#HEHEH she starts off the series scared of her but by the end she's her little buddy and also her intern | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

mint-yooxgi · 2 years

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{4} - Hotel California - Yandere!Demonic Entities!Ateez X Reader

Yandere AU & Demon AU - Based off of This ask and Hotel California by Eagles

Genre: Mature, Horror, Angst, Slight Humor

Pairing: Ateez X Reader (Focus on Seonghwa & Hongjoong this chapter)

Words: 11,370

Warnings: Talks of self-esteem and body issues. This is a Yandere story, it will contain themes such as stalking, violence, obsession, possessive natures, and just general overall creepiness and swearing. You have been warned.

A/n: Hehehe, here it is!! The next part!!! I really hope you guys have been looking forward to this as much as I have! I still have a lot planned, so stay tuned for more!! As always, feedback is greatly appreciated!! Enjoy~

Main Story - Part Two - Part Three

A full two weeks have passed since the day you decided to turn your life around while being held captive in this place. It certainly has been a change of pace, but you’re really starting to get used to things here. Especially now that you know of all the different places in the building that you can hang out in.

You had also managed to call your sister. It was on that same night that you had called your parents. After you had finished unpacking, of course. She gave you quite an earful for worrying your entire family, telling you not to give them a scare like that again. You, obviously, promised that you wouldn’t do such a thing to them again in the foreseeable future. Then, just like your father said, she teased you about running away with a mystery lover.

You had shook your head at that, frantically attempting to quiet her teasing and reassure her that that was most certainly not the case. She, like your mother, didn’t believe you, opting to send you a knowing look and a wink before her husband interrupted her to say hello. Needless to say, in the end, the both of them were at least glad to know you were okay.

That night, you had collapsed into bed, mentally exhausted from the day you had just had. You’re just glad you finally had your stuffed animals to hold onto when you fell asleep. It certainly made it much easier, and for once, you slept straight through the night. After so many restless bouts of tossing and turning over the past two weeks, you finally found comfort in something familiar.

Now, more often than not, you find yourself spending your days in the library. Sometimes, you’ll bring your laptop, your headphones already connected as you just watch videos to pass the time. Other times, you’ll bring a book, either browsing through the vast selection they’ve seemingly hand picked out for you, or pulling books off of your own shelf. You’ve already went through your entire collection of Demon Slayer manga again, rereading the series with a soft smile on your face.

Little did you notice the pouts on all of their faces at your choice in reading material. Each man couldn’t help but feel like that particular choice in manga was a pointed selection, given the situation you still find yourself in. Sure, both San and Mingi might have made progress with you that one day, and maybe even Yeosang and Jongho a little bit, but you still are guarded against them.

At least those four you can now stand to be in the same room as, even going so far as to start conversations with them on your own. Hell, you’re even joking around with them at times! A fact of which drives the other four insane.

Slowly, Wooyoung and Yunho have been attempting to make progress here and there, but they’re still nowhere near being any closer to you than they were before.

The first time Wooyoung walked into the game room to see you already sitting on the couch playing Pokémon on the switch, your whole body tensed. Your thoughts were cautious, keeping a close eye on whatever it was that he chose to do. The fact that you seemed so uncomfortable with him sitting so much as on the opposite couch with his own switch in hand, had a pout pulling at his lips.

Why couldn’t he make any progress, too? You seemed interested in his dancing when they showed you the studio. So, why haven’t you asked him to dance for you yet? He’s even been purposefully leaving the door open whenever he practices lately in hopes that maybe you’ll be walking by, and you’ll stop to stare.

What he wouldn’t give to feel your eyes on him as he dances. There are so many songs, so many choreographies, that he wants to show you. Ones that he’s made for you, or with you in mind. All that there’s left to do is perform them for you, and then maybe you’ll understand his true feelings. After all, dance has always been his best form of self expression, and to be able to share that part of himself with you would be a dream come true.

Similarly, a certain artist desperately wanted you to come to him and ask him about his paintings. Even so much as a fleeting interest in flipping through his sketchbook by you, and he would be there in an instant, offering this part of his soul to the one he loves most. You already own it, anyways. Everything he was, everything he is, and everything that he is sure to be, belongs to you.

Unfortunately for him, and despite what his brothers shared with him of that precious moment with you, you do not seem to want to be anywhere near him.

Really, it pains Yunho to no end. Based on your reactions to his work so far, even if you’ve only truly seen the one painting he made for you that’s currently hanging in your room, he thought you would have at least come to him to ask about it by now. You seemed so curious in San’s memory - so touched - that he was sure you would have knocked on the door to his studio to get him to show you his collection. Even still, your thoughts on the matter still warm his heart every time he recalls the shared memory. Finally, he had done something that made you speechless - that made you happy.

Speaking of your thoughts… Yunho, it seemed, you were constantly watching yourself around. He noticed you even started to develop a strategy of thinking about a giant black void around him to cover your thoughts. Unfortunately for him (and his brothers), this strategy seemed to be working. You didn’t do it often, but when you did, it was one of the worst things in their lives.

Now, whenever they would sense you thinking of this ‘eternal void’, as they so nicknamed it, your mind wouldn’t just go blank, but it would seemingly protect you from them attempting to invade your thoughts. It would be as if they were looking into the blackest lake, the water rippling beneath their subtle intrusions to attempt to know what you were thinking. It was frustrating.

The only upside about it would be that you still didn’t know how to fully master it, and you couldn’t think of it all of the time. However, they couldn’t help the pride that would fill their chests at the thought of you figuring out a way to outsmart them like this. Sure, some of your overtly loud thoughts would still make it through, and if they expended a little more effort than simply brushing their minds against yours, they could still invade your thoughts. However, they digress. How much more perfect for them could you be?

As for you being around Hongjoong and Seonghwa… well, they were a completely different story.

Yes, you were still tense as all fuck around the both of them, but ever since you were shown the library, they could all sense a shift in you. Towards all of them.

No longer do you pointedly ignore any of them, but Hongjoong can just tell that you’re avoiding him as much as you can. You don’t quite know how, or what, to feel about him, but he knows you’re fighting yourself against every good thought you have.

All he wants to do is make you happy, but you seem to have such a difficult time accepting him and letting him do such a thing. He just hopes his next surprise for you goes better than the last, especially where he is involved.

At least he’s not the only one wallowing in their own misery when it comes to you.

You still avoid Seonghwa’s tailor shop to no end, making him frustrated that you can’t even pass by the place on your own yet. Each time he would overhear your thoughts getting closer, he would perk up, hopeful that maybe, just maybe, this time, you were coming to see him. Yet, every time, without fail, he would be disappointed. You would rather take the long way around to the library, or pass through the courtyard by the pool, than so much as walk past his shop.

It doesn’t help the fact that when both Mingi and San had shared their memories of that day exactly two weeks ago, you again had refused to so much as look in the shop’s direction. That had nearly crushed his heart, and the worst part is, he has no one but himself to blame.

One of the happiest memories of his life in centuries and he can’t even share in that joy with you. No, you’d opt to think of it as - well, Seonghwa isn’t quite sure what to make of your jumbled emotions every time he catches you thinking about that incident that occurred within those four walls of his shop, but he knows one thing. Despite your best efforts, you do still think about it. About him. About the feeling of his hands on your waist and his lips on your skin. A fact of which could not make him happier.

Now, as he makes his way towards his shop in the morning after those transitionary two weeks have passed, he finds a bitter feeling sitting in the centre of his chest. Just last night you were smiling and laughing with Jongho in the library, discussing some book the two of you had both read. Seonghwa could not deny the growl that had built in his chest at seeing the two of you so close, both physically and emotionally.

That should be him. He’s the eldest. He’s the one you should be smiling at - the one you should be laughing with first. Seonghwa just wants you so badly, that he can hardly stand it. If only you could see that.

At least torturing that pathetic excuse of a human two weeks ago was fun. Oh, how enjoyable it was to hear the bastards’ screams, his pleas for mercy as they cut into him, only to piece him right back together so that they could start all over again until they were sated.

Truly, he has to hand it to his brothers. Seonghwa doesn’t think they’ve been that creative with their torturing in a while. He doesn’t think he’s ever seen Hongjoong that vengeful before in his entire life. Hell, he doesn’t think he’s ever been consumed by that amount of rage in all of his long years of living. Even Jongho and Yeosang, the calmest of the bunch, were near insatiable in their fury.

Shaking his head, a smirk tugs at Seonghwa’s lips. At least he doesn’t have to wonder any longer about what they should do - about what they would do - if someone ever wronged you.

Hell hath no fury like eight demonic lovers on a warpath to protect the one they love most. Or, well, six in this particular instance. Even so, Seonghwa knows that both San and Mingi were there in spirit with them each step, or rather, each cut of the way.

A low chuckle escapes his lips as he rounds the corner, shaking his head in the process. He shouldn’t be thinking about this right now. He has more important things that should be filling his mind, like what you’re up to on this particular morning. Besides, he’d much rather listen to your thoughts. They’re far more entertaining, anyways.

It’s instantaneous. The second his mind reaches out to yours, he’s freezing in his tracks just outside of his shop as his eyes behold the sight before him through the glass panel of the door.

Seonghwa blinks. There’s no way you’re sitting there, in his chair, behind his work counter, in his shop right now.

It has to be a dream. You are most certainly not holding what looks to be a torn sweater in your hands, and you most certainly are not silently cursing under your breath as you begin to stitch the fabric back together at the seams.

His breathing deepens, overcome by the sight before him. Truly, the feeling is indescribable - nothing but unfiltered joy coursing through his veins at the thought that you’re here, in his space, doing something that he loves.

A silence settles back around you as you relax into the stitch, the movements flowing smoother together the longer you sit there with your needle and thread. What’s truly remarkable, is the way there seems to be a faint glow surrounding you the longer you work at the one sleeve of the sweater. Almost as if there’s another presence standing behind you.

You, on the other hand, are none-the-wiser to the watchful gaze of a certain demonic presence as you sit there. You can just hear your mother’s voice echoing through your head as you fall into the natural rhythm of sewing your sweater back up, telling you how you’ve got your grandmother’s touch.

Sure enough, once Seonghwa focusses his eyes on the area just beside the right of your head, he sees a presence standing behind you with a hand resting on your shoulder. The lady is a bit short in stature, but he’d bet anything that this is your grandmother’s spirit manifesting around you right now, watching over you as you share in this moment.

As if the figure has heard his own thoughts on the matter, your grandmother’s head snaps up, looking him directly in the eyes. Her gaze narrows ever so slightly, as if attempting to recognize him, before smiling softly with the gentlest of nods in acknowledgement in his direction. Then, as if blessing him with her approval, she disappears.

Seonghwa’s whole body shakes as he attempts to control his breathing. Not only did you come to seek him out, and are currently sitting in his own personalized space, but he just got what seems to be your grandmother’s approval. Even she can tell that he has no ill intentions towards you, and that he’ll keep you safe - make you feel loved in every and any way he can. Like hell is he going to let that feeling go to waste.

Cautiously, he enters his shop, not wanting to scare you but also needing you to know that he’s here. He’s tired of playing this little game of cat and mouse you seem to have going on. You’re here now, and that’s all that matters.

As soon as you hear the little jingle of the bell above the shop entrance, your head is flinging upwards. Your wide-eyed gaze meets Seonghwa’s own, his lips quirked upwards softly in the corners.

Immediately, you freeze.

“Uh-“ too many thoughts begin to flit through your mind all at once.

Should you apologize for invading his space? The door was left open. Should you explain what you’re doing here? Well, it’s pretty obvious with the torn sweater, needle and thread held in your hands. Should you go back to what you were doing and hope he ignores your presence? You know that with him, that won’t be possible. Should you leave? Yeah, maybe you should. You’ve gotten what you’ve came for, anyways. You can always finish mending your hoodie in your room.

At least you don’t seem to be thinking of that damned void right now, for your thoughts echo shamelessly through his head. And he wouldn’t want it any other way.

“I don’t know if I should be surprised or offended that you didn’t ask me to mend your sweater,” there’s a teasing lilt to his voice as he approaches you, crossing the room in a few strides as he comes to stand before you.

“I am perfectly capable of doing it myself,” you retort, shooting him a pointed look as he leans against the counter beside you.

“Then by all means,” he grins, eyes shining as he watches you fondly, “don’t let me interrupt.”

Your spine straightens, and you can just feel his gaze on you tracking your every movement. You’ve never liked it when people payed too much attention to you while you worked, and having his eyes on you now, it makes you so nervous. Still, with pursed lips, you attempt to continue.

It takes only a minute for you to be heaving a sigh, seemingly deciding against your better judgment for the moment regarding what you’re about to do. Averting your gaze so sweetly, you hold the material of the torn sweater out to him without a word. He is a tailor, after all.

The smile that breaks out onto Seonghwa’s face is unlike any he has worn in a long time. The vibrance of it alone nearly lights up the entire room as he gently takes the material from your outstretched hand, pulling up a stool to sit beside you in the next second before starting to mend your sweater.

Seeing as he immediately begins to work, you go to stand. You figure since he’s stitching your sweater, you no longer have to stay. Besides, he probably wants his chair back. Only, before you can so much as take a step towards the door, his hand is shooting out to grasp your wrist gently.

You turn to look at him, and the way he’s staring at you - eyes wide and practically begging - has your heart racing in your chest.

“Please,” his voice is soft as the plea falls from his lips, “stay.”

You hold his gaze for a brief moment as you hesitate on what to do. Then, against your better judgement for the second time in the past five minutes, you surprise both him and yourself as you slowly sink back into your seat.

“Do you at least want your chair back?” You ask, eyes following the way he releases his hold on your wrist so carefully before retracting his hand.

“Not at all.” He shakes his head. “I’m just happy you’re here.”

You give him a small smile in response, and even though it’s forced, he cannot help the way his heart races in his chest.

“What happened, anyways?” He quirks a brow, eyes briefly darting to the torn sweater in his hands as he continues to stitch the fabric right where you left off. “Why bring it with you if it’s this torn?”

“Well,” you let out a puff of air through your nose, “believe it or not it was fully intact when I packed it.”

He frowns, not quite following along. That is, until your memory of both San and Mingi literally tearing apart your favourite sweater right before your very eyes flashes through his mind. He pauses only for a brief moment as he gets caught up in the memory before continuing once more.

“Remind me not to ask two of you to do something for me at the same time again,” you huff out a laugh, leaning back into the chair as you cross your arms over your chest, crossing your legs at the same time.

“Ah, I see,” he nods, eyebrows raising in faint amusement. “Those two failed to mention that in their daily recap that day.”

“Daily recap?” You quirk a brow, voice a bit skeptical.

“Mingi and San simply filled us in on what we missed when we were gone for the day,” Seonghwa explains, humming to himself in the next moment as he finishes off the one sleeve, moving on to the next in an instant. “Well, not everything apparently.”

“Is that a common occurrence?” Your eyes, which have been staring at your slipper clad feet, dart briefly over to him. “Sharing your memories with each other.”

So, this is what your meek curiosity feels like floating through your mind. Seonghwa has to stop himself from humming contently at the revelation.

“Yes, and no,” he answers truthfully. “Some moments are meant just for us, while others we can and do share with one another.”

For a fleeting moment, the incident with the dress the first time you were here flits through your mind.

“Yes, like that one,” he comments, not even shifting his gaze from the task he’s currently working on. From the looks of things, he’s almost done.

“I take it they weren’t supposed to find out about that one,” you say, shifting slightly in your seat as you recall the way the other seven reacted the first time they learnt of the memory.

“At least not for a little while,” he hums, before shifting his eyes to meet your own, nothing but sincerity shining within. “That one I wanted to have a little more time to cherish for myself.”

A heat rises to your cheeks, once more averting your gaze as you recall the exact memory he’s referring to. A memory which you still aren’t too sure how to feel about for the moment. Yet still, at seeing the way you become so shy in front of him, because of him, Seonghwa cannot contain the way his lips pull up in a smirk.

You can’t help it, but your gaze drifts to his hands as he finalizes the last few stitches in the seam. The way his nimble fingers stretch and pull the fabric, the thread being tied off in the next moment has you swallowing the dryness in your throat. Again, you’re reminded of what his fingers felt like on your body.

“That’s not all they’re good for,” his eyes are dark, hooded as he watches you from merely three feet away, that same damn smirk pulling at his lips.

Your breath hitches in your throat, mind going to exactly where he’s insinuating. A fact which only makes a pleased growl rumble within his chest as your thoughts of his fingers on your bare skin, stretching you open so delicately as he buries them in your tight, wet cunt, reach his mind.

Now, if only he could make all of your fantasies come to life. You really only need to ask, and Seonghwa is ready and willing to do anything for you. Everything you could ever imagine would be brought to life, and the fact that he would be the one making all of your dreams come true would bring him a pleasure unlike any other.

Instead, what he receive in response in you reaching over to smack his arm, your entire face heating as you attempt to calm yourself down and clear your mind.

“Pervert.” You mutter, the prettiest of pouts tugging at your lips.

Lips which he longs to feel pressed against his own.

He chuckles, rubbing over the spot you’ve just slapped him in tenderly with his hand. Only, he cannot help but focus in on a certain, singular emotion that’s flowing through your mind right now. An emotion that leaves him absolutely confused for the moment, wanting to understand more about why you’re feeling this way.

“Should I add that to the list of reasons as to why I call you Handsy?” Your voice manages to draw his attention to you once more.

This time, it’s his turn to pout. “I really wish you wouldn’t.”

“I guess we can’t always get what we wish for,” you sigh, almost wistfully.

A small silence settles over the both of you, as he smiles. Finally, he seems to be making progress with you again. At least you’re talking to him, even if it’s a little rocky to start. Still, that emotion from only moments before swirls through your mind, and Seonghwa finds his brow furrowing, expression falling as you begin to overthink.

You stare at your hands, thoughts drifting through your head. You cannot help but to recall the dress incident again, and how you felt while it happened. Even now, with this newest memory, you close in on yourself, allowing your whole demeanour to shift in an instant.

If Seonghwa didn’t know any better, he’d say that you look and feel sad.

Then, before your brain has a chance to catch up to your mouth, you’re speaking.

“Do you want to know why I reacted the way I did when that happened?” Your voice is small, as if scared of the words coming from your own mouth. Of what admitting them out loud might mean.

Immediately, concern washes over his features as he shifts closer to you. Your sweater is placed onto the counter with the utmost care, momentarily forgotten by you as your thoughts consume you. He reaches for you, but at the way you stiffen, pulling yourself the slightest bit away, he freezes. No matter how badly he wants to wrap you into his arms right now, perhaps it’s not quite the best idea. After all, he’s still on pretty thin ice.

“You caught me off-guard, for starters,” you lean forwards, curling in on yourself more as you rest your elbows on your knees. Still, you refuse to meet his gaze, staring at your hands which begin interweaving your fingers together anxiously. “You surprised me,” you notice him swallow out of the corner of your eyes, his Adam’s apple bobbing with the movement, “but not in the way you might think.”

Seonghwa does his best to maintain his breathing at a steady pace. Your mind is all over the place, and he can’t exactly pinpoint where this is going, but given your track record, he can’t help but think the worst. Even so, he won’t let go of you so easily. No matter what you say, he won’t ever stop trying.

“At first, I was worried,” you admit. “I didn’t know who you were, or what you were doing. Especially not what you could be capable of.” The briefest of flashes of that same fear that had them recoiling in the foyer two weeks ago has him flinching yet again now. “I know better now, and I don’t know if that made it worse or better but…”

You trail off, your gaze focused so intently on your hands. He holds his breath.

“It doesn’t change the fact that I-“ you swallow, wetting your lips with your tongue, “I enjoyed it.”

Your admission knocks the wind right out of him.

“For what felt like the first time in my life, I felt like I was finally someone’s first choice. Finally, someone wanted me; I felt seen. No one has ever looked at me with such…” you search for the right word, gaze flitting everywhere in the room but at him, “passion in their eyes before. Such longing. I’ve never had someone touch me like that - caress me as a lover would,” you confess, whole body heating as you think about what admitting this out loud means. Not just to yourself, but to him, “and I wanted to revel in it."

“I was confused, and I still am. I didn’t, and I still don’t, know how to exactly feel about it. You have to understand. I am not used to being desired, especially not in the ways that you all want me. I found it hard to believe - still do - that any of you could want me. You’re all demons, for crying out loud! I’m only human. I’m just-” you take a shaky breath in, shoulders seemingly deflating as your expression drops, “I’m just me.”

All he can hear of your thoughts now is you berating yourself, telling yourself that you’re not good enough. You don’t want to believe that you are worthy of all of this, and that is what terrifies you. To accept their proposition, their love, would mean accepting yourself, and you don’t have the strongest relationship with her right now.

“But why?” Seonghwa’s voice is soft, expression filled with a type of sorrow you don’t quite understand. “Why would you think that?”

