now and discover this was all some wonderful dream that was going to haunt him for the rest of his days. But he sat there in his desk chair blinking and blinking. Nope. You were still there; sitting in his lap and straddling him looking absolutely gorgeous in your over sized t-shirt and sweats. Just like him. You two had become quite the peas in a pod it would seem.

“May I kiss you?”

“Jungkook, I just told you I loved you in two different ways. If you don’t kiss me I’m going to be very insulted and you’ll be sleeping in Hajun’s bed and Hajun will be sleeping with me.”

Speaking of, their precious pupper had grown quite a lot in such a short amount of time. Jindos were meant to grow into pretty decent sized dogs so you had been enjoying your time with him while he was still a small little thing as much as you could. He wasn’t going to be tiny for long, that’s for sure. You guys were going to have to buy him a larger bed before you knew it. It was then that a soft pair of cold lips pressed gently against your own.

Your first kiss with the vampire was magical. Despite the coolness of his lips, they really were soft. Softer than you expected coming from someone who was supposed to be dead. You could tell he was nervous and uncertain so you helped him along and tilted your head a bit so that you could deepen the kiss. Part of you wondered if he had ever kissed a girl before. Or kissed anyone for that matter.

That little push appeared to do the trick because he was growing bolder by bringing you closer in his lap so that your hips were pressed firmly against his own. His confidence seemed to only grow as he used a hand to gently cradle the back of your head so that he could better take control of the situation and you gladly gave him that control. Mewling into his mouth when he suddenly trapped your bottom lip between his teeth, you couldn’t help but grip his shoulders a little tighter.

Then.....something happened. Something that you definitely weren’t expecting after kissing your vampire captor turned crush turned lover. It was like hearing steam rolling from a humidifier or something. Opening your eyes and pulling away, you looked at Jungkook to see him slowly opening his eyes as well. The sight shocked you both speechless and wide eyed.

Indeed, steam was literally seeping out of the vampire’s body. Up and up the steam poured till it eventually started to form a shape just a few paces away from where you both sat at the desk. Suspended in midair was a foggy, smokey looking bat as it gently flapped it’s wispy wings. You watched with a hanging jaw as the bundle of smoke flapped it’s wings one last time before flying out the open window. Open to let the approaching autumn breeze in.

“What the----”

Looking back at the male, you gasped at what you saw. Eyes no longer red stared on at the window in shock and confusion but with a sparkle to them. Skin that was once porcelain now a beautiful shade of tan. Not too dark. Just the right amount. As if he had just gotten a good dose of sun. And the warmth. He was warm. It was as if.......As if......

Jungkook was human again.

Without even thinking to ask for permission first, or to at least say something to the poor man, you quickly lifted up his shirt just enough to place a hand on his chest where his heart should be. Sure enough, you could feel a beat. It was a bit rapid but that was to be expected. This had to be just as much of a shock to him as it was to you. If not more. Letting out a squeal of excitement, you suddenly tore your hand from under his shirt only to take his shoulders and shake them with pure joy.

“Jungkook!! You’re not a vampire anymore!!”

Meanwhile, the poor man had been stuck like a broken record as he tried to process what the heck just happened. So it was true??? What he had been researching for----hoping for-----wishing for----It was real! The whole reason he had called you into his study. He had found the answer he was looking for but he realized that once he found it......

Gently taking your hands off his shoulders so that he could gingerly hold them in his own, he couldn’t get over how perfectly your fingers entwined with his. Your small hands were made for his larger ones. Waiting for you to calm down, he gave you a warm and loving smile. You were practically glowing with happiness and for the first time in quite a long time, he felt his heart fluttering in his chest.

“My precious flower. My beautiful purple rose. I have a confession to make.”

Uh oh.....

“I kind of already knew that if you were to kiss me.....it would break my curse.”

Not giving you time to say anything, he quickly added on in explanation; knowing you’d react a little better once you understood what he meant.

“The answers I’ve been searching for all this time.....it was you. It was always to do with you because you were the one who could set me free. I just simply had to be sure. It is said that a real love’s kiss can reverse the transformation of a vampire. Therefore, the kiss does not work on purebred vampires. But since I was turned.....”

Taking a quick pause for breath that he normally didn’t need to worry about, he went on to explain himself further.

“However, I said I was a man of my word. The deal was that once I found the answers I was looking for, I would let you go. Of course, there was a part of me that wanted to trick you into kissing me. I’ve been desperate to be free of this curse for years. Decades. Centuries. But I realized......”

He gave you a warm and soft smile; eyes full of apology and yet love.

“I couldn’t do it. Because I’ve fallen so hard for you, my flower. And when you love someone, you put them before yourself. You think of them and their happiness before your own. So I knew what I had to do. I had to let you go. Because it was what you wanted. My love for you is stronger than my desire to be free.”

That definitely was not what you were expecting to hear when he said he had a confession to make. You sat there on his lap with your eyes frozen open and your mouth hanging in shock. However, you managed to blink once, twice and finally snapped out of it before saying in a breathless whisper,

“You......You really love me too?”

“Of course. How could I not? You’re strong, courageous, sweet, caring, funny. Seeing you with Hajun when I get home from work makes me want to put a ring on your finger so badly every time I walk in through that bloody front door. I started fantasizing about what it’d be like to take you out on the town or take you on a vacation with me. I want it all with you, my darling. If you’ll still have me....”

Was that even a question at this point??? Rather than responding with words, you responded with action. You were done talking for a bit. All you wanted now was some time to finally be able to openly and freely love on this man. The irony of it all still baffled you but that was something to be dealt with later. Right now, you just simply wanted him. All. Of. Him.

That was how Jungkook suddenly found his head being yanked up by the roots of his hair and his mouth suddenly being smothered by your own in a heated kiss. You really knew how to take his breath away, huh? Despite his slight delayed reaction, the man’s brain finally kick-started and his hands found purchase on your hips once more. Guess you were gonna have him after all. Good to know. You broke the kiss long enough to mumble,

“Take me to bed, Jungkook. Now.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Just like that, the male grabbed a firm hold of you and lifted the both of you out of the desk chair. Blindly kicking it somewhere behind him so that he wouldn’t risk tripping, he got a better grip on you and started to carry you out of his study. He knew just where to take you. Meanwhile, you were going to town on his poor neck. Biting, sucking, and licking; turning his neck into a map of the galaxy itself. It was going to take a lot of makeup to look decent for work tomorrow. Deep down, he didn’t mind it one bit.

Swinging the door to his bedroom open, the young man wasted no time in playfully tossing you onto his king sized bed. Yes. His bed. And lord did you look perfect there laying on it all sprawled out with your hair fanning every which direction. Dare he say, your lips looked a bit red and swollen. Probably from assaulting his neck just a minute ago. Looking like a predator as he crawled up after you, he sounded more like a child as he said with a whine,

“Pleeeeaaassssse can I put a ring on your finger??? Pretty please? What is it you humans used to say? ‘With a cherry on top’. That’s it, right?”

You couldn’t help but let out a snort of laughter as you stared up at the practical man-child hovering above you. His muscular frame didn’t match his baby boy pout and puppy eyes at all. Reaching up and playfully tapping at his nose, you said soothingly but perhaps a little teasingly,

“Kookie, we only just discovered that we love each other all of two minutes ago. Wouldn’t it be too soon? Shouldn’t we see if this whole couple thing will work out first? And for the record, you’re a human now too.”

Hmm. Even after all this time, you were still the tough cookie to crumble it would seem. Well......Jungkook would just have to fix that, wouldn’t he? Suddenly smirking, the male was quick and sly as he suddenly trapped that finger of yours between his teeth. The suddenness of the whole thing caused a soft gasp to leave your lips. What you witnessed next made your core clench around nothing.

His sharp onyx orbs never leaving your own, he slowly began to suck on the digit that he had successfully captured between his teeth. Gone was the whiny man-child and in it’s place hovered a man hungry for something. Hungry for you. The predator was back and that left you stuck being the prey. Couldn’t say you minded, though. It was then that a sudden idea popped into your head and it was your turn to smirk.

“Okay, big boy. Let’s make a wager. You give me a mind blowing orgasm and I’ll marry you. How about that?”

“Deal.”

With the challenge accepted, Jungkook knew exactly how he wanted this to play out and if everything went according to plan, you’d be Mrs. Jeon before the night was over and it wasn’t even dinner time yet. He always did believe that life was too short and that one should enjoy dessert first....

Climbing off of you, he nearly skipped like a happy child as he went towards his walk-in closet. Swinging one of the doors open, he closely inspected his collection of suit ties and grabbed a silky violet one and a midnight black one. This was going to be so freaking fun for him! It had been too long since he was sexually active and now that he found what he believed to be the woman of his dreams, this moment had been long overdue for him. He could only hope you would enjoy it to. After all, that was the whole point of this bet.

Although you both knew that despite the playful nature you were both exuding on the surface, this moment held a lot more meaning underneath. Behind every teasing look or gesture, there was love. Sure this would be sexy as hell, but this was also about love making. He wanted to show you just how much he truly had fallen for you and that he was serious as a heart attack when he said he wanted to wife you up. With both ties in hand, he slowly made his way back to you while speaking in a tone of explanation,

“The human body holds five basic senses. Touch, sound, sight, taste, and smell. You, on the other hand, will only have three by the time I’m done with you. So....I need to ask.....”

Dear god your body was already heating up with excitement and your core ached something awful. You could feel it physically throbbing and couldn’t stop your thighs from clamping and rubbing together. He couldn’t just spat stuff out like that and then leave you hanging. With a shaky nod of your head, his eyes and smile softened a bit as he asked with sincerity and seriousness,

“Do you trust me?”

“Of course. With my everything.”

It wasn’t even a question for you, really. Granted, a few months ago you would have told him ‘hell no’. But things were different now. Despite his illegal methods, Jungkook was a wonderful man. A man that any woman would be crazy to turn down. Kind of made you rethink your initial refusal to marry him. However, you were torn out of your thoughts when the young male smiled in relief and spoke softly,

“Good. Because you can. You can always trust me. I promise you that.”

With another nod of your approval, the male flashes you a charming smile before getting to work on his plan that would ensure him victory. Climbing onto the bed once more, he was perched on his knees while setting the violet tie down next to you and lifting the black one up in front of himself. That smile turning into a smirk, he began explaining in a casual yet suggestive tone,

“It’s been proven that when one of the five senses gets cut off, that brain power used to control that sense gets put to use on the other remaining senses. So.....If I were to just do something like this.....”

