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shankss-magnificent-ass · 1 year

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Becoming the Storm: First Wave

Author's note: I got distracted from Ashes and broken lamps by this idea, but I have to follow the dopamine. Also yes I did this instead of sleep and no I couldn't think of anything better than this dorky title.Word count:4008

Tags: Isekai, dark humor, death mentioned, stalked by a fruit, voice of all things, grifting Kaido, getting a natural high, spiritual experience, no use of (y/n) y'all get named a card game like the tobbi roppo, double agent, corpse scene

It had been exactly thirty seconds since Truck-kun had so kindly knocked your ass into another world. It had not taken you long to realize you had been isekai’d in the middle of Kaido’s strategy table in the middle of a meeting between Kaido and his lead performers. The four large men were looking at your sprawled figure, too in awe to speak. You let your head fall back onto the hard surface below and sighed, “Alright, kill me just get it over with.”

It took a few moments for one of them to speak.

“Not yet, I have a few questions first,” Kaido mumbled, still coming to terms with the fact that he just watched a human fall out of a floating orb of blue light.

This was the last thing you needed today and were eager to either go to bed or the forever box. You groaned, “I don’t know how I got here, last thing I remember was getting hit by a truck walking my ass home from a run to the liquor store.” Lifting the bag of vodka, which miraculously was not in a million pointy pieces.

Kaido grumbled, “Hmm now there's only more questions.”

His response made anger swell and writhe in your chest. “Damn it Kaido are you gonna kill me or what?” You curse. When the horned man shook his head, you scrambled to your feet and grumbled, “Fine I’ll do it myself,” as you made your way over to a nearby window.

Kaido nodded at King, wordlessly telling him to apprehend you, and the next thing you knew you were hanging upside down from King’s fist. You briefly squirmed indignantly before going limp and yielding to Kaido’s wishes, “Alright if you’re gonna interrogate me then I’m gonna need a cup and some ice because I will not be doing this sober. And some snacks, I’m starving.”

After Kaido moved the conversation to one of the banquet halls, he had food and drinks served before he started his questioning. Unfortunately, each answer led to only more questions; what was a truck, why he had never heard of such a thing, where were you from? You had to explain the universe of ten dimensions of string theory to them at one point.

King, who you had thought had not listened to a word you said, asked, “If you are from an alternate universe, then how did you know our names without having to be told?”

This is when you realized the possible consequences if they found out about the manga. One wrong word could get Luffy, or any of the important characters killed, or screw up the story. You needed to know exactly where in the timeline you were at now. But you couldn’t remember the ages of the men present, you only knew Yamato’s age. Now cognizant of how carefully you must tread, you start to question them, “Before I answer that, how old is Yamato?”

“That brat is… Sixteen?” Kaido mumbled, only to be corrected by King, “Seventeen.” The men watched you stare at the floor deep in thought.

That meant Luffy was around seven at present, and he had no control over his devil fruit if he had consumed it yet. But it meant he was safely hidden away and protected at the moment. You turned your gaze to Kaido eyeing him cautiously, if you were smart you could spin this in your favor. Kaido was a powerful man with copious resources, and he wanted to become the pirate king. Now that you were here in this world and had nothing to lose, it meant you didn’t have to wait every week for chapter updates to learn the truth of the poneglyphs or will of D. So Kaido would be a most convent benefactor to help you reach your goal, it’s not like he’s an innocent person you’d be taking advantage of. Plus if you got enough power you could help the people of Wano, and be an asset to Lady Hiyori and Denjiro later on.

“There’s a comic about this world in my own.” You admit, needing to be careful because there was no way these seasoned pirates would not sniff out any lies a scalawag like yourself would tell. It was best to tell the truth, but be cryptic about it and not tell the whole truth.

Kaido roared, “Worororo! So your people tell stories about us?” Slapping his knee, clearly assuming he was the main character. Queen and Jack who seemed to be tickled and plagued by a similar inference, joined in their Captain’s laughter. King, who was less than pleased with that possibility, you also got a distinct impression that he was suspicious of you. Finding it wisest not to dwell on King, you stared at Kaido, waiting for him to regain his composure, gleefully looking forward to bursting their bubble. When they finally calmed down, you replied, “You’re in it, but you’re not the main character.” This moment was paramount in getting Kaido to help you.

King sneered, “If not someone as accomplished and fearsome as Kaido-san is not the main character, then who is?”

Time to cast the bait too tantalizing for any of them to resist. You took a sip from your glass, and matter-of-factly uttered, “It’s about Joy Boy’s journey to change the world.”

Your words brought heavy and sober silence over the room, that nearly broke your composure. All four men were in varying flavors of disbelief, but the only person’s feelings who mattered were Kaido’s. He started at you blankly, ignoring the cacophony of slander and rambling from his subordinates. Kaido held up a hand to silence them and asked, “Why should I believe you?”

You took a deep breath before starting to rattle off almost everything you knew about him. “You’re from the Vodka Kingdom, you became a soldier by the time you were ten. The King tried to draft you into the Marines, but you escaped and proceeded to get captured by them whenever you were hungry. Until one day Whitebeard, then Edward Newgate told you Rocks wanted to chat, and you joined his crew. Where you met and befriended Linlin, who tricked you into eating your devil fruit after Garp and Roger defeated the crew at God Valley. Then you started to build your crew, starting with King who you met a Punk Hazard.” Needing to pause to regain your breath, before continuing, “Also, your favorite food is alcohol and your birthday is May 1st. ”

Also, your favorite food is alcohol and your birthday is May first.

“Worororo!! You even know my birthday and favorite food! How about his?” Kaido replied, pointing at King.

“December first and flying fish sashimi. Queen’s is July thirteenth and Oshiruko. Jack’s birthday is September twenty-eighth and his favorite food is elephant meat steak while his least favorite is grilled cactus. Do you need more or are we good?”

King was the quickest to react, lunging at you to snatch you up, but was stopped by Kaido smacking him over the head with his club. While the Lunarian groaned, Kaido huffed, “You’re going to tell me everything about Joyboy.”

“If I did that then you would wreck the story, and if you want to fight him at his full power then I’m going to need you to just trust me.”

Kaido’s eyes narrowed, and you fought to keep your composure as your stomach rolled and writhed like a business of ferrets had replaced your guts and spine. “If you can’t tell me anything then what use are you to me?”

“Well one, I know about the poneglyphs including the locations of at least ten out of the thirty poneglyphs. They’re the ones that Joyboy finds along on his journey because they’re what leads him to Wano. So we can only take prints, and once we have them I can learn about linguistics and work on deciphering them.” You explain, intentionally leaving out the Red Poneglyph on Zou and the secret ones in Wano.

“...does that nine include the ones Linlin has?”

“And the one you have or will have, and the location of one of them is up in the air right now. And then one of them might not exist.” You admit, “But I know a bunch of other stuff ….. While I can’t tell you, I can however act on it on your behalf you would just need to give me some level of authority.”

Kaido pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed loudly, drawing everyone’s attention to him. And after a painful minute of waiting he announced, “You will join my crew as our Poneglyph researcher and advisor. I understand that we will need to comply with you even if we don’t understand, I guess I’ll have you working under King since he’s the one I can trust not to let his pride or stubbornness. But know this, if you are lying to me I will have King make you regret being born.” His voice was steady and stern, but it filled you with relief. “You start work tomorrow, in the meantime.”

“I already regret my birth, but thank you, sir,” You joked, remembering to give a small bow before finishing, “I look forward to starting my new job.”

“Also from now on you’re called Klondike. Now someone will take you to one of the guest rooms.”

After being given a room morning couldn’t come fast enough for you, not only were you finally going to get to see a poneglyph in person, but because sleep was eluding you. For the last two hours misty whispers seeped through the door, indistinct voices uttering nothing you could decipher. You had passed the noise off as some sort of background noise, but once you had settled down to bed the voices grew louder. This combined with the sheer massive scale of your new environment and the inky darkness that filled the void space in the room made you jumpy. It felt like hundreds of ghastly pale fingers of specters unknown were scribbling toward you on the other side of the wood that nonetheless beckoned you to follow them. You had never fully grasped how haunting Onigashima was until now, the only thing you felt you could do was to hide under the plush duvet on your futon.

The next thing you knew someone was shaking you awake, and the room was bright as shit. You squinted against the blinding light and looked over to see a strange woman glaring down at you with disdain.

“It’s almost ten in the morning, do you intend to keep Kaido waiting forever stupid?” She sneered, “Hurry and get dressed, the governor-general is waiting for you in the western hall.”

You stretched your whole body, and groaned, “ I don’t have any other clothes, fuck I’m going to have to get a whole new wardrobe.”

The strange woman kicked you in the ribs and snarled at you to get up, and proceeded to grumble about her other responsibilities as she led you to the breakfast hall. Where Kaido was chatting with Maria over the empty plates that once held copious amounts of food. The Ogre whipped his head in your direction when your arrival was announced, and he boomed, “There you are, Klondike, you slept through breakfast.”

He seemed to be in a good mood, or at least better than you had left him last night. You smiled at him, bowed, and replied, “I did not mean to make you wait, have never had to wake up on my own before. I shall endeavor to do better in the future.”

Nodding in approval he held a hand out to Black Maria and introduced her, “This is Black Maria, she is one of the Toppi Roppo. She will be the one responsible for your needs.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Black Maria.” You mumbled and bowed, before standing straight up and using your hand to shield your eyes from the sunlight pouring in through the open doors.

She put on a sweet smile that did nothing to hide the murderous look in her eyes as she cooed, “The pleasure is yours entirely. You look dreadful poor thing.”

It was amusing to you that she seemed to hate you even though she just met you, leaving you wondering who had said what. While your money was on King you nodded respectfully to Maria and mumbled, “I had a rough night, I was kept up by some people talking down the hall, and it seems like I overindulged last night, my head is pounding and this light hurts my eyes. But I look forward to working with you.”

Kaido not caring for formalities, interrupted, “That’s odd you were the only one in that wing last night and the rooms are soundproof…. Are those the same clothes from yesterday?”

You awkwardly tugged at the hem of your shirt to see just how wrinkled it had gotten and chuckled, “Yeah, sorry, I wasn’t able to bring anything with me when I came, besides the vodka and my bag.”

He looked over at Maria, making her smile morph into dread, “I thought I asked you to make sure they have new clothing to wear.”

Maria gave a pointed look at the woman who woke you and said, “ I was wondering the same thing, why are they wearing day-old clothes, Yumi?”

The woman cooly stated that she had eyeballed your measurements, and passed it along to another made who was searching for spares for you to wear. Maria seemed annoyed at the woman before turning to Kaido and sighed, “I trust Yumi’s skills, her maid however has a penchant for getting lost. I’ll have the Marys go look for her. In the meantime why don’t we let the poor dear eat, and then have them change before going to see King?”

Kaido nodded, “ Sadly there’s not much left, you have to move faster around here if you want food. Help yourself to anything you can find.”

You laughed, “It seems so, but I rarely eat breakfast. I’m a bit of a night owl, so I’m not usually awake at this time,” looking around at the hall which looked like a whirlwind of piranhas had blown through. There was food on the floor, walls, and ceiling but none was left on any of the porcelain serving platters. Except for one bowl that seemed untouched, it was piled high with an assortment of fresh fruit. The bright red apple on top looked particularly good and had your mouth watering. You sat in front of the bowl, gave thanks for the food, and snatched the apple up.

Much to your displeasure, the apple started to morph the moment you touched it; turning lumpy, and swells of stormy grey and bright yellow swirled to the skin of the fruit. Your breakfast had turned into a devil fruit in the open view of everyone in the room. From the looks on their faces, this was something people in this world would consider a miracle. However, for you it was disappointing and annoying, you had wanted that apple. Kaido called for someone to bring the devil fruit encyclopedia to him at once, and knowing he’d want it, and asking for it would be a fruitless effort, you threw him the fruit. He turned it over in his hands, studying it as you searched for an acceptable substitute that would disappoint you the least. You were having trouble about whether or not you wanted the Kiwi or the peach, as you were pulled away by maids who were to change your clothes for you.

When you returned thirty minutes later, bathed, groomed, and in a fresh kimono, Kaido was surrounded by the lead performers and tobi roppo. They poured over a few books and compared your former apple to the pictures in said books. Spotting the bowl of fruit had been knocked over and the kiwi was squished flat, you went and picked up the peach. You glanced over at the fruit in Kaido’s hand, still mad it was no longer an apple. With a sigh, you were about to take a bite of the inferior peach, but a cacophony of gasps from the pirates in the corner of the room, made you halt your actions. When you opened your eyes they were all gawking at you in awe, tired of this nonsense you grumbled, “What now?”

Kaido mutely held up the fruit in his hand, which had returned to being a regular apple. Hoping it wasn’t so, you looked at your ‘meal’ to see your peach had mutated in a similar manner that your apple had. You threw it to Sasaki and picked up another only for the same swirls and colors to take the form of the fruit in your hand. After repeating this process with every fruit in the bowl you chucked the last one full force across the room and shrieked in frustration.

“Someone’s cranky,” King murmured.

“You can have the damn thing as long as you bring me something to eat that isn’t fruit.” You growled.

Thirty minutes later you had a belly full of food and the pirates had gone through all of their books and announced that they had no idea what fruit was determined to have you as its user. You lounged back on a pillow and watched as they discussed who was to eat the fruit. One thing they were all in agreement about was you were sure s shit not going to be the one to eat it. Not that you had any objections, the fact that you had no idea what it would do to you once you ate it was enough to dissuade you from eating it. Being someone that had always grown bored easily you requested to be escorted to Kaido’s Poneglyph. Kaido and King decided that the devil fruit at hand was more important so you were left with Yumi’s maid to take you. And true to Maria’s word, she had gotten both of you lost in five minutes.

The girl, Ai, was young, barely fourteen, and clearly out of her depth so you found it hard to be mad at her. She had been apologizing profusely ever since she realized she had gotten you two lost. There was a fear in her eyes that led you to believe she had faced severe punishment for such small mistakes in the past. It took you a few minutes to coax her into calming down.

“ I’m sorry, it’s just this place is so big and I’ve only been here for a month.” She explained.

You patted her on the back, and replied, “It’ll be okay, I can hear some people talking in that direction, why don’t we follow them and ask for directions?”

“I don’t hear anything, are…. Are you okay?” Ai asked, cocking her eyebrow at you and nervously rung the fabric of her kimono in her hands.

You shrugged, “what do we have to lose? We’re already lost.” The girl deflated and nodded, electing to follow you around winding halls and down eerie stairs until you reached for the handle of a door in the skull dome’s second basement. Ai grabbed your hand and blurted, “I don’t think we’re allowed in that room!... There’s this big cube thing in there, I don’t know what it is, but they kill people for going there without permission.”

You took her hand and assured her, “ It’s called a poneglyph, and studying it is why I’m here. So I’m going in, but if you stay out here, we’re more likely to be found since most people are not allowed in this room. Plus if I’m not allowed in here, then I’ll be the one to get punished.” She nodded and waited outside the door while you tried to contain your excitement before you opened the door.