“Well,” you almost let out a humourless laugh as you lean back in the chair, motioning to your entire body as you do so, “look at me.”

And so he does, his eyes trailing over your figure softly. There’s a certain spark in his gaze that you still don’t quite understand, and when he trails it back up to meet your own, you nearly let out a sigh at the confusion you still see tugging at his features.

“It’s because I’m not-“ the words catch in your throat as you avert your gaze once more, voice barely above a whisper as you speak the words you’ve always believed to be the truth about yourself, “I’m not beautiful.”

Seonghwa can only sit there, stunned for the moment at the confession that has just fallen from your lips. He blinks.

All of those times his brothers and himself caught you staring at your reflection in the mirror, trailing your blank gaze over your body, was in disgust? You weren’t admiring yourself like they always did? Like they always thought you were doing? Instead, you were scrutinizing every little detail of your body? A body of which would make them fall to their knees in seconds, ready and eager to please you at a moment’s notice. A body of which they absolutely adore.

For all of their powers, they couldn’t read your thoughts through the glass. Sure, they could influence your decisions if they tried hard enough, but with that barrier there, they could never truly be sure of what you were thinking. It pains his heart now to know what you truly think of yourself. Of what you believe to be true.

“That is the filthiest lie that has ever fallen from your lips and you know it.”

You’re taken aback by the sudden harshness of his tone as he frowns, and you find yourself averting your gaze once more. Regret instantly washes over you for what you’ve just done. For what you’ve just admitted.

“Please, do not be ashamed of sharing this part of yourself with me.” Immediately, his gaze is softening. “You could never disgust me, or scare me away. Or any of us for that matter.”

You cannot deny the way your eyes widen, even if only slightly, at his words, tears beginning to line the corners.

Carefully, he stands from his seat. Then, as if he were holding the most delicate piece of glass in his hands, he reaches over to guide your gaze back to his as his fingers come to rest beneath your chin.

“I meant every word I said to you that day. We all did,” he stares deeply into your eyes as he leans into you, making sure to not crowd you, but letting you know how serious he is about the words that are coming out of his mouth. “And I would do it all over - say it all again - in a heartbeat.”

You blink, the first of your tears escaping and trailing down your cheek. He wipes them away gently with the thumb of his opposite hand, moving to caress the side of your face in the next moment while still supporting your chin with the other.

“We would do anything for you. We only want to cherish you, to protect you, to make all of your dreams come true. We want to take care of you, to be there for you in your darkest times, and share with you in the light. We just want to make you happy. To hold you, to please you, to worship you is all that we truly desire. Please, do not doubt that. You are the only one that we will ever want. You are the only one that we will ever need.” His voice is firm, never faltering for one moment as he stares deeply into your eyes, nothing but sincerity shining behind his own as he leans in closer.

“We are so in love with you, it hurts. It pains me to hear you say these things about yourself, to know you think these things to be true. They are not. They never have been, nor will they ever be.” He cups your face in both of his hands, caressing your cheeks so tenderly as he holds you delicately in his palms. “You are so unbelievably beautiful. You seriously have no idea the effect - the hold - you have on us. Your existence is the best thing that has happened to this world, and for the first time in centuries you make us feel alive.”

His confession has a soft gasp escaping you, breath hitching in your throat as your lips part ever so slightly. The raw honesty of his words is reflected in how rough his voice has become as he continues to speak.

“There are not enough words in all of the tongues of the universe to describe your beauty, or what you mean to us. To me.” His thumb brushes against the skin of your cheek once more as he slowly begins to lean in closer with every word. “You are gorgeous. You are stunning. You are sinful in the most delectable of ways.”

You can practically hear your heartbeat ringing in your ears as you watch his eyes dart down to your lips.

“More than all of that, though,” he breathes, tongue darting out to wet his own as he swallows thickly, “you are,” his eyes begin to swirl with that all too familiar blackness as he comes to rest his forehead against your own, “My Divine.”

Once again, your breath hitches in your throat, and you cannot tell who is shaking more: you or him. With every exhale he makes, you can tell that he’s doing his best to control himself right now. Being this close to you, in this position, given what he’s just confessed, is scraping away at the very last bits of sanity that he has in this moment.

Your heart thunders away in you chest, your breaths mingling as you can practically feel the warmth of his lips ghosting against your own.

“Please-” the word is but a strained plea from his lips. “Please, can I kiss you?”

The question makes your heart flutter, your mouth parting with an answer before your brain can even catch up. However, before your response can even so much as escape your lips, the sound of the bell chiming above the shop door alerts you to another presence having just entered the room.

“Seonghwa,” Hongjoong’s dark eyes narrow as he fully takes in the scene before him. “What are you doing?”

The eldest closes his eyes, exhaling a deep sigh as he reluctantly pulls himself away from you for the time being.

“Well, we were sharing a moment, brother,” Seonghwa’s eyes flash as he turns to face the younger, noticing a letter clutched in Hongjoong’s hand despite his arms being crossed over his chest. “I was simply mending our beloved’s sweater.”

Hongjoong’s eyebrows twitch, clearly unamused. “I’m sure that that’s exactly what you were doing.”

Jealousy flares beneath his skin as Hongjoong continues to glare at Seonghwa. He’s been waiting in the hallway just outside of the shop for much longer than either of you two realize, concealing his presence as he listened in to your conversation. Of course, he agreed with every word Seonghwa spoke to you, and it pains him to no end that you would think of yourself like that.

However, there’s also a part of Hongjoong that despises the fact that it was Seonghwa of all people that you confided in with this first. Really, he should have made his presence known sooner. Maybe then he would have been able to comfort you along with his brother, instead of simply eavesdropping. How you even got on this certain topic of conversation eludes him, but the fact that you shared these insecurities with Seonghwa, the man who has made it painstakingly obvious that he cannot control himself around you, irritates Hongjoong like nothing else.

That should have been him.

As soon as he heard his brother even think the question, he knew he had to intervene.

In his own, sick, twisted way, Hongjoong wants all of your firsts. He craves them just as he craves you. He wanted to be the first one to touch you, and technically, he was. He will never forget the way his fingers tingled with electricity when he brushed them against yours when he handed you that fake keycard. However, Seonghwa truly beat him to it, his touch having graced your body in ways Hongjoong has only ever dreamed of.

The thought of somebody else’s hands all over you, even if that someone is his own brother, makes him sick. A rage begins to burn within his core that needs to be sated in any way he can. Like hell is he going to let Seonghwa have your first kiss with one of them, too. That should be him.

You cannot dictate between us who can and cannot have her, brother, Seonghwa’s voice echoes through his head. Only she gets to decide that.

I know. To say Hongjoong is frustrated would be an understatement.

Stop treating everything like a competition. Seonghwa retorts, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

Then, why does it always feel like I’m in last place? Hongjoong snaps, eyes tinging with that all too familiar blackness.

She’s not an object. Seonghwa nearly growls.

Believe me, I know that. Hongjoong has to suppress the roll of his eyes. It’s you who needs to stop treating her like one. Always placing your hands on her like you own her.

Don’t give me that crap, I know you would do exactly the same as me in a heartbeat if given the chance. Seonghwa’s own eyes tint black, his lips tightening into a thin line as a growl builds in his chest to mirror Hongjoong’s own.

Knock it off. The both of you. Yunho’s firm voice cuts through the silent tension in the room like a knife. The last thing we need is you two shitheads fucking things up when some of us have finally started making progress again.

He started it, Seonghwa grumbles.

And I’m ending it! Yunho replies, clearly exasperated. They can just tell he’s rolling his eyes at them right now. Lucifer below!

You know, this is something we’re all going to have to get used to if our relationships with her continue to progress. Jongho chimes in, a teasing lilt to his voice.

Of course Jongho would be the one to say that. They all know he’s the closest to you for the moment. A fact in which makes them all scowl.

Oh, can it, happy. Wooyoung huffs.

You, on the other hand, had zoned out for a moment there, getting caught up in your thoughts about what just occurred. Focussing in back on the room in front of you, you see the two males continuing to glare at one another. Neither move from their spots as a mental battle seems to be taking place right before your very eyes.

You swallow, wiping at your lingering tears with the back of your hand. A fact of which that seems to draw Hongjoong’s attention to you for the briefest of moments. Then, his gaze is softening immediately. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” you blink, nodding a few times, “yeah, I’m fine.”

Really, you don’t want to talk about what just happened for the moment.

As if to collect his own thoughts, Hongjoong releases the tension in his shoulders, dropping his crossed arms as he turns to look at Seonghwa once more.

“The council has been summoned,” he says, their disagreement being momentarily forgotten about.

While you are confused by Hongjoong’s words, Seonghwa simply heaves another large sigh.

“What do they want us to decide on this time?” He’s irritated, in more ways than one.

You, on the other hand, take this as your cue to leave despite the curiosity lingering in the back of your mind. Honestly, you’re still reeling from what’s just occurred between you and the eldest here in his tailor shop. Again.

Taking a deep breath as you stand, you’re quick to reach over and grab your sweater off of the counter. You spare Seonghwa a brief glance, lifting your hoodie in acknowledgment, “thanks again.”

He smiles, eye crinkling at the sides, “of course.”

With an almost shy smile of your own painting your lips, you’re quick to scurry past the both of them and out of the shop. You really don’t want to linger there any longer, for you have to sort out your own emotions for the time being. A lot has just happened in the span of twenty minutes, and you need to settle your mind.

Making it back to your room, you hang your newly fixed sweater in your closet, a smile tugging at your features as you feel the material between your fingers. That, overall, went much better than you had expected, especially after Seonghwa had showed up. Perhaps he isn’t so bad after all. At least now he understands your feelings on the matter.

Your expression drops, panic painting your features as you realize something.

It would take Seonghwa nothing at all to share your vulnerability with the others in their ‘daily recap’ as he so put it. You don’t know if you’re ready for that, but then again, would it really be so bad? They’ve given you no reason not to trust them so far, other than the whole kidnapping thing, but a month in and it’s not like you’re really being held prisoner here. They’ve proved to you time and time again that they’ve created this place with your best interest in mind. The library alone speaks for itself.

Maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad idea if he shared that particular memory with them. At least then it would save you from reliving those fears, those insecurities, every time you told one of them. Or maybe, just maybe, you could do it yourself.

Perhaps, you’re actually starting to trust them after all.

Walking back out of your closet, you cannot help but to think back to the moment you’ve just shared with the eldest not even ten minutes ago. Were you seriously just about to let him kiss you? Some sweet words with his eyes shining in sincerity, and you were ready for your walls to come crumbling down?

You nearly scoff to yourself. It shouldn’t be this easy to get you to crack. You shake your head, banishing the thoughts without so much as another glance in their direction. Time to take your mind off of things for a while, and you know exactly how you’re going to do just that.

The library has become sort of like your own sanctuary, and you find solace within its walls. So, grabbing your book off of your nightstand, you begin to make the trek to that all too familiar place. Only, this time, instead of taking the long way around, your opt to pass right by Seonghwa’s tailor shop.

Not a sound is made, nor even an acknowledgment towards the shop as you walk by, but at least you no longer feel the need to avoid it at any cost. There is no tenseness to your steps, nor in your shoulders as you hold your book in your hands, keeping your head held high as you walk passed.

What you fail to see, however, is the way two particular men watch as you pass by. Seonghwa wears a small smile, feeling as if a weight has been lifted off of his own shoulders as his gaze trails after you down the hallway. Hongjoong, on the other hand, frowns, lips tugging downwards in a slight pout as his eyes follow your every move.

Making it to the library, you’re quick to enter. You’ve already found a favourite spot: by the large windows right across from your own collection. The seats are plush, and the space is comfortable. You could not have asked for a better area to call your own. (A fact which has smiles pulling on all of their faces as they hear you think such a thing each and every time you sit in the library.)

Settling down on the couch, you tuck your feet beneath you as you fall into the pillows. Opening your book, you begin to read.

For the next hour, you manage to escape into the pages of your book, perfectly content to lose yourself in the writing of this particular author. In fact, you manage to relax so much that your eyes start to droop.

It’s only happened a few times, but you have fallen asleep in the library before. How can you not? It’s comfortable, warm, cozy, and you feel safe. So, when your eyelids flutter shut, you don’t fight it, letting the exhaustion you feel wrap itself around you like a blanket and pull you in to that all too familiar comforting darkness.

An hour and a half later and you feel yourself regaining consciousness. Slowly, you begin to shift, feeling your neck twinge slightly at the position you had fallen asleep in. Rubbing at your eyes, you hear a chuckle sound from across from you.

Immediately, your gaze is locking on the figure before you, seeing Hongjoong leant back with his legs crossed in the chair opposite the couch. A book rests open in his one hand, elbow placed on the arm of the chair as he reads, his attention appearing not even on you for the moment.

“Sleep well?” There’s a teasing quirk to the corner of his lips as you crack your neck quite loudly.

“How long have you been there?” You yawn, blinking a few times to further clear your vision.

“Oh,” he hums, nonchalantly, as he turns a page in his book, “about half an hour.”

“You’ve been watching me sleep for half an hour?” You tilt your head at him in disbelief, your one brow quirked.

“Well, I came to speak with you,” he says, marking the page in his book before softly closing it and resting it on the arm of his seat, “but you were sleeping. I figured it best not to disturb you, and to let you rest.”

“You dodged the question.” You deadpan.

“You still haven’t answered mine.” Hongjoong smiles softly in response.

A small silence settles over the both of you as you meet his gaze. You blink a few times before exhaling a sigh through your nose.

“I nap in places I feel most comfortable in,” you admit. “So, yes, I did sleep well.”

Your confession warms his heart more than you’ll ever know.

“I’m glad,” his smile widens, eyes crinkling at the sides as he watches you.

Still creepy you were watching me sleep, though.

Your thoughts have a laugh escaping him, “you know, I’m not the only one that enjoys watching you sleep.”

Immediately, you freeze, eyes going wide as you halt your movements of flipping through your book to find the page you were on to mark it.

“Like I said,” you mutter, shaking your head as you find the page, “creepy.”

Great, now you have to worry about them sneaking into your room at night to watch you sleep. So much for privacy.

“Do you really think we would do that to you?” Hongjoong asks, a huff of disbelief escaping him. “We respect your privacy enough not to do that since that night a month ago.”

“But you have done it before then.” You frown, clinging to the book in your lap for support.

“I believe Yeosang and Jongho explained the whole glass situation, no?” Hongjoong hums, quirking a brow expectantly at you. “Besides, I’m not the worst culprit for this.”

If you didn’t know any better, you’d say that there was a pout tugging at his lips as he crosses his arms over his chest and leans further back into his chair.

“Then who-“

“There are many reasons why Jongho always finds you in the library,” he cuts you off. “Some are at times when you don’t even know he’s here.”

“Are you telling me that he’s come in to watch me nap, left, then returned right afterwards once I’ve woken up to spend time with me?” You nearly laugh at the thought.

“That’s exactly what I’m telling you,” Hongjoong smirks, meeting your incredulous gaze. “He’s not as innocent as he seems.”

“I still like him better,” you grumble under your breath, and you can see Hongjoong stiffen out of the corner of your eyes.

A growl forms at his lips, wanting desperately to escape as he hears the words you’ve left unspoken echo through your mind.

Than you.

You still like Jongho better than him. A fact which makes his blood boil, a scowl pulling at his features. Yet, for all of his anger, Hongjoong cannot help but feel disappointed. In himself. In the situation. Why can’t you like him? Can’t you see that he’s trying? What can he do to prove to you that he’s really not as bad as you think he is?

An overwhelming sadness washes over him, suffocating his heart in its hold as he glares at the antique coffee table in between the two of you.

“You said you wanted to speak with me?” Your voice, somewhat timid, yet curious at the same time, pulls him out of his thoughts.

“I do,” he hums, glad for the change in subject, but also glad that you don’t seem to want to run away from him for the time being like you usually do. “I’m sure you recall me mentioning a certain council earlier.”

You nod, you eyes gleaming in recognition as you angle yourself towards him. He nearly hums in content from that fact alone.

“The eight of us are the heads of the realm, the leaders, if you will.” He explains. “Sometimes we need to attend certain events because of formality, and other times we get summoned to meetings or to settle disputes.”

“Geez,” you huff out a breath, “just how powerful and important are you guys?”

There’s an air of playfulness to your words that makes him grin, even if the lingering uncertainty in your mind boarders on fear.

“The council has been summoned to take place a week from today.” He says. “It’s one of those ones that we can’t miss, or decline the invitation to.”

“Makes sense, if you guys really are the leaders or whatever,” you nod, still attempting to wrap your head around what you’ve just been told. Then, a thought crosses you mind which has you mortified. “You’re not expecting me to meet the entire council, are you?”

“At some point, yes.” Hongjoong replies honestly. “We would like to someday introduce you to them as our Queen. Our equal.”

You cannot stop the way your breath catches in your throat at his words, your back straightening as you sit there with wide eyes.

“But we know we’re not there, yet.” He continues, somewhat sadly. “Nor are you ready for that.”

Unknowingly, you breathe a sigh of relief. In the back of your mind, you begin to wonder where this is all going.

“I’m getting there,” Hongjoong sighs, sitting forward to rest his elbows on his knees. “Because of these,” he pauses, searching for the right word, “unfortunate circumstances, we’ll have to leave the house for a little while. Which means that you’ll be by yourself from anywhere between an hour and a half or longer.”

Your mouth parts in shock, pure excitement coursing through your veins. “Really?”

“Don’t sound so excited.” He grumbles, a slight pout to his lips.

“Wait. You’re not fucking with me right now, are you?” You narrow your eyes at him accusingly. “Because if you are, this isn’t funny.”

“I would never joke about something as serious as this, My Love.” His voice holds nothing but sincerity as he meets your gaze. “Especially not to you.”

The brilliant smile that stretches across your lips can no longer be contained, a giggle escaping your lips in the next moment from how giddy you feel. The mere thought of being left alone with, well, your own thoughts for even just an hour is the best thing you’ve heard in a month. Finally, you have something to look forward to.

Although the context is not preferable to him, Hongjoong still cannot deny the way your excitement surrounds him, flooding his veins and making his lips quirk upwards slightly. Now, he finally understands the same feeling of happiness that his brother’s have felt when doing something that makes you smile. For the first time since you’ve gotten here, Hongjoong can finally say that he was the one and only cause of your pure and utter happiness.

He just wishes you were a little more upset by the fact that they’d be leaving you alone for a short period of time. Still, he cannot deny the way his heart positively fluttered when you giggled. A sound of which he hopes to hear more of, and soon at that.

“Is that all you wanted to talk to me about?” You physically have to prevent your hands from shaking in anticipation, holding on tightly to your book for dear life.

“Well, yes and no,” he replies, standing to his feet. “I also wanted to show you something.”

Carefully, he extends his hand out to you in offering, eyes shining as he looks at you. Your own gaze darts to his hand, curiosity pulling you onto your feet as you place your book onto the coffee table before you. Your entire body is still humming with adrenaline, mind reeling at the fact that you’ll finally have some time to yourself after so long with having them invade your mind and listen to your every thought. You still, unfortunately, haven’t mastered that void, yet.

Crossing your arms in front of your chest, you nod, “lead the way.”

Exhaling a sigh through his nose, Hongjoong drops his hand. At least you didn’t deny his entire offer.

With each step he takes towards the newly formed doors on the opposite end of the library, he cannot deny the way anticipation tugs at his own mind. His heart begins to pound in his chest as his nerves start to get the better of him. What if you don’t like it? He worked really hard on getting everything perfect, just like the library, and even though you love that, you might not exactly love this.

Reaching the doors, Hongjoong throws one last tentative glance over his shoulder at you. The corner of his lips twitch upwards as he sees your brow furrowed in confusion, mind racing with the thought of never having seen these doors before in the library.

Slowly, and with the utmost care, he opens the doors.

A gasp escapes your lips almost immediately at the sight that greets you on the other side. Your hands come up to cover your mouth, eyes shining as your heart races inside your chest.

Before you rests the most beautiful garden you have ever seen in your life, flowers of all types lining the cobblestone path leading to a sparkling fountain right in the centre. You can already smell the aroma coming from outside drifting into the library, even as you take a step forward to take everything in.

“Did you do this?” Your voice is soft, full of the same awe that he sees reflected in your eyes. “For me?”

“The guys all helped, but it was my design.” He admits, smiling softly as he give a slight nod. “You said that you wanted a garden, and we- I am more than happy to provide.”

“I wasn’t being serious,” you reply, taking your first steps out into the open space. “I wasn’t expecting this.”

Hongjoong makes sure to follow close behind, clasping his hands behind his back a little bashfully.

“Sure, you may not have been,” he hums, “but we want you to know how serious we are. I want you to know how serious I am about you. We- I would do anything for you. You need only ask.”

“I can’t believe it,” you whisper, reaching the fountain and turning your head to see a few benches tucked away on either side, covered gently by foliage to provide some protection from the sun or from rain. There even seems to be a greenhouse a little ways ahead.