And that was when you suddenly found yourself shrouded in darkness. You heard him softly and sweetly ask you to turn your head so that he could tie the blindfold and dear god you were in so much trouble. Perhaps you should have either been more specific with your bet or not placed the bet at all. This wasn’t gonna end well for you.....Well......depending on how one wanted to look at it. Swallowing hard, you asked in sudden curiosity,

“Now what?”

“Next, I’m going to tie your hands above your head to the headboard. But don’t worry, my love. None of the restraints are going to leave a mark unless you fight them enough.”

Wow, he was right. No longer having your eyesight made all your other senses increase. Especially your sense of hearing because you were having to rely on that more than anything else at the moment. In fact, you hadn’t realized how hard you were breathing till you heard it with your own ears. Before you knew it, Jungkook had successfully taken the remaining silk tie and had your hands secured above your head. Just like he wanted.

Laying there, you played through in your head the five senses again. He said you’d be left with only three by the time he was done. He had cut off your sense of sight so that left you with touch, smell, sound, and taste. You had been so lost in thought and calculating that you hadn’t heard the male get up from the bed till he was climbing back on once more. And even then you only knew this because you could feel the bed dip and heard him approaching.

“This is where you need to trust me, okay? In my hands are ear plugs. If the idea makes you uncomfortable, you need to tell me now. Okay, my flower?”

“I can take it. I can handle it. Please just touch me already. I can’t wait much longer.”

It’s true. You were literally squirming under him as he had you straddled between his legs. This was so freaking hot and sexy! Never before have you thought of implementing bondage in the form of losing your hearing. Sure the blindfold was a classic but hearing!? Genius! Or maybe your sex life had just been that bland and vanilla??? Either way. You were officially throwing in the towel. Bet or no bet, you wanted this. You needed this.

His dark chuckles soon became muffled as you felt him carefully inserting the ear plugs one at a time. Oh god. Oh god. You could feel your breathing increase and you’re pretty sure your panties were absolutely soaked. Even just feeling him shift on the bed had you gasping in surprise; amazed at how much your sense of touch had increased from losing both your sight and your hearing.

The five human senses really were incredible, huh?

Now that he had you all sorted and ready to go, the sight was unbelievably delicious. Oh yes. His first real ‘meal’ after being human again. He couldn’t imagine it any other way. Dessert really should always be eaten first. Subconsciously licking his lips that had suddenly became quite dry, he moved into action while still admiring your beautiful form.

Your poor chest was heaving as you adjusted to the changes in your senses. It was plain to see you had never done something quite as adventurous before. Good. This would only help his chances of winning the bet. Of course it was just a bet but......Jungkook was competitive by nature and so it was only natural for him to want to win. But having you here and having you say you loved him......He had already won the best prize of all.

Not wanting to shock you too much, he gently rested his hands on your hips and slowly rubbed at the skin there in what he hoped to be soothing motions. He would have told you to try and relax but he knew you wouldn’t hear him. Or at least you wouldn’t hear him well enough to know what he was saying. Instead, he tried to ease you up by massaging your hips, already feeling you relax a little bit. Good. Now maybe he could enjoy this without worrying if you were going to pass out from lack of oxygen to your brain.

First off, he had to get you out of some of these clothes. They were all in his way and that was just unacceptable. With a soft huff through his nose, he began by lifting your shirt so that it was bunched up just over the swell of your breasts. Had he still been a vampire, he probably could have just ripped the thing right down the middle but those days were over. Thank goodness. Reaching underneath you, he worked on unclasping your bra and was thankful to see you acting on instinct and arching your back for him to make things easier.

Shoving the offensive contraption out of his way, he eagerly leaned forward to capture your left bud in his mouth. You should have expected it. You really should have. But judging from the way your body was instantly arching and the audible gasp that left your lips told him otherwise. Or perhaps you were finally realizing just how strong your sense of touch had become. Yes. He had you. Hook, line, and sinker.

While his mouth busied himself with your left breast, his one hand made itself acquainted with your right breast, tweaking and teasing your sensitive nub. Meanwhile, he was using his other hand to help keep himself balanced so that he wouldn’t crush you under his weight. The guy was pure muscle, after all. Your moans quickly filled the room and that was when another idea struck him. Gosh you made his mind think such filthy things, didn’t you? This was all your fault. He was certain of it.

Not quite finished enjoying the swell of your bosom, he allowed himself a few more minutes of suckling and nibbling at your nipples. He wanted them nice and red and perky. Gosh where was his cell phone when he needed it??? A camera. He needed pictures. Meanwhile, he could feel you squirming under his lips and whining loudly in his ear. Then again, you probably didn’t even know how loud you were being with those ear plugs in.

Having his fill of your beasts and pleased with how much it affected you, he moved on to the next phase of his plan and where his latest idea had sprouted from. Carefully moving down your body, he was relieved to see you calming down already. So sensitive. He loved it. Now down towards the end of the bed, he began working on getting your sweatpants off along with your panties. Yet again, you knew to help him by lifting your hips and in a flash, your bottom half was completely naked.

Tossing your sweatpants somewhere to the side, his main focus was on your panties that he held in front of him. God you smelled amazing. Not being able to resist the temptation of it all, he eagerly pressed the dampen cloth to his nose and inhaled deeply. Dessert would be oh-so sweet. Yes it would. Without another second wasted, the male crawled back up your body with panties in hand before he carefully eased your mouth open.

Bloody hell what was this man up to??? Your mind reeled with possibilities as you laid there with absolutely no eyesight and no way of hearing anything. Every time you thought you could catch your breath, he’d find some way to snatch it right from your lungs. You’d had your nipples played with before but what he just did there was on a whole other level. His mouth was magical. You were convinced. But then he was going and prying your own mouth open. Jungkook. Always full of surprises.

The next thing you knew, something soft and damp was being stuffed into your mouth. What the----were those your panties!!?!? Oh good lord!! You didn’t know if you wanted to be completely mortified, absolutely furious, or totally turned on right now. Apparently Jungkook wasn’t going to give you time to decide because not a minute later, he was back down at your feet and it was like a shock wave had been sent straight through your body. From the tips of your toes, all the way to the crown of your head and everywhere in between.

Jungkook’s tongue.

Jeon Frickin’ Jungkook was going to eat you out.

You were so done for.

Muffled moans and loud slurping soon filled the bedroom as you instantly tried to struggle against your bounds above your head. Again, this wasn’t your first rodeo but, Jungkook was making it seem that way. Gosh what were you? A virgin??? No. You knew exactly what it was. You were too gosh darn sensitive. That’s what it was. It was like having your vibrator set to the highest right off the bat. You couldn’t control your body as you tried to squirm away. Too sensitive. Too sensitive! Yet it felt so so good.

Meanwhile, the male was having a feast all the while trying to keep you still. Your hips had bucked almost violently into his face and that’s when he knew he needed to hold you down with some force to it. Keeping your hips locked down in place, he threw your legs over his shoulders and got into a better and more comfortable position so he could enjoy his meal a little better. God you tasted like heaven. The most sinful kind.

Attaching his lips to your swollen, aching clit, he risked taking a hand off your hip so that he could ease a single digit into your fluttering core. The muffled moan that came from you could have meant two things. You either liked it or it brought some discomfort. Making sure he coated his finger with your natural juices, he tried once more and......there it was. Much better. Those were the moans he wanted to hear you make.

If this was how things were gonna go down, you weren’t going to last very long at all. Nope. Your walls were already trying to suck his single finger in with everything you had. Subconsciously, you tugged and pulled at the silk tie still wrapped around your wrists. Was it just you or did it feel like they were getting tighter? Eh. Your senses were so effed up and turned around now, you didn’t even know. Why were you even thinking about that in the first place. Your soon-to-be husband was giving you the treat of a lifetime here.

In between sucking on your clit, he teasingly drew circles and figure eights over the poor abused bundle of nerves. But he didn’t want to stop there. No. Oh no. He needed to stretch you out before moving forward with his plan. With that thought in mind, he carefully entered another finger into your sopping core and heard you let out another moan. He could feel your hips twitching and trying to buck against his hold but he remained firm in his resolution.

Adding a third finger had you feeling deliciously full and made your walls clench around all three digits as Jungkook worked you to heaven and back. Unlike your own, his fingers were able to reach spots deep inside you that you could only dream of. More specifically your sweet spot. Although your sight had been cut off due to the blindfold, that didn’t stop the stars from bursting behind your eyes and the moan from drowning in your throat. He was ruthless.

Fingers moving faster and lips sucking your clit raw, Jungkook’s face was almost completely covered in your juices as he had his way with you. Almost there. He could feel it in the way that your walls were trying to squeeze off the circulation to his fingertips. He wouldn’t be a bit surprised if you squirted. Seriously. You were soaking him and the bed both. He couldn’t help but internally grin at the mental image of your mortified face.

Just before you could tip over the edge, everything stopped. Fingers were gone as was his mouth. You were about to raise holy hell when suddenly your panties that were soaked in not only your juices, but your saliva as well had been pulled out from your mouth. Good. Because despite your slightly aching jaw, you weren’t going to let this slide. Still blind as a bat and not giving a flying leap if you could hear or not, you started shouting,

“Jeon Jungkook!! You better get back down there before I----”

“Yah! Relax!”

He then quickly but carefully took out the ear plugs and untied the silk tie from your eyes. Thanking the stars that it had started to turn a bit cloudy out, you eased your eyes open only to stare up at a smiling Jungkook. Ugh. Look at that stupid smile on his face. All pleased with himself. Jerkface.

“Give up yet?”

“Absolutely not! You didn’t even let me finish, you jerk! You frickin’ edged me!!”

Laughing with a half fist raised to cover his nose and mouth, his whole body shook with amusement as you just laid there fuming. Even more so, he was so freaking heavy that he had you locked in place underneath him so you couldn’t even try to knee him in the balls or anything. Jerk. Pride and dignity out the window, you whined loudly and tried to wiggle underneath him.

“Koooook. Come oooonnnnnn. Make me cum! Please?! I was so close!”

“Say you’ll marry me first.”

“Ugh! Fine! I’ll marry you! Now gimme that mind blowing orgasm you promised me before I make you sleep outside!”

You should have known you wouldn’t win that bet. You should probably be thinking more smarter about this whole thing. Marriage was a big deal. But so was being kidnapped and held hostage for four months and look where that got you. Maybe things would be okay. The two of you could make it work. You never know till you try, right? What’s life without a little reckless decision making and taking some huge risks?

Speaking of huge.......

“Oh my god, Kook! It’s not going to fit! Stop stop!”

“Will you just relax for one minute???”