The Poneglyph was magnificent, and much larger than you had imagined. The smooth stone appeared almost outplace above the ocean's surface. Even in the dim torchlight, it looked like a chunk of the ocean depths t had spawned in the wrong spot. Its presence was so calm, still, and weighty. Your reverence was interrupted by Ai gently pushing you into the room and closing the door behind you. Now alone with the Poneglyph, the whispers coaxed you closer, and before you knew it you were now only an arm’s length away. It was almost as if you were not in control of your body as your fingers pulled your arm toward it. The moment your skin made contact with it, the whispers cleared words. “The truth about the chasm of the past lies enshrined in the skull's golden right eye, where it waits and watches the ocean as it flies to strike out at the sky”

Your first thought went directly to the Poneglyph in the belfry of Shandora, then to the fact that this meant you had the Voice of all things like Roger and Momonosuke. Euphoric delirium and delightful disbelief fizzled inside of you. The rush of it left you breathless. But it all came crashing down when the door behind you flew open. Kaido marched in carrying a charred corpse in his hand. His inner circle followed somberly in behind him, each one of them looking grim. Kaido chucked the body at your feet, where it crumbled on impact. “He died almost immediately after he ate the fruit. A gust of wind came out of nowhere and knocked him into the riptide. I want to see if you can make another.” As King placed a bag of apples at your feet and you, still reeling from your experience with hearing the poneglyph stared at him not absorbing a damn thing going on.

Kaido waited a minute, sensing some about you was off, but not seeing anything visibly wrong with you. He pulled his head back, cocking an eyebrow at you as he asked, “Are you okay? What happened?”

Your back hit the poneglyph, you slid down to the floor, and panted, “Yeah, just gimme a minute I’m a little lightheaded from all the excitement. Uh, I can try, but I promise nothing.” The apple you reached for turned into the mysterious devil fruit pursuing you. “ Just leave the bag of fruit here, maybe if you tell me when someone eats it I can finally enjoy an apple.”

A sadistic glint ignited in King’s eye and he leaned over to Kaido to comment, “We know so little about devil fruits, it could be possible any fruit they’ve eaten could become a devil fruit in their stomach after a user dies. I’ll bet it’ll happen sooner or later because we have a moderately high … turnover rate.” Kaido furrowed his brow and forbid you from consuming any fruit before turning to leave.

“Wait, sir! Instead of coming all the way down here next time, why don’t you send your fastest crew member to fetch the apples for you?” You called out, knowing full well that it was King. Who practically swelled with anger at your suggestion, even his feathers puff up and the muscles in his wings clench. It would have been cute if he weren’t capable of ripping off your head. Queen snickering at him brought King damn close to popping a button off his jacket. So you added, “Also this is an excellent opportunity to gather data and test hypotheses about devil fruits, I hope one of you has at least been writing stuff down.”

Queen swore and ran off to his lab yelling his request for Kaido to wait until he’s brought some equipment up to pick a new test subject. After watching Queen waddle run down the hall Kaido rumbled, “Yeah I’m not waiting for him.”

You nodded and replied, “Wise choice, he’s like genuinely the worst.” Engendering laughing snort to erupt from King, who pretended like it had not happened when you grinned up at him.

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List of Up-and-coming works

#one piece #one piece x reader #king the wildfire #king the conflagration #king the conflagration x reader #queen the plague #jack the drought #kaido #beast pirates #animal kingdom pirates #from the depths of the dragon's hoard #tma original #6/11/23 #no beta we die like men

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socialfakes · 2 months

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the devils in the details- luke hughes

chapter 4; part 3: the lake house revival

nhl x platonic!fem!reader

eventual luke hughes x fem!reader

the masterlist

Liked by nicohischier, yourinstagram, lhughes_06 and 309,712 others

jackhughes | this was too cute not to capture 😏 tagged: lhughes_06, yourinstagram

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user16 this is giving off ‘soulmate’ vibes

user06 awe pookie 😊

nicohischier the sweetest pair ❤

user03 are they dating? thought she was dating nico still | user11 no they broke up but it was incredibly amicable and they’re really good friends still | yourinstagram will always have an inordinate amount of love for nico

lhughes_06 when she asks to lay with you, you can’t say no 😊 | nicohischier totally get it. i’ve tried but it never worked 😂 do not take her for granted luke | bboeser she’s a gem luke. don’t do anything to lose her | jackhughes she’s the best thing that has ever happened to you and i will not hesitate to kick your ass if you hurt her | _quinnhughes you may be my brother but if you break her heart, i'm automatically on her side and will hate you forever | lhughes_06 you guys are all talking like we’re dating 🤣

yourinstagram can’t believe you took a picture 🙈

user07 is this the y/nhughes announcement i’ve been waiting for?? | jackhughes probably not but i'm sure it’ll be coming soon 😊 | yourinstagram no it won’t jack | jackhughes oh please we all know it’s coming. you guys have been attached at the hip since you came home | lhughes_06 worry about your own girlfriend jack 😂 | jackhughes what girlfriend? 🤷🏻‍♂️😔

Liked by jackhughes, _quinnhughes, colecaufield and 15,618 others

yourinstagram | the summer of hughes has begun ☀🌊 tagged: lhughes_06, jackhughes, _quinnhughes

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lhughes_06 the summer of hughes ’24 let’s go! | yourinstagram 🌊

jackhughes let’s go, baby! ☀🏄🏻‍♂️ | yourinstagram let’s go baby! 🏄🏻‍♀️

colecaufield can’t wait to join you guys in a few weeks 😊

_quinnhughes it’s only the 3rd day and the amount of times jack has fallen off the boat & board is hilarious 😂 | jackhughes luke pushed me off the boat the first time, y/n tackled me off the second time & me falling off the board was entirely your fault because you’re a bad driver 😂 | _quinnhughes no idea what you’re talking about 🤷🏻‍♂️ | yourinstagram me either | lhughes_06 yeah not a clue what you’re going on about 😂

user03 the fact that they’re all teaming up to make jack believe they did nothing is so precious. but don’t worry jack. i believe you | jackhughes thank you! | yourinstagram okay i’ll admit to the tackle as long as you admit what you said was totally uncalled for 😂 | jackhughes deal!

trevorzegras the summer of hughes is always legendary ⭐

user16 wanna be a part of this group so bad 😭

jamie.drysdale i am not saving you and luke again this summer 🙄 | yourinstagram don’t worry. no shenanigans this summer, i promise 😊 | lhughes_06 well i certainly never promised anything 👀 | lhughes_06 okay never mind. i promise to cause no trouble this year 🙄 | jackhughes he’s only saying that because y/n gave him her ‘look’ 😂 | jamie.drysdale he’s so far gone for her 😏

user12 my absolute favorite group of people. love the summer posts

elblue6 hope everyone is behaving themselves and staying safe ❤ | yourinstagram you bet we are, mom 😊 | lhughes_06 staying out of trouble, mom 😊 | jackhughes staying safe, mom 👍🏻 | _quinnhughes don’t worry, mom. i'm keeping an eye on them 😊 | elblue6 sorry quinn but y/n should be keeping an eye on you 😂 | yourinstagram ❤

taglist: @worldlxvlys @jacktoria4ever @bunbunbl0gs @callsignwidow

#fake social media #instagram au #hockey player social media #nhl #luke hughes #quinn hughes #jamie drysdale #jack hughes #trevor zegras #new jersey devils #hughes brothers #nj devils #friends to lovers

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clumsiestgiantess · 16 days

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The Walls Won’t Be There Forever, part 2 (Similarly to the first part, this story deals with the pet trope and has some themes of dehumanization — however condemning of them as the story itself may be. So if things of that nature trigger you, please DO NOT read!) If they don’t, and you’re prepared for angst, then welcome to part 2! It’s been a while, but I hope you still enjoy!

It’s been five months since I escaped. To my thankful surprise, the terrifying little human hadn’t sounded the alarm the moment she couldn’t find me. My guess is that she didn’t want to get in trouble for losing me. Ironically, her older sister also lost her ‘pet’ too, just a few days ago. I was thrilled to have someone else to talk to, and heartened that I could be there to help them transition out of pethood. I wish I had someone who could've helped me with that. Through tedious trial and error, I figured out what areas of the house to avoid. It took me months to build up a decent living space for myself, far from any wall traps.

However, when I traveled up to the older sister’s room to welcome the newcomer, they were nowhere to be found. I searched the whole day, quietly calling out to them. I knew they would be scared, but I didn’t think they’d be so scared they’d avoid their own kind. Later, I checked the traps to see if they’d fallen into one. Still nothing. What if they ran all the way outside, searching for another house entirely? I’d thought of doing that myself, but it was too cold outside to get very far. If they had gone outside, they were a lost cause.

Another, more sinister option sprung into my mind days after searching for the missing person. The older sister human had seemed almost averse to having a pet. What if she got rid of them and claimed she lost them? This notion got me thinking. It had seemed as though they’d disappeared rather than escaped.

I felt awful for my fellow ‘pet’. Humans release creatures back into nature, even if they might not belong there. I couldn’t help but imagine someone like myself, who’s never been so much as a few steps outside a house, suddenly cast into the vast wilderness that even humans couldn’t tame. That was probably the worst case scenario. Even being straight up murdered would be better than slowly freezing to death outside, or eaten alive by some giant creature. There’s a good reason we live in human houses. It was disheartening finding no one to welcome, but I’m used to bad news by now.

After avoiding the upstairs and its residents for another few weeks, I was forced to sneak into the older sister’s room. For some reason, the humans moved the sewing box from its usual spot in the closet to beneath her desk. This was just more bad news. I like to go on supply runs in empty, dark places where humans have no chance to catch me. I never actually stole from humans before all this, so the only times I ever feel at ease enough to go out are when the room is desolate.

My father did all that dangerous stuff when I was younger. I stayed in the walls, cooking and cleaning and practicing medicine. Having to hide from humans is a new concept for me; I’ve always been hidden from them, which made it all the more shocking to have one so close. Especially my awful ‘owner’.

At first she treated me carelessly, like a doll. In the first few days alone I’d been more bruised than I ever had in my life. I couldn’t even ask her for the proper things I needed to heal them. I couldn’t even speak in Aubrey’s presence, which is awful because I was in her room. She was always there.

Fortunately, she handled me with a fraction more care after she’d nearly taken off my arm. It was so much more terrifying than even being caught. I always tried not to struggle against her, but she just kept trying to stuff me into a toy car that obviously wouldn’t fit me. Her grip was so rough I really thought I would be crushed — snapped apart and broken up to fit inside a tiny claustrophobic space. I’d panicked — I’d struggled — my flailing arm was snapped out of the socket caught on a piece of cheap plastic, slicing it wide open.

I remember screaming only briefly before I was silenced by a cloth held painfully tight against my face, and orders to be quiet. My screams came to a choked halt, but I don’t think I stopped crying the entire day. I never liked my human captor; after that day I decided to hate her.

Thankfully, after Aubrey realized she couldn’t get me out, she at least told her sister. Her sister… I was so sure she’d actually kill me getting me out. Her fingers were so much stronger than her younger sister’s — I could feel the bone-crushing tension in them as she cut me out of that awful thing. She tortured me with rudimentary ways to heal my wounds in the least amount possible, leaving a long scar across my arm that I still have to this day. I can’t even think about her cruelty now, but back then I was actually thankful for something like that. Her sister would’ve left me stranded.

There was a single good thing that came out of that ordeal, however. Aubrey had been so upset by the thought that I could actually die if I was mishandled — something I could’ve told her day one — that she refused to handle me for very long afterwards. That didn’t stop her from accidentally harming me again and again during the times she did handle me, though. One day, she accidentally left the top off my cage after bringing me some food, and I made a quick escape.

It was almost too much for me to handle. I lay in a dust-covered corner of the walls just past my threshold to freedom — the wall outlet — curled up into a tight protective ball for hours. My nerves and brain were so overwhelmed by fear that I couldn’t even cry. I just lay there and shook, staring at the interior of a wall as tears quietly leaked out of my eyes and down my cheeks.

Almost a full day later, I finally got up and stumbled through the labyrinth of wall corridors and traps to find some food and water. Thankfully, the traps I’d encountered weren’t any of the deadly varieties. If I’d stumbled across those I might not have lived long enough to figure out how to avoid them.

Eventually, through a lot of outings in the dead of night, I slowly built up a little place for myself deep within the human family’s walls. I wanted to get far far away from the torturous monsters who had bought and hurt me, but it was too risky to take that kind of trip with the humans on alert after my escape. The hidden code didn’t have anything about what to do after escaping a human. It was assumed that if a human caught you there was no need for escape — you were dead.

I postponed my journey out of the house for a fair amount of time since I was uncertain about any sort of procedure for escape. However, the longer I waited, the better I’d built my house until eventually I decided to stay. None of the humans even seemed to notice my disappearance; even Aubrey acted like nothing was wrong — stuffing little pillows beneath my bed to make it look like I was sleeping, and covering my old cage with a light blanket so no one could look in too closely for too long to tell I wasn’t there.

Now, five months later here I am — stealing supplies like a pro. Or.. at least better than how I’d started out.

When I stepped up to the electrical cover of Aubrey’s older sister’s room, her voice spoke happily — revertibrating across the space. I scanned the room, but I couldn’t see any other humans. I guess she’s on the phone, I realized, slowly lifting the cover off the wall. Humans are awful, for the most part, but their inventions are beyond belief. Apparently, the other human she’s talking to could be on the other side of the world. It was mind-blowing to think about. How do they even get their voices to travel that far?

Once I was certain that she was distracted, I slid down to the floor and ran for the nearest hiding place. The human was sitting at her desk, and the box I needed was just beneath it. I waited for her to speak before I dashed beneath the desk from behind, coming to a halt beside the box. It was open, lid strewn to the side, and the quiet voice that I assumed was another human on the phone spoke at full volume now. Something shifted around, pushing items to the sides. I froze, too scared and confused to move.

A person my own size hauled themselves over the top of the box. She began talking to the human, but stopped abruptly when she noticed me. There were a few seconds of stunned silence where neither of us moved, before the human pulled back in her chair, confused why the conversation halted.

The thundering sound of the human moving her chair back brought me out of my trance. I raced to the outlet as fast as I could. My mind reeled. Who and what was that!? Were there normal-sized humans as well as giant ones?

Before I could get back up and into the walls, the strange smaller human ran after me. I yelped in terror — running as fast as I could to the opening in the wall. “Wait! Come back!” Picking up the pace, I threw myself into the cut in the insulation without even replacing the outlet cover. Hopefully, I could lose the strange mini human in the maze of wood and ventilation. I expertly navigated the labyrinth of wooden supports, the strange human chasing me all the while, calling out for me to stop.

Suddenly, a snap rang out and her calls ceased with a pained cry. I cautiously slowed to a halt, tiptoeing back the way I’d ran to listen. Labored breaths echoed from further back down the wall. No, I scolded myself internally, you are not going back for that strange small human. However, another desperate groan of agony rang out, and I found myself slinking towards the sound.

By the time I found her, the little human lay unconscious beside an awful trap. Most likely, she'd passed out from the pain. Her leg was twisted all wrong, bent out of place by the metal jaws that hung on either side of the wall. The trap she was caught in looked brutal. It consisted of two poised bands of metal, hanging on either side of an older pathway inside the wall. They were held open by a thin wire that stretched between them. I knew how to catch tripwires before triggering them, so I swiftly evaded it and kept running. This strange human couldn't have seen it coming.

Though she'd been chasing me only moments ago, I knew I couldn't leave her like that. I never intended for her to get snared by a trap; I just wanted to confuse her so I could get away. Using my small walking staff I usually used to avoid traps, I pried open the clamp’s metal jaws and moved the strange human's leg out from inside it. I sucked in a shocked breath of air as I brought my light over her. It was worse than I thought. Her leg was bloody and mangled. I gagged at the sight.

"I'm so sorry," I whispered, though I knew she couldn't hear me, "I didn't mean for this to happen." Carefully, I bent down and hoisted her up, draping her unconscious form halfway over my shoulders. In a slow shamble, I headed back home. My thoughts raced during the silent journey. Was this person my own height really a smaller human? Logically, it made more sense that she was one of my own kind, specifically the person that the other human kept as a pet — but that made just as little sense. The two were talking happily, as though they'd been friends for a long time. If this person really is the 'pet' that the human had kept, I doubt that they'd be so close.

