#we walked for 15 minutes together. Then I changed paths a bit to walk one more street with him and then he walked me to my residence's door

[justanawesomeowl]

love and hate how I'll have a good 5min conversation with a guy and part of my brain will inmediately try to imagine how the next 20 years could turn out.

like, nobody knows what its going on in my brain but it's still pretty cringe.

At least this time I do find him semicute

edit: it's also weird because I'm not someone who is obsessed with partnering up. Do I think I could be a great partner? Yes. Do I want to get married and have kids? If possible yes. Am I open to dating now if I had a crush and it was reciprocated? Also yes. But none of those thing substract that I'm also happy as I am and that I'm aware that my priority is to follow God, whatever path he choses for us. e

[persevereforahappyending]

Maybe in Another Life |10|

Pairing: Clarisse La Rue x Hunter of Artemis!Reader

Summary: You are a Hunter of Artemis, but you start to question what you truly want when you meet Clarisse and get to know her.

Warnings: Fighting, Bleeding, Injuries

Word Count: 4.3k+

Main Masterlist | Series Masterlist

ch. 1 | ch. 2 | ch. 3 | ch. 4 | ch. 5 | ch. 6 | ch. 7 | ch. 8 | ch. 9 | ch. 10 | ch. 11 | ch. 12 | ch. 13 | ch. 14 | ch. 15 | ch. 16 | ch. 17

“What now?” Clarisse asked.

You looked down the dark corridor, then back to the wall that originally held a door. “We go forward,” you said.

Clarisse sighed, nodding along as the two of you began your trek down the dimly lit hall. The flames from the torches flickered as you passed them. Your mind was on high alert, your eyes were darting everywhere when so much as a shadow moved.

“What do you know about the labyrinth?” Clarisse asked as the two of you continued your walk.

You had been walking for a few minutes and hadn’t passed by a door or another hall of any kind. The corridor seemed never ending, the stones around you never changed but ahead all you saw was darkness. Torches would come to life when the two of you got close enough, illuminating a few more feet in front of you. You never knew what lied ahead until the torches flicked on, for all you knew every step you took was leading the two of you to a giant monster or the path would just end, sending the two of you to your demise.

“Not much,” you admitted. You weren’t going to pretend to know anything about the labyrinth. “Just that most who enter don’t make it out.” You glanced out of the side of your eye to see Clarisse’s reaction. She didn’t seem surprised by the information, just nodding along. “What about you? You were searching for it, any relevant information you learned?”

“No,” Clarisse sighed. “Annabeth rambled on about it, but it was all just theories, it’s always changing and growing, rarely does anyone survive, it tries to trick you.” Clarisse’s eyes fell to the ground, she gripped her spear a bit tighter. “I wasn’t supposed to enter the labyrinth,” she whispered. “I was just supposed to find the door.”

“Hey,” you came to a stop, gently touching her on the shoulder to make her turn to face you. You stared at her for a second, she held her head high, looking as strong and confident as ever, but you saw the hesitation in her eyes, she wasn’t sure the two of you would make it out of this. “We will get out of here,” you said, your voice unwavering. “We just have to stick together, watch each other’s backs, we can’t allow this place to separate us.”

Clarisse nodded. “You really think we can find a way out?”

The truth was you weren’t sure and if you did find a way out you weren’t sure when it would be. You heard stories of heroes entering the labyrinth, disappearing for years and then all of a sudden popping back up. They were never sane when that happened, so you never knew what exactly happened to them down there. It was proof one could survive for years down there but at what cost, if they all lost their mind in the maze you had to wonder if death would be a kinder outcome.

“We have a better chance together,” you said. You couldn’t lie to her. You needed her to believe you would both survive this, you both needed to have hope, if you didn’t, you surely wouldn’t last long. You didn’t want to lie to her though, you couldn’t pretend everything would all work out, you just had to hope it would.

You glanced up, having to do a double take, when you saw a glowing light behind Clarisse at the end of the corridor. “What the hell,” you whispered.

Clarisse turned around, following your gaze. You grabbed an arrow, making sure to have it ready if needed. Clarisse held her spear out, ready to attack whatever lay ahead. The two of you slowed your pace, inching closer to the glowing light. The light wasn’t from a torch, it almost looked like a room at the end of a hall.

As you got closer, you saw what looked to be a standard-looking room. There wasn’t anything in it, but the walls were white, and the floor looked to be a shiny white tile. “Maybe we should turn back,” you said, slowly coming to a stop. “Something doesn’t feel right.”

You turned to go back the way you had come, furrowing your brow when you saw an empty dark void, no torches lit, you couldn’t even see the stone wall anymore. “What the-”

You were cut off by a loud rumble, then the ground began to crack. Your eyes widened as between the cracks was an orange glow before the ground quickly started giving away towards you and Clarisse.

“Run!” you turned, pushing Clarisse to run towards the room you had been wanting to avoid.

You kept glancing back, seeing more and more of the ground give away. Your eyes widened when the cracks got close enough and you could see molten lava beneath. “Go!”

The two of you were running side by side. The room was within reach. The floor gave out from under you.

Clarisse jumped, making it into the room.

You didn’t make the jump.

You stabbed your arrow into the side of the wall as you fell towards the lava.

Your eyes were glued to the glowing orange and red lava below. You saw a few bubbles pop, making splashes of lava come up near your feet. Despite being a few feet from the lava you were already sweating from the heat.

You kicked your feet, trying to get some traction on the side of the wall. Lucky for you the wall wasn’t smooth, it was a rocky surface, but there wasn’t anything to grab onto. There wasn’t a way for you to maneuver and climb your way back to the top.

You felt a small vibration travel through your hand. Your eyes instantly snapped up, seeing your arrow beginning to crack.

“Shit,” you gritted out.

You kicked your feet against the wall, trying to run up it as much as you could, swinging your arm with your bow, hoping it would catch on to something. As you flung your body up, you let go of the arrow, allowing it to fall into the lava below. You gave a small smile as your bow caught on a small rock that was poking out.

Your smile quickly left your face when the rock crumbled. You opened your mouth to let out a yell as you prepared to fall into the lava, but death never came. You looked up, letting out a relieved sigh when you saw Clarisse partially hanging off the ledge as she gripped your bow with both hands.

“I got you,” Clarisse said through gritted teeth.

She used her strength to push down on the bow, trying to keep it stable so you could pull yourself up. You kicked your feet, using all the strength you had to pull yourself up. When you got close enough Clarisse moved one of her hands to grip your arm. She helped you push your bow onto the ledge then used her now free hand to grip the back of your shirt, helping pull you up the rest of the way.

You collapsed onto the ground next to each other, both of you breathing heavy. “Thank you,” you said between breaths.

“Anytime,” Clarisse breathed out.

Clarisse was the first one to pull herself to her feet. She held out a hand for you, you looked at it, releasing a few more breaths before grabbing it, allowing her to pull you to your feet. When you were both standing you looked around to see you had made it into the mysterious room, the doorway you had gone through was gone, which you should have expected, and the rest of the room was all blank white walls.

You scrunched your eyebrows when you heard a high pitch whistling sound before your eyes went wide. “Get down!” you grabbed Clarisse, pulling her back down to the floor.

As soon as the two of you hit the floor arrows shot through the air, whistling as they passed over your heads. You kept your head pressed to the ground as you watched the arrows fly over you. You didn’t realize you had been holding your breath until the arrows had finally stopped.

As soon as you and Clarisse got to your feet again you were being pulled to the side, pressing yourselves against the wall as a large axe swung down the middle of the room. Then another axe swung out, swinging across the middle of the room the other way, forcing the two of you into a corner. Both axes swung up and across the middle of the room, perfectly in sync so they didn’t hit each other.

You gripped Clarisse’s arm while she braced herself against the wall when the entire room started to rumble. Your eyes darted around the room as the walls started to close in, pushing the two of you closer to the axes that continued to swing. Right before you would have been sliced in half the axes stopped swinging, though the walls continued to close in.

“What’s that?” Clarisse asked, you looked up to see she was pointing at the ceiling.

You tilted your head when you noticed that not only were the walls closing in on you but that the ceiling was moving. The ceiling wasn’t coming down to crush you, but the tiles of the ceiling were shifting around, revealing black panels underneath. Under one of the panels was a small red button, but the tiles shifted to quickly to try and jump up and hit it with your hand.

You grabbed an arrow from your quiver, lifting up your bow to aim at the red button. Clarisse was crouched down, pressing herself as close to the wall as she could get without being in your way. You had to adjust your arms, getting into an uncomfortable position as you focused on the red button and not the walls about to crush you. When you let the arrow fly, you watched it sail through the air, the panels continuing to shift as the arrow hit the red button just as the panel moved out of the way.

Once your arrow hit the button all the walls stopped and the panels on the ceiling stopped as well. You and Clarisse were pressed against each other, barely able to move, having been just seconds away from being crushed. The both of you just had time to let out a shaky breath when the floor came out from under you, sending the two of you falling into darkness.

You let out a long groan, rolling over, at least you weren’t dead, if that could even be seen as a plus. “I hate this place,” you groaned out. When you became more aware of your surroundings, you felt a smooth cool surface under your hand. It was clearly a stone or rock of some kind, it almost felt damp.

Another groan came from right next to you. “How are we still alive?” Clarisse asked.

You used your forearms to prop yourself up as you got a look at your surroundings. The first thing you did was look up from where you had to have fallen from. Once again, the door you fell through was gone and there was nothing but a rocky surface through the darkness. You looked around the rest of the area, you definitely seemed to be on a rock, the only way you could describe it was a cave of some sort.

There was a loud screech making your blood run cold. “What was that?” Clarisse whispered. You only raised a finger to your mouth, silently hushing her. A second later there was another loud screech.

You looked around the cave, there was a dim light coming from above, replicating what would be moonlight. It lit your surroundings just enough so you could see island formations of rock surrounding the area. There was a larger island in the middle of everything. A couple rope bridges connected smaller islands to the larger one. There were several waterfalls pouring down from the islands into an endless black abyss, the largest waterfall flowing down and through the large middle island.

A large black form moved high above you, blocking wherever the light was coming from for a second. You pulled yourself to your feet as quietly as you could, holding out your hand to help Clarisse do the same. The both of you stood back-to-back as the black form flew over the two of you again. It shot down from high above and into the darkness below and then began circling the two of you. You and Clarisse had your backs pressed against each other, her spear pointed at the ready and your bow already drawn.

There was another loud screech, much closer than the first two, followed by loud flapping. The entire island rumbled when the large black form landed in front of you. You backed up, forgetting for a second that Clarisse was right there. Clarisse opened her mouth as she turned to face you but whatever she was about to say died in her throat as her eyes widened at the creature before you.

The two of you stood there, both of you holding your breath as the creature slowly opened its wings, then leaned forward letting out a loud screech right in your face. You could feel your heart in your throat. The wings were as dark as the night sky, the rest of the body a dark grey, it had little tuffs of fur around its neck and ears. Its eyes were a pale white, telling you it was in fact blind, its large, pointed ears flicked repeatedly, probably from little sounds you could never even dream of hearing.

It used its arms, which were connected to its wings, to walk around, circling you and Clarisse. You tried to stay as still as possible, but a simple shift of your foot made the scraping of your shoe against the rock echo throughout the cavern. You pushed Clarisse to the ground as the creature screeched, pushing off the island and flew just inches above the two of you, you were pretty sure you felt its claws graze against your jacket.

 It flew high, turning to circle back around to get you. You and Clarisse jumped to your feet at the same time and took off as fast as you could, jumping from one island to the next, hoping that if you could make it to the main one, you’d actually have a chance. The closer you got to the island with the bridge the greater the distance you were having to jump. You made the last jump, having to duck and roll to stick the landing. Clarisse jumped, her foot catching the edge, but before she could tumble into the darkness, she used her spear, stabbing it into the rock and pulled herself to safety.

Just as you were about to let out a sigh of relief you were hit by a strong force, then suddenly you were being lifted in the air.

“Y/N!” You vaguely heard Clarisse yell, but you were a little distracted by the monsters’ claws digging into your shoulder.

You looked up, seeing the large bat-like monster carrying you away. You began thrashing around, hoping something would cause it to lose your grip on you. You had lost your arrow after being caught off guard when it grabbed you, but you still had a tight grip on your bow. You swung the bow up and around blindly, hoping to get lucky and hit the bat somewhere painful. Your bow came in contact with something, the bat let out a loud screech, and then suddenly you were falling.

You weren’t sure if plummeting into the dark abyss to your certain death was better than being carried away by a giant bat creature, mostly likely to be eaten and ripped apart. As you were falling your hand hit something, making you reach out on reflex, gripping whatever it was. When you opened your eyes, you were staring down into the dark abyss, but you were still alive.

“Y/N!” Clarisse called again.

You looked over to see her running towards you. When you looked up you saw your hand was gripped around the rope of the bridge, your other hand still gripped your bow. You let out a shaky breath as Clarisse got to you, the rickety bridge wobbling with each step. You weren’t sure how many people crossed the bridge but based on the rotting wood and moldy rope you would assume it’d been a long while.

Clarisse quickly grabbed onto your arm, helping pull you to safety. You reached up, setting your bow on the bridge and helped Clarisse get you up the rest of the way. “Are you okay?” Clarisse asked, resting her hand on your back as you were breathing heavily.

You nodded, unable to verbally answer. You straightened your back, the movement making you hiss as it pulled skin the bat’s claws had dug into. You moved your shirt, seeing blood through the tears from the monsters’ claws, if you survived this you would have to get the wounds cleaned out as soon as possible.

You grabbed your bow and pulled out an arrow again. You followed the movement of the bat flying around as it circled you and then you released your arrow. The arrow sailed through the air and tore through the bat’s wings as soon as it flew into the arrow’s path. The creature screeched but as soon as it turned to face you, you released another arrow, sending it straight through the other wing.

“Go!” you yelled, turning to run across the bridge when you saw the bat flying straight for you, despite clearly being thrown off with its torn wings.

The bat slammed into you, sending you to your knees. “Keep going!” you yelled, knowing Clarisse would turn back for you.

You used your bow to hold back the bite as it tried to snap at you. You felt around for the arrow you had dropped, wrapping your fingers around it when you felt it. You brought the arrow up, stabbing it into the creature’s eye. You didn’t hesitate to rip it out, ignoring the blood that surely splattered all over you before stabbing it into the other eye.

“Hold on!” you shouted, sparing a glance behind you to see Clarisse had both hands on the ropes at her side.

You leaned up as the monster thrashed around above you. Raising your bow you let another arrow fly, aiming for the right post where the rope was tying off the bridge. As soon as the arrow left your hand you grabbed another one, aiming for the left post, quickly releasing it as well.

You flipped yourself over, grabbing the wood planks of the bridge as tightly as you could. There was a second where everything was silent, then you were weightless, you held on tight as your body came up, swinging through the air as the ropes tying the bridge off tore, sending the bridge smacking into the side of main island.

You let out a shaky breath, looking up to see Clarisse had a tight hold on the bridge as well and was beginning her climb to the top. You glanced down, letting out a tired sigh when you saw the bat was still attached to the bridge, shaking its head as it continued to try and recover from its eyes being stabbed, despite already being blind. As carefully as you could you slipped your bow around your head, keeping yourself pressed against the bridge.

Once your bow was secure you began your climb. As soon as you reached for the next plank it ripped out from under you, sending you further down, smacking the other planks as you tried to find one to grab onto. Finally, you got your hand wrapped around the rope, stopping your descent, and allowing you to grab onto another board. You pulled on the board a few times, making sure it would hold your weight before beginning your climb again.

You had barely made progress before you felt a searing pain in your calf, letting out a yell as the monster ripped its claws down, trying to bring you down with it. You gripped the planks tighter, using all your strength to pull yourself up and out of the creature’s grip. You felt something breeze past your head then suddenly claws impaled in your leg were gone. You looked down to see the bat falling into the dark abyss, a crackling red spear in its mouth.

You used your remaining strength to climb up the bridge, going slower than you should have, your injured leg shaking each time you needed to use it to push off the next plank. When you got close to the top you once again felt Clarisse’s arms reach out for you. She took one of your hands in her own and then helped brace you by putting her other hand on your back, helping pull you up the rest of the way.

Your breathing was ragged as you laid on the cold stone surface, the sound of the rushing waterfall filling your ears. You turned your head, glancing down at your leg to see your pants ripped and already covered in blood.

“Come on,” Clarisse said. She reached down, throwing one of your arms around her shoulder, and swinging her other arm around your waist before you had the chance to respond.

You limped, trying to help as much as you could as Clarisse led you across the large island. You went the opposite direction the water was flowing until you got to the bottom of the waterfall. Despite the slipperiness of the rocks Clarisse managed to get the two of you to the little cave behind the waterfall. It was a little damp but if there were any more bat creatures in the cavern it was the safest place the two of you could be, the waterfall was loud enough to cover any noise the two of you would make.

“Easy,” Clarisse said as she gently laid you on the floor, propping your back up against the wall. “Let me get a look at your leg.” She didn’t wait for a response before she ripped the rest of your pants leg, gently turning your leg as she got a look at the wound.

“My-my bag,” you rasped out, tiredly reaching for your bag that you somehow managed to hold onto.

Clarisse reached over you, taking the bag from your hands. You let your head flop back against the stone wall, the sweat was already making your hair stick to your forehead. You had been running on pure adrenaline and survival and now you were really beginning to feel each and every one of your injuries.

“Ambrosia?” Clarisse asked. You opened your eyes to see she had opened your bag; you gave her a small nod and smile.

She cut one of the squares of ambrosia in half and handed it to you. You quickly put it in your mouth, savoring the sweet taste. When you lifted your head again you saw Clarisse ripping off a piece of her shirt and beginning to wrap your leg.

“Don’t want you bleeding out before the ambrosia kicks in,” she mumbled. You let out a tired chuckle, that certainly wouldn’t be good. Ambrosia helped with the healing, and you would be good to go in the morning, or whatever time it was, but it wasn’t a guaranteed safety net, you could easily die even after eating some ambrosia.

“Let me see your shoulder,” Clarisse demanded, already putting her hands on you to help lean you forward.

“That’s not as bad,” you mumbled. You were quickly shut up by Clarisse throwing a glare at you.

Clarisse ripped off one of her sleeves and took it to the waterfall, sticking it under the water. When she came back, she leaned you forward, moving your shirt out of the way just enough to see the wounds. She began wiping away the dried blood and the wounds themselves. When she was all done, she helped you lean back against the wall, wincing as your shoulder touched the stone before quickly going back to a dull ache.

 “I thought I was going to lose you,” Clarisse whispered. Her eyes were glued to the ground as she refused to look you in the eye.

You were to tired to lift your hand so you slid it across the smooth surface until your fingers brushed against hers, making her look up at you. She reached up, resting a hand on the side of your face, making you instantly lean into her touch.

“You sacrificed your spear for me,” you mumbled. You knew it wasn’t the original weapon given to her by her father, but it was still her pride and joy, and she lost it because she decided to save your life.

“You or the spear,” she whispered. “It wasn’t even a choice.”

You noticed her eyes flick down to your lips. “I’m sorry.” Your gaze fell as well, you wished for nothing more than to give her everything she deserved. “Maybe in another life things could be different.”

She leaned forward, resting her forehead against yours. “I’ll wait for you in the next life,” she whispered. You could feel her breath against her lips, but she never leaned in, still respecting your status as a Hunter.

“It could be a long time.”

She shook her head. “Doesn’t matter.” After another second, she pulled away, caressing your cheek one more time. “Get some rest, I’ll take first watch.” Her tone was kind, but it was clear there would be no arguing with her.

You shifted your body, getting as comfortable as you could against the hard rocky surface. Clarisse stood up, pulling out a dagger that was strapped to her ankle. The last thing you saw before you closed your eyes was Clarisse standing tall in front of the waterfall.

Taglist: @cxcilla @touchmyfracturedomens @luclue @manu-007s-world @death-in-love @nenas19 @mynameiskaci @danonered

[raspberrysunshinebby]

Two Choices

(I’m gonna change the name I promise. Please send suggestions.)

Chapter 4

Pairing: Eris x reader x Azriel

Summary: The future wife of Eris never cared much for mating bonds, she had spent years in love with Eris and when Beron finally died they could be together. He has full intention to make his love into his High Lady until at a party meant to celebrate Eris’ reign the girl finds herself finding her mate, Azriel.

Warnings: Slight smut, angst, azriel is literally toxic/manipulative and i was going to say kind of abusive but he literally is lol. Depressive behavior

Word Count: 3792

(Theyre playing monopoly, I’ve never played monopoly.)

After that the only time I’d seen Azriel was right before he left for his little mission when decided to say bye to me before leaving. I hadn’t talked to or even seen him before that.

I tried to seek him out a day after to try to settle this like adults but I couldn’t find him, I even resorted to finally talking to one of the members of the Inner Court to see if they knew. I asked Cassian, who was the first person I saw if he knew. He said he didn’t know and the conversation ended there.

Food was still brought up to me every day, but I only stayed in my room the whole time. By the second day, the isolation really began hitting me. It took me hours to even get out of bed before I ended up just sitting on the floor ignoring the plate of food next to me. 

I mentally beat myself up for not just following Azriel, I wouldn’t be sitting here alone if I had. Around four in the afternoon was when Azriel came to say goodbye.

I hated how excited I’d gotten when I saw him, especially knowing he’d be gone for three days, knowing I'd be left alone. I wanted to cry when I watched him leave after not even being here for a minute.

By the third day, I couldn’t even tell you anything that had happened, I was in bed all day and only moved to use the bathroom. I didn’t eat even a bit of food.

The first half of the fourth day went the same until halfway through my brain decided to work again. I didn’t want to stay in the house any longer.

As I stood up I realized how weak my legs had gotten and had a little trouble walking myself to the bathroom to bathe, which I hadn’t had the energy to do in days. 

I soaked myself in the hot water with different soaks I had found in the room that ended up smelling like grapefruit. I smell I really enjoy. I soaked myself for around thirty minutes before fully washing my body and getting out.

In my room, I picked out a simple grey button-up and skirt that went right above my ankles before bringing myself downstairs.

I noticed quickly that no one was home. Which I was grateful for as part of me was scared they’d try to stop me from leaving.

Just in case, I quickly got myself out the door with my wallet in my hands and immediately went into the crowd of the city. I followed the path Azriel took to the shop we’d gotten to before we fought, wanting to get some books from the Autumn Court section just to have. The thought of having them in my room brought comfort to my mind.

When I’d found my way into the shop I made a bee-line to get to the section, the shop was basically empty like usual so I had no trouble getting there. I got on my knees to look through the big books of different tales and stories I’d loved as a child.

I sat there for maybe 15 minutes before I heard a voice. “Do you need help with anything?” a soft voice asked me, I turned to see our waiter from the last time I was there.

I shook my head, “No thank you.” I told her politely. She knelt down to look at what book I was looking at, and let out a giggle when she saw the book. 

“My mother loves Autumn Court tales so I grew up on them, that one is a really good one.” She told me.

I smiled at the girl, “I grew up and lived there.”

She looked surprised, “Wow really, did you move here or something?” She asked me.

“Mhm, I moved here about.” I counted on my fingers, “about a month now I think.” 

She rested her head on her hands, “Really? Why did you move here?” 

“My mate lives here,” I told her.

“Wait is it Azriel?” She asked and I nodded, “Oh that makes a lot of sense. He used to come here a lot but he stopped for a while and then he took you here. He usually only came for to-go things though, I kind of felt bad we didn’t have a bigger chair for him.”

“He was fine don't worry,” I told her. I wanted to move on from the conversation of him, but I didn’t want to seem annoyed.

“Oh yeah!” She started, “Since you are new here you don't know a lot of people yet.” 

I nodded, “Okay so, tomorrow I and some of my friends have this little game night thing we do here every week, it's always on a Saturday, and it's super fun. We had someone who had to leave so we’re looking for someone else to come, we start at five okay.” She told me

This made me so excited, I was happy to see more people than just Azriel now, “Of course I’ll come.” I said with a smile.

She looked really happy, “Okay amazing! What's your name?” She asked me excitedly.

“(Y/N), yours?” I asked.

“Primrose.”

Primrose ended up giving me the books I’d gotten half off, I got four books, three being folktale books and the last one being one of my favorite fantasy ones I found. I basically skipped out of there with glee.

I realized how hungry I’d gotten which lead me to quickly get food at a random restaurant where I sat at a table alone and skimmed through my books.

After the food had arrived and I was still skimming while eating I heard someone enter the restaurant. I didn’t care to look up until I saw a shadow looming over me, “What are you doing? Azriel said you're not supposed to go out alone.” I looked up to see Cassian, Azriel’s brother of some sort.

I lied without even thinking about it, “Azriel never said that.” I told him.

Luckily Cassian spoke in a hushed voice, “You know damn well that's a lie, if he told the entirety of his family this, then he told you.”

My heart was pounding in my chest, “He didn’t.” I lied again.

Cassian rubbed his temples, “Just finish eating, I’m taking you back home.” 

I put my book away before he could see the very clear Autumn Court-like cover and shoved it into the bag I’d gotten from the shop and finished eating quickly. Scared if I took long he’d grow more irritated. 

I finished and quickly grabbed my bag and walked out with Cassian, I felt like I was taking a walk of shame as we walked to the house.

Once we’d gotten there I refused to talk to anyone, quickly making my way to my room because I was scared they’d question what I’d gotten. I was scared they’d make me get rid of it.

I hid the books under my bed because now I also had to figure out how to get out of the house to go to that game night, I knew if I asked they’d say no.

I doubted now I could just walk out the front door so my thoughts went to my windows. They were push-out windows with a slight balcony that looked out to the garden, as I looked I realized the drop wasn’t that far.

I grew up with only brothers, so this wouldn’t be my first time jumping out of a window. The windows at home were much farther away from the ground and I did it with no problem, I knew I’d be fine.

I smiled as I went over to my wardrobe, I wanted something nice but not too nice to wear. I noticed I really didn’t like my clothes, they were all Night Court clothing which I didn’t enjoy. As I continued digging I found my old Autumn Court dresses, all of which were red or pink with white and brown accents. 

I quickly pulled out one of my favorite red dresses, one that I’d planned to wear to go on a trip with my brothers before I’d get married. Clearly, that wasn’t happening though. 

I folded the dress in the corner of my wardrobe to be worn tomorrow. I hadn’t felt this excited in so long, there were a few times in this past month I’d felt genuinely happy and I was relishing the moment.

I moved myself to my bathroom to really look at what I had, I always had just used the stuff already out to simply bathe myself but today I realized there was a lot more in there.

I saw hair rollers and skincare things like facemasks in there that were just never mentioned to me. I looked more and saw more soaks, some hair straighteners, hair masks, and lotions of different scents. I’d been using the nonscented ones that were laid out on the counter. I decided to have a little self-care night to myself, especially after how I’d felt the past couple of days.

As I looked through the different scented things, in the lotion pile one caught my eye. A brown bottle, as I looked at it I read ‘Apple and Cinnamon’ causing my heart to sink.

Against my better judgment, I opened the bottle and smelled it.

Eris.

Eris.

I sniffed it again, god it smelt so much like Eris. My body relaxed at the scent, my heart rate went down as I sat on the floor. 

I hated how comforted I felt, I hated how I felt at home, I hated the love in my heart and I hated even more that smelling this made me want to cry.

I looked through the perfumes next to it and quickly realized each lotion had a matching perfume and found the matching brown bottle. Before I could do anything with it I heard a knock at the door, I quickly hid the two bottles behind some towels and went to answer it.

When I opened my door I saw Highlord Rhysand standing there, clearly annoyed.

“We’ll have to tell Azriel what you did today, you know that right?” he told me.

I wasn’t stupid, I knew he’d tell them. “I didn’t know I wasn’t supposed to.” I was looking down at the floor. I felt like a child.

“Your lying and we all know it, don’t play games (Y/N).”

“I didn’t even do anything bad,” I whispered.

“I know you didn’t, but this is what Azriel wants you to do so you do it,” Rhysand said which ticked me off.

“I’m not a child,” I said looking up.

“Well, you are clearly acting like one.” 

My chest tightened.

“Your sitting here lying about what Azriel told you and you sneak out, what was the purpose of sneaking out anyway? You could’ve asked any one of us and we would have gone to do whatever.” He said.

“I didn’t sneak out, I literally walked through the door,” I said snarkily.

“Watch your tone,” Rhysand said, “you truly are acting like a child.”

I looked away to shut my door. I was done being yelled at by someone I had no care for. I brought myself back to my bathroom and started running a bath, I really needed this now. I grabbed one of the face masks and put it on before stepping into the bath.

Once I was finished I put in some hair rollers and put on a nice nightgown and lay down to sleep.

As I tried to sleep I couldn't. This wasn’t like previous nights where I fell asleep out of pure exhaustion or in just a need to so I would have a time passer. The thought of that perfume entered my head, and before I could really think about what I was doing, I stood up to go into the bathroom and searched behind the towels to see the two bottles sitting there.

I grabbed the perfume and walked into my room to spray the pillow I planned on cuddling with it. Not overdoing it but not underdoing it. I placed the perfume on my bedside table and fell onto my bed taking in the scent.

The scent relaxed me as it helped me drift off the sleep.

In the morning I’d woken up refreshed and went to the bathroom to take out my hair rollers and was filled with glee when I saw the bouncy, curly hair on my head. I washed my face and put on a face mask.

I spent the day reading, cleaning up my room, and getting my things ready to go to the game night. At around three-thirty, I started to get ready and finished around four-thirty.

I pushed my ear to my door to listen for any sounds, the house sounded almost completely quiet except for the voice of Elain talking to who I assume was Nesta. Based on this, it was only them here.

I quickly opened my window and jumped out, landing safely. I went toward the back of the house in order to get out without anyone noticing me. Once I’d gotten into the crowded city I made sure to keep my head down while staying in the crowded parts to avoid anyone from the Inner Court.

After around 25 minutes I had made it due to moving slowly from the crowds.

I walked into the shop to see several girls sitting at a table. Well, three sat down and one stood setting up a game board, I quickly noticed Primrose was the one who stood. She looked up and saw me, her eyes lightened.

“Aw! (Y/N)!” She walked to me and grabbed my arm, “Come! Sit, sit!” She said excitedly. I sat down in the chair she pulled out for me.

“Okay everyone, this is (Y/N),” Everyone said their hellos with a smile on their face, “And (Y/N) this is Leilani,” Primrose pointed to a dark-skinned girl with curly black hair. She had sharp features but as she smiled her face softened up.

“Arella,” A girl with scales around her arms and pale skin that almost looked blue, her hair was curly like Leilani’s but longer and it was a blonde color that turned red at the bottom.

“And Edith,” A brown-skinned girl with straight black hair raised her hand as a hello, she wore red lipstick that made her features pop.

“We also have Ophelia coming, but she's late which means she’s going to show up drunk,” Primrose said, kind of making me laugh.

The five of us chatted while Primrose finished setting up the board, thankfully Primrose said nothing to them about my mate and I planned to not tell the girls about him.

The four of them explain the game was a real-estate board game for two to eight players. The player's goal is to remain financially solvent while forcing opponents into bankruptcy by buying and developing pieces of property. Bankruptcy results in elimination from the game. The last player remaining on the board is the winner.

I kind of understood it but when we started Primrose had to help me some, thankfully she didn’t mind.

We played for around an hour before we heard someone crashing into the shop, the girls and I turned our heads to see an almond-skinned female with messy brown hair with purple highlights. She fell onto the floor and laughed, there was no way this wasn’t Ophelia.

“Oh my god Ophelia, get the fuck over here.” Edith laughed, I giggled into my hand as Ophelia stumbled over to us.

We quickly realized Ophelia was way too drunk to play with us, leading her to drunkenly chat with us while we played.

I quickly realized how much I adored these girls. Each was of them was so kind and funny I couldn’t help but love them. They also told me about Thea who was in their group but had to stop coming to the game nights due to work. They invited me to a dinner hangout with them on Monday where I’d get to meet Thea and hopefully Ophelia wouldn’t be drunk.

We chatted for hours together, I didn’t keep track of time like I should’ve as I was having too much fun to notice or care.

My wake-up call that not keeping track hit me when I felt Azriel pull on the bond, I ended up looking over to the windows to see him.

I looked back toward the girls, trying not to panic.

“Hey what time is it?” I asked.

Leilani looked at the clock beside her, “Oh shit it's ten.” 

Thankfully that was enough of a reason to excuse me, “I have to go, I’ll see you guys Monday okay?” I hoped I wasn’t lying.

I gave each girl a hug for goodbyes before exiting the building, I wasn’t ready to face Azriel. The second I walked out and the door closed he started speaking.

“Who the fuck are they?”

His tone sent a shiver down my spine, “They’re friends that I made, Azriel.” I spoke softly while looking at the ground in front of me.

“Friends that you snuck out to see?” He spoke sharply.