Every step you take, every move you make through the garden, Hongjoong watches. That same soft smile never leaves his face as he hears all your thoughts projecting the awe you feel right now. From what he can gather, this is almost the exact same type of emotion you felt when you first saw the library. A fact that could not make him prouder than he is in this very moment, or any more in love with you than he already is.

Slowly, you make you way around the open space of the garden, taking in every minuscule detail. Each flower is in full bloom, delicately picked to compliment the ones beside it, the colours reflecting beautifully in the light. Everywhere you look, your favourite flowers stare back at you. Roses, peonies, forget-me-nots, lilies: none are left out in this stunning symphony of life as you take it all in.

Suddenly, you are once again overcome by the fact that this has all been done for you.

“This is…” you trail off, reaching out to grasp a peony in your hand, brushing your thumb over its soft petals as you take in its scent.

“This is…” you swallow, seemingly choked up by your own words as you search for the right one.

Hongjoong holds his breath.

“Incredible,” you turn your gaze to look at him, and what he sees shining in your eyes knocks the wind right out of him.

For the first time since you’ve gotten here, you are looking at him with such tenderness, such gratitude. As if he hung all of the stars in the night sky only for you. Which he would, if you asked.

Your gaze, so tender and soft, nearly sends him to his knees right then and there. However, it’s your next words that truly make his head spin.

“Thank you.” You breathe, nothing but sincerity shining within your eyes as you meet his own. “For this.” You briefly trail your gaze around the area before coming back to settle on him. A faint smile, gracious and absolutely breathtaking pulls at your lips. “For all of this. The library, too.”

“I’m just glad you like them,” he replies honestly, his shoulders sagging in relief as a weight he didn’t realize he had been carrying is lifted from his shoulders.

Is this what it’s like to feel like he’s actually making progress with you? If so, he cannot wait to continue. Having you look at him like this - so tenderly and full of awe - simply makes him want more. Hongjoong craves you in a way that he’s never craved anything or anyone in centuries. He just wants to make you happy, and from the looks of things, he’s finally doing something right.

“Oh, I more than like them,” you reply without thinking, leaning in to smell the roses as you walk passed. Your eyelids flutter shut as that same smile tugs at your lips. “I love them.”

If only you knew exactly how much your words mean to him, your confession causing his eyes to swirl with that all too familiar blackness as pure, unfiltered joy courses through his veins. Not only joy, but satisfaction, excitement, and eagerness for what has still yet to come. More than all of that, though, love pours through his very soul as he continues to watch you, subconsciously taking a step closer to you and reaching a hand out to place it onto your lower back.

Immediately, you stiffen, his touch unexpected. You step away, clearing your throat.

His expression falls, averting his gaze as he lets out a low breath through his nose. You seem to have no problem letting the others touch you, but you always pull away from his own touch. Still, your words from earlier echo through his mind. “I’m sorry.”

You blink in shock, clearly not expecting to hear those words coming from his mouth. Then, as if recalling your own memories from earlier that day, your lips part ever so slightly.

“I-“ you swallow, now being the one to avert your gaze as you clasp your hands in front of yourself almost nervously, “I’m just not used to being touched. Especially not so intimately by another person.”

“You seem to have no problem letting the others touch you so intimately,” before he can stop himself, the bitter words are out of his mouth, the jealous fire once again prickling beneath his skin.

Your eyes narrow, and immediately, your guard is back up. “That does not mean I’m used to it, nor does it give you the right to act like this. I am not yours.”

Yet. You are not his yet. Still, Hongjoong has a long way to go before he can so much as think of calling you his own. Well, out loud, at least.

Yet, you’re right. He knows you’re right, and that he needs to calm down. If he wants any type of chance with you, to be able to hold your heart in the palms of his hands like he already knows his is in yours, then he needs to relax. He had finally started making progress with you, only to screw it all up almost immediately afterwards.

Tears of frustration line his eyes as he averts his gaze, his heart squeezing painfully in his chest. No matter what he does, he can never seem to do anything right. Especially when it comes to you.

Closing his eyes, he allows his body to calm down, the shaking in his hands dissipating for the time being. He takes a deep, albeit uneven, breath in.

“You’re right,” he swallows, eyes opening to meet your own in the next second. “I’m sorry.”

You seemingly let out a sigh of relief as you see him visibly relax. You were just having a nice moment with him, and despite this little hiccup, you are still grateful for the amount of effort he’s put into this place for you. Perhaps you should attempt a truce for the moment. Being tense around him all the time is exhausting.

So, you quirk a small grin.

“Good,” your tone is cautious, but light, teasing even, “For a moment there, I was worried I was going to have to stab you with another knife there. At least none of the others can say they’ve shared that intimacy with me before.”

Hongjoong snorts out a laugh, “and I’ve still got the scar to prove it.”

“It scarred?” You blink, brow furrowing slightly in confusion as he nods. “I would have thought it healed considering the fact that you’re- you know.”

The way you motion to his entire being with your hand has a grin tugging at his lips, a pleased hum building in his throat.

“Yes, we can heal both ourselves, and others,” he confirms. “Quite quickly at that, too.”

“Then, why?” You attempt to wrap your head around what he’s just told you.

“We can also prevent ourselves from healing, or in this case, savour a certain wound until we feel the need to heal it.” He explains. “Though, I don’t think I’ll ever get rid of this one.”

“Why wouldn’t you?” Again, your brow furrows, not quite understanding the fact that he wouldn’t just simply heal himself.

“Because,” Hongjoong’s eyes flash, a smirk tugging at his lips as he meets your gaze, “now I have something to remember you by marked on my skin for all eternity.”

“Oh,” his words cause you to blink in surprise, especially at the way his dark eyes seem to be devouring your figure all of a sudden.

In the back of your mind, you cannot help but to think about what other types of marks he has hidden all over his body, if any. Then, just as quickly as the next thought appears, you’re banishing it into the deepest part of your mind, a heat rising to your cheeks.

A pleased growl rumbles in his chest as he catches you thinking about what other types of marks you could leave all over his body. Marks which he would proudly wear for as long as he possibly could. Perhaps even going so far as to make the ones you would leave from your nails trailing down his back to pull him closer into you scar.

“Still,” you blink, drawing his attention back to you and away from his own thoughts about how he would go about marking you, “I guess I should apologize.”

This time, it’s his turn for his brow to furrow. “Whatever do you have to apologize for, My Love?”

“I did stab you,” you reply. “Though, to be fair, you did scare the shit out of me. I was only acting in self-defence-“

The chuckle Hongjoong lets out has your voice dying right in your throat.

“What’s so funny?” Your eyes narrow, a pout tugging at your lips as you cross your arms in front of your chest.

“Do you think I’m upset that you stabbed me?” He asks, his lips tugging upwards in amusement. “My Love, that was one of the hottest things that has ever happened to me in centuries.”

“Oh,” you straighten, a heat once again rising to your cheeks.

“Not to mention how impressive it was that you caught me off guard,” he adds, taking a cautious step forward to close the distance between the both of you.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” you murmur, mild shock still coursing through your veins at his confession.

He simply hums in response, hooded gaze drinking in every detail of you in this moment with him right here, right now. A warmth spreads through his chest as his lips quirk, happy to know that he didn’t happen to scare you away from him again.

Progress. He’s making progress.

A small silence settles over the both of you, comfortable and soft. You take a moment to simply breathe in. Again, the smell of the flowers invades your senses, and you are reminded of where you are. Taking a brief look around, that gentle smile caresses your lips once more, gratitude flowing through your mind as you glance past Hongjoong and at the library just through the open doors behind him.

Those same emotions you felt when you first entered the library echo through your mind now. Truly, you are touched by the amount of effort and thought that went into this place, and the fact that even if you were joking about having a garden, they went above and beyond to continue to provide for you any and all comforts that you may need.

Maybe it really isn’t so bad being here with them. Maybe you don’t have to be so worried all of the time. Perhaps you are starting to trust them a little bit more every day. Over time, you think you could seriously get used to this. A life with them wouldn’t be so bad, now, would it? They have already proven time and time again that they are ready and willing to provide everything and anything that you may ever want or need.

Seonghwa’s words from earlier echo through your mind.

Perhaps they really aren’t so bad, after all.

“Would it really be so bad, then, if you were to fall for us?” Hongjoong asks softly. Your thoughts linger in his own mind, giving him one of the greatest gifts of all to hold on to as he meets your gaze: hope. He swallows, “for you to fall in love with me?”

You take a moment to observe him, eyes scanning over his face as you truly consider the questions he’s just posed.

“No,” you shake your head gently as your lips twitch upwards. “I don’t think it would.”

954 notes · View notes

basiccortez · 2 years

Text

Baby Series~ finding out

Note: hehehe, I’m starting like a mini-series. . . kinda. . . we’ll see where this goes. But I’ve been working on the L&D floor at my hospital and it makes me contemplate my own life sometimes.

warnings: swearing

Josh:

You and Josh were two wild spirits, running from one end of the world to the next. You, an active artist, painting being your speciality, and him, gifting the world the greatest gift. . . music. You had met him when you setting up an exhibition in Nashville, and hit it off right away. Your go with the flow spirit, and his just seemed to match in more ways than one. Josh seemed to understand you, understand the way the art just flows through you with out having to say a single word. He just loved watching the way you worked and you loved watching him work.

The sex was beyond magical. Your two souls just seemed to connect to each out, every move was well thought out, nothing was rushed between you too. The orgasms that washed through your body left you speechless.

And that was how you found yourself in your current position. Banging your head slightly on your bathroom wall, small curse words leaving your mouth as you thought back to the last time you had sex with Josh, and the last time you got your period.

Your friend, Monica, was the one who suggested you take a pregnancy test after throwing out almost every single avocado in your pantry. You had assured her that you and Josh were safe, but the raised eyebrow look she gave you said otherwise. She went to go get some pregnancy tests while you started chugging down a bottle of apple juice.

“You almost done in there?” Monica asked knocking on the door lightly.

“I’m scare if I look at it, I’m gonna throw up,” You responded. Monica chuckled on the other side of the door and opened it slowly, eyeing your position on the floor.

“Well. . . you throwing up would explain a lot,” She said looking at the stick on the counter.

“You’re fucking joking,” You said and jumped up from the floor and grabbed the stick from her hand, and two pink lines stared into your soul, “Monica. . . I can’t”

Monica quickly grabbed you in her arms and leaned your head on her shoulder as you cried. Every thought running through your mind was how this was going to affect your career, but not even yours. . . Josh’s.

“It’ll be okay,” Monica said patting your hair, “It will all be okay.”

--- --- ---

Jake:

“Fucking hell,” You cursed as your body shook, leaning over the toilet as you dry heaved again, and again. Jake watched from the bathroom door, wanting to run in and help you, but you had ordered him to stay away from you, not wanting to take the chance of getting him sick.

“Y/N, please, let me help you,” Jake pleaded.

“Stay away from me,” You said holding up your pointer finger, “Josh will kill us both if you get sick,”

“To hell with what Josh thinks,” Jake said and walked over to his girlfriend on the floor, and held her hair back, “You’re not hot,” He said putting the back of his hand on her forehead.

“I beg to differ,” You smirked and Jake rolled his eyes, “I really think it was those stupid fish tacos you just so badly had to have.”

“You didn’t have to eat them,” Jake said and grabbed a cup of water from the sink.

The boys were currently in France, playing another sold out show. You got to tag along as the unofficial/official photographer and girlfriend of the guitarist. Jake was more than thrilled to have you by his side as he traveled the world living out his dream. The rest of them were just happy they didn’t have to hear Jake whine about missing you.

“Yeah, whatever,” You sighed and pushed yourself up from the floor to brush your teeth, “I feel the need to shower,”

“You should, you stink,” Jake said and you glared at him, “Sorry, sorry,” Jake said and kissed your cheek, “You smell like strawberries and vanilla.”

“That’s funny, my perfume isn’t even strawberries or vanilla.” You said and Jake laughed as he walked out of the bathroom. You rolled your eyes and grabbed your hygiene bag from you suitcase, your eyes landing on the blue box of tampons, that were yet to be open. You paused, looking up at Jake laying on the white hotel bed, strumming his guitar softly, and then down at your watch, checking the date.

“Jacob. . .” You said.

“Y/N,” He responded.

“I’m late.”

He scoffed, “Late for what?” He looked up at you and his face dropped, “H-How do you know?”

“I’m like a clock, Jake. It’s the 27th and I always start on the first, and I bought these back in Ireland, which was 3 weeks ago. I should almost be out by now, but. . .”

“Okay, okay,” Jake said coming over to you and stopping your rambling, “You, go shower, okay, I’ll send Miranda or Conrad out to go grab some pregnancy tests from the drug store. We-we’ll figure it out.”

You nodded and Jake kissed you before you turned around to strip your clothes and shower. Your muscles somewhat relaxed as you looked down at your flat stomach, you smiled lightly as your fingers danced across the soft skin.

--- --- ---

Sam:

“Honey, I’m home!” Sam called out as he walked through the door of your new house. Boxes littered everywhere you stepped. The cute little cottage house you two had purchased was the perfect fixer upper for you two to pour your hearts and souls into. You two had already gotten busy breaking in every surface, room, and countertop in the house.

“In the kitchen!” You yelled back, putting away the new china blue plates that your mom insisted you registered to get, “You know we’ll probably never use these. . . like ever.”

“We might someday,” Sam said kissing your cheek before walking over to the fridge and pulling out last nights dinner, “How was your day, being the best little nurse that the world could ask for?”

“Stressful,” You said and crumbled up a piece of newspaper and threw it towards the open trash can, “Kobe!”

“Blocked!” Sam yelled, hitting the wadded up newspaper away from the trashcan.

“You ass!” You giggled and Sam rushed towards you, wrapping you up in his arms. You squealed and laughed as he tickled you lightly, “Samuel! Stop it!”

“Never!” Sam smiled and turned you around, so you were face to face with him. You smiled up at him, and placed a hand on his cheek, before leaning up on your toes to kiss him, “I love you, Y/N.”

“I love you too, Samuel,” You smiled. Sam kissed you once again, before releasing you.

“I’m gonna go change real quick,” Sam said, “I’ve been wearing shoes and socks all day.”

“You poor baby,” You poked fun. Sam stuck his tongue out at you before running up the stairs. You could hear ever step he made as the hardwood floor creaked under his feet. You could hear as he also left a trail of shoes and clothes to the bathroom.

You rolled your eyes and walked up the stairs, seeing his vans kicked off, flowed by socks, his shirt, and jeans. You picked them up as you walked to your shared room.

“Samuel, I know you may have a mommy kink but that doesn’t mean-”

“Did you take this?” Sam asked, holding the blue box of pregnancy tests in his hand standing in the doorway of the bathroom.

“Sam. . .” You said softly, “Not yet,”

“You are. . . you think you-”

“I think, yeah. . .” You said and Sam walked over to you and engulfed you in his arms. You let out a sigh you didn't know you were holding, “You’re not mad?”

“Mad?!” Sam said, holding you an arms length away, “Why would I be mad?”

“We just bought this house, you guys just released another album, you’re planning a tour!” You said and Sam shook his head, moving his hands from your arms to your face.

“I’m not mad. I might be a little sad if you’re not pregnant, but that means we have more time to rehearse and practice knocking you up, but still. . . If you are, if you aren’t, I am happy with you either way.” Sam said and tears left your eyes,

“Okay, okay! Let me go chug down some water,” You smiled and Sam kissed you.

“Oh, and what was that about a ‘mommy’ kink?” Sam asked.

“Your fans. . . “ You started but shook your head, “I feel like I’ve said too much.”

You slowly backed out of the room and Sam looked at you confused, muttering ‘mommy kink?’ under his breath.

--- --- ---

Danny:

You leg bounced relentlessly as Danny sat next to you, calm and cool as ever, flipping through some parenting magazine. You hated how calm he was during these appointments. He wasn’t the one being shot up with needles and having to lay back and spread your legs. You rolled your eyes as he hummed and flipped another page.

“You’re too calm,” You said.

“And you’re too nervous,” Danny said, closing the magazine and leaning over to look at you, “I can feel it babe, this is the time,”

“I don't,” You said looking down at the thin white blanket that covered your exposed lower half. You wore the same itchy thing gown like always. You guys had started getting good at this, and started brining jackets since the exam rooms always seemed to be freezing cold, “What if they don’t take?”

“What if they do take?” Danny said and you rolled your eyes.

“This is our 3rd round, Daniel,” You said and he grabbed your hand, “I don’t have that many eggs left, and I don’t think I can stand going through all this again to get nothing,” Tears started to spring in your eyes and Danny moved quickly to wipe them away.

“Hey, hey,” Danny said, “We have other options, okay,”

You looked down at your conjoined hands and let the silent tears fall. You and Danny had been trying to conceive for the better part of 3 years now. You two, high school sweethearts that married right after high school. At first, you didn’t mind that it was taking longer to get pregnant, Danny and the Kiszka boys had been taking the world over, producing album after album and going on back to back tours. But now that the band had started to settle down in their personal lives, you and Danny had been trying harder than ever.

Danny at first, thought it was something wrong with him. But after numerous doctors appointments and tests, it had been determined to be another cause of PCOS, something you had been plagued with from a young age.

You and Danny had found a fertility specialist you both loved, Doctor Collins, and had decided to freeze your eggs and start IVF. It had been the longest year of your life, between shots, insemination, and failures, you were ready to be done.

“I can’t ask that of my sister, or even yours,” You said. Both Josie and your sister Bella had offered to be a surrogate for you. You were overwhelmed with their offer, but deep down couldn’t ask them to do that for you.

“There’s more than just that,” Danny said as the door opened and Doctor Collins walked in, a bright smile on her face.

“Okay,” She said and set her laptop down on the counter beside you, “I am very, very hopeful about this. We took 14, out of the 32 we had left. We fertilized all of them, and we had 10 successfully split.”

“Oh my god,” Danny said, “We haven’t had that many,”

“I know!” Doctor Collins said, “After the first 2 weeks, we currently have 6, ready for transfer and insemination.”

“6?” You said hopeful, “Th-that’s a lot,”

“I know, it’s a lot,” Doctor Collins said, “Are you ready for this? There’s a potential you could be pregnant with 6-”

“Or none,” You said and Doctor Collins smiled sadly at you.��

“I don’t like to give false hope to patients so I don’t,” Doctor Collins started but turned on her laptop, “These are your recent labs, all your hormone levels are within the normal range, and if you stay on the prenatals and hormone inducers. . . I am very, hopeful.”

You nodded and looked over at Danny, “Okay. I’m ready.”

#gvf #gvf fanfiction #gvf imagine #greta van fic #greta van fleet #greta van fleet imagine #greta van fleet fan fiction #jake kiszka #jake kiszka imagine #jake gvf #josh kiszka #josh gvf #josh kiszka imagine #sam kiszka #sam gvf #sam kiszka imagine #danny wagner #danny gvf #danny wagner imagine

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raysofcrosby · 3 years

Text

WHATEVER LIFE THROWS AT YOU – m. tkachuk

part four – LOOSE LIPS SINK SHIPS

warning(s): language, mentions of vomit [barely]

summary: after a stressful week, things take a turn for the worst when caroline’s carefree grocery shopping trip turns into her worst nightmare. but when night falls and she indulges in one too many glasses of wine, she ends up making what could be a fateful mistake.

word count: 9,085

an: hehehe bring on the upcoming angst 😤

⇠ previous part • playlist • series masterlist • join the series taglist • next part ⇢

“He’s home.”

Ever since those two words left Brady’s lips, Caroline had been in full-on panic mode. She made Brady explain what had happened at least three times before the news had actually sunk in– Matt was back in Chesterfield. A whole whopping near seven months early– eight if Calgary made it to the playoffs.

The worst part? He wasn’t leaving, well...at least not anytime soon.

Brady explained how after the game against Nashville, Matt chose to get surgery and do his rehab here at home. He said that Matt didn’t really go into the reason why, he just told his parents he was coming home, had his Dad get him in with the big ortho surgeon here, and then he hopped on a plane.

And voila, Matthew Tkachuk returned to Chesterfield, and Caroline’s plans went up in flames.

After Brady left, Caroline made sure Ethan was settled in bed before grabbing the remaining bottle of prosecco and going to her room where she sent Heather an SOS and FaceTimed her seconds later. Heather barely got in a word before Caroline spilled everything that Brady had told her. As always, Heather had managed to calm her down and at least try to talk some sense into her and stop her from calling out of work the rest of the week and hiding inside of her house.

However, it all started to spiral again once Heather brought up one fact that Caroline had managed to avoid the last two years– “You have to tell Jonathan about Matt.”