Letting out a soft whine of defiance, you watched with eyes filled to the brim in nervousness as the male had tugged both his sweatpants and boxer briefs down in one go. He was huge! There was no way he was going to fit. No way! Whimpering, you instinctively tried to move away from him but strong yet careful hands kept you in place. With a soft shush, Jungkook’s voice washed over you in a soothing tone.

“Hey. Hey. Flower. Ease. Ease. You said you trust me, right?”

Not realizing you had shut your eyes, you slowly opened them back up to stare into the soft yet sparkling orbs of your lover. The warm smile on his face instantly calmed your frazzled nerves. You couldn’t help it. You were sensitive. Your body had just about reached it’s high and then it all came to a stop. You were still adjusting to having all five of your senses back and it was just really hard to fathom how his length was going to fit. You hadn’t had sex in forever.

“Ye-Yes. I trust you. I really do. I’m just scared. It’s been awhile.”

“And there’s nothing wrong with being scared. But you can trust me. Okay? I’ll go slow. We’ll take this in baby steps.”

With your nod of approval and official consent to proceed, Jungkook carefully untied your wrists so that he could take both of your hands in his and gently kiss at the slight red marks the silky fabric had left in it’s wake. With that same warm smile of reassurance and love on his face, he instructed in a soft and soothing voice,

“Now, I want you to plant your hands wherever you need to, okay? Try not to worry. I got you. You’re safe with me. I promise.”

Okay. Maybe it was a good thing he was trying to wife you up because you’d be absolutely stupid not to marry this guy. Nodding once more, you decided to simply wrap your arms around him with your dull nails already trying to dig into his back as if to brace yourself. When he felt you were comfortable and one hundred percent ready, he slowly eased himself till the tip of his cock was gently prodding your entrance. He had already been at half mast for awhile but there was something about seeing your smaller figure laying there underneath him that had him up to full height in no time.

“Ease, my love. You’re fine. Everything’s alright.”

Swallowing and nodding, you shut your eyes tight as you felt Jungkook slicking up his length with your natural lubrication. Even that alone had you shivering and letting out a feeble moan. This was it. Here we go. Biting your bottom lip hard enough to risk breaking skin and eyes still shut tight, you felt him ease himself further till the head of his cock was gently pushing against your opening. Granted he had managed to stretch you out a bit with his fingers earlier but you were just so wound up and tense. He needed to distract you.

With a plan in mind, the male leaned down and gently started to nibble at your neck; searching for that spot that would help send you to the moon with euphoria and in turn make the perfect distraction for you. An open mouthed kiss here and a gentle suck there. Nudging his nose along the skin of your neck, he reached up and gently tugged on your earlobe before whispering softly,

“Relax, my flower. Just trust me.”

Leaning back down to your neck, he could feel your muscles relaxing a little. Taking this chance while he had it, he used this moment to ease his hips further and sure enough, the tip of his cock breached your entrance. There. The scary part was over as far as he was concerned. But wow! You were so warm and so tight. Okay. Okay. He had to focus. Think of you before himself. Those were his words and he was a man of his word. Vampire or not.

Okay. Okay. You could do this. He was in. He was in and your koochie hadn’t split in two yet. Wow he was so big! Seriously! Had you seriously went so long without having sex that you were suddenly a virgin all over again? Or was he just that big??? You didn’t know but suddenly you felt his teeth bite your neck and a wave of pleasure coursed through you causing your walls to clench around him; making you both moan in union.

Dear god he shouldn’t have done that. Why? Because the way your walls just clenched around him like a boa constrictor had him seeing stars and made his hips twitch just the slightest. Okay. Let’s not do that again just yet. No more biting. Not till he was fully sheathed in you and he could have his way with you. Taking a deep breath himself, he stared down at you and waited for your next nod of approval.

Slowly but surely, he was easing himself in till he bottomed out and the two of you shared a sigh of relief. Jungkook had his forehead pressed against your own as he licked his lips before teasingly licking your own. Bless your heart. You were taking his size like a trooper. He’d make sure to get you whatever ring your heart desired after this was all over. You deserved it and so much more. As he planted sweet and teasing kisses all over your face, you couldn’t help but giggle in bashfulness before saying softly,

“Okay, Kook. You can move. I think I’m good.”

“Very well, my love. You’re doing so well. I love you so much.”

“I love you too.”

Being as careful as if he were handling precious glass, he eased his hips back and watched for any sign of discomfort that might flash across your face before slowly pushing himself back in. God you felt amazing. So warm and tight. He just couldn’t get over the amazing feeling of being inside you like this. Raw with no boundaries. Granted, he was going to have to try and remember to pull out. You were on the pill but that wasn’t guaranteed and he never dreamed that he’d find a mate so condoms weren’t exactly something he had lying around the house.

“Faster. Harder!”

“Oh? You mean like......this?”

He was such a show-off. One minute you were digging your nails into the fabric of his shirt only for him to pry your hands away so that he could quickly rid himself of the offending article of clothing. Once he was completely naked and still sheathed deep inside you, he made just as quick work of your own shirt and bra that was already half off anyway. There. Both of you were completely naked now. Grinning, he said with a deep voice,

“I’ll show you faster. I’ll show you harder. Be careful what you wish for, my love.”

Oh boy----

Suddenly pulling out, he had you flipped over onto your hands and knees in a flash. Were you guys one hundred percent certain there wasn’t still some vampire in his blood? Because dang that happened super fast. You didn’t have time to think on it further because the man in question suddenly stuffed you full of his cock once more; causing you to let out a small cry of pleasure and pain. God he was so big. Seriously. It was a miracle he even fit. Your poor pussy.

If walking wasn’t an option before, it definitely wasn’t going to be now. Jungkook may no longer be a vampire, but that didn’t seem to slow down his super strength any. Your body felt like it was being jerked back and forth at a rapid pace and you’re pretty sure you were going to have finger-shaped imprints on your hips by the time this was all over.

Jeon Jungkook was still a freaking beast, man.

“Ju-un-ko-oo-ook.”

You couldn’t even say a single word without it being broken into thrust-paced syllables as the male dominated you like the animal he had turned into. It was hot as hell. You definitely weren’t complaining. But you would be in the morning. Your hands gripped the bed sheets beneath you with white knuckles as you felt your end quickly approaching again. Trying to get a full sentence out this time, you managed to cry out,

“I’m close!”

“Me too, babe. Me too!”

He knew just how to get you to that mind blowing release he had promised you. With one muscular arm wrapping around your middle, he hoisted you up till you were both on your knees with your back pressed and practically molded against his chest; both of your skin slick with sweat. With his other hand, he quickly reached down and started to furiously rub your clit, causing you to let out another cry of pleasure.

“Oh god! Yes! Just like that! More! More!”

“Such a greedy little thing, aren’t you? Tell me why you deserve it?”

“Because I agreed to marry you, you jerk!!”

Okay he had to admit......You had a good point. You got him with that one. Grinning like an idiot upon hearing you say the words out loud, he decided to treat you to a little reward and while moving his hips a little harder and a little faster, he rubbed and pinched your clit before leaning in and zoning on your neck so he could bite and suck once more.

Hearing your high pitched moan told him he had found the perfect combination to unlock your release. He could feel it in the way that your walls were starting to spasm around his hard length. Dear god please don’t let him cum inside you. As much as he wanted to......it was for your own protection. That is......till the words came tumbling out of your mouth.

“Kook! Cum with me! Cum inside me! Please!”

Well.....if you insisted. Holy lord the two of you better not regret this later. Don’t get him wrong, of course Jungkook would love to have actual children with you. But he still wanted time with you all to himself. Plus he felt like the two of you were getting lots of good practice in by having Hajun around. He was like a low maintenance baby and the male enjoyed that aspect of parenting. He wanted kids. Just not in this moment.

However, your wish was his command and so he finally brought the both of you to your end because as soon as you started constricting around his cock, it was enough to tip him over the edge as he too let out a loud moan and spilled his load; your walls milking him for everything he was worth. Wow. If his release was anything like yours, he was pretty sure he had delivered and then some because he felt like he was on cloud nine right now.

With a few lingering thrusts to help ride out both of your highs, he took a moment to pause and catch his breath. It had been a long time since he needed to worry about oxygen getting to his lungs and his brain. Wow. He forgot what being human was like. Humans were so fragile compared to vampires. Speaking of fragile......

“You okay, my flower? I didn’t break you, did I?”

“Nah, I’m good. But I don’t think my pussy is ever gonna be the same again. Wow.”

He snorted while you giggled. Perhaps it was the amazing sex you just had, but you were incredibly happy right now. You were full but it was of a different nature. Whole. Perhaps that was the better term you were looking for. You felt whole and complete. Sure you were probably going to be sore beyond belief in the morning but you didn’t care at the moment. All that mattered was being here with Jungkook. The man you once despised and now couldn’t imagine your life without.

Easing his softened length out of your poor abused pussy, Jungkook treated you with care once more as he eased the two of you down and under the covers. It was probably dinner time by now but honestly the male just wanted to take a moment and lay here with you. The woman of his dreams. The one who set him free from a terrible curse. You looked so beautiful laying there with your skin glowing and eyes sparkling with life.

“So tell me, what is it that you love about me? Is it my charming good looks? Maybe the muscles?”

You couldn’t help but giggle like a schoolgirl when he propped himself up with one arm and flexed the other in a dramatic fashion; his face scrunching up in that cute manner that you love so much. In fact, you were still so high from your release that you couldn’t stop giggling at his dorky antics. Trying to stay decent, you covered your mouth before shaking your head and replying back in a teasing tone,

“Nope. Those don’t impress me. But you do make a pretty mean devil’s food cake. What frosting was that you used on it the other night?”

“Double fudge.”

“I knew it! A man after my own heart.”

“Looks like I got it, didn’t I?”

The two of you shared identical smiles of warmth and love as the male reached out to gently tuck a couple crazy strands of hair back behind your ear. Yes. He had certainly captured your heart and you were okay with that. Once upon a time? Absolutely not. If someone had told you that you’d be falling in love with a man who drugged and kidnapped you, you would have laughed in their face. But here you were.

“You know......I was never one for funhouses and that one was creepy as hell.......but I think I could get used to staying in this house. It’s super fun”

“Oh my god. You’re such a dork. Get dressed. Dinner will be ready in 30.”

You giggled as he playfully shoved your shoulder. Grinning like an idiot in love, he leaned down and placed a chaste kiss to your lips before rolling out of bed to head to the bathroom so that he could clean himself up real quick before making dinner. It all felt really domestic and that was when you realized......

Maybe you really did want to marry that dork.