Part of me didn’t know how to respond, but the over part just didn’t want to respond. I started walking down the alley to head back to the house.

“Don't fucking walk away from me.” Azriel marched toward me, grabbing my wrist to stop me.

He forced me to look toward him but I didn’t have the energy to look up at him.

“I mean seriously, what the fuck are you doing?” He started, “You snuck out two nights in a row, two fucking nights.”

“I didn’t sneak out at night. It was board daylight.” I responded.

“That's not the point!” He yelled, “I told you that you couldn’t and you still did and then lied that I never told you.”

I bit my lip.

“I mean shit, if you wanted to go out you could’ve told anyone and they would’ve taken you.”

“I don't want to go out with them,” I said.

“Why?” He questioned.

“Because I don't want to go out with people who don't fucking like me.” I barked at him.

“When have they ever said they don't like you?” He asked me.

“They don't have to,” I said, “They treat me like a fucking child and the only time they ever look at me is to give me the most disgusting look I’ve ever seen.”

“You're being over dramatic.”

I felt my fists clench at this, “Fuck you.” I turned to walk away as he called after me.

My cheeks felt cold as I realized I was crying, I quickly whipped them away and continued walking as Azriel followed behind me.

I entered a busy street in hopes that I would lose him for even a little bit but I felt him grab onto my shoulder.

“We are going home and we’re finishing this discussion there.” He whispered into my ear, at this point I didn’t have the energy to protest against him wrapping his arm around me as we made our way to the house.

The living room was thankfully empty as we walked in allowing me to break from Azriel’s grasp and bolt to my room.

Once I’d gotten there it wasn’t long before Azriel entered. I was so tired and I just really didn’t want to fight anymore.

“I am trying so fucking hard to be a good mate for you but I can't if you keep doing this shit.” He told me.

I was beginning to space out at this point, just looking at him while he continued talking, him picking up the perfume on the bedside table was what snapped me out of it.

He smelled the perfume by spraying it onto his arm before moving toward my bed and picking up the pillow I’d sprayed it on.

He dropped the pillow, “You have to be fucking kidding me (Y/N).”

I didn’t even care enough to yell back at him, I was so tired and just wanted this to end.

I swallowed my spit, “I’m sorry I snuck out.” I whispered just loud enough for him to hear. He scoffed.

“I’m sorry about the perfume too.”

“Yea you should be fucking sorry about spraying a perfume that smells like your ex on your fucking pillow.” He increasingly got louder, I was starting to get scared.

I started picking at my cuticles, “I’m sorry.” I muttered.

Azriel ran his finger through his hair, clearly more pissed off now. My cuticles started to bleed.

“Grab a sleeping gown or whatever you fucking use.” He barked at me, “You're a fool if you think I’m letting you sleep in a bed that smells like that.”

I was shaking as I went into my wardrobe to grab a nightgown before following Azriel to his room.

The bed was bigger than mine. Clearly for him to stretch his wings, he basically pushed me into his bathroom to change.

I ended up taking a long time, I really didn’t want to leave the bathroom and have to face him possibly yelling at me again. I honestly felt like he only brought me here to continue to be mad at me.

Eventually, I had to leave, only really doing it so he didn’t have another reason to be mad at me. I walked out with the red dress in my hands.

“Took you long enough,” He walked toward me and put his arms out, I slightly flinched as he did, “Give me the dress.” I obliged.

As he took the dress into his arms he started walking toward the lit fireplace, before I could say anything he threw the dress into the fire.

He said something about Autumn Court but I didn’t hear him fully, too immersed in the fact he’d burnt one of my favorite things from home. He burnt the dress I’d picked out with my brother, that I was going to wear with my brothers.

I let out a sob and tried to stop myself from crying but that only made it worse, causing me to fall to my knees while I sobbed into my hands.

Azriel quickly knelt behind me to hold me as I sobbed, saying he was sorry as he placed several kisses on the top of my head.

He picked me up from the floor and carried me to his bed, he sat up on his headboard before pulling me into his chest to sob myself to sleep.

[fire-emblem-drabbles]

What Kind of Man, Indeed

Pairing: Lucas (@needleanddead oc) x reader

Prompt: I had the weirdest idea but it totally worked out

Description: In the woods, people hope to find a few things: freedom from modern life and the stress that came with it, time to relax and spend with family, what have you… You, however, find a chicken. Confused and a little concerned, you decide its up to you to protect her.

Rating: sfw

Content Warning: Explicit mentions of blood, and murder; does not go into detail. Lucas is referred to as a murderer and killer (because he is), and reader is patronized by Lucas p much their entire interactions.

Word Count: 2830

Notes: Hiiii nat remember when I told you I wrote a Lucas fic <3333 found this finished but unedited in my stuff and whoo boy it needed some work (concept was done very poorly but we figured it out boys) and I'm SO excited to bring this to you guys now!!! I really like how it came out!!!

You lived away from your family, and it wasn’t often you could get the time off work to come home and see them. You had a week off from work to come up and spend some time with them. That, of course, had to start with a little family camping trip. You hadn’t gone in so many years, but the promise of cold lake water and sweet pine trees had you agreeing.

You actually hadn’t been to this particular site before. This was a smaller trip with only four of you (you, your parents, and your aunt-- the only people who could get 3 days off in a row to go) so the four of you set off with just your parents camper and your mothers car to enjoy yourself.

So much had changed since the last time you went camping, yet you couldn’t help but feel nostalgic as you sat around the fire with everyone. This time around, you were even old enough to be drinking with your parents if you so chose. You decide against it on this particular night, instead watch your family with crinkled eyes and full heart as they chatted and drank and ate all in high spirits.

“I think I’m gonna walk for a bit, anyone want to join me?” You couldn’t help but stand and stretch, wanting some time away from the sting of the campfire smoke. Your dad turns to speak to you.

“We’re all good, don’t go far though it’s getting late.” He warns you, taking another swig of his beer after he speaks.

“I won’t dad.” You smile at him, and make sure to grab the flashlight. “I got the flashlight, and my phone, and you guys are making enough noise to scare away anything that might hurt me.” You joke. “I’m only going down to the lake after all.” He nods in satisfaction, leaving you to it as he turns back to your mother and aunt.

You leave with no issue, taking the barely seen path that would lead to the lake. During the day the walk didn’t long at all, hardly 15 minutes. When that passes and you don’t have any sign of water, you know you’ve made a mistake somewhere. You pause, taking a look of your surrounds.

You can’t see the light of your families fire anymore, but their laughing and cheering can still be heard fine. Your other directions just show more woodland, with tall pines and short brush and no sign of water.

“Oh geez…” You can’t help but let out a sigh, scanning your surroundings with your flashlight once more. Even the sounds of the night were beginning to blur together-- the loons in the distance, the cicadas in the trees, the clucking of chickens….

“Wait.” You scanned over the area you just passed over, one that had signifigantly less brush in it. As you pass over the area slowly this time you can’t help but stare at the creature caught in your brights. “There’s no way that’s a chicken.” You say aloud. Still, you move in closer to the bird. It’s not at all bothered by your presence, instead mulling around your feet as if it weren’t in any danger out here at all.

“Who dumps a chicken this deep into the woods…?” You look down at the bird by your feet, unsure what to do about it or your own situation.“Ma’am, are you aware how late it is? What on earth are you doing out?” You squat down beside the hen, not knowing what else to do.

She clucks once, and merely turns her head. You admire her a moment, seeing that she looked well fed and taken care of, which makes it even weirder than she was out here alone. Still, she’s smart enough to realize that you’re big, and you could scare away predators-- another trait that tells you this was someones pet or livestock.

“Can I pick you up?” You ask, as if she could answer. Even though you’re also lost, you would feel bad if you just left this chicken to fend for herself.

You give her a hesitant pet, which she doesn’t seem to mind. You pick her up with careful hands, having never really held a chicken before, but she settles rather nicely in your arms. In fact, your cat struggles more than this when you hold him.

“Well, okay.” Chicken tucked under your left arm, and flashlight held in your right, you rise to your feet once more, deciding to just turn back the way you came and go to the lake when it was light out.

No sooner then you do does a piercing scream run through the forest. It makes your blood run cold; it sounded just like your mother. You turn to that direction, aimlessly charging in the direction you heard it. Your heartbeat only picks up more as you hear more screams-- surely your aunt and your father.

You don’t know whats happening. You haven’t been this scared in your life Was their a large animal back at your camp? A bear, a cougar? And was everyone okay?

You apparently hadn’t wandered off too far because within minutes, you can see the color of your fire. You pick up the pace, heart jumping into your throat as you hear signs of a struggle. You turn off your light as you approach, and try to figure out whats happening. You can’t help but feel you need to remain quiet.

When you can finally see whats happening, tears spring to your eyes. Close by, you see your mother laying on the ground. She’s covered in blood from a wound you can’t immediately see. It doesn’t look like shes breathing. Beside her, your aunt; she’s bloodied as well, slumped over as if trying to help her before being struck down herself. Behind their forms, you can see two men. Your dad was the only one one this trip though-- your brothers and cousins couldn’t make it.

Maybe that was for the better.

Your dad is hurt you realize with horror. He’s got a large cut on his left arm. But still, he’s fighting off whoever it was that invaded your sanctuary. He’s struggling for the ax in the mans hand. You can’t move, can’t take your eyes off the fight in front of you. When it seems your dad gets a grip on the weapon, it slips out of his fist-- the blood that ran off his arms making his hand slick.

He falls to the ground, splayed back on his back by the fallen forms of your mother and aunt. You wince and hold the chicken close to you as your fathers scream is silenced by the sickening sound of an ax cuts through his chest.

Again and again and again and again. Until, with one eye daring to peak open, he doesn’t move, doesn’t scream. Silence fills your campsite, where even the crackle of the fire seems to die down in the horror that just took place.

The mystery man—your families murderer—stands up straight after the job is done, pushing back graying hair. If he notices the blood on his face, in his hair, he doesn’t care. He doesn’t notice you, you think.

That is, until the chicken, the dumb chicken you randomly found in the woods, makes a noise of discomfort at how hard you hold her. You gasp and hurriedly lessen your grip but the damage has already been done.

Crazed eyes turn to you. You’ve never seen blood lust in someones eyes like this before. Even from several feet away, across the fire, it has you shivering. As he watches you now, your feet are still stuck to the ground. You speak before you can think not too.

“You… you killed my dad. My mama… my auntie…” Your tears make it hard to see but you swear, the look of rage is immediately swept off his face. “W-why?”

Suddenly, your knees can’t support you. You fall down in a heap. To your horror, the man is approaching you. He doesn’t have his weapon raised, but it doesn’t make you feel any better. He’s speaking to you, you realize. He didn’t make hardly a sound while butchering your family, but now that he sees you, he speaks.

“You found my girl…” He crosses over to where you are easily. You didn’t notice how tall he was until he’s upon you, squatting down until his towering form in right in front of yours. He reeks of blood, of sweat and fatigue.

“Where did you get to, Dolly?” He ignores you a moment in favor of the chicken you held. She wiggles out of your now limp grip, eagerly running to the man. He sets aside his weapon and pets the chicken affectionately. The sight of him coddling a chicken while covered in your families blood has to be the picture of irony.

It fills you with a hatred so vile, so sickening, all you want to do is attack him—tackle him to the ground and demand he answer for the lives he’s taken. But you can’t even move from the spot your frozen to. Even your throat, seized with your grief, can barely let pass your sobs. You’ve never felt so powerless, so weak in the face of true evil.

“Why did you do this?” You’re unsure how you manage to speak the words, twisted by pure emotions going through you. You don’t know why you’re not dead, too. “My parents… my…” Instead, you weep into your open hands. What else was there to do?

“Oh darlin…” His voice is so, so gentle. He reaches out, places a bloodied hand on your shoulder. You can’t help but shudder in disgust as you feel the blood of your family touch your skin.

“P-please don’t t.. touch me…” You don’t know why you bother begging or bartering with a killer, but your words don’t stop as you pull your face up. “J-just kill me. I-I… I can’t…!” You again cry out, uncaring if he saw you. This man, this killer, makes a soft, sweet coo at your words. He moves even closer to you, until he’s pulled you into his arms. You don’t how the strength or will to push him away.

“Now why would I hurt something as sweet as you?” His words make you want to cry even more. You try to even your breathing, to fight him, to hurt him, to do anything. But you just stay limp in his arms, crying and gasping and trying to get your breathing back to normal. All you can do is cry, cry into the arms of your families killer.

It takes several minutes for you to stop openly bawling. You’re so embarrassed, so upset, so angry. In that time, this man, this killer, has pulled you into an awkward hug, holding you tightly in his embrace. He tries to console you, using gentle words and sweet tones to tell you that you’ll be okay, that you’re okay, that he won’t hurt you. When you finally feel well enough to speak, you pull away from him. He keeps you in his grip, but allows you the freedom to look up at his face and speak.

“Why won’t you kill me?” Your voice is the clearest it’s been since you’ve come back to camp. You surprised you can talk with him, look at him without crying. Without screaming or yelling. “Why am I different?” Tears still glisten in your eyes, still streak down your cheeks.

“Don’t worry about that.” His tone is so dismissive. As if he’s had to answer this question so many times before. “You’re…” He pauses but shakes his head. “It doesn’t really matter. I should get you home.”

“Home?” The word feels hollow in your throat. You didn’t have a home anymore-- not with your family dead.

“With me.” He smiles at you, as if he has any right. Like he’s doing you a favor. You don’t think you could hate someone as much as you do him.

“P-please don’t do this.” All you can think to do is beg. You feel pathetic.

You think he likes that.

“You don’t have to worry about anything darlin. I’ll take care of you.” It’s as if he doesn’t hear you. Maybe he hasn’t this whole time-- maybe he saw you as helpless and pathetic as the chicken milling around the two of you. Maybe to him, your just the same as a helpless chicken lost in the woods. Out of place, and needing someone bigger and stronger to protect and guide them...

He helps you to your feet. Your legs are still unsteady—none of you really feels solid. Still, before you can crumble to the ground once again he catches you against himself. You think you might hate yourself more than you do him, for having to rely on him like this. As you lean into him, and look into green eyes, you can’t help but ask.

“...What’s your name?” It shouldn’t matter, but it does right now. You needed something to ground you—a name you could connect all these emotions with. He seems pleased that you’ve become interested in him. Or at least, disinterested in what happened here.

“Call me Lucas.” His name shouldn’t be so simple. So mundane.

“Lucas…” He perks up at hearing his name come from your lips. You want to ask more, but your questions have all been ignored. Redirected. Still, your lips move to speak. “Why are you doing this?” You’ve never felt so small as you do with him guiding you into the woods, supporting you with one gentle hand and carrying his lost chicken with another just as slight touch.

“...You looked liked you needed some protectin, is all. What kind of man would I be if I left you alone like this?”

What kind of man indeed.

You don’t speak any more as he leads you away from the camp you and your family had made. Lucas is all too happy to fill the silence, navigating the woods with no need of any light. You’re not surprised when he takes you to a small cabin in the woods. You don’t know how long the walk was, but it couldn’t be too far from where your family had set up for camp. It makes you wonder.

Were you even the first group of people Lucas had come across in the woods? ...Would you be the last?

“I don’t think I ever got your name, sugar.” You don’t know how you found yourself in the small cabin. It feels like your grandmothers house. Cluttered but comfortable. The anxiety you feel here is far different, though. When you don’t answer, he just sighs.

“You must be tired… I’ll let you take the bed.” Along the way, you’re able to find your feet. Lucas leads you to a room that is rather bare bones-- a dresser, a bed and not much else you can see in the dim light. Still, it looks lived in. He a stands beside you a moment as you take in the room.

“Ah, you can’t sleep in that. I’ll fetch you something—just stay here.” You watch wordless as he goes. You can hear him shuffle around a moment, opening a closet or a drawer. As he said, he’s back before you know it. Holding a large shirt and another blanket.

“It gets cold here at night, but you probably already knew that.” He hands you the two items with a little smile. He acts as if he’s done this all before. “I’ll leave you to it then… I’ll be out on the couch. Just holler if you need me.” He gives you a final once over before leaving the room. The door locks with a deafening click behind him.

You don’t change into the shirt. The blanket he gave you sits folded on the edge of the bed. Even as you sit gently on the bed, and take a deep breath, it doesn’t feel real.

This place smells like him. Like iron and sweat, of campfires and something sinister. You don’t know how he expects you to sleep. When you close your eyes, all you can see is the piled bodies of your loved ones. Carelessly left to rot in a place where all they wanted was to relax. Left in this room alone, you can’t find it in you to be scared any more. You want to scream and yell and throw a fit, you want to go back to your families corpses and beg them to come to life.

You want Lucas to hurt like you do.

But, you’re not that kind of person. You’re someone who needs protecting. And Lucas was gonna do that for you, whether you liked it or not. Precious thing like you can’t do much about it, anyways.

[spaghettificationandpretzels]

The Reaper and the Death Angel Part 16

This one is going to be real fucking long, I don't want to keep stringer you, dear reader, along so the good shit starts now. Again, really fucking long, I should have broken this up into two chapters.

Part 15

Series Masterlist

Contains: Protective little brother, Jax is an idiot and so is the OC, fun at the fair, graphic historical combat demonstrations (no one gets hurt), sexual harassment, protective Jax, time jumps. Discussion of an alcoholic father, child neglect and abuse. Wendy deserved better and she's going to get it. Attempted kidnapping, BAMF OC, love confession.

5.2K Words

Comment if you want to be tagged

The joys of an unexpected confession

"Teller, I need to talk to you." Sam practically shoved Jax into his dorm before closing and locking the door.

"Is something wrong?" Sam didn't respond and crossed his arm over his chest.

"What are you doing with my sister? I can see that you have feelings for her, I'm not knocking that, I just want to know your intentions before I decide if I'm ok with it.

Jax was shocked, he was hoping this would never come up.

"I don't know, she's hard to read. I can't tell if she's being nice or she has feelings for me. Is that what you're trying to tell me?"

Sam leaned against the dresser, "this isn't about my sister's feelings, this is about you. Do you love her?" Jax threw his arms up in the air.

"What do you get out of it if I say yes? I'm not the only one she spends her time with. What about Hap, they don't even talk to each and yet they seem to be best friends." Sam rubbed his eyes.

"That's because Happy and her share a similar darkness, you've seen it Jax. You know as well I as do that she doesn't fit in. She sees a bit of herself in Happy and the recognition allows her to just exists when she's with him." Jax could see it now, you didn't need to talk to each other because there was nothing to talk about, you just were what are were.

"I think you have more than just feelings for her, and that's ok. But if you go down this path and then change your mind, she would rather die of loneliness than let another person in. I want her to have a happy ending, if it's with you, I'm happy, but I'm not going to watch her pine for you forever. If you do it now she'll think you're doing it because of Abel, he's comes out of the incubator in 2 months, do it then." Jax appreciated Sam's bluntness.

Sam got up and walked to the door but Jax stopped him.

"Does she have feelings for me?" He was hopeful but he knew that Sam would never betray your confidence.

"I think she knows it's ok the just exist with you too, she can be herself without all her human fineries. That's all I'm willing to tell you." Sam stood up to his full height and got within touching distance of Jax.

"If you do tell her you love her, then break her heart, I will kill you, slowly and painfully and if you think for one minute she won't help me cover it up you're wrong, no matter how much she loves you."

Sam's eyes went wide, "it wasn't my intention to share that with you, still, it doesn't change what I said Jax. You hurt her, you die."

"You're all here!" You came racing up to them at the ticket booth, dressed in some kind of medieval dress that was mild yellow. Jax couldn't help but smile, he had been waiting for this day since you brought it up.

Opie had come there with Donna and the kids, this was one of the first times he really went out with the club that wasn't on a run. After a quick hello, you zipped behind them to introduce yourself Opie, Donna, and the kids.

"Hello, I'm y/n. Everyone speaks very highly of all of you." You spoke to Kenndy and Ellie first, bending over so as to not stand over them, then Donna who seemed to like you right away. Opie could bearly keep himself together, he was looking from you to Jax with a strange knowing smile on his face.

You were called over by someone running a stand near the entrance and trotted off while they went to buy their tickets.

"We don't use modern money here, if you want to buy anything you have to pay for historically accurate coins here which you can use inside. The events are free and listed on your fair map. We ask that you follow the age suggestions on the sides, we will ask you to move along if you don't." They thanked the ticket booth operator, collected their coins of various metals and went inside.

They wandered around for a little while before it was time to head to the mounted archery event. Jax saw you standing there, no longer in your simple yellow dress but what could only be described as light battle amour, it was made of simple leather and you had your hair up and out of your face. There was a quiver of arrows slung over your shoulder and you were holding a bow in one hand.

Your horse, Sargent Fancy Hooves, was standing next to you. He had only seen the horse in photos but up close the animal was huge. Your linen shirt showed off the slope of your neck in a way that made him want to trace the structure with his tongue.

You saw them and waved them over, "it's starting soon, I managed to get your front row seats if you want them." You directed where to sit down and Jax made sure to sit where he'd have to best view.

He watched you walk your horse to the start of the track then swing yourself onto his back.

Shit she's strong

He leaned in closer, just to get a look at the concentration on your face. As the horse got up to a canter, you took an arrow from the quiver, place it in the bow, pulled the string back and released it as you passed the target.

Hit, dead centre

You did it again and again, moving your body as you approached each target, each with varying distances and difficulties, you shot one that flew threw the air, over a path in the crowd and up to a target on a faraway tree.

Jax found himself unable to focus on the arrows, his eyes were stuck on you and the way your body moved, he couldn't tell if he should be turned on or scared but that seemed to be normal when it came to you.

Quiver emptied, you slowed and jumped off, at the round of applause you gave a big stage bow and walked your horse back to the stables before coming over to talk to them.

"So, what did everyone think?"

Kenny and Eille were staring up at you with big eyes before Kenny yelled, "that was so cool man, I can learn how to do that?"

You laughed and looked over at Opie and Donna, "only if Mum and Dad say it's ok, if you stick around till the end of the day, you can give it a go." They looked over at their parents who gave a slight nod.

"That's was pretty awesome Darlin, you made it look easy." You smiled like you were trying not to appear shy.

"Thank you Jackson."

****

They spent the day walking about talking to the people at all the stalls, it was much more fun than they expected even though the stalls were being run by historians and scientists, it felt like they were really in the middle ages.

It was around lunchtime when they headed to your next event, you were in the same combat outfit, although this time you were away from your horse and holding a sword. They were directed to the front seats by some usher, no doubt you making sure they had the best seats again and Jax sat right down in the middle.

The announcer stood up on a podium and began to speak, "this is will a traditional Nodric duel meaning each combatant will be given two shields and two weapons, once they are gone, they will not be replaced. Upon speaking to the participants who have agreed to flight till first blood. We ask that you don't take photos in case there are serious injuries and parents should be ready to take their children elsewhere. Having said that, both out demonstrators today are highly trained and have done this before."

Jax thought the way you circled each other was terrifying, you were fighting a man at least twice your size without a hint of fear on your face. You were handed one shield, which you threw on the ground, the man did the same before you met in a clash of steel.

It was like watching a dance, one caked with mud and sweat. You gave as good as you got, moving more fluidly and with more grace than he was. You swung just right and the man's shield shattered, you threw your down as well, cocking your hand at him as if to egg him on.

Now it really started, the man was throwing his whole weight at you while you side stepped and backed away. Jax had a realisation.

You were wearing him out.

He watched you succeed and the man's swings became slower and less accurate, then you pulled away from a swing that was aimed at your side and swung across your body, cutting his shoulder in the process. The man started to bleed just a little and you were stepping back, dropping your sword.

There was a roar of cheers and applause but you were too busy hugging your opponent to notice. You walked over to them a little while later, still huffing and puffing.

"Thoughts?" Jax had a few but none of them were appropriate.

"That was the most badass thing I've seen, so much cooler than the movies.

You smiled and offered Half-Sack a friendly punch in the arm, "thanks dude."

"Yeah Darlin, totally it was totally hot."

You rolled your eyes at him, "I told you Teller, I'm immune to your charms."

************

The next time they saw you, you were back in your yellow dress, munching on some kind of fried good.

"What you eating?"

You ripped off a piece and handed it to Jax, "bread fried in duck fat, it's fucking amazing." Jax moaned as he took a bite, it was good.

"Who cares about dying at 40 from the flu when you can have this all the time, the middle ages were both terrifying and awesome." Jax shook his head, your brother was right, you were a total dork. He liked it though, he found himself wanting to spend more and more time with you just for the joy you brought him when he laid eyes on you.

"I like your dress." There was that shy smile again, it made him feel like he was ten feet tall.

"I keep telling you Mr Teller, I'm immune to your charms." He reached out to touch your sleeve's hem and watched you go all wide-eyed.

"Did you make this one too?" You looked from his hand to his face and nodded before sticking your unoccupied hand in a pocket.

"It has pockets! It's called a Kirtle" You raced over to the stall and got two more pieces of fried bread, handing him one.

"Are you coming to the last event?" Jax was a little shocked that you ask him that, of course he was coming.

"Hell yeah. I read your paper, by the way, it was really, really interesting. There's no way I'm missing it."

You reached your hand out and grabbed his, and then he was being pulled away to the arena. You handed him something with a slightly deranged look on your face, "you might need this, they bleed like real people." He put on the plastic poncho and sat next to Juice, Happy, Sam, and Tig.

Jax watched you climb up on the podium before tapping the microphone and speaking in that warm, friendly voice that was slowly becoming a mainstay in his dreams.

"Hello all, this event is a little different. In front of you, you will see some dummies in different states of dress, you will notice that these dummies have clear skin and look like something from an anatomy class. This is because the dummies are what's known as ballistic gel dummies, they behave like the living human body when damaged, these ones even bleed like people." Happy was buzzing with excitement.

"We ask again, that any children leave, if they want to learn they can return after for a more appropriate demonstration. If you feel faint at any time, we ask that you wave over one of the helpers walking around, and there is no shame in getting up and leaving." There was no way Jax was going anywhere.

"Lastly, these arrows are live and can cut through flesh like butter. Please don't cross the fences, it could be very bad for your health. Now, onto the fun stuff. There are a few different types of amour here and I'm going to demonstrate why amour doesn't save you if someone has good aim. As I said, these bodies bleed so those of you in the front row have been provided with protection."

You jumped down, picked up your bow and quiver and walked to the start of the arena. Jax was drawn to the way your ribs moved, the same way they moved when you shot those men.

In

Out

In

Fire

It was burtal, he swore he heard the arrow rush threw the air before it slammed into the dummy, it bled slowly at first then started rushing out but you were already onto the next target.

In

Out

Fire

He watched it fly through the air before going threw a gap in the helmet and embedding in the dummy's face, the gap was tiny. Jax started to wonder if you've ever used them on live flesh.

As you came closer to him, he got a better look at you. He could see how the arm guard and fingers covers made the precise movements stand out, he worried how those thoughts would play out in his dreams tonight.

You shot the dummy closest to him in the neck and he felt a cool spray over his body, Happy looked like a kid in a candy store.

He could see you from the back now, stood up sure and confident. You weren't just a siren now, you were a warrior he would gladly kill alongside. The last arrow hit its target and the crowd cheered, you walked over to the fence and took the microphone again.

"Now we get to see why arrows were so dangerous, I'm going to walk along and pull each one out and you'll be able to see why even a seemingly minor arrow wound was fatal.

It looked gruesome but he saw it clear as day, each time an arrow came out, the bleeding got worse, the hole bigger. Looking over at his friends solidified his feelings, he was going to follow Sam's advice and wait till Abel was stronger but he was going to tell you how he felt.

**************

He was standing at the archery stage with his Club, a bow and arrow of his own in his hands while you weaved between each of them, helping them line up their shots. He watched you adjust them with one gentle finger, bearly making contact. When you came to him, you were using your whole hand, a shift of his shoulder here, a twist of his wrist here. Your eyes were lingering on his finger as he tensed them.

"See something you like Darlin?"

You rolled your eyes, "you are insufferable." Jax smirked.

"How about another bet? If I get his shot, you tell me what's got you all doe-eyed and if I don't I'm yours on my day off?"

You stuck out your hand, "done, but I don't think you'll like what I've got in mind." He shook your hand, these shakes were always so firm but your hand was still tiny in his.

He drew the bow back and let the string go, he missed wide with the arrow landing in the dirt.

"Ah ha, I win. Eat it, you insufferable ass." Jax couldn't help but laugh, he could have tried a lot harder but he loved that little victory jump you did when you won.

"What my punishment Darlin?" You gave him a big smile, wide eyed and a little evil.

"I'm teaching an anatomical structures class, I need you to be our hand model. They don't even have to see your face if that's what you want." Jax's brain immediately went somewhere explicit; for the first time, he thought you were better silent, with his fingers in your mouth while he fucked you into the mattress.

"Why not, you're just scientists, it's not like you're taking me to be probed."

You laughed and slapped him on the arm, "don't worry that come after when I receive a transmission for the mothership." Jax felt his heart swell, you were a really funny person.

****

The sun had long gone down by the time they left, you had spent most of the day going between talking to them and teaching people.

"Thank you everyone for coming, I really hope you enjoyed your day."

You were interrupted by a drunk man yelling from close by, "hey baby, how about you ride me like you rode that horse. I bet you could crush me with your thighs."

You didn't even turn to acknowledge him, but then he was stomping over to you, "hey bitch, I'm talking to you." You were clearly about to turn around and defend yourself but Jax was already nudging your aside.

"Fuck off man, before I hurt you." The man huffed and went to punch Jax but he was ready, he dodged the hit easily and threw one of his own, his fist connecting with the man's skull. The man crumbled to the fall but before Jax could climb on top of him to keep going, you were pulling him aside with his face in your hands.

"I'm ok Jackson, he's learnt his lesson." Your tone got a little saccharin, "my brave knight, you don't need to defend me." he felt his chest swell

Her brave knight, he liked the sound of that.

****

You were sitting with Abel when Jax showed up, "how was Nevada?" Jax pulled back his Kutte to show you everything was ok.

"How's Abel doing?"

You smiled, "good, you might be able to hold him soon."

He sat down next to you, putting his hand over yours, "I can't wait."

****

"What are you going to do? If he turns up dead the cops are going to know it was you."

Jax shook his head, "we're not going to kill him, just remove his tat."

You cringed a little, "I think the Russian mob has the right idea, a belt sander is far more efficient than fire or a blade."

****

"What's ATF here for?" Jax rubbed his face, "did you guys have something to do with that prison break?" He nodded and sat down next to you.

"I'll get everything I can on the agents and drop it to you next church. Remember Jackson, legal loopholes are your friend, the best place to hide things are where people aren't allowed to look."

****

"Agent June Stahl is your main problem, she's had more than one complaint about the mistreatment of cases and dereliction of duty when caring for informants. I can't see her career surviving if this case goes nowhere." Jax wasn't surprised you came through on delivering the information.

"How do you always know shit? You don't have access to this info because of your job so don't give us that shit." You rolled your eyes at Clay's tone.

"I know people, and those people owe me. If I tell you any more than that, I'll have a suspicious car accident and you don't want that."

****

Jax was at your door again, with a bit of paper in his hand, "you want me to put on some oatmeal?" His sad smile said it all.

"Wendy's gone, she left this with the hospital." He handed you a bit of paper and you looked it over.

"This is a notice to terminate her parental rights. Oh Jackson, I'm sorry." you leaned and put a hand on his knee.

"There's an affidavit here saying she was of sound mind when she signed it. I think Wendy knows she's not going to be the best mother right now and is making up for the harm she's already done. It's far kinder than most parents would do." Jax didn't respond, he knew you were right.

"I don't know how much Sam has told you about our childhood but our father was...is an alcoholic. It got a lot worse after our mother died, he would get violent until Sam got bigger than him. When I was sixteen I emancipated and took Sam with me, we haven't spoken to him since. He's been in and out of jail on DUIs. Last time I checked he was back in treatment." Jax had no idea, Sam said your father was a drinker but he had no idea it was that bad.

"If he loved us, he would have dropped us off at our grandparents and left us there. Wendy has done the right thing Jax, and in a few years when she's got her life on track you can talk to her about being in Abel's life, if that what he wants."

****

"Are you working on the bones that were found off the highway?"

Jax sounded worried, "no, I've got enough shit to deal with. Plus, it's not an established cold case or a fresh body, no one has the grounds to make me do it."

Jax breathed out a sigh of relief, at least Clay wouldn't make you do anything to help the Club "well that's good news for us, we really don't want Hale to know who those bodies are."

****

You were waiting in the NICU for Jax, you had managed to convince the doctors to let him hold Abel a little earlier than they normally would. You didn't know how long you waited, gently refusing each time a new nurse asked if you wanted to hold him, but then Abel started to cry and no one was there.

You lasted maybe a minute before you were picking him up, he looked up at you with those crystal blue eyes, full of potential and promise and you couldn't find it in yourself to put him down just yet.

But then Jax was walking in, he stopped still at the sight.