And she was right. At some point, Caroline was going to have to tell Jonathan about who Ethan’s father really was. But she’d always been adamant on making sure Matt knew before he did. It was already bad enough that both of his parents and siblings knew and have agreed to keep it hush hush until she was ready to tell him. But that was when all parties thought it would only be a few months to a year, two at most. But she could never do it– bring herself to tell him. She was scared. Even as the years kept passing and she got older, she still felt like that scared 17-year-old girl deep inside. And God she knew she never deserved the Tkachuks once they kept that secret, waiting for her to be comfortable enough to where she could tell him.

Which is why she settled on telling him this summer. She was tired of having everyone around her keep it a secret. They deserved better, Matt deserved better and Ethan, God Ethan deserved so much better than she’s given him. And if she were to do it in the summer, stay behind, cancel her trip to visit Aunt Clara and tell Matt everything– that gave her eight solid months to prepare herself and prepare how she was going to tell him.

The joke’s on her because karma came knocking and it wasn’t a pleasant surprise.

This entire last week has been nothing but stressful. Normally, her morning consisted of waking up, getting dressed, waking Ethan up, and getting his stuff ready before driving him the (very) short distance down to her parent's house and dropping him off before she headed to the high school. Ethan alternated between the two houses– her parents and the Tkachuks house. She’d drop him off and he’d be able to get maybe another hour or two of sleep before they got him ready and took him to school.

But since Matt was back, that was very much not an option. Not even her parent’s house because what if he just happened to be outside his parent's house at 6 AM and saw her dropping him off? Or at 8 AM when her parents were taking him to school? It was a bit of a reach, but she still wasn’t risking it.

Instead, she took Ethan with her to work where he’d sit with Belinda, the sweet secretary up front who was in charge of giving kids their late passes and accepting their notes for absences. And at 8 AM, Heather would stop by and pick him up since she was already coming in that direction and had to drop off Noah, her six-year-old at school as well.

Ethan was struggling with the new routine. Not only because he was not waking up at 5:30 with her vice his normal 7:30 wake-up, but because he was no longer going over to the Tkachuks house after school where he hung around with Keith until it was time to go to squirts practice. Instead, he had to stay in the after-school program with Noah, until Keith came to pick him up.

The new routine was rough on the both of them– Ethan, because he was absolutely drained by the end of the day, barely able to stay awake long enough to eat dinner or take his nighttime shower, and Caroline, because she was stressed down to her core, treating herself to multiple glasses of wine a night before she could get herself to relax long enough to fall asleep. Thankfully Jonathan hadn’t pressed coming over to her place since the last time. He was more focused on preparing for his final interview for the job than anything else. So at least that was a little less stress on her.

Ethan’s hockey practice was canceled and Keith had some appointments to get to, so Caroline’s Mom offered to pick him up from school. She knew her Mom meant well, but she’d yet to find a way through her frazzled thoughts to come up with a solution on how to tell Matt earlier than she intended to. Instead, she forgoed on the pick-up and took it upon herself to grab him from school once it let out. She did, however, swing by and ask her Mom if she wanted to go with her to grab some groceries from Wal-Mart. She meant to do it earlier in the week, but since she practically hid away in her house in fear of running into Matt, she held it off. But that wasn’t an option anymore, because they really needed food for the pantry and fridge.

They barely got by the self-checkout area when Ethan had started to drag her Mom off towards the electronics. Caroline let it slide, opting to go off and grab what they needed by herself. It’s been a hard week on him, so there was no harm in letting her Mom take him to look at some movies and video games. Before they left the house, she made a list of exactly what they needed. That way she could be in and out of the store and not wander around, putting herself at risk for a run-in. Though, according to Brady, Matt wasn’t up much for leaving the house.

In fact, he hadn’t left the house all week and she felt a little more relieved at that piece of intel, which is why she was so open to the idea of going grocery shopping now.

She hadn’t seen Ethan nor her Mom since she started crossing off the items from her list and since she only had two or three more things to grab, she figured she’d end up making her way over to the other side of Wal-Mart to grab them so they could go. There was a small group of people crowding around the milk and coffee creamers, so she decided to skip ahead and grab a few of the lunchables Ethan asked before swinging back around to grab the milk.

Crossing the carton of eggs she’d managed to snag without getting caught in another small crowd of people, Caroline placed the list back on top of her purse and started to walk towards the school lunches. It only took her a few seconds before she came to a stop.

Her heart was pounding against her chest, aching with every beat. It was almost as if it was desperately trying to break through its confinements to jump and run across the floor to the one thing that stopped it.

She had to be seeing things. It couldn’t be real, not after all this time...right?

It’s been eight years.

So much can change in eight years.

So much has changed in eight years.

People can change in eight years. They get older and grow out of the ways they carried themselves in the years prior. So it’s completely possible that this was just a false alarm– that since this moment was something that she’d been thinking of as a “what if” situation for the past near-decade...maybe her drain was just tricking her.

Like during a shoot-out, luring the goalie out with no chance of recovery with a dangler and then scooting it right by him into the wide open goal– a game winner.

And yet here she was, standing dead-still in the grocery store where the milk and eggs section met with the cheese and packaged school lunches that Ethan loved so much.

Ethan. Oh God, what about Ethan?

Her brain was screaming at her body to move out of view, but her feet were like two cement blocks only sinking her further into the abyss that was about to be a total shit-show situation. He picked up a pack of cold cut turkey and her brain started to ransack her memories, a million and a half springing up at the simple sight.

Their picnics in that old abandoned field. How in elementary school he’d always make her laugh by biting three holes into his turkey slice and holding it up to his face– two eyes and a mouth, a smiley face.

“Caroline? Is that you?”

She was so lost in the moment that she hadn’t even been able to register his movement towards her. She wasn’t seeing things. This wasn’t her brain pulling a cruel false alarm on her.

This was real. He was here– life’s knuckle puck to her...and it’s a goal.

She’d never forget that voice or those eyes.

After all, they were the same eyes that her son has. Well, technically...his son has.

She took a quiet, sharp breath as she zoned back into the boy...man, in front of her. “Matthew, hi.” she sighed, tightening her grip slightly onto the handle of her cart.

His dirty blond hair was shorter, with faded horizontal lines shaved into the sides and a small amount of his curls on top. He had some stubble on his face, which only made him look a little more rugged. He was taller than she remembered and his years in the NHL had added muscle to the teenage frame she knew. Wearing black jeans, some brand of shoe she wasn’t familiar with, a red hoodie layered with a light denim jacket. Most notably was the black sling cradling his left shoulder to his side.

Even if she hadn’t followed his career all of these years or was kept up to date from the rest of the Tkachuk clan, he was a part of her heart and there would never be a moment when she didn’t recognize him.

“Hey,” he replied, exhaling. “How uh,” he held two packs of turkey in his one good hand now, waving them around. “I mean, you look great.”

There was no ignoring the small flutter she felt in her chest from hearing his smooth baritone voice compliment her. But man, did she try to only to be betrayed by the muscles in her face as they smiled. God, it’d been so long since she’d seen him and he still had a way of getting to her.

Nope, no, stop that, no smiling, she thought. You’re engaged, stop smiling at the compliment– stop it.

“Thank you. I could say the same but…” She let her eyes dwindle down to his shoulder and then his sling, feeling the smile on her face fall.

“Oh, yeah, uh,” he cleared his throat, small forced laughter coming from his mouth. “Surgery. You know how the game is.”

“Yeah,” she agreed, letting her gaze drift away from his and towards the lunchables.

Boy did she and she knew better than anyone that he always played a very physical game. She watched him play and develop his playing style growing up. And she’d be lying if she said that she didn’t flinch with every check into the boards and fight he got into, but that was the nature of the sport. Hockey in general is a very physical game and Matthew Tkachuk never shied away from it. Not to mention that she’d seen the very fight that had resulted in him getting this surgery and she tried to shy away from the fact that it still made her flinch when she saw him fighting.

She always knew he could handle his own on the ice, but that didn’t mean she liked to see him be on the other end of someone else's fists.

A silence settled between them and for the first time since they’d known each other, it wasn’t comfortable. Hell, it was just straight-up awkward and Caroline knew that all of the blame fell on her. She felt nauseous just thinking about it, no really, for a split second she thought she might throw up into the shopping cart. The awkwardness for both this interaction and the entire way that their friendship and relationship fell apart– was all her fault. It was a freaking blessing that their families had remained so close after how everything went down. Even after Chantal had insured her that they weren’t mad, she still told herself that they were.

For twenty-one years of her life, she’d known the Tkachuk family and they quickly became like a family to her. They took family vacations together, had dinners at the other's home from time to time. The kids spent weekends alternating between the two homes to play. Both families supported one another at their sports– both youth for the kids and Keith’s games with the Blues. And while she wanted to include that she and Matthew had been close for those twenty-one years as well...she couldn’t.

Because she’d cut him from her life after the first fourteen.

But God were those fourteen years the best of her life. He was her first best friend. Her confidant. The only person she told at eight that she was scared of the dark, so during sleepovers at his house, he would steal one of Brady’s nightlights from his room and put it in his– which also led to Chantal and Keith both thinking that he was scared of the dark too. During a conjoined school camping trip at 12, she got her first period in the middle of a hike and he wrapped his jacket around her waist to keep her from being embarrassed before walking her over to the teacher to explain the situation and then threatening to punch Travis Cameron in the face if he made another joke.

At thirteen when their first date was actually to one of Keith’s games, their parents allowed them to sit down in the normal seats instead of up in the box. Both of them were too nervous to do anything considering their section was in full view of the Tkachuk’s box and Keith was on the ice, but when the game was over and they had to meet their families before heading down to the tunnel to meet Keith, the two of them stayed behind in their seats as fans left and once the crowd had died down, he kissed her before holding her hand and walking to meet up with their families.

Only a few months into fifteen, when she and Heather had both told their parents that they were wanting to do a Galentine’s Day sleepover at the other’s house on Valentine’s Day after spending the day with their boyfriends. Keeping up with their tradition from before they had boyfriends. Instead, Heather went and stayed the night at her boyfriend Blake’s house, and Caroline, with the help of Matt, snuck into the Tkachuk’s house and back into Matt’s room. Chantal and Keith were still out on a date, leaving Matt to babysit his siblings, both of whom were asleep in their rooms.

Matt had stolen candles from his parent's bathroom and lit them, placing them on his bedside table and dresser. Playing softly from a small Bluetooth speaker were songs from a Spotify playlist the two of them curated— her idea she read about from an issue of seventeen magazine heather had shown her during lunch one day. And hidden in his underwear drawer was a new box of condoms he’d asked an older teammate of his to buy for him. It was hushed whispers and giggles as the two explored their bodies and love for each other for the first time in their most vulnerable states. They fell asleep in each other’s arms for only a few hours before Caroline had to sneak back out and walk next door to her home, pretending like Heather’s older brother had dropped her like she told her parents he would.

That summer, Matt decided he wanted to continue school with the USNTDP, giving them the rest of the summer to try and spend as much time together before he started his sophomore year up in Michigan. Sometimes, especially in her young and naive, dramatic teenage brain— she thought it was the beginning of the end. But the daily phone calls, late-night FaceTimes, and constant reminders from Matt washed away any doubt in her mind that their relationship couldn’t make it through teenage woes.

Until it didn’t.

“Momomomomomomom!”

She felt her heart thud against her chest at the sound of Ethan’s voice, the panic within her rising as she looked down at her brown-haired, blue-eyed son standing beside her and holding onto a pack of hockey trading cards. She snuck a look at Matt who was looking over her shoulder and it felt like she couldn’t breathe.

This couldn’t be happening, not right now. She couldn’t have this conversation in the middle of a Wal-Mart.

“Mom, Grandma, and I walked by the cards section and-and I found this!” His smile grew as he bounced on the balls of his feet, something he always did when he was excited. “And I’ve been really good this week, so can I get it? Please? I’ve been wanting Mackinnon’s card and I’ve got a feeling it’s in this box.”

“Sure thing, sweetie.” She smiled, laughing to herself. Any sign of exhaustion he’d previously shown had been immediately wiped away by a box of hockey trading cards. God, he literally was Matt’s son. Oh, Matt. She looked at him from the corner of her eyes to see he was staring at the two of them.

“Thank you!” Ethan smiled, wrapping his small arms around her waist and hugging her as tight as he could. “I can’t wait to–” a pause. One simple pause and her heart thumped against her chest as he pulled away from her and turned to Matt. “Whoa.”

Did Mat know? Could he tell? Was she seconds away from receiving the worst tongue lashing in the history of hidden paternities? Oh God, what if someone was recording and they ended up being blasted inline? Everyone knew who Matt was.

With every passing glance and second, it felt like her harsh reality was crashing in and at any moment, Ethan’s unknown bliss would be destroyed.

“I used to collect cards all the time, had a collection and everything.” Matt smiled, nodding down at Ethan who had now stepped closer to her leg.

Ethan knew who Matt was. Besides the fact that he had both Keith and Brady in his life, he was totally in love with the sport of hockey. Ever since he was even old enough to understand that the Tkachuk boys were NHL All-Stars, he’d been wanting to meet Matthew. Every summer it was ‘am I going to be able to meet Matt this time? Will we be home, Momma?’ and every time Caroline had whisked them off to Aunt Clara’s without a second thought.

He wasn’t a starstruck kind of kid. Ethan, though he did have his shy moments, was pretty outgoing which Caroline often rounded up to the fact he had Brady and Taryn, both of who were outgoing themselves. The shy, reserved traits he got from both Caroline and Matthew. But even with the few NHL players, he has met through both Keith and Brady– he’s never been so in awe that he turned into his own shell.

Yet again, he’d been waiting practically his whole life to finally meet Matthew Tkachuk, star winger and Captain of the Calgary Flames. At least with the other players, he had a warning.

She held her breath as she watched Matt put down the turkey and squat down to Ethan’s level, holding out his hand with a friendly smile on his face. “I’m Matt.”

God, he was always so good with kids. Literally, always.

“I know who you are.”

“Ethan,” she spoke, nudging the back of his shoulder. She knew he’d probably forgotten his manners just because he was finally meeting Matt, but that was still no excuse.

“I mean, I know who you are...Mr. Tkachuk.” He corrected, shaking Matt’s hand.

Matt smiled, his eyes squinting as he looked at Caroline. “You can call me Matt. Mr. Tkachuk makes me feel a lot older than I am.”

She felt Ethan nudge against her leg and she looked down to see him silently asking if that was okay. God, looking into his big blue eyes felt no different than looking into Matthew’s. She never could say no to those baby blues. When she nodded, he whipped his head back to Matt and smiled.

“Okay, Matt. This is so cool I’ve been wanting to meet you for like, ever.”

“Yeah? Is that right?” Matt laughed, staying in that same squatted position.

Caroline could feel the tears building in her eyes as she watched the two of them. Those words– ‘I’ve been wanting to meet you for like, ever’ held heavy. She knew Ethan didn’t mean it in the sense that he’d been wanting to meet his father, because he had no idea. He meant it in a way any kid would when it came to meeting one of their favorite athletes.

But for Caroline it meant different and it still stung just as hard.

“Mimi!!”

She tore her attention away from Matt and Ethan to see Ethan running right by Matt and over into the arms of Chantal. Oh no, no, no this literally couldn’t get any worse. She could see the confusion written all over Matt’s face as he turned to see who Ethan was running to. They were getting very close to ‘hi, hey, long time no see. So it turns out that ha, you have a son and everyone in your family and mine kept it from you the last eight years and now I’m telling you in the middle of Wal-Mart, but hey how’s your shoulder feeling?’ territory and Caroline didn’t like it.

“Caroline, sweetie, were you able to find–” annnnd it got worse as her Mom came up beside her, stopping once she saw Matt standing in front of her. “Matthew? Is that you?”

Caroline had to give it to her Mom, she put on a damn good show. Acting like she hadn’t known he was in town, when in fact– she did. She knew before Caroline knew after Chantal had told her. Brady was the one who offered to break the news to Caroline by himself.

“Hi, Mrs. Marsh.”

“Oh, call me Susan. You’re old enough now,” her Mom laughed, hugging him. The two of them saw each other often, at least once every summer. It was really only Caroline that he hasn’t seen in years. “How have you been, honey? How’s the shoulder.”

“It’s alright. I’m hanging in there, really.” He sighed.

Liar. Caroline knew him well enough to know that he was lying. His freshman year he’d gotten a minor concussion and had to sit out for protocol for a little over a week and it drove him absolutely nuts not being able to be on the ice. So she could only imagine how he was faring with five months of being sidelined.

“He was stinking up the living room is what he was doing,” Chantal chimed in, walking up beside Matthew as Ethan strolled alongside her. “Keith had to kick him out of the lay-z-boy.”

Caroline could barely keep her focus while she sent out silent pleas to the Universe for some kind of way out of the situation they were in. Even if it meant having a big black hole swallow her up, it would be so much better than having the truth come out right here and now.

“Momma, Mimi said I can have as many candies as I want when Halloween is over.” Ethan’s voice tore her away from her pleas of wanting to disappear as she saw him lean against Chantal’s cart with a smile. “Right, Mimi?”

The charm this little boy had in his entire body was way too much than a normal eight-year-old should have. He wasn’t spoiled by any means and wasn’t the kind of kid who would beg or plead for the newest toy or video games to hit the shelves. But he was well aware that with his dimpled smile and blue eyes, he could turn anyone into putty in his hands.

Once again, very on par with one Matthew Tkachuk.

“I said we’d talk about it,” Chantal laughed, ruffling up his already unkempt locks. “It’s all up to your Mom, honey.”

Knowing that Chantal wasn’t fully persuaded into giving him extra treats, he upped up his antics and huffed out a sigh. “Well, at least I’m getting the hockey cards.”

Caroline couldn’t help but roll her eyes because she knew very well that he was planning on getting that extra candy one way or another. He might go through Keith, who besides her father, was one of the easiest victims into Ethan’s charms. Not that he even needed to try, because Caroline knew what it felt like to be a kid on Halloween and she was more than willing to let him indulge in a little extra candy on the Holiday and after.

“Matt, can I see your hockey card collection?”

Caroline snapped her head over in Chantal’s direction before looking at her Mom, only to see that the two women were giving each other the same look.

What the fuck do we do now?

Is this good? Is this bad?

There’s no way Matt can find out just by hanging out with him, right?

Are we sure this is a good idea since Matt doesn’t know yet?

Maybe this could be a good thing, a sort of buffer.

Introduce him to Ethan before dropping the bomb?

Yeah. Yep. Okay, this can work.

“Sure,” Matt replied, putting his turkey into the cart. “I’ll just come over and–”

“No way, I’ll come to you!” Ethan smiled. “Can you help me with my wrist shot in the basement too?”

For a second, Caroline was very happy that Matt wasn’t coming over to her place. It’d only give her more reason to actually tell him the news and she just...wasn’t ready for that. On the other hand, Ethan had just invited himself over to a house that, sure he was over at most of the time, but that was before they had Matt living there. And Matt just wasn’t used to his presence yet...or really, his existence.

“Ethan,” she said, keeping her voice hushed. “You can’t just invite yourself over like that. He could have stuff to do.”

“Oh, sorry. Can I come over...please?”

Please have stuff to do. Please have stuff to do. Please have stuff to do. Please have stuff to do.

“Uh...sure,” Matt laughed. “Yeah, just come over whenever and we can work on it.”

Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit.

“See? Matt said I could come over, I didn’t invite myself!” Ethan smiled, walking over to her and ducking himself beneath her arm, and placing himself between her and the cart. “So can I, Momma? Please?”

His dimpled smile and big blue eyes could charm anyone into doing anything, but his real power was with the pouty bottom lip.

Just. Like. His. Freaking. Father.

Caroline sighed and looked at Matt. It’s not like she wanted Matt to say no because she wanted to keep Ethan away from him. It was more because she just...wasn’t prepared for this. Sure, she’d formed up a speech from all of those times she said she was going to tell him before dipping out the last minute. It wasn’t what she was going to say that was the issue. It was the fact that she wasn’t prepared for the after. She wasn’t prepared for the look in his eyes when she’d tell him he had a son. The anger or hurt in his voice when he asks why she hid it. And while she knew deep down in her heart that Matthew Tkachuk wouldn’t be the kind of man to abandon his son once he found out he existed...it was still a deep fear inside of her heart.

So in her mind, as she pondered Matt’s invitation to hang out with Ethan she was playing out the scenarios of just how bad everything could go. Ethan’s eight and doesn’t have a filter, would he let it slip that he’s never met his Dad? Would Matt ask how old he was and do the math? Would a nice, relaxing, and fun holiday turn into a literal freaking nightmare?

But she wouldn't and couldn’t let the worst-case scenarios keep Ethan from getting the chance to hang out with Matt. She was the one who dug her own grave and if things went bad, she was going to have to accept it and lie in it.

“You’re sure it’s okay with you?” She asked, looking back over at his sling. She knew how important his recovery was and Ethan was constantly go, go, go...she didn’t want him to push Matthew into doing anything before he was allowed or ready to.