And perhaps even have a kid or two.

Speaking of.......

You rolled over and immediately spotted Hajun sitting at the door with a wagging tail and tongue out just panting away in happiness. Your cheeks instantly flushed the heaviest shade of red as you played a staring contest with your fluffy son before saying in a weak and pleading voice,

“Please tell me you just got here.”

[exysexualmoron]

hey @liyahyeet I found my base idea for that FlashAU I’m planning to write one day and here I’m sharing because it might take a while

so it’s basically The Foxhole Labs instead of Star Labs. Andrew would be Captain Cold simply because that’s the flash ship I wrote the most fanfic for and because I can’t see Andrew as an Iris-type character

everyone’s more morally gray than in the show. Neil doesn’t want to save the day or be The Flash, he just does it to run. 

Aaron as New 52s Golden Glider

Nicky’s Mirror Master

Kevin is HeatWave

Matt as Vibe 

Renee as Iris 

Dan as Hartley Rathaway

Allison as Caitlin

Wymack as Wells (not EoWells)

the one thing I can’t decide is if we keep the red suit or we make it orange. 

My name is Neil Josten and I am the fastest man alive. (A/N: because obviously we have to start with that line)

It’s a funny story… sort of. You see, my father was The Butcher of Baltimore and he had a love for violence and all things torture… Which ended up encompassing everyone’s favorite: human experimentation. Not on me though, he just enjoyed cutting me up when I misbehaved.

One day my mom got sick of stitching up my little eight year old body, packed up, grabbed me in the middle of the night along with five million dollars and left.

We were on the run for seven years. 

I was on the run for ten. 

But how did I end up being the fastest man alive? Well, back to my father… 

The man got arrested, ended up being thrown into Iron Heights with all the others like him. There he met Riko Moriyama, a man not much older than me who was trying to become the next step in human evolution. 

As these things go, they ended up forming an alliance and escaping prison.

They needed a subject to experiment on- no supervillain worth their evil laugh would ever test dangerous chemicals on themselves- and I ended up being the lucky pick. They caught up to me in Central City of all places- I mean c’mon, at least set up your evil base of operations in a place aesthetically ready for it like Star City or Gotham- and decided to test their newest serum on me. 

It hurt like lightning was coursing through my veins. I would have died- I hadn’t gone easily, I was actually strapped down to the table with half my blood where it shouldn’t be, cracked ribs and a dislocated knee. The added extra pain would have killed me.

But. 

Not too far away something went horribly wrong at Foxhole Labs. 

The explosion covered Central City in a wave of dark matter. The whole city went dark. My father, Riko and all their goons left.

I was left alone and unconscious in the basement of Central City’s branch of the world renowned Moriyama Labs. Tied up. Alone. In a coma. For nine months. 

Well, almost nine months. 

Okay, maybe the story isn’t that funny… or funny at all, but I do think there’s some poetic irony there or something… The thing that gave me my powers, the thing that made me untouchable only happened because a bunch of college kids blew up a lab at the same time I was being used as a test subject. 

I wasn’t the only one who changed though… But we’ll get there.

[annewritesfic]

Happy Endings Don't Exist

i've decided to just keep the same title for all the tlc au stuff sjwjwjwjwj

anyways! so this is based off the end of cress, and for context:

- farrah lost her vision in a satellite crash when she hit her head

- erland is the doctor who figured out kate is selene

- chess has been taken captive by a thaumaturge, one of the queen's lackeys, and cairo is terrified for her

- also i don't know if i mentioned it but kate's a cyborg, a 36.98% ratio, left leg is metal pretty much halfway up their thigh, left hand is metal, a bunch of ribs, vertebrae, and half their heart are synthetic, and her eyes are synthetic with a control panel in the back of their head

- eva was supposed to marry levana today, but kate, reese, cairo, mattie, and farrah kidnapped her right before the wedding could start

okay yeah i think that's it

word count: 1703

triggers: mentions of blood/violence/death, mentions of massacre, mentions of a gun, mentions of torture

"It's me, Eva." Kate clenched both hands into fists and stared at their boots. "I'm the lost princess."

"Oh," Eva said softly. "Oh."

"And, um, in case it wasn't obvious, I was being sarcastic about being great," Kate said, unable to take the silence. "I mean- obviously, you've got your own stuff to worry about, but, like, it- it kind of has been a rough few weeks with the ball and Levana and my sister and Erland is dead and Chess is missing and Farrah is blind and Cairo is- I don't know. She's so still and I'm worried about her, but- don't worry, I've got this under contr-"

"Please stop talking."

Kate stopped talking.

Eva leaned against the wall and slowly slid down until she was sitting. "You. You're Princess Selene?"

"Yeah…"

"The whole time, it was you."

"I mean, I didn't know for awhile, either," Kate said. "Dr Erland figured it out first, but he didn't think to tell me until I was in prison, so…"

"Levana knows, doesn't she?" Eva seemed oddly calm, considering the bombshell Kate just dropped on her head. "That's why she's so fucking determined to find you."

"Yeah."

"And it was you this entire goddamn time."

"You know, you're taking this way better than I thought you would."

Eva leaned her head back against the wall, eyes closed. "It-it makes sense, kind of. In a weird way." She was quiet for a moment, then cracked a smile. "Although I always kinda pictured the princess, like… in a dress."

Kate managed a laugh. "That's probably not happening anytime soon."

"And I thought that if I could just… find her, it would be so easy. We'd present her to the world as the true queen of Luna, and Levana would just crawl and hide in a hole. I didn't think…" Eva took a shaking breath. "I never thought she'd know. That she'd be fighting it."

"I don't think you know your fiancée very well."

Eva's eyes opened, and she stared at Kate with a steady, determined gaze that made Kate forget to breathe for a moment. "Okay, no more secrets. I'm done with big reveals from you, so if there's anything else you're keeping from me, I wanna hear it now."

Kate thought for a moment. Big secrets… cyborg. Lunar. Princess. Eva knew it all.

Well, maybe one more secret. They might be just… a tiny bit in love with her.

But obviously she couldn't tell her that.

"I can't cry," they whispered, sitting down against the opposite wall.

"I knew that," Eva said.

"Wha- how?"

"Your guardian said something about it." Eva ran a fingernail up and down a metal seam on the floor, almost nervously. "And, um… I looked at your files. Your medical records."

"You what?"

"I'm sorry, but-but you were a fugitive and I needed to know more." Eva paused. "I didn't want to, though. I felt- it was too much of an invasion on your privacy. I'm sorry, Kate."

Kate fought to breathe slowly and steadily. "No, it's- no more secrets."

"Are your eyes really…?"

"Synthetic," Kate confirmed.

Eva moved a little closer across the floor. "And that's why you can't cry?"

"It's not like I need the tear ducts for lubrication, and they got in the way of… I have a retina scanner and like, a really small netscreen in my eye." Kate tapped one metal finger against the side of her head. "So there's a lot of wiring… fuck, I can't believe I'm telling you this."

"I think it's pretty fucking awesome."

A laugh ripped from Kate's throat, oddly pleasant.

Eva reached for Kate's hands. "Can I see?"

Kate rolled their eyes, but sighed and nodded. Eva stared into her eyes, almost like she was trying to see right through to Kate's control panel, but then she shook her head with an expression of wonder. "You'd never know."

Embarrassed, Kate bit her lip. "Look at the bottom of my left iris." They pulled up a news feed they'd been watching before the ship had even landed in New Beijing, from the African Union. She didn't bother turning on the volume, letting the news anchor stay muted.

"Wait, is that-"

"Yeah, that's it."

"It's tiny. Just- really just a dot."

"It looks bigger to me." Kate dismissed the news feed, trying not to think about how close Eva was, or how she was still holding their hands.

Eva studied Kate's face - not the retina scanner or the synthetic eyes, just Kate. "I'm sorry I had you arrested. But I really am glad you're alright."

"Don't you hate me for, you know… shooting you?"

Eva's lips twitched up into a smile. She dropped Kate's human hand to pick up the metal one in both hands, studying the tips of the shiny grey fingers. "You know, none of the diagrams I looked at said anything about a gun."

"I like to maintain an air of mystery."

"Funnily enough, I've noticed."

Kate bit their lip again. "The hand is new. It's… plated with one hundred percent titanium. And that's yet another thing I can't believe I'm telling you."

Eva lifted Kate's hand to her lips and pressed a kiss against the cool metal. "Kate?"

"Y-yeah?"

"Just to be sure, you're not manipulating me right now, right?"

"Of course not."

"Good. Just checking." Then Eva slid her arms around Kate's waist and kissed her.

Immediately, Kate's retina display went crazy. INCREASED LEVELS OF DOPAMINE AND ENDORPHINS. REDUCED AMOUNTS OF CORTISOL. ERRATIC PULSE. RISING BLOOD PRESSURE-

Kate dismissed the retina display and kissed back.

Eva shifted to sit back and pull Kate closer without even once breaking the kiss, and both of them smiled into it, relaxing after weeks of stress piling on both of them. Kate broke the kiss and pressed her forehead against Eva's, breathing easier than they had in weeks. Eva gently rubbed circles against Kate's back, calming and soothing, and even though every person on Earth was probably freaking out over the missing empress and determined to find them, Kate had never been calmer.

But then the retina display, alone against the darkness of Kate's closed eyes, caught their attention.

FARAFRAH.

LUNARS.

MASSACRE.

Kate pulled away, huddling against the wall, every happy emotion from kissing Eva quickly being replaced by panic and fear.

"Kate-"

Kate shook her head frantically, and Eva stopped talking for a moment.

"I'm sorry," she said after a pause. "I shouldn't have- shit, Kate, I'm so sorry-"

"No, that's not- it wasn't-" Kate dug their hands into their hair. "Levana."

Eva inhaled sharply. "What did she…?"

"She- she retaliated," Kate managed to say, focusing on the news feed. "She attacked- she attacked Farafrah, the- fuck, that's the town that helped us." The air went cold, and Kate tried desperately to process this. Pictures flashed across the display with so much blood.

"Kate-"

Kate grabbed a wrench and hurled it against the wall in frustration, then slumped against the wall, shaking.

"Has Levana issued any demands?" Eva asked, infuriatingly calm.

"I don't know." Kate grit her teeth. "But they're all dead, and it's my fault. Because they helped me."

"It's not-"

"It is my fault, Eva!"

"Kate, listen to me." A hand settled on her shoulder. "You didn't kill them."

"I basically did."

"Did they know the risk when they let you stay?"

Kate didn't say anything.

"Maybe they thought it was a risk worth taking. Because they believed in you."