Eventually, I made it back to my home. I collapsed into a chair the moment I got my new guest into bed. It isn't really a bed, per se. Technically, it's a knitted mitten that one of the humans used to own, just like my chair is technically an upside-down plastic coffee pod, but what does it matter? That’s what I’m using it as, so that’s what it is.

After catching my breath, I got to work setting my strange guest's leg. I'd barely moved the limb when she suddenly sprang to life. I jumped back as she grabbed my arm, yelping in pain. She assessed the room at lightning speed, trying to process what happened and where she was.

Her behavior was baffling. Incredibly fast reflexes like those only came with proper thievery training. She isn't a smaller human after all. Finally, her wide-eyed gaze rested on me, and she hesitantly released my arm.

"You.. You're the- Ahhg!" she cut herself off with another cry of pain. Now that she actually took notice of her injury, her mouth opened in silent horror. "It's alright," I told her out of the blue. Slowly, her stricken gaze turned back to me. "I can fix this. It'll take some time, but I can help. If you're lucky, all you'll have is a limp afterwards."

Her perplexed stare became pained again and I rushed off to get some pain reliever. When I returned, my strange guest gave me a baffled expression. "That's.. human medicine. Won't that just.. I don't know, kill me?" I shook my head, taking the small tablet and crushing it into a sizable piece. "It won't kill you, so long as you take the right dosage." Her blank stare suggested that she had no idea what I meant. I doubt she'd been taught much about healing if she was one of the thieving types.

Handing over the small piece of medicine and a cup of water, I ordered her to swallow it, then went to get something to act as a splint. "Are you.. one of us?" I asked hesitantly, still disbelieving that she’d actually been conversing with a human. Pain no longer distorted her face, all that was left was a look of pure confusion. "Obviously, I mean… What else would I be, a tiny human?" Her sarcasm died off as she realized that's exactly what I'd thought. "You were talking with that human,” I replied, “We're not even supposed to let them know we're smart, never mind having a conversation with them!"

This got her quiet. She watched in silence as I pulled up a chair to the edge of the bed and reached for her leg. "Wh- What are you doing?" The tiniest spark of fear lit her eyes. I was the one who inadvertently lured her into that trap, after all. "I'm going to have to reset your leg," I explained, "I'm not going to lie, it'll hurt a lot." I grabbed a clean piece of cloth and handed it to her. "You might want to bite down on this to keep from yelling. I don't want the humans to hear."

There was a long moment of silence as the other Hidden-being stared me down. "Who are you?" she asked, "How long have you been living here for? Why haven't I seen you around?" All good questions, but I didn't have the time. The quicker I set her leg, the better. "Later," I told her, "Let me do this first. Just bite down on that cloth and please don't attack me. It'll seem like I'm purposefully hurting you, but I swear I'm just fixing your leg." "Alright," she said quietly, "I'm ready."

Both the sounds of the bones in her leg and her muffled cries of pain made me squeamish, but I had to press on. I felt awful for doing this to her. I could’ve warned her the trap was there, but I didn’t; I hoped it would slow her down by blocking the hallway. If she’d been running any slower, she would have been completely crushed by the metal clamps. To think that humans wanted us gone so badly, they were willing to create such terrible contraptions in order to kill us. There was a time when I believed the walls were the safehaven of a human household. Nowhere is safe anymore.

A long hour passed as I did my work. I bound the Hidden’s leg with a split, and dressed the blood-crusted gashes. She’d slipped out of consciousness sometime during the ordeal, so the room became eerily quiet when I finished, save for the labored breaths of my guest. I fixed us a meal while waiting nervously for her to wake.

Alone with my thoughts, I found myself again wondering about her origins. Was she really the other ‘pet’? Had she really done the impossible and befriended a human? If I’d spoken to Aubrey, and let her see that I was a sentient creature… Firstly, I’d be breaking a core rule of my kind. Secondly, I’d be so terrified by the human’s presence that I probably couldn’t have said much anyway.

A groan rose from the other room and I rushed to the bed. The other Hidden-being was awake. She sat up slowly, taking in a pained breath of air. “I probably shouldn’t get up, should I?” she asked me, resting her back on the wall behind her. Hesitantly, I placed a plate of food beside her on the bed. “Are you well enough to eat?” She nodded and took a few small bites. “Who are you?” she asked again, “Where are we?” I sat in the chair I put beside the bed earlier. “I’m June,” I answered, “This is my home; I built it just above the kitchen. Don’t worry, you’re safe here.” My comforts were met with a rather pensive look. “I’m Wren,” she introduced herself. An awkward pause hung in the air. It was late, and I turned away, trying to hide my yawn.

“Do you know about the other person here, the other.. pet?” she asked quietly, “Aubrey, the smaller human, is keeping one of us locked up! Have you seen them? Are they alright?”

I took a sharp breath. “I was Aubrey’s pet,” I responded, “Are you her sister’s?” Wren shook her head harshly, “I’ll never be a pet. No one, not even a human, can tell me what to do.” I was going to ask if the human she’d been speaking to told her what to do, but I didn’t get the chance. “What about you?” she continued, “I thought her sister still had her pet. How are you here?” “I escaped,” I said simply. “And the human didn’t tell anyone?” “No, I think she was trying to stay out of trouble.”

Wren seemed to understand that. “Oh yeah, my human got in a lot of trouble when she ‘lost’ me,” she said, making air quotes for the word lost. “Her parents had her do so many chores, she didn’t have an ounce of free time to see me that whole week.” I glanced at her skeptically. “Your human?” I repeated. “Well, it’s-“ she thought for a moment, “We’re friends; it’s complicated.”

“No.. it shouldn’t be. Humans and us Hidden can’t be friends,” I spat suddenly, “That’s insane! Look at what that human trap did to you! How could you trust that human enough to be friends with her?” Wren tried to explain, but I stood up and went to the doorway. “I’m tired. It’s late. I can’t process this right now.” It was horribly rude of me, but I’m not in the mood to argue tonight.

I ended up sleeping on the floor with a blanket. Wren had taken the only bed, and she certainly needed it more than I did. In the morning, I had to help her over to the bathroom so she could get around without putting weight on her leg. When at last she settled down, I went to get some more medicine, but she spoke.

“I haven’t heard that name in a long time…” I paused in the doorway. “Hidden. I stopped calling myself that the day I was captured. We aren’t exactly ‘hidden beings’ anymore.” Sighing, I turned to her and leaned on the doorframe, “That’s what we are, Wren.” She shrugged, “Humans call us ‘Borrowers’. I think I like that name.” I grumble and grudgingly go get the medicine. When I return, Wren stays silent for a bit.

“Hey, about last night…” I glanced up at her tiredly. “Just hear me out, please? Liz, the human I was talking to, she’s not like other humans.” “How?” I challenged, “Why?” “It.. was an accident, her finding out about us being smart and whatnot. I screwed up and spoke in front of her. She had every opportunity to call me out on it — to tell the other humans and ruin our secret. But she didn’t. Liz found out I was just like any other person.. and treated me like one. I don’t know why or how she’s like that, but she is.”

I doubted it; it went against everything I’d been taught about humans. “So, when she ‘lost’ you…” “Liz pretended to lose me so she could free me. And-” Wren paused, giving me a look that was almost sorry. “And I have to tell her I’m alright.”

“What?” I asked, confused. “You can barely stand on your own! How are you getting all the way to her room?” “I don’t know, how did you get me here?” I sighed, “I can’t take you all the way back, it’ll mess up your leg.” “Then you need to go for me.” I blanched at the mere thought of being in front of another human. “No,” I replied forcefully, “I am NOT going anywhere near that human, or any other human. I don’t care what you say, I don’t trust them, and you shouldn’t either!”

“Well, I do!” Wren shot back, “And you don’t have to talk to her at all. Let me write her a note. You can leave it out somewhere she’ll see it. Please.” Her voice grew softer, “I don’t want her to worry about me. What if she heard me get caught in the trap? I could be dead for all she knows!” My eyes closed tightly, and I sank into a chair. It felt like my body was shutting down on itself as my head fell into my hands. “If I do this.. you owe me.” Wren nodded eagerly, “I can have Liz get whatever you want. I’ll deliver it for you when I’m better.”

The deal was beyond tempting. If Wren and that human are really friends, I have no doubt that she could get just about anything I could dream of. I reasoned that it couldn’t hurt if I simply delivered a letter. Get in, leave it on the floor by the electrical socket, get out. It would be easier than a supply run.

Wren could tell that I’d given in. She reached out expectantly, waiting for a piece of paper and something to write with. With a long sigh, I got up and gathered a scrap of paper and a piece of pencil lead I’d taken. Handing them over, I sat waiting nervously for her to write the letter. It seemed like forever and no time at all before she’d finished. “Put it somewhere she’ll find it,” Wren instructed. “I will.” Soon, I began the trek to Liz’s room. Everything went smoothly until I got to the electrical cover. I stood in front of it, staring blankly at the slits of light beaming in from the other side.

This was it. Get in, leave the letter, get out. Simple. Taking a deep breath, I pulled the cover aside and peered out. The room was silent and empty, which put my racing heart at ease. I slid down to the floor and snuck out to the edge of the room. Digging into my bag, I pulled out the letter. Footsteps echoed outside the door, and I froze in fear. Thankfully, it sounded like Aubrey’s footsteps, meaning that she was on her way to her own room, not this one. I’d just set the letter down when a new set of footsteps rang out. At that same moment, the door to the room swung open.

It was Liz. I dashed to the electrical socket, but she was bigger, and I was so scared that I fumbled with the climbing rope. In no time at all, I was met with a wall of flesh. I scrambled backwards, terrified. I could do nothing but watch in horror as hands larger than myself squeezed in around me. “No! Wait!” I cried out. However, my pleas weren’t even acknowledged. Liz held me in one gigantic fist, dragging me through the air towards her desk. I screamed, thrashing in her grip. Suddenly, I was let go. I fell roughly onto the surface of the desk in front of her.

Immediately, I scrambled behind a stack of books that were piled on her desk. My attempt to hide must’ve been laughable to the human. She simply pulled the books away from me.

“What did you do with Wren?” Her voice echoed in waves through my head while my vision swam. “N- Nothing,” I whimpered, pressing myself to the wall behind me. Liz leaned over the desk, inching menacingly closer. “I don’t know what the punishment is for befriending a human, but I heard her in the walls, crying in pain. So I’ll ask you again. What did you do with her?”

I could barely focus. Not only had she heard Wren get hurt, she thought I’d hurt her, as punishment for breaking a crucial survivalist rule. “I didn’t do anything to her, I swear! She chased after me, you saw that, right?” Liz’s narrowed eyes widened slightly. “I did.” “S- She ran through a trap while she chased me. Please, you have to believe me! Look at the letter!”

Liz sat back; her face rapidly lost color. A wave of silence drifted over the room. “She.. got caught in a trap? Is she alright?” Liz asked, suddenly sobered by my news. It took me a moment to realize that the human looked awfully worried about Wren — interest in me completely lost. I opened my mouth to speak, but tears welled in my eyes. Despite my best efforts to calm myself, I began crying. A few moments ago, I saw my life flash before my eyes. Wren was very wrong. Liz is terrifying. I sank to the ground, curling up with my back pressed into the wall behind me.

“Hey, I- I’m sorry,” a voice spoke softly from above. I was so shocked by the shift in Liz’s tone, that I managed to look up at her. “I didn’t mean to scare you. You’re my sister’s…” She paused, unwilling to call me what I’d been. “I escaped,” I confessed meekly. “I remember you,” her voice dropped to an almost whisper. “I… helped you out of that toy car. God, I wanted to take you away to safety the moment I saw you.” I blinked. Then.. why didn’t you?

It suddenly occurred to me that she could return me to Aubrey — to my little personal hell. “Please don’t bring me back!” I yelped. Liz smiled sadly, “Of course I won’t. You shouldn’t have had to endure that to begin with. I’m sorry I scared you, but you’re safe here.” I hesitantly wiped the tears from my face, “Safe?" I repeated, confused. "You just grabbed me.” Liz glanced guiltily at the spot on the floor where I’d been standing. “What’s that?” she asked, nodding to the letter on the floor. “A letter. Wren wrote it for you.”

Liz went over and picked it up. I watched as she carefully read the note, which suddenly looked tiny in her hands. When she turned back to me, her expression had shifted entirely. “Thank you,” Liz said earnestly, coming back to sit at her desk. “Thank you for taking care of Wren. I’m honestly glad she’s with you, and not only because you know how to help her.” Liz backed off slightly, allowing me more of a distance between us so I wasn’t pressed against the wall. “Wren’s been.. homesick, I think. She needs another Borrower in her life. I can’t imagine living without any other humans around; it can’t be much different for you.”

I stood on the desk in thought for a while. There was that name again, ‘Borrower’. We don’t even borrow, we steal. Is that some kind of demeaning term humans like to use? Why was Wren ok with it? Why is Wren ok with any of this!?

Liz offered me a small meal to calm me down some. I tried a bit of the food to satisfy her, though I could barely stomach it. “Is it true?” I asked, needing to know the answer, “Did you really free Wren?” Liz sighed, “It’s one thing to own some creature that looks like a person, but when I realized what Wren and the rest of you are, I.. I couldn't leave her trapped in there. I didn't even want a Borrower because I thought it was unsettling how similar you are to us."

"I remember," I agreed quietly, "Aubrey was upset that you got to have a.. pet too." Liz nodded, "But you escaped! That's impressive! I was beginning to wonder what happened to you because my sister never mentions you much anymore. Now I know why. How did you manage that, anyways?" Thinking back, I suddenly became defensive. Humans are awful. Liz was awful to me.

I don't know why she’s deciding to be so nice right now, but she could easily switch back to the horrifying personality that snatched me off the floor and accused me of hurting someone. Liz is the sister of my previous captor. I don't particularly feel like sticking around to make small talk.

"I have to go," I said decisively, a bit more harshly than I intended. "I'll heal your friend, but then.. I have to move now. It's my people’s code." "Wh- What?" Liz stammered, "You aren't leaving soon, are you? It's freezing outside!" "I have blankets," I replied curtly. I stormed over to the edge of the desk, reaching for my bag and my climbing rope. "You don't have to leave! I'll keep your secret like I'm keeping Wren's, I promise!" Liz told me, still trying to convince me to stay. Why does she want me here so badly? Maybe it's a trap — using Wren as bait to lure other Hidden-beings out of hiding.

When I got to the floor, I turned my back to her and walked off toward the outlet cover. It was a risky move, but I wanted Liz to know for certain that I made up my mind. She stammered a few half-baked excuses as I slid back into the outlet. I didn't stop marching away until I was deep within the walls. With a shuddering cry, I sank to the ground. I've worked so hard to make a home for myself here — to avoid the freezing temperatures outside — but now I have no choice.

Wiping the mist from my eyes, I plastered on a nonchalant expression and returned to my home and Wren. "Did she find the note?" Wren asked me the moment I stepped into the room. "Yeah, I watched from behind the outlet. She read it and looked relieved. That was about it."

Of course I lied to her. I didn't dare tell her how horrifying her beloved human had been to me. I also hadn’t told her my plan to leave the moment she was out of my home. I wanted to heal her; no matter what she thought of humans, she was still my own kind, and I felt responsible for her. Over the next few days, I did everything in my power to stay as far away from Liz as I could until I could get away from her for good.

Nightmare after nightmare stalked me down nearly every night, and I rarely went out to gather supplies anymore. What did it matter if I had stuff saved? I’d be leaving most of it behind when I left anyway. I cried a lot, too — in a little crevice far away from Wren or any of the humans. I just.. don’t know what to do anymore. At this rate it only feels like I’m delaying another mortifying inevitable capture.