"I'm so sorry Jax, I was going to wait but then he started crying and I couldn't stop myself, please forgive me." You looked so worried but all Jax could do was laugh.

"It's ok Darlin, I would have done the same thing." He sat down on the chair and you softly handed him his son, he saw the expression on your face as you looked down at both of them. He never felt so frightened and so safe all at once like he felt now.

****

"Hey y/n, I can talk to you." Sam sounded worried.

"Sure bud, what's up?" He sat down next to you and put a hand in yours.

"The Club needs cash, shit's really going to hell and if we pay the Irish, we're fucked.

You took a deep breath, "how much do you need?"

****

The Club were hosting a small party and the Clubhouse, with the Irish paid off and ATF on the back foot, their worries were alleviated at least for a little bit. Jax was sitting next to you nursing a beer laughing at your story of all the cops and interns who passed out at their first autopsy.

"I kid you not Jax, this guy was so tough and the moment the body started to ooze, he was done. I've never seen someone hit the deck so fast. The next time I saw him, he tried to give me a speeding ticket while I was travelling under lights and sirens to a crime scene." He could imagine you standing over this ass with a smug look on your face while he came to.

"You're a bit of a sadist, did you know that?"

You laughed and squinted your eyes with mischief, "You should see me throw a flogger." Jax felt the blood in his body rush elsewhere.

"I've been meaning to talk to you about the other day, with Abel. I just wanted you to know that if you need someone to be there for him until you find him a mum, I'm your guy, I can operate with no sleep and I happen to be great with kids." Jax was floored

I'm your guy

"You really mean that?"

You nodded emphatically, "yep, I'm here for whatever you need, all you need to do is ask."

****

You were out getting gas when it happened, "get in the car bitch." There was a gun pressed to your back and you see the Mayan's reflection in the car window.

"You don't want to do this friend, you walk away now and nothing is going to happen to you." He pressed the gun harder to your back, you reacted within a second and he was keeled over trying to recover from the blow to his liver. You had his own gun pointed at him, "now you get in the car, we're going to see your boss."

The drive to the Mayan Clubhouse was tense, the man learnt very quickly that it was comply or die and he wasn't willing to die just yet.

"Get out now, you move even a little and I wrap you around a bullet." You went to your trunk to pull something out.

A grenade.

He watched you pull the pin and stand there for two seconds before pressing the plunger, "it's primed, the moment I lift my hand it goes off. We're going to walk in there and you're going to get me an audience with Mr Alvarez or I'm going to blow you and your Clubhouse to kingdom come, do you understand?" It took him effort not to piss himself.

There was silence once you walked in, it was like a dark cloud arrived over the room, "Mr Alvarez if you'd like to keep everyone in this room alive, I would like to discuss some things with you." He looked you up and down and then landed on the grenade in your hand.

"Come into the back Miss, we can talk about whatever you want."

You went in the back and sat down, Alvarez was stiff and worried.

"This is how it's going to go Mr Alvarez, can I call you Marcus?" he nodded.

"Well Marcus, you and your Club are becoming a threat to the people I love and care about and that can't go on. Now you have two options: option one is that I killed you and all the men in this building then send your heads to your loved ones. Option two is that you come with me now and you talk this out with Clay."

There was no air in the room, he felt like the icy hand of death was laying on his shoulder.

"Do I need to shoot someone to get my point across, I have a grenade that's one second off detonation, if you don't think I'll blow us all to hell to keep my family safe, you would be fatally wrong." He stood up, too terrified that you would turn him into stone to meet your eyes.

"Fabulous, let's head to the car." You walked behind him, he left like he was walking to his own death.

As you drove to the SAMCO Clubhouse you spoke to him, for some reason he was starting to like you.

"I shouldn't be telling you this but the only reason things are the way they are is that Clay won't see reason, most of the guys want this war to end. I think your alliance with Darby is foul, Nazis are the enemy of the United States, working with the enemy makes you a traitor and the only suitable way to handle a traitor is death." If you weren't going the right way he would have thought you were driving him to his death.

"We're here now, you're going to get out and let me do the talking. Once it's all sorted, you can go back and deal with your Club, but no matter what, there will be a peace reached tonight, do you understand me? Oh and by the way, the grenade is a paper weight." He didn't even notice you had put it down.

He climbed out of your car slowly, being mindful that he was being walked into the lion's den.

"Is that?!" Bobby and Tig looked at each other then to you.

"I need to see Clay please, there are issues to be dealt with." It took them a while to get moving.

Clay stood up in shock when he saw you.

"Hello everyone, about ninety minutes ago, one of Mr Alvarez's men tried to kidnap me. Of course, he was a fool and didn't do his homework so I got the upper hand. I could have killed everyone in that Clubhouse but I didn't, so now Mr Alvarez is indebted to me. He's going to pay that back by making nice, or he's going to die." You gave him a shove towards Clay and they went into the chapel.

No one said anything, they all just looked at you, "are you just going to stand there with your wangs in the wind. I'm sure you can find something to do that isn't staring at me.

A little while later, they came out, "call church, bring everyone. We have things to discuss."

Jax was stewing in the corner, how could you be so stupid.

"What the hell was that!?" You turned to him, shocked and a little angry.

"What was that, Teller? I think I was doing something all of you seemed incapable of doing. Don't fucking start on me about messing in Club business, people were going to die if something wasn't done and I'm not going to sit around and watch it." He was standing up to his full height and walking over to you.

"You could have been killed, or worse. That was so fucking irresponsible.

You threw your hands up, "any more irresponsible than anything else you've done? Unlike you, I know what I'm doing." Jax was getting really angry now.

"Really and what is it that you're doing. We've known each other less than a year and you've already offered to mother my child, you're always getting involved in everything and you just gave $40,000 to us for criminal activity." You shot a look at Sam, he wasn't supposed to say anything.

"I can't be a good person, I'm not allowed to care about the people in my life, it that what you're saying?" Jax slammed his beer down.

"You've got to be working some kind of angle. You somehow always know shit that we're not allowed to ask about, you say you're a doctor and yet you kill like an assassin and you can somehow knew all about us before we even knew your name. Why are you doing this?" You couldn't stand it anymore, it felt like you were choking.

"Because I love you, you insufferable man."

Part 17

The writing machine is fueled by feedback. I'm going to be very busy over the next few days, I'm evil, I know. But I might get something out tomorrow, it just depends.

[blouisparadise]

Here are some amazing bottom Louis fics that were posted or completed during the month of July. We really hope you enjoy this list. Happy reading!

1) Jealousy, Jealousy | Not Rated | 1163 words 

Harry gets jealous when James Corden hold his Louis in his lap and pets him on the Late Late Show. He shows Louis who he belongs to and takes care of him.

2) The X-Factor Judge | Explicit | 1635 words 

Harry watches the X-Factor and gets jealous about Brendan jumping on Louis. When Louis gets home Harry reminds him whom he belongs to. 

3) Didn’t Know You Had It In You | Explicit | 1807 words 

Harry sleeptalks and reveals his kinks which Louis is more than happy to try out.

4) Mine | Explicit | 1979 words 

"So you been single for a while now?" Louis gulped as the vibrator slowed down sending a thankful look to Harry before glancing back at the interview who was looking at him with great interest,

"Uhhh yeah," he replied keeping his answer short and brief. He straightened his back shuffling slightly on his chair as the vibrator shifted inside of him hitting his prostate causing him to let out a small gasp as grimaced at the interviewer who just grinned back. She must be an excellent actress or just stupidly oblivious.

5) In The Moment | Explicit | 2611 words 

Note: This is part 2 of this series.

Where it's their first time and Harry is being all fluffy and encouraging Louis to say his name and other dirty stuff?

6) Salvation Under My Breath | Not Rated | 2858 words 

Louis is pregnant...

...and Horny

7) The Sight of You Brings Forth a Peace In Me | Mature | 3254 words

Louis loses inspiration and goes on a nature walk to find some. The inspiration takes shape in the form of Harry. 

8) Put Your Sweet Lips On My Lips | Explicit | 3435 words 

Note: Part one of this fic is #23 on this list. 

Adjusting to one another’s life came as naturally as the sun rising in the morning and brightening the sky, chasing away the darkness that had dared to lurk in its absence. They did not side step each other, did not second guess their instincts once they were finally together. It was the crash of roaring waves - reckless in their paths - but upon meeting had unified into calm waters in the vast sea.

Living with Harry was like a breath of fresh air. In all his years, Louis had never felt alive. He supposed there was some credit to be given to how devoted Harry was to him. The man would rather step in a raging fire than let him suffer even a trace amount of agony.

9) Fuck U (Even) Betta | Explicit | 3568 words 

Note: This is the sequel to this fic.

Harry had sensed Louis was getting antsy all day, prodding and poking at Harry’s psyche like a game of mental whack-a-mole, trying to find that one thing that would flip the switch and push Harry over the edge. Even after all these years Louis still thinks he can get a rise, that he can in any way control the scenario. He couldn’t be more wrong.

10) We Act Like Nothing Is Wrong To Avoid What’s In Front of Us | Mature | 4179 words 

Louis sends nudes meant for Harry to the wrong person on accident. Harry finds out. Rough sex ensues.

11) Love's First Bite | Explicit | 6135 words 

Note: The pairing in this fic is Louis/Zayn.

For Zayn, love was never a part of life’s equation, not when you’re considered a lowly vampire while working in the Vampire’s royalty club, Love’s First Bite. He’s bitter and resentful and sees no point in looking into his past or future. But when Zayn saves a human named Louis, it all changes. He finds something special in him and, more importantly, someone worth giving up everything he holds dear.

12) Your Blueberry Eyes | Mature | 6154 words 

Louis tattoos and Harry falls for blues.

13) Blow Me Away | Explicit | 6471 words 

Louis likes giving blow jobs.

He doesn't exactly get off on it – he's been with people who properly loved it, and he's not quite that into it – but he doesn't mind the feel or the taste and he really, really likes watching his partner lose it, so getting down on his knees regularly is a no brainer.

Which is why it's a bit frustrating that every time he does, Liam hauls him back up again.

14) Thank You For This Prom Night | Not Rated | 6554 words 

Note: This is part 3 of this series.

It's Prom Night. Stuff happens.

15) Can We Make It Anymore Obvious? | Explicit | 6628 words 

Five times the boys accidentally walked in on Harry & Louis plus one time they did it on purpose.

16) It's The Way You Love (I Gotta Give It Back To You) | Explicit | 8153 words 

Stretching, Louis finally pulled the duvet aside and let his feet fall onto the plush rug at his feet. Louis lived for soft, comfortable, plush things. From the fairy lights and fake plants to his plush robe and thick socks, everything in Louis’ little one bedroom apartment was carefully catered to his whimsical and soft aesthetic.

17) My Eyes Want You More Than A Melody | Explicit | 8315 words 

Harry’s brain is short-circuiting at an absolutely awful time, the more expressive side of him is falling to pieces for some reason. The only responses he can give are venerated vibrations and nods, the feeling of Louis’ sweaty skin sliping him further into nothingness. Lightly dewy thighs, so muscular and plush— his lips feel just the same, so dangerously soft, a devious intention lying behind it all. “You’d do anything for me,” Louis mumbles, teeth tugging on Harry’s bottom lip, eyes dragging from his sinfully pink mouth when he lets it go to his hooded green eyes. “Isn't that right, daddy?” Harry whimpers— something that’s so foreign to him— but nods, trailing his hands up his shaved thighs, fingertips passing the hem of the dress.

18) Running Is Different Than Going | Explicit | 9018 words 

Note: The pairing is Louis/OMC.

On the run, the last thing Michael expects from a stranger is help. Louis offers him everything he needs so he can keep running, but makes it harder than ever to continue doing so.

19) Quarantine, Baby! | Teen & Up | 9615 words 

Note: There is no smut, but it contains mpreg Louis, so we’ve included it in this monthly roundup. 

When Harry and Louis get a little too bored in quarantine, they turn to each other for some x-rated entertainment. Then, what starts as a COVID-scare, turns out to be something completely different.

20) Effervescent Horizons | Not Rated | 10676 words 

Note: This is part 6 of this series. There is also no smut, but it contains mentions of bottom Louis, so we’ve included it in this monthly roundup. 

They go to college together!

21) Moments | Explicit | 10726 words 

Looking back, Louis should’ve known that the universe likes to fuck with idiots like him who think they’ve got it all sorted.

Looking back, he should’ve known that the minute he relaxed and let his guard down, when he thought things were going smoothly, that’s when it would hit him.

Looking back, he should’ve known to be on the lookout for a curveball.

He just hadn’t accounted for that curveball to have long legs, green eyes, and dimples; a curveball named Harry Styles.

22) The Blood Is Rare (And Sweet As Cherry Wine) | Explicit | 14270 words 

Note: The sequel to this fic is #8 on this list. 

"Officer, I see you're giving away my secrets already," Harry said as he entered the room.

"It's hardly a secret," Louis accepted the delicate glass, cutting a glance at the man when the underlying scent hit him, "A little early to indulge in such things, isn't it?"

"You've had a long morning, I'm sure. Merely looking after your health, Officer," Harry smiled.

"You don't need to concern yourself with that."

"Someone has to."

23) Violent Delights | Not Rated | 76174 words 

Prince Harry is arranged to mate Princess Charlotte, but first he must spend a month completing courting traditions which ends in a mating ceremony. When he arrives to the Tomlinson castle, he finds the forbidden North wing holds that which the family has worked hard to keep secret. Mainly: the sickly sweet Prince Louis, who’s rare gender has forced his family to keep him locked away for his own protection.

24) Truth Behind Golden Eyes | Explicit | 228727 words 

Louis is a royal servant born with magic in a kingdom where his sole existence is outlawed with a war he has no idea he has a part in upon him. Harry is the prince on whom the burden of mending a broken kingdom falls upon and he might be willing to risk it all for a simple servant if only he admitted it to himself.

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[thewritingginger]

Will It Ever Be The Same? P.1

Ok I made the first part of this idea I had that was going to be a one shot but it was getting kinda long so here's what I've got so far!

The beginning was a trip for me to write/edit when I decided to change the tense it was in 🥴  So forgive any mistakes, I’ve read and edited this as many times as I physically could handle before I got tired of the words on the screen :)

Enjoy ~

Fandom: Blood of Zeus Pairing: Seraphim x Fem! Reader Word count: 4.5k+ words  Warning(s): 16+, Mentions of violence and death, Angst, Fluff, (More might be added over course of writing)

Summary: Seraphim saved you from a pair of boys when you were young and from then on your friendship grew. Everything was perfect till disaster struck, causing you to flee. It’d be 10 year till you saw each other again. Will this rekindled friendship grow to be much more or will it end in disaster once again?

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The midday sun was high in the sky, beating down on the flooded marketplace. There were stall keepers hollering their offers and deals that blended together with the rest of the nonsensical crowded chatter. “Make sure you keep up with me. You wouldn’t want to get lost again.” The boy's mother said, giving him a knowing glance as he refocused on their path.

He stood in a shaded bit by the shop hut as his mother was exchanging herbs and spices for coin pieces. His attention was then drawn to the sound of children yelling.

“Hey, wait up guys!” A girl, younger than he, yelled winded as she chased after a pair of boys.

“Leave us alone! We don’t want a girl with us, you’re too slow!”

“Yeah so go away.” A boy with sandy hair added as he shoved the girl to the ground. The duo started to laugh and make fun of her as she began to cry.

“Well that’s not very nice.” The boy’s mother said, breaking his attention. He turned to her with a raised brow.

“Well not like we can do anything about it.” He shrugged, about to walk away.

“Seraphim.” He stopped. “You should always try to help others if you can.” She smiled at him, sweeping her palm over his hair as she walked past him to the next stall. Letting out a huff he glanced up at the back of her head then back to the girl crying in the dirt.

Walking over to the two boys still joking and laughing he strode right up to the sandy haired boy and shoved him to the ground with a hard thud. “What the heck! What was that for?”

“Now you know how it feels to be pushed in the dirt.” With his hands on his hips Seraphim looked down at the boy then up to his accomplice - who took a step back.

“Whatever.” The boy stood up, dusting himself off. “Let’s get out of here, he can deal with her.” The two of them scampered off through the crowd as Seraphim turned to the sniffling girl.

Looking up she saw his extending hand. Hesitantly she reached for it and got up. “I’m… Seraphim.” He introduced awkwardly as she whipped away the remaining tears and snot on her sleeve.

“I’m Y/n.” She stuttered. “Thanks for helping me.”

“Yeah it was whatever. My mom said it’s good to help people so… that’s why I did it.” He scratched his head and looked around like he wished to be elsewhere than in silence with the snot nosed girl. “Well I’m gonna go, bye.”

“Wait!” She interjects. Twisting her hands together she then shook her head and looked down. “Nevermind.” Seraphim looked at her for a second more and before he could say or do anything else he heard his mother’s voice.

“Seraphim are you ready- Oh hello.” She smiled before looking down at her son. “I saw that some boys were giving you trouble. I hope my son wasn’t one of them.” Seraphim tsked and looked at his mom, a small curve of her lip grew while she kept her gaze towards the girl.

“Oh, no. He actually helped me, he pushed the boy that hurt me and got them to leave.” Seraphim gave a nervous smile to his mom when she raised a brow at him.

“Well I’m glad my boy could help you. I’m Ariana, would you like to join us for lunch?” His mother asked, which caused Seraphim’s head to whip towards her but she just chuckled sweetly.

“Uh, I don’t want to be a bother…” the girl trails off meekly glancing at the dark haired boy before looking to the ground.

“Nonsense! We would love to have you join us. Right Seraphim?” She places her hand on his bare shoulder.

“Yeah, sure.”

~~~

Seraphim’s mom directed the two of you to go hangout in the shade as she gathered a few more things.

Sitting under a tree, Ariana’s back still in sight, you and Seraphim were in silence. He was standing with a  stick in hand, prodding the ground and loosely swinging around like a sword as you ran your fingers in the grass picking at the small white flowers littered about. Growing bored you asked, “How old are you?”

“Twelve.” He responded, crouching down to look in the dirt.

“Oh well I’m ten.” You started to feel like he didn’t want you around because the conversation just teetered off from there.

About 15 minutes later you heard Seraphim’s mom “Okay, are you two ready to get some lunch going?” She smiled at the two of you. Walking a bit ahead of them you noticed Ariana whispering to her son before she directed you towards the entrance of the forest. “This way, my dear.”

After walking for about 10 more minutes you were in a clearing with a river and a small cave. “Wow, do you guys live here?” You asked, looking at the pretty flowers around the edges.

“Yes we do. You know Seraphim was gonna catch us some fish, if you’d like, I’m sure he’d enjoy the help.” You turned to join them by the river and you heard Seraphim give a quiet whine.

“Mom I can do it myself.” His mother just shook her head and walked away to get things together in their rock home. Then it was just you two. Again.

Maybe I should just go help his mom instead You thought, as you turned to walk away Seraphim interrupted you.

“Where are you going? Aren’t you gonna help me?” He asked, looking up from the spear he was sharpening with a pointed look.

“Oh I thought I could go help your mom. I don’t want to get in your way.” Standing up with a small huff he walked away towards the hut leaving you alone by the river. A few minutes later he arrived back, breaking your thoughts as he stuck the base of a spear in the ground next to you, his other hand holding another.

“Here. Now you can actually help me instead of standing around.” He leaned it towards you to take with a trace of a forced smile on his lips.

So for the next hour you were practically just standing in awe of how Seraphim stood in the gentle flowing river looking for fish and throwing his spear in the water. He even tried to teach you the best way to catch fish as well.  “You want to make sure you don’t disrupt the water too much when you move or you’ll scare them away.” You just nodded and focused on what he is doing in hopes to replicate it.

Standing in the middle of the river a few pases away from the boy you suddenly felt something slippery touch your ankle. Letting out a squeal Seraphim looked at you just in time to see you fall back in the water.

“Something just touched me!” Looking up with eyes the size of dinner plates, you just saw Seraphim laughing. Really laughing, with his spear in the water using it as a crutch as his head reared back. “What’s so funny?” You asked, your face began to heat up.

“It was just a fish you scaredy cat.” He said between laughter. “Are you okay?” He walked over to you offering a hand, much like he did earlier in the day but much warmer than before.

Standing up dripping wet you decided you were done “fishing” for one day. Besides, Seraphim had already caught five fish to your zero.

Walking back to the cave where a fire has been made you sat on a log.

A hand rested on your shoulder, “Here Y/n. How about you change into this and we can lay your clothes out to dry.” Ariana said, handing you what looks to be one of her simple cotton dresses. You accepted it and trudged into the cave to do so. The dress, as you expected, was way too big on you. You had to hold the skirt up so it wouldn’t drag on the ground as you made your way back to the fire pit. Seraphim was roasting the fish over the fire, snorted when he saw your new attire. You were right to think you looked ridiculous. “Y/n, you look lovely. Doesn’t she?” Ariana gave her son a look.

“Yup, she sure does.” He said, trying to hold back another chuckle. You just rolled your eyes at him and took a seat.

Ariana laid your drenched clothes out on a giant rock that was soaked in the sun's rays.

From there everything went quite smoothly. You actually ended up spending the rest of the day with them till the sun was beginning to hang low above the horizon. You honestly had so much fun. Once the newness between you two wore off it became much easier to talk and play.

After your clothes weren’t soaking wet anymore you spent much time after eating, running around in the forest and even playing in the river looking for cool rocks.

But all things have to come to an end at some point.

“Y/n, don’t you need to head home? It’ll be nightfall before you know it.” Ariana reminded the two of you of the time. As you walked back to the cave you thanked the woman for allowing you to stay. “It was not trouble. You’re more than welcome to come back anytime, I’m sure Seraphim would enjoy the company as well.” She smiled. The boy in question looked at her.

“Mom!”  He whispered, embarrassed.

“Oh hush now. You should walk her home, make sure she gets back safe.” His mom nudged him forward as she left you two.

At that point walking side by side wasn’t too weird anymore. “Thanks for letting me play with you.” You said.

“Yeah, it was fun.” He smiled.

A few times throughout your journey home the two of you got side tracked, to look at different rocks, flowers and even by an animal passing by.

“That’s my house over there.” You pointed towards a modest cobblestone hut with a straw roof. “Thanks, again.”

Standing at the door Seraphim gave you a nod. “You’re welcome. See ya.” He turned but you stopped him.

“Wait, would you like to- Maybe we can hang out again? There’s a place over here that has a lot of rocks. Maybe you can find some for your collection?” You said, wringing your hands together, admittedly a nervous tic. He thought about it for a few seconds then nodded his head again.

“Sure, that sounds cool. But I should go now before my mom worries. See ya later Y/n.” He said with a slight smile and wave.

~~~

The next few weeks you and Seraphim began hanging out more and more till it became an everyday occurrence. After the first week Seraphim’s mom wasn’t even surprised by your presence.

“Good, you two are just in time to help me pick apples.”

That day you met their bears. It came as quite a startle when you just saw a bear walking up from behind Seraphim. “Oh my god, there's a bear!”

“Don’t worry, these guys won't hurt you.”  He said as he scratched the animal next to him. Taking a few experimental steps forward, the bear accepted your touch when Seraphim guided your hand atop the creature's head. It’s black fur was so soft you couldn’t help but wrap your fingers in it and smile. Then not only did you have Seraphim to play with but also a few adorable bear cubs to pet and roll around with as well.

~~~

Though all this joy would soon come to an end a few short weeks later.

You and Seraphim were fishing in the river a bit away from his home. That day he brought his bow and you your spear. You were actually getting better and even managed to catch one that day. Heading back to the camp laughing Seraphim stopped abruptly making you bump into him. “Hey, wha-”

“Shh.” He cut you off. You felt uneasy by the seriousness on his once smiling face. You heard male voices and then a woman’s cry. Sticking close behind him, he crept around the lightly wooded area of your destination. Peering through the foliage of the forest you saw that it was Seraphim’s mother who cried and she was with company that seemed less than welcomed. There was a group of men holding swords talking to Ariana that was kneeling on the ground before one of them.

“Where’s the boy?” The man barked.

Seraphim? You look at your friend, his eyes glued on his mom. The grip on his bow tightened.

“I swear there is no one here but-” Her pleas are cut off by a sharp smack, you saw Seraphim’s body tense as if he was about to stand up. You grabbed the cloth around his waist to silently stop him, your eyes pleading. He glared at you, eyes locked. As you are growing more frightened you can see the fire in him was building.

Your staring contest was broken by a new voice. There was another  woman the man referred to as Ariana’s sister. Your blood ran cold when you witnessed her apologizing before one of the men stabbed their sword through the back of her neck. Covering your mouth your eyes began to brim over with tears. Seraphim’s reaction was just as shocked till he saw another man grab his mother’s neck, strangling her.

Pulling out one of the arrows he readied his bow, his mother looked at the two of you with worry filled eyes. They were screaming for you to run, to leave before the two of you were hurt. Which was exactly what everything inside you was telling you to do but your body felt numb and unable to move. You were then soon brought back to earth when Seraphim released the arrow into the back of that man’s skull, the head sticking out his mouth.

Before climbing the tree he shoved you to the ground. “Get out of here!” His command startled you. You couldn’t just leave him.

After that everything happened so fast it felt like daze. First the bears you’ve played with countless times charged in mauling the men as Seraphim shot arrows at others. Then everything slowed when you saw your friend racing towards his mother as the man in charge grabbed her and sliced his blade across her throat, a wicked grin you’ll never forget played on his lips. Your heart broke for the loss for your friend and from his cry.

You wanted to look away or run, anything besides watching this nightmare playing out before you. The family you found was getting cut down one by one. The bears, Ariana, and all that was left was Seraphim.

You wanted to scream. Get to him. Anything to stop what was happening in front of your eyes. But you couldn’t. What could’ve you done? You could barely catch a fish without Seraphim’s help so you were forced to watch him face off against a grown man with a sword. This can’t be happening! Run! Your mind was pleading but you were frozen in fear once again. No matter how much you prayed to the gods it was all a dream and to make it stop, it didn’t.

Then in a horrifying moment you witnessed the vicious man’s blade strike down Seraphims face. He fell and so did you. Hiding behind the bushes your palms cupped over your mouth, trying to muffle your tears and quickened breath. Then once more a fire was lit under your ass when you heard more screams from the men and the roar of another bear. This time you got up and ran like Seraphim told you to. Glancing back all you saw was someone riding away on a horse and the blurred image of two figures crumpled on the ground.

~ 10 years later ~

For the past few years you’ve been working odd jobs where you can to earn coin. You’ve swept shop fronts, washed and fed horses, and stocked shop stalls with newly delivered goods.

At the moment you were working at a small tavern, filling drinks and cleaning tables.

You were out front serving a couple when you heard some commotion.

“Hey! Watch where you are going asshole!” A man yelled to another.

Probably just a drunk that wasn’t watching where he was going and is looking for a fight. The man just tsks, “Freak.” Before walking past you. Looking up, you catch a glimpse of the man he was referring to as he was pulling his hood back up. You paused. 

That guy- 

But you’re pulled from your thoughts by a voice. “Excuse me.” An older woman calls you, cup held up. You sighed and got back to work.

~~~

Another long day of work is over, thankfully. “Okay, I’m heading home. See ya tomorrow.” You wave to your friend as you leave through the back of the tavern. Turning the corner you see a large figure in a cloak. It resembles the man you couldn’t shake from your thoughts some weeks ago. You decide, against your better judgment, to take a detour and circle around a building hoping to be in a position to catch another look at his face. You don’t allow yourself a moment to really answer yourself as to why it was so important, you just let your legs guide the way.

Crossing the road, the evening sun casting it in a warm orange glow, you stopped at an abandoned stall that was shaded behind the building, trying to get a look of him from the corner of your eye.

Then your eyes locked!

You looked down and tried to walk away as nonchalantly as possible but you were stopped by a booming voice.

“Why are you following me?” The mystery man asks. You froze, turning on your heel to face him. You are about to respond when your words get caught in your throat. You must’ve looked like an idiot with your mouth ajar. It can’t be, can it? He gives a tsk as he begins to step away

“Seraphim?” You finally say. It came out as more of a whisper to yourself but he must’ve heard cause now it was his turn to freeze. You shake your head, That’s ridiculous! “I-I’m sorry. I must have the wrong-”

“How do you know my name?” He cuts you off, turning towards you, advancing a few steps. His build is much more threatening at a closer distance and his question certainly didn’t help. Though it was more of a command. You just open and close your mouth to find the words. Any words, literally anything at all would work just so you could stop looking like a fool that hit their head. Which you might have because this can’t be happening.

“Is it really you?” He just squints his eyes. “You remember me right? We played together a lot as children.” You can tell your words have begun to sink in the more his eyes scanned you, his face drops. Standing there, nerves getting the better of you, you began to rub your palms together awaiting his response. You’d be relieved even if he just spat a “fuck you” in your face cause than atleast there wouldn’t be this deafening silence. Unable to keep his gaze you look away but you can still feel his eyes burning a hole into the side of your head.

“…Y/n?” He finally says. Your name travels hesitantly past his lips. You feel like you might pass out or scream or just simply cry cause it’s him. It’s really him!

His expression reads the same as yours. For a final silent second of looking over each other you take a tentative step towards him, he stays like a statue.

Standing before him you think about touching him.

He is just like you remember, minus the height and strong build, his tanned skin and long brown hair you were always so jealous of. Though when your eyes reach his face yours falls, he notices and turns his away slightly.

His eye.

The right one is the same hue of obsidian as you remember but his left is cut through with a scar and left white.

That must have been from that day. You shudder at the thought.

Reaching up your palm grazes his cheek, he stiffens from your touch. You don’t know why you did that. Maybe you just needed proof that this wasn’t all a dream. That your old friend really is flesh and blood before you.

Turning his gaze to yours, you tilt your head taking him in. He really is the Seraphim you remember just… hardened.

“I- I thought you died.” You say, voice threatening to cry, because perhaps some part of him did that day and in the years apart.

He stays silent a moment longer, you assume it’s due to the similar shock you’re feeling. But then he pulls your hand away before turning. “You’d be better off keeping it that way.”

His body moves further into the shadows and you feel your blood begin to heat up. Does he really think he can just walk away like that?

Stomping after him you catch his shoulder and spin him back towards you, his brows raised. “What’s the big idea? What do you mean I should keep it that way?” Your hands are on your hips, chest is heaving. Unsure as to why you’re reacting like this you just keep your eyes locked with his.

“Do you have any idea how many nights I spent beating myself up for not going to you? The countless years I’ve spent wishing I could see you again? Just for you to tell me, now that that would be possible, that it’s better that I think you dead?”

After your outburst your arms drop to your side. You look up hoping to halt the tears threatening to seep out and just when you were about to tell him to forget it he responds.

“I don’t know what you’re hoping for Y/n but -” He trails off.

“You want to know what I was hoping for? That you were alive and I could see you just one last time even if that was all I’d be allowed.” You let out a breathy chuckle. “Call it pathetic if you want but… you were my only friend and I missed you. I mean it became pretty lonely without you.” You wipe away a loose tear that betrayed your will.

“Then what do you want?” He asks. You look back up with glossy eyes.

“Meet me tomorrow. I have work but I’ll be off two hours till nightfall and if either of us wants to leave after, then that will be that.” You say matter of factly with your hands on your hips. Another moment passes with him in silence. You let out a defeated sigh. “You know what, forget it.”

“I never said no.” His eyes bore into you in thought before continuing. “Meet me at the river.”

And that was it.  He turned and walked back into the dimming streets, hood pulled high before you could say anything else.

So to say you were a bit shaken would be an understatement. Walking home you just kept replaying the image of his face and his voice.

He’s changed so much. Well of course he has, it's been a decade since you last saw him. He’s practically a stranger at this point.

A stranger…

And you’re going to be meeting with said stranger at the river before dusk tomorrow. Leaning against the door of your home you knock the back of your head against the wood. Y/n, what have you gotten yourself into?

Getting through the door you just flop yourself onto your bed, not bothering to change. The whole night was spent tossing and turning thinking about the coming day.

This is a bad idea! You don’t even know him. I mean sure he is your friend but what if he isn’t the boy you remembered? What if things are weird? What if he’s... different?