"If you're trying to help, you're doing a really shitty job," Kate spat.

"Kate-"

"You wanna know another secret? The biggest secret?" Kate swallowed down the familiar lump in their throat that said you should be crying. Would be, if you were human. "I'm scared, Eva."

Those words hung in the air for a moment.

"I'm scared of her army, and of what she can do, and I'm supposed to be strong and brave but I don't know what I'm doing, I don't know how I'm supposed to overthrow her, and even if I did, I don't know how to be a queen. People are relying on me and now they're dying because of a fantasy that I can maybe save them, but- what if I can't?"

Eva pulled her into her arms, and Kate buried their face in her soft shirt, a headache pounding behind her eyes. "I'm scared."

"I know how you feel."

"Not really."

"Close to it, at least."

"No, because-" Kate curled her human fingers into Eva's shirt. "What if I'm becoming like her?"

"You aren't."

"How can you be so sure?" Kate demanded. "Because I manipulated soldiers in France. And your advisor today. And Cairo, and I- I keep thinking sacrifices have to be made for the good of everyone, right? And then there are the mirrors- I think I'm starting to get why she hates them so much." They started shaking. "And… I tortured her thaumaturge today. I tortured her. And I almost enjoyed it."

"Katie, look at me." Eva sat back and cupped Kate's face with one hand, staring into their eyes. "I know you're scared, and believe me, you're allowed to be. You have every right to be scared. But you are not Queen Levana."

"You can't know that."

"Yeah? I do."

"She's my aunt, you know."

"And my grandfather signed the Cyborg Protection Act." She brushed Kate's hair out of her face. "But here we are."

Kate almost smiled at that.

"Now, how about we never talk about you being related to her again? Because I'm technically still engaged to her, and that's really weird on so many levels."

Kate managed a laugh as Eva pulled them back into her arms. Her headache started to fade, and the news feed drifted out of their gaze. Even with the shit show of Kate's life… Eva felt safe.

"You won't tell anyone, right?"

"'course not."

"And if I'm a shitty princess?"

"I don't think Luna needs a princess. I think they need a revolutionary."

Kate turned that word over in their mind. "I like that more than princess."

"And then, once this is over, I do have some experience in the ruling-a-country field," Eva pointed out. "So I'll help you."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

[pretend-writer]

Down Below (Chapter 67)

Summary: After being sent down on Earth with the other prisoners from the Ark, Y/N Reyes faces series of events and learns about survival. With new things happening around her, she is now starting a new chapter in her life.

Pairing: Bellamy Blake x reader, John Murphy x reader, Raven Reyes x sister!reader

Word Count: 2.6k words

Warning: mention of death, mention of violence, swearing

✤  ·  ✤  ·  ✤  ·  ✤  ·  ✤

It was hard to believe in second chances after all I’ve done down at the bunker. Despite telling myself over the past few years that what I did was for Wonkru and to support Octavia, I knew in my heart that it was a shitty thing to do.

But here I stood next to Bellamy as we looked out the window of Eligius IV, staring at our possible new home that Monty researched for us all these years we were in cryo sleep.

‘Monty did all of this... for us...’ Bellamy mumbled to himself, looking at the new planet in awe. ‘This...’

‘This is amazing.’ The words slipped out of my mouth, enjoying the beautiful view we had from up this ship. Who would’ve known that Earth wasn’t the only livable place in the universe? By the way it seemed, the planet full of green life, it was habitable for humans. But we wouldn't know for sure until we get to the ground.

‘Yeah, I’m really excited actually. I don’t know a life outside this ship.’ Jordan grinned widely, ‘Also, it’s nice meeting you two finally. Monty and Harper talked a lot about you guys.’

It was crazy to think that Monty and Harper had a child, but it was more insane to think that they were both gone. Instead of going to cryo, they’ve decided to live the rest of their lives together.

They had their own family, finally had a life away from war and lived in peace. Now that I think about it, it sounded so beautiful. I knew that Monty and Harper were happy together, they deserved all of that and more.

‘Y/N, before I log off from my final video...’ Monty smiled through the camera, ‘I want to thank you for taking care of Jasper. I always wonder if I tried hard enough, he’d still be with us today. Because of everything you’ve done for him, I know that all that happened at the bunker wasn’t the real you, I truly believe that. Even though you did scare me.’

‘Throughout the times from when we landed on Earth to now, you’ve always done what’s best for everyone. That’s all that matters in the end. I hope that on this planet, we can all do better and look out for each other.’ Monty smiled one last time, ‘I believe in you guys. May we meet again.’

‘May we meet again.’ Bellamy and I whispered as Monty logged out of the video. The tears streamed down my face, not being able to process that Monty wasn't with us anymore.

He was the one that gave me hope; after dealing with Mount Weather, Monty was the one that made me realize that I had to push through to be an asset again. He pulled me out of a dark place that I never thought I'd ever leave. He even realize that Skafaiya had changed, that I was being better.

If it wasn't for him, reassuring that I can do better I would of never realized what I've become and all that bad that I've done. I should be thanking him for that, I wish I thanked him before we parted ways.

'Who else should I wake up?' Jordan asked sweetly. 'My dad programmed cryo to wake us up but not the others.'

My dad. Wow I could never get used to that, I thought to myself. I wish I was able to congratulate Monty and Harper, except it happened a hundred years ago.

'We can't wake everyone, it'll be chaotic. We can get the people who can go down and help us search around. Starting with Shaw, the pilot.' Bellamy nodded, he turned to me and flashed a smile.

I shrugged, not really in the mood to talk to him. After what Raven had told me about Bellamy and Echo, I didn't know if I was able to stand him. 'Yeah. Okay. Sounds good.'

'You okay, Reyes?' Bellamy reached for me to hold his hand, except I took a step back. He cocked his head, confused. Last time I saw him, we were in good terms and wanted to start over again. 'What's wrong?'

'Nothing.' I avoided his eye contact as I left the room. Bellamy followed me into the cryo room, not saying a word as he tried to give me space.

I'd rather not wait and instead, tell him the whole truth about what I knew about The Ring. The problem was the fact that he was acting as if nothing happened, as if he didn't kiss another girl while he was in space. Bellamy made me feel bad about the bunker when the fact was that he was hiding things from his at-the-time girlfriend.

As I worked the cryo machine, I woke up the people we needed to venture down with on the new planet. Each person popped out of cryo, slowly waking up as if they were just taking a short nap.

'No, not her.' Bellamy rested his hand on mine, stopping me from pressing the button. 'We can't wake Octavia up.'

'Why not? Are you still scared of her?'

'If someone is already living on this planet, we don't want Blodreina fucking everything up.'

'Well, if someone is actually down there and if they happen to be savages, don't we need someone who can fight?' Murphy walked towards us, giving me a hug from the side. 'Just saying.'

Bellamy rolled his eyes, didn't know if it was from John being close to me or the fact that he was told what to do about his sister. 'I'm not taking that risk. I'm sure we will be fine ourselves.'

'Alright, you're the boss.' John dropped the conversation, quickly turning to me. 'Can I talk to you, Y/N?'

'Yeah, of course.' I nodded, smiling at him before he walked away.

In the corner of my eyes, I saw Bellamy staring at me. I could tell that he was confused, maybe a bit jealous too. With all that's happened, I didn't know whether to feel bad or let him be. Either way, I left the room.

Following Murphy out of the cryo room, he led me to the hallway. 'I missed you. Even though it feels like I just saw you 10 minutes ago.'

I giggled, feeling butterflies like I did when I kissed him before we headed to cryo sleep. 'To be fair, it's been over hundred years.'

'And yet, your shot wound hasn't healed.' John pointed at my leg, 'Saw you limping earlier.'

'Yeah, I'll be fine. I'm always fine.' I smiled. Wanting to get everything out the way, I decided to talk to him about the obvious topic we had to discuss. 'I haven't told Bellamy by the way.'

He nodded, 'I figured. It's okay, there's no need to rush it.'

'But I feel bad, I don't want it to be a secret or anything.'

'Don't feel bad because whatever we have, it's worth it. I don't mind the mystery either. Besides, sneaking around is kind of a turn on.'

This feeling I had for him felt so right, so nostalgic; felt way better than feeling pressured by Bellamy to be different and to feel bad about who I was. I didn't have to pretend with John, we knew each other majority of our lives and he understood what I've been through.

What I didn't understand was why all this time, Bellamy guilted me about the years I spent in the bunker when he had secrets he was keeping from me.

Jackson suddenly rushed towards me and Murphy, looking at me as if he was very stressed. 'Jackson, what's wrong?'

'We're prepping Kane for surgery. He's awake and somewhat stable for now but-' He paused, I could tell he was scared of my reaction.

'What?'

'Kane wants to see you.'

My heart dropped, not expecting to see Marcus at all. Last time I saw him, he was unconscious and when I spoke my final words to him back at Polis, I said some pretty mean stuff.

'Can I just see him after surgery?'

'Bellamy is preparing with Clarke to go check out the new planet and he told me you're going with. Also with Kane's condition, we're afraid he might not make it.'

'You should go see him, Y/N.' John tapped my arm, 'I can come with you if you'd like.'

Marcus' condition? How bad was his injuries? I knew that one of Abby's patients attacked him but I didn't know it was this critical. No matter how much pain he brought me after all the betrayals, I wasn't ready to say goodbye to him.

'I'll be okay.' I faked a smile to John, but instantly he knew I was lying.

He didn't push it though, instead he nodded in return. 'Let me know if you need me.'

'Thank you, John.' I said before I followed Jackson into a room. Raven, Abby and Bellamy looked up as the door opened for Jackson and I.

'What is she doing here?' Abby growled, staring at me as if I came to kill Marcus myself. 'She's going to trigger him and make his condition worse than it already is.'

'Kane personally asked for her. I think he has a right to see her, Abby.' Jackson replied back, 'We should give them some privacy.'

Raven nodded, 'I agree. We'll be right outside if you need us Y/N.'

'Thanks.' Raven and Jackson left the room, Abby still glaring at me as she stood next to Kane laying on the bed.

'I'm not going anywhere Y/N. I don't trust you for-'

'It's okay Abby. Give us some space, I need to speak to her.' Marcus spoke up, putting his hand on hers. 'We will be fine.'

Abby huffed as she headed to the door. 'If anything happens to him, it's on you.'

Bellamy looked at me with sad eyes, I guess he understood my situation with me and Marcus after I told him before he got into the fighting pit; sorry flushed across his face.

He reached for my hand but I quickly swept it away, I didn't even mean to do it. 'I-I want to be alone with him if that's okay, Bellamy?'