A week or two after I took Wren in, her leg had healed enough that she could walk on it, with the help of a walking stick, that is. When she was well enough to make the journey, I helped her to the electrical socket in Liz's room, but stopped there. "Well, this is as far as I take you. Thanks for keeping me company these past few days, it's been.. nice." Though Wren's human seems suspicious, Wren herself was not all that bad to have around. Her company had been a good change of pace for me. I hated to think that I would soon be alone again.

"Thank you for healing up my leg," Wren replied, "I'll come by to visit you soon, ok?" I nodded silently, knowing that she would be walking into an empty room. "Take care, and try not to fall into any more traps. Go enjoy freedom, I guess." Wren quickly tried to convince me again that I could have 'freedom' too, but I reminded her that I do have freedom. Real freedom. The kind I created myself instead of relying on some human to give it to me. I didn't tell her that last part.

After another round of goodbyes and thank yous, Wren went to wait for Liz and I went back to my home to pack. A sour feeling rested in my throat as I began dividing things up between what I could bring and what I couldn't. Once everything I could possibly take was packed, I slept one last time in my bed here before my journey. I woke when I sensed that night had fallen. It was time for me to go.

It took me a half-hour to get out of the house, but I eventually found a vent that left me standing in the side yard. The moment I slid outside, a freezing wind rushed over the ground, cutting right through my meager coverings and stitched-together blankets. I desperately wanted to go back inside to the home I'd made for myself, but thanks to the awful human, I can't.

One chilly step at a time, I began the long journey across the backyard to the next house over. I nearly set off a trap as I rounded the perimeter of the house, scaring me to my senses. It was rapidly growing dark and I was only about a quarter of the way through my trip. The cold had made things harder than I'd planned, and it was only going to get colder as the night wore on. Please, just let me make it there without getting frostbite. The universe only laughed at my pathetic plea. Minutes afterward, the sky completely darkened. It began to snow.

My heart seized painfully in my chest like the day I'd been caught and the day I'd been sold. It was an instinctive feeling of my body telling me there was a very good chance I'm going to die. Quickly, I fought back tears and continued onward. Even if I had gone back, I couldn't have gotten inside the house. The vent opening was too far above my head. Heavier flakes began to pile up, and I shuddered each time one landed on me — soaking freezing water through my clothing. Soon, there was a light dusting of frozen crystals of water over the entire ground, and my feet were starting to lose feeling.

How long can I last? Is there even a point in trying to trek to the next house when I’m clearly not going to make it? Though I knew for certain that it would be my last night alive, I kept moving forwards, refusing to give up. If I stopped moving, the cold would only take me faster. My persistence was met with deeper and deeper snow as the night wore on. Eventually, it was up to my waist, and I didn't have the energy to continue wading through the bitterly cold substance any longer.

Crying out in anguish and despair, I fell to the ground, numb and completely exhausted. Curling up in a tight ball, I shivered against myself, desperately trying to generate at least a little heat. My eyes grew heavier by the second, and I began drifting in and out of bitter darkness.

After my eyes had been closed for some time, a faint light shone behind them. Is this what happens before you die? The light became brighter and my numb body moved just slightly, reaching for it. "June?" Death was calling to me. I was so sure of it. I opened my mouth to respond, but no sound came out. The last of my energy drained, I fell back into the inky black void of unconsciousness.

What felt like instantly, I was lightly jostled awake by the feeling of rising into the air. A sudden warmth engulfed me, and I greeted it eagerly, only for the heat to become burning against my frostbitten skin. I groaned and tried to escape it, but the heat seemed to be all around me at once. Weakly, I shoved at the space. "It's ok, I'll put you down in a second," a voice spoke from high above me, "Let me get somewhere safer first." A few moments later, I was deposited on something cooler, and I gasped, soaking in the ambient warmth as my vision swam.

The entire time, and for some time afterwards, my mind was trapped in a constant fog. I didn't feel like opening my eyes, but when I did, the only things I could make out were vague shapes and colors all swirling together almost nauseatingly. Quickly, I closed them again. Voices spoke to each other, but I could barely comprehend the words. Laying in almost total disorientation, I silently thanked the universe for letting me live, and begged it to have landed me somewhere nice, with people that I could trust. Was that too much to ask after my near-death experience?�� I hoped not.

After initially being brought inside, I basked in the warmth that came from simply being in that place. But as I began to warm up more, I started to shiver again. I tried to speak, to tell whoever had taken me in that I was getting colder, but all that came from my lips was a weak cry. Thankfully, one of my saviors realized what I wanted and spread a blanket over me. I pulled it in closer and tried to sit up, but my arm quickly gave out beneath me.

“Here, don’t strain yourself. I’ll get you something for you to sit up on.” Still in a fog, I wasn’t sure if I recognized their voice, but their hands were about the same size as my own, so at the very least I’d been found by one of my own kind. Relief let me relax as I was propped up slightly and offered a drink. Soon my head cleared enough for me to open my eyes.

My heart nearly flew from my chest when I took in the sight in front of me. I was back on Liz’s desk, in the exact same place I’d been before.

“No!” I rasped, trying in vain to get up, “I did all this to get away from you! Why are you here?!” Liz backed away looking hurt as Wren came over and tried to calm me down. “She’s not going to hurt you,” she assured me, “I won’t let her.” “Like you can stop her?” I spat. “She could grab both of us and stuff us back in a cage and neither of us could do anything about it! Why, why do you trust her!? How can you trust someone who can do that to you!?” “She wouldn’t.” “She did!” I nearly screamed, “She almost crushed me the moment she spotted me!”

“And that was her mistake!” Wren shot back, “I’ve scolded her and made her promise never to touch you without your permission.” My mouth opened and closed silently for a second. “Do you really think she’ll keep that promise?” “I do.”

I glanced at Liz, standing quietly to the side with a chastised expression. Her gaze wandered anywhere but the desk where Wren and I stood. “Liz told me what happened when I got back; what you conveniently didn’t tell me. She only threatened you because she thought you’d hurt me. She was only trying to protect me.” “Well, that’s good for you,” I huffed sarcastically, glaring at the gigantic girl. “You can have your protective little human all to yourself, then.”

I could tell Wren was trying extremely hard not to continue our yelling match. Her expression remained calm, but there was an angered sharpness to her gaze. “You could have at least waited until it was warmer. You must know better than to leave in the middle of winter,” she said. I scoffed, “Have you forgotten all the rules? I had to leave! She saw me!” I replied, jabbing a finger at Liz. She flinched as I did. “I know you don’t really care anymore, being a pet and all, but those rules have kept us free and safe. The only reason we’re in this situation is because of people like you who choose to break them!”

Loud silence suddenly fell over the room. I was frightened by it. I’d expected Wren to finally snap and reply with something hurtful in return — maybe even sick her terrible human on me — but she just stood there, staring out at nothing.

“I didn’t choose to break the rules,” she finally said in a quiet breath. “I didn’t choose to reveal anything to the humans. When Liz found out the truth, it scared me just as much as it scares you. But she used my moment of weakness to help me rather than hurt me, and I owe every good thing I have now to her.”

Liz suddenly burst into tears. The sound sent me on high alert. A sad human was only one wrong word away from an angry one. Wren whirled around, shocked. “Liz, what-?” “I’m so sorry!” she sobbed, “After all the time I’ve spent with you, my first instinct was to hurt the only other Borrower I know! M- Maybe she’s right! You don’t belong with me. You deserve to have safety without having to fully rely on one person with power over everything!”

Wren turned away from me, rushing to the edge of the desk that was closest to the human. “Liz, no! Y- You can’t be serious! I do belong with you! Our way of life doesn’t work anymore. This is the new way, the better way, to live! I don’t completely rely on you; I still borrow supplies for myself every day, and you don’t even know. With the right humans and borrowers working together, we can change history for the better!”

“Better?” I questioned bitterly, causing both sets of eyes to turn to me. “How can living with monstrous beings like humans make our lives better? They were the best they could be without them. The only reason we would need them at all is to convince other humans not to kill us on sight.”

Wren rubbed her temples tiredly. “You just… You don’t understand,” she told me — voice falling. “Humans have so much more freedom than we ever did, even in our old lives. We rarely got to communicate with others of our kind; stepping outside was like being in another world; and we had to get by on so little that we had to starve ourselves to continue living sometimes. You call that the best life we can live? Really? We aspire to be slightly advanced rats? That’s what you want to be?”

Tears welled in the corners of my eyes, remembering my younger brother, who starved himself to sickness and eventually death trying to let the rest of us have a bit more to eat. Then there was my mother, who was impaled trying to cut into the water pipe so we could have access to the humans’ supply. “No,” I whispered on the verge of tears. “It isn’t what I aspire to be, but what other choice do I have when they control everything?”

Slowly, Wren came over and sat beside me, offering me a gentle hug. I broke down in another fit of tears, and watched out of the corner of my eye as Liz fled the room.

“We do have a choice,” Wren told me after I’d calmed. “All our kind needs is enough good humans to vouch for us. They could end everything we fear, but they don’t know we’re even capable of thinking the same way they do. If we can’t speak for ourselves, they’ll have to.” It pained me inside and out, but I had to ask. “What if we break the rules? What if we show the whole world of humans just how similar we all are to eachother? Then we can vouch for ourselves.” Wren was quiet for a while, thinking, then turned around.

“Liz, what if we-” she stopped, realizing the human was gone. “What..? Where did she go?” I shrugged, “She ran out of the room a while ago.” “Dammit I keep telling her she shouldn’t group herself in with the torturous ones of her kind.. I- I don’t want to leave you here alone, but-” “Go,” I told her in a sudden flare of certainty. “I’ll be fine now that I’ve warmed up.”

Wren glanced between me and the doorway. “I’ll be right back.” Then she turned and slid down the side of the desk with expert movements — not even needing a rope or grapple. Now that was the work of someone who was trained how to traverse human spaces.

I still can’t believe it’s come back to me being in a human’s clutches again. Though, I guess if I’m being kept here by anyone, it’s Wren. I want to help her. I want to help myself. However, the prospect of helping myself no longer included running away to hide in a different home — that was clearly a horrific idea that would’ve killed me if it weren’t for the human looking out for me.

All I did was follow my people’s code; it’s supposed to keep me alive, not put me in danger. Yet.. everything that saved me just now was against those rules. Just like everything that saved Wren went against them. Maybe things really do have to change. The thought frightened me just as much as it exited me. Something had to happen, but would it be for better, or for worse?

#welcome to angst town yall!#man these tinies just can’t catch a break…#g/t #giant/tiny #g/t writing

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immajustvibehere · 2 years

Text

Treat - Valentine's Special

Pairing: Arthur Morgan x gn!Reader

A drabble in which Arthur gifts you some chocolate.

masterlist

A little story for my fellow Arthur lovers who either have no significant other this Valentine's or someone who says "Valentine's Day isn't special it is just to profit from love. We love each other every day of the year so we don't have to do gifts, okay?"

560 words, 5 minutes reading time

Money has been tight in the van der Linde gang. A heist gone wrong forced all of you to lie low. And you have been lying low for two weeks now. That was a problem because it made finding leads more complicated. And even if someone found something, someone else had been faster. A stagecoach? Already robbed. A homestead with a hidden treasure? Burned to the ground. It was frustrating. Especially because the food Pearson cooked became more revolting with every day. The camp had run out of salt, sugar and any sort of vegetable that could have turned the food somewhat nutritious. No potatoes or carrots, no apples or peaches for dessert. Just meat the boys had hunted and some herbs that grew around camp.

You sat under a tree, gulping down dinner when you saw Arthur approach. He had returned a couple of minutes ago, you had seen him dismount, but then had lost sight of him as he headed towards camp and you away from it, finding a place to suffer through dinner alone and have some peace.

"Y/n", Arthur greeted, coming closer.

"Hey Arthur", you smiled, putting down your half-empty plate, "how are you?"

"'m fine, you?", he replied.

"I've been better", you admitted.

"I've something to cheer ya up, I-I think", Arthur stuttered. You could tell he was excited, flustered even.

"Is it a solid lead that won't blow up in our faces?", you quipped. Your happy chuckle made Arthur gulp as he squatted down next to you.

"'m afraid not. But I did manage to get my hands on some money today", Arthur explained before he pulled a chocolate bar out of his satchel, "Here ya go."

You took it reluctantly: "For me?"

"Sure", Arthur nodded, scanning your face for a reaction.

"You shouldn't have! I...I mean the gang needs the money so despe-", you started, your cheeks blushing.

"It's okay. The camp got its share", Arthur explained calmly. You looked at him while he awkwardly scratched the back of his neck. So he bought this from his share of the money?!

You looked at the chocolate, still not sure if you could accept it: "Maybe Jack-?"

"I wanted you to have it", Arthur confirmed, "I also got a new bottle of rum if ya don't mind sharin'."

With great pleasure Arthur watched how you relaxed and cracked a smile. As he sat down next to you, you peeked back to the camp. Everyone was sitting at the fire, chatting and drinking together, and yet Arthur had decided join you instead. You felt a surge of emotion when you looked at Arthur again, now seated right next to you, so that your legs touched and you could see the blush on his cheeks clearly.

"Yer okay?", Arthur chuckled when he saw you smiling like an idiot.

"Yeah", you nodded, "Thank you for this."

"'course", Arthur shrugged as if it was nothing. Though he knew that today was special, because if the liquor would do its job properly, he'd confess his feelings sooner rather than later. He figured it was time he told you. Strangely enough, he didn't fear a rejection because deep down...he was sure you reciprocated his feelings.

The moment you had accepted the chocolate from him, he watched in awe how happy he could make you and knew from that second onwards, that he would chase that feeling forever.

#arthur morgan x reader #red dead redemption 2 #arthur morgan fanfiction #arthur morgan #red dead redemption community #rdr2 #rdr2 fanfiction #rdr #rdr fanfiction #arthur morgan x gn reader

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supercorpkid · 2 years

Text

He’ll never love you (like I do)

Supergirl, Lena Luthor x Reader, Kara Danvers x Reader, Alex Danvers, James Olsen, Sam Arias.

Word Count: 3120.

Notes: prompt by @thebifisignal. It took me forever but here it is. The heartbreak of being left for James Olsen is worst than a normal one guys.

Superfriends group text:

Kara: Guys, game night tomorrow at my apartment.

Alex: Great! I’ll invite Sam.

Lena: Is James coming as well?

Kara: He just said he’ll be there!

Lena: Great! See you guys tomorrow.

You furrow your brows at Lena’s text, surprised and utterly confused. Why is she asking about James and not about you, her own girlfriend? You look at your calendar on your work desk, knowing you can’t join the game night because you have a meeting.

Y/N: Sorry guys, can’t make it. I have to work.

Kara: Aw no. Should we reschedule?

Y/N: No, don’t worry about it. I’ll go to the next one.

Kara: Alright, but if you want me to go pick you up at any time during the game night, let me know.

Alex: You’ll be missed, Y/N. But don’t worry, we’ll take care of Lena for you.

Lena: I can take care of myself.

Ok. Alright. You immediately shoot Lena a text to know if everything is alright. Lena was never one to need anyone to bring her flowers or climb her tower, but still she is usually more sweet than that. She answers with a dry, ‘yes, going into a meeting now’, and you swallow deep. Have you done something?

Sure, you’ve been working a lot, but that’s no excuse. Lena always works a lot herself and this was never a problem for the two of you.

You don’t make it to game night, and on the weekend Lena comes up with a lame excuse not to see you and you decide not to push, afraid this might drive her further away from you. But if you’re being honest, you’re starting to get worried. Even with Kara reassuring you that Lena seems fine.

Must be a little bump in the relationship, you try to convince yourself. You should give her the space she needs.