“Yeah, it’s fine,” Matt nodded. “It’ll get me out of bed anyway. I’m starting to run out of 20/20’s to watch.”

She felt her heart flutter a bit. He still watched those? When they hung out into the night, the two of them would just lay on the couch and watch the older episodes of the program, talking conspiracies and just snacking on whatever food they had. Matt never complained about watching the show with her...not like Jonathan did.

“Pleassssse, Momma?” Ethan whined, putting a little more oomph into his pouted lip and puppy dog eyes. “I’ll put back the cards if you say yes.”

“You can keep the cards,” Caroline laughed, shaking her head and trying to brush down his wispy curls. “We’ll figure out a good time for you to go, okay?”

“Can’t I just go home with Mimi and Matt now?” He put the box of cards into the cart, keeping up with his pout. “I haven’t been over all week!”

And for good reason, Caroline thought. But one pleading look to Chantal helped her out of the dilemma, where otherwise she would’ve said yes.

“How about you come over a little early on Halloween?” She suggested, nodding at Caroline. “Is that okay, Caroline?”

“Fine with me,” Caroline replied, trying not to sound so relieved as she rested her hand on top of Ethan’s head. “What do you say, Ethan?”

He turned towards Matt, his pout replaced with a big smile. “It was nice to meet you and I’m very excited to work on my wrist shot.” When he looked up at her and saw that she was giving him a ‘what else are you supposed to say?’ look, he blushed and looked back at Matt. “Oh, and thank you for helping me.”

“No problem, little man.” Matt smiled, the basic nickname sending her heart and stomach into a flutter.

Her selfish decision had cost Ethan eight years of that. Whether Matt would have settled on little man, buddy, kiddo, tiger, sport, champ– she didn’t know and she never gave either of them the opportunity to find out.

That flutter quickly turned into soured guilt and she was back to wishing a hole would just swallow her up.

“We should probably let you guys go,” Her mom said, probably sensing her internal dread and initiating the departure. “I’ll talk to you later, Chantal. Matt, it was great to see you again, honey. If you need anything, just let me know.”

Yeah, and warn me ahead of time, Caroline thought.

“Thank you, Mrs. Mar- Susan.” Matt nodded, turning his attention to Ethan. “It was nice meeting you too, Ethan. Can’t wait to see this wrist shot of yours.”

He’ll only think of it being similar to his and that was not only based on the fact that he was 50% Matt’s, but that Keith had been the one who trained him from the moment he picked up his first hockey stick. After his first organized youth hockey practice, Keith dropped Ethan off, looked at Caroline, and said– “it was like watching Matthew on the ice all over again.”

“It’s alright, I guess,” Ethan replied, never one to want anyone to brag or boast about him– not even himself.

“I’m sure it’s great, but there’s always room for improvement.” Matt smiled, before letting his gaze drift over to her. “It was great seeing you, Care.”

As if it wasn’t bad enough that she was currently trying not to falter under the gaze of his baby blues, his childhood nickname for her was the blow that bust the glass and released the butterflies in her stomach. She hadn’t heard that nickname in a long time, he was the only one that ever used it– but even after all of these years, it still had the same effect on her.

And she didn’t know if she loved it or hated it.

“It was nice seeing you too, Matthew.” She had to gulp down the urge to call him Matty like old times. The butterflies were bad enough, she couldn’t make the situation worse.

With one last casual nod and smile, she took the initiative to turn their cart around and her back to Matt, walking back towards the coffee creamer and milk. “You handled that well,” her mom whispered, coming up beside her.

“Really? Because I feel like I’m straddling a thin line between throwing up, crying, and wanting to fall into a hole and disappear,” she replied, laughing dryly as she stopped by the milk, grabbing a gallon.

“Well, you couldn’t tell. At least I couldn’t,” she smiled, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. “But maybe this is a good thing, him being back so soon. You need to tell him, sweetheart. And I know you had your heart set on the summertime, but he’s here now and this is the Universe’s sign that it’s been long enough.”

“I know, I know,” Caroline sighed softly, moving the cart a few feet down to the coffee creamers, stopping as Ethan ran around towards the end of the cart and hopped on the end. “I just...I don’t know if I’m ready.”

“You’ll never be ready. There will never be that perfect moment, Caroline. He’s older now and he may have stopped asking, but that doesn’t mean he still doesn’t wonder about his Father,” her Mom replied, looking at Ethan. “There’s never a right time for anything, but that’s what being a parent is. It’s hard, there’s always one surprise after another, but you still charge on because you have a child to take care of and to do right by.”

“Momma? Can I open the box now?” Ethan asked, hooking his elbows on the inside of the cart as he held onto the Upper Deck box.

“No, sweetie. You have to wait until we get home, okay?”

He sighed, nodding his head. “Okay, but I really think the Mackinnon card is in here. I just wanted to see if I was right.”

Her Mom rubbed her arm and gave her a small smile. “I know this isn’t what you wanted, but this is your chance to give him months with Matthew before you, Ethan and Jonathan move to New York. If that’s not a sign, then I don’t know what is.”

“Do you think Bee-Bee’s in here?” He looked up from his box at Caroline and her Mom. “Maybe Matt, too?”

“I’m sure they are, sweetie.” Her Mom replied as they started to leave the aisle.

Caroline would be lying if she said she didn’t feel the twinge in her heart hearing the difference in names he had for the two brothers. He’s known Brady his entire life and considered him an Uncle without knowing that Brady really was his Uncle. And once he learned of the relationship, maybe he’d add Uncle in front of Bee-Bee, but that was all up to him.

She didn’t want to think about Ethan coming up with a nickname for Matt. He didn’t need one, he didn’t deserve one. The thought put a bad taste in her mouth and she could feel the knot in the back of her shoulders from the tension, getting tighter and tighter.

Matt didn’t deserve the nickname that Ethan’s eight-year-old brain could conjure up because he already had one.

Dad.

The moment she dropped Ethan off at her parent’s house so that Keith and Chantal could pick him up to take him to the Blues game, she felt on edge. She had practically begged Andrew, her younger brother who was also going to the game to make sure that they made sure everything was kept on the low, especially if Ethan would talk about Matt. She knew that Keith and Chantal were good with that and wouldn’t let anything accidentally slip, but she was just so anxious that she couldn’t even think straight.

Once she returned home by herself, she pulled the bottle of rum from her freezer and poured herself a drink, opting to mix it with a can of coke she had in the fridge. After that, she spent the better half of almost two hours frantically on the phone with Heather. Telling her what had happened in the grocery store, how nervous she felt and still was, and how she saw everything crumble down around her in a matter of seconds.

“Well he doesn’t know, does he?”

“No, he didn’t even seem like he had a damn clue.”

Heather laughed. “Well it’s Matt, he wasn’t getting straight-A’s–”

“Cut it out, Heather. He’s here. He’s here and he’ll find out eventually. And-And Jonathan will find out that I lied to him and Ethan and–” She could feel her heart racing against her chest as she finished her second glass, making a third.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa...Jonathan doesn’t know yet? You’ve had all week, Cari!”

“No, Jonathan doesn’t know, Heather.” She sighed, tossing the empty coke can into their box on the counter for recycling. “I want to tell Matt first.”

Heather paused. “Who does he think Ethan’s father is?”

“I told him…” she paused, exhaling. “I told him it was just some old high school boyfriend.”

“Old high school boyfriend, huh?” Heather scoffed, shaking her head. “That’s a funny name for, oh I don’t know, your first and only boyfriend, the first guy you ever loved, the guy who took your virginity, the–”

“I get it, Heather,” she snapped, resting her elbows on the counter. “I just...I couldn’t have him know. Not with Matt…”

“Being Matt, of course,” Heather replied, not bothering to hide the annoyance in her voice. “But babe, you’re getting married in a year. He needs to know.”

“Not before Matt. It’s already bad enough Matt doesn’t know, but I can’t have Jonathan knowing before him.” She took a long sip of her drink. “We all need to b-be on the same page with this. Matt finds out, Jon finds out, we all agree to keep it quiet until Matt wants to make it known.”

“And if he never wants it to be known? If he wants to keep Ethan a secret?”

“He won’t,” Caroline snapped again, gripping onto her glass. “I know you’ve never cared for him, and you’re all for wanting me to forget he ever existed. But if you could please stop making it seem like he’s an asshole who would hide the fact that he has a son, that would be wonderful.”

Heather was quiet and if it wasn’t for the soft breathing on the other end, Caroline might have thought that she hung up on her. But she wasn’t wrong. Heather and Matt have always butt heads, ever since Caroline had met Heather in first grade. Their personalities are so similar that sometimes it drove her crazy. It wasn’t that Heather hated Matthew because she didn’t. She just thought that Matt had opted to put his relationship with Caroline on the back burner the moment he decided to go up to Michigan for the rest of high school.

Caroline didn’t care, because she didn’t see it that way. Sure, they would only be in the same place for three months out of the year, but she knew that this was Matt’s dream. She wanted nothing more than for him to go out there and achieve his dreams. So she got Heather to back off. But once Caroline told Heather that she was pregnant and that Matt was still going off to London for hockey, Heather didn’t care. Even after Caroline told her what had happened and that it wasn’t Matt’s fault, Heather just couldn’t see past it.

Though of course, after Ethan turned one and Heather got married and became pregnant shortly after, her thoughts changed. She was on the side with the Tkachuk’s and the Marsh’s, urging Caroline to tell Matt about Ethan. Maybe it was because she was becoming a mother herself or maybe she finally found a soft spot in her heart for Matthew Tkachuk, Caroline didn’t know. But she’s stayed adamant on Matt needing to know. Even if there was still a little bit of distaste for the curly-haired boy since Jonathan was in the picture.

“I’m just saying, Cari….you can’t keep your life on hold because you’re afraid to tell Matt the truth. You’ve got a great guy in Jonathan, you’re happy, Ethan’s happy and if Matthew not knowing is holding you back from finally moving on...then you should really reconsider everything.”

“Sure thing, H. I need to go, I’m tired.”

And with that, she hung up the phone and poured herself another drink before sinking down into the couch and going to Hulu to watch 20/20. By the time she finished her fourth drink, the doorbell rang as she got up to make another. She walked over and looked through the peephole to see Jonathan standing on the porch.

“Hi, come in,” she sighed, opening the door for him and walking into the kitchen.

“I just wanted to stop by and say goodnight. I know I wasn’t able to see you today at work since I’ve been busy,” he replied, walking in and closing the door behind her, joining her in the kitchen. “Where’s Ethan?”

“Blues game.” She replied, pouring more ice into her cup before adding the rum and coke.

“Everything all right?” He asked, leaning against the counter. “Never seen you drink like that outside of a bar or a dinner party.”

She shook her head, leaning her elbows against the counter and running her hands through her hair. “Everything is falling apart.” She laughed dryly, closing her eyes. “It’s like karma is getting ready to run me over with a fucking bus.”

“Was it the kids?” He asked, brushing her hair back. “Are they finally starting to complain about the reading material?”

She pressed her head further into the palms of her hands, shutting her eyes tight as she shook her head. “Ethan’s Dad is back. I ran into him at the store today and Ethan was there and I wanted to fucking throw up.”

“Oh shit,” his hand slid down to her back as he stepped closer, reaching for one of her wrists. “Are you okay? Is Ethan okay?”

Of course, I’m not fucking okay, she wanted to say...but she didn’t.

“He doesn’t know. Neither of them knows.” She could feel her breathing start to pick up as she pictured the interaction at the store.

Matthew smiling at Ethan. Ethan talking to him about hockey cards and working on his wrist shot with him.

“This is great though, Caroline. Ethan can meet him and now we can all sit down together and talk about the adoption papers.”

Ethan finally meeting his Dad even though he didn’t have a clue. Matt squatting down to Ethan’s level to talk to him because he could tell Ethan was nervous.

“I-I just, I can’t think right now,” she huffed, lifting her head out of her hands and turning to him, her heart racing. “I just wanted to go grocery shopping a-and I run into Matthew and then Ethan comes running up and then Chantal and my Mom and they’re talking about hockey cards and wrist shots and–”

“What?” Jonathan asked, furrowing his eyebrows. “What did you just say?”

“What?” Caroline replied, zoning back in once she felt his hand move from her.

“What you just said…'' He let his armrest on the counter as he kept his gaze on her. “You said that you ran into Matthew...and Chantal.”

Oh no. Oh no, no, no she felt like she was going to be sick.

“N-No I didn’t,” she lied, God, she couldn’t be more oblivious to the fact that she was lying.

“Yes. You did. You said you ran into Matthew and then Ethan came up, then Chantal.” He paused, stepping back and shaking his head as he moved from the counter. “You said you ran into Ethan’s Dad at the store today.”

“I did.”

“You ran into Matthew at the store today.”

She opened her mouth to speak, but there wasn’t a lie she could come up with in the world that he would believe. He was a smart guy and that was the reason why she always kept the detail of Ethan’s paternity on the down-low.

“Chantal...Matthew…the Tkachuk’s,” he turned to her, his lips in a straight line and his eyebrows furrowed. “Is Ethan’s Dad Matthew Tkachuk?”

Her throat was dry and it was like her last breath had been sucked out of her the moment she got the courage to look him in the eye. She couldn’t lie. Her drunken rant had already revealed too much, even if it was just a little bit. “Yes.”

Jonathan stood there, holding his hands out in front of him as he motioned towards her. “And...he doesn’t know.”

“No.”

He stood there in silence, his eyebrows still furrowed and lips pursing as the wheels in his head turned. He brought his hands up to his face and dragged them down, shaking his head. “Jesus Fuck, Caroline!”

“Jonathan, calm down–”

“I can’t calm down!” He yelled, turning towards her and leaning an arm against the counter. “Do you realize what you’ve done? You lied to me! You told me Ethan’s father was just some-some old high school boyfriend who didn’t want anything to do with it once you found out you were pregnant!”

“I-I didn’t say that,” she replied, wrapping her arms around her waist.

“Well, you definitely didn’t say that he was a fucking NHL player! Or that, I don’t know, he’s practically fucking family to you!” He turned and leaned his elbows onto the counter, rocking himself back and forth as he rested his head on his clasped hands. “What the fuck, Caroline…were you ever going to tell me?”

“The summer…” she whispered, taking a deep breath. “I was going to tell him this summer and then after he knew, I was going to tell you. I-I couldn’t have you know before he did.”

“So this right now, it was a mistake?” He asked, standing up and motioning between them. “You weren’t going to tell me until Matt came home?”

“Yes.”

“And then what Caroline? What were you going to do? How the hell are we supposed to go to New York, huh? How are we supposed to be a fucking family?”

“We can still go to New York, Jon!” She said, stepping towards him. “Matt knowing won’t change anything–”

“Except it will, Caroline! Can’t you see that?” He yelled, waving his arm out by his side. “Do you really think that after he finds out he’s had a son the last eight years, he’ll just let you take him to New York with me? Do you? Because I sure as hell don’t.”

“Jon–”

“And do you really think that he won’t try to win you back? For God’s sake, the guy was your first fucking love, Caroline! You have a son with him! He’ll do everything in his fucking power to get back with you!”

Not with the way I ended things, she wanted to say. Because she knew that there was no way Matt would ever hold an ounce of feelings for her after everything went down the way it did. And once he found out what she’s been hiding– even if something was lingering behind, it’d be squashed.

“I need to go home,” he huffed, shaking his head and picking his keys up off of the counter, and walking towards the door. “I can’t even look at you right now.”

“Jonathan, wait!” She said, stumbling after him as he opened the door.

“What? What could you possibly want, Caroline?” He asked, shaking his head. “Are you here to tell me that Ethan’s actually a twin and he’s got some long-lost sibling out there?”

She shook her head, hugging herself again. “You...you can’t tell anyone...about Matt being Ethan’s father. No one can know, not until Matt does and not until h-he figures out what he wants to do.”

Jonathan laughed in disbelief and nodded his head. “Goodnight, Caroline.”

He walked out and shut the door behind him. Caroline locked it and made her way back into the kitchen, picking up her drinking and pouring out the rest of the alcohol into the sink when her phone rang. She walked into the living room, picking it up to see that it was Andrew calling. “Hello?”

“Hi, Momma!”

Her eyes burned with tears as she sat herself down on the couch, resting her elbows on her knees. “Hi, baby,” she sniffled quietly. “How was the game?”

“It was so cool! Bee-Bee scored the overtime goal an-and he was so good!” She could hear the crowd of people in the background, figuring that they might be headed down to the tunnel o meet with Brady. “Matt came along and he was telling me all about the players and what to look for and–”

Her head had drowned out his excited tone the moment it set in– Matt had gone along to the game tonight. Why didn’t Andrew tell her? Oh God, what if Ethan said something? What if Matt started asking questions and his parents or Andrew couldn’t stop Ethan in time to keep him from saying something?

“Momma? Are you there?”

She sniffled again, feeling the tears fall down her cheeks. “Yeah, Ethan, I’m here.”

“Do you think Bee-Bee will get me the puck if I ask? Matt said yeah and so did Papa Walt, but I don’t know.”

“Of course he will, baby. Only if you ask politely.”

“Don’t worry, I did. Ooh, I see him! Bee-Bee!!!” He yelled and there were some muffling sounds as his voice drifted out.

She figured he had hung up the phone, ready to pull it away from her when she heard laughter. “He’s a cute kid, Care.”

Her heart thumped against her chest and instead of the tears pausing, they only fell harder at the sound of Matt’s voice. “Well, he is half of me,” she tried to sound normal, forcing out the joke.

And you, she wanted to add...but couldn’t.

“Yeah, I can definitely tell.” Matt laughed, God she missed his voice, his laugh– she still loved it so much after all of these years. “He talks nonstop like you too.”

This time they both laughed, her head falling back as she closed her eyes, sniffling and wiping her nose with the back of her hand. “Hey, that’s rude.”

“It’s the truth though, you never knew when to stop talking.” He chuckled, their laughter mingling together for the first time in years. She sniffled again, accidentally letting out a small sob and she quickly covered her mouth as he stopped. “Care? You good?”

No, no I’m not good. You’re bonding with your son, a son you don’t know even exists. I can’t figure out how to tell you because I’m scared of how you’ll react–She thought, desperately trying to get out of her head.

Her lips trembled beneath her hand as she let it fall into her lap, looking up at the ceiling in an effort to keep the tears at bay. “Ye-yeah, I just uh,” she took a deep shaky breath. “I need to go, Matt. Tell Ethan I’ll call him later.”

Before he could reply, she hung up the phone and rested her head in her hands, letting the sobs shake her body as the tears fell down her cheeks. She’s spent all week worrying about when the ball would drop and everything would crumble around her. And it finally did. Every step she had planned had evaporated before her very eyes.

The one thing she never wanted to happen, happened.

Jonathan knew before Matt. Her fiancé knew Matt was a father before Matt did. That was the one thing she owed Matt the most– giving him the knowledge that Ethan was his son.

And she ruined it.

Just like before she could even get the chance to make it to the bathroom, she threw up all over the table that sat in front of the couch. Her body still shaking from the sobs as she gasped for air and the tears fell down her face.

She ruined all of it.

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stephspurs · 3 years

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A Family Affair | Euro 2020 Football Fanfiction

Hi besties!! here is the long awaited part 9!! I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did whilst writing it!! a big thank you goes to @emwritesfootball for proofing this part & making sure its up to scratch for all of you lovely readers! Let me know what you think babes hehehe!! Love Always, Steph xx

Part 9. | nona parte

word count; 2006. writing tools; third person until dashed line, first person thereafter. next update; Friday 13/08 5pm AEST. Updates are three times/week (Monday, Wednesday & Friday)! tags (as requested by users); @footballffbarbiex @obsesseds-world @abysshaven link to fic masterlist here

The season kicked off in the middle of August and Amelia had been more than prepared for her first match in the premier league. She spent day after day analysing the players in the first team, introducing them to the magical world of rehearsed tactics. It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows for the brilliant girl; she had to learn how to implement the plays coupled with the speed of the game. But so far, so good. Chelsea have been winning and her plays have been working, the boys were getting the hang of it - no matter how apprehensive they were at the start.

Jorgi played a big part in demonstrating the success of the play, performing best in his midfield role to guide the game and direct the change in play to his teammates. By the time they had played a few fixtures, they had really gotten the hang of her approach to set pieces and began to put their trust in the young girl. They were starting to see results and wanted to keep the winning streak going while they could. The fourth fixture in the new season was one that Amelia was looking forward to, personally: Chelsea v Aston Villa, Stamford Bridge, 3pm kick off.

Jack and Amelia had grown closer and closer, FaceTime‘dates’ as Jack would call them, a weekly occurrence. She had spoken to him just as much as she had spoken to Jorgi - and they were still carpooling to and from Cobham together. Her friendship with Jack was full of easy conversation and flirtatious banter, teetering over the line of friendship but being that they were kept physically apart, the friendship line remained largely intact. One person that had drifted even further away from her, despite her believing that it couldn't be possible, was Ben Chilwell.