'Ah. Sure.' Bellamy whispered, scratching his temple as he left the room.

I slowly walked over to Marcus' bed, holding my breath. I didn't know what to say or what to feel after everything that had happened.

'How are you?' He whispered, not being able to speak loudly. The patient had stabbed Marcus on his neck, causing him to lose a lot of blood.

'I should be the one asking you that.' The bloody bandage on his neck scared me a little, I've never seen him so helpless.

'Physically, I can tolerate this pain but emotionally I'm not okay.' Marcus' voice cracked, 'I'm sorry for what I did to you.'

'What are you sorry about exactly?' I didn't mean to sound petty, I genuinely needed to know if I was ready to forgive him. It hurt that someone I love so much turned his back on me, but it was hard to keep hating him also.

Marcus paused, carefully turning his head toward me. His eyes started to water and he lightly whimpered. 'About everything, monkey.'

I bit my bottom lip, trying to hold my tears in. It made me feel sad for him, but for what? He betrayed me not once but twice; The first time in the bunker after he never believed that Abby blackmailed me and when he turned against Wonkru to work with Diyoza.

His betrayal made me angry but it made me even more upset at myself for still caring for him. Just like he told me at the fighting pit, I tried to stop him for a reason. And that reason was that no matter how much pain he put me through, I cared for him.

'You know, Octavia came to me and told me what happened when the Dark Year began. That Abby had told you to shoot those people. I didn't want to believe that someone I love did those things to you. I also couldn't believe what I saw when you shot and killed Wonkru.'

'But you chose her over me, even when I came up to you about Abby. All those years you took her side and left me in the dark, made it mine and Octavia's fault that the Dark Year happened.'

'I know... I know...' He breathed, 'I just didn't want to admit that Abby would do that. I saw what you did and I didn't wanted to believe that she was behind all of this.'

'So you were okay with blaming me and not her?'

'No, I wasn't. Not at all.' Marcus held his breath, gently wiping his tears that were streaming down his face. 'I was confused, I felt like everything was falling apart. I chose the easy way out, turned you into an enemy. I never even considered how you felt at all.'

It made me mad, knowing that he knew he was wrong for blaming everything on me. All I wanted was a hug, an "I love you" or just any support from him. 'You made my life a living hell.'

'I know Y/N, I know.' He reached for my hand, his hand shaking from weakness. 'I'm sorry, I'm so sorry.'

Leaning in closer to him, I felt his touch on my cheek. It's been a long time since I've been this close to Marcus. 'I was just a kid, I was scared what Abby was going to do to Octavia. She had a gun... and I knew her drug problems and I-'

'I'm sorry, Y/N.' Kane sobbed, caressing my cheek. 'I'm sorry.'

Gently and carefully, I wrapped my arms around Marcus. Making sure not to put my whole weight on him, I hugged him as I buried my face into his chest. Tears fell down my eyes, staining Marcus' shirt with tears which added to the blood stains from his injuries.

'I just wanted you to believe me, that's all I wanted.'

'I'm sorry.' Marcus repeated over and over again. 'I'm proud of you okay? For overcoming this without me, without Bellamy or your sister.'

'Octavia was with me. She helped me through everything.'

'Oh, baby.' He shook his head, holding me tightly as he can with all the strength he had left in him. 'Why did I do this to you again? I told myself after what happened at the Ark, I wouldn't ever do anything to lose you again... Why... why?'

Even though I hated that he took Abby's side, it must've been hard for him to see her in that way. I can never justify or maybe even forgive him when he turned his back on me but I can understand the confusion he must of had.

Everyone knows I was not innocent in this at all. Not at all, not even close.

'Thank you, for apologizing.' I mumbled into his chest, hugging him a little bit longer.

'No, thank you for even coming to talk to me.'

Taking a deep breath, I recollected all my thoughts. I tried to wipe my tears off of his shirt but it all sank in. 'Sorry your shirt is wet now.'

Marcus laughed lightly, shaking his head. 'Don't worry about it. I need a new one anyway.'

Placing my hand on his cheek, I wiped his tears. 'Don't leave me again.'

'I'll try not to.'

'No, promise me you won't. You can't leave me again. Not after all that's happened.'

He looked at me, smiled as he nodded. 'Okay. I promise Y/N.'

Nodding in return, I gave him a kiss on his forehead. 'For good luck.'

'Thank you, monkey.'

'May we meet again.'

Marcus smiled once again, 'I'll see you soon kiddo.'

[romansleftshoulderpad]

Straight for the Castle

Words: 2,950

Ship: Romantic Dukeceit

Warnings: Regicide mentioned more than once, dead parents, mentions of killing, it’s implied one of the sides is dead but if this thing gets a part two than I’m promising you he isn’t, sympathetic Deceit + Remus, blood mention, scars mention, Hell mention, the chorus is only used in halves the first two times because I have learned why I do not stray from my usual format for song fics

Tags: @fandermom @patchworkofstars @poisonedapples @hogwarts-my-love @opaque-puppet @omni-hamiltrash @darling-elm @jynxlovesluck @localtransgrape @no-one-remembers-achmed 

---

Sick of all these people talking, sick of all this noise

The war had been a brutal one. The royal family had been brutally attacked and beaten as soldiers from a rival burned down the city. Their armies fought back but no one could have prepared for this sudden of an invasion- especially not one this size. Not on Christmas day.

“Over here,” Virgil, the prince’s personal guard yelled as he helped the twin boys from their room. They were just two months shy of their fourteenth birthday. They were terrified. “I know a secret passageway,” Virgil said. “Be brave little princes for me, won’t you?”

Roman might’ve cried, though Remus can hardly remember anything but the flames throughout the city and the sudden screams from down the hall where he would later spot the king and queen laying side by side in a pool of the very blood that ran through him and his brother.

They snuck through a tunnel in the walls, breathing in the dank and musty air and choking on cobwebs. Virgil wore a scarf that covered his nose and mouth. He was immune to the choking and coughing that plagued both princes.

Remus doesn’t think about the tunnel. He doesn’t think about his parents or his little sister that was taken. He doesn’t wonder if she’s still alive. He doesn’t think about the smoke in the air or the blood and ash that covered the city streets as they escaped.

But he does remember Virgil yelling “RUN” and the two boys splitting up. He turned his head and saw soldiers grabbing Virgil. He struggled as they threw him into a prison cart. He saw Roman running into the burning city as he ran into the woods.

He saw Roman running into the city. He saw Roman running. He saw Roman.

After that night, Remus never saw his brother again.

Both princes kept running.

Remus doesn’t know what happened to Roman. Some days he wonders if knowing is worth being hurt all over again. Remus kept running. He kept running. He kept running.

Remus kept running.

Tired of all these cameras flashing, sick of being poised.

Remus lived in the woods for years. He kept living. He kept running. He never looked back over his shoulder ever again, for he knew that all that laid back there was blood, ash, and smoke.

He found himself far beyond the edge of the capital after five years. He was outside of the kingdom after ten. Then again after fifteen. The kingdom that had taken over just kept growing. The more Remus ran the more his past stalked him like a hunter.

Remus remembered the flames. He refused to be prey ever again.

Now my neck is open wide, begging for a fist around it

It was a year later when he met Ethan, a man shrouded in mystery who had been designated too hazardous and chancy to be part of any real civilization. When he found a feral man lost in the woods, he only had a few questions, none of which involved his past.

The two moved in together, in a small cabin Ethan had either built or stolen. His story changed every time.

But perhaps that’s what initially drew Remus to Ethan was that they were both outsiders. They had no family so they found a family in each other.

But what really convinced Remus to stick around was how Ethan was unhesitatingly down with regicide.

Already choking on my pride, so there’s no use crying about it

“Ethan,” Remus said, through a sip of coffee. His hands were shaking against the porcelain and he was afraid it might break. “There’s something I need to tell you. A-About my past. About why I’m here.”

“Remus, I thought we agreed that’s not necc-”

“No, I- I want to tell you. I need to tell you.” He put his cup down and met Ethan’s eyes. “Because I need you to help me get revenge.”

I’m heading straight for the castle

“Prince?” Ethan asked. “No, they- they killed the entire royal family.”

“Not me. Not Roman.”

“How did you-?” “I ran. I snuck out of the castle and I ran. For so long I ran un- until I met you.” Remus could feel his heart beating against his throat. “Because of you, I stopped having to run. And with you, I’ll never have to run ever again.”

“You’re asking quite a lot from me, Remus.”

“I know. And I wouldn’t do this if I didn’t think we had a fighting chance.”

Ethan took a deep breath. He slid out from his chair and kneeled on the floor in front of Remus. He looked up with a dastardly grin. “Anything for you, your royal highness.”

They’re gonna make me their queen

“Alright, if we’re going to do this, we need to make sure it can work.” He dumped a handful of maps and scrolls onto the table. “I know that castle like the back of my hand.”

“And?” Ethan asked.

“And I know the tunnels too.”

“Perfect.”

And there’s an old man sitting on the throne that’s saying that I probably shouldn’t be so mean.

“We leave at midnight. In a week’s time, we take back the throne.”

Oh, all of these minutes passing, sick of feeling used.

Ethan could still remember the day he got kicked out.

And the day he finally ran away.

If you wanna break these walls down, you’re gonna get bruised.

He hid the scars on his face. He hid his magic, vowing never to use it again. After how his powers- how he- had been exploited, how could he? His parents had disowned him for being too powerful. He ran away from the puppeteer for being too weak.

He wouldn’t be a puppet.

He wouldn’t be used for a show or for pulling rabbits out of a hat.

He swore off human contact. He found a dead man’s retirement home and he buried the body. He taught himself to fish and caught all his meals from that point on. Eventually, he’d also learn how to hunt deeper in the woods.

But then he met Remus. And his promise of spending forever alone seeped through his grip like grains of sand.

It wasn’t instantaneous, of course, Ethan had to know he was trustworthy. Remus was practically feral, one with nature in far too many ways. But he had spent his whole life running. That was something Ethan could respect. That was something Ethan could understand.

Now my neck is open wide, begging for a fist around it. Already choking on my pride, so there’s no use crying about it.

The two of them had found- well, stolen- a wagon from the nearby city. However, it had no horse to pull it, and a horse is a much harder thing to steal. Ethan took a deep breath as he broke one more vow, all in Remus’s name.  

“Since you’ve told me something about your past, your highness, I think it’s only fair I do the same.”

“Ethan, you don’t have to-”

He pressed his hands against the wood. He concentrated, feeling the energy flow through his skin. He hadn’t used magic in so long the feeling was almost foreign. His skin was buzzing and tingling. The cart began to move forward and Ethan promptly fell back, his head hitting the seat.