You go to the next game night, a week later. Lena is already there and she is sitting extremely close to James. You feel a lump on your throat when she says they’ll be partners for the night, but you don’t fight her on it.

So you pair up with Winn, and end up winning more games than you ever did when you were partners with Lena. Except that winning doesn’t matter at all to you and you’d rather lose all night and have her smile at you like she is smiling at James, than winning at this term.

When everyone just gets really tired of competing and playing games, and you all fall into a comfortable conversation about your lives, and what’s going on with National City (nothing good, really. There’s barely ever anything good happening here), you think Lena is going to come back closer to you and talk, instead she sighs loudly when she notices you’re staring and that’s all.

“Hey,” Sam whispers in your ear when everyone else is distracted by Kara enthusiastically telling a story. “What’s up with you and Lena?”

“I don’t know. I was hoping you could tell me.” You look at her, and she furrows her brows. “Has she mentioned being mad at me or something?”

“Not really.” Sam thinks about it for a second. “To be honest, she hasn’t mentioned you in a while.”

“Oh.”

“Are you two on a break?”

“If we are, then I think she forgot to mention it to me.” You feel stupid and completely out of place.

When you first started dating Lena you knew it wasn’t a good idea to date someone from your group of friends. But the attraction and respect between the two of you was undeniable, and everyone in the group encouraged you two to get together. But now, now you see why you had your doubts in the first place.

When the night ends, you run after Lena before she leaves without saying a word directed at you.

“Lena!” You call her, but she doesn’t stop walking. “Lena, hey! Wait a second.”

She stops, giving you a loud sigh. “What, Y/N?”

“What’s wrong?” You try to hold her arm, but she moves away. “We haven’t seen each other in a week, then you act like you don’t even know me, and what was that whole thing with James?”

Lena blinks at you, like that’s a good answer, or like if maybe you don’t even deserve one. “Y/N, I’m so tired.”

“Of what?”

“This.” She points at the two of you. “This conversation and us and – Look, we should leave this for later.”

“Later when, Lena? You’ve been avoiding me for an entire week!”

You hear someone clearing the throat and you look behind yourself to find James there. He forces a smile, and excuses himself so he can walk down the stairs.

That should be all. It should be James feeling embarrassed to see you and Lena having an argument on the staircase (or trying to have one), but you can tell there’s more. There’s more to it. You can feel the tension between them. They share a look as if they were more than friends, as if they were allies. It’s funny how they say nothing to each other or to you, but they don’t have to because the whole moment was so tension-filled that it already says everything.

“Shit.” It’s your only reaction. You let yourself fall on your butt, sitting on one of the steps when James is out of sight. “Shit, Lena.”

She looks at you, totally aware of why you’re saying this. She knows. She can see how much you know and yet she does nothing to deny it. Nothing to ease your mind. Nothing at all.

“You're leaving me for him, aren’t you?” It’s not like you don’t know already, but yet you need confirmation. You need an admission for it to feel real.

Lena bites her lower lip. Then she looks at her hand, ignoring your gaze. “I’m – Yeah.” She breathes out. “Yes, I am.”

Your heart stops on your chest. God, you did not see that coming. So you miss one game night and she replaces you like that? She switches partners not only to play games, but to live her life with? How did that happen? How did it happen so fast? Unless… It didn’t.

“What happened?” You look up to her. She doesn’t look like your Lena. She looks small and so distant, it’s like you can feel this barrier around her. “How did we ever come to this?”

“We grew apart.”

“In a week?” You can’t hold the surprise in your voice, because things were not this bad a week ago, at least not for you, and if it was so bad for her why didn’t she mention it sooner?

“I can’t explain, I just don’t feel the same way about you anymore. Or about him.”

“You know he will never love you like I do, right?”

“Y/N.” That’s all she says. She says your name and it says it all. So sardonic and sharp, it leaves no margin for wondering. You agree with your head reading her perfectly.

She doesn’t care about that, she doesn’t care about the fact that you love and respect her like no one ever will. She doesn’t care that you completely understand what it is like to be a woman in this business, because you are one yourself. She doesn’t care that you respect her space, and that you took your time to break down her barriers and open up to someone. Lena doesn’t care that you are the first person she truly trusted in years.

And you feel stupid.

Stupider than you’ve ever felt.

She is leaving you for James Olsen. Which only makes this whole thing a lot worse.

You get up, passing her and running down the stairs so she doesn’t see the tears springing on your eyes.

To be honest, you’ve never expected this to happen. It’s not like you were planning to marry Lena, although you did think there was a great possibility of that to happen. But what you didn’t expect at all was her breaking your heart like this. Especially not after everything the two of you went through.

And God, for everyone she could leave you for… James Olsen? That fucking idiot who doesn’t even believe in her. Who judged her because of her name on several occasions. Who broke her trust and lied to her before.

She is leaving you for the most absurd, worst suitor possible. Which leaves you feeling like crap. There’s too much stuff running wild in your mind, on the ride back home. Too much stuff leaving you hollow and devastated.

Oh, how much you despise him.

Despise is a strong word, you know that. It’s not James’ fault. You try to tell yourself while your brain floods with images of you shooting daggers at him. He stole Lena from you.

But that’s not what happened, was it? Lena cannot be stolen. Cannot be whisked away like she can’t make her own decisions. No. Despite all of your anger and your fury, and your clouded judgments; Despite the fact that this is just another reason for you to hate his entire being, you can’t be unfair.

It was her who made this decision. Hell, it was her who let her feelings for him change, and her feelings for you disappear. It was her who decided to break your heart and not even dignify you with the truth before you connected the dots. It was Lena who decided to throw all that you guys built out of the window and move on with her life as if you weren’t there to begin with.

And you try to do the same. You do. You leave the Superfriend group chat, throw yourself into work, into alcohol, into sadness. You cut ties with everyone related to Lena, with all of your friends too. You ask your assistant to send her assistant a box with all of the stuff you could find in your apartment that belongs to her, and if you leave behind the sweater she wore the first time she stayed over, well, then that’s just you doing a crappy job, isn’t it?

You stop leaving the house, scared you might run into her and James at some restaurant or Kara’s apartment. You don’t go to CatCo, even when you miss your best friends because you know you will see him there. And the world goes on, and on.

The silence from all the ends grows heavy, interminable, and it says too much even when it's not saying anything at all. Your friends are on their side. They agree you should be left. They agree James is better for her. They agree you're the odd one out and they are leaving you too.

And God, you wonder if all of this pain is going to go away someday. You wonder if the relationship was real in the first place, or whether it was just an act to love you from her end. And you wonder if this pain is for nothing.

You snap out of it when the doorbell rings. Clean your tears, and hide your bottles. Toss Lena’s sweater under a cushion and let your hair down. Then you make your way to the door.

She looks at you in pity. Kara’s blue eyes are filled with sadness and warmth, but also pity. And you hate that.

“You’re not picking up my calls.” She states as to why she is here unannounced, before you even have a chance to ask her. “And I cannot let you do this.”

“Do what, not pick up my phone?” You bicker and she winces at your harshness. But this is Kara, and that’s not enough to push her away. So, instead, she steps inside your apartment.

“That, too. But I cannot let you do this.” She walks to the bottles of alcohol you just hid behind the couch. You roll your eyes at her x-ray vision, and the clear invasion of privacy. “Hide and suffer alone.”

“Well, I am alone.” Your tone is accusatory, and completely unnecessary. Kara didn’t leave you for James. She didn’t break your heart and left you wondering what was wrong with you and if you did something unacceptable.

She comes back to where you are, because you still haven’t moved. Kara’s hands go to your arms, stroking the length of it, careful and shielding. “You are not alone. I’m right here.”

“Kara.” You argue with her name alone. Too tired and drunk for more.

“It will get better.” Kara says, sadly and hopeful. And you want to laugh at her for still being able to say this after the whole thing that just happened. But you also want to yell, scream-cry and fall on the floor in a hyper-ventilating crying that would make anyone pity your situation. You do none. You breathe deep.

“But this doesn’t make it better right now.”

She agrees with her head, and pulls you in for a hug. You don’t fight her on it, but you don’t hug her back. Yet, you feel completely safe and loved inside her embrace, which allows your angry tears to leave your eyes and soak her button-up shirt. She doesn’t let go, though. She would never.

You don’t know how, or when, you two moved to the couch. But you notice the change of positions when she kneels in front of you, hand on your knee.

“What happened?” Kara’s other hand goes to your face, trying to wipe out some tears. But your own hands are in the way, hiding your face and your shame for crying over a woman who just left you like you were nothing. It takes a few minutes for Kara to ask again. “Honey, what happened? Why did Lena tell me she hopes it hurts?”

“She did?” Your crying is put to stop, although the tears are still rolling down your cheeks. “She left me for him, stabbed me in the back, and she hopes it hurts?”

“What?” Kara’s brows quirks. “She – What?”

“Left me for James.” You think about the absurdity of it all. About the pain and the crisis you just fell into because of her. Because of him. And you laugh sharp and sour. “She left me for James fucking Olsen, Kara.”

“She – She couldn’t.” But at the same time that her voice is incredulous, her face is filled with anger and ire. Looking like she could spit fire instead of freeze air. Like she might be capable of breaking them like twigs.

She blinks one lonely tear, as if she can feel what you’re feeling and you wipe your own face clean, aggressively.

“Well, you can tell her that it doesn’t anymore.” You resolve, with new found strength and petulance. “I won’t allow her to leave me in pieces.”

You can’t believe you let this situation keep you up at night. You can’t believe you let that woman break your every heartbeat.

Kara holds your neck, pulls your face onto her shoulder, and you bury your nose on the crook of her neck, breathing her in. “I’m on your side. I’m with you. And you’ll never be alone.” She whispers a promise, kissing your temple softly and loving. “I’ve got you, sweetheart.”

“Thanks, Kara.” You whisper too, pulling back, until your forehead is resting against hers.

“It will stop hurting, and it will get better. And I’ll be by your side until it does. And when it does… I’ll be right here.” She blinks at you like she is saying something else. “I will not break your heart or your trust.” She whispers. “I will not leave you.”

And you blink too, unaware of what it could be. Confused as to why she is making sure you know all that. And she sees the confusion crossing your face, so she kisses your forehead, loving but respectfully.

“Let’s start with getting you sober, and out of this crisis.” She smiles, making way to your cabinets, and your coffee pot. “Wanna take a shower while I get this ready?”

“Okay.” You whisper, baffled by the change of her demeanor, but not ready to get into that just yet.

Nia comes on the very next day. And not long after Alex texts and a game night is quickly arranged at your apartment. Lena and James are not invited, but everyone else is. They don’t bring out their names, though Sam lets it slide that Kara has cut all ties with them.

You don’t tell Kara she didn’t have to. She knows she didn’t. And there’s nothing you can say that would change Kara Danvers’ mind anyways.

You strive to get better. Some days you don’t even remember who Lena Luthor was, and some other times… Well, you try to cry alone under your blankets so Kara doesn’t hear you, but every time without fail, the depression session turns into a sleepover and you forget about Lena once again.

They break up after a few months. You don’t keep up with the news about her, but sometimes you hear things, no matter how much your friends try to shield you from it. You don’t want Lena to be sad, but you’re glad to know you were right. He could never love her like you did.

He almost dies and Kara tells you she is going to visit him, as if she is asking for permission to do so. You fear for what this could mean. Ties are being mended and maybe that means that she is not with you, like she promised. But she comes back. And she doesn’t break your trust.

It stops hurting, and Kara is still here. She doesn’t break your heart, like she said she wouldn’t. Instead, she helps you heal it. She patches it up and aids it. And never once you are left alone.

It takes you a few months but you finally get it. You get what she meant in her whisper.

Kara is not leaving, because real love doesn’t flee. It doesn’t expire or grows apart. It grows together in the same direction. It doesn’t leave you alone with a deep cut and a nightmarish heartbreak. No. It nurses your heart back to health, sure it will be able to love again. Real love waits for its turn and, when the time comes, holds onto the chance.

And it never, ever, breaks your heart and your trust, nor leaves you.

#supergirl #kara x reader #kara danvers #lena x reader #lena luthor #james olsen #sam arias #angst

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forestgreenivy · 15 days

Text

Long post ahead:

September 10th. One year ago, I finished loading up a Uhaul and my dad’s truck, and I left Greenville. My greatest challenge, heartbreak, but also my most beautiful adventure was left behind me… The hardest time I had ever been through… or so I thought. One year ago today, I promised myself that I would never do myself the disservice of lamenting and missing these days. I left with a lot of anger in my heart. Anger at the unfortunate situation I found myself in, anger that it had to come to an end. Those 10 months, only 10 months hold some of the most precious memories I have, but I can’t say those days were my hardest anymore.

I sit year a year later, knowing what I know now, and I do not regret making the decision to come home. There has never been a clearer and more glaringly obvious choice. What I went through in Greenville was incredibly difficult, and at the time, I had no other choice in order to escape my current situation and rejoin my friends and family.

I am forever marked by my memories of those days, and there will always be a piece of me missing because the dream and goal I had always had, didn’t work. This was also the place I found Ophelia and she is the best thing that has ever come into my life. I couldn’t have made it through these past 2 years if I didn’t have her by my side.

At the beginning of the Greenville journey, there was a new version of myself blossoming, and I loved her. She did not last long there because it would come crashing down. I often think about her and it hurts because I think of what could have been. A year ago, I was so defeated I could not wait to come home. Everything was going to be the same, but better. A new job that wasn’t hinging on the lines of a religious cult. An apartment of my own. Returning to loved ones. I was so hopeful to return. When I drove home a year ago, I was so hopeful and ready.

At first, everything was fine. But, that light did not last long. Many of you who have been around this blog who read these posts, you saw that unraveling begin in the winter. All week I’ve been thinking about these things, and I’ve honestly been struggling through a depression episode that has had me shut down. Today I’m writing this. I need to talk about it to the void once again.

For better or worse, I cry often when I think about the mountains and the adventures I use to go on. I miss having bad days and having a place to escape to that is so beautiful and vast. I miss seeing waterfalls all the time like it was nothing, and swimming in the rivers in the summer. I miss climbing mountains and having “awe” moments. I was so upset there, anxious, angry and so much of it was out of my control. I tried so hard to make that life work, but it couldn’t stick.

I am so angry that I couldn’t figure it out.

The ugly truth: I took a job very quickly a year ago. One that would afford me the ability to live on my own and not with my parents. While… I am not tackling this challenge easily, I am squeezing to make it work. I took this job fast and without thought because at the time it seemed like my ticket home. Avoiding moving back into the small town I grew up in at my parents house. I walked into a job situation, while it took a little longer to unveil itself, it’s no better. Except this time, I am stuck. I am stuck in an office. All alone, all day. No mobility. Taking content for my job on my own time, making my day to day life outside feel draining. All my pictures and videos I enjoy capturing in my free time, gets sucked up by my job. Now it’s hard to find the energy to want to go outside. I am having to run social media pages and I HATE any other platform besides tumblr. I am overwhelmed being inundated with the sludge online constantly trying to keep up with the trends. I don’t enjoy being online that much. The digital and social marketing thing does not come naturally. I get so angry and this quickly deteriorating world more than I want to.

I am trying to relate to a place only accessible to a certain type of rich southerner I never related to. I don’t have access to the country club life. Somehow I am trying to market that life back to them, and I can’t get it right. I can go on and on. But all I’ll say is I am drained. I am all alone all day, I have no benefits, no healthcare, and I can barely afford my apartment. I have barely any PTO time to take, making me feel trapped. I wanted to spend weekends in the mountains this summer. I only made it back once. That hurt a lot. The town in work in is over an hour from my friends, making any plans difficult to make which has isolated me more. I work with people who never leave their gated communities and don’t understand my urge to travel outside or the city limits. They take their week long vacations IN town. They rent a house 5 minutes from their own homes. I don’t understand it.