Every time she walked into a room that he was in, if he didn't have to be there he would immediately leave. Amelia didn’t understand what the problem was. Yeah sure, they were flirty together in Mykonos but they never crossed a line together, no matter how many times the wine went straight to their heads. If anything, she should be the one running away from him. She was the one who sent him a couple of messages here and there that he just opened. She spoke to Mason, Jorgi, Billy Gilmour - who was another one of the boys she had developed a strong friendship with - and all of them insisted they didn’t understand their friend's strange behaviour.

On the evening before the Villa match, Amelia was laying on the couch in her townhouse binge watching yet another docu-series on Netflix when her doorbell rang. This was strange, most people that came past the house these days had their own set of keys (her parents, her brother, Jorgi) or they texted to let her know they were outside. Her townhouse was three stories high, so if she was upstairs on the top level vacuuming the chances of her hearing the door were slim to none. Either way, she got up off of her loveseat and walked to the front door, peeking through the peephole - she lived in London, alone, she wasn’t opening that door until she knew exactly who was on the other side.

______________________________________________________________

“To what do I owe this visit, Benjamin?”

“Hi, Mils.”

“Wow, nickname basis already - I thought only friends called each other by their nicknames.”

“Did you think we weren’t friends?”

“Well, friends don’t treat friends the way you’ve treated me since the evening I left Mykonos.”

With a sigh, Ben looked down at his feet. I did feel a small bit of guilt for that one, but he deserved it. Continuing to find the cracks in the marble step of my door’s threshold more interesting than facing my expression, I took a step back and forced Ben to look up at me.

“Well, are you going to come inside? I’ve got the kettle on and a really good series going that I would like to get back to.”

With a charming smile, Ben took a step forward, took the door handle out of my hand and shut it behind him. Slipping out of his shoes, he followed me down the short hallway to my kitchen and pulled a seat out at the island bench.

“So, really now - why are you here? Nervous about tomorrow?” I questioned as I took two cups out of the cupboard and brewed one tea for him, one coffee for me. 3 years in Italy and coffee in the evening became the norm for me. It was my comfort drink.

“I’m here to apologise for the way I've been acting towards you for the past six weeks. I’ll be honest, I don’t know why I’ve been like this”

“Cut the crap Ben, you know exactly why you’ve been doing it. Now tell me the truth or, as far as I'm concerned, you never came here tonight and tomorrow we will be back to how we were yesterday - you running away from me and me pretending that it doesn't bother me. Even though all it does is bother me.” Not expecting that outburst to come out of me, and to be fair neither did I, Ben looked me in the eye and stayed silent, choosing his next words carefully.

“The first time I saw you, the night you told your brother off in the rec room at St. George’s Park, I thought you were the most determined woman I had ever seen in my life. Not scared of the 30 grown men who were very obviously all on the same side, literally. Then the next time I saw you, after the final match, how you comforted your brother when you were at the highest of highs and he was lower than low, I thought you had more compassion than every person in that stadium put together.”

“When you came to SGP again the next day and delivered the tactical analysis of the game you won, I thought ‘wow she is so intellectually brilliant’. And then when you turned up in Mykonos, all sunkissed and relaxed, sitting next to me and involving me in conversation with my pals but making me feel like you wanted my contribution...I remember it like it was yesterday. Amelia, you smiled at me and my heart did a somersault in my chest.”

“You shut me down outside the club that evening, and when we came back inside I caught the end of your conversation with Jorgi about Fede. Putting two and two together, I understood all that I needed to. The few days after that we carried on like normal. Then, you left and I didn't know if I would ever see you again to be fair. When you messaged me, I got too nervous to reply because I didn't know how to just be your friend. And then when I thought I had finally gotten through a day without thinking about my friend's little sister, you showed up at Cobham as my tactical analyst. I didn’t know what to do Mils, I don't know how to be just your friend when I've had nothing but unfriendly thoughts about you since the first time I saw you command that room of men you had never met in your life.”

The whistle of the kettle ringing out behind me is the only noise filling the kitchen. I’m staring at Ben; he’s staring back at me with nothing but truth behind his eyes and his heart on his sleeve.

“Benj, what you were feeling, what you are feeling is totally valid and I never want you to feel like you can’t share those feelings with me. You’re right, Mykonos changed things for me. What you were feeling was reciprocated, but Ben, I was going back to Italy. At that exact moment, I had no idea I would end up here. I thought I was enjoying a break before another high-intensity season in Italy. I wanted to kiss you so badly at the club that night, but I knew it would only hurt you. I’m used to being hurt, it's a feeling I've grown to expect. But you, you’re too pure to experience the kind of hurt that comes along with knowing you’re making a bad decision, but doing it anyway, because I wanted to be selfish with your heart.”

“Amelia, can I ask you something?” I nodded, holding my breath as I braced myself for the question poised behind his eyes. “If you were in the mood to be selfish, what would have come from that evening?”

“I can probably show you better than I can tell you,”

Walking around the island bench, I pulled the back of Ben’s chair slightly so he pivoted towards me. Standing in between his tracksuit-covered legs, I ran both hands up his arms until I got to his neck and finally beside his face. Threading my fingers through his hair, I pulled his face towards mine and our lips met. It was as soft as a butterfly kiss but as powerful as anything I had ever felt before. His hands wound around my waist and settled themselves on the small of my back before travelling down and giving my backside a gentle caress, forcing a laugh out of my lips and straight into his mouth. Pulling away slightly, so we both had a bit of breathing space to sort out our lightheadedness, Ben spoke his next words very softly.

“I need you to promise me something, Amelia.You need to promise me that you will stop thinking about my heart before your own. I am old enough to make my own decisions, and the decision to ignore you for these past few weeks has been one of the worst ones I've made in a really long time. But I did make it, and it was because I got scared, and I hurt you, and I am so sorry. The decision to come here tonight however, I feel like it more than makes up for that one very very stupid one”

“You’re such a smooth talker, Benj.”

“Say my name again, Mils, you don’t know what it does to me.”

“Down boy, your tea is going cold and I need to find out who killed Sophie in West Cork.Meet me in the lounge.”

A few hours had passed and it was nearing 10pm, well past Amelia’s bed time, but Ben was still sitting on her couch, feet on the table (despite her telling him to remove them) and arm around the back of her shoulders.

“Chilly, I don’t want you to think I'm not interested in you because I so am, I just don’t want to rush into anything. What I left behind in Italy was complicated and heavy; I'm still trying to learn how to exist without him if I'm honest. I want you to just give me the space I need to grow into my own here in the city, if that’s okay with you.”

“Of course it's okay, Mils. From what Jorgi has told me about Fede, I can understand why you want to take it slow now. But please, don’t call me Chilly. My friends call me Chilly, and Mills. I thought I made it clear before that I don’t want to be your friend.”

“To me, you’re Benj. Thank you. Wait - what do you mean what Jorgi has told you about Fede?”

“I may have asked a couple times about you, and for the record, he is team Bamelia.”

“Bamelia? That is the ugliest word I have ever heard. Never use it again.”

“How can it be ugly? It's mostly your name, and nothing associated with you could ever be considered anything less than beautiful.”

“Stop being so smooth Benj, you’re going to make me blush in a minute.”

“Good, can’t wait to see how you could possibly look even cuter than you do right now.”

“That’s enough Benjamin.”

“Okay I’m done now.”

Part 10. | parte dieci

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peachithings · 3 years

Text

Moving In

Pairing: Idol!Jaehyun x Youtuber!Reader

Genre: fluff, established relationship!au

Warning/s: none other than the fact that i wrote this with domestic Jaehyun in mind???? hehehe also this is purely unedited :((((

Prompt: Jaehyun wants to move in with you but is afraid that he's going way too fast.

Word count: 3.1k

A/N: this is the first ever fic that i've written outside of got7. ngl im pretty excited to write this because of all the moving series that i've watched over on yt hahahaha pls give it some love y'all ❤

Moving In: The Series Masterlist

»»————-　♡　————-««

It has been roughly two months since you and Jaehyun went public with your relationship and since then your relationship has become more serious.

"Tyong hyung..." Jaehyun called out.

"Oh?" Taeyong responded.

"When did you ask noona to move in with you?" Jaehyun asked.

"Ah. It's getting that serious huh?" The older one chuckled.

"Well, it honestly differs with each person." He stated. "But for me, we openly talked about it. And as our schedules got busier, I longed for her every single night in bed. I had a hard time falling asleep because I missed her and wanted her beside me. At that point, I knew that I wanted move in with her." He added.

Jaehyun nodded and listened to his older brother about his own experiences and thoughts about the situation.

He thought of the feelings and worries he has been having the past couple of days.

“Are you thinking of moving in with y/n?” Taeyong asked causing the younger man to break out of his thoughts.

“Well.. Yeah? I guess so?” Jaehyun responded. “But I was kinda having these thoughts that I may have been going too fast and that it’ll scare her away.” he rambled. “I really like her. And I’m afraid that she’ll get distant.” he continued.

“Jae..” Taeyong started. “You’re overthinking. And I know for sure that it’s not going to scare y/n away.” he continued. “From what I see, y/n-ie is really fond of you. I see how she takes care of you and other people don’t normally do the things she does to take care of you if they don’t love them.” he added.

“Hyung, thank you.” Jaehyun stated.

“Think about it carefully and then talk about it with y/n. Communication is always key to a great relationship. Okay?”

Jaehyun nodded with a smile. And he went home that night thinking about it carefully.

When he finally arrived at the comfort of his bed in his shared room with Jungwoo, he pulled out his phone and sent you a message.

to my love: babe?

to my love: just finished work and home now

to my love: still awake?

Jaehyun figured that while he was waiting for your reply he could quickly go to the bathroom and freshen up and get changed into his pajamas.

He came back to his room feeling refreshed after the long hours at work. He collapsed on his bed and checked his phone if you have replied to his messages.

He smiled at his notification reading that it was from you.

from my love: yup

from my love: just finished editing a vlog

from my love: i’m in bed rn

from my love: getting ready to sleep

to my love: babe, how does a date on sat feels?

to my love: i miss you :(

from my love: that would be amazeballs babe!

from my love: and i miss you too! :(

from my love: too much if you ask me :(

Jaehyun felt his ears start to warm up, getting flustered knowing his girl was missing him. He was missing her kisses and hugs; he was missing her too.

to my love: i miss you too, babe

to my love: but we’ll see each other on sat

to my love: i love you

to my love: let’s sleep now

from my love: okay, see you

from my love: i love you too

Jaehyun drifted off to sleep with a smile plastered on his face knowing that he’ll get to see and hold his girl at the end of the week.

Jaehyun woke up in a good mood looking forward to when he would be able to be with you again.

Like a routine, Jaehyun would send you a message greeting and informing you that he has woken up and briefing you on his schedule of the day just so that you won’t worry about him too much.

Even if you’ve told him a million times that he doesn’t need to update you on his every move and to just use his little break times to rest up and yet he still insists to inform and send you messages whenever time permits him to. You know very well how busy he could get and that’s fine. Even before you went public, you’ve always set aside time so you would be able to visit him in shoots or in the dorms. And even going as far as going out of the country to surprise him and go to their concert.

As a YouTuber, you have never had Jaehyun in any of your vlogs. His faint voice can sometimes be heard from the background, some of his body parts in the frame without revealing his face but no one has ever noticed until announcing your relationship.

You were also always avoiding the questions along the lines of romantic relationships. Even though that as some kind of a public figure you knew from the start that you would have to give up most of your privacy. But somehow you wanted to keep your relationship away from the public eye first, to savor the peace and quiet for a little while it was still early in the blossoming relationship with Jaehyun.

After Jaehyun announced your relationship publicly, you still kept most of your moments with him private. Just sharing little snippets of your time together in a vlog once in a while.

A lot of viewers, mostly Jaehyun’s fans have been requesting for Jaehyun to make an appearance on your vlogs or do a little Q&A together. You liked the idea of a little Q&A with Jaehyun so you jot it down as an idea for content that you could make in the future when you both could find the time.

»»————-　♡　————-««

The week went by fast with both of you and Jaehyun’s busy schedule.

You were packed with a lot of deadlines for the week with your sponsors and Jaehyun was busy recording and preparing for their comeback.

You were both looking forward to this day that you’ll be able to spend a little time together amidst the crazy schedules you both have.

from my love: can’t wait for tonight

from my love: see you love

Jaehyun woke up smiling from ear to ear seeing your message.

to my love: hi bub

to my love: i’ll see you tonight

from my love: do you have plans tonight?

from my love: will it be okay if we just stay in?

to my love: i’d love that babe

to my love: nope, no plans tonight

to my love: just want to be with you

from my love: you make my heart flutter

from my love: i love you

to my love: i love you too

After your little exchange of messages with Jaehyun, you went out to go grocery shopping since you wanted to cook for him and as well as to get some snacks for tonight.

Earlier in the week, Jaehyun had filmed a little announcement that he could upload on your channel after discussing a possible ‘move-in’ with him. Although he was still debating with himself if he should upload it secretly or give you a heads up first.

Fast forward to tonight.

You were cooking in your kitchen and your camera positioned in place to record your movements and you suddenly hear your door open knowing that it was your boyfriend since he knew the passcode to your apartment.

“Babe.” he called out while taking off his shoes. “I’m home.” he added.

“I’m cooking.” you responded.

Jaehyun walked towards you and gave you a peck on the lips, the camera perfectly caught it with him at the side of the frame. He didn’t notice that you were filming and was surprised to see that the camera was recording.

“You’re filming.” he said.

You nodded. He waved at the camera and turned it off.

“I just filmed a few since I mentioned in my last vlog that we’re meeting tonight.”

“You’re cute.” he said. “I love you and I missed you.” he pouted.

You smiled at him widely while you finish up cooking for dinner.

Jaehyun started to re-position the camera angle to the table and started setting it up with you. Both of you let the camera capture the little intimate scene.

After dinner, you turned off the camera. Just so that you could have some private time with your boyfriend.

While washing the dishes, Jaehyun sees this as an opportunity to discuss moving in together.

“Love” he started. “We’ve been together for a little over a year now. And I always miss you too much when we’re apart. I also could not stop thinking about you even when my schedule’s packed.” he rambled. “What do you think of moving in together?” he asked.

You looked at him, shocked evident in your face.

He took a glance at you and rambled, “If you think it’s too fast and you’re not ready, it’s fine. I just want you to know that whenever you're ready, let's move in together. It would benefit the both of us, we won't have to miss each other that much, we won't have to say goodbyes, only good nights." be rambled on.

While he was rambling, your expression changed from being shocked to fonding over how cute your boyfriend went on with his thoughts.

"I'd love to move in with you too, Jae" you responded.

He was stunned at your response. He didn't know if he heard you correctly.

"I'm sorry, did I hear you correctly?" he asked. "You did say that you'd move in with me right? Please tell me I heard you correctly" he said with excitement evident in his eyes.

You chuckled at him. "Yes, love. You heard me correctly. I specifically said that I'd love to move in with you." you confirmed.

He hugged you while twirling the both of you for a quick second and then settling you down and giving you a passionate kiss.

He was, needless to say, over the moon. And you were too, ecstatic even. I mean, who wouldn't be? You'll be able to go home to the person you love and most importantly, be able to have this handsome man the first thing you see when you wake up and the last one before going to bed.

You then settled on the couch to watch some movies and just hold each other.

"When do you want to start looking for apartments?" He asked out of the blue, eyes still glued to the screen in front.

"I would have to check my calendar first, babe. You should too, so we could schedule it when we're free," you replied.

Jaehyun nodded.

"Also, I'd prefer to look at apartments after your guys' comeback," you stated. "I know how stressful things get when you're preparing for a comeback so I'd rather not have you get a mental breakdown or something. It'll just make me worried." you continued.

"I love you, babe," he said kissing your forehead.

"I love you too."

The time passed by way too fast for your liking and in matter of minutes, Jaehyun was already getting ready to leave your apartment.

"Are you sure you don't want to stay the night?" you questioned.

"As much as I want to, I have an early schedule tomorrow morning." he pouted. "Just hold on a bit more, soon we'll never have to say goodbye. I'll text you once I’m at the dorms, okay?" he continued.

You smiled weakly at him. He kissed you one last time before he goes and bids his farewell.

More than thirty minutes later, you heard your phone ring notifying you of you just received a message. You hurriedly freshen up and got changed to your pajamas.

to my love: arrived at the dorm

to my love: i've been meaning to ask you a while ago but could i possibly upload something on your channel?

to my love: like about moving in together?

to my love: that is, if it's alright with you though

from my love: i think the viewers would like that

from my love: they've been requesting for you to make an appearance on my vlogs too

to my love: uwu

to my love: that's adorable

You felt the excitement coursing through your veins. You were excited to look at apartments with your boyfriend in a couple of months.

While you still lounge on your computer chair at your little desk space within your bedroom space, your excitement extended to planning out what would be the color palette you'd both like since you wanted it to feel like a home to the both of you: a home that you will share together, a space that you could call 'ours'.

You took a sticky note pad, scribbling a note mentioning that you would have to curate a mood board that consists of both your preferences.

You took another sticky note and wrote a reminder to segregate the things you'll take with you and the things that you'll have to sell.

You walked over to your bed, getting ready to sleep and looking forward to a bright future together with Jaehyun.

»»————-　♡　————-««

Fast forward to the special youtube announcement.

Jaehyun wanted to announce the news on your youtube channel and he wanted to do it personally.

He wanted to be the one to film and edit the whole announcement, mentioning that he also wants to experience what you do.

On the other hand, you were a bit worried for him at first. Skeptical that he would manage to edit it amidst the chaotic schedule he has because you know him like the back of your hand and Jaehyun was very adamant that he finishes editing the video in time for the date he has shared personally both on your Instagram account and on his. Nonetheless, he assured you he would be able to do it.

And alas, he did. Seeing his work premiere on your channel you absolutely made sure to take a mental note never to underestimate him and his time management skills not to mention his creativity too.

You watched his work alongside your viewers but you focused on the man rambling about how he was scared to ask you to move in with him because he thought that he was moving way too fast and how terrified he was that it'll scare you away. He also told a story on how he talked with Taeyong about the right time to move in. Nearing the end of the video, he gushed on how amazing you are both as a person and his significant other. Saying that for him, there's only you: who he wants to spend the rest of his life with you. He finished the video with a little clip of the quick twirling moment you both had when he asked you to move in with him.

After the premier, you looked through the comments section and it flooded with congratulations both from your viewers and Jaehyun's fans. And it even went viral on several social media platforms. Your heart fluttered with all the congratulations and sweet nothings you were both getting from the video.

to my love: good job, love 👏🏻

to my love: lots of congratulations in the comments for us hehe

to my love: i was also thinking we could kind of make a little Q&A

to my love: tell me what you think hihi

to my love: oh! and also please don't skip your meals and always stay hydrated

to my love: i love you

You left Jaehyun messages since you knew his schedule was jam-packed, you didn't expect him to respond until later.

from my love: the Q&A is a great idea

from my love: also, i don't skip meals :(

from my love: i love you too

In the meantime, you took this time to form into words your feelings towards all the congratulations and sweet nothings you've received and tell how grateful you were. You planned to post your message on your Instagram account paired with a couple of pictures you had together with Jaehyun in a couple of days.

ynsphotoroll: I don’t know how I should put my feelings from the last couple of days into words but first, I want to thank everyone that sent us their congratulations and sweet notes. You guys are so sweet it still makes my heart flutter. Second, I am super excited about this new chapter in my life with Jaehyun. Like his words in his video, to me, there is also no other person I'd rather do this with than him. Not going to lie though, I was worried about czennies first before anyone else because I don't want to upset you guys. You are important to Jaehyun thus, important to me too. Jaehyun and his members will not be where they are now if it weren't for all you and your support. Lastly, with czennies and my subscribers in mind, I am curating a variety of special series on my channel. I know lots of you are requesting to have Jaehyun be featured on my channel frequently so I decided to gift you all just that hihi thank you for all the love and support you've given. Please do look forward to more soon. ❤

czennie01: awe, you’re too pure @ynsphotoroll

_jeongjaehyun and ynsphotoroll liked czennie01′s comment.

ynsphotoroll replied: @czennie01 uwu

_jeongjaehyun replied: @czennie01 mhm, wait ‘til you see her pissed/angry hahaha jk

ynsphotoroll replied: @_jeongjaehyun yah! i don’t get pissed :(

_jeongjaehyun replied: @ynphotoroll it’s more like you don’t get pissed easily but you get angy frequently :p

ynsphotoroll replied: @_jeongjaehyun lol what does ‘angy’ even mean?

@_jeongjaehyun replied: @ynsphotoroll it means angry in tiny or being cute while angry haha

czennie02: @ynsphotoroll the world is lucky to have you in it but you’re luckier to call @_jeongjaehyun yours

_jeongjaehyun and ynsphotoroll liked czennie02′s comment.