“Ethan!” Remus yelled, reaching out for him.

Ethan weakly raised his hand, waving it dismissively. “I’ll be fine.” His eyes slipped closed. “I’m just... a little tired.” As he drifted off to sleep, the magic continued pushing them forward. Remus pulled Ethan close, letting the magician’s head fall on his shoulder as he wrapped his arms around him like a blanket. He would stay awake, watchful and protecting, in case anyone tried to come in between them. He would protect Ethan with his life before taking the unlawful king’s.

I’m headed straight for the castle. They’ve got the kingdom locked up.

They found themselves taking shifts, one sleeping while the other watched for any potential threats. They had both said it was for protection but to say there was nothing more would be to go back on their new promise to be open with each other.

Remus was sound asleep, tucked under Ethan’s arm when they approached the edge of the kingdom. Ethan ran his fingers through Remus’s hair, shaking him lightly. “Look,” he whispered, “revenge is in your grasp, your highness.”

“Our grasp,” Remus corrected, slowly opening his eyes. “We’re in this together, remember?”

Ethan blushed and tried to keep a straight face. “Of course, your highness. Together.”

“You don’t have to call me ‘your highness’ you know. I haven’t been a prince in sixteen years.”

“On the contrary, your highness, I don’t think I can stop.”

Remus laughed and pressed a kiss to Ethan’s face, his lips brushing against the scar that connected the corner of his mouth to his cheekbone. “You old sap.”

Ethan’s blush grew and he turned to face Remus, his eyes wide with shock. Their noses brushed and he felt he might faint. His eyes fell towards Remus’s mouth and his heart trembled with fear and excitement. In a life of solitude and confinement, was this what it felt like to fall in love?

“We’re one step closer to victory.”

“One step closer to your reign.” Ethan swallowed his heart. “Your highness.”

And there’s an old man sitting on a throne that’s saying I should probably keep my pretty mouth shut

Flags hung in the city. Thousands of flags celebrating the king that had destroyed Remus’s life. Destroyed his family and burnt citizens into the soil that was merely swept off of the ground.

He kept his eyes on the prize.

Straight for the castle

He jumped off the wagon as Ethan withdrew his magic from it. “Hey,” Ethan whispered, touching his shoulder lightly. His touch was full of magic, it felt like static electricity against his skin. “Are you okay?”

There’s no use crying about it

“I’m fine,” Remus lied.

There’s no use crying about it

The screams and fire cackling echoed through his mind. The heat resurfaced to his face and the tears of fallen children threatened to fall from his eyes.

There’s no use crying about it

“Let’s go, Ethan.”

There’s no use crying about it 

They marched onwards

I’m heading straight for the castle

It was surprisingly easy to get to the back of the castle’s property, just west of the gardens. Remus tried to remember, he shut his eyes tight and, for the first time in years, let himself think about his brother and his parents. He thought about Virgil and his little sister. He pressed his fingertips against the brick and tugged at one of them, opening a small hole in the wall.

“Come on,” he whispered.

“You’re crying.”

“We’re getting revenge.”

They trekked forward. Ethan quietly looped their fingertips, holding on tight to Remus’s hand. They stopped and he heard Remus take a sharp breath. It was so dark they could hardly see a thing. “It’s okay to be upset. I can’t pretend I know what it was like that night, but I can be here for you now. And- And if this is the last time we see each other again, I have to say I-”

“Don’t.”

Ethan blinked, taken aback. “What?”

“Don’t say it, don’t think it,” Remus said. “If I- If I think of you like that- Ethan, I can’t lose you.”

“You won’t. I promise you won’t.”

They wanna make me their queen

They snuck into the old princes’ bedroom through an entrance behind the kingdom’s flag. It had been only touched by time. Remus reached out for an old teddy bear that had been laying on the ground. His button eyes were nearly fallen off and his cardboard crown had been destroyed. “This was Roman’s,” he explained. “He could never fall asleep without him.”

“I’m sure you’re brother is still out there. Maybe once you reclaim the throne, he’ll come back.”

Remus looked up at him, his cheeks flush red with the ghosts of tears still staining his skin. He had been crying in the tunnel. “I hope he doesn’t, deep down. I hope he’s out there, not thinking about this horrible night. He saw much more of it than I did.”

“Let’s go make sure no one ever sees a night like that ever again.”

And there’s an old man sitting on the throne that’s saying that I probably shouldn’t be so mean. I’m heading straight for the castle.

Remus unsheathed his dagger and the two snuck out of the bedroom. They had made it maybe ten feet out before stumbling upon nearly thirty armed guards. “HALT!” they yelled charging towards them.

“Get behind me!” Ethan yelled, sending a powerful blast of magic in front of him. Every guard shot back, most of them injured and a few dead. Ethan stole their weapons and marched onwards.

“You didn’t tell me you could do that,” Remus said.

Ethan turned around, his eyes were glowing white and a new scar sat across the bridge of his nose. “There’s a lot of things I haven’t told you.”

“Can I tell you that I am very turned on right now?”

Ethan laughed and turned back to the mission. “Maybe later.”

They’ve got the kingdom locked up And there’s an old man sitting on the throne that’s saying I should probably keep my pretty mouth shut.

As they approached the throne room, Remus returned his dagger to its sheath, instructing Ethan to hide his weapons in whatever way he could. The guards inside pointed their spears and swords at them, but they didn’t seem to know about the dead guards only a few rooms away.

“We wish no harm,” Remus lied. “Only a council with His Majesty.”

The king looked upon them. His crown hid a balding head and his beard hid the wrinkled face of a murderer. Remus’s blood boiled, calming only when he felt Ethan’s hand on his back. He had to remember why they were here. He bowed. “Your Majesty, I am Prince Remus. You killed my entire family and half of our capital when you took this kingdom.”

Ethan set off another blast of magic to his sides, knocking out several guards but nowhere near enough. A scar went through his right eye. He handed a sword to Remus and they fought off the guards in a blur of metal and blood. Somehow (probably through Ethan’s magic) both of them were able to get through unscathed. Ethan sent one last bear of magic, just enough to hold the king down to his throne, and collapsed on the ground.

Remus walked up to the struggling king, slowly and deliberately. He took his dagger and held it to the light. “A beautiful thing, isn’t it? I got it from my father. You remember him, right? He was sitting on this very throne when you took the blood from his veins and the life from his eyes.” He leaned over the king, their faces merely inches apart as he whispered, “which is exactly what I’m going to do to you.”

“You’ll go to Hell for this!” The king yelled.

Remus drove his dagger through the king’s chest, stepping away from the blood to avoid staining his clothes. “Then I’ll see you there, where I shall destroy you again and again and again until you know even a smidgen of the agony I have been faced with for sixteen years.” He took the crown off of the king’s head as he let out his last breath. Placing the crown upon his head, Remus proclaimed, “Long live the king.”

Straight for the castle. They’re gonna make me their queen. And there’s an old man sitting on the throne that’s saying that I probably shouldn’t be so mean.

Remus took the throne with Ethan by his side. They had a wedding shortly thereafter which Remus had claimed was to officially split their power, but their affection behind closed doors said otherwise.

Ethan hadn’t used any powerful magic since they took the throne, as it had caused him to go blind in one eye and he feared losing anything else. But Remus would kiss his scars and tell him how much he adored his “brave little magician.”

It was the night after Ethan’s crowing when he pressed his head against Remus’s and smoothed out his husband’s coat. “Now will you kiss me properly?”

“As you wish, your highness.”

“You know, you really don’t need to call me that.”

Remus hummed and wrapped his arms around Ethan’s neck. “On the contrary, your highness, I don’t think I can stop.” He leaned in and pressed their lips together. He could feel Ethan’s heart racing against his own. It was so soft and simple and Remus smiled into it. He could show Ethan magic, those powerful sparks that brought them here now against his lips. He could show him over a decade fighting against the wilderness. He could break him apart.

But Remus stayed soft and gentle. He pressed his hand against Ethan’s heart time and time again. After all they had fought for, being gentle was what they needed. Together.

I'm headed straight for the castle They've got the kingdom locked up And there's an old man sitting on the throne that’s saying I should probably keep my pretty mouth shut

They say upon their thrones, equal in size and power, and interlocked their fingers as they watched the sunrise over the kingdom they would rebuild and restore.

Straight for the castle

[vermin-disciple]

WIP Whenever

So, @droids-in-disguise tagged me for this like a month ago, and I almost posted something for it at the time, but then a funny thing happened on the way to the tumblr. See, the first time I did WIP Whenever, I posted a section from my de-aging fic, a work which is pretty well outlined and for which I already have over 15,000 words written. The second time I thought I’d do the opposite, and post a random scene I scribbled into my notebook with no additional context or any real idea what else I wanted to do with it. The scene was a brief exchange of dialogue between Bashir and Tain in the Dominion prison. When I went to copy/paste the snippet here, I reread it and had a flash of inspiration! Suddenly I knew what I wanted to do with it! And moreover I realized that it would work well for the Just in Time Fest! 

The result was Taking Steps Is Easy, Standing Still Is Hard. 

Naturally I got caught up in writing and completely forgot about posting anything for this WIP Whenever thing. Now, over a month later, because something-or-other jogged my ever-capricious memory, I thought I’d try again. 

So, here is an unspoilery bit from an upcoming chapter of Tell Me You See Me. (CW: This involves Amsha Bashir on Adigeon Prime trying to justify Julian’s genetic enhancements to herself.)

People are more than their genes.

Amsha is a chemist, and knows very well that everything is chemistry and chemistry is everything. So she also knows that a human being is made up of more than deoxyribonucleic acid. A human being is more than a sequence of nitrogenous bases strung together along a coiled ladder of sugar and phosphate. If you replace a cytosine here, or an adenine there, can you really say that your modifications have created a fundamentally different person? The human genome contains 3.3 billion nucleobase pairs, after all. And the code itself may be expressed in an infinite number of ways, depending on innumerable environmental factors, with ‘environment’ encompassing everything from womb to planetary atmosphere.

She did request that they do nothing to alter his mitochondrial DNA. There’s no reason to, in any case. It’s the sort of detail Richard wouldn’t care about, and perhaps it’s a silly thing to cling to given everything else they’ve authorized, but Amsha finds it reassuring. A child inherits all their mtDNA from the egg. Her son’s mtDNA is her mtDNA, and will remain so.