You somehow managed to sleep, though your unconscious mind was still spinning with thoughts of Seraphim. You had a dream, a memory actually. One you almost forgot.

~~~

You were running around in the forest like you guys did countless times. But this time the two of you were ‘battling’ but you were doing a lot more running than fighting.

“Come back and face me! For I the mighty Seraphim will take you down!” The raven hair boy declared boisterously, making you laugh. The air was filled with the sound of rustling leaves and laughter from the two of you. You saw a clearing up a head which would make a perfect arena. However, you didn’t make it there before your foot got caught on an outstretched tree root. Tumbling to the ground you let out a small cry. “Y/n! Are you okay?”

Seraphim kneeled beside you on the damp earth. Looking you over he sees you clutching your knee to your chest. “Let me see it.” He said. You removed your hands to show him, you scraped your knee pretty badly. It was starting to bleed a little but nothing too unmanageable. “Stay here, I'll be right back.” He instructed before rushing towards his home.

About 10 minutes passed and your tears had stopped, though you were sure your eyes were red and your nose snotty. You hear rustling coming towards you and looking up you see the boy returning with a small pale of water and a cloth. “My mom is still at the market so this is the best I could do.”

He soaked the clean cloth in the water and started to wipe your wound. “OUCH!” Your knee jerked away from his touch.

“Sorry. But you need to wash it so it doesn't get worse.” You nodded your head and allowed him to continue. You kept wincing and hissing every so often.

Whilst cleaning your knee Seraphim saw you had a big splinter. “Uh this might hurt but I’ll do it quickly.” He tried to reassure you. Bracing yourself he took out the small piece of wood, you actually started to cry again - which felt embarrassing.

Once your knee was as clean as he could get it he then wrapped the clean side of the cloth around your knee. “Are you okay?” He asked, his onyx eyes laced with concern.

“Yeah, thanks.” you sniffle, wiping away the tears from your cheeks. Seraphim leaned towards you and placed a small peck on your cheek, which startled you. “What are you doing?”

“Uh, well I uh- you were hurt so I gave you a kiss better.” He hastily stuttered as he got up and dusted himself off. Without looking at you he extended his hand for you to take. “We should head back, my mom should be there by now.” He then took your hand and started walking back.

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Wow. Okey if you made it through that I hope you enjoyed it. This start feels a bit rocky but lets hope it only goes up from here 😅  

I’m definitely more of a One shots & HCs kinda girl not a big Fic writer, perhaps that’s because I haven’t done much multi part/”chapter” writing before so 🤷🏻‍♀️

If you enjoyed this let me know your thoughts :3

💛 ~

~ Masterlist ~

[onyxheartbeat]

Dear HIM/Ville Valo fans,

this is a long post but I must discuss this.

________

I came across this interview of Kat Von D from a few days ago. Before I get into my thoughts, below is a passage from her old book “Go Big or Go Home” which you may or may not have read. She wrote about Ville:

________

“I only knew his music, and I loved it on first listen. It was dark and it was beautiful. It was metal and it was poetry. It was love loaded into a gun, and I wondered about the man behind the songs.  Two years later, our paths crossed, and like the majority of the connections I’ve made in life, tattooing brought us together. Through our first tattoo sessions, we began to get to know each other. For the next few years, I just thought of him as my friend from overseas, and that was all. Then, after knowing him for six years, something changed. It could have been the wine, the music, or the moon. Most likely it was just perfect timing. Just one kiss, and he changed my world. We were both sad back then, and lost. I was depressed, having finally ended a marriage that had been doomed from the beginning. I was also dealing with the pressures of filming a television show, which was totally new to me - and drinking my way blindly through it all. His story mirrored mine, and he had been feeling just as low. We had been waiting for something to happen, for someone or something to come along and save us from ourselves. And when it suddenly seemed that that someone was each other, it took us both by surprise. We shared darkness, and doing that bought light back into our somber worlds: for once, we didn’t feel alone.He’s the reason why I wanted to write music to begin with - and learn to sing. I remember the exact moment I made up my mind about making music. It was something I felt I needed to do, not for any reason other than a way to respond to him. It didn’t matter if the songs I’d write never saw the light of day, as long as he was able to listen to my music, my message to him. He had told me to look for a package at my door step, prefacing the delivery of the contents, his new album, saying, “These are all of the things that are easier sung than said.”I knew what he meant, but never imagined that each song would be filled with direct messages to me. I put the album on, and the music rushed out of the speakers and filled my house. His voice rang all around, making it’s way to the core of my heart with every word he sang. As cryptic as those lyrics may have been for anyone else, I knew exactly what each word meant and recognized every event and place he referred to. The songs were so beautiful, I just wished so badly that he could have said everything out loud just once to me. How should I respond to something like this? Where do I even start?The first time I saw him after I got sober, he was in town working on music. We sat in my office at the shop until the late hours of the night, talking and catching up about everything - music, home, art and work. Did we talk about love? No. We constantly danced around our past instead. What happened to us? I couldn’t find the courage to ask because I was scared of the answer I already knew. We decided to draw, with pencils and paper in front of us, we sat at opposite ends of the table. He pulled my three-minute timer from one of the nearby shelves, and placed it at the center of the table. He suggested we draw each other, and I was game. With a flip of the hourglass, the grains of sand moved from one vessel to the other, and we began.Sketching these timed portraits forced us to stare at each other, making it practically impossible to focus on the drawing itself. I had almost forgotten how beautiful his face was. He has a combination of eyes, lips, and a darkness to his looks that makes him look almost otherworldly. With him, I felt like I was at the center of an orderly, tranquil, magnificent universe. For those short three minutes, there were no questions about life or purpose. It was as if we never needed any more from each other than this.Like all people, I’ve suffered from love sickness and tasted the pain of love. The theatrical director of my mind, the one who staged all these versions of him and my life with him, seemed to be unaffected by reason. I was finding myself constantly day dreaming of the past.His eyes, his hands, his crooked smile - I’d ruminate over his features. Things he said. Things he did. Things he wrote. Things he drew. Things he sang. Over and over again, I’d sift through these images and memories as if they somehow contained the answer to my prayers. But I was living with a long-age memory of him; living so far away from the present moment.If we had spoken about what we were or what we thought we were, back when we got sober, I wouldn’t have been so confused, wandering what if, and writing the rest of our story in my mind. What did I expect? For him to magically not hear about me being in a relationship? And to not be bothered by it? If only he would have asked….. I would have….. If we could have only talked….. then things would be….. if we allowed ourselves to transform our fears of being open, vulnerable, then, I’d convince myself, we would be together. I realized that none of that mattered now. If I wanted to be free of this unrequited longing, I would have to make peace with the past and finally let it go. There was no way around it. But did I want to be free of it? - and him?I listened to one of his songs the other day. Out of all the songs he wrote on that album, this one was the most direct. He sings my name in the chorus. By the time the song is over, I’ve felt a range of emotions - I’m sad but happy, frustrated but calm. He sings about how I alone bring him to a place of stillness and peace within when we are together. What a victorious feeling - to enter into a place with him where no one else has been. To be able to bring goodness to and draw it out of someone. Those sweet thoughts were interrupted by  an e-mail from him. Impeccable timing as always. It’s just a short note, letting me now he’s somewhere out there, thinking of me. He ends the message by calling me “Star Face” - his pet name for me from long ago that no one else uses. At that moment, I loathe him for it. I loathe him because I love him. Sometimes it feels like it would be so much easier to walk away from this if he’d just tell me that he hates me, that he wants nothing to do with me. But instead he calls me “Star Face.” There is no way he doesn’t know what he’s doing. He’s not letting go, either.‘Ultimately, it is the desire, not the desired, that we love.’The silver plane hurtled over Newfoundland, over the Labrador sea. Someone told me I might see the northern lights as I fly east and north, but I wouldn’t have noticed as I was deep in writing the letter that I had already mentally composed long before I decided to make this trip to see him over New Year’s Day. I didn’t have to edit myself this time, I knew exactly what the letter would say.I reread the note to myself before sealing the envelope. Then I drew out the first letter of his name in pencil on the front. What a beautiful letter it was, probably my favorite out of the entire alphabet. A letter I was so used to writing myself. With ease the swirls and curves of each arch seemed to flow from my heart, my mind’s eye, drawn in and through my arms to my hands, releasing themselves onto the pale ivory paper envelope. My plane landed soon after.I had missed this country, I had missed him, too. I wondered how time had treated him ,for it had been a few years since I had last seen him. I wondered if I still had the ability to quiet his heart when he was feeling manic. He always said I had a way of doing that when I was near. And I wondered if he even needed me in that way anymore.When we met up, he looked just as beautiful as the day we saw each other for the first time, almost ten years before. And as if no time had passed, we started right where we left off - hours flew by in the comfort of each other’s presence. Talking. Catching up.He asked if I was getting sleepy, and my attempt at concealing the tiredness was transparent. I looked at the clock; maybe it was the jet lag or the clock hands pointing to midnight, but I knew it was time to say good-bye. Reluctantly, we both stood up and tried our best to part ways. As good as it felt to be near him again, I gave him the letter I had written letting him know that I was letting the nation of us go. He took the sealed envelope, and then I watched him walk away for what I assumed would be the last time.My heart didn’t belong locked up in a tower across the ocean from my home. It belonged in my chest, beating, living, feeling, sometimes hurting, but always loving. I deserved to be free, and understanding and needing that more than a dream, I was finally able to let him go.”

_________

Now, let me start by saying, I’ve never understood this and I still don’t. I’ve had that passage saved in my drafts for years because I keep almost anything pertaining to Ville. 

I’ve been a HIM fan since I was about 15 years old, and have followed Ville’s life and work closely. The friendship between them was always apparent to HIM fans in those days, because we saw her in photos with the band often. I used to watch Miami Ink and LA Ink as regularly as pretty much anyone in those days, and I remember when this particular passage of her book was brought to light, the HIM fan base read it and we all had our thoughts. We were all aware of Screamworks being written about Kat (it’s obvious in the lyrics of the album) even though Ville never specifically said Kat’s name when asked about it in interviews.

I remember being baffled back when we as HIM fans discovered this passage from the book. I couldn’t imagine not making that relationship work if it was true love. I’m a bit biased because I adore Ville and he’s like a dream to me, but I just couldn’t understand it. It seemed like she took the relationship for granted or she didn’t love him enough to make it work; but I digress. I get it; love and relationships are complex.

Still, flash forward to this recent interview (the screenshot), she says it was unrequited love, and I’m still not understanding it. Why release all the songs now? Why didn’t she make it work if it was true love? Who is she trying to say was the one not reciprocating (as the word “unrequited” suggests) in the relationship? I don’t understand any of it. More than anything, I’ve had so many questions that I wish I could ask Ville about it all because he only spoke briefly about it all, and it was always rather cryptic. 

I’m only writing this as a HIM fan, and because I love Ville and his lyrics on Screamworks so, so much (it’s an extremely underrated album in the HIM discography, in my opinion) so I’m letting any fellow HIM lovers know she wrote an album in response to it, in case you’re interested. I haven’t followed Kat or her work in many years, so I don’t know what to make of all this, but it’s always been extremely apparent to me when listening to Screamworks that a lot of heart went into it and even pain, not that his lyrics on other albums aren’t like that too, but I felt it more on Screamworks. I feel that Ville was the one who was truly heartbroken.

You all probably know from following my blog that I’m obsessed with love and unrequited love. Any romantic stories, bittersweet letters, heartbreak, longing etc. is just my favorite thing in the world so please excuse the long post, haha.

[mellow-em]

Bittersweet Temptations

CHAPTER 3

[special dts: @bluewingedangel @siennamariia <3]

Your neighbors, Nathan and Elena, have been friends with your parents for years. Whether it’d be family gatherings or vacations, they were around; they were family. But when you return home from your final years of college, what will happen when you find that it isn't just them living in the house next door anymore?

_____________________________________

I wanted to say something.

I knew based on the long expressions plastered across their faces, that they were waiting impatiently for me to say something too.

But I physically couldn’t.

A knot cemented itself at the back of my throat, suffocating me as I tried to swallow. I could feel my mouth suffer through a drought as I did so.

All I could do was look at the three of them, internally wallowing in embarrassment with a load of questions making my head spin.

How could Nate and Elena keep something like that from me? What were they thinking? No. What was I thinking?

Suddenly, the voices of people scattered amongst the yard became too loud. Though, the stares directed towards me were louder.

“Y/n can you say something?”

Without even thinking, I felt my body turn away from them, and I carried myself away.

“Y/n?” I could hear Elena calling after me.

“I’ll just be a minute” I finally croaked back to her, relieved that I could finally get a word out.

I rushed past the deck towards the side of the house.

I knew in the back of my mind that I was being ridiculous. It wasn’t something to run away from; knowing they probably felt just as awkward telling me.

But I had to get away from Sam.

I couldn’t bear standing there while his smug grin could be seen in the corner of my eye.

It was driving me crazy.

Why does he insist on making this hard on me?

I continued to let my feet travel, not even worried about where I would end up. It felt good to step away from the chaos that my parents organized, for a while anyway.

But I soon found myself at the dead end of the street, in front of the wooded patches that lined the edges of the pavement; sectioning off the neighborhood from the forest.

Without any hesitation, I stepped past the barricading trees, and onto the trail that led to a place of sanctuary.

A small body of water sat on the indented ground, with blooming ferns and bushes fencing it. Farther away from the pond, large rocks collected together, forming makeshift seats to take in the atmosphere.

It looked like it belonged in a cheesy disney movie, or a landscape renaissance painting.

I found this place with Nate when I was little, and since then I would escape here when things become too much to handle.

I sat myself down on one of the largest slabs of rock, almost seeing the memories with Nate passing around me in the form of faded visuals; they were almost ghost-like.

I took myself into these moments one by one; succumbing to the laughter, the playfulness, the smiles, the thrill.

Even though I love my parents more than anything, the bundles of memories Nate and I shared, showed me a glimpse of adventure that my parents couldn’t give me.

The overwhelming feeling of contentment pushed a smile onto my face.

But in an instant, it all faded.

Sam.

That one moment with him feasted on my conscious mind like a ravenous vulture. It made my stomach churn in the worst possible way.

I sunk my head into my hands, huffing in frustration.

That is, until I heard a few raucous cracks of leaves and sticks not too far from me.

I fix my posture while whipping my head towards the direction of the noise, only to be met with guilty eyes.

Nathan stood there, leaning his upper body on the stiff trunk of a tree.

Perfect timing, Nate..

My lips flatlined as I scratched at the corner of my forehead, “Hey.”

He steps closer, leisurely but surely.

“Hey,” he gestures to the vacant space next to me, “can I?”

“Yeah.”

Placing both of his hands on his thighs, he plops down next to me, slightly grunting. We sat there in silence; but it wasn’t peaceful, it was impatient.

The both of us were longing to say something to one another, but neither of us preferred confrontation in the slightest. So we sat there, staring at the grove.

“It’s been a while since we’ve been here.”

I look over to him, noticing the tinge of nostalgia sketched upon his features.

“uh yeah.. yeah it really has,” I release a breath, reverting my eyes back to the pond, “almost 5 years.”

It was two days before I left for college. Screaming echoed throughout the house, and reverberated through my head, overwhelming my senses.

My parents chalked it up to being stressed over ‘my big move,’ which I can believe. But the words said that day pushed its way through me. I finally had enough of the nonsense and hollered back at them.

Big mistake. ‘you’re an absolute failure’ They said, ‘you’re never gonna go far.’

Long story short, I ran out of the house, and into the forest. I sat on this same rock, with tears planting glistening streams down my face.

Nate apparently heard the commotion, which wasn’t too surprising, and he made his way to me.

He didn’t even say a word before wrapping his arms around me; embracing me with a comforting warmth that slowly eased me back to normal.

‘Sic Parvis Magna,’ He said.

I was more than confused with those few words, until he began to speak once more.

‘Greatness from small beginnings. Now this isn’t exactly small, you know, with you leaving me here to go to college and all. But it is a new beginning- your new beginning. Don’t let anyone stop you from moving forward.’

That was the last day I saw this beautiful spot of ours, and the last time I really had a solid conversation with Nate; it made the final memory bittersweet at best.

“It really hasn’t changed a bit though.”

“Probably because change is dining elsewhere,”I tried to whisper under my breath, but unfortunately, he heard me loud and clear.

I look up at him in the corner of my eye, noticing his presence fall into a sea of guilt again.

He runs his hand through his surprisingly neatened hair, letting out a sigh that releases all of his proper posture.

“Look, y/n, I wanted to tell you. I really did. But it’s just-”

“Nate all I gotta ask is why? Why would you keep something that major from me?”

I had my body fully turned to face him now, while he still remained there; slouched with his head bowed to his fidgety hands.

I could tell he was stalling, swallowing his responses with force.

“Nate. Just tell me. Please.”

His eyes closed as he exhaled, “It’s a very long story.”

“I’ve got plenty of time.”

“Not exactly.” Roars of laughter within the distance cause both of us to look at the trail leading out of the woods, “we’ve still got a party going on, which happens to be for you, if I may add-”

“Seriously Nate, you think I care?” I was growing fretful, mentally pleading for him to just give up on excuses.

His hands raised in defense, “Fine, fine, okay..”

———

It didn’t even occur to us how long we’d been out here until the streams of sunlight disappeared from the ruptures in between the trees. The day was just replaced with the beginning of nightfall.

“So you’re telling me that Sam, your brother...who was presumed dead for 15 years, dragged you out across the globe to find Henry Avery’s treasure in 3 months because a drug lord was gonna kill him if you didn’t?”

Nate stifled a low chuckle, nodding along.

“So I take it you found it and gave the son of a bitch his cut? Well, since he’s alive and all-”

“Hey, language missy.” He attempted a scolding tone, but I could see through his thin facade.

I rolled my eyes, shoving him playfully,“Haha very funny. Now answer the question mister.”

“Well, it turns out the son of a bitch was Sam. He uh- lied about the whole thing.”

My eyes widened, “Wait what? So the drug lord- the sole purpose of the treasure hunt..”

“Yep it was all bullshit.”

I averted my wide-eyed gaze from him to the pond that was now lit with the blaring lights of fireflies,“Wow. I’m surprised no one got the chance to kick him in the face.. or balls.”

“Yeah Rafe- he pretty much took care of that one..”

The both of us laughed, causing a few birds to flutter away from the branches closest to us.

I missed this.

“Figured I’d find you two here.”

As our fit died down, we glanced over to a beaming Elena emerging from the trail with her arms crossed over her chest.

“I told your parents that you were comin’ over with us. I assumed you wanted some space from all the chaos.”

I showed my relief in the form of a warm simper, up until the realization punched me in the face.

Sam is gonna be there.

My body tensed, becoming a stiff statue in place. The lack of saliva in my mouth was back, and I felt my breath hitch silently.

I guessed the two of them noticed my change in demeanor.

“Are you okay y/n? You don’t have to if you don’t want to,” Elena’s tone was gentle, as her grin faltered slightly.

“No no it’s fine it’s just- it’s nothing don’t worry,”I abruptly stood up, scratching at my forehead again, “lets go, back.”

“You sure?,” I felt Nate’s arm fall over my shoulders, giving me a faint squeeze as the three of us trudged down the path.

I needed to take my mind off of Sam, hopefully I can avoid him.

“Yeah..” my voice trailed off, “as long as I get to play a certain game that I happened to have the highest score of.” walking confidently with my head held high, I could still see Nate rolling his eyes.

“Actually, Elena has since claimed that title for herself.” Nate said frankly.

A dramatic gasp escapes my lips,“Elena, are you kidding me!”

“Hey, don’t get mad at the pregnant lady here,” she looks back at Nate and I as we continue to walk down the trail, “how about this: you two compete to try and beat my high score.”

Nate looks down at me with the same contemplative look I give him.

“And what’s the catch, hun?” Nate asks.

“Loser gets pushed or thrown into the pool.”

Well well well, Elena’s finally getting in on our shenanigans.

I smirked, “This is gonna be light work.”

“Oh really now? I just know you’re secretly afraid that I’m gonna win.”

“Sure, Nate. I’m not gonna lose, you’re all bark and no bite.”

It was his turn to let out a theatrical breath,“How dare you accuse me of such a thing?”

While Nate and I went on with our child like banter, Elena laughed hysterically at our foolishness,“You two are absolutely ridiculous.”

Nate glances back at me, only this time his fist patiently waited in front of me for a fist bump, “you ready to get destroyed?”

I scoff, hitting my fist on his, “You’re on.”

[lunar-wandering]

Lanterns and Lies

surprise!! here we go, the sequel to Glamours and Gauze!

Word Count: 7k

Read on Ao3

-

Macaque had lied, when he said the shadow lantern was gone.

When the Lady Bone Demon had caught him, she had made a specific note of needing the lantern.

And, well, Macaque wouldn't let that happen.

So he'd shattered it, again, and during the Lady Bone Demon's momentary shock, he'd taken the opportunity to gather the broken pieces and run.

One of her minions had cut him with the cursed knife while he was running away.

That didn't matter now though, his injuries had been healed, and the Lady Bone Demon had yet to make another move. For now, sitting on the roof of the noodle shop, he was safe.

He starred down at the shattered pieces of the lantern in his hands.

With a sigh, he carefully extended his magic, putting the pieces back together again, reforming the lantern. He held it gently in his hands as he looked around the roof.

Now where was he gonna hide this-

"Macaque, I brought plums!"

Macaque startled upon hearing MK's voice, he'd been so distracted focusing on putting the lantern back together, he hadn't even heard the other climb up the ladder to the roof.

The.....lantern....

Which he told MK was gone....

In a rush to avoid MK seeing the lantern, Macaque did the first thing he thought of.

He shoved the lantern into himself, letting it mix into his own magic. Not the smartest way of storing it, it was a highly magical item, who knows how it would act while in direct contact with his magic, but it was the first thing he could think of, and this was only a temporary measure, so it should be fine.

....Probably.

"Hey bud, what's up?" Macaque asked, turning around to face MK, who was setting a small bowl of plums on the ground. "...What are the plums for?"

"You said that if I brought you some plums, you'd tell me about the time Monkey King walked into a tree." MK said, "And I fully expect you to keep your end of the bargain."

"Yeah, yeah, okay." Macaque said, grabbing the bowl of plums. "Well you see, what happened was-"

-

"That had to be the stupidest shit you've ever pulled, Wukong." Macaque said, breathing heavily as he leaned against a tree. Wukong for his part, just smirked.

"I didn't see you try to stop me." He said, laughing as Macaque glared at him.

"I did try to stop you. Multiple times. But you didn't listen." He said, "You really need to stop picking a fight with every random person you meet."

"You're no fun at all." Wukong said, yawning as he stretched. Macaque rolled his eyes.

"Whatever." He said, "Anyways, we should probably head back to the cave, get some rest-"

"I'm not tired." Wukong said.

"You literally yawned a few seconds ago."

"Doesn't mean I'm tired. Besides, there's still more stuff to do." Wukong said, turning and walking off further into the mountain's forest, Macaque trailing behind him. As they walked, Macaque noticed Wukong start slouching, little by little. He didn't say anything though, knowing that Wukong would only deny it if asked.

It would be better just to watch and deal with the consequences when they came.

And oh boy, did the consequences come: in the form of Wukong turning a corner and immediately walking directly into a tree. The tree snapped in half, falling to the ground, with Wukong tumbling down after it. There was a loud thump, as dust and leaves were sent flying into the air. A few nearby birds called out in concern.

"Timber." Macaque said, a smirk on his face, walking over and crouching down beside where Wukong now lay on his back with a dazed expression on his face. "So. Not tired, huh?"

"Shut up." Wukong hissed, sitting up, pulling dirt and leaves out of his fur as he did so. "The tree just. Got in my way, that's all-"

"You're expecting me to believe that a tree got up and put itself in your path?" Macaque asked, "Wukong. I'm not stupid. Let's just hurry up and go back to the cave to rest already."

"I'm fine." Wukong said, moving to stand up, but wobbling a little, tipping backwards again-

Macaque caught him, keeping him from having another close encounter with the ground.

-

"I ended up having to carry him all the way back up the mountain." Macaque said, making little images with his shadows in order to give MK a better visual of what happened. "He ended up sleeping for like, 3 days. Took him still being tired when he woke up again for me to realize he'd gotten cursed. Wasn't hard to break it afterwards, but boy did Wukong protest the whole time. Practically had to tie him to his bed."

MK scribbled in his sketch book, and Macaque, out of curiosity, moved closer, looking over MK's shoulder to see a sketch of what Macaque had just described.

"....You're drawing this?" He asked. MK nodded.

"Yeah! I've got a lifetime goal of illustrating all of Monkey King's adventures!" MK said, pausing his sketching to show Macaque a quick flip through of the rest of the book. "...You got any other stories?"

"Lots." Macaque said, leaning back. "But you're gonna have to bring more plums if you want more stories. I'm not just gonna hand this info out for free."

"Of course, of course." MK said, standing up and walking back over to the ladder, mumbling to himself as he climbed back down. "I'm going to have to permanently add plums to my shopping list...."

Macaque stayed where he was, waiting patiently until he couldn't hear MK anymore, before letting out a relieved sigh.

That had been close.... No matter what, he couldn't let the others know that he still had the lantern. Revealing that would probably cause the others to push him away, they wouldn't trust him anymore, and he really couldn't have that. Hanging around them was the most advantageous position for him to be in right now, and he wasn't about to give it up any time soon.

...He still needed a place to hide it permanently, keeping it inside of himself probably wouldn't be a good idea in the long term. With that thought in mind, he mentally reached inwards with his magic, shadows starting to surround him as he prepared to take the lantern out-

"Hey, Macaque!"

Macaque startled again, the shadows that had condensed around him vanishing as though they'd been popped like party balloons as he whirled around to see-

Mei, who giggled at his shocked expression, holding up her phone and taking a quick picture of him before pocketing it.

"Would you two stop doing that?" Macaque asked, sighing as Mei circled around him.

"Hey, it's not my fault you didn't hear me coming." Mei said, giggling at the expression on Macaque's face. "Seriously, with all those ears you have it's a wonder you didn't-"

"What do you want." Macaque growled, "You wouldn't be here if you didn't want something."

"Wouldn't I?"

That. Wasn't a question Macaque felt that he could answer. He honestly couldn't think of a reason why any of MK's friends would want to be around him, but they hadn't really been pushing him away either....

Mei seemed a little concerned with how he'd suddenly gone silent though, so it was probably best to quickly change the subject.

"Ah, anyways, I have some stuff to do, so I don't really have time for you." Macaque said, walking past Mei and over to the edge of the rooftop. Distantly, he noted a weird tingling sensation come over him, but he ignored it, figuring it wasn't important.

"Oh, now that's a lie." Mei said, a smirk on her face. "You never do anything other than lounge around up here."

"Do not." Macaque said, crossing his arms. "I do plenty, you just haven't noticed."

"Oh yeah? Like what?"

Macaque pondered for a moment on how best to answer-

And that was when his foot started sinking into the shadow underneath of him.

Outwardly, Macaque remained perfectly calm, not letting Mei in on the fact that anything was amiss.

Inwardly, he panicked.

That was definitely not supposed to be happening, why was it happening it shouldn't be happening why was he l o s i n g  c o n t r o l-

He was snapped out of his panic when he heard the sound of an engine starting up behind him. Subtly looking over his shoulder, he could see MK, ready to drive off, probably to deliver some noodles.

Macaque made his decision in a split second.

Turning and pulling his foot out of the shadow it'd been sinking into, Macaque jumped off the roof. Ignoring Mei's shout of "Hey, wait!", he slipped into the shadow of the tuk tuk, just before MK started to drive away.

-

Macaque hung out in the shadow of the tuk tuk for about 15 minutes before he actually bothered to wonder where exactly MK was going.

MK slowed down a bit as he turned a corner, and Macaque figured it was as good a time as any to ask.

Carefully, he materialized on the back of the tuk tuk, then, after making sure there wasn't anything around for MK to accidentally hit should he swerve, asked;

"Where are you going?"

MK's foot slammed on the brakes, the tires screeching and Macaque almost falling off from the sudden inertia. As soon as they were still, MK whirled around, staring at Macaque, shocked.

"How long have you been there?" He asked, and the expression on his face genuinely made Macaque laugh.

"Oh, not very long." Macaque said, "I was riding along in the shadow for the most part."

"...You can do that?" MK asked, "You probably save like, so much money when traveling then-"

"Bold of you to assume that I have any money at all." Macaque said, "Anyways, you didn't answer the question. Where are you going?"

"Why do you want to know?" MK asked, crossing his arms. "And why are you here anyways? Usually you just stay on the roof, what changed?"

"Nothing! What, can't I just want to go for a ride once in a while?" Macaque said-

And his hand started sinking into the shadow beside him. Swiftly, he pulled it out, rubbing it to get rid of the remaining tingles. MK watched this happen with a look of suspicion.

"...Uh-huh, sure, like I believe that." He said, tone as dry as the desert. "And anyways, I don't think you'd want to-"

And then he paused, looking as though he'd just been hit with some kind of realization.

"Actually-" MK started, "I think it would be good if you came with me."

He turned back around, taking his foot off the break and turning back onto the road, speeding up a little.

"You still haven't told me where we're going." Macaque said.

"Oh, you'll soon find out."

Macaque had a feeling he wasn't going to like this.

-

He was right. He hated this.

Staring up at a temple that quite obviously belonged to Sun Wukong, Macaque regretted every decision he had made in his life that had led up to this moment.

He regretted it even more when the monkey himself opened the front gate.

"Ah, there you are kid!" Wukong said, "I was beginning to think you'd never show up!"

"I'm only 2 minutes late..." MK muttered, and Macaque couldn't help but laugh a bit at that.

Sun Wukong was not, exactly, known for being very patient after all.

"Oh, I see you brought... an audience." Wukong said, finally noticing that Macaque was, in fact, also there.

"Audience? Please, if anything I'm the lead actor." Macaque said.

"Yeah, sure, keep telling yourself that." MK said, and Macaque would've hit him where it not for the warning glance Wukong gave him.

-

Macaque ended up being dragged to MK's training sessions with Wukong, again and again. Some days it was because MK himself forcibly brought him along, and on other days it was because Macaque was simply avoiding Mei. (He denied the accusation that he was avoiding her when asked...and then almost tripped as his foot sank deeper into the shadows. Luckily he'd managed to blame it on a stray tree root, but he wasn't sure how long he could keep it up...) 

Over the course of said days, Macaque had tried multiple times to find a better place to hide the lantern than within his own magic. (He'd long since figured out that the lantern was reacting whenever he lied, thus messing with his own magic. He had no idea why it was doing this, but the why didn't really matter so long as he could find a way to stop it.) But of course, since karma was apparently out to get him, he was interrupted by someone every single time, forcing him to keep the lantern within himself, lest the others find out about it.

Honestly though, he was shocked that Wukong hadn't noticed, considering his golden vision and all, he should've been able to see the fact that the lantern's magic was contained within Macaque.

(Macaque had nearly panicked when, on day 2 of him following MK to his training, Wukong had leaned close to him with a contemplative look on his face.

"...Why are you so close to me?" Macaque had asked, and huh, how long had that slit been in Wukong's eyebrow? Had it been there for a while and Macaque had just never noticed or-

"I'm checking to see how much of the glamor you're wearing." Was Wukong's response, as he studied him. "You're still recovering, you probably shouldn't be using magic to cover all of it."

So....Wukong was concerned about him. Macaque couldn't really imagine why, but still-

"You didn't need to get so close to me- can't you obviously see I'm wearing it?" Macaque had asked, gesturing at his own face. Wukong, surprisingly, winced at that, finally backing up a bit.

"Well, I guess you seem fine." He'd muttered, turning away, "Don't know why I was even worried."

And Macaque should've been relieved, but for some reason-

For some reason he felt like something was wrong.)

-

Macaque relaxed in the shade of a tree, watching Wukong train MK. It was almost soothing to watch the mentor and student trade hits as they sparred.

But of course, being relaxed didn't mean that Macaque didn't notice things.

Like how Wukong was a full 2 seconds slower in blocking MK's attacks than he'd been when Macaque had stolen MK's powers. Which wasn't really something that would normally raise concern- he probably just wasn't being as serious as he would be when encountering an actual threat, but.

Something about it was making the alarm bells that had been constantly ringing in Macaque's head louder. (Something he, obviously, didn't appreciate. Loud sounds, even mental ones, weren't very pleasant for him).

Macaque, of course, was never one to miss an opportunity to call Wukong out.