_jeongjaehyun replied: @czennie02 i’m the lucky one to have her by my side

ynsphotoroll replied: @_jeongjaehyun you’re too sweet, love

ynsphotoroll replied: @czennie02 uwu i am indeed lucky hehe

ynsfan01: @_jeongjaehyun pls take good care of our y/n-ie

_jeongjaehyun and ynsphotoroll liked ynsfan01′s comment.

ynsphotoroll replied: @_jeongjaehyun yah! you heard ‘em hehehe jk ily

ynsphotoroll replied: @ynsfan01 i’m pretty sure he does take good care of me, don’t you worry bub ;)

czennie03: not @ynsphotoroll and @_jeongjaehyun bickering cutely in the comment section hahaha

_jeongjaehyun and ynsphotoroll liked czennie04′s comment.

ynsfan02: honestly the cutest couple ever :(

_jeongjaehyun and ynsphotoroll liked ynsfan02′s comment.

ynsphotoroll replied: @ynsfan02 uwu

czennie04: not @_jeongjaehyun knowing what angy means :))

_jeongjaehyun and ynsphotoroll liked czennie04′s comment.

_jeongjaehyun replied: @czennie04 i do lurk sometimes ;)

ynsphotoroll replied: @_jeongjaehyun please don’t lie :p

ynsphotoroll replied: @czennie04 don’t be fooled bub. i see him lurk and laugh at czennies most of the time

_jeongjaehyun replied: @ynsphotoroll don’t expose me :(

ynsphotoroll replied: @_jeongjaehyun mhm you did it first :p ily tho

_jeongjaehyun replied: @ynsphotoroll ily too hehe

After that cute comment spree with Jaehyun, you decided to put up an Instagram story announcing that you’re going to do a Q&A with Jaehyun soon and that they can now send their questions.

»»————-　♡　————-««

Moving In: The Series Masterlist

A/N: hi, thank you for reading! feedback is always appreciated hihi you can send them in my ask! Also, this will come with a mini-series in line, i hope you look forward to it too

also, you can send me coffee and leave a feedback hehe

#nct #nct 2020 #nct 127 #nct 2018 #nct127 #nct2020 #nct2018 #jaehyun #jeong jaehyun #jeong yuno #jung jaehyun #jung yuno #nct jaehyun #nct jeong jaehyun #valentines #jaehyun fluff

254 notes · View notes

iamnightduchess · 3 years

Note

Queeeen! 😆 I live your HC to my ask about ReiKasa and if you don't mind, I'm sorry if I ask too many things but can you make HC of ReiKasa actor AU? Hehehe

Hello dearest, thank you for the interesting Ask! I hope this post fits into your envisioned universe 😉

Reiner x Mikasa (ReiKasa) Actor AU Universe (Gen) Headcanon #15

Acting Career

Both are very professional in their acting - they each have serious switch energies. They are both different off-screen and on-screen.

Reiner got his footing in acting as a rising action star. There had even been rumors of him being a stripper when he was in college, which he did not deny, saying that he needed to pay for his degree. In real life, he is the coolest, hilarious and dorky guy ever (He's a party animal!) But when the cams started rolling, he'll switch to the darkest mode needed for his character that it scares the producers at times. Same goes with Eren.

Before Reiner was cast as one of the recurring characters in the SnK series, he's also known as the face of Calvin Klein, Red Bull Energy Drink & Tag Heuer.

Meanwhile Mikasa is a multifaceted & talented actress who began her career as a child actress/commercial models. You could see her extensive filmography as she took on guest roles and recurring characters in older tv serials in the 90s & early 2000s. This woman also made a lot of cameos in the MV of famous rock & pop bands.

Mikasa is already a famous household name before her breakout role as the main actress for SnK The Series. She is the face of Dior, Simone Pérèle & Anna Sui.

After SnK The Series became a global phenomenon, both Reiner & Mikasa were appointed as Goodwill Ambassadors for UNICEF from the cast of the series.

SnK The Series (SnKTS)

When they were both cast into their respective characters, these two started out as acquaintances/ fellow castmates.

Mikasa was cast at the main three leads. Reiner was a recurring character until he gets a bump into the main roster for the final season.

These two barely have any direct lines with each other, but when they do have direct action/lines together, or just standing next to each other in a frame, fans can feel the intense vibe between these two.

Therefore, from S3 onwards, one can expect Reiner & Mikasa to be travelling together a lot for promos, fan panels & interviews.

Since they are the few actors on set that perform their own stunts, they spend a lot of time together with the stunt choreographer for most of their action scenes. Reiner and Mikasa have an amazing onscreen fight scene chemistry.

Any behind-the-scenes recording or media interviews would see these two playing pranks on each other or just tease each other mercilessly but one can see that they both have a soft spot for each other.

Dating Rumors

They both started noticing each other's endearing qualities since the first table reading for the series' season debut. They become fast, casual friends because they're both fitness enthusiasts & foodies.

These two would usually arrive on set 3 hours early & hit the gyms or do a quick run. After a while they'd usually do them together.

Reiner would be the one who's constantly checking if he might have accidentally hurt her in one of their fight scenes. Off-screen, their chemistry is very apparent amongst the production members but they insisted they're very comfortable friends.

There's a secret betting pool among the writers of the series that these two would end up married by the time the series wraps up.

One of the executive producers even said that if they end up married, he'll gift their firstborn child with his or her own education trust fund.

Reiner & Mikasa both have dating rumors but not with each other because they're so good in keeping things professional. Mikasa has fans speculating a lot, especially when a lot of musicians or sports stars shared that she is their dream date or big time crush. She's been linked to famous DJs & idols while Reiner has been linked to Victoria's Secret models & popstars. All of those were just rumors.

On red carpets of premiere, press tours, fan panels and after party, they're always photographed with a group of other cast members. Eagle-eyed fans would notice the subtle touches, secret whispers and longing looks from one to the other. Reiner would usually wear a tie that matches the color of Mikasa's dress. On-site fans would notice Reiner offering his hand for her to take when she wears heels or fixing her hair or her dress trains.

Levi and Hange, fellow married castmates who also had a secret relationship prior to their wedding, had been the one who's been Reiner & Mikasa's respective wingman/wingwoman. Armin and Annie, who are openly dating each other had been in cahoots in keeping their fellow castmates' relationship on the DL too. Annie had almost spilled the tea in an interview 🙈

These two are so private, they don't post anything about each other on their SM accounts. Reiner always posts about his fitness regime and hiking trips with Jean, Armin, Connie and occasionally Levi. Mikasa would post pictures of her, Hange, Annie, Sasha and Pieck on their vacations or her pictures of her cat, Primrose. But Annie's SM posts have almost exposed Reiner & Mikasa's relationship during one of their group's private getaways in Cabo.

Even the paparazzis were unable to spot them without non-family members or castmates around. But media was able to sniff their possible relationship when pictures of their secret vacation in Italy with their families were leaked online.

Their budding romance is comparable to Rose Leslie & Kit Harington from GOT or Ryan Reynolds & Blake Lively. Paps pictures of Mikasa sporting a huge diamond band on her finger has the rumor mills swirling. Some fans have been able to deduce the identity of her mysterious fiancé when she's seen with a fresh tattoo of the monogram letters R and B on the inside of her wrist, while Reiner has been spotted having the letters M and A tattooed on his.

Referencing to this post, prior to their wedding news, the moment Reiner appears on the cover of Men's Health Magazine with his nude pecs on full display, fans are finally able to confirm that he is Mikasa's mysterious husband-to-be based on the tattoos on his chest.

As soon as the news of their upcoming wedding was made official with the release of their official pre-wedding pictures, they legit broke the internet.

These two would spur fans to do a forensic on all past official promo, behind the scenes stills, making of & event images that would make people go, "Holy crap, the signs were all there!" If there's a mag cover caption best to describe the news, it'll be with "Married! When did it all even begin?"

Extremely Private Married Life

They had a closed, private wedding on a cruise ship in the summer. It was attended by fellow cast members and Mikasa & Reiner's other close celebrity friends.

Even after they're married, paps had a huge challenge trying to snap pictures of them together.

During the filming of the final season, Mikasa would be like Gal Gadot, filming her own stunts at 20 weeks of pregnancy. She was very persistent in not using a double. That even made Reiner sat restlessly on the sides whenever the cameras started rolling.

EDIT: The showrunners also decided to inject an indirect fan-service by featuring their characters right next to each other in the Final Season's official poster & key art for merchandise as they've been married & have given birth by the time the Final Season was ready to debut.

After her baby bump got too big and was getting a lot harder to cover, the production crew forced her to use a stunt double for long-shots.

When their twins were born, the new family had an exclusive feature with Harper's Bazaar. All proceeds from the rights purchase went straight to UNICEF.

The Executive Producer had setup the twins' college trust fund the moment the their names were officially announced by UNICEF on their website.

----------------

Thanks for the Ask, dear! ❤ I had loads of fun with this 😆

#ReiKasa #ReiKasa asks #ReiKasa reimagines #ReiKasa headcanons #ReiKasaverse #ReiKasa modern AU #ReiKasa actor AU #reiner x mikasa #reiner braun #mikasa ackerman #snk headcanons #snk modern au #snk reimagines #snk actor au #aot headcanons #superstar!reiner #superstar!mikasa #snk celebrity au

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lovetorn · 4 years

Text

the one where roman is your stubborn ex-boyfriend

Roman Godfrey x Witch!Reader

Summary: You try to warn Roman about Miranda, but will he listen? Warnings: Swearing, mentions of blood Word Count: 2.6k A/N: i love roman godfrey. also can i just say i have no idea what this is like it was gonna be 8k words but turned out a lot shorter because i lost motivation tbh and didn’t know where to go with it; this also ends very abruptly so i’m really sorry about that. may write a part 2 but idk yet hehehe. also, i changed the show plot slightly to fit my fic :)

“Have you heard?”

The sound of Destiny’s voice over the phone scares you slightly. After her dramatic bitch session over the girl Peter had been fucking, she stopped for a long pause, returning to the phone with a solemn tone.

“No? Heard about what?” You answer.

“She’s fucking him too.” Of course she is, or should you say, he is. Rolling your eyes, you sigh deeply down the line, “what like an orgy?”

“No, like one of those relationships with three people? Uh, polyamorous?” You groan, “Spare me the details, D.” Destiny’s glamorous laugh echoes into your ear, and you can’t help but smile.

“Please come over!” Destiny begs, her voice still full of laughter as you tell her ‘fine’ before you hang up. You bask in the morning sun that peers through the curtains of your apartment for a moment before you get moving.

Opening the front door of Destiny’s apartment, you're met with her running up to, her eyes wide with alarm as she quickly slams the door behind you.

“What’s going on?” You ask, thoughts running a mile a minute as she frantically ushers you to sit.

“I saw her in my visions, Y/n. I-I don't know what it means, but I don’t trust her, and neither should my cousin,” She stutters. Your eyes flicker between hers as you sit her down on the couch.

“When did this happen?” Destiny points over to the jacket laying on the wooden dining room table. “When I was on the phone to you. That’s hers. I went to pick it up and boom! Instant headrush.”

You lean back on the couch and shake your head. You're at a loss for words. The fact that Peter could be in danger scares you; but more importantly, it's his ex-best friend’s safety that makes you panic more.

“Have you talked to Roman?” You ask. Destiny’s head snaps towards you, shocked you even brought him up. She shakes her head and grasps your hands. “Have you?”

You inhale deeply, “No.” Destiny sighs, “We don’t have to talk about him, you know. I know your break up was pretty messy.” You let out a small laugh at her concern.

“I’m okay, I promise. It was like 9 months ago, D.”

She nods and turns to look at the folded jacket, wanting to change the subject. “Did you want to look?” She throws her thumb behind her as you suck in a sharp breath.

“Yep.”

The jacket lays on the table in front of you, and you stare at the leather.

“It will keep him safe…” You trail off, meeting Destiny’s eyes as she smiles softly. The doubt in the pit of your stomach is unsettling, but you need to see the vision. You huff before tilting your head side to side and shaking out your arms. Sweeping your hair back, you square your shoulders. Destiny gives you a reassuring look, although there's tinges of regret and panic in her eyes. You purse your lips while your heart beats rapidly in your chest and your ears.

As soon as you reach down and let your fingers graze over the material, you're transported into a series of flashes—snakes and blood on the walls, the floor, everywhere. The screams you hear are far away, but they’re close enough for you to catch the utter agony that powers them. Your eyes move wildly under your eyelids as you search for something that will tell you anything. Tears line the edge of your waterline, and the guttural screams grow nearer, the cries rattling your bones until you squeeze your eyes shut and rip your hand away from the jacket.

You step back in utter terror. You feel sick as pure fear and anxiety churns in your stomach. The blood-curdling screams still reside inside your brain as you walk towards the door.

“Where are you going?” Destiny yells.

“Roman’s.”

—

Stopping in front of Roman’s new house, you scoff. Last time you were here was when he first bought it, and you left screaming and crying—a perfect storm for a perfect couple.

It was also the last time you saw him. The two of you were freshly 18 and were addicted to the speed of your relationship; a year in and he was already asking you to move in with him. It was built to fail: his mother and your ancestors, your kind, weren’t a good mix. Olivia had threatened you more times than you can count, but Roman always defended you, even if you didn’t need him too. Maybe that’s why you fell so hard so quickly, because he was there when you needed him. To protect and to love. But then you fell apart and were never to fall together again.

Stepping up the front door, your hand goes slack against the door. Do you just barge in? Or be the polite ex-girlfriend and knock. You go for the latter and bang your fist against the pale timber. Not a second later, the door swings open and you’re met with a blonde girl.

“Hi—” “You must be Miranda. I was just wondering if Roman’s in?” You cut in, stepping through the doorway despite her distress. “Um, you can’t just walk in,” She says as you look at the top floor, hoping to see the lean man hovering above.

“Lovely house he’s got. Ugh, I remember seeing this and telling him it was the one.” You laugh. This sentence causes Miranda to pause in her spot, her face scrunching up in confusion.

Looking towards the kitchen, two pairs of eyes are staring at you and, you have to hold in a laugh.

“Peter! Oh my gosh, it’s so good to see you,” You almost squeal as you rush towards him. He looks back at Roman in shock as you engulf him in a hug. “How have you been?”

Peter swallows with an unsure expression on his face, “Yeah, good.” You smile at him and then peer over his shoulder at your ex-boyfriend.

“What are you doing here, Y/n? And cut the shit.” He mutters. He’s blunt with his words, but you understand why. It was messy.

“Shit? I speak of no such thing, Mr Godfrey,” You give him a tight-lipped smile, sarcasm thick in your voice. You step back from Peter and watch as Roman saunters over to you.

“What are you doing here?” He asks again, this time his tone is icy, and his stare is hard.

“Does she know?” You ask before you say your true intentions, waving your hand in the air. Roman shares a look with Peter before shaking his head. You run your tongue along your front teeth then nod.

“Ok. Well, firstly, I had a vision.” The sentence has Miranda instantly asking questions but is quietened by Peter who puts his hand up. Roman furrows his brows and steps closer to you, “What do you mean? About what? Does Destiny know?” The number of questions leaving his lips prompts you to lift your finger to stop him.

“Destiny had the same one.”

Roman glances over at Peter who shrugs. “When did this happen?”

“Half an hour ago,” You move to sit on the couch as the boys stand and Miranda cowers in the corner. “And it’s very important.” You strain your voice so only Roman can hear.

“Okay, well, tell me.” He says. You deadpan him as the corners of his mouth turn upwards slightly.

“The woman you have both been fucking, she’s dangerous.”

From her spot, Miranda is overcome with anger as she pushes off the wall and stomps towards you. You keep a calm facade as she throws her arms in every direction whilst she’s talking.

“Who do you think you are? Coming here at 8 am to run your mouth about God knows what and insult me and especially these boys.”

You raise your eyebrows for a split second before standing from the couch to move in front of her.

“Alright,” Roman buts in, his voice booming through the glass house. “That’s enough, Y/n. You can’t just come in here and insult her. She’s done nothing wrong.”

“You hardly know her! You don’t even know what she’s capable of,” You bite, spinning towards him.

“I’m gonna go see Nadia.”

You don’t recognise the name as you cock your head at Roman.

“Who’s Nadia?” Roman freezes at the question. His shoulders tense and his body rigid as you tilt your head, waiting for his response. You grow impatient as the question lingers. At this point, Miranda has gone upstairs, and you watch as she punches in a code for a door.

“She’s um—Letha’s.”

Your heart drops at the sound of your late best friend’s name. “You’re telling me…” You can’t find it in yourself to find the words as rage erupts in your stomach.

“You’re letting a stranger look after Letha’s child?” You yell, “Peter?”

“I only found out about her last week, Y/n. I’m as in the dark as you are.” He mumbles, head dropping towards the floor as you peer back at Roman.

“The vision I saw was fucked up. If you saw them like I did, I’m sure you would feel the same, and you would want to be miles away from her right now.” You could cry at the sheer naivety of him.

“You’re letting a complete stranger in on our lives! If anything, I’d be better off caring for my best friend’s child than some whore you picked up from the bar.”

The sound of footsteps catches your attention as you narrow your eyes at Miranda walking back down the stairs. She makes her way towards Peter and stands next to him as you are face-to-face with Roman.

“She’s feeding you vicious lies, Ro. Please listen to me.” You don’t beg, and you don’t want to give him the satisfaction, but it’s in moments like these, you need him to listen to you; to trust you again.

“Jealousy isn’t a good look on you, doll.” You roll your eyes and try your best to bite back a snide remark.

“I’m telling you this because I love you, Roman, not because I’m jealous; don’t flatter yourself. Maybe start to think with your brain instead of your dick,” You place your palm on his cheek before you bring his other cheek to your lips, placing a kiss against his silky skin. “You know where to find me, baby.” Patting the side of his face, you step back, and without acknowledging Peter and Miranda, you walk out of the front door.

Watching your retreating body, Roman feels a pang of remorse in his chest; the feeling leaving him breathless for only a moment before Miranda speaks.

“What a bitch,” She spits before Roman shoots her a stern look, “Don’t call her that.” He stares longingly at the door and then his legs take him upstairs and into his room, leaving the pair downstairs.

—

Getting a call from Roman was odd. You assumed he deleted it when you broke up, but looks like he didn’t. The words that slipped out of his mouth hadn’t shocked you, but you felt like breaking down at the thought of Nadia missing. You hung up without a word, and every action you did after the phone call was aggressive, your anger evident everything you did.

Storming up the driveway of his house, you spot Roman in the doorway, remorse painting his features. The look of anger on your face almost scares him and as he backs into the house with you coming at him.

“I fucking told you I had a bad feeling and now look what she’s done! I can't believe you let this happen, Roman! I know you’re touch-starved and dying for female attention but come on, I saw this happening a mile away.” You snap, running your hand through your hair as Roman cowers with guilt. You hadn’t seen that expression before.

You slam the front door behind you and glare at him. His look of regret slips and then irritation sets on his face. There he is.

“And where were you? Hm? Probably off fucking some scum from the bar in town whilst I was worried shitless about my daughter.” Your eyebrows almost fly to your hairline as you listen to his newfound confidence. Rolling your eyes, you wave him off and turn to leave. You can’t bear to listen to his bullshit assumptions.

“That’s right! Walk away like you always do.” He seethes, a frown contorting his features. You know he’s only saying that to get a rise out of you, it’s his specialty. So you don’t react to piss him off even more. You spin around to meet his hard stare again and stomp towards him, your finger up to press against his firm chest.

“You really wanna go there, Godfrey? Really?” You see a flash of regret pass over his cold eyes before he leans down to your eye level. His face is vacant of any expression when he growls a response. “Yeah, I wanna fucking go there, dollface.”

Your face screws up before you huff and step away from him. You bring your hands to rest on your cheeks as you feel tears sting your eyes.

“I can’t believe you’ve let this happen,” You murmur. Roman growls, but when you look at him, he’s staring at the wall trying to stop the tears blurring his vision.

“Where’s Peter?” You ask.

“Fuck knows!” He yells, and you cringe slightly. Roman’s eyes go wide as he watches you shrink away. His face falls before he puts his hands up in front of him.

“I didn’t mean to scare you, Y/n,” He says softly. You give him a small smile as you reply, “No, it’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”

His gaze falls to the floor before he sees your shoes. “Come here.”

Roman looks up to see you with your arms outstretched. You tilt your head when he doesn’t move and shift to wrap your arms around his torso. Being alone with Roman was different from when you were in a group. You couldn’t quite explain it, but he was far more emotional around you.

“Hug me back, Ro,” You feel his shaky hands on your back as he bends down slightly, resting his head on your shoulder. Despite his arms around you, his body remains stiff.

“Loosen up; it’s just me.”

“Sorry, my family was never really the touchy-feely type.” he spits softly, “But you already knew that.” You only laugh and squeeze him tighter.