Jules is asleep now, clutching his teddy bear, one of its ears in his mouth. Carefully, Amsha pulls the hospital blanket over his thin shoulders. He’s already taller than he was yesterday. He’ll be taller than Richard when he grows up; his resequenced genes will see to that. Adult height is determined by more than genes, but children on Earth never lack for nutrients, so growth faltering is rarely seen these days, unless there are other factors at work. But Jules is (was) small for his age, at least one standard deviation below every standard measurement.

Other doctors have said that he might catch up on his own, but why leave these things to chance, since they’re here? In for a penny, in for a pound, as they say (not that anyone’s used a penny or a pound for the last two centuries).

This is about making things easier for Jules. This will give him every possible advantage. (This will mean that she never again has to face the pity in the eyes of another teacher, or counselor, or doctor.) He’ll be different, obviously, but he’ll still be her Jules. Only now he’ll have a chance to make something more of himself. They’re correcting a few strings of code, that’s all, and people are more than their genes.

The teddy bear under his arm stares at her with accusatory glass eyes, as if to remind her of everything that could go wrong with this plan — not just the legal ramifications, but the procedure itself.

And for a final time she tells herself it is worth the risk.

I'm just going to tag anyone and everyone who wants to post a bit from one of their WIPs! 

[ganymedesclock]

Dead Cells and the weight of small lives pt.2 (NPCs, the dead and alive)

Continuing from part 1, now that I’m refreshed, rested, and ready to continue this monster post. I finished off last post talking a bit about the way Prisoner acts onto NPCs and interact-able bodies, so this chunk is picking up with that in earnest.

Here is the thing. If you punt the corpse of an executed prisoner, that’s generally a dick move, so this is another place I feel like I can understand why people might get the takeaway Prisoner is kind of a jerk. But I feel like it’s worth examining, in detail, the kind of interactions he has.

The mechanics of Dead Cells are very focused on scavenging, looting, and a limited amount of buying your way forwards- and, spoken as someone starting to dip my toesies in the higher Stem Cell counts- thus, more difficult runs- any random encounter you can get items from is a godsend.

It’s also where you get a lot of the lore of the game, in random events- some of which will show up in multiple areas, others unique- that tell you about the world.

It’s in these interactions, mainly, that I see Prisoner characterized as a fairly compassionate guy with a morbid sense of humor, and I struggle to see him as a total uncaring asshole. To gloss over a large number of interactions, here’s some common threads:

Prisoner is fairly flippant about death / used to seeing corpses. He will also sometimes kick the bodies with his bare feet to make them drop items, which, as a fairly tactile sensitive person, the thought makes my soul depart my body. Kicked bodies are seldom visibly disturbed from their position by this, though they do drop items. 

He is not opposed to looting said corpses / prying useful items out of their hands, though he may comment on riffling through someone’s stuff being a social no-no while doing so.

At the same time, he far more often uses “personlike” language rather than “objectlike” language to describe the bodies (“this guy” “her” “him” “population”) with the main exception being interacting with a bloated, waterlogged corpse.

You can virtually always examine a lot more than what has money or weapons and Prisoner will have salient thoughts about it suggesting he is proving keenly observant and not specifically looking for loot and ignoring all else.

From here, I’ll go into several incidents I think are pretty noteworthy. 

A fair warning that these are quite morbid and discuss/depict the kinds of things people do when everything is falling apart and people are dying all around them, so, not exactly gentle reading.

1. The Flower Loving Prisoner

This is a fairly common encounter you can find in the Prisoners’ Quarters and Promenade, possibly other places. It is a small cell, with several points of interest, mostly being the large number of potted flowers and the small window. Poking around will have Prisoner note that the flowers “have been a bit underwatered recently” and that the fabric of the mattress was torn up and used elsewhere.

Specifically, for a noose- the person occupying this cell hung himself, and his corpse is holding a single flower in its hands.

For the room, Prisoner remarks “looks like this guy loved flowers.” For the body itself,

“Guess he wanted to choose the time of his death. He’s holding a faded flower between his fingers. A moment of silence… NAH! I’ve got better things to do!”

The “nah” is punctuated by him kicking the body, causing it to drop a necklace- but not the flower it’s holding.

So here’s the thing. This is a flippant action. At surface pass, Prisoner is disrespecting this person who is characterized by growing flowers in a prison- and holding onto this small thing of beauty, even in death.

The thing is though, someone who doesn’t care at all wouldn’t, of their own accord, independently air the idea they should have a “moment of silence” for this person, even to veto it a second later. Nobody is here to see or care what Prisoner is doing.

Also to someone who doesn’t care at all, the entire rest of the room would be of no interest; it would be trivial that flowers were important to a dead person.

So this creates an interesting duality. On one hand: Prisoner very clearly doesn’t care much about bodies. This is a repeated pattern. The main time he’s particularly shocked by corpses is when they were someone who was alive the last time he checked (as is the case of the Tutorial Knight). He has a calculated angle and he’s interested in what he can get from them and how it can prevent him from dying, again.

On the other hand... Prisoner equally clearly cares about people. He thinks a lot about what people wanted, felt, what choices they made. He shows a lot of interpersonal intelligence and even to people who he has every reason to not listen to, his responses tend thoughtful and he socks this information away as important in a context where he is, by necessity, otherwise rigidly focused on survival. He hates the King, but will also talk thoughtfully about the way the royals of the island lived.

And of the two elements in this juxtaposition, while survivalism and gallows humor are clearly strong threads in him... it’s clear the caring part is the larger factor of the two. It persists, while his cheerful morbidity sometimes just utterly fails.

2. The Stilt Village family

In the fishing hamlet, you can find a small house featuring a hanged woman. A letter by her feet, that the Prisoner notes are probably her last words, reads:

“The Malaise won’t get us. I’ll protect you… I’ll protect you.”

The Prisoner, our usually quite chatty protagonist, has almost nothing to say here. The closest he gets is, on examining the woman’s body, notes she “opted for the fast method” and aforementioned observation that the note is her last words.

There is also a bed in the room. Two sets of small feet poke out from under the blankets. If you examine it, Prisoner only says “throats slit.” and nothing more.

There is nothing in the room to loot, no jokes made, and the overall attitude is deeply, crushingly somber. There are closed drawers, but there’s no prompt to go through them.

If Prisoner didn’t care, this would just be more of the same, what’s three more bodies, right? But it’s clear that he isn’t just idly curious about the way people live and what they thought and felt- he has a certain amount of compassion, so that faintly nauseous feeling we get as we creep through this room is probably simpatico with our protagonist.

These people are strangers. He never knew them. They’re villagers of a fishing hamlet that was a hotbed of rebellion, and disrespectful of the king; they are small lives. They are “irrelevant people”. Mechanically, you have no gameplay incentive to stand here and look around.

But it’s clear this encounter affects Prisoner a lot emotionally. He doesn’t know who these people were, never met these kids or their presumed mother- but it’s clear he didn’t want this to have happened to them. 

In particular Prisoner seems to be disquieted by young corpses any time he finds them; the closest he comes to joking is finding the executed body that he notes is “either a dwarf, or... no more than seven or eight years old. ...Let’s... say she’s a dwarf.”

Another half-joke, also in the Stilt Village, is he finds a desperate letter to the Alchemist, written by villagers pledging their bodies to his research and begging him to save them. Prisoner notes that it’s partially damaged by water and hard to read, and then frankly follows with “I don’t think I want to understand what I read.”

This is worth noting, in particular, because we find a lot of the Alchemist’s grimoires, and he mentions his “volunteers” often- the kind of things that happen to them in particular tend to be fatal. One setup in High Peak Castle notes that those exposed to the experimental cure became twisted half-plant beings, and then as a near afterthought, notes “the subject failed to survive.”

So Prisoner- who’s just trying to save his own hide at best- is pretty strongly depicted as more upset at what happened to the villagers than the Alchemist who was trying to work on a cure. This is significant, when we happen to know said Alchemist becomes the Collector, who basically spends the entire game using Prisoner to harvest resources from corpses (the titular Cells) in exchange for better equipment. The Collector also makes it quite clear from the start he knows who Prisoner is, but is not interested in disclosing this information.

(And, if you, like me, don’t think Prisoner is the same person as the King given the wild discrepancy of personality and other evidence- when he finally does “fess up” it’s in the form of lying to Prisoner’s face)

3. Moments of anger

This is actually not one moment but several. Part of what Dead Cells does with its dialogue is convey tone and intensity by changing colors. Most text comes in blue boxes- when it’s lit in red, it’s almost always for emphasis. Especially if the textbox shakes slightly and the text scrolls faster than usual, giving it a sense of slamming into place on the screen.

In several areas- the Promenade or the Ramparts- you can find a setup of “live target training” in which a human prisoner was chained to a post, and then shot at by archers. This is at first perhaps a bit morbidly funny, given the wall behind the prisoner is littered with arrows- but, overall, it’s just dark.

In particular, a single arrow has struck the shackled prisoner. When Prisoner observes this, he notes “Only one arrow hit the target.”

Then, in shaking red text, “Right in the head.”

He then turns and faces the empty stand where the guard stood, and flashes a thumbs-up that I struggle to read as not rather scathing in its condemnation. Again- to someone who doesn’t care or thinks of this as funny, that kind of emphasis doesn’t make sense.

But even some things he says calmly seem to suggest Prisoner’s pretty angry about the whole situation- sometimes, upon finding a large gallows section, it will have an order pinned to it:

By order of the King, all persons presenting behavioural disorders or noticeable deteriorations in their appearance... shall be imprisoned, and hanged by the neck until dead. ...(If the prison doctor confirms the diagnosis of infection.)

There is a distinct beat before the last line is read, and then Prisoner’s commentary ensues:

“Glad they added that. For a second there I really thought we were talking about genocide.”

He also at one point responds to a desecrated statue of the King, defaced with “We’ll skin you alive!” by calling it a “brave and courageous statement,” and seems mildly impressed that someone peed on a royal order in the Stilt Village relatively high up. Besides that, a lot of the area flavor text talks about the abuses of the guards, and in particular in High Peak Castle, it’s noted the royal guard were pulled back into the castle when the rest of the island needed them.

In a way, the way that Prisoner uses humor often trivializes his own anger, which again, ties back to what I said in part 1: everything the game says about small lives- about the “irrelevant little people” that suffered in the wake of the plague emphasizes that Prisoner’s perspective is that he is one of those little people. In the sewers, examining a strange cocoon, Prisoner seems to have a full-on crisis about what he is and why he’s here before interrupting himself with a joke.

Someone who thinks they are important and is used to demanding others’ attention and validation doesn’t treat their own genuine anger and revulsion like it’s something to shrug off.