While I type this, it all seems normal and not that big of a deal, and yes I know I have certain privileges, like living alone. I hate it. I want to live with my roommate again and not feel so alone. If I have to sit in front of a screen 8 hours a day, why do I need to drive 40 minutes every morning and 40 minutes back just to sit in a corner all alone. I don’t have time or energy to see my friends after work, and I have to force myself when I do.

(TW: ss) Because sadly, I’ve been dealing with the strongest depression I’ve ever had to manage through. I feel down hard when I got back here. I had a few months of feeling okay, but it got very bad slowly and gradually. It lead me to trying new medicines and ways to help me feel normal again. But that lead to me struggling with not wanting to be here anymore. I have to fight still to this day, I have to fight those thoughts away. I hate that I have to do that now. It sucks the energy out of me that I could be doing things in life, but all I do is constantly fight off panic attacks and anger and fight through most days just to mentally want to be here on this earth. It is a battle. I’ve never had to go through so much mental turmoil to ensure my mind stays in a sound place so I don’t do anything I’d regret.

I can’t pinpoint what exact went wrong. I can’t tell you exactly what it is that makes me feel THIS bad. But I can assure you that in this moment, I am having a much harder time getting through this than I did a year ago. Except this time, I am lost, I am defeated and I have no idea what to do next.

I truly thought I had been through the defining thing in my life by making it out, but now I’m more confused than ever because this year was long, drawn out, and slowly gradually getting worse. So it took a year but my mental state is right back to where it was in July of 2023. Lost with no idea of where to go next and what to do. I am starting the process of picking myself up again. Thankfully I have a fun trip planned next week that will most definitely put some pep in my step, but I know I will not want to return to my day to day here. Now I just need to figure out where belong in this world.

It’s hard not feeling a sense of belonging in the only place you knew feels like home. I have such a hard time living in the gray areas of life. I want every decision I make to be final. I want satisfaction and stability so desperately but I keep falling. It’s put me in a situation to where I miss having the mountains around so much because I need the release of the forest and the waterfalls. You all know I love the natural surroundings of my home, and it breaks my heart that the context of what I do for my job is making me burned out of my love for it. All I need is to get out and my love will be back. I always know that. I desperately need a different view. I am so use to my surroundings here. When I returned, I returned to my old problems in addition to the new. I feel so beat emotionally. It’s hard to get up every day and go sit in that room all alone and do the same thing over and over again.

I’ve spent the whole year fighting this battle alone. I’ve vented to tumblr but no one in my life knew about this until recently. I’ve kept silent because I’ve been embarrassed to find myself in this horrible of a mental state, so I’ve been acting fine. And now I’ve blown up and crashed.

The bright side here, is I am looking for a new opportunity. I do know I am done with marketing. I hate it and it keeps bringing me back here. But I am in a place now where I have no clue where to go next. So I am leaning on my connections to help me find some paths. I’ve been in so many situations to fail, and now I’m doubting myself and my abilities to be able to do anything. I just have to remember that talents have always been in my communication, speaking, and motivational abilities to others. I’ve never been able to use them in the real world. I always get stuck in a corner and I am asked to do or make plans for things i genuinely do not understand or have a natural intuition about. It constantly puts me at risk of failing over and over. I hate what I do, and I don’t fully understand it.

So I worry the process of finding what’s next is going to take a very long time and I will be stuck. All I wanted from the beginning is to work with college students. I am stuck between that or trying to grow to something bigger in life. I’m lost, and I’ve lost the hope and light I use to have and now all I have is fear. But that’s not stopping me from trying. I am trying.

I am BEGGING for the next year to be kinder to me.

#personal post

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gemini-magic17 · 8 months

Text

Entanglement Chapter Twenty-Eight

**Y/n's POV

It's been weeks since I returned to Tir Asleen; all I have gotten is the cold shoulder. Not that I could really blame anyone considering what I did and how I left things. My parents won't speak to me and whenever I try to approach James he just gives me a look of disdain and walks the other way. I now know what they felt when I was missing and what I put them through. The heartbreak they must have gone through must have been horrible and knowing that I caused it especially after I experienced myself I know how wrong I was.

It was midday when I pulled myself out of bed after not wanting to deal with the whisperers and stares from everyone around me. I know I can't just hide in my chambers forever no matter how much I want to. Once I had gotten dressed I made my way to the courtyard but of course, I couldn't go without receiving looks from others. As I passed a corner I saw two older women whispering to each other but not so much where I couldn't hear them.

"How could she do that to everyone", one of the women asked wearing a blue dress with gold accents running across the bodice.

"She obviously doesn't care about anyone but herself otherwise she wouldn't have done it. King Aiden wasn't threatening to execute people if they didn't find her and all this time she ran off without any explanation."

"If I were her parent I would disown her. Can you imagine the pain and fear she must have caused her family? Not knowing where she was letting them think she was in trouble or possibly dead. What an awful daughter I'd say", the woman with curly blonde hair said. My heart sank to my stomach knowing that they were right I am an awful daughter or rather just an awful person.

"Don't you old bitches have something better to do than gossip about? You're talking ill of the princess and that could be considered a crime that warrants execution. If you continue I shall remove both of your heads from your bodies at once", I hear Ser Easton say as he comes up beside me. It was then the two women scurried off in the opposite direction obviously afraid of the wrath that he was going to bestow upon them at any moment.

"It seems that people have nothing better to do these days", he stated.

"Maybe so but they are not wrong", I said turning my head down to the castle floor.

"Y/n you need to stop doing this to yourself."

"Doing what Ser Easton, huh? Pretend that I didn't run off leaving my family to think I was kidnapped or how I let them believe I could be dead", I exclaimed.

"I know you are just trying to make me feel better but there is no way anyone can stop me from feeling absolutely shitty about what I have done", I stated and walked away.

I moved as fast as I could through the groups of people that resided in the castle just wanting to be alone, away from everyone else. It wasn't until I got to the courtyard that my eyes landed on the blacksmith shop. I walked over to the crowd of people surrounding it and as I approached it it was almost as if they could sense my presence because as soon as they turned their heads they hurried away from Smithery.

"Now what did you do to make everyone take off", I hear the blacksmith say.

"You haven't heard", I asked him truly stunned that he was practically the only person not to hear about what I had done.

"Heard what?"

"About how the Princess of Zemira took off on her wedding day making everyone believe that she was kidnapped in turn leading into an uproar."

"No, I haven't I don't much care for gossip. It in my experience that people don't tell the truth. However, if you did take off on your wedding day it must have been for a good reason right."

"I thought it was", I stated.

"Did they believe it was when you told them", he asked as he hammered a blade and I looked away from him.

"I didn't exactly tell them why", I said and he looked up at me curiously.

""If you had a good reason why didn't you tell them what it was?"

"Because if I did tell them the real reason my father and brother would be more furious than they already are now."

"At you", he asked.

"No, not at me but someone else who let's just say did me wrong."

"I am guessing that person who did you wrong is the one you got married to. After all, that is the day you decided to run", he stated and I slightly chuckled.

"How did you know?"

"Well, who else would cause you to run out on one of the most important days of somebody's life other than the one they were marrying", he said giving a small smile as he put the hammer down and put the blade it a barrel of water.

"I have only told a few people the real reason why I left and all of them I knew. I don't why I just told you all of this though".

"It is easier to tell a stranger your secrets rather than those you are closest to", he said.

"I guess that makes sense. I mean I kept this secret for so long and just telling someone even if it is a random stranger about this whole thing is somewhat of a weight off my shoulders."

"Well, anytime you need to talk to someone I am always hear to listen", he said.

"I might take you up on that", I said and my eyes wandered to the blade he finished working on as he took it out of the water.

"What do you think?"

"What do I think of what", I asked and he raised up the blade in front of me so I could take it.

"It is magnificent", I said when I took it from him. When I did I accidentally cut myself on the tip of it.

"Son of a bitch."

"Oh be careful this blade is especially sharp", he said and handed me a rag to stop the bleeding.

"Aren't they all", I asked applying pressure to the wound.

"Not this one. This dagger is made of Draconian steel", he said and that immediately caught my attention.

"Isn't that steel incredibly hard to come by?"

"It is but last week there was this man by the shipping ports selling it."

"Did he say when he got it?"

"No, but I did buy all of it", he said and showed me the steel that lay next to the kilm.

"How much are you selling those weapons for?"

"Quite a lot", he said.

"I can pay it", I said sounding almost too eager.

"Well, I have only made this one so far."

"I will be happy to buy this one now and come back to purchase any remaining ones you forge later", I said and I could see him contemplating what I had said.

"You know what you can have this one and come back and pay for the ones I finish creating."

"Really?"

"I trust you. After all, you do seem very eager to buy them so come back in a week and they should be ready."

"Thank you", I said and turned to walk away when my eyes made immediate contact with James. I could see the anger all over his face and breaks eye contact with me storming off. Not being able to take any more of the silent treatment I ran after him and decided I was going to make him listen to me whether he liked it or not

**James' POV

As soon as I saw her every word that came out of her mouth the day she arrived back just came flooding back in. I tried to get as far away from Y/n as possible but no matter how far I go she just keeps following me. It wasn't until I stopped in close proximity of the woods that I had enough of this.

"You think me avoiding you would tell you that I have no interest in speaking to you", I said and turned to face her.

"That may be true but it has been weeks you have to talk to me at some point."

"No, actually I don't because after what you did I really don't want to speak to you or even look at you ever again", I stated and tried to go around her but she just moved to stand in front of me.

"Get out of my way."

"No. I have tried to talk to you and explain why I did what I did and all you have done is ignore me! Well you know what it is about time you damn well listen to what I have to say", she exclaimed.

"You wanna talk? Fine talk please explain to me how you could just leave without telling anyone where you were or that you were unharmed. I mean at least of all you could have told me! The person who has always had your back, protected you against those who would wish you harm, and would always defend you! How could you not say anything to me?"

"It is not like I planned any of this it was just spur of the moment."

"SPUR OF THE MOMENT? SPUR OF THE MOMENT! ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?"

"After everything we have been through together and what we have done for each other, this is how you decided to do this? How can you be so fucking selfish", I said and that look of sadness that was once on her face was replaced by one of anger.

"You know what James fuck you!"

"I'm sorry what?"

"Yeah said fuck you! I know I was wrong for how I handled this whole situation but god I felt so alone in this place even with the people who I trusted most were here. I would be left to live the rest of my days out with someone in love with their best friend! I couldn't bear it and knowing that I would most likely be unhappy for the rest of my life I needed to be free from that damn marriage. I knew how it would go and what the hell my life would be so for once instead of looking out for everyone else I looked out for myself!"

"So you can be pissed off at me for the rest of my life and never forgive me I don't give a damn. I am done trying to get you to forgive me. It seems that you get holding grudges from our mother", Y/n said and sneered.

"Forgive don't forgive me I don't care", she said and walked off.

There was no doubt that I was pissed at her but I couldn't hate her not for one second. It was a shitty thing for her to do but knowing the kind of situation she was put in. Especially, since Kit was the one she was marrying I think I can understand why she left. I don't think I will ever understand why she couldn't tell me out of all people.

**Kit's POV

"You ready to get your ass kicked", Airk asked unsheathing his sword.

"Get my ass kicked? Nah I think you have that switched around", I said.

"You sure about that because whenever we train I beat you".

"I don't know if you have brain damage after the last time I knocked you on your ass but you can't beat me, never have been able to before", I laughed putting on my mask guard.

"Care to make a wager", he asks.

"I'm listening."

"Loser goes with mother on her next "diplomatic" journey to one of the many kingdoms ."

"You got to be kidding those things are a month at best", I stated.

"Scared you'll lose", he quirks an eyebrow and puts his mask on.

"Just get ready to pack your bags", I said swinging my sword in his direction leaving him little time to block the attack.

The clash of our swords seemed like it went on for hours as we landed blow after blow on each other. It felt like this would go on forever but it wasn't till Airk made a fatal mistake that cost him the bet. As Airk was trying to trip me he didn't release he was on the edge of a giant rock bed losing his footing. When he tried to balance himself I disarmed him and held the tip of the sword to his chest.

""You lose", I said and laughed.

"I would have won if I didn't loose balance", he said.

"Maybe but I guess we will never know now will we", I chuckled and stuck out my hand for him to take.

"Uhhh", he said as he got up.

"I can't believe I have to go on one of mother's stupid trips."

"Now you know how I felt all those years when you would find some way out of it and I would have to end up going."

"Do you know when the next one is", he asks.

"How should I know mother would usually spring that stuff on me at the last moment so I couldn't get out of it."

"Oh, great", he says sarcastically.

"So..."

"So what?"

"How do you feel about Y/n being back", he asks.

"Good. I'm glad she is back", I said.

"Did she ever tell you where she went those past couple of months when she was gone", he said and I hesitated for a moment.

"Um no she didn't."

"Its weird though isn't it? She leaves the day of her wedding and nobody knows where she is. Then a couple of months later she arrives on a boat with Ser Easton after he found her when the whole kingdom was looking."

The one thing I hate about my brother is he is too inquisitive and can't leave well enough alone.

"I guess he was just lucky", I said hoping to put an end to this conversation.

"But how-"

"You know Airk I told Willow I would go see him before it gets dark I'll see you back at the castle later", I said turning away from him and going in the opposite direction.

I wasn't really going to Willow's but I needed some type of excuse to get out of there before he started asking more questions than he already was. This whole thing has turned into a shit show from Y/n's family to the rumors going around about her. This has gotten way out of control and hopefully, this will all die down soon. Otherwise, we are going to be in for some serious problems.

#hazel callahan x reader #kit tanthalos x reader #kit tanthalos #willow 2022 #ruby cruz #willow fanfic

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cass1opi4 · 5 months

Note

PART 2 OF CLOSE AS STRANGERS RIEGHT NEOW.

close as strangers part II - ashton irwin

an ashton irwin x reader

she/her pronouns (requested)

✦ ─ ˗ˋ ୨୧ ˊ˗ ─ ✦

TWENTY-THREE MISSED CALLS FROM: no caller id.

ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY FIVE UNREAD TEXT MESSAGES FROM: A.Irwin

the musty glass of water sat on her bedside table, as it had done for the past three days. the unbearable sadness that she’d felt before ashton had returned to her body, her bones aching with every movement, her body heavy.

she didn’t know why she felt such a way, she broke up with him. she’d understand the depression if it was the other-way around, but she had no reason to break over her own decision, right?

basking in the misery of things that only you could’ve done to yourself is the worst form of torture anyone could ever put themselves through.

INCOMING CALL: cliffocondaᯓᡣ𐭩

she let it ring, staring at the phone as she hesitated on her next action, her teeth sinking into her lip.

she couldn’t ignore her best friend, not now, not ever. honestly, she needed him. everything hurt and not even she could fathom why, michael could fix that. michael always fixed that.

“hello?” his soft voice spoke, waiting patiently for an answer he never got, something he was used to. he’d always known how awful y/n was at phone calls. “you there?” silence once again was all he was met with “bunny, i need you to talk to me. when did you last hear from ash?”

her heart jumped to her throat at the mention of the name, of course michael didn’t call to ask if she was okay - ashton was a better friend to him. ashton was more hurt. “why? is he okay?”

“i don’t know. it’s- that’s why i called you, last i heard you guys were fine, now ash is missing. only context clue here is that yesterday he told luke he wanted to make things up with you, whatever that means?”