Which was why it was so surprising when MK beat him to the punch.

"Monkey King, are you okay?" MK asked, and Macaque sat up straighter, paying more attention, because oh, he wanted to hear this.

"Of course bud! Why do you ask?" Wukong said, and despite the fact that his back was to Macaque, the shadow monkey just knew that the other was lying.

"Well I don't know, you've just- seemed off, is all." MK said, shifting back and forth as he seemed to contemplate what to say. "Like, a little slower maybe? And I haven't seen you use your cloud in days, which is kinda weird, since you normally seem to use it-"

Wukong stiffened, and it was at this point that Macaque got genuinely curious, deciding that he had to see what kind of expression the other monkey was making right now. So, he slipped down into the shadows of the tree, and reappeared out of MK's shadow, startling the both of them as he slung an arm around MK's shoulder. 

"Kid's right y'know." Macaque said, putting on a smirk as he looked at the other. "Even I've noticed, and I've barely even been paying attention."

That was a lie, and he barely kept himself from wincing as he felt the tingle of magic flow through his body.

Only for nothing to seemingly happen. That was...mildly concerning, he'd felt the flow of magic, so something had definitely occurred, he just couldn't tell what.

...Well, whatever. If he couldn't notice it then it probably wasn't important.

Macaque refocused back in on the subject at hand, studying Wukong's expression. Nothing he hadn't expected, the usual nervous smile and look in his eyes that indicated he was lying where all there.

Or, well, most of it was expected.

The slight twinge of fear was new.

"I'm telling you, there's nothing wrong!" Wukong said, taking a slight step back. "I'm fine, really!"

Both MK and Macaque rolled their eyes in sync.

"If you're so fine, then explain to me why you keep waiting until MK is almost right in front of you before blocking him?" Macaque asked, MK nodding along as he spoke. "Seriously, it's like you can't see it unless it's close-"

Both Macaque and MK froze, coming to the same conclusion at the same time. Wukong, seeing the expressions on their faces, scratched his cheek nervously, avoiding their gaze.

"Oh my heavens." MK said, "You need glasses."

"I do not-"

-

Tang had been having a peaceful day at the noodle shop.

Having, being the key word.

Because suddenly, said peaceful day was interrupted as Macaque appeared out of nowhere beside him. Tang barely kept himself from startling out of his stool. (He'd started to grow used to the shadow monkey's sudden appearances, but that didn't really make them any less startling).

Macaque, for a moment, looked confused as to where he was, looking around in surprise, before taking notice of Tang and schooling his features into something unreadable.

"Oh." He said, "Uh. Hello?"

"Hello to you too, Macaque?" Tang said, a little confused, before finally taking notes of one important fact.

Macaque's eyes were fully purple.

"...Ah." Tang said, "Not Macaque."

"Hm, smart man." 'Macaque' said, leaning back, "Nope, I'm not the original. Just a shadow clone, that's all I am."

"Why are you here? Is there trouble?" Tang asked, worry seeping into his voice. The clone just shrugged.

"Dunno." 'Macaque' said, "One minute, I didn't exist, the next, I'm here."

"How can you just not know?" Tang asked, blinking in disbelief.

"He probably created me on accident." 'Macaque' said, almost as casually as though he was reading out a morning newspaper.

"That can happen??"

"Well, not normally, but in certain cases-" The clone started, then paused, eyes narrowing. "Well, actually, if that's the case, he probably doesn't know I exist right now..."

"Shouldn't you... tell him?" Tang asked, and watched as the clone contemplated it.

"Well I mean, not telling him would be kind of funny." He said, before shaking himself out of it. "No- no, you're right, I should probably tell him."

The clone proceeded to go completely silent, and Tang watched him with thinly veiled concern. After about 2 minutes of silence, with the clone making increasingly dramatic facial expressions, Tang decided to comment again.

"...Are you actually contacting him right now?" He asked, and the clone broke out of whatever state he was in to glance at him.

"Hm? Oh- yeah." He said, "Mental connection, y'know?"

"Then how come MK doesn't ever-"

"Cause he doesn't know it exists."

-

Of course. Of course the lantern had made a clone.

That certainly explained why there hadn't been any obvious reaction after the magic tingle.

Although, it was weird that the clone had ended up in the noodle shop. Why on Earth would it have formed there?

(In all honesty, it was probably because, once again, Macaque felt safe there. But he never planned to admit that fact, not even to himself, so he slid that thought back into the deepest part of his mind.)

As it was now though, Macaque sat back under the tree, head in hands, mentally communicating with the clone as MK and Wukong continued to argue about whether or not the Monkey King needed glasses.

"C'mon!" MK said, stomping his foot on the ground, "Just admit that you're nearsighted already! It's obvious!"

"I don't need glasses!" Wukong said, hopping backwards as MK tried to tackle him. "I can see just fine!"

This statement was contradicted, as MK suddenly moved backwards, distancing himself from his mentor. Macaque could see Wukong squint, something he wouldn't normally do-

And then MK moved forwards, with a speed Macaque honestly hadn't seen him use before (and wasn't that funny, that somehow this argument was actually causing MK's speed to improve) and managed to tackle Wukong to the ground.

A roll of parchment fell out of one of Wukong's pockets.

"Oh?" Macaque said, standing up, temporarily blocking his shadow clone's messages out of his mind (it was fine anyways, it seemed to have gotten distracted), he walked over, picking up the roll of parchment. "What's this?"

"Wh-Hey!" Wukong said, looking up from his position of being pinned to the ground by MK, squinting his eyes as he focused on Macaque. "Don't- give that back!"

"Well now, if you're so pressed over it then I kinda have to look, right?" Macaque said, slowly unrolling the scroll despite Wukong's protests. MK, surprisingly, kept Wukong pinned, watching with curiosity as Macaque looked over the parchment's contents. "....Huh."

"What is it?" MK asked, and Macaque turned, holding out the unrolled parchment so that MK could see it. Wukong, at this point, stopped struggling, simply laying on the ground face down.

"Tell me, Wukong, why exactly do you need a map?" Macaque asked, crouching down in front of the other. "You planning on going on vacation again or something?"

"You're going to leave me again?" MK asked, and maybe Macaque was just hearing things (rather unlikely....) but there was almost a note of panic in MK's voice.

Wukong must've picked up on the panic too, as he quickly jumped into reassurance.

"Woah, hey, I'm not- I'm not vacationing any time soon." He said, attempting to shift around a little, before sighing. "...Could you get off me now, please?"

MK scrambled to get off his mentor, Wukong slowly sitting up and stretching a little. Macaque rolled his eyes at the display, shaking the map a little to draw their attention back to it.

"Hey, I'm not letting you off that easily." He said, "Explain the map. Now."

Wukong sighed again, avoiding both Macaque and MK's eyes.

"...Fine, so maybe I.....wasn't exactly on vacation...." Wukong muttered, "I was...searching for something. A weapon."

"...To fight the Lady Bone Demon, right?" MK asked, and Wukong looked at him in shock.

"How'd you-"

"Maybe leaving your successor alone when there's a powerful demon on the loose isn't the best decision, Wukong." Macaque said, rolling up the map and putting into his own pocket, before lightly rubbing his arm, a few specific... memories running through his mind. "Seriously, be glad she still hasn't gotten everything she needs."

"What do you know about what she-" MK started, then cut himself off, looking at Macaque as though he'd been given the answer to everything. "She's the one who hurt you."

Macaque didn't respond, turning around and walking away.

"Hey wait- where are you-" Wukong started-

"I'm going back to my spot under the tree." Macaque said, "You two can sort through whatever your 'vacation' was about on your own."

-

"...Huh." The shadow clone muttered, eyes closed as he seemingly listened in on whatever was happening to the real Macaque. "That's.....interesting."

"What is?" Tang asked, curiosity getting the better of him.

"Nothing really important." The clone said- and started melting slightly. Tang looked on in confusion as the clone suddenly panicked, stumbling over his words. "Wait- no I mean- it, it is important, but not really something I should be the one to tell you about?"

The melting stopped, the shadow clone returning to normal as he let out a sigh of relief.

"Does that....usually happen?" Tang asked.

"No." The clone answered, but didn't elaborate. Tang figured he'd just have to ask the real Macaque about it later. "...Anyways, do you think you could help the real me out with something?"

"Depends on what said something is." Tang said, crossing his arms.

"It's nothing bad, I promise." The shadow clone said, chuckling. "But, would you happen to know where I could buy a pair of glasses?"

-

"This is dumb. I look stupid."

"Aw come on Monkey King, I think you look cool!" Mei said, MK nodding along with her. "The glasses suit you just fine!"

Wukong sighed, sitting in the noodle shop with his arms crossed, leaning on the counter.

"What's with the sudden need for glasses anyways?" Pigsy asked, sliding a bowl of peach slices over to the monkey. Subtly, he also handed a bowl of plums over to Macaque, who was sitting slightly off to the side in the shadows.

Wukong stiffened, pausing for a moment before opening his mouth to answer-

"And don't lie to me." Pigsy added, and Wukong slouched a little.

(Macaque had to admit, it was kinda fun to watch the Monkey King basically get reprimanded like a child.

The only reason he didn't comment on it was that he was sure that if he did, he'd get the exact same treatment.)

There was a moment of silence, before Wukong groaned, laying his head down on the table, and muttering something that was too quiet for the others to hear, but nearly made Macaque choke on the plum he'd been chewing on.

"What?!" He said, in pure shock, "You- you're losing your powers?!"

Almost instantly, there was pandemonium.

"What do you mean you're losing your powers!" MK practically screeched, "That can happen?!"

"I don't know, but it's the only explanation I've got!" Wukong said, throwing his hands up into the air. "I can't use my golden vision or my cloud anymore- and I don't know why!"

"How, exactly, does this relate back to you suddenly needing glasses?" Pigsy asked, completely ignoring how the others where in varying states of a mental breakdown.

"I- I usually just use my golden vision to make up for it." Wukong said, "Like, magic contacts, you know?"

"...And now you can't do that anymore." Tang said, "Because you can't use your golden vision."

"......Yeah." Wukong sighed.

"Is there...anything we can do to help?" Sandy tentatively asked.

"Well, I was planning on going out and finding.... something." Wukong said, turning to look at Macaque. "Speaking of which, you promised you'd give me the map back once I got glasses, and I'm wearing them now so-"

Macaque tsk'd, pulling the map out of his pocket and tossing it over to the other monkey, who caught it and placed it upon the counter. 

"It's not like I can go and get it now though." Wukong said, the others staring over him to look down at the map. "Since I can't use my cloud anymore..."

"I have an airship." Sandy said, and Wukong turned to look at him in confusion. "We could use that, to travel there."

"What- no. No. Absolutely not." Wukong said, jumping up onto the counter (ignoring Pigsy disapproving glare), and staring down at the others. "In case you don't remember, you guys have something called mortality. I'm not going to just bring you guys with me-"

"Like you have much of a choice." A new voice said, and Macaque barely kept himself from startling as he suddenly noticed Red Son beside him.

"How long have you been there-" Macaque hissed, but was ultimately ignored.

"You coming too, Red Boy?" Mei asked, despite Wukong's faint protests that nobody was coming with him, thank you very much-

"I have nothing better to do." Red Son said, shrugging. "My parents went on vacation a little while ago, I've just been hanging around since then."

"So, we're all going?" MK asked, glancing over at Macaque, who, realizing he was being stared at, sighed, standing up and stepping closer to them, in the light.

"Fine, whatever." He said, "If you guys want me to go, I'll come, but I'm not happy about it."

The others stared at him, with a mixture of confusion and shock.

"....What?" Macaque asked, already dreading the answer. MK slowly pointed behind him.

"Has your shadow always moved like that?" He asked, and Macaque didn't even bother to look, instead immediately slamming his back against the wall to cover it as he threw a glamor over his own shadow. He wasn't sure what it had been doing that the others saw, but he absolutely refused to let it be seen any longer.

"...Whatever it was you saw, forget about it." He said, and while most of the others simply shrugged, accepting it as just him being weird, looking away-

The look in Mei and Wukong's eyes did not promise good things.

-

The first day on the ship, everyone was mainly focused on settling in, making sure all their stuff was where it needed to be, choosing rooms, so on and so forth.

And so, for the most part, Macaque was free from whatever Wukong and Mei were planning.

The second day on the ship, however.

The second day on the ship made Macaque wish the airship had a plank so he could jump off of it.

It had started small.

"Hey, Macaque?" Mei asked, grabbing his attention before practically shoving her phone into his face. "What do you think about this?"

Macaque could barely register the image in front of his face, but eventually parsed it out to be a picture of- a kitten??

"I hate it." He said, instinctively, and almost immediately started sinking into the shadow beneath him. Mei, being so close to him, immediately noticed, confusion flashing on her face for a brief second, before a smirk took over.

"If you say so." She said, and backed off, turning away as Macaque hurriedly pulled his feet out of the shadows before he could sink any further.

Some part of him hoped that would be the end of it.

As soon as he ran into Wukong though, he instantly knew that this wasn't over by a long shot.

"Macaque." Wukong said, leaning against the wall, and Macaque instantly noticed that his glasses were missing.

"You owe Tang 5 cents." Macaque hissed, it was well known that Tang had made the Monkey King promise to pay him whenever the monkey was caught not wearing his glasses. Macaque, of course, didn't really care, but he was looking for some way to distract Wukong from whatever he was planning to do to him.

"I'll pay him later." Wukong shrugged, and Macaque mentally cursed. "So. How'd you sleep last night?"

Macaque wasn't going to be led into the trap this obviously was.

"How did you sleep last night?" He shot back.

"I didn't." Wukong said, perfectly honest. "I did see you walking around for a bit though, so I'm curious as to whether or not you slept. You need it more than I do, remember?"

That.... was true. Macaque did need to sleep more than Wukong did, but-

"I slept just fine." Macaque lied, sighing as he felt the glamor over his ears fade away. Wukong crossed his arms, a concerned look on his face, but Macaque ignored it, choosing instead to walk into a nearby shadow to teleport to another location on the ship, throwing his glamor back on as he did so.

(He, in truth, was in the same boat as Wukong, both literally and figuratively. He hadn't slept at all, instead laying awake all night, worrying.

Wukong was losing his powers. MK was not nearly close enough to being ready. The others, outside of Red Son, might have some powers or abilities, but they are no where near close enough to being capable of beating the Lady Bone Demon.

He'd have to rely on the unknowns of this weapon Wukong was seeking out.

Macaque didn't like relying on unknowns.)

He emerged in the ships engine room-

And very nearly fell right on top of Red Son.

"Watch where you're going!" Red Son huffed, dodging out of the way and angrily brushing non existent dirt off of his jacket. "Seriously, what is with you guys and trying to knock me to the ground?"

"Maybe you just look very squishable." Macaque muttered, not really intending on giving Red Son a proper response. He actually didn't want to interact with anyone right now, especially not Red Son, so he turned, moving to leave the engine room-

"Not so fast." Red Son said, stopping Macaque in his tracks by grabbing hold of the back of his scarf. "I've got some questions for you."

Hm. That didn't bode well.

"What makes you think that I have any answers?" Macaque asked, only to be met by a deadpan look that promised-

That promised fire if he didn't co-operate.

If there was a list of things Macaque strictly didn't want, fire would be number one, at the top of the list.

"...What do you want to know?" He asked, slumping a little in defeat.

"Why you stayed." Red Son said, elaborating when Macaque only looked at him in confusion. "Your wound healed. You were perfectly free to go. And yet.... you stayed. Like you were....trying to protect something."

"Uh, yeah, myself, obviously." Macaque said, shrugging. "Hanging out around the Monkey King and his successor is the safest place to be after-"

"That's not it." Red Son said, and Macaque froze. "Sure, staying around them while you're weak makes sense, you'd need someone to protect you. But after you've recovered? Once you're strong again? Sure, I can understand you getting attached, but always staying around them is a little strange."

There was a glint, in Red Son's eye, and Macaque suddenly remembered a moment, yesterday, where Mei had dragged the fire demon off to the side to have a little conversation. He'd thought nothing about it at the time, but now-

"You say that you're protecting yourself....But at this point, somehow, you're mostly protecting them, aren't you?" Red Son asked, "Whatever it is you're hiding, you're hiding it to protect both yourself and them."

Macaque didn't answer, instead staring at the floor.

Whatever Mei and Wukong had been planning, Red Son was in on it.

And he was very clearly not as interested in taking a subtle approach.

"Your powers have been on the fritz lately." Red Son said, almost like it was an afterthought to his whole theory. "Don't think that we haven't noticed. It's different from Wukong though, in that you're not losing your powers, if anything, it's like they're getting stronger, almost as though they're being drawn from a different source-"

Macaque didn't want to stay here any longer.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." He lied, and didn't resist as his powers fluctuated in response, letting himself completely fall into the shadow behind him.

-

He ended up falling out of a shadow on the ceiling.

Luckily, it was in his own room, so no-one else was there to witness it.

Didn't mean it didn't hurt though.

"...That's gonna bruise later...." He muttered to himself as he slowly pushed himself off the floor and stood up.

For a moment, he just stood there, slightly dazed.

And then he started pacing.

This was not good, the others were onto him, he wouldn't be able to keep this up for much longer.

Not to mention the lantern, it's influence on his abilities was getting stronger the longer he left it inside himself. There was literally no telling how far it's influence would go.

(He'd already started noticing some strands of his fur turning purple. It wasn't anything that couldn't easily be covered up by a glamor, but the fact it was happening at all was incredibly concerning.)

He had to find another place to hide it. But where-

And suddenly, Macaque was struck by an idea. A rather bad idea, honestly, there was sure to be consequences from this, but it was the only idea he had right now.

-

The ship's clock struck 4 am.

Macaque slipped into MK's room, holding the faintly glowing lantern.

For a moment, he stood there, beside MK's bed, letting the lantern hover over top of him, thinking.

Maybe......maybe he shouldn't do this. He could probably find another way, something more reasonable than a hastily made, sleep deprived, decision. After all, the lantern had proven that it came with side effects, who knows how it'd affect MK?

Well. If he's actually being honest, he was hoping that the Monkey King Magic MK had would effectively cancel out the lanterns effects.

...He had no way of proving that it could do that though.

After a few more minutes of standing there, mentally debating, Macaque finally came to the decision that, yeah, this wasn't a good idea, he should just go back to his room and try to sleep for the few remaining hours of the night, come up with a better plan tomorrow-

A loud sound clanged from the engine room, and Macaque startled, barely keeping himself from squeaking as the sudden noise surprised him, squeezing his hands on instinct-

And snapping the lantern in half, the bottom piece falling and merging into MK's magic.

For a moment, Macaque just stood there in shock.

Then MK curled up, letting out a small noise of pain as little golden and purple sparks started shooting across his body, and Macaque panicked, reaching into MK's magic and hurriedly pulling out the other half of the lantern, shoving both pieces back into himself as MK started to stir.

By the time MK was sitting up, blinking his eyes open, rubbing his arms and looking around the room in confusion, Macaque was gone.

-

The next day, Wukong practically broke down Macaque's door, MK in tow.

"Mine explaining to me why there are traces of shadow magic all over MK?" He asked, before pausing as he registered the scene in front of him.

Macaque was curled up under his blankets, a pillow over his head effectively hiding him from view. The only part of the other monkey that Wukong could actually see was his tail, which was dangling over the side.

This wasn't really that weird, Wukong fully remembered that the other monkey was in no way a morning person.

...It was slightly more weird due to the fact that it was lunchtime.

"Is he...okay?" MK asked, leaning over his mentor's shoulder.

"You tell me." Wukong said, "You're the one with the golden vision right now."

Macaque's tail, which had been swinging idly, froze, and suddenly there was a mad scramble as he tried to pull all the blankets off of himself and sit up at the same time. Essentially, he ended up rather tangled, and was far too late to stop MK from using his golden vision.

-

At first there was nothing MK hadn't already expected. The bags under the eyes, the mussed up fur, the six ears and the scar. These were all things he knew that he'd find.

The purple streaks in Macaque's fur was surprising.

But not nearly as surprising as the lantern that lay intermingled with Macaque's own magic.

"What do you see, kid?" Wukong asked, and MK watched as Macaque sat up straighter, finally managing to pull the blankets off of himself.

"Nothing! He sees nothing! Right, bud?" Macaque asked, a panicked twinge in his voice, and-

MK could see the lantern flare, the magic traversing Macaque's entire body, before condensing around his arm.

Which proceeded to sink into the shadow on the bed.

"...Well." MK started, staring as Macaque pulled his hand out of the shadow and rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "That's not something you see every day."

-

"So I was right then?" Red Son asked, "He's been storing the lantern within himself?"

"How'd you even know about the lantern..." Macaque muttered, from where he sat at the kitchen table, leaning back with his arms crossed. His glamor had been taken down, allowing everyone to see the purple streaks in his fur.

The lantern sat on the table in front of him.

"I have my sources." Red Son said, looking overly proud of himself. Macaque huffed, looking away.

"I thought you said the lantern was destroyed?" Mei said, using a spoon to lightly poke the lantern, almost as though it would grow legs and run away.

"Yeah, like, I saw you break it-" MK started, and then was stopped mid sentence as Macaque raised his fist, before harshly crushing the lantern, breaking it into pieces. A few of the others jumped. "What did you do that for-"

Macaque simply raised his hand, letting his magic call out, and letting the pieces slide back into their proper place. By the end of it, the lantern looked as good as new, as though it'd never been broken. MK watched the display with wide eyes.

"I did break the lantern." Macaque said, "It's just not that hard to fix."

"Regardless-" Wukong started, grabbing the lantern out of Macaque's hand, the lantern switching from it's usual purple to a soft golden glow as he did so. "You seriously should've told us that you have this. It would've saved you so much trouble."

"Would you have trusted me, if you knew I still had it?" Macaque asked, only to be met with silence. "...Yeah. Thought so."

There was a moment of silence as Macaque sat there, looking down, not meeting anyone's eyes. Then Sandy softly placed his hand on Macaque's shoulder.

"It's not that we wouldn't have trusted you." He said, gently. "We would've just taken a bit longer to come around, is all."

"Uh-huh, sure, keep telling yourself that." Macaque said, still looking at the floor, and thus missing the entirely silent conversation everyone else shared.

They all agreed they probably weren't going to get very far with this issue any time soon, by the look of things. (That didn't mean they wouldn't bring it up later, though.)

"If you thought we wouldn't trust you if we knew you had the lantern, then why didn't you just, I don't know, throw it away?" MK asked, and Macaque sighed, slouching down in his chair.

"...Lady Bone Demon wanted it." He muttered, and everyone immediately stood up ramrod straight.

"What?" Wukong hissed, staring down at the lantern in his hands as though he was seeing it in a new light. "Why- what could she possibly want with-"

"Don't know, didn't stick around long enough to find out." Macaque said, shrugging. MK and Red Son both looked horrified.

"That's how you got injured." MK muttered, "She must've captured you because she wanted the lantern...."

"The Lady Bone Demon has a cursed blade..." Red Son said, under his breath, only Macaque hearing him.

"Yeah yeah, I got captured, I got injured, whatever, it's all over with now." Macaque said, waving a hand around as though he wasn't making light of something horrifying. "Anyways, anyone else got any bright ideas on where to hide the lantern?"

"....Was that a pun." Wukong asked, "Seriously. You reveal that the Lady Bone Demon is after both you and the lantern and then you swap topics with a pun?"

"You got a problem with that?" Macaque asked, a smirk on his face. There was a moment of tense silence as the two of them stared at each other.

Wukong set the lantern back down on the table.

And then tackled Macaque out of his chair and onto the floor. Macaque let out a startled yelp as they went down, before quickly switching to clawing at the other as Wukong easily pinned him to the ground-

And then suddenly Wukong's grip weakened, and Macaque easily reversed their positions, pinning Wukong to the floor. For a moment the Monkey King looked confused, before a look of nervous realization appeared on his face.

"Uh- guys?" He said, nervously giggling as Macaque and the others stared at him in confusion. "Um. I think I just lost my super strength?"

[butdidmarlenacomebackhome]

✨hcs for the courtiers reacting to their s/o wearing their trademark outfits✨

i think i did a pretty decent job at keeping this gender-neutral, let me know if there is any mistake/room for improvement. i'd love to hear your feedback 👉🏻👈🏻

🍷consul valerius

• blushes hard

• "what a presumptious lack of decorum" said while still blushing, therfore only half-hearted

• desperately tries to hide how much he likes it but his eyes permanently glued on you kind of betray him

• the only thing he loves more than himself & his status is you, so imagine how utterly smug would he be about seeing you in his attire (not that he'd ever openly show it!!! it wouldn't be proper of him 👀👀👀)

• if you follow him around/he catches sight of you while going about his day, any hope to get things done is thrown out the window

• he's definitely not staring at you during the courtiers' meeting, his eyes just happened to focus on the general area where you're standing/sitting

• at the end of the day will literally leave you a note on your bed saying you can keep the clothes, you're welcome ("my wardrobe can afford to lose a spare, while yours could definitely use something fashionable for a change")

• spoiler it's just a roundabout way to say he wants to see you wearing his clothes again & more often 👀

• from that day on, will go out of his way to gift you jewelry, clothes, accessories matching to his own and fully expects you to always wear them

🍖procurator volta

• blushes like crazy & her eyes literally fill with stars & sparkles,, almost cries bc of what she perceives to be a clear display of affection

• "mc!!! you look!!! absolutely!!! gorgeous!!!" in modern!au would definitely tell you you look like a snackkk but to be fair she thinks you're gorgeous on any normal day

• follows you around the whole day & shily holds your hand, she loves the idea of the two of you making your way through the palace in matching outfits

• normally she'd be pretty quaint but with you by her side reassuring her of your love so openly,,, she's just over the moon my friends 🚀🚀🚀

• thinks her clothes suit you better than they'd ever do on her, but on a side note she also probably thinks anything would look good on you (the precious baby ಥ_ಥ)

• she's also pretty honored to have you dress like her, it's like a public love declaration & it makes her all fuzzy to know you're not embarrassed of her

• she'll literally convince you to stop for snacks every 15 minutes tho & no matter what you're doing or what business you're attending to, you just can't resist her puss in boots eyes & decide to join her every single time

• at the end of the day, she hugs you (I hc her loving pda but rarely initiating it bc she's too shy, so it's a bit of a shock to suddenly receive a hug from her in the middle of the castle hallway) & thanks you for the wonderful day. snuggle with her in bed. do it.

tw. for slight nsfw-ish in next one but it's literally just an allusion that's barely even there + like 1 swear word

🐞pontifex vulgora

• does a double take, like they probably were just storming the hallways going off on a tangent about how tHERE'S NOT BEEN A SINGLE FIGHT IN DECADES AND THEY'RE SO WILLING TO START ONE WITH THE FIRST ONE THEIR EYES LAND ON- and then their eyes land on you and they have to check again to see if they'd actually seen what they think they've seen

• and holy shit do you look hot

• the gauntlets on you? the armor attire? yes ma'am please and thank you

• 100% will tease you at first

• "WHAT IS THIS? HAVE YOU FINALLY FALLEN OFF THE COUNTESS' GRACES NOT TO BE ABLE TO AFFORD YOUR OWN CLOTHES ANYMORE, MAGICIAN?"

• when you scoff & tell them you'd go get changed, they phisically S T O P you

• "I DIDN'T SAY YOU COULD GO, MAGICIAN. ARE YOU BACKING OUT OF YOUR OWN DECISION? IF YOU'RE NOT A COWARD YOU HAVE TO STICK TO IT, PET"

• proceeds to drag you wherever they go to show you off & always finds a way to keep their hands on you (they prolly also start carrying you on their shoulder at some point)

• will probably try to convince you to fight because you "have to look the part", your call if you want to humor the smol anger issues gremlin or not

• at the end of the day, they'd unabashedly ask you to keep the gauntlets on for later 👀

💉quaestor valdemar

• “oh what do we have here?”

• dr uwu is already more or less accustomed to seeing you in medical gear given the amount time you spend together in the dungeons (loveliest place for play dates mind you) but seeing you in their clothes is indeed something new

• a little confused at first but they got the spirit

• might tilt their head when they see you at first, then circle around you with that little cute smug smirk on their face to inspect you throughly and take you in from all angles [ I'm looking: respectfully 😌 ] just like a cat

• MOST IMPORTANTLY!! you know how they got those two cute bandaged silly cones on their head right??? there's no way you could get those to stand upright so you just kinda bandaged your head & gave up on trying to replicate the exact look but,, dr uwu notices & they're like ay no capt'n this ain't gonna fly here

• “now, now little magician we simply can't have that. a job half done is only half the fun after all” and they actually!!! make you sit down!!! reach out behind you!!! and start working on the bandages!!! braiding your hair!!! tucking them in!!! giving you their trademark cape!!!! yes i'm melting as i write this

• they too would appreciate having you around just to observe everyone's reactions to you both casually walking through the palace (shockingly) or in the dungeons while wearing matching clothes

• power couple tbh you'd have fun intimidating & unsettling every poor soul unlucky enough to encounter you on their path

• “are you having fun, my little magician? you seem to amuse yourself quite easily”

• at the end of the day if you ask nicely they may accept to lend them to you some other time you can tell they actually had quite a bit of fun too even if they don't say so out loud

🐛praetor vlastomil

• “s/o! what a lovely sight for sore eyes!”

• one word: e c s t a t i c

• def appreciates the gesture and gets quite vocal about it,, this worm baby will shower you with compliments and attention all day

• prepare yourself to be paraded around all day while vlastomil stops random servants just to say things along the lines of “look at my gorgeous s/o, aren't they just lovely?” cue love struck gaze towards you

• he ignores whatever response random servant #143 comes up with & quickly moves on

• you know what time is it??? time to visit your babies!!! the wormies would be so happy to see you!! I hope you're not squeamish he will prompt them to show you some love too

• probably urges you to keep your head high and be confident as you walk arm in arm to remind the peasants where they stand (beneath the soles of your shoes) together <3

• probably takes you for a carriage ride to show you off some more & stare flippantly at peasants

• will fix any slight imperfection every 2 seconds, like tilting your cape so that it doesn't hang too low nor too on the side & if he's close enough he'll give you a smooch or two too istg this man has no chill

• at the end of the day he whines sm because he doesn't want you to take off his clothes,, if you manage to convince him you actually have to get changed be prepared to be BOMBARDED with requests for you to do it again for the rest of your life

[whatifxwereyou]

The Oncoming Storm Part 15: Paper Castle

Liu Kang x Reader and Kung Lao x Reader (gonna do both, two paths!)

VOTING IS CLOSED!!

Happy Saturday, everyone! I hope you enjoy! There's a choice at the end of this (not the big choice) so vote if you want! If you don't, I'll just choose. No big deal. Thought it could be fun lol! SO, no extra update tomorrow since I will have to likely be writing. I'll try to have a double update soon! Much love. <3 I will try to update Mon/Wedn/Fri this week unless otherwise stated! New fic coming soon too.

Part 14 Part 16 Chapter Index

“Y/N?” Liu’s voice woke you and you shifted and whined. You didn’t want to get up. You were tired and comfortable for what felt like the first time in forever. “Y/N, you’re lying on my arm.” You opened one eye and found Liu laying on his side next to you. You rolled your head the opposite way and caught sight of his hand on the other side of you. “It’s dead.” He laughed in a sleepy, husky voice. Carefully, you shifted just enough to allow him to pull his arm free from beneath you. Then he rolled onto his stomach, staying close. He shook out his hand to try and regain feeling.

“Sorry about that.” You cleared your throat, your own voice still small and sleepy. He smiled, as if admiring that.

“No worries.” He yawned. “How did you sleep?”

“Like the dead.” You stretched your arms above your head and adjusted onto your back, folding your hands on your stomach. Liu’s shoulder was now bruised, as predicted, and looked sore. The scrape at the center of the bruise was now scabbed over. That was right. For a blissful moment you’d forgotten what had happened. You touched around the bruise, careful of how much pressure you put on him. Furrowing your brow, you allowed your hand to touch close to the scab and then further down his arm, tracing the lines where the bruise continued. You knew he didn’t want you to apologize, but you felt guilty so there was nothing for it. “Liu, I’m sorry.”

“Stop apologizing, Y/N. It doesn’t hurt. Just a bit stiff.” He watched your hand regardless. “Are you okay? You’re still pale.”

“I’m okay. The normal amount of sore that I’m pretty used to.” You yawned, covering your mouth as you did. Liu urged his hand to your cheek, a now familiar and comforting thing but he urged you to look toward him. Then he brushed his fingers up to your forehead and gave you a disapproving look. “Put that accusatory look away. I probably have a fever. It was way worse when I was a kid. This is manageable in comparison. I didn’t notice. I can deal with it, Liu.”

“That doesn’t make me feel much better, but I trust you.” He pulled his hand back. You smiled, proud. “We should get up. Eat. Then speak with Raiden.”

“…or, hear me out, we could just sleep more instead.”

He laughed and then stopped when he realized you were serious. “We’ve slept long enough. The sooner that we talk to Raiden, the sooner you can properly rest without worry.”

You lifted your head and peeked around him. The sky was still dark! There was the tiniest hint of color beyond the tops of the cliffs, just barely kissing the mountainside. “The sun isn’t up yet.”

“It will be at any minute. If we get up now, then we can watch the sunrise together before we grab some food.” He tempted and you considered his offer. It did sound nice to watch the sunrise together, if not a little romantic. “Come on, Y/N. I’m worried about you. The sooner we get you to Raiden, the better.” That was less romantic. You were tired of worrying him.

“I know, I know.” You sighed but relented. “I’m exhausted, is all.”

“That’s exactly what’s worrying me,” he whispered, leaning closer to you. He let his index and middle fingers brush carefully over your cheek. “I know that you don’t want me to worry about you but let me assure you, that you are worth worrying over.” You had to have been pale for him to worry so much. You took his hand and offered it a reassuring squeeze then let it go. He pushed your hair back from your face, taming a few renegade strands before resting his hand on the side of your neck, his arm draping over your shoulder to do so. Fingers gently traced beneath your ear, down your neck, across your shoulder before he grasped it and urged you to turn just toward him. The sheets shifted beneath you as he scooted closer. Your eyes followed his strong arm up to find that he was close enough to you now that if you spoke even a single word, your lips would brush just against his.

His eyes were half-lidded, and his lips were parted just slightly. Your face was red and hot, and you dared not breathe for fear that something would come along and ruin this tender moment. His grip on your shoulder tightened and his lips brushed slowly against yours; a ghost of something that you had longed for and had felt somehow forbidden. You closed your eyes and his lips pressed against yours, igniting sparks in your chest. You lifted your head just enough to meet him into that deeper kiss but as you parted your lips, there was a knock on the door.

Liu pulled back just enough at the sound, but his lips were still close to yours, close enough for you to ignore the sunrise in favor of kisses. Your hand had tangled into his hair without you realizing and there you sat, frozen and listening.

“Don’t answer it,” Liu whispered and the brush of his lips with each word practically drove you mad. You swallowed the lump in your throat but finally managed to breathe. If they went away, you would ignore it. If they knocked again, you would get up. It wasn’t like there was a lock on your door or anything.

There was another knock on the door and you sighed, leaning your head back against the pillow. Liu pulled back and rested his head on the pillow next to yours, pushing his hair back in clear frustration. It was nice to see that you weren’t the only one suffering.

Face still hot, practically burning, you fanned it before sitting up and draping your legs off the bed. You’d had to pull a good bit of yourself out from partially beneath Liu Kang. The cold floor felt good against your bare feet and you hung your head. It was pounding now that you weren’t resting it against something.

“If you don’t answer the door in thirty seconds then I’m coming in!” Chen’s voice yelled from the other side.

“Son of a…” You cursed beneath your breath and you could feel Liu’s eyes watching you as you hurried to the door. Without another word, you opened it and stepped into the hall before closing it very quickly behind you to keep Chen from looking inside.

Chen had her hands on her hips, her messy hair pulled back into a bun with a look of concern plastered on her round face. “Finally! You had me all worried.”

“I was sleeping, Chen.”

“I had the worst feeling last night that I couldn’t shake. I figured I’d check in on you before I headed downstairs. When you didn’t answer… I’ll admit I freaked myself out a little bit. Kung Lao is so reckless sometimes, who knew what trouble he would get you into!”

“I was just sleeping. It’s so early, Chen.” You protected the door behind you as though your life depended on it. Chen was not going to see inside your room, not if you could help it. “I didn’t hear you knock at first.” You lied and it sounded like a lie even. Thankfully, Chen didn’t seem to notice.

“You’re really pale today.” Chen urged you to tilt your head to the side and checked your pulse.

“I’m fine, stop it!” You swatted her hand away. “I had a vision last night but I’m okay. My pulse is just fine.”

“It was actually racing.”

“Because your knock scared me away.” You were a lying liar.

“Come sit down. I’ll make sure that you’re up to snuff then we can grab a bite to eat together.”

“I need a few minutes to get cleaned up. Not dressed for other humans right now.” You pointed to the door behind you as Chen tried to lead you across the hall to the bench against the wall. Then the door opened behind you and you yelped and nearly lost your balance. Liu Kang helped keep you from falling.

“Is everything okay?” He asked and then looked to Chen. Chen’s eyes were wide, and she looked as if she were about to burst at the seams with confetti. You tightened your lips, pretty sure that anything you said would not help you.

“Oh, yes, Liu Kang. I was just checking in on Y/N. Had a bad feeling and wanted to make sure it was just that.” Chen smiled brightly, but you could feel how delighted she was.

“That’s kind of you. While you do that, I’m going to grab a few things.” Liu spoke the last part quietly and just for you. “I’ll meet you back here when I’m ready.”

“Yeah, sounds good.” It took all of your energy to find a response though you thought it sounded quite strangled.

Liu Kang left you, and you watched him walk away, waiting for the inevitable that would come when he was out of sight. This was killing you. Sensory overload again. Liu Kang and then immediately Chen and you just wanted to flop on the floor and ask the universe why things happened with the timing in which they happened. When you finally turned back to Chen, Chen was staring at you expectantly, eyes sparkling with amusement.

“So, what the hell was that, Y/N?”

“I have to get changed.” You opened the door and tried to escape.

“No, no. You’re not getting out of this that easily. You can’t just avoid me. I’ll start yelling about stuff. Embarrassing stuff- you have no idea.”

“I’m not avoiding you and there’s nothing for me to get out of, Chen. I just need to get changed so I can be ready when he comes back.”

Chen followed you into the room and you sighed. “Like hell! Liu Kang just marched out of your room. Shirtless- I might add. And you are clearly still half asleep which can only mean one thing.”

“You continue to be the worst monk. Also, it can mean many things and it’s not the thing you’re thinking.”

“You’d be way less tense if it was the thing I’m thinking.” Chen sounded disappointed.

“He fell asleep here while we were studying last night.” You searched through the trunk at the foot of your bed for something to wear since you had sufficiently destroyed the tank top that you had so admired. Liu’s shirt and sash were still draped over the back of your desk chair, completely drenched in ink. The blood on the tear in the shirt made your stomach sink.

“I’m gathering evidence so I’m going to need you to be quiet, you liar.” Chen walked past you and gestured toward the bed that was a mess of tangled sheets. Her smile quickly faded when she spotted the ink staining the floor. Her joy was replaced by sadness. “Oh. You really did have a vision last night.”

You nodded and sat on the edge of the bed. You were exhausted and your head was still pounding. Chen sat next to you and offered you a gentle hug.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. He stayed to comfort me even though I hurt him. I scared him, I think. I’m tired today but I’m okay. I’m strong enough to shoulder whatever this is.”

“It’s okay for you to be upset too, Y/N.”

“I know that. I’m mostly just exhausted.” You dug again in the chest, pulling out one of the hanfu that you hadn’t worn yet. “And tired of traditional Chinese clothing. How do you survive without jeans?” You joked nervously. Even so, you would wear the hanfu. It was light and fluttery, so much more delicate a thing than you were.

“It’s also okay to stop joking for a second when you’re uncomfortable. You can seek shelter, you know…”

“Oh, no, please stop.” You furrowed your brow, knowing what was coming next since the smile had returned to Chen’s face.

“To seek shelter in the arms of a big, strong man.”

“Could you not?”

“Come on. He could have kept that shirt on! It’s just stained with ink!”

“You aren’t helping.”

“He knew what he was doing, Y/N. Have a bit of fun.”

“I attacked him, Chen! Does that count as fun?”

“…depends on how he handled it and if you’re into that or not!”

You laughed, your face burning. You smacked Chen’s arm. While Chen was teasing you, her expression had changed. She’d wanted to make you laugh despite all the bad that had happened. You were grateful to have made friends in Raiden’s Temple. “He held me. That was nice. And it’s also all that you get.”

“One day I’m going to get you drunk and you’re going to give me details that you’re too embarrassed to give sober.”

“That is such a specific and weird threat.” You closed the trunk after setting the hanfu to the side.

“Come by the infirmary later and we’ll run some tests. See if maybe we can find a better way to manage the side effects of this thing.”

“I will, but I have to use this time to get changed. I really do need to be ready when Liu comes back. We’re going to see Raiden this morning. He wants to try and make sense of what I’ve seen.”

“Oh, fun.” Chen made a face as though that were exactly the opposite of fun. You understood that. Raiden was intimidating, but you’d seen him enough times to know that he was also well-meaning. “I’ll see you later then. Promise me?”

“I promise. Liu will be delighted that I’m willingly going to the infirmary.” You hugged Chen once more and watched your friend leave. You sat, hand applying pressure over your left eye to dull the pounding in your head for a time. Then you sucked it up, got up, and got changed. It felt immediately too delicate and pretty. You missed jeans. Desperately. But for now, it was better than nothing. No sooner had you finished getting cleaned up and changed when there was a knock on the door. You opened it to find Liu Kang had returned and was in his familiar white and black gi. He had cleaned up in the meantime. There was no sign of ink or the bruises.

“Ready to go?”

You nodded and then you walked together through the halls of the temple. You stopped to grab a quick bite to eat and then went back up the stairs to meet with Raiden. You felt much better now that you were up and about a bit more without being teased. The further you were from the visions the more normal you felt. At least you could count on that!

When you arrived in the familiar chamber with the not-tesla-coils, ypi found both Raiden and Kung Lao waiting for you. “Liu Kang tells me that you’ve had another vision.” Raiden approached with his hands clasped together behind his back. Kung Lao offered you a smile in greeting.

“I did. It was really jumbled up.”

“If you could tell me what you recall. It’s important to hear it in your voice before I use my magic.”

You did just that. The mountains, the clouds, the creature that had hidden something there and then the temple in Japan, how you had nearly drowned in the blood red pond. Raiden listened raptly, but you could feel the eyes of your friends on you, worried. You felt smaller and smaller by the second, much more like that little girl who had been terrified to tell anyone what you’d seen because you would be looked at like you were crazy. But none of them looked at you like you were losing your mind. They listened with interest and understanding- and worry.

After you finished, Raiden paced before them. Kung Lao stepped next to you and placed a comforting hand on your shoulder. “You did good.” He whispered reassuringly. You nodded your thanks. Liu Kang stood before Raiden, prayer beads wrapped around his hand, his other hand behind his back. He was avoiding eye contact with everyone.

“Come and sit, Y/N.” Raiden sat on a bench in the center of the room just before one of those white-electrical statues you kept meaning to ask about. You stepped away from Kung Lao, past Liu Kang, and sat on the bench where Raiden joined you. “If it’s alright with you then I will use my magic to see exactly what it is that you have seen.”

“…is that safe?”

“There have been many seers in my temple throughout the ages, but I have never had more difficulty interpreting visions than I have yours. I admit that I do not know how safe this is or not.”

You frowned and felt again like you were disappointing him. “I wish that things were clearer. That I could relay them better.”

“It is of no fault of yours, Y/N, but rather the shadow that hangs over you. If we can interpret your visions, then perhaps we can get to the root of it and you can be of more use.”

You nodded. Be of more use. That was a harsh way to put it. You were sure he meant well. Being a God, you supposed tact was unnecessary. “What if I attack you?”

“That is why I have asked Kung Lao and Liu Kang to join us. If something happens beyond my control, then they will be here to aid me and protect you.”

“Okay.” You caught Liu’s eyes on you, like he wanted to comfort you but when you looked up to him, he turned away. Kung Lao, on the other hand, smiled brightly nearby.

“You’ve got this. And if you don’t… we’ve got this.”

You nodded.

Raiden held his hand out to you, and you took it nervously.

As your hand met his, you faded into darkness. It was as though a curtain of mist had been draped over you. It was calm, dark, and silent. You saw nothing. You felt almost nothing. It was just… darkness and blissful quiet. It was the most at peace that you had been in ages. Like you were floating in a sea of nothing. There was no pain, no complicated feelings, no conflict of any kind.

Just darkness.

The crackling of lightning woke you and you snapped your eyes open. Your stomach jolted with the feeling of weightlessness, pain, and confusion. You were surrounded by a swirling vortex of ink, whipping around you like a tornado. And you were near the ceiling! The ink had formed a seat beneath you, raising you uncomfortably high. On either side of you there were snapping ink creatures, dripping, and snarling. They looked like dragons! They reminded you, in fact, of the very same dragon that Liu Kang had made that first day where you’d found your arcana and had tried to mimic him. They hissed and snapped at the air beyond the inky vortex.

The cloudy vortex of ink began to wear thin as you panicked. Through it, you could see a sphere of lightning and fire surrounding you and keeping the dragons at bay. They bit at the magic and were repelled. There were sparks and embers and a roar almost like the angry sea. Panic gripped you and your arcana melted suddenly into nothingness and you fell from your high seat near the ceiling with a yelp.

Kung Lao leapt through the fire and lightning, rolled, and then caught you before you hit the ground. You had braced yourself for the fall, breath held, ready to protect your head and your limbs. Safe in Kung Lao’s arms, you leaned your head back and gasped for breath. Your hands and feet were tingling and trembling. With a snap, the fire and lightning were gone but the air was thick with electricity and heat. Kung Lao carefully set you down on the floor, kneeling at your side. He checked your eyes, which was incredibly uncomfortable. You could see his lips moving but you couldn’t make out the words. There was a painful and overwhelming ringing in your ears. To you it seemed like they were moving in slow motion.

“Are you okay?” Kung Lao waved his hand in front of your face and it was as though the world was suddenly full speed and incredibly loud. Raiden’s voice was booming and the electrical buzzing from the hall beyond was nauseating. Kung Lao grasped your hands and turned your arms over, still searching you for what you could only guess. He looked impressed. “That was wild.”

“Do you remember any of that?” Liu Kang crouched next to you, breath heavy, arms covered in soot. You shook your head, struggling with words still. What had happened? What had your arcana done while you’d been floating in the blissful nothing?

“You spoke of artifacts of great power, Y/N. They were hidden in places that you saw in your visions. The creature that you spoke of was hidden from my sight. If we can get those artifacts then there is a chance that I could see further into their purpose and his intent.”

You tried to sit up and away from Kung Lao but your body was exhausted and there was nothing for it. Your head felt too heavy to hold up on its own so Kung Lao urged you to keep resting back against him. Liu Kang was checking you pulse and making sure that you hadn’t broken anything during your ordeal. You weren’t even covered in ink. What was your arcana doing?

“Artifacts? And you know where those places were?”

“You were talking in this really spooky voice,” Kung Lao whispered. “It was weird.”

“I was able to see what you had been shown and yet you spoke of it with clarity in a voice that was not at all your own.”

“You had an accent, like a weird accent.” Kung Lao whispered again and Raiden gave him a disapproving look.

“I…” You drifted off. You didn’t know what to say. The idea of something else controlling your body when you were unaware made you grossly uncomfortable. You shrunk against Kung Lao and Liu Kang offered your hand a comforting squeeze.

“The first artifact was hidden in the Huangshan mountains here in China. The other? Mount Osore in Japan. Both are ancient holy sites filled with many legends about the old world.” Raiden bowed his head as he towered over you. “I recognized them, though it seems that when this creature hid these things, it was long ago. You must go there Y/N and uncover what was left behind. While you are gone, I will commune with the elder Gods and see what can be learned about this affliction, this shadow.”

You had a thousand question again. Elder Gods? The shadow obscured itself from Raiden? What had your ink done? What was the voice you’d spoken in? Why had you been floating? How had you summoned dragons? Your head was swimming and you leaned it back on Kung Lao’s shoulder and gasped for breath. You were exhausted, it was a wonder you didn’t just pass out.

“You must go there, Y/N. Go and uncover the truth hidden from you.”

“She can’t go alone.” Liu Kang objected.

“She’s plenty strong, Lou.” Kung Lao assured him, which surprised you considering how miserably you had failed the day before in the fight pit.

“Liu Kang is right. Not because I do not trust her strength but simply because we do not know what awaits. We do not know if this is a trap. We do not know what your arcana will do if you are left alone. You will not go alone so that others may be protected from any harm you might do.”

Oh. That was new. Raiden was worried that you were going to hurt yourself or someone else if you had a vision while you were alone. You couldn’t blame him. You were afraid of that too. You’d beaten the hell out of Liu Kang without realizing and even now, he seemed exhausted from using his arcana combined with Raiden’s godly magic just to keep you subdued without hurting you.

“You will go to Mount Osore in Japan first. I think that it is significant that you go there during the Autumn Pilgrimage which is only a few days from now.”

“This is starting to sound fun.” Kung Lao smirked.

“Kung Lao, I assure you that this is very important.”

“Yeah, very important.” He nodded and you had to resist rolling your eyes at him.

“In the meantime, one of you can go to Huangshan and gather information. When Y/N is finished in Mount Osore then she will be escorted to Huangshan while the other returns to me with the artifact.”

“What if I don’t know what to do when I get there?”

“Trust your visions, Y/N. And trust yourself. It is important that you realize that whoever has clouded your sight has done so for a great reason. What you see is important. If this creature is responsible for the clouding of your gift, then the fact that you still saw him doing something he didn’t intend for me to see, then it is a true testament to your potential strength as a seer. We must find a way to remove this shadow. I feel that doing so will lead you to do great things.” Raiden spoke with far more confidence in you than he’d had the other day. He’d basically told you before that you were incapable of being of any help.

Now he was claiming that you could lead them to victory. “But if you fail then your life will end long before the next tournament.”

Your stomach dropped and you felt Liu Kang’s grip on your hand tighten. Kung Lao was staring at a point on the floor to the left of you, eyes wide.

“One of you will accompany Y/N to Mount Osore while the other goes to Huangshan.”

“You had me at Autumn Festival,” Kung Lao regained his confidence far quicker than Liu Kang had. Liu bowed his head respectfully and let go of your hand.

“I’ve been to Huangshan before. It’s beautiful and… a lot of ground to cover. But I will leave the choice up to Y/N. This is her journey so I think that it’s only fair that the choice is hers.” Liu Kang smiled but the worry behind his eyes overpowered any excitement that he may have felt at the idea of traveling to these ancient and holy wonders.

“In that case, Y/N, the choice is yours. Who will accompany you to Japan? And who will stay here in China?”

(Author’s note! Let me know who you want to go where- I have some stuff planned out but it’s all pretty vague for this part and I’ll adapt depending on the character. IF I had to recommend, I’d say that Kung Lao is suited for Japan and Liu Kang is suited for Huangshan! But, either will do! THIS IS NOT THE BIG CHOICE. This is just a fun little thing I added in. The big choice IS coming soon tho, I assure you.)

[petersasteria]

The Life of A Mobster's Wife || Arvin Russell

Russell || Main || Taglist

Mob!Arvin x Reader (Modern AU) Requested? Nah 9,818 words (pls send feedback bc this is the longest mob fic i've done and i want to know if it's alright or if i should just leave the mob au alone sksk) W: asshole!arvin, doesn't follow canon, curse words, killing, cheating, so many fucked up shit

* * * *

Being married to a mobster wasn’t easy. Everything has to be kept under wraps whilst having a lavish lifestyle. But when you’re young, you’re naive and you think that everything will work out and you’ll live happily ever after like some Disney fairytale. Everyone seems to forget that Disney princess stories were adapted from the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen. You didn’t know that your life would take such a dark turn the moment you met Arvin. The second he smiled at you, you were a goner. You were hooked on him; addicted. Everything should’ve been a red flag and the people around you told you that something about him seemed off. That should have alarmed you, but you took what they said personally. One by one, they all left you and only Arvin was left by your side. That should have been a sign too.

You told yourself that you’d be happy and you were. You were together for six months and then you got married. Now, six years later, you have a son who just turned six and a husband who doesn’t even sleep in the same bed as you anymore. You didn’t know what went wrong, but everything suddenly changed.

Arvin made sure you and your son were away from him, so he bought a big apartment in the Upper East Side for both of you. Arvin would stay there sometimes, but most of the time, he was working; killing, kidnapping people for ransom, selling weapons, selling drugs, etc. He wanted you away from those especially, Hayden; your son.

You wanted for things to change because Hayden hardly ever sees Arvin and they don’t have a connection. You also wanted another baby and you felt like Arvin was too busy for that. Wanting to focus on your husband, you decided it was best to hire a nanny to attend to your son’s needs. However, it was difficult to look for a nanny when you’re keeping everything a secret. You were lucky enough to hire a personal doctor.

Amelia Avery Hudson is a trauma surgeon, but you hired her as your personal doctor to treat your husband and his men if they have wounds. The other doctors you asked turned down your offer. When you asked Amelia, she immediately agreed. Amelia didn’t really have a choice. She applied because she needed to pay her student loans back. Plus, she needed to keep a roof over her head and rent was expensive in New York. She’s a fresh graduate and she had trouble finding a job that fitted her career path. Your offer was perfect and she saw it just in time. She hoped that no one took the job yet and luck was on her side because she’s been your personal doctor ever since.

Amelia’s only there during the evening from 7PM until 12 midnight. Having signed an NDA, she had no one to tell about the things she’s seen. She knew that if she even tried, Arvin would somehow find out and kill her with no mercy. She didn’t want to risk it.

Amelia’s feisty, but she was nice. The poor girl had a terrible life. She kept moving from one foster home to another when she was younger. Because of that, she grew up strong. She’s a remarkable woman and you were glad that you met her. You weren’t close, but you had a good relationship with her. Sometimes, she’d entertain Hayden which meant a lot to you.

You put up a poster for the nanny position and a few applicants were interested. You looked through their resumes and interviewed them one by one. Out of everyone, only one person stood out. Her name was Celeste.

“Tell me more about yourself, Celeste.” You smiled at her. You didn’t feel comfortable interviewing people in your apartment, so you always made sure the interviewees met you in your favorite restaurant in the upper east side.

“I-I’m Celeste Regina Dela Cruz. Eighteen years old. Um-”

“I know those things.” You laughed. “It’s on your resume. Just loosen up and tell me about yourself. Would it make you more comfortable if I went first?”

Celeste nodded, clearly intimidated. You smiled and said, “I’m Y/N Russell and I never finished college because I got married. I dropped out and left everything behind to be with my husband. I was also pregnant when we got married, so we never really had a decent alone time. I volunteer a lot for my son’s school and I make sure that my son has everything. Right now, he’s on a waiting list for multiple colleges.”

“Wait, how old is he?”

“He’s 6 years old.” You said before taking a sip of water. “It’s nice to be prepared, though. At least we know that he has a slot when the time comes.”

Celeste nodded and you motioned for her to start talking about herself. She widened her eyes and opened her mouth to talk, but the waiter arrived with your food. You both thanked the waiter and began eating.

“Please continue, Celeste.” You said as you took a bite of your food.

“I’m Celeste and I’m from the Philippines.” She said. “No wonder your accent is thick.” You pointed out and nodded for her to continue.

“I was able to come here because my tita- ay sorry- aunt; my aunt brought me here a year ago. I graduated high school, but I can’t go to college yet because my aunt is sick and she’s the one who pays for my schooling. College is very expensive and we can’t afford it anymore because of my aunt’s medicines.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.” You frowned. You felt bad, truly. Here you were, a college dropout but you’re living a luxurious lifestyle. Of course, that’s all thanks to Arvin. You were just lucky that you married a rich man. But as you sat in front of Celeste, you felt the need to do something nice for her. After all, in your mind, she was hired already.

“Oh, it’s okay.” Celeste smiled. “We’re getting by. My friend told me to apply to you and that’s why I’m here.”

“I understand.” You said as you folded your hands on the table. “When can you start?”

“Ha? What?” Celeste furrowed her eyebrows.

“You’re hired, Celeste.” You chuckled. “When can you start?”

“Um… as soon as possible!” Celeste exclaimed and you nodded.

“Pack your things and I’ll send for Pemberley to pick you up at your home address. I’d just like to confirm that your address on your resume is still your home, yes?” You asked and she nodded quickly.

“Okay. I’ll give it to Pemberley. He’ll pick you up at 9:30AM sharp.” You grinned. You both shook hands and continued eating.

The next day, you welcomed Celeste in your apartment and gave her a tour. She looked amazed at everything and it was entertaining to see. You told her that she wasn’t allowed in the master bedroom unless told and she wasn’t allowed in Arvin’s office.

You looked at your watch and gasped, “Oh, my! I’m late for a meeting. Make yourself at home and don’t forget to pick up Hayden from pre-school at 2:15. I have a note for you in your room. Please read it.” You quickly grabbed your bag and coat and left.

Celeste stood there and made her way to her room. After roaming around for 2 minutes, she finally saw her room and read the note.

Hello, Celeste! These are the rules:

Hayden can’t eat seafood. He is allergic.

No sugar-y or chocolate-y drinks before bed. Only one glass of milk with no sugar.

Sandwiches are not allowed to be eaten in his room because of crumbs.

If Hayden has no classes, you may take him to the park or the museum. As long as there are only a few people.

Stay away from crowded places. I beg.

Give Hayden a bath before bed.

Call me only when severe emergencies happen.

Your laundry schedule is the same as Hayden’s; TTh.

Always bring a small first aid kit in your bag and make sure you have a full container of hand sanitizer AT ALL TIMES.

Keep an eye on Hayden. He is your main priority.

P.S. Have fun! Eat whatever you want and if you need anything, please give Jose your own list before he goes grocery shopping.

Celeste taped the note on the wall next to her bed and started unpacking her things. She looked at her watch and realized that it was time to pick up Hayden from school. She quickly grabbed her small bag and ran to the front door.

Hayden’s school was just around the corner, so it was easy for Celeste to pick him up. There were many nannies waiting for kids to be picked up and Celeste was a bit overwhelmed that her job was actually starting. She never had training or anything.

A few more minutes of waiting, the door opened and out came a plethora of running and screaming children. During the apartment tour you gave her from hours before, she remembered you showing her a family picture that was recently taken. With that in mind, Celeste was able to remember what Hayden looked like.

Celeste looked around and saw a young boy by the steps, looking around. “Hayden!” Celeste shouted, causing the boy to look at her. Celeste walked over and said, “Hayden Russell?”

The boy nodded. She smiled, “I’m your new nanny. My name is Celeste.”

Using his manners, Hayden shook Celeste’s hand. Celeste grinned and took Hayden’s bag from him. She held his hand and they walked home. The walk home was short and quiet, but it was comfortable. When they walked into the fancy apartment building and into the elevator, Hayden spoke up.

“Can I call you ‘Celie’, instead? Like a super agent secret name? It’ll be cool.” Hayden said, causing Celeste to smile at him.

“Sure!” Celeste said.

When they arrived in the apartment unit, you were already home. Hayden ran up to you and you bent down to pick him up and hug him.

“How was school?” You asked as you kissed his forehead.

“It was fun! We learned so many things and we had arts and crafts and we-”

“That’s great, sweetie!” You smiled before putting him down. “You can play sudoku in the living room.”

Hayden made a face, “But I hate sudoku.”

“Yes, but it’ll help you stimulate your brain. Think of it as a mental exercise.” You grinned before softly nudging him to the living room where his sudoku book was waiting for him on the coffee table. Hayden begrudgingly walked to the living room and you turned to Celeste, “We need to talk.”

You turned around and walked to your husband’s office. He wasn’t there anyway and you had the freedom to speak business there. “Follow me.” You said without looking behind you. Celeste was scared shitless. She did the sign of the cross and prayed on her way to Arvin’s office.

“Aba Ginoong Maria, napupuno ka ng grasya, Ang Panginoong Diyos ay sumasaiyo. Bukod kang pinagpala sa babaeng lahat at pinagpala rin naman ang anak mong si Hesus. Santa Maria, Ina ng Diyos, ipanalangin mo kaming makasalanan ngayon at kung kami’y mamamatay. Amen. (Hail Mary, Full of Grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you amongst women and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners. Now and at the hour of our death. Amen.)” Celeste muttered under her breath. You opened the door to Arvin’s office and was immediately met with the darkness due to the closed curtains and lights that were not switched on. The only light present was the sun’s light peeping through the spaces between the curtains. You walked in and Celeste followed suit and closed the door behind her.

You sat on Arvin’s chair and read the papers that you previously laid there on the table. “Please, sit.” You motioned for her to sit in front of you and she did.

“I told you that I had a meeting earlier. I met with important people and we went through your records.” You told Celeste. Celeste knew that she didn’t do anything wrong and that she had a clean record, but that didn’t stop her from worrying.

Was she in trouble for declining her father’s call from the Philippines? Or perhaps she was in trouble for cursing her cousin. She wasn’t sure.

“And I’d like to applaud you for having remarkable and outstanding grades. Straight A’s?! I didn’t know you were smart. You didn’t put in your resume that you were a valedictorian.” You smiled sweetly. You were impressed.

“I didn’t put it because I don’t want to be hired because I’m a valedictorian. I want to be hired because you want me for the job.” Celeste said and you nodded in understanding.

“That’s very humble of you.” You smiled. “Anyway, I submitted your records to multiple colleges and they immediately got back to me.”

You opened the drawer and took out at least ten envelopes from well known universities. You handed the envelopes to her and motioned for her to read each one.

Yale University

Stanford University

Harvard University

New York University

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Cornell University

Brown University

University of California, Los Angeles

University of Pennsylvania

Columbia University

“I want you to look through those and read each one. You also have the freedom to check each university’s website to see what they look and what they offer and if what they’re offering is what you want, tell me.” You told her.

“That’s very nice of you, ma’am.” Celeste said, clearly overwhelmed with what you just told her. “I can’t afford it. It’s too- mahal. Ang mahal po kasi.(expensive. It’s too expensive.)”

You stared at her as she spoke to you in a foreign language. Not just any foreign language, her native language. She quickly realized what she said and said, “The tuition fee is too expensive.”

“You know, for a valedictorian, you’re kind of slow.” You joked. “Sweetie, you don’t have to worry about it because we’ll pay for your tuition fee.”

She gasped and squealed, “Thank you!”. She jumped out of her chair, did a small dance, and went up to hug you which took you by surprise. You smiled brightly and patted her arm as a sign of affection. It felt nice to do something good for once even though your husband does a lot of bad things. Sometimes you think that all the good things you’ve done are payback for all the bad things Arvin has done.

Celeste quickly let go of you and went back to her seat. She cleared her throat and apologized and you waved your hand and said that it was nothing. You debated with yourself on whether you should tell Celeste about your husband’s mob or not. You decided against it and told yourself that you’ll tell her when she asks.

“I’ll enroll you in any university you pick and I’ll make an arrangement that your tasks during the day until you pick up Hayden, are done face to face. Meaning, you’ll physically attend classes at the university of choice. Of course, that only applies here in New York.” You explained.

“Should you choose a university that isn't in New York, you'll be enrolled in online classes." You told her and she nodded.

"Yes, ma'am. Thank you so much!" Celeste said sincerely which made you smile.

"You're welcome. Study well and you can join Hayden in the living room now. I'm sure he's done with his sudoku. He should be reading his French book now." You said as you looked at the time on your phone before standing up. Celeste stood up too and held the letters close to her chest.

"I think my husband is coming home tonight, so we'll eat dinner at his favorite restaurant. Get ready at 6PM. Knowing him, he'll be late." You said and left the office with Celeste following behind. She closed the door and quickly went to the living room to check out the letters.

You went straight to your shared bedroom with Arvin and quickly went to your walk in closet that Arvin built for you. You scanned through the rack for dresses and scanned through multiple shoes to match your dress. You knew it was still 3:30PM, but you liked being prepared.

Your phone rang and you immediately answered it without looking to see who it was. “Hello?” You answered while grabbing a cerulean colored cocktail dress from the rack and holding it against you and checking it in front of a mirror.

“Y/N, honey, it’s me.” Arvin said. His voice was raspy and there’s no doubt that it’s because of his smoking habit. He’s trying to lessen it because according to him, he didn’t want to have cancer and he didn’t want his life cut short. Despite that, he still smoked… less than before. He was really trying. Key word: trying.

“You’re smoking right now, huh?” You asked, already tired of his shit. You loved him so much, but you didn’t have the energy of being his wife anymore. Probably because he doesn’t treat you like one.

“Mind your own business, woman!” Arvin hissed. You knew he didn’t mean it, but it still kind of hurt. “I’m just worried about you and you said that you’ll lessen the smoking.” You said calmly. You didn’t want to fight with him; it’s useless.

“I am. This is my third stick today and it’s late in the afternoon.” Arvin said, pushing his hair back. “Anyway, I called to tell you that I’ll be coming home tonight and I’m sleeping there.”

“Wow, it’s been a while. How long will you stay here?” You asked, hiding your excitement.

“I’m taking 7 days off. Starting tomorrow.” Arvin said. He gathered his things, got up from his seat and walked out of his office. “I’m leaving The Hamptons as we speak.”

“Alright. I’ll be waiting for you.” You said.

“What’re you up to right now, darling?” He asked, exiting the mansion and went straight to the limo. The door was being held open by Jeeves, the chauffeur. Arvin got inside and Jeeves closed the door before quickly getting in and driving.

“I’m picking a dress for tonight. I made reservations because you’re coming home.” You told him and he smiled.

“That’s sweet of you, darling. I’ll text you when I’m almost home, okay?” Arvin said.

“Oh, ok-”

Arvin hung up the phone and you sighed. You put the phone on top of the small chair before picking another dress.

Hours later, you received a text from Arvin saying that he was already around the corner and that he’ll just wait for you in the limo. You quickly finished getting ready and walked out of your room wearing a steel blue dress that you knew Arvin loved. You wore heels that matched it and wore dangling earrings that you wore on your wedding anniversary.