“fuck me.” she sighed, dragging her hands across her face, eyes nervously darting to the apartment door as a knock was heard “mike, look, i’ll call you back. i think i’ve found ash.”

the door knocked again, slightly more aggressively this time. she frowned, dragging herself up. “one second!” she yelled out, brushing her hair out with her fingers, makeup still lingering on her face from that morning.

the girl shakily moved over toward the door, opening it only to confirm her fears, yet also the sight was comforting.

three days after their breakup, ashton irwin stood at her door, clad in clothes that made him far too appealing to her, a single white rose gripped in his hand.

his expression was enough to kill her ten times over, the first time they’d seen eachother in six weeks and three days, and this is how it had to be. “i don’t want us to be over.” he spoke shakily, scanning her face for a reaction.

“don’t do this, ashton. we won’t work.” y/n teared, going to close the door, only for ash’s foot to stop her from doing so.

he shook his head “i don’t believe that.” he stated firmly. “i don’t believe that we won’t work, for four fucking years we’ve worked, i’m not going to throw all of that away because you think i care about my job more than you. nothing is more important than you, ever.”

she remained quiet, knowing ashton’s words were honest, though she believed he deserved more than what she could offer.

“i would give it all up for you in a heartbeat, baby. everything. never in my life has anything made more sense to me than this. than us. than you.” he took a deep breath, sinking down to his knee. “you’ve been the best part of me for forever, you make me who i am, for that i am so grateful. i don’t want to lose you over your own overthinking, n/n - marry me? let me never let you doubt my love again.”

she pouted, tears pouring as she slapped ashton around the back of his head. “you could’ve done it when i didn’t look a mess.” she choked out.

“you still haven’t answered.” ashton’s nervous look was enough to make anyone let out a giggle, the boy looked as if he was about to pass away on the spot.

“yes, dummy. of course i’ll marry you.”

#5sos x reader #5sos fanfic #ashton 5sos #5sos #5 seconds of summer #fanfiction #fanfic #foryou #x reader #ashton irwin x reader #x you #proposal #part two #ash 5sos #ashton 5 seconds of summer

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zeroseuniverse · 1 year

Text

To Love A Beast

Word Count: 2.3k

Pairing: Jay X Beast

Warnings: Angsty, mentions of horrid parenting, swearing. Gender bent beauty and the beast theme

Summary: In which she needs to learn to love herself, in order to open her heart for him. Genderbent fairy tale

“Adamina!” The voice called, a beautiful woman approaching the beastly woman quickly.

“Jada!” The beast smiled the best she could with her pointed teeth, her nose wrinkling with the motion.

“Can we sit in the garden today?” Jada wondered, feeling very claustrophobic despite the castle being huge.

“Sure!” The beastly woman grinned, holding her clawed hand out for the human to grab before gently leading her into the garden, it had been two weeks since Jada had shown up at the castle, she had fallen off of her horse on her way home from a trip and hurt herself badly, thankfully, Adamina heard the pounding hooves and went to help, Jada was of course terrified when she woke up in an unfamiliar room, and with a beast no less. But quickly she fell into a sisterlike bond with the beastly woman after being told of the curse that took place on the forest surrounding them.

The beastly woman stared longingly at the wilting rose, enchanted to hold her fate. Three petals remained, hanging on by a thread, as soon as the last petal fell, her human side disappeared leaving nothing but the beast in its wake.

“Are you scared?” Jada asked, following the beast's eye line to the rose that was held in a glass case above the fountain, where nobody would reach it.

“Sometimes.”

“Why don’t you go out and try to find love, that could surely help!” Jada exclaimed, before ramblin on about how they would dress her us and such.

“Jada.” The beast tried only for the young girl to keep rambling, “Jada!” again the same effect, “Jada!” this time it was louder, but not a scream, just enough to finally catch the girl’s attention.

“What?”

“That’s not happening.”

“Why?”

“Because nobody could ever love a beast.” The beast mumbled sadly, but Jada perked up ready to argue when the pounding of hooves approaching sounded, the beast stood quickly to block Jada from any danger, only to see a very handsome male there with a sword pointed at her.

“Back away from my sister beast!” The male spat, nudging the sword closer, so Adamina stepped aside, because Jada had told her how much her brother adored her, she was in safe hands with him.

“Jay!” Jada exclaimed quickly, rushing to hug her brother who still pointed his sword threateningly at the beast. “Put that stupid thing down, she’d never hurt me.”

“She?” Jay asked astounded, looking at the beastly figure in front of him who was shying away from the interaction. “That thing is a she?” Jay asked, looking down at his sister. Adamina uses this as an opportunity to flee back into the castle.

“Awe she’s scared!” The candle, Ni-Ki teased, flickering his flame in her direction.

“Where’s Jada, Mina?” The clock, Heeseung asked, tilting the hands of the clock in confusion.

“Jada is going home, we kept her safe until help came. We knew she wouldn’t stay forever.” Adamina said monotonously, watching as the enchanted utensils bow in mourning.

She sat at the dining table quietly, staring at the table emotionlessly.

“She was so happy with Jada.” Sunghoon the tea cup pouted, missing the room being filled with giggles and stories.

“Hello? Uh Beast?” A male voice called, making all of the utensils crowd around the door curiously, “Ow! Okay I’m sorry, Adamina?” the man called again, before hearing the scraping of a chair against the floor and heavy footsteps coming his way.

As the beast came into view he pushed his sister behind him again, watching the disheartened expression cross the beast’s features. “Mina! I talked him into letting me say goodbye!”

“Farwell Jada, have safe travels.” The beast spoke, though the voice was hoarse it definitely did not sound beastly, causing Jay look at the beast strangely.

“Oh don’t be like that! Give me a hug! I’ll come visit!” the excitable girl cheered, rushing to hug the beast who took a step back looking at her friend sadly.

“I don’t think you should, I don’t want you seeing what’s coming these next few weeks.” Adamina said, turning her back on the humans.

“But you helped me when I needed it, I want to help you.” Jada argued, earning a slight growl from the beast.

“No Jada, I didn’t help you to get anything out of it. I helped because you were going to freeze to death if I left you like that. Now please leave me to die in peace. And leave the village before the beast gets free.”

That was the last thing the beast said before storming out of the room, her red cape flowing behind her with the wind.

“I’m sorry what?” Jay roared as he helped hoist his sister up onto his horse.

“Please, she’s really nice I promise.”

“Nice doesn’t always mean everything, she’s a beast, I can’t help a beast!”

“Please, this could help you too! You’ve been wanting to get away from Giselle as long as I can remember. Here’s your chance.”Jada reasoned, making Jay huff.

“No, I'm not staying here to help your so-called friend.”

“Why? Give me one good reason.”

The silence following the question made Jada smile triumphantly as she took the reins and left her brother in shock.

“What just happened?”

“Why’re you still here?” the tea cup asked, causing Jay to jump slightly in shock.

“Oh you have got to be kidding me.” He groaned, looking around at all of the appliances and utensils that were staring at him.

“I don’t remember the princess inviting you to stay.” a teapot said bouncing its way to stand on the table in front of him.

“Yea well I didn’t exactly invite myself either.”

“You took Jada away. She was our only hope.” The teacup broke in to the conversation before a candle holder hopped into the room.

“I informed the princess that you would be staying, stay out of the west wing and you won’t have to see her at all.” The candle holder said looking sad.

“Look I don’t get what’s going on. My sister told me to stay to help the beast feel better for whatever reason, so why am I supposed to not interact with her?”

“Well for one stop calling her a beast. She’s a princess. For two obviously we’re all cursed. You can't enchant entire personalities into furniture. The magic is running out, meaning when the last petal on that rose falls, the beast will take over and go rampant and we’ll simply be furniture, appliances, and utensils forever.” the broom explained, nudging it’s handle in the direction of the rose through the window.

“Why were you cursed?”

“Her mother didn’t want to pass down the throne, but her father was ready. Usually they wait til the princess is married, which was meant to happen but her betrothed died in a horrid accident and her fatehr couldn’t postpone the crowning ceremony since he had fallen ill as well. Her mother cursed her and everyone who supported the movement as soon as the king passed.”

“Well that’s some shitty parenting.” Jay said quietly, gaining a new perspective of the beast.

–

It took a few days before the sickness started setting in. She couldn’t even go up to her room after coming down for food, stuck sleeping on the large dusty couch waiting for her body to succumb to the curse. She had hardly recognized Jay staying in the room with her everynight, he slept like a log so it wasn’t like it was any issue for him, falling asleep anywhere he could anytime was one of his most notable habits.

So as she woke up to the curtains opening, her roar spooked the man sleeping on the floor beside her “Close them!” She wailed, bringing her clawed hands to cover her eyes.

“So how do you break the curse?” He asked as he watched the beast from a distance, her body hunched around the fountain as she wished for the last petal to stay for good.

“She needs to experience true love, Jada was close to getting the beast to love her, but we weren’t sure if platonic love would work.” The wardrobe said, moving towards the beast to place a blanket over her.

“So someone just has to love her?” He asked like that was the easiest solution in the world.

“Yea, but she has to reciprocate, and sadly in her mind nobody could ever love a beast.” The candle holder sighed.

Jay looked around thoughtfully, the over grown plants and dreary sky made the castle look even more frightening, nobody could be happy here, even a beast. And there was no way he’d risk his sister’s life by letting the beast take over. So he observed.

Everything she enjoyed he noted and lent her a hand in doing it, all of her favorite foods cooked by him, they ate together every night in front of the fire as he read her favorite stories to her. He would hum a tune til she fell asleep and then make his way onto the floor to sleep next to her.

It wasn’t until a particularly cold night that there was a switch, he didn’t see it before as he cared for the beast but the gleam in her eye was returning, and as the fire was blown out by the winds, she offered the heat of her fur and body to the man who had been helping her so kindly.

Laying cuddled up on the couch feeling the sensations of arms wrapped around him, lulled him easily to sleep. Almost making him wish for it to never end, especially as she began humming the tune he had hummed to her every night, getting further than he ever noticed he had heard.

“You listened?”

“Every night, it’s been a long time since someone has cared enough to help me sleep. I tried to soak in every last second.”

–

Jay didn’t even know when he had fallen for the beast, it could have been that very night she hummed his tune to help him sleep, or maybe when she had inquired on his favorite book, reading it so they could discuss it, Or maybe it wwas watching her nurturing nature with the enchanted objects.

She listened to them, she cried with them, she comforted them, it was beautiful cause even if she was slowly dying she still had respect for the beings that stood by her side through it all.

But he knew she still kept arms length between him and her, afraid to get her hopes up, her illness was getting worse. The more she pulled away from Jay the worse the symptoms got.

What started with sore muscles now became lethargia, and slight coughing was now a bloody mess.

“You’re getting worse.” He commented as he took in her form, she was coughing into a cloth trying to disguise the situation to her best ability.

“You need to go, it’s only a matter of days til the beast takes over. You need to get to the village and evacuate them.” She weakly tried to demand, but Jay shook his head defiantly.

“No. We’re breaking this curse.” He demanded, moving his hand to brush the fur away from her eyes. His features softening as he took in the tears lining her waterline fighting to fall, “Listen, there are lives depending on this curse breaking, your life and the others trapped here included. I’m not risking that. So get off of your ass and fall in love.”

“What’s the point? Look at me, I’m a monster.”

“No, You are Princess Adamina, who frankly got the short end of the stick wth a bitchy mother. You have spent years protecting the people who stood by you, you are willing to die alone and save a village full of people, who, no offense, hate your guts and would rather kill the beast then live in fear of you deciding to kill them all one day.”

The fondness growing in her eyes as Jay rambled about the good attributes about her could not be missed, her heart warming at someone paying so much attention.

“I love you, purely because of the personality I’ve seen these past weeks. You are a beautiful person, despite your curse. And all you have to do is learn to love yourself as well, and maybe me so we can avoid the whole rampage on the village thing.” He grinned as he heard weak giggles erupt from his companion.

“I’d Like that.” She smiled, tiredly closing her eyes as she felt another wave of fatigue hit her.

“Rest now princess, and when you awake we can try to have that picnic you mentioned a few days ago.” He cooed, rubbing her head gently as she fell into her slumber, her heart opening up for the first time in years.

He hummed the usual tune with a slight grin as he read the latest story to some of the younger enchanted when a gasp cut through the air abruptly. Frantic, he looked in the direction, seeing the furniture one by one shift back into human beings, wide grins and joyous squeals filling the air. He looked down at the figure in his lap and saw her beginning to shift as well, her shaggy fur turning into long black hair, her scrunched nose streching and bending to a long upturned nose that actually was very cute, Her huge eyes shrinking in her still closed sockets to a normal human and her large canines shrinking back behind her lips, her body following the motions and forming into her normal body, clad in tattered clothes.

“What just happened?” He wondered looking around at the now humans who were watching in awe.

“She opened her heart to you!”The youngest of the group cheered, bouncing excitedly in front of his parents.

A hand brushing against his cheek turned his attention back down to the beauty in his lap, he took in her green eyes as her plump lips parted to speak with a grin, “How about that picnic?”

With the sky now beaming, people bustling and the once overgrown greenery fading, a picnic sounded like a beautiful idea.

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fracturedporcelaindoll · 4 months

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Dear diary,

I've been considering getting hair cut short. One of those bob styles cause hate how the heat makes my medium length hair feel so icky~

Read a few articles on styles and on hair. Did you know you're hair grows the fastest between ages 15 to 20 or 25 depending on article? Apparently guys after 30, may experience thinning and hair loss because hair doesn't grow as quickly after 30 and for girls it's like after 40 to 50 that hair doesn't grow as quickly according to various beauty articles.~

So I don't know, mean could cut hair short but what if it took forever and a week to grow back out? I don't even think short hair would look good on me, less variety for styling but at the same time I just dont think am pretty atm either~

I think def want to try blunt or curtain bangs tho, they look cute and are kinda childish and tbh I want the adorable factor tho maybe I am just not that cute?~

Also like never ever foam hot cocoa pple, I ordered a small hot cocoa and the barista made it like it was a latte and the taste, sooo awful but didn't want to waste the purchase. I mean if I were a more less caring or wasn't worried about being confrontational in public I would have said something~

Pillows, I need a good pillow, am sure if I had one it might help improve sleep but I've yet to find a good one. Itd have to be fluffy like a cloud and cool like a winter breeze. I saw the most adorable pillow ever but problem is it's 270 with tax. Like if it were 80, I'd consider it sure expense but might be worth it if it's as good quality as claimed by advertising.~

Unfortunately I am just not sure, I mean I'd have to save for like at least a few months to get it and do I really need it? Its childish cause shaped like a dashound in a hot dog costume... but like where would I find such an adorable pillow again, it's unique~

I need to decide Halloween costume too, I mean if do go ahead and get gothic outfit from poll could pair it with some bat wings or angel ones and have costume. But that's like putting a bulleyes on yourself, dressing like an angelic being or succubus/bat demon girl would make people stare~

Plus the demon/succubus aspect is kinda ironically hilarious cause I can't even flirt with guys or girls for that matter, little miss shy and awkward~

I was brave and contacted customer service over missing package and about refund. I was ping ponged back and forth between company and shipping provider until finally got confirmation they'd issue refund as package was lost and couldn't determine where it got lost at etc~

I didn't actually talk, it was online communication through service line but still~

I took some pictures of sky because the clouds were particularly picturesque and fluffy~ I felt so self conscious though like do I just look weird or something? Haven't you ever seen someone look up at sky with camera before?~

I am tempted to just avoid public all together until October but realistically I'll get lured out in July for cotton candy vendors, fresh squeezed fair lemonade and prize contests to try to win cute plushies <4th of july>. Do I think fireworks are beautiful? Yes but am one of those people that would want to wear noise cancelling headphones and look like a dork cause of it~ the loud noise though just unsettles me, it's like really loud thunder or lighting makes me jump scare myself sometimes~

I found a Harry Potter themed bar crawl event and golf event that I kinda want to go too. Not so much the bar as mini golf the thing is I know it'll be crowded and am not the best at mini golf soooooo do I really want to torture myself mentally by weaving through crowds, long lines and ultimately failing to win prizes by missing the getting the golf ball into the hole?~

Plus I'd want to wear a harry potter themed costume and have nothing to wear for that~

Including pictures of clouds because I can~

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whenihaveyouromione · 2 years

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When I Have You - Chapter 89

Read on Fanfiction.net or ao3 if you'd prefer!