Celeste was wearing a polka-dotted blouse and a skirt that ran until her knees. She was wearing an old pair of Mary Jane’s and her hair was neatly combed. She had a hairpin to clip it back and on her shoulder, was a ‘nanny bag’ that you gave her. Hayden was wearing black pants and a button up that you bought last year. He was wearing black sneakers to match his outfit.

All three of you left the apartment and quickly made your way to the elevator. The elevator ride was short and before you knew it, you were in the lobby. Seeing the limo from afar, Hayden ran towards it causing Celeste to run after him. You walked quickly knowing that Arvin hated waiting.

Hayden opened the limo’s door and went inside to give his father a hug. “I missed you, daddy!” Hayden said with a smile and kissed his cheek. Arvin hugged back tightly and kissed the top of his head.

Arvin loved Hayden. The boy was like a copy of him and Hayden was Arvin’s most prized possession. He was the reason that Arvin worked hard and he was the reason that Arvin is sane. Although he doesn’t mind having more kids, Hayden was more than enough for him and he was content with that.

“I missed you too, buddy!” Arvin smiled widely and sat Hayden on his lap. Hayden started talking about what happened while he was away and Arvin was listening. Celeste went inside the limo and sat across from Arvin causing him to glance at Celeste up and down with furrowed eyebrows. You quickly got in the limo next to Arvin and closed the door. Jeeves asked if everyone was ready and you said yes. Jeeves started driving and he turned the music down a bit.

This caught your attention and you internally groaned. You looked at Arvin and quietly said, “Really? You’re playing this music again?”

Not leaving his gaze on Celeste, he said, “My limo, my music.”

You rolled your eyes and looked out the window. Arvin’s music played through the speakers and you decided to help yourself with a glass of champagne just to get through the night.

“Are you washed? (Are you washed?) In the blood (In the blood) In the soul cleansing blood of the lamb?”

The music filled the quiet limo, Hayden stopped talking a minute ago, finding the scenery more amusing than his own stories. Arvin nudged you and whispered, “Who the hell is the chick?”

“Hayden’s new nanny.” You whispered. “I hired her yesterday. She’s from the Philippines and-”

“You know what? I’ll interview her during dinner.” Arvin cut you off. “I already interviewed her and she’s qualified.” You hissed.

“Really? Doesn’t seem like it.” Arvin said. “I’ll do the talking. You already got to know her and it’s my turn now. I want the best for my son.”

“She’s very intelligent, you know.”

“I don’t give a shit, Y/N.”

“Daddy said a no-no word.” Hayden said, his eyes not leaving the window. “Also, can I get a puppy? Jason’s daddy bought him a new puppy and I want one too.”

“Tomorrow.” Arvin answered. “I’ll pick you up after school and we’ll buy a puppy.”

“Arvin, babe, he’s not responsible enough for a puppy yet.” You told him, but Arvin shrugged you off. He didn’t care what you thought. If his son wants a puppy, he’s getting a puppy.

You arrived at the restaurant and immediately got out of the car. You went down first and Hayden followed after. Arvin glanced at Celeste and motioned for her to get out first and she did. Arvin was last and he closed the door behind him. “Buy yourself some food, Jeeves.” Arvin said as he handed $200 to Jeeves through the driver’s side. “Pick us up when I text you. Don’t be too far, alright?”

“Yes, sir.” Jeeves said before driving off.

You all waited for Arvin and all four of you entered the fancy restaurant. The hostess led you to your table that had a small card that said: ‘Reserved for Mrs. Russell’ in cursive. All four of you sat down and the hostess provided menus for you, Arvin, and Celeste. A kids’ menu was handed to Hayden and he smiled and thanked the hostess. Holding a menu made Hayden feel like a real man. He wanted to be just like his father and that scared you because Hayden doesn’t know about Arvin’s job. Neither did Celeste and you felt sick to your stomach knowing that you brought two innocent people in danger. If things get worse, you’ll fire Celeste and let her go back to her family while you make sure that traces of her are gone. After all, if they find Celeste, she might get killed. Chances are, her family gets killed too. It’s all connected.

Anyway, all Hayden knew was that his father takes down bad guys. To him, Arvin’s a hero. But you knew better. Hayden will find out when he’s older. One day, he’ll understand that not all people who take down bad guys are heroes.

You all ordered and handed the hostess back the menus. Arvin took a sip of his water and cleared his throat before turning his attention to Celeste. “What’s your name, and where are you from?” Arvin asked.

Celeste stared at him in shock, “A-Are you talking to me, sir?”

“Who else would I be talking to? Of course, I’m talking to you.” He scoffed which made you slap his arm lightly. “Introduce yourself to me. We haven’t met and if my wife thinks you’re qualified for this job, it is also my right to see if you’re qualified as well.”

“U-Um, okay. My name is Celeste Regina Dela Cruz and I’m from the Philippines. My aunt brought me here last year. I only graduated high school and-”

“Alright. How did you find out about this job?” Arvin asked.

“My friend told me about it, so I applied.” Celeste said. A waiter came by and poured champagne on yours and Arvin’s glasses while he poured water on Celeste’s and Hayden’s.

Arvin nodded, “Alright. Were you a nanny before this?”

“No, sir.” Celeste answered.

“So, what makes you qualified for this job? Why are you here?” Arvin questioned.

“I’m here because… I want to work and I think that being a nanny is the only way.” Celeste answered and Arvin nodded before turning to you.

“Have you discussed her salary?” He asked and you shook your head. He nodded and turned to Celeste, “Will $100 a day be enough?”

“Yes, sir.” Celeste nodded furiously.

“Alright, then. $100, it is. I’ll give you extra if you’re good.” He said before taking out his phone and kept himself busy. You gave Celeste a tight lipped smile and did the same.

What Arvin said struck a nerve on you. You knew of his affairs and ladies, that’s why you never visited your mansion in The Hamptons. You knew there’d be a plethora of girls who are throwing themselves at your husband. You also knew that he wasn’t faithful and you knew that because he smelled like women’s perfume and sometimes he’d have a smudge of foundation on his white shirt. You stayed with him anyway.

“Thank you, sir.” Celeste said with a small smile. She turned her attention to Hayden and entertained him with stories from back home.

“How was work?” You asked Arvin and he shrugged.

“Nothing special. Rodriguez finally paid back what he owes, so that’s that. Also, dad visited me this morning. He said that he wanted to see Hayden. I told him I’ll think about it.” Arvin said with no emotion.

Arvin’s relationship with his dad, Willard, was rocky. It was no secret that Arvin preferred the company of his mom rather than his dad. Charlotte, Arvin’s mom, was the sweetest lady you’ve ever met. She helped you with your pregnancy and she’s the one who told Arvin to keep you away from the mob things. She didn’t want Hayden to grow up in such a bloody environment. Besides, it wasn’t safe. She’d occasionally visit you and Hayden when she’s not busy.

“How were things while I was gone?” Arvin asked.

“Same old. The only new thing was hiring Celeste.” You told him and he nodded. He moved closer to you and asked in a low voice, “Does she know?”

You shook your head and he nodded, “Good. It should be kept that way.”

“We’ll be paying for her college education.” You said quietly and Arvin’s head quickly turned to you as he glared daggers at you. You paid him no mind as you took a sip of your champagne. “We’ll talk later.” Arvin said sternly.

The waiter arrived with your orders and all four of you began eating in silence. Celeste was too awkward to start a conversation, Hayden didn’t know what to say, Arvin will talk to you later in his office, and you didn’t want to engage in a conversation nor start it.

After that, you ordered desserts. You initially didn’t plan to order any, but Hayden wanted the strawberry cake that he saw at the other table. Therefore, Arvin ordered four slices of that. As Arvin took bites of it, he chuckled which made you look at him through your peripheral vision.

“What’s so funny?” You asked, before eating the cake that was on your fork and chewing it. Arvin shook his head, “Nothing. I just remembered our wedding cake. It was similar to this.”

You smiled at the thought and nodded, “Yeah, they are similar.”

Your complicated marriage with Arvin made you stressed. You didn’t know how to act around him, but he was a great actor. He acted like he wasn’t cheating on you, he acted like he wanted the domesticated life, he acted like everything about his family was normal, and above all, he acted like he was still in love with you.

The truth is, Arvin isn’t in love with you anymore. But he loved you; he still does. He will never stop loving and caring about you. He just doesn’t get the same feelings as he used to. Before, one look at you gave him butterflies in his stomach and the world turned into slow motion. Now, he looks at you and he feels nothing. In his mind, you’re just his wife and the mother of his child. He didn’t know what to do anymore, but he knew he couldn’t leave you. Leaving you would ruin him because he knew you’d take Hayden away from him.

Being unfaithful wasn’t part of his plan, but it just happened. Then it kept happening with different girls and he hated himself every time. He knew that you knew. After all, he wasn’t discreet about it either. Both of you just pretend that nothing’s happening, it’s all swept under the rug and it’s killing you.

After dessert, Arvin texted Jeeves to pick you up as you called a waiter for your bill. After paying, Jeeves was already outside. Celeste got up from her seat and carried Hayden, who was falling asleep already. You and Arvin followed.

The ride home was shorter and quicker. When you arrived in the apartment, Celeste went straight to Hayden’s room with him fast asleep in her arms. Arvin cleared his throat which caught your attention. You looked at him and he nodded his head towards his office. He went there and you trailed behind him.

When he opened the door, he switched on the lights and went straight to his desk. You entered and closed the door. You sat in front of him and waited for him to talk.

“Since when were we paying for someone else’s education?” Arvin asked.

“Since now.” You answered boldly. He bit the inside of his cheek and nodded, “Why?”

“I’ve seen her records. She’s a valedictorian and she deserves to go to college. Her aunt can’t pay for it and I volunteered. It’s a little ‘thank you’ for taking care of Hayden. Taking care of a child isn’t easy.” You explained.

“That’s her job. Her little ‘thank you’ is her salary.” Arvin said with his thick accent.

“She deserves more than that.” You told him. “We have so much money, anyway. Paying for her college education won’t even cause a dent in our bank account. Besides, you told her that if she’s good, you’ll give her extra cash. Now, what do you mean by that?”

You and Arvin stared at each other in silence. The tension was thick. It was obvious that you both have problems that you refused to bring up.

“Let’s go to bed.” Arvin said after a minute. He stood up and you stood up too. Both of you left his office and he turned the lights off. He went straight to your shared bedroom and you went to Hayden’s bedroom. When you peeked inside, Hayden was already asleep and wearing his pajamas. You took off your shoes and walked to his bed. You laid down next to him and hugged him as tears streamed down your face.

Being Arvin’s wife wasn’t easy and it wasn’t like the fantasy you had initially thought. You wanted a happy family, but Arvin doesn’t even lay with you anymore. Your day was tiring and chaotic with a mix of high and low emotions. You knew that it would repeat the next day and you already dreaded it. For now, you’ll just cuddle your 6-year-old son and try to get some sleep.

The next few days consisted of doing your daily tasks. The only difference is, Arvin was home and he joined in various tasks. He accompanied Celeste in picking up Hayden at school and true to his word, Arvin bought Hayden a puppy.

Now, the puppy is part of your daily tasks too. Hayden named his puppy 'Jack' and he loved it. Part of his new daily life, Hayden always made sure that Jack was nearby whenever he did anything whether it be sudoku or reading his French picture books.

Arvin loved Jack too. He even swore to Jack that he'd come home often. You rolled your eyes at that, but chose not to say anything. While you thought that nothing in your marriage will surprise you, you thought wrong. After his 7 days off, Arvin came home every night solely because of Jack and Hayden.

'Perfect.' You thought. 'At least he's coming home every night.'

It was now Sunday which meant that Hayden had horseback riding lessons at the back of your mansion in The Hamptons. Celeste was watching over Hayden with her cheap sunglasses on. The skirt of her dress was slightly lifting up due to the wind. You offered your hat to her, but she declined. She said that she was used to the sun because of the weather in the Philippines.

You and Arvin were in his office looking over Celeste’s university of choice. You were making calls and Arvin was checking out the university’s website on his laptop. You were currently on hold and you grabbed Celeste’s acceptance letter from Arvin’s desk. The envelope was open and you sat down on Arvin’s desk as you took out the letter from the envelope and read it.

Cornell University

Celeste Regina Dela Cruz 2264 Oak Street Manhattan, New York 10021

Dear Celeste Regina:

Congratulations on your acceptance into the College of Engineering at Cornell University! We are very pleased to be welcoming you to this coming academic year.

Very soon, you will receive your official letter of acceptance from us in the mail. We are excited that you will be joining the Cornell community and know that you will make a very positive contribution to the university.

Best regards,

Amanda K. Bishop Associate Vice Provost for Enrollment Cornell University

ENROLL AND DEPOSIT ONLINE: Please retain the URL and PIN provided in the notification email you received, as well as the password you created to view this letter. You will need all three in order to log in again to complete the Enrollment Response Form and submit your enrollment deposit.

You finished reading and before you knew it, you weren’t on hold anymore. You began talking to the person in charge and Arvin glanced at you from time to time while scrolling through Cornell’s website.

“I think she’ll enjoy Cornell, darling.” Arvin said, exiting Cornell’s site and you glanced at him and gave him a thumbs up before turning your attention to the call again. After an hour, you end the call and turn to Arvin.

“They agreed to let her do online classes and occasionally attend classes physically.” You informed him and he nodded.

“Do you think Hayden will get into Cornell? It’s a nice university.” Arvin asked. “I don’t really care where he gets in. I’ll be proud regardless.”

You gave him a small smile and said, “That’s wonderful. Speaking of Hayden, his horseback riding lessons should be done by now. Let’s go.”

You left Arvin’s office and he quickly followed behind you. “Is there something wrong?” He asked and you shook your head, not saying anything.

Days went on that way. You talked to Arvin less and less and he was starting to catch on to that. He also noticed that you don’t sleep next to him anymore and that you always made sure that you weren’t home when he comes home from the mob business.

-

The party was in full swing and the children were having so much fun. Arvin wasn’t a fan of parties, but he decided that it would be nice to have other children around the apartment. Hayden’s friends and classmates played around and the nannies were all huddled in one corner as they watched the children. Some of them even played with Jack.

You were with the parents and you couldn’t find Arvin. It was time for Hayden to blow the candles and you wanted you and Arvin to be there beside him. You looked for him everywhere and you forgot to check his home office. ‘He’s most likely in there.’ You told yourself.

Without knocking, you walked in and gasped when you saw the sight in front of you. The back of Arvin’s chair was facing you, but you didn’t need the chair to fully face you to know what they’re doing. A young woman, in her early 20s, was sitting on Arvin’s lap and you could see her bouncing up and down. Arvin wasn’t even hiding the fact that he was enjoying it. You quickly left and closed the door.

You knew he was cheating on you, but seeing him in action made it so real. You told yourself that you weren’t going to cry, but the tears you held back were freely streaming down your face. You quickly wiped them away and Celeste saw you.

“Ma’am, are you okay?” She asked. She was worried about you. You faked a smile and nodded, “Yeah, I’m alright. I just can’t believe that Hayden is 7 already! Time flies by so fast.”

Celeste nodded and smiled, “Okay. Hayden wants to blow his cake now.”

“Okay. Tell him to get ready.” You told her and she nodded, quickly leaving you alone. You glanced at the door of Arvin’s office and debated on calling Arvin’s attention or not. You decided that you weren’t going to call for him. If he cared about the little family you made, he would have the decency to not cheat on you on your son’s birthday. With that in mind, you held your head high and walked to the kitchen where everyone was waiting. Hayden was sitting on the bar stool while his cake was placed in front of him, on top of the countertop.

You smiled brightly at him and stood next to him. You kissed his cheek and gave him a side hug. “Where’s daddy?” Hayden asked you, looking up at you with innocent eyes.

“He’s busy cheating on mommy, sweetheart.” You wanted to say so bad, but you held back. It wasn’t nice to bring personal problems to parties. Especially your 7-year-old son’s party.

“He’s answering an important call for work, buddy. He’ll catch up later.” You lied. Hayden frowned, but his mood changed when everyone started singing ‘Happy Birthday’ while some took pictures of you two. Celeste lit the candle that was shaped like the number 7. After the song, Hayden closed his eyes and made a wish before blowing his candle. Everyone clapped and you gave everyone a slice of cake.

When everyone was eating, Arvin finally walked out of his office with the young woman with him. He gave her $100 and whispered, “This is for not telling anyone and for spending time with me.” He winked at her and she blushed before quickly walking off to the kid she was watching.

Unbeknownst to them, Celeste saw the whole thing. She looked at you, Hayden, and Arvin and she looked torn. She wanted to tell you, but she was scared of Arvin. She thought that he was sketchy and she didn’t fully trust him. If she doesn't tell you, she’ll feel bad. So she quickly went to her room, called her sister and sat on her bed.

Toni, her sister, answered, “Oh, bakit ka napatawag? (Why did you call?)”

“May chika ako! Tangina, ‘di ko alam kung ano gagawin ko. (I have tea! Fuck, I don’t know what to do.)” Celeste said. She was panicking in her room and she truly didn’t know what to do.

“Ano ‘yon? (What is it?)” Toni asked.

“‘Di ako sigurado pero parang nambababae itong tatay ng alaga ko. Sabihin ko kaya sa asawa niya? (I’m not sure, but I think the dad of the kid I’m taking care of is cheating on his wife. What if I tell his wife?)” Celeste bit her nails nervously. Toni was quiet and said, “Ikaw bahala. Kung sa tingin mong kakainin ka ng konsensya mo, sabihin mo na. Kung kaya mong magkunwari na wala kang alam, edi ‘wag mo sabihin. (It’s up to you. If you think that your conscience will eat you alive, tell her. If you can pretend that you don’t know anything, then don’t say anything.)”

“Kung ikaw nasa pwesto ko, ano gagawin mo? (If you were in my place, what would you do?)”

“Wala. Kunwari wala akong alam. Saka ko na lang sasabihin pag tinanong ako. (Nothing. I’ll pretend that I don’t know anything. I’ll just tell her if she asks me.)” Toni answered.

“Sige. Chat nalang kita mamaya. Kailangan na ako sa labas. (Okay. I’ll chat with you later. I think they need me outside.)”

“Okay, bye!” Toni said before hanging up. Celeste took a deep breath and walked out of her room.

Some people were already leaving and Celeste immediately grabbed a big garbage bag to pick up the paper plates and paper cups that were left behind.

“Where have you been?” You asked Celeste sweetly. She jumped at the sound of your voice which was weird because she wasn’t jumpy.

“I-I went to my room to talk to my sister.” Celeste said. It was true, but she didn’t tell you why. You nodded and said, “Send her my regards.”

Celeste nodded and proceeded to clean up. You walked away and thanked your guests for coming to Hayden’s party. You’ve been avoiding Arvin for hours now and it was like he wanted to talk to you alone. You didn’t want to.

When everything was clean, it was already time for Hayden’s nighttime yoga routine. He quickly went to his room and started getting dressed in his yoga outfit. Celeste went to her room to grab her books, so that she could read while Hayden did his yoga. Jack went with them and Celeste was more than happy to know that the dog was joining them.

It was only you and Arvin in the living room. The tension was thick. You closed the door after the last guest left and Arvin started talking, “Why didn’t you call me when Hayden blew out his candle?”

“Was I supposed to?” You snapped and gave him a death glare which he seemed to return.

“Of course you were supposed to! I’m his dad and I should be there for him!”

“Why weren’t you present for most of the day, then? Where were you when I needed you? Where were you when I needed help with Hayden’s gifts? When I needed someone to give drinks to the adults, where were you? You weren’t around, Arvin. You were busy with God knows what!” You raised your voice.

“What are you saying?!” Arvin shouted.

“I’m saying that you’re not there for me and you haven’t been for a long fucking time!” You shouted back. This started a screaming match between the two of you. You didn’t even notice how loud you were shouting.

Hayden stopped doing yoga and looked at Celeste, “What’s going on?” Celeste looked at Hayden while listening closely. She sighed and told him, “Stay here. I’ll be right back.”

Celeste walked out of Hayden’s room not knowing that Hayden followed her out. She only realized that Hayden followed her when she heard Hayden shout, “Stop fighting!”

You and Arvin stopped to turn your heads to Hayden who was already crying at the sight of his angry parents. The sight of Hayden crying made you cry too. You walked towards him, but he ran away to hide in his room. He locked the door and Celeste was just standing there awkwardly.

You wiped away your tears and to your surprise, Celeste spoke up. “Ma’am, sir, um, please don’t fight anymore because Hayden will not like it. If you can’t stop fighting each other, do it for Hayden.” Celeste said softly as she looked at both of you.

“Hayden is a very nice kid and he’s very smart and he’s very obedient. He does everything you tell him to do even if he doesn’t like it because he knows that it will make you happy. He doesn’t deserve to have parents that are fighting all the time and he doesn’t deserve a family that has problems. If you have problems, just talk about it. Don’t yell.” Celeste told both of you. She was trying to be a peacemaker and both of you commended her for it. It wasn’t her job to be a peacemaker, but she’s being one right now.

“Sir, I saw you a while ago at the party with a girl and you gave her money. Being unfaithful is not nice. You should be faithful to your wife because she’s doing her best. If you don’t love her anymore, why are you here?” Celeste said. You knew she didn’t mean anything wrong, but Arvin took it the wrong way.

“Excuse me?” Arvin asked, offended. “I’m offended that you had to ask me why I’m here. I’m here because I live here. It’s my money, it’s my apartment, and everything here is from me! So don’t ask me why I’m-”

“She’s right, Arvin.” You said and turned to look at him. “I’m tired of all this fighting and all this pretending. From now on, I’ll sleep in Hayden’s room. If you enjoy sleeping with different women, you’re surely going to enjoy sleeping alone.” You snapped before leaving the living room to go to the bathroom to wash up.

Arvin glared at Celeste angrily and she said, “Sir, I understand if you fire me. It’s fine. I’m sorry for disrespecting you in your house. But before you fire me, think about what I said, sir. Also, think about your son. You can’t take care of him because of your job and your wife can’t take care of him because she’s busy with different things. If you fire me, no one else will look out for Hayden. Thank you for listening, sir.”

Celeste looked down and went to Hayden’s room in hopes that she could coax him into unlocking the door and letting her in.

Arvin sighed in distress and rubbed his face with his hands before going to the master’s bedroom and slamming the door.

-

Arvin didn’t know what happened. All he remembered was going to an event that was attended by his mob allies when all of a sudden, his rival mob attacked them all. A lot of shooting happened and he was sure that his mob friends were killed. He hoped they weren’t.

People were screaming and he heard someone crying at some point. His people were scattered everywhere and he didn’t know if they were alright. He didn’t get out scott-free, though. He got shot on his side and he was shooting his rivals all while trying to get out of the venue to get in the car and go back to his mansion.

When he arrived, Amelia was already on her feet and doing her tasks. She was the only doctor, but she pushed through and it amazed Arvin how Amelia could help them. He admired her and thought that she was strong. Her job isn’t easy, after all.

A few hours of taking out bullets from bodies and declaring one person dead on arrival, Amelia was finally finished with her job. She was in Arvin’s office to get her paycheck while Arvin wrote her salary on a check.

“$20,000” Arvin wrote before handing it to her with a tight-lipped smile. Amelia took the check gratefully.

“Thank you, Mr. Russell.” Amelia smiled before grabbing her bag and leaving. Arvin sighed and leaned back on his chair. He hasn’t been home for a while and Hayden didn’t want to speak with him whenever he called you to talk to Hayden. It broke his heart.

He put a hand on his gun wound and closed his eyes to rest for a while to think about his life. He never really thought that his life would turn out like this, but he knew that someday he’d have to take over the mob. When he took over, that’s when he met you.

In truth, he didn’t know how or what to feel when it comes to you. He’s confused. His thoughts were interrupted by his phone ringing which made him groan. He opened his eyes, grabbed his phone, and answered it without looking at the caller ID.

“Hello?” He answered.

“Hello, Russell.” His rival, George, said. Arvin could almost imagine the smug look on George’s face. Arvin gripped his phone tighter, “What do you want? You killed one of my men. Isn’t that enough?”

“Quite frankly, no. I would send my condolences to the deceased family, but I don’t really give a shit. Besides, it would teach you a lesson from stealing from me!”

“For the last time, I didn’t steal from you!” Arvin shouted.

“Your men joined my mob and stole from me!”

“It’s not stealing if they’re getting what’s rightfully ours.” Arvin hissed. “If anything, you stole from me!”

George scoffed, “If you really think that way, fine. Just know that you’ll pay for it.”

“I’m not paying for anything, George.” Arvin chuckled bitterly before pouring himself some scotch with one hand.

“Not even for your family?” George asked. “Wow, that shit’s cold.”

“What’re you talking about?” Arvin asked with furrowed eyebrows as he took a sip of his drink.

“Oh, you’re not informed?” George said sarcastically. “Your wife and son are here with me. If you don’t give me back what you stole from me, I’ll kill them. You know where to find me, Russell.”

George hung up and Arvin yelled in frustration. He sat up and winced because of his wound. He ran a hand through his hair and thought about how he’ll save you and Hayden. Him and his men talked about plans and when they were able to finalize, they wasted no time in going to George’s place.

The plan was going to George and giving him a duffel bag filled with rocks, so that he’ll think it’s the thing he was looking for; the thing he claimed Arvin’s men stole. Arvin decided that it’d be best for his men to ‘give it back’ to George while he and a few guys would look for you and Hayden.

Arvin heard George shouting about everything being fake and he heard gunshots. In a span of a few hours, his mob was shooting people again. He heard Hayden’s familiar cries and followed it while being covered by Javier, one of his men.

When Arvin found the room where George kept you and Hayden, he gasped when he saw you lying in your own blood, unconscious next to a weeping Hayden.

“Daddy!” Hayden cried and it made Arvin’s heart break. He had so many questions running through his mind. How long have you been unconscious? Why are you unconscious? Did they hurt both of you? Where’s Celeste?

Arvin quickly untied Hayden and he didn’t hesitate to wrap his arms around him. “It’s okay, buddy. Everything’ll be okay.” Arvin whispered and kissed the top of Hayden’s head. He lets go of Hayden and knelt beside your body. He untied you and panicked when he saw multiple gun wounds on you. He knew that if you stayed longer, you’d die.

Arvin turned to Hayden and said, “Listen to me, okay? Take care of mommy and don’t go anywhere. Got it?”

Hayden nodded and wiped his tears. “Are you coming back?”

“Of course, I’m coming back.” Arvin reassured him. He stood up and quickly left the room and shot every person from his rival mob. When he saw George, all Arvin saw was red and started beating the shit out of his rival.

George didn’t get a chance to defend himself because Arvin just kept throwing punches and hits. Arvin wanted George dead for bringing his family into their problems. Arvin didn’t care about George’s bloody and bruised state. Arvin pushed George to the ground and whipped out his gun.

“This is for my family.” Arvin panted. He looked at George in the eye and shot his head mercilessly. He looked at his surroundings and saw that almost everyone in George’s mob was dead and the few that were alive, are either unconscious or terribly bruised.

Arvin ran back to the room and picked up Hayden. “I told you I’d be back.” He said as Hayden rested his head on the crook of Arvin’s neck.

Arvin ordered one of his men to carry you and immediately drove to the mansion. Arvin called Amelia and said that he needed her ASAP.

“Mr. Russell, it’s late and it’s not my schedule.” Amelia said groggily. She was already deeply sleeping and Arvin disturbed her greatly.

“I know, I know and I’m sorry. I need you ASAP, Amelia. It’s my wife this time.” Arvin said frantically. They arrived at the mansion and rushed you to the medical room where Amelia was hours before.

Hayden was asleep in Arvin’s arms and he went to his room to let Hayden sleep there comfortably. He hears shuffling around on Amelia’s end as he did his best to tuck Hayden in.

“I’m on my way.” Amelia said.

“Okay, please hurry.” Arvin pleaded before hanging up. He looked at Hayden and smiled a bit at the sight of his son fast asleep. He quietly left the room and rushed to the medical room where you were being kept. He wasn’t a doctor and he didn’t know what to do. Time was running out and for the first time in years, he finally saw you.

He finally realized how important you are in his life. He finally realized that it would hurt him deeply if you were gone. He couldn’t imagine going on with life without you by his side. He didn’t notice Amelia walking in the medical room and he only acknowledged her presence when he was being escorted out of the room by her.

“Wait, no! I want to say, Am-”

“You know you can’t.” Amelia said sternly. “It’s protocol. You can’t be here. Just wait outside.” Amelia pushed the mobster out the room and locked it. The whole time he waited, Arvin was pacing back and forth. He was restless. Who wouldn’t be? If your spouse is undergoing a procedure, you’d want to know about them, right? Arvin had no clue how you were doing.

Three hours later, the door opened and Amelia stepped out of the room. She was clearly tired. Arvin stopped pacing and stared at Amelia who only said, “She’s okay.”

“Thank you.” Arvin sighed in relief as he walked towards the room.

“You don’t need to pay me. Consider it a freebie. I know what it’s like to grow up without a mom at a young age and I don’t want that to happen to Hayden. Take care, sir.” Amelia smiled softly before leaving.

Arvin went into the room and pulled up a chair to sit next to your bed. He held your hand and stared at you. It’s been a long time since he’s seen your face. You were beautiful. You always have been and always will. Seeing you unconscious scared him greatly and it made him realize how much he still loves and cares about you.

“Y/N, I’m sorry this happened to you. I mean it.” Arvin said softly. “I love you. I’m sorry it took me almost losing you to realize that. You don’t know how sorry I am, sweetheart.”

“I can’t imagine the pain you must have felt when Celeste came clean about seeing me and some other girl on Hayden’s birthday. But I know you, Y/N. I know that you’ve always had a feeling that I was unfaithful and I can’t imagine your heartbreak when you found out about it being true.”

“When we first got together, I promised I wouldn’t do anything to hurt you. I’m sorry for breaking that promise. I’ll be better for you, Y/N. I’ll come home and I’ll stay with you whenever you need me. I’ll be present for Hayden and I don’t want to argue with you anymore. I want us to go back to normal and I know it’ll be hard for you, but I’m willing to try.” Arvin said with hope in his eyes.

“I also know that you’re awake and that you can hear me clearly.” He added as he looked at you. You slowly opened your eyes and looked at him, “I hate that you know me well.”

“I actually love it. It makes me feel like I’m still in touch with you. Lord knows I’d be heartbroken if I can’t read you anymore.” He chuckled lightly before pressing a light kiss on your hand.

“Did you mean what you said? Trying again?” You asked and he nodded. “Then, I’ll try too.”

Being married to a mobster wasn’t easy. Everything has to be kept under wraps whilst having a lavish lifestyle. But when you’re young, you’re naive and you think that everything will work out and you’ll live happily ever after like some Disney fairytale. Everyone seems to forget that Disney princess stories were adapted from the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen.

However, some relationships work out and your marriage turns into something better than before. It happened to you and Arvin. He kept his promises and soon, you were blessed with a second child. Celeste was alright and you treated her like a sister you never had. In return for sending her to college, she did well in her studies and made sure to show you her grades which made you proud.

Everything was coming together and you were thankful that things took a nice turn. Your life as a mobster's wife wasn’t so bad, after all.

* * * *

𝐍𝐄𝐖 𝐀𝐑𝐕𝐈𝐍 𝐑𝐔𝐒𝐒𝐄𝐋𝐋 𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓: @cocoamoonmalfoy @parkerpeter24 @slutforsr @rumplebutterbaby @dummiesshort @quxxnxfhxll @bora-world @supred12 @more-like-reyna

𝐍𝐄𝐖 𝐆𝐄��𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐋 𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓: @holland-styles @trustfundparker @calltothewild @felicityparkers @hufflepuffprincess24 @tommysparker @justasmisunderstoodasloki @quaksonhehe @call-me-baby-gir1 @itstaskeen @theonly1outof-a-billion @lost-in-the-stars03 @justafangirlduh @piscesparker @speedymaximoff @miraclesoflove @lexirv @blairscott @getbywithasmile @pqrkerr @lavender-writer @blackbat2020 @hoodpankow @bi-lmg @emmastarz

[elivanah-writes]

Gift of the gods

pairing: Paul Lahote x female!pagan!reader

Sum: what if the gods did granted readers wish? 

warnings: a smal bit of smut please skip that if you’re under 18!

masterlist

It was almost twilight when y/n arrived at la push beach with her small backpack, it had been years since the last time that she had been here but it still felt like coming home. She quickly kicked out her shoes so she could feel the earth beneath her bare feet as she walked to what used to be her secret spot. It was a place close to the shoreline that was kept hidden by some bushes and a few trees. If you’d be walking on the beach you’d never see it if someone was sitting there, and that was what she was looking for. She didn’t want people to see what she was about to do, this was something for herself, something she did every time she traveled.

Once she had reached the spot she drops down to her knees in the sand and starts to unpack the five candles and matches that were in the backpack. Colored ribbons decorated four of the candles, she picked up the one with the yellow ribbon and placed it in the east, the one with the red she placed in the south, blue in the west, and green in the north so the four candles formed a circle around her. As she took the matches in her hand she took the time to clear her mind as best as she could so her mind was only in that moment when she started to light each candle. By then the sun was set but it wasn’t completely dark yet, ‘the perfect time’ she thought to herself as she started to cast her protective circle.

“I call the Guardian of the east and the element of air to watch over this sacred circle”

“I call the Guardian of the south and the element of fire to watch over this sacred circle.”

“I call the Guardian of the west and the element of water to watch over this sacred circle.”

“I call the Guardian of the north and the element of earth to watch over this sacred circle.”

With every sentence she spoke she visualized a physical circle forming around her.

Unknown to her there were more than just the element guardians watching her. Hidden behind the treeline 2 wolves were watching the scene unfold curious about what was happening. “she looks familiar” Jared said through the mind link to Paul. “Nah, doesn’t seem familiar to me. Should we report this to Sam? We don’t know what she’s up to.” Paul responded. “I don’t see harm in the girl, but it might be a good idea to keep an eye on her as long as she’s on that beach.” 

So the two kept watching the girl in silence.

Y/n took a deep breath before lighting the last plain white candle and placed it in front of her and started to focus on opening her mind as she spoke.

“God and Goddess, grant me the power of water to accept with ease and grace what I cannot change. grant me the power of fire for the energy of courage to change the things I can. Grant me the power of air for the ability to know the difference, and grant me the power earth for the strength to continue my path.”

After a moment of meditation with her eyes closed, she could feel how her mind eased with the peace she needed. 

Suddenly a branch snapped behind her, making her eyes shot open. When she looked over her shoulder in the direction the sound came from she was stunned, two large wolves were looking straight at her. One was dark brown and as soon as the animal had noticed her looking back at them he stepped back disappearing behind the treeline. The other was dark silver like and stared deeply back at her without moving, it’s brown eyes looking so human that she started to doubt if what she was seeing was real. It got so intense that she had to look away at some point but the moment she looked back the wolf was gone. y/n shrugged and blew out the candle in front of her, it was time to go. She thanked the guardians and sent them back on their way before blowing out the rest of the candles and packed everything back into her backpack.

--------------- 18+ SMUT

“Oh baby, that’s it” his deep voice moaned, his warm soft hands guided the movement of her hips while she was on top of him. She could feel him pulsing inside of her, she could feel every vein that ran through his hard cock with every move of her hips. She had never felt this good, this complete and safe. His moans only added up to her arousal and made her in turn also moan out loud every time her clit made contact with his pubic bone. “Yes my love let me hear that beautiful voice of yours.” he practically growled before he lifted her off his lap and turned them so y/n was laying on her back with the brown eyed man on top of her looking at her lovingly. 

“I love you, y/n”

Next thing she knew he was thrusting back inside of her while he kissed her passionately.

Her lover held himself up with one hand next to her head while as other hand found it’s place on her clit, rubbing the little bundle of nerves in sync with the movements of his own hips.

Y/n was a moaning mess at the mercy of her lover that brought her closer and closer to the peak of pleasure. But just before she could fall over the edge and have the most earth-shattering orgasm she was sure she would have a voice called out to her.

---------- end smut

“Wake up sleepyhead! The sunlight is here to greet the day!”

Y/n’s eyes shot open while she groaned. It was just a dream, there was no hot brown eyed man that was making her feel good.

“What do you want Kim, it’s way too early” y/n groaned as she saw her usual shy friend standing in the door opening. Y/n wasn’t a morning person especially after a dream like that.

“Oh, you grumpy cat” Kim chuckled, “Come on, we need to leave soon or there won’t be much breakfast left at Emily’s. And the guys are dying to meet you.”

That’s right, she almost forgot. When a week ago Y/n arrived at her friends’ place Kim was so happy to see her that they had spent most of that time together, catching up on everything that had happened since the last time Y/n was here.

Y/n had spent most of her youth here in La Push, growing up as a foster kid in Kim’s family until another family adopted her at the age of 15. Kim had always been more like a sister to her so even after she had left with her adoptive family she had kept in touch with Kim and her parents.

Now after a week full of quality time and their favorite things done it was time to meet Kim’s boyfriend and his friends in real life. She had already heard a lot about Jared, even before the two got together. Kim was so in love with him that sometimes y/n had to butt in if she wanted to say something. But Y/n was happy that her friend had found someone that treated her right. 

“Okay give me a minute to get ready,” Y/n said as she literally rolled out of bed and got up.

Fifteen minutes later y/n was dressed and ready to go. Kim had said that Emily’s place wasn’t that far so they decided to walk the short distance.

“Y/n, I was wondering. So every time you travel or do something important you do that ritual to ask the gods for strength and balance right?” Kim suddenly started knowing about her pagan believes.

“Yeah, why?”

“What if the gods grant your wish? But what if they grant it in the form of a person, like a soulmate?”

Y/n didn’t expect that to be her question because it wasn’t something she had thought of before.

“I don’t know Kim, for me, it’s more something like inner strength. You know. It’s something I want to for myself but hey I’m never turning down a gift from the gods. Especially if that gift is in the form of a hot guy made just for me.” she laughed.

They could hear the laughs of multiple people coming from the little but beautiful house that stood in the middle of an open field surrounded by trees. But the moment the girls started to walk closer to the house the laughing stopped, the sliding door opened and before she knew it Kim was lifted off her feet and spun around in the arms of who she recognized as Kim’s boyfriend Jared.

“Hey, you must be Y/n, Kim has told us a lot about you.” Jared smiled at her once he had placed Kim back onto her own feet, but still kept his arm around her waist.

“Yeah I am, it’s nice to finally meet you. Kim hasn’t shut up about you.” she chuckled making Jared and Kim chuckle too.

“Well come on in, breakfast is served” a sweet voice called out from the small porch.

“Wellcome Y/n I’m Emily”

She thanked her for the invitation before following the small group inside where the kitchen table was already filled with food and a bunch of guys sitting around it.

“Hey, guy!” Kim greeted the guys around the table with a smile before pointing at me.

“This is my sister Y/n, Y/n meet Sam, Jacob, Embry, Quil, Leah, Seth.” Every time Kim said a name a hand shot up with a short “hey” or “hello”. They all seemed like the nice and fun people Kim described them as but wasn’t there supposed to be another guy? If she remembered correctly a guy named Paul was missing from the group but she didn’t press that thought, because soon she was lead to a chair at the table and almost everyone started to fill their plates with food. She had just started to fill her plate too when she heard a voice call out from another room in the house.

“Leave some food for me, you animals!” followed by a warm laugh and footsteps coming closer until a large form filled the door opening on her left. He had broad shoulders, short dark hair, and the most beautiful brown eyes she had ever seen. He hadn’t noticed her yet so she took the opportunity to really look at him, those eyes seemed familiar, he seemed familiar. She had seen him before. His whole being, even his voice made her heart jump in her chest. Then he turned his head and looked straight at her, it seemed like his eyes lighted up in that same recognition, his smile got wider than it already was. 

“Hey, you must be Y/n. I’m Paul.” He greeted her before he took a seat on the other side of the table right in front of her. 

Then she knew where she knew him from, Paul was the guy from in her dreams. She quickly averted her eyes, afraid he’d notice that she had been staring at him. She quickly looked around her to see if someone had noticed but everyone was having their own conversation, that was until her eyes met those of a smirking Kim. Of course, she had noticed, when Kim winked at her their conversation from earlier sprung in her mind. What if the gods did had granted her wish? Because she was almost sure she had even saw those same eyes a week ago when she was in the middle of her prayer. Could it be that Paul was her gift from the gods, her soulmate?

tags: 

@its-la-push​   @ghostmistwalker​ @bisexualcrazybeans​

[teukyo]

One Warm Spring  — Hamada Asahi

pairing: hamada asahi x reader (gender neutral)

genre: fluff, very cheesy lol

word count: 3.2k

a/n: this had no business being so long i apologize D: i tend to overwrite whoops.. oh this is also my first fic so i hope you enjoy ! i’m still a bit rusty lol

Spring; after long nights of endless slumber, the Sun creeps up to the earth, its rays planting warm yet gentle kisses. The orb’s cheeks fill up in heat, flowers of endearment blooming, butterflies catching in the atmosphere’s stomach.

The Earth smiling back, showing a bright welcoming smile, and with open arms, tells the sun “good morning”. 

The quiet exchange of sweet nothings transferred to the buoyant citizens, as everyone would jump in joy about the newly welcomed season.

And during this time of the year, peoples hopes grew along with the blooming cherry blossoms until, they too, find a loved one

With late march rolling in, comes the blossoms fully bloomed, the arms in everyone’s hearts opening to everyone.

Yet, you often found it a mistake to open up your heart in a time full of tender love like now.

Empty confessions mimicked to be heartfelt at the spur of the moment, fleeing away just as quick as the cherry blossoms came and went. You just never understood it.

Snap!

“Y/N~~ the cherry blossoms are coming soon,” your friend, Jihoon sang into your ear, “And you’re out dozing off into dreamland, are you perhaps thinking about participating in the blossoming of love this year?”

You lightly shoved him away, giving him a glare. Jihoon was always jumping around during this time of the season because he never failed to have a crowd lining up to confess him; his ego flying as high as the newly born butterflies.

“Haha, very funny.” You deadpanned, leaving him behind to go to the cafeteria. 

“Hey, you get the drinks and i’ll get the food!” Jihoon shouted, you simply responding with an ‘okay’ symbol with your hand.

Because this was a routine everyday, you had your exact footsteps to the vending machine engraved in your head.

‘11:43—by now everyone should have already gotten their drinks’

‘1, 2, 3, 4.. don’t trip over the crack.. 5, 6, 7—’ beep!

That beep.. wasn’t part of your procedure.

You looked up, your eyes landing on an unfamiliar figure in front of your destination.

Focusing your vision on him, he was made out to be a raven haired boy, his posture slightly hunched over focusing on the number combination assigned to each drink.

His dainty fingers lightly pressing the right combo, pressing each digit carefully like his joints were made of glass

Shoving the crumpled up $5 bill into the slot, his eyebrows furrowing when the machine rejected it

5-5-6-2— banana milk?

You hadn’t realized you’ve been staring at him the entire time until he started walking away, a banana milk in his hand, accidentally brushing past you.

“Ah, sorry” he simply muttered under his breath before continuing on his path. His voice, a deep contrast to the season; hearing his hushed voice chilling you like a midwinter night. His entire presence stood out, almost like a wilted flower amongst the blossoming ones. Yet here you are, warm as ever, feeling the sun pressing warm gentle kisses on the place his fingertips brushed yours.

—

“Y/N? banana milk? you seem to be switching it up today” Jihoon said when you set your drinks down on the table.

“Ah.. i just — maybe i needed a change for the season” you simply responded because, you too, didn’t know why you had a banana milk in front of you instead of your usual chocolate milk.

Throwing your half empty banana milk carton to the trash after lunch, you heard a voice peer behind you.

“Oh! you drink banana milk too! it’s my favorite!” a student you knew the name by Jaehyuk vocalized. You snuck a peek back at the banana milk slowly spilling out of the tiny straw, smiling back at Jaehyuk looking at you with hopeful eyes.

“Ah— this is actually my first time trying it! And it’s.. good!” you returned, attention on Jaehyuk until you see a much smaller figure peer behind him, a chocolate milk in hand.

“Of course it’s good! don’t buy too much of it though— don’t need it going out of stock on me! cmon Asahi”

Asahi. Asahi is his name.

You took one last quick glance at him, watching him throw the empty chocolate milk carton in the bin.

“Yeah.. The banana milk was too sweet for me anyway.”

—

Squatting down to touch the freshly grown flowers outside the school yard, you had recalled the times of your youth as a child running so eagerly to the same flowers in your hand right now.

Gazing at the pretty pink petals in awe as you wiping the morning dew slightly so it can slide off the petals, dripping to the ground.

Running back into your home, crying for a bandaid because you accidentally poked your hand with one of the thorns on accident.

Such simple yet vivid times you remember that made you cherish life a little more.

“Y/N? what are you doing here— our last class is gonna start soon” you heard your classmate Hyunsuk call. you spotting an ever so familiar figure behind him.

Small yet vivid moments.. how does this remind you of—

“Y/N what are you doing cmon!”

—

After school, you sneakily slid into the art classroom after realizing you left your phone in there. Checking the clock, you had 15 minutes before art club would commence, assuming you had 5 minutes to find your phone before members of the club would start arriving.

You observed the colorful classroom with the array of paintings laying on the drying rack, the paint brushes laying on the counter to dry, the sink covered in copious amounts of colors with its original silver color peeking through. The room gave off the feel of an elementary school art classroom. You guess the term “art is timeless” applies to the setting art is made in too.

“Ah there it is!” you whispered to yourself, snatching it off of the teacher’s desk. The sound of the door sliding open shocked you, ducking down under the table out of instinct.

‘Crap—how do i get out of here’ you thought before hearing a tiny tap on the desk.

And during this time of the year, peoples hopes grew along with the blooming cherry blossoms until, they too, find a loved one

“Uhm.. are you okay?” you looked up, seeing him.

With late march rolling in, comes the blossoms fully bloomed, the arms in everyone’s hearts opening to everyone.

“Oh sorry! I just- I forgot my phone during class so I just came in here to grab it..” you trailed off, quickly getting out of your ducked position and brushing the dust off of you.

You just never understood it.

“I should get going since art club is starting soon” you mustered. Before you could open the door you heard him speak.

“Are you looking to join the art club by any chance?” he said. You looked back at him, unable to scramble words together.

‘Just say yes, say yes, say yes, say yes say-‘

—

You handed out the application form to the leader of the art club, Yoshinori was it?

“Thank you thank you! You can join us for today to see the gist of what goes on” he said while giving you a smile that can easily flutter the hearts of others.

You looked at the room around you seeing Asahi and Jaehyuk, and a freshman that went by Haruto.

To be honest, why did you apply? Your experiences in art were little to none and your current piece you were working on in class was a “dog”— at least that’s what you called it.

“There should be one more person arriving and then we can start” Yoshinori said whilst you and him took a seat.

You stared at Asahi across from you who was absent mindedly looking down at the table, fiddling with his fingers.

‘Cute’ you thought before getting interrupted by the sound of the door opening.

“oh! Y/N what brings you here?” you looked behind you to see Jihoon at the entrance, giving Yoshinori a polite smile.

“I think i should be asking what are YOU doing here,” you retorted, knowing very well that both you and him had the same level of art skill, “and I just joined because i’ve been interested in art.”

“Sure—“ Jihoon scoffed, “Asahi told me about this today so i decided to join—“

‘Asahi. How does he know Jihoon?’

“And you’re not even listening to me!” he exclaimed, ruffling your hair roughly, you lightly punching him in the gut in return.

After the commotion died down, everyone went in session, drawing on a piece of paper whatever went into mind. It definitely meditated your mind but it wasn’t appealing— visually.

The room was filled with small chatter, Jihoon’s voice overbearing everyone else’s.

“Your doodles are very cute” you heard him softly speak. You looked up at his paper, your eyes widening at the sheer talent that bestowed upon your eyes.

“You’re a funny jokester” you simply replied, looking at your own paper with a tight lipped smile. You heard him stifle a laugh, warmth flooding throughout your veins.

“It’s amusing to look at— i like the dog” he said, pointing at one of the drawings.

“It’s supposed to be a zebra >:(“ you looked up at him, trying to contain his laughter before calming himself down and continuing to draw on his paper.

“Well it’s fine because art club isn’t necessarily based on skill. i mean, if we have Jaehyuk in here then that says something” he responded pointing at Jaehyuk’s paper. You couldn’t quite comprehend what he was drawing— a person playing baseball??

“It’s a frog by the way”

“HUH?!”

—

You hadn’t realized how late art club ended, but when you walked out of school, you saw the once blue sky turned into an orange hue indicating the late time.

“We hope to see you again Y/N” Yoshinori said. You nodded and hummed in response before taking your leave with Jihoon.

You took one last glimpse of Asahi, sticking out amongst the orange sky. The sun was setting yet— looking at him gave you the exact warmth you would feel on a midsummer day. You watched his mouth slowly bloom into a smile when made eye contact. You think in your mind that spring has never felt so warm.

—

You looked up at the trees in the process of blooming, white buds formulating on the branches.

“The trees are gonna be really pretty in about two weeks or so” you heard a voice from behind you. Him. You clenched the chocolate milk in your hand before turning towards him.

“Yeah— oh sorry i’m blocking the vending machine” you murmured, sliding away.

“Oh no no,, it’s fine,” he said before taking your spot and getting the same drink in your hand, “Are you by any chance— planning to confess to anybody?”

Oh, right. You looked up at the blossoming trees once again. The time of the season you once never understood. The time of the season you once could say you despised. Yet here you are, having the rush of spring flowing down your veins. Is this the adrenaline that everyone feels? The unknown feeling gave you goosebumps throughout your body as he asked you that question.

“I don’t quite know yet,” you simply responded, looking back at him taking the drink out of the machine, “What about you?”

A sheepish smile wiped on his face, his dimple showing ever so slightly. He shrugged before looking at you.

“Only my heart knows the answer to that question.”

—

Over the so little time you’ve known Asahi, you’ve picked up on his mannerisms and his actions.

For one, he was more on the reserved side, and even when he talked his voice would always be on the softer side. You unknowingly started to associate him with winter because he gave off the cold feeling of a winter night. It was also your favorite season.

Most people knew him because he was friends with Jaehyuk, one who was very popular amongst the school. You had heard a couple times in the hallway about how handsome Asahi was. The feeling you felt when hearing that was unknown to you.

He enjoyed drawing a lot; him and Yoshinori were the best out of the club (though you’d be a bit biased if asked whose art you liked more), and he was always focused on his work, always scrunching in a little corner tending to his painting. But yet he always complimented your drawings no matter how bad they were, never failing to give you a warm feeling right after.

You could say you had developed an endearment towards asahi.

You stepped out your home, looking at the once bare trees flutter into pink hues, you thought the cherry blossoms were beautiful.

Today you decided not to walk out with Jihoon because well— confession season is always different with that boy. You had no intentions to get caught up in his relations.

You took timid and slow steps towards school. Taking your time looking at the petals and happy groups walking and aweing at the blossoms. Your mind was also off somewhere— of course it was, it always was.

Arriving at school, you saw Jihoon getting flooded by countless individuals, a letter in most of their hands. You could say the same to Jaehyuk on the other side who was also getting bomboarded. You took your routined steps to your locker, opening it as per usual except— it wasn’t usual.

You watched the letter flutter out, swaying to the floor imitating a loose flower petal. Picking it up with a shaked up expression, you carefully opened it up.

You saw the scribbled up lines at the top of the letter, indicating that the said person was trying to make a poem.

‘ah— who am i kidding? i’m not one with words. i never was. yet here i am trying to pour my feelings out on this letter. but i cant seem to combine the right words to express it. maybe because my feelings could not be described in the first place. maybe my feelings are best not worded out on this crumpled up piece of notebook paper. because if i’m being honest— this is my 27th time writing this and yet i still cant get it down. just.. meet me at class 104B? 4:15 pm after school today? please? -♡

Your grip on the paper tightened, the heart fluttering confession bringing a small smile to your face. You looked back at your locker seeing chocolate milk in sitting atop. You grasped it in your hand, taking it out before closing the locker and heading to class, your hands gripping tightly onto the objects. Unknown to you a figure watching your every move with focused eyes.

As time went by in school awfully slowly, your mind went off to one person only. You had foolishly deluded yourself into thinking that the letter and milk was from him. well— he did see you buy chocolate milk that one time. And well,, the handwriting did have a print of him.

‘Enough thoughts. just wait until school ends and your mind can finally-‘ ring!

You looked up at the clock in shock, realizing that it was, in fact, 4:00pm.

You purposefully gathered up your belongings slowly, trying to pass as much time as possible. Putting your care into every single step taken, from the 1st floor to the second.

Taking a deep breath, you slid open the empty classroom door. It was very convenient that it was just across the art classroom as the club did have a meeting today.

You traveled across the room to look out the window, seeing someone announce their feelings to another under the cherry blossoms. Just last spring you would stick your tongue out in disgust yet here you are somewhat in the same position, your heart aching as each second ticks by.

You watched them hug each other, their feelings being reciprocated, a petal getting caught in ones hair. You looked at the trees and how it really set the mood, almost getting lost in the alluring sight until you heard someone clear their breath.

You turned around deliberately, looking down at your shoes before looking up.

Yet, you often found it as a mistake to open up your heart in a time full of tender love like now. well— maybe not.

It’s him. The person right in front of your eyes is him.

You felt like the sun had just rose, your heart beating out of your chest almost like it was about to burst and run away. You felt the butterflies prance around in your stomach, feeling like you could cough one up right now. Does he feel the same right now?

“Ah,,, hello” he mustered shyly. You clenched the letter in your hand.

“Did you perhaps—“ though it was quite obvious, the slight nod from him gave you your answer.

You observed him, his hair slightly covering his eyes. Lightly kicking at his feet, you had figured he couldn’t compromise the right words.

“I have something for you” he spoke out after what seemed like a few minutes. He reached his hand out, silently telling you to take the initiative to grab it. You placed your hand in his, feeling like your hand was molded perfectly just to cusp his. His grip so gentle you could barely feel him grasp your hand.

Leading you to the art classroom across, your eyes spotting on the covered canvas on an easel. Using his other hand, he took off the cloth, your eyes widening in awe.

Your mouth laid agape as you looked at the drawing of a portrait of you with cherry blossoms in the background. Your heart stammering in your chest.

“Is this what you’ve been working on the entire time in art club?” you asked, eyes still on the painting. He hummed and nodded his head.

“Do you like it? Or is it a bit too—“

“No no! I like it a lot— Actually I love it. I love it so much” you cut him off, looking at him with excitement evident in your eyes. Words couldn’t describe the feeling flowing through you. Is this real?

“Well, I like you a lot too. I was trying to find a way to tell you, so I used my strong suit which is art” he proceeded to tell you, taking your other hand in his. He smiled tenderly at you, his signature dimple showing once more.

“Asahi— I like you too” you beamed, staring straight into his eyes. His smile widened more, his teeth showing. You took this as the initiative to hug him, arms wrapping around his neck, his wrapping around your waist.

You felt the sun shine on you, the warmth of spring immersing through you, your heart feeling more than alive as ever. The cherry blossoms you once thought as a mistake becoming the blessing in disguise for you. You think in the time of the moment that Spring has never felt so warm for you.

[nightspeckle]

Jurdan Summer Au part 2

Description: 

Cardan and Jude have been summering with each other since they were babies. They have spent every summer at the beach together but they have never been friends, until now.

Part 1 

*****

Jude woke the next morning to the sounds of the ocean waves and seagulls squawking. The sun from the window was heating her already pink skin. She could hear her family from downstairs, they were what woke her up. Back home she would have been infuriated and yet at the beach house, she couldn’t care less. 

When she looked over to Taryn’s bed it was already empty. Of course. 

Downstairs Madoc and Vivi were eating breakfast in the kitchen. When Jude got closer she could hear them bickering again. 

“Vivienne, how many times do I have to tell you to get a job?” Madoc was pushing his eggs around his plate in a menacing way. 

Vivi just sighed “I have to work on my art portfolio if I have any chance of getting into the art school I want. I just don’t have enough time.”

Madoc went to open his mouth again and Jude decided to step in before it turned into the screaming match it had been for the past few weeks. 

“Where’s Taryn?”

“Guess” Vivi supplied and Jude knew exactly where she was.

“Great,” Jude huffed while pouring herself a bowl of cereal. 

When Jude sat down she saw Vivi was still in her PJs. “What are you doing today?”

Viv smiled apologetically at Jude, “I’m going to the studio in town to get started,”

Madoc cut Vivi a glance that reeked of disapproval before shifting his focus to Jude. 

“Why don’t you come with me and Eldred, we’re going on a hike to dragonfly cove,” Madoc looked gleeful at the prospect of spending the day with his daughter.

Jude could think of a hundred things she would rather do than go hiking with two old dads. 

Madoc could sense Jude's lack of desire and scrambled to entice her. “I’ll enforce a mandatory family dinner on Taryn tonight if you come,”

Jude knew that it wasn’t exactly very cool of her to want to force her sister to spend time with her. But it was only their second day at the beach and none of her work friends were out of school yet, so although it was selfish she didn't mind. 

“Alright,” She mumbled. Madoc’s face turned giddy.

“Perfect we're leaving at 9:30, so hurry up,”

Jude looked at the clock on the stove to see it read 9:15 and just rolled her eyes before polishing off her cereal and heading up the stairs to go change. She just couldn’t wait for a hike with her dad and his old friend!

...

When Jude piled into the back of the jeep she didn’t expect to see another child who had been roped into this hike. Cardan had his head rested against the seat. He didn’t say anything as Jude climbed back into the seat. 

When Madoc jumped into the passenger seat he cracked a smile at Cardan. “I see Eldred must have bribed you into joining too,”

“Bribed?” Eldred asked while he started up the jeep.

“I bribed Jude so she would come along, did you not?” Madoc asked.

“Of course not, I just made him,” Madoc looked at Eldred as if he was a genius. Jude just prayed Madoc wouldn’t get any ideas about forcing her into family bonding. That would not go over well. 

The top of the jeep was off and Jude's ponytailed hair started to flutter around her. She had almost forgotten Cardan was there while she watched the world around her pass by. 

“What did he bribe you with?” When Jude turned back to Cardan she could see a gleam of curiosity in his eyes. He had put an arm around the back of the seats and tilted to face her more. 

Jude was immediately embarrassed as she had agreed to Madocs terms. She didn’t want anyone else knowing how she was using her dad to make her sister spend time with her. 

When it was clear Jude was not going to spill Madoc piped up from the front. “I promised to make Taryn come home for dinner tonight,”

Jude slumped back into her seat with a sigh feeling defeated. She expected Cardan to comment on how pathetic that was but when she looked over at him he was smirking. 

“I should probably thank you for that,” Cardan said playfully. 

“It’s what friends do,” Jude jokes.

The smile Cardan sent her way was nothing like she had ever seen from him. He was looking at her like they truly were friends, like being able to smile together was normal. 

Jude was starting to wonder why she had spent her childhood constantly writing him off. She had never liked how he disregarded her when they were younger. She had always felt that he thought that Jude and Taryn were beneath him. 

But the way he was acting now made her question everything in the past. Maybe she was wrong about him. 

Jude spent the rest of the drive to dragonfly cove with her fingers dangling out of the jeep. She spent her time getting distracted by the passing green trees and the feeling of the summer sun. The only thing that kept drawing her attention back to the car was the constant terrible sound of her father's and Eldred's voices singing along to their summer reggae playlist.

She couldn’t help herself but make eye contact with Cardan when both of their fathers voices cracked. Cardan laughed then, the sound filling Jude with a certain lightness. She couldn’t help but laugh herself. 

Jude was having a much better time on her Dad's usually boring adventures. When Jude looked over at the black haired boy next to her she knew he played a larger role in it than she wanted to admit. 

This was not good.

...

Dragonfly Cove was not a particularly popular place to hike. The reason for that being that there was one trail. It went from the parking lot down to the beach 50 feet below. The path to the cove event consisted of a set of wooden stairs with rails on both sides. 

If you were to ask anyone outside of the Greenbriar and Duarte families they would say that Dragonfly Cove is not a place to hike. Instead, they would refer to it as a small beach that required a short walk to reach. 

If you asked Madoc and Eldred they would tell you that Dragonfly Cove was the best place to hike out of anywhere in the area.

If you asked their children they would tell you that hiking at Dragonfly Cove was toeing death itself. 

If after taking the path and stairs down to the beach, one were to travel to the end of the beach and climb over a massive rock they would be able to see the “hike” that Madoc and Eldred had taken their children on years prior.

The “hike” consisted of climbing up an extremely steep slope made of unstable rocks and ledges. There had been many close calls of falling in the past. Orianna had even forbidden Madoc to try and reach the top of the cliff ever again. 

Now standing at the bottom of the cliff Jude was thinking that Madoc should listen to Orianna much more. She was certain looking up at the incline that she would face certain death. 

Eldred and Madoc had already taken off. Surprisingly for their age, they seemed to have no problem scaling an unstable cliff.

“Afraid Jude?” The smug voice to her left startled her.

When she turned to look at Cardan she saw the amusement in his eyes. 

“It seems even the fearless Jude herself is afraid,” He looked to be enjoying the way Jude was squirming at the idea of climbing up the cliff. 

She kept having flashbacks to the time a rock had given way under Taryn's feet. Jude had had to lunge to grab her sister's arm before she could tumble all the way down. 

“No need to worry Duarte, I’m sure we will be back down soon if you want to wait,” Cardan said with mock reassurance. Jude could tell by the look in his eyes that he was enjoying taunting her. 

Cardan took off towards the rocky slope without looking back. Jude’s hesitance at hiking the steep slope disappeared the second Cardan had alluded to her inability to do so. Jude Duarte was not one to ever be bested. She would show him.

Jude spent the first half of the “hike” solely paying attention to her feet. She refused to make a misstep or stumble. 

She could see how effortlessly Cardan was making his way up the incline above, she would not do worse than him. 

By the second half Jude had mastered the art of scaling a steep incline. She was doing so well that she even passed a delighted Madoc and enthusiastic Eldred. 

Jude's mood improved even more when she looked back to see Cardan a good distance behind her. 

She couldn’t help herself when her foot slipped the tiniest bit. “Are you alright down there Cardan?” 

Her smile grew when he sent her an annoyed look. “I’m sure your Dad would help you up the rest of the way if you want to wait,”

“I’m quite fine Duarte,” 

Cardan had gotten closer to catching up to Jude as they continued but she didn’t mind. She had still made it up there first, which was all she cared about anyways. 

The two of them stood at the top of the cliff looking out at the ocean quietly for a few minutes. They didn’t say anything to each other until they heard the telltale signs of their fathers down below. 

They both looked down to see Madoc and Eldred huffing for air and stumbling on the rocky terrain. It was amusing to watch their overconfident fathers falter on the hike they claimed toddlers could do. 

Jude watched Eldred slip on a rock and immediately looked to Cardan. When they made eye contact they couldn't help but burst out with laughter. 

After waiting for Madoc and Eldred to catch their breath at the top they headed back down. Jude found the descent to be extremely easy in comparison and managed to beat everyone down to the bottom. Cardan was in her heels the whole time but that was a fact she would choose to omit if anyone asked. 

Cardan continued to tease her (mainly about how she had walked into a pool of water without realizing) as they made their way back to the car. She had used to believe his teasing to be annoying and insufferable and now she couldn’t help but smile every time he had a snarky comment. 

Jude was on the verge of pinching herself every ten minutes. She couldn't believe she was actually enjoying herself. 

Madoc and Eldred decided it would be fun to go on an hour long drive by the coast. Something which Judge was surprisingly happy about.

They stopped on the way back at a farmers stand selling fresh fruit. Jude bought blueberries for Viv and a few peaches for herself and Taryn. Oak was in an anti-fruit faze at the moment. The discovery that tomatoes and olives were fruits sent him for a real loop.

Jude couldn’t help but laugh when Cardan’s peach was dripping all over his face and onto his shirt. 

Jude’s own peach dripped all over her when she took a bite. The taste was worth the stickiness. It was even worth Cardan's growing amusement. 

When they got closer and closer to the house Jude felt something strange deep within. It was a very small sliver of disappointment. One she was not happy to find. Was she disappointed she was going home? Or was it that her time hanging out with her dad, Eldred, and mainly Cardan was coming to an end?

Whatever the reason, she decided that ignoring it was the best course of action. 

When they pulled into the driveway she got out slowly. Now that she was done with her bribed time with her father what would she do? Taryn was probably still not home, Vivi was busy, and none of her local work friends were out of school. 

Whatever it was that she would do, she knew that it wouldn’t be as fun as this morning, that was something extremely surprising to her.

....

Jude ended up doing some summer reading outside on the porch for a bit. When Oak came home from wherever he had disappeared off to with Orianna she supervised him at the beach. 

She actually did enjoy herself but it wasn’t until dinner that she was truly having fun again. The families were eating together outside again. 

She ended up sitting next to Cardan and Viv who had come home 30 minutes before. Jude had a few moments where she caught herself smiling for no reason and laughing because of the dumbest things.

Dinners usually lasted for a few hours with the families in the summers. The parents would stay talking for longer than they would anywhere else. Jude who usually snuck out after 30 minutes to do something else ended up staying for a couple of hours. It wasn’t until Viv declared she was heading back that Jude did too. 

“You look happier than you did yesterday,” Viv commented when they got back to their house. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Jude said amused.

“You’re smiling more you weirdo,”

Jude had been smiling more than the day before. When she looked back on the day it had mainly been because of Cardan. But there was no way that he was the reason for her smiles. Maybe it was just because he was funny.

Was Cardan funny? Jude wasn’t so sure about that. 

“Oh, whatever Viv,”

Vivian and Jude broke into the moose tracks ice cream and watched a movie before going to bed. When Jude crawled into her bed it was only 11:15 but she didn’t mind. 

It was only when she was about to go to sleep that she noticed Taryn’s bed was empty. Not only was she not there but Jude realized she hadn’t even shown up to dinner.

The funny thing was that Jude didn’t even care.

~~~

tags (or my one LOL) : 

@big-daddy-maddy