---

Chapter 89

Hermione huffed.

Ron looked up from his scan of the Daily Prophet. He’d skipped straight to the back pages where the Quidditch results for the past week were listed as well as team lists for the next round. Nothing else interested him these days unless he wanted to know about the ‘secrets the Minister doesn’t want you to know’ or some new band that was taking the wizarding world by storm.

Hermione had one hand on her back and another outstretched as she attempted to pick up the pieces of paper she’d just dropped on the floor.

A smile crossed Ron’s lip as he watched the struggle. Merlin, she was adorable.

She huffed again, another attempt to pick it up, but her belly got in the way. Ron was caught up in marvelling at how beautiful she was that it took him a moment to snap himself out of his admiration and say, “Why don’t you use your wand?”

“Oh, why didn’t I think of that, Ron?” Hermione snapped. “I’ve been using magic for how many years now? And yet I forget that I have a wand?” She stood up and glared at him with flushed cheeks and a little bit of sweat running down her face.

Biting back a laugh, Ron stood up and bent to pick up what she’d dropped. “What is it, anyway?” he wanted to know.

Hermione snatched the bits of paper from his hand before he had the chance to read what was on it, and tucked them under her arm. “If I wanted you to know, I’d tell you, wouldn’t I? And why are you laughing at me?”

“Because I’m going to miss this.” This time, he allowed the laugh to escape him on the last word.

Hermione’s eyes narrowed.

“You’re adorable,” Ron pressed. “Never been more beautiful. Don’t get me wrong, I can’t wait for the baby to be born, but… I will miss you —”

“Struggling?” Hermione said. “Waddling around and taking forever to get places? Waking up drenched in sweat in the middle of winter? Having my ribs and all my organs used as play things? No, thank you.”

“A bit over it, huh?” Ron said.

Hermione huffed, slowly making her way back to the breakfast table. Apparently she didn’t think he deserved a dignified answer.

“It’s only two more weeks,” Ron said. He sat opposite her, shifting the newspaper to the side.

“And it feels like all the clocks have been slowed,” Hermione complained. “This is awful. Truly awful. I hate it.”

“Don’t tell our daughter that when she asks one day.” Ron smiled, but his joke wasn’t appreciated. Hermione kicked him — hard — under the table.

“Ouch.”

“You wouldn’t be laughing if this was you,” Hermione said. “I’m carrying around about ten extra pounds at the moment. Or so it feels. Why do you have to be so tall? This baby is huge, and it’s all your fault.”

Ron laughed out loud again, watching her affectionately. “Merlin, I love you,” he said.

“Stop it,” Hermione said.

“Stop loving you?”

“Stop laughing at me.”

“It’s only because I think you’re adorable.”

“Well… I’m not. I’m big and sweaty and just plain unattractive right now.”

“No, you’re not.”

Hermione looked at him, her glare softening ever so slightly. Then she shook her head. “These last two weeks are going to go so slow. It’s not helping with the fact that I now have nothing to do but worry. I can’t believe Malfoy is in charge of the office. Maia is scared of him, you know? And he knows it, he’ll bully her the whole time I’m away. Maybe I should just drop in on Monday and —”

“Hermione.”

“— make sure all is going smoothly. You know, I really regret hiring him. I should have looked at the bigger picture before looking at the person with the most knowledge. You did try to —”

“Hermione.”

“— warn me. But, no, I had to go and do what I wanted. As usual. Now look at it. I’ve made a mess of —”

“For Merlin’s sake, Hermione, it’ll be fine. It’s not your problem anymore. You’re done for now. You need to relax. It’s not good for the baby. And, if it’s gone to shit when you get back, well, you’ll have an excuse to get rid of Malfoy, won’t you?”

Hermione’s mouth closed tightly, but she no longer looked annoyed. She just sighed, lent back in her chair with her hand resting on her belly and said, “I hope this baby comes early.”

Ron was so excited for the arrival of his daughter that he hoped so, too. He was always on alert for any indication from Hermione that the baby was coming. He watched her intently, studied her every move. Every time she winced, or paused, he’d ask if she was okay. But it was never anything more than some normal and common pain related to pregnancy. He wasn’t even sleeping well at night, on alert to every movement she made.

Now that it was so close, he was as desperate as Hermione was for it to all be over. He was ready to meet his little girl.

“Why don’t we go for a walk?” Ron suggested.

“Ron, I can barely stand up, I don’t think walking is going to work.”

“It’s supposed to help, though, isn’t it? They say — at least, I read it in one of those books of yours — that long walks are supposed to help bring on labour. So, why don’t we go for a walk? It might help.”

Hermione was looking at him very strangely.

“You’re surprised I read the books, huh?” Ron said, offering his hand to pull her to her feet.

“I’m surprised you had the time…”

“Well, I’ll be honest — I only read a little bit of one. It just happened to be that part.”

“Any reason?” Hermione questioned. She was curious, Ron could tell. They walked into the hall toward the front door. There were coats hanging on two hooks on the wall beside it. They both shrugged them on, and Ron opened the door. It wasn’t snowing, but the sky was overcast and the day was extremely cold.

They headed down their driveway. It was a slow pace, Ron having to make sure he kept his steps small so that Hermione could keep up. She struggled at the best of times, always complaining that he walked fast, but now it was worse. Her back ached, she felt heavy, and her feet became sore after a short while.

Ron didn’t think he’d like to be pregnant. It didn’t sound fun.

They reached the pavement of their street before Hermione spoke again. “So, why did you read a book?” she asked.

Ron smiled. “To be honest, Hermione, the closer it got, the more I started to panic about having absolutely no idea what you were going to go through when the time came to have the baby. I kind of read it so I knew if I’d play a part or anything. Or maybe just to get a better understanding of it. I don’t want to mess up my first job at being a dad.”

Hermione smiled, already struggling with the walk. “You’re going to be there, right? I mean…” A sliver of panic crossed her features. “I just assumed you would be, but I realise now we’ve never actually spoken about it…”

“Do you want me there?” Ron asked. “Because I’ll be wherever you want me to be.”

“Please, Ron.” Hermione spoke with a hint of desperation. “Please don’t go anywhere.”

“Alright,” Ron replied. “I’ll be with you. The whole time, if you want. The book said my job was to be your support. I can do that. I think, at least. I guess we’ll see on the day. I may completely freak out, just so you know. I know it hurts to have a baby, and I don’t do well with seeing you hurt.”

“I don’t think you will freak out,” Hermione said, and she sounded extremely confident. More confident than Ron felt, himself. Whilst he’d do everything he could to be the best he could whenever the time came, the idea of seeing Hermione in pain absolutely terrified him. It was his greatest fear — as the Boggart all those years ago had shown him. Ever since that time at Malfoy Manor, he couldn’t bear it.

“We’ll see,” he replied.

“No, Ron, you’re always the voice of reason in those instances. Trust me, you will cope — even if it’s hard, you will.”

Ron felt the need to remind her of a few weeks back when he’d completely panicked in a baby store, but decided not to bring that up. He still felt embarrassed over it, and it brought him a lot of self doubt still — despite Hermione’s assurances.

They walked slowly down their street, Ron always finding himself unintentionally getting ahead and having to pause to allow his wife to catch up to him. Their street wasn’t all that long, but by the time they reached the end, Hermione was red-faced, a little breathless and falling further and further behind.

He turned to face her, smiling. “Want to head back?” he asked.

“Oh, God, Ron, I don’t know how people do it,” she said by way of answer.

Ron responded with a puzzled look. “Do what?”

“Being pregnant.”

“You’ve done a pretty good job,” Ron said. “Besides, you’re extremely adorable in the way you can’t reach for things, and your mood swings, your snappishness…”

Hermione sighed as Ron turned her around and they began making the short journey back to their house. “I just mean… some people — your sister is a good example — managed to stay so alert, energetic, active until the day she gave birth to James. To be honest, I thought I’d be like that, too, but it’s just… stopped me. I feel so tired, I can’t really think straight most of the time, and I feel so frazzled and all over the place. Apparently being pregnant doesn’t agree with me. I didn’t think I’d ever have to finish up work two weeks ago. I honestly thought I’d go until Christmas.”

“Yeah, well…” Ron shrugged. “What can you do? It is what it is. The most important thing is our baby is safe and well, right? She’s doing all right, and in a few weeks — maybe hopefully a few days — she’ll be here and you’ll have your body back to yourself again.”

“I just never expected it to be so draining. No one ever talks about that side of things. Everyone always talks about all the good things, talks about feeling great, grateful, that stupid ‘pregnancy glow’.”

“The pregnancy what?” Ron questioned, laughing at the word.

“Glow,” Hermione repeated. “How you’re supposed to look radiant when pregnant. Beautiful…”

“I think you look beautiful,” Ron said.

“I certainly don’t feel it.”

They’d almost reached their house now and while Ron thought of something to say next, Hermione ploughed on. “I’m excited for her, but I really hate this side of it. It’s… hard.”

Again, Ron said nothing as they walked up their driveway to the front door. He wasn’t sure what he could do or say to alleviate her worries. He’d not really been aware of the fact that she was feeling this way. He knew she wasn’t enjoying the later stages of her pregnancy, but he’d always thought it was normal for people to feel that way. He remembered Ginny making complaints as the weeks dragged on, saying how big she felt, how she couldn’t wait for the baby to be out.

But for Hermione, it seemed to be more than that. She seemed really down on herself and he wasn’t really sure how to change that.

“Well,” he said as he unlocked the door, “I stand by what I said before. I think you’re beautiful. I always have.”

“Thanks, Ron. That’s… I needed to hear that.”

He set his keys on the table by the door and kissed her forehead. “I’m sorry for laughing at you earlier. If I’d known… I wouldn’t have laughed. I just thought you were irresistibly adorable. And I thought it was strange you didn’t have your wand.”

“I left it upstairs,” Hermione confessed. “I want to be able to do things without it, but I might just have to give in and rely on it for a few more weeks.”

“You are a witch,” Ron reminded her. “Use it as much as you want.”

“I just hoped I wouldn’t have to.” Hermione collapsed onto the sofa in the living room, the short walk having completely drained her of energy. A moment later, she laid down and fell asleep without a word.

Ron stood watching her. He was going to let her sleep as much as she needed, but he also wanted to do something more for her. Who’s idea was it that men couldn’t take on some of the discomfort? If he could, he’d take it on for her. Wouldn’t it make more sense that they could share the responsibility? After all, the baby was half his.

He left the living room so Hermione could sleep in peace and immediately set to work on cleaning the house. They’d both been pretty slack with it over the past weeks, too busy working out the finer details of the baby’s impending arrival. While they did some superficial cleaning, it wasn’t at a standard that it had once been. Even with the help of magic, they’d let it slide.

He pulled out the cleaning products in the kitchen, charmed some wipes and sponges to start scrubbing, opened the oven and did the same, and then set to work by manually cleaning out the fridge.

That last one, he realised, was desperately needed as he began pulling out containers of food that were weeks, maybe months, old. Some things were even unrecognisable as they’d changed colour or smell.

He grimaced. This one was probably on him. He’d gleefully put last night’s dinner into a container with the full intention of taking it work the next day, but then he’d been in such a hurry to leave that he’d walked out without it. By the time he got home, he’d forgotten all about it ever being there. This had happened more than once.

Once he’d disposed of all the old food, cleaned the shelves and taken out the rubbish, he moved on to the bathrooms. There were two — one upstairs with a shower, bath and toilet, and another downstairs, containing just a toilet.

He got out some new wipes, brought the cleaning products with him, and once again charmed them to scrub everything thoroughly. By the time they were done, the toilets were sparkling clean and the shower had not a speck of dirt on it.

He smiled, pleased with himself. He couldn’t do much, but he could at least make sure that Hermione could have a shower in a clean bathroom whenever she needed to.

He went into their bedroom next and pulled off a thick book from the small bookshelf in the corner. Domestic Spells for the House was something he’d not really looked at before. He could Stun someone, bind someone, defend himself, but he didn’t have the first clue in spells that could potentially keep their house clean. Did one even exist? Perhaps not, otherwise wouldn’t Hermione have used it? She did have this thing about doing things ‘the proper way’ at times. Maybe that was one of them.

He flipped through to the chapter that read Simple Cleaning Spells. There were ones for immediate cleaning such as Scourgify, but after flipping through and reading three pages thoroughly, he realised that not a single spell existed for keeping bathrooms tidy. What was the point? There were spells for instant cleaning. They didn’t exert any energy to use them and took only a few seconds to perform.

“I’ll have to remember to use these,” he said to himself. He was just returning the book to its place on the shelf when a shadow along the floor alerted him to Hermione’s presence.

“Are you… cleaning?” she asked.

“Don’t sound surprised. I clean.”

“Yes, but.. Without magic?”

“No,” Ron said. “I used magic. I made the sponges and wipes do the work. But I just discovered a whole lot of spells that can get that done in less than a minute.” He tapped the spine of the book. “Conveniently hid that from me, huh?”

She smiled.

“Do you feel better?” he asked, coming over to kiss her.

“A little. I think… I think I’ll just feel tired no matter how much sleep I get. All part of it.”

“Have a shower,” Ron said. “No, wait, even better. I’ll run you a bath. You can stay in there as long as you want. In my browsing of that book, I found a spell to maintain the temperature of bath water.”

“That sounds lovely…” Hermione suppressed a yawn, so without further prompting, Ron turned her around and guided her towards the bathroom. There, he set about running a bath, practicing the spell a few times before he was satisfied that he could do it, and then left Hermione to her own devices.

He went downstairs to start preparing dinner. All he’d done was perform a few spells, walk up and down the stairs a few times, and he felt completely wrecked. He’d not done so much at once in a very long time. It was a different kind of work to his Auror work — even on days he was out on the field. Was this how Hermione felt on a day to day basis? Just walking from one place to another?

Once again, he was amazed at what the whole process of growing a human involved. And also, again, guilty that he couldn’t do more.

By the time Hermione came back down from the bath, wrapped in a fluffy dressing gown and her hair wet and combed, Ron had dinner just about ready. Hermione looked a little brighter and went to the cupboard to take out two plates.

“Feeling better?” Ron asked her.

“Yeah… I am. I… fell asleep again in the bath, but it was relaxing. Thank you for suggesting it.”

“It’s the least I can do,” Ron assured her dismissively. “I can do it every day if you’d like. Twice, three times.” He kissed her gently, tucking some of her wet hair behind her ears. “Feel like eating?”

Hermione smiled and nodded, placing her hand over her belly. “If I’m not, then she is. She gets so excited at the smell of food. I swear she can smell it herself.”

Ron touched her tummy as well, feeling the strong kicks of his daughter. She was rolling around, perhaps in anticipation for the food she was going to get soon. “I can relate,” he said. “I love you,” he then added, smiling into Hermione’s eyes. “Both of you, I mean. You make me so happy.”

“I know,” Hermione replied. “You’ve done so much for me — us — over the last weeks. Cooking every night, cleaning the house, getting me things when I ask… I appreciate it.”

Ron shrugged. “Hey, I’m not the one trying to grow a child for the better part of a year. A bit of cooking won’t kill me.” He kissed Hermione again, feeling the baby kick between them. He laughed. “Alright, alright,” he said. “We’ll eat. Put you out of your misery. I hope you like my cooking tonight.”

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