Feeling his heartbeat comforts you. You haven't been this close since your break up, and even that was closer than this. You wish you never heard it; his cries against your skin. The sound and the vibrations make your breath hitch and your body freeze.

“Let’s move to the couch, yeah?” You whisper, backing up until the backs of your knees hit the couch. Roman pulls away for a second as you lay down before he clambers on top. He lays his head on your chest and wraps his long arms around you. You wonder if he can actually fit on the couch or if his legs are bent awkwardly, but choose not to bring up the topic.

“Could you play with my hair? Please?” Your eyes widen at the sound of the verb and the smallness of his voice, “I’m not gonna ask again, Y/n.” And there he is, the usual Roman. You roll your eyes and work your nimble fingers into his hair, the soft strands like silk against your skin.

His sniffles eventually seize, and his body stops shaking as he calms down.

“We’ll find Nadia. I promise you, Ro.”

#roman godfrey x reader #roman godfrey imagines #roman godfrey #roman godfrey imagine #hemlock grove imagines #hemlock grove imagine #bill skarsgård x reader #bill skarsgard imagine

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quazartranslates · 3 years

Text

Welcome to the Nightmare Game II - CH9

**This is an edited machine translation. For more information, please [click here]**

[<<< Previous Chapter | Table of Contents | Next Chapter >>>]

-----

Chapter 9: Resurrection Overture (IX)

{cw: threats of rape via beastiality (I’ve marked the worst of the content in question with ↓ ↓ at the beginning and ↑ ↑ at the end of those sections), brief transmisogyny}

This lesson caught him off guard, and Qi Leren was stunned for a while after the file was read before waking up as if from a trance.

Qi Leren, like many others, could easily let down his guard against his surroundings after the danger had passed, and such negligence was extremely fatal in terrible tasks.

"I’ve taken note," Qi Leren said gratefully.

Chen Baiqi snorted lightly and lit a cigarette: "Then let’s move on to the next item to test your physical fitness."

"How do we test it? Running?" With the last lesson of being blindfolded while avoiding throwing knives, Qi Leren’s heart was filled with worry.

Chen Baiqi blew out a smoke ring and sneered: "How can simply running force a person's limit?"

"..." Qi Leren felt that he was finished.

He saw Chen Baiqi insert a skill card into the card slot, and a heavy book appeared in her hand. She carelessly looked at the book as the pages turned automatically, suddenly brightened, and muttered to herself: "This is good, just right!"

As soon as the words “just right” sounded, a three-headed hellhound half the height of a person appeared at Chen Baiqi's feet. The three ferocious heads roared together and its thick canine teeth and dripping tongue made its fearsomeness soar.

↓ ↓

This strong figure, this fierce expression, and that thing under its crotch... Qi Leren swallowed saliva, his face went white, and his legs were weak.　

"This child was caught when I was practicing near Purgatory. He’s still in heat, full of energy, and has a strong desire to mate, and he doesn't mind whether what he’s mating with has two legs or four. He really is a warm and good boy." Chen Baiqi touched its ears and the three-headed hellhound excitedly reared up and looked at Qi Leren eagerly.

Chen Baiqi touched her chin again: "When I first entered this world, there was a very popular saying on the Internet... Oh, ‘it'll chase you, and if it catches you, it will 'hehehe' with you’.”*

*{E/N: A joke by Fei Yu-ching. The general gist of goes something like this: This person wants to go to a shop that specifically helps you lose weight. The cashier offers some packages of different prices. He picks one, enters a room where a lady is waiting in a bikini. She offers, "Chase after me. If you catch me, I'll let you 'hehehe' me". Thank you to Miko for this explanation.}

Although Qi Leren wanted very much to spit on her, this sentence had been out of date for many years and only middle-aged and old people would make such an old joke. However, Chen Baiqi had smacked the three-headed hellhound on the ass and under, her command, the dog growled and rushed crazily toward Qi Leren. Its enthusiasm was like an old bachelor who had been single for forty years and had met his new wife. Qi Leren screamed and started to run. He swore he’d never run so fast in his life!

But even if he had run a new personal record, the three-headed hellhound was still slightly faster than him. Even if he didn't look back, Qi Leren could feel the monster behind him getting closer and closer! He could almost feel its stinking hot breath spraying on his back, causing his chrysanthemum to tighten!

No way! If you continue like this, it’ll soon catch up to you! You can't just run!

I don't want to be knocked up by a dog!

Qi Leren, who was extremely nervous, mechanically pumped his legs and ran hard, and his brain that was struggling to consume oxygen didn’t have enough to think properly. A skill card? Primary Fighting couldn't make him run faster. Devil Etiquette... Stop it, becoming a succubus could only add fuel to the fire right now—he had specifically learned about succubus' data. This demon type with such an exaggerated sexuality would only make a field day for a stick. It was the most unscrupulous creature in the demon world, and the three-headed hellhound would only be more excited to see a succubus. After all, it was also a creature that didn't care whether the mating target had two legs or four, or even if it had legs at all!

↑ ↑

It was coming! Qi Leren felt the wind behind him, but he had already reached the wall of this huge basement. His mind went blank and he instinctively made a sharp turn to the right to continue running. But the three-headed dog behind him was not as agile as he was. Without time to break, it collided with the wall, causing the strong wall to shake.

Qi Leren, who was still desperate to escape, had a flash of inspiration in his mind: Yes, the three-headed hellhound wasn’t as agile as he was when turning, so he could take advantage of this...

Qi Leren looked back. The three-headed hellhound’s middle head had fainted, but the left and right heads were still giving orders to the body. It got up from the ground and continued to chase after him.

Qi Leren, with this train of thought, was much calmer this time. He didn't run around the room like a headless fly. Whenever he felt that the distance between them was close to a certain range, he made a sharp turn, and each time he managed to gain seven or eight meters from his pursuer. Wait until the next turn, when he was about to be caught up with, then repeat this old trick.

The three-headed hellhound, who didn’t have a high IQ, failed to see through his tricks and ran after him blindly. One man and one dog competed for endurance in this bitter mutual torture. Qi Leren’s legs that had surpassed their potential were almost numb. He was afraid the three-headed dog wasn’t much better. When he looked back several times, the three-headed hellhound had its three tongues lolling from its mouths, panting.

This was completely a competition of willpower. It seemed that Qi Leren’s determination to protect his virginity was better than the three-headed hellhound’s determination to mate. When Chen Baiqi finished smoking a whole pack of cigarettes, she’d finally seen enough: "Okay, let's end it there."

One man and one dog fell to the ground, four heads and six legs going on strike together.

↓ ↓

Qi Leren couldn't help thinking that if he was tortured like this every day, maybe one day he would have the terrible idea of "giving up resistance and lying down to accept it", and he really didn't want to do it again.

The three-headed hellhound was summoned back into the book by Chen Baiqi. Qi Leren looked at where it had just been enviously. It could rest, but he still had to be tortured by the head demon here. Yes, Chen Baiqi has risen to be a terrible demon coach in his mind, and he was just like the protagonists in comics who were spurred on, spending each day drowning in their own sweat.

"It's a pity, I thought I could look at 'man and nature'," Chen Baiqi said with regret.

Once again, Qi Leren felt his chrysanthemum tighten.

↑ ↑

"Intuition is okay, reaction and adaptability are barely strong, and physical fitness is still poor. You will report to me every morning at my store’s entrance, run to the steel bridge to fetch me two breakfast servings, and then run back. I’ll give you a watch. If you’re late, you’ll be punished by having to take my dog for a walk outside," Chen Baiqi smiled, speaking demonic words with ease and pleasure.

The dying Qi Leren couldn't help feeling sad, looking at Chen Baiqi with eyes full of bitterness.

"Get up, you can go home and report on time tomorrow," Chen Baiqi said with a smile.

"Surely I’ll be too sore to move tomorrow... No, I can't move now," Qi Leren said breathlessly.

"Oh, really?" Chen Baiqi said. Blowing out a smokey sigh, she walked beside him and raised her foot—the slender high-heeled shoe stamped between Qi Leren’s legs while he was off guard!　

Qi Leren screamed "AH" and rolled, narrowly dodging the foot that would have made him childless. The crisp high-heeled blow behind him scared him into a cold sweat.　

"You missed an opportunity to be a cute girl," Chen Baiqi said regretfully.

Qi Leren struggled to get up from the ground: "Thank you, this opportunity is not needed."

Chen Baiqi raised her slender eyebrows and smiled charmingly: "You’ll regret it."

On the way home, Qi Leren had been stubbornly thinking about Chen Baiqi's smile. He’d almost forgotten to ask her about buying a confidentiality contract. Chen Baiqi raised her eyebrows and didn't ask anything. He readily paid the money for his goods.

As he walked into a roadside public toilet, Qi Leren thought of cherishing his little brother affectionately. He had paid a painful price to keep it.

Unexpectedly, when he pushed open the bathroom door, he was greeted by a beautiful acquaintance. Her long curly hair was draped over her exposed shoulders, her gorgeous red lips were slightly opened, and her eyes were blurred as she swept towards Qi Leren at the door. It was the Illusionist Qi Leren had seen in Chen Baiqi's shop before!

"Sorry, wrong one!" Qi Leren subconsciously flung himself out the door.

The moment the door closed, he suddenly remembered... That thing in front of the Illusionist ... Wasn’t it a urinal from the men's room?

And the Illusionist herself, standing in front of the urinal at that time, had naturally lifted a heavy skirt and put her hand into the skirt to release its inventory.

Qi Leren felt his worldview collapse.

-----

Editor’s Notes:

I’ve honestly been dreading reaching this and the next chapter ε-(~д~”)

I want to give some forewarning that the there does start to be some notable transmisogyny in the series starting with this chapter, primarily in the form of misgendering. I haven’t read Part 3 yet and thus can’t speak for it (I will mention it in an E/N once I have and likely edit this one as well), but in Part 2 it doesn’t come up tremendously often as the character it’s in relation to, the Illusionist, is relatively minor.

However, the next chapter in particular is unfortunately entirely comprised of an extended joke centered on transmisogyny and sexual harassment. Nothing plot-significant happens in it and the chapter is entirely skippable if you do not want to read that.

As I stated before, as someone who is only working on a translation, I don’t feel that it’s my place to knowingly change or omit content. I do apologize for this. I will be providing the same sorts of warnings and skip-markers as I have previously in order to allow readers the best experience I can give under the circumstances.

As always, I encourage you to message me if you have any further questions or concerns about this or anything else.

-----

[<<< Previous Chapter | Table of Contents | Next Chapter >>>]

#Welcome to the Nightmare Game #欢迎来到噩梦游戏 #danmei

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colossaldame-a · 3 years

Text

HEADCANON BUFFET !

for the 50 headcanons challenge that @bnharpchub made i’ll be reposting the ones i posted in my main blog the other day , since they are pretty recent still ! ! beware that some of these might have spoilers , both for the main manga and for the vigilantes manga --- not all obviously , but a few !

she eats A LOT , it helps with her quirk since she has a giant hehehe appetite ! no seriously , she probably eats almost as much as taishiro ( fatgum ) , but due to her transforming a lot and training it doesn’t look as much ( neither does she want it to be noticeable ) .

she actually loves to play video games ! first person shooting games are the ones she is better at , but she will play everything !

her favorite solo game of all time is the last of us , and her favorite co-op one is gang beasts ! although just dance will always have a special place in her heart .

she has the animal crossing switch !

yu swears A LOT too , usually when playing though , it’s pretty funny to see her lose her cool , actually -

her setup looks like this !

she streams , but actually doesn’t show her face or reveals her identity at all ! it’s like a little safe spot for her it’s also a good way of getting money for the damage she causes while working !

on that note : one time on a stream , yu got told that ladies shouldn’t swear as much as she did , so she spent the next 30 mins somehow managing to get a swear in every sentence . she only stopped because she didn’t know how to continue anymore .

since in her original design yu had blue hair , i’m going with the idea that she had a tiny little bitsy emo phase back in middle school . that’s also when she started to play more on her computer !

she has two older brothers , who are twins ! taichi’s quirk is the ability to make things big by touch , while koba’s to make things small ! her mother , tsukiko , her quirk is to make any part of her body grow : hands , feet , ears ! anything ! her father’s ( his name is kimio ! ) is the ability to touch anything and be able to mold it into something else !

her brothers ( now both 29 ) , they used to participate in the fighting matches that rappa and miruko participated in ! yu is aware of this due to the fact that they would ask her to distract their parents while they sneaked out , or to cover up for them in case anything happened !

know how astronauts have trouble adjusting to life on earth again , because of how they let go of things in the air thinking they’ll stay there , but get confused when they drop to the ground because gravity ? that’s kinda what happens with her , but with the size of things ! while in her normal form , she envisions things as smaller than what they really are , and ends up getting surprised each time !

since yu is the youngest of 3 children , she always grew up in a competitive environment and mindset . that didn’t change much the moment she became a hero , always aiming for the top and to be the ‘winner’ . HOWEVER , that began to change the more she grew as a hero , not having that mindset as her priority anymore but in the back of her head , and due to the recent events of the manga , it’s almost completely gone .

she actually knows a lot of puns , usually doesn’t say them often but she knows them !

the fight between her and nemuri ( midnight ) that happened on that talk show ? completely fake , they planned it before hand !

yu’s favorite hero since she was a teenager was , in fact , midnight ! the mask she wears with her hero costume is in her honor ( now more than ever ) !

like momo and itsuka , her first internship as a hero student was with uwabami . it’s thanks to her that she wears the curls in her hair bangs now !

she likes to jog at night , when it’s chilly ! this does not apply in the winter , though ; too chilly !

as the only daughter in the family , as well as the youngest , she is spoiled . it happened , it’s okay -

the only reason why yu got mineta as an intern after the sports festival was because of his color scheme being similar to hers . the moment she met him for real she wanted to kick him to the sun , but alas couldn’t and shouldn’t and she knows that ( unfortunately ) .

the way yu and her family found out about her quirk was one time in a picnic , when she was 5 years old . thankfully , they were far away from people , but it took her 30 minutes to be able to turn back to her normal form . from that day on ,, her parents started to buy her clothing that fit her quirk . she had control over her quirk one year later , and since she was 15 she didn’t need to wear that special clothing . although sometimes she still has certain outbursts and it causes for it to activate .

to everyone’s surprise ( not really , if you remember that she dyed her hair ) , her favorite color is blue !

her favorite song is timber , which is pretty ironic in itself ; although she also vibes to wap !

yu records and takes pictures a lot ! and due to that , her tiktok account ( because lets be real , she has one ) is filled with videos of funny things happening while working .

she is bisexual , and usually goes for men that are older than her , and women around her age ! obviously this doesn’t apply if she meets someone she really likes , but that’s usually how it goes !

yu really likes asmr !

her nickname in high school was sharpay evans ; she took it as a compliment !

since kamino , she wears her suit under her casual clothing --- her mask usually kept either inside a pocket of her jacket , or inside a purse she has at the moment . that experience ( mostly best jeanist though ) taught her that she can’t let her guard down .

she knows how to play the violin !

one time she entered a competition of people dressing up as a heroes , mostly as a joke : she lost , and the judges told her that her hair looked fake . it took a lot to keep things calm then .

yu prefers to not wear much makeup , on contrary to popular belief ! eyeliner , mascara , lipstick and a bit of concealer under her eyes usually does the trick ! although she has tons of makeup and will often do looks when she is at home ( and if there’s any formal event happening ! ) .

yes , she liked one direction when in her emo phase . nobody knows , it’s her dark secret ; even darker than that whole phase itself and yes , she cried when zayn left .

yu doesn’t like kids , at all . teenagers are alright though , she supposes .

yu , tsunagu and keigo ( best jeanist and hawks , or rather : @fiibermaster and @perditus ) have weekly meetings to spill the tea . honorary members are katsuki and neito , though .

continuing from above , that’s how she always knows the spiciest drama that happen . it’s pretty funny , actually .

continuing of from 33 , @perditus‘s keigo is absolutely her best friend .

since her quirk only allows her to have those two heights , yu has taken upon herself to learn and and know more of 1v1 combat , meaning beginning to train more martial arts .

her favorite movie is legally blonde ! and her favorite series is new girl ! although her favorite character of all time is tanya from mamma mia ! !

her favorite animal are squirrels ! she finds them cute and that’s why she has caroline in her island in animal crossing ! !

yu’s taste in music is very sporadic , although a lot of songs end up being slightly suggestive . here’s her playlist .

yu has met both @explodeking‘s katsuki and @shockingtm‘s denki through gaming online . when she heard their voices she went pikachu shocked face !

mentioning katsuki ; you bet your ass she absolutely went and asked about the kids first thing after waking up after kamino .

she might have gotten a few scars from kamino ward , but she actually absolutely cherishes them . because those scars reminder her of how they trusted her for such important mission , to be able to work along heroes that were in the top 10 . it actually means a lot to her , although if asked yu will just shrug it off .

she likes to camp and hike ! granted , she hates it because no wifi and no games , but that way she can use her quirk without much trouble of hurting people or destroying things and therefore relax a little .

yu naturally smells of roses and surprisingly ; rain .

unlike many , yu doesn’t even think on quitting her job after the war : in fact the whole thing that happened made her grow more stubborn about it . also made her realize how much she still has to grow as a hero , and she can’t wait to leave the hospital and start training and helping those who need it right now .

it took her one day to wake up after what happened too , and while she did have many injuries , the worst ones ended up being on her head . right now it’s mostly wrapped up , and she has been having many headaches even with the pain killers .

she doesn’t like spicy food that much , but she will eat it either way .

in her giant form , she will often whisper ; since if she speaks normally , it’s already pretty loud .

and finally ! the glare that machia gave her right before grabbing her head and throwing to the side ; it scares her still . in that moment she realized he was basically just playing around , while she was doing her most to stop him . she has nightmares about it still .

#CRYING SPENT THE WHOLE DAY ON THIS #* HEADCANONS // it goes one by one ; even two by two - everybody in the club gon' be rocking when i'm through .#bnha spoilers //#manga spoilers //

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seb-owns-these-tatas · 4 years

Text

Pacify Her (Chase Collins AU) (Sneakpeak)

Lemon oneshots that inspired me to create this into a series: Part 1 Part 2

Characters: (18+) SugarBaby!Sub!Chase Collins x You

Overview: Your life has been full of conceit, deceit and malfeasance. Born with a golden spoon in her mouth, Y/N has her life with burdens weighing on her shoulders. With men crawling before her and only one purpose in their minds, it was to be the successor on the wealth that she and her family had. Little did the fellows know, she was married and was one manipulative, ruthless, wealthy dame and she knew one man's plan if she sees fit.

Thus, her mindset didn't phase one mischievous, cunning and obscure man who had his coverts kept where humans couldn't bother to even know because it was too atrocious to start.

One man who had a dour heart who'll manage to corrupt you in the most sinful way. Though, he didn't know that the wickedness he had would bind with yours. He was different among the flocks of men, literally and philosophically because he certainly didn't mind the sins which will soon live upon you both. Those sins that would eat you both alive.

Chase Collins is your evil, witchy, baby boy. The only baby boy you owned, wanted and cared about.

Therefore, he had no right to leave.

Warning: Sugar baby content, infidelity, filthy AF, There’s a lot? of? dirty ass smut in this whole series (ISTG), Toxic relationship. Reader's one toxic bitch. (18+) This can be quite dark? Hehehe? SUB CHASE COLLINS! I don’t even know if that’s considered a warning? Hehehhe.

A/N: I’ll be creating a Masterlist for this once I finish writing the 1st chapter for this series of mine. Tell me what you think about this! I just wanted to try and see if y’all will like this! Send me an ask if ya’ wanna be included in the taglist!

Disclaimer: GIF'S and PNG'S aren't mine, however the whole one shot and edits are rightfully mine to begin with.

Scourging sounds of mirth deafening the stillness inside the elevator where you were both trapped in. Amidst of the discussion running between the both of you. He needed sanitation. You both needed sanitation, cleansing, stabilization because of what has happened between your dueling. You, together needed some psychological help with all the toxicity fuming inside your fiendish ambitions and regimens.

It was an entire blackout, the thought of a sudden sombre in the daylight was doubting you that he had to do with this. The ire he was spitting out of his mouth proves you why he certainly controlled the power of your building because he was in wrath.

Chase Collins was in an outrage because you had everything wrapped around your finger. Even him and it wasn't supposed to be that way because it should've been the other way around.

Yet, he didn't regret cowering before you like a child whom was scared of his own mother because he was actually one in your life and he planned to be.

"I didn't know you had a husband," He spoke lowly and tauntingly as he caged you in his arms, his words were like vile to his heart because he sounded ruined, shattered and under fire. He wasn't supposed to be like this, he was supposed to be heinous, infernal and substantial but it seemed like the world rolled on the ground and now you were on top, the one who had the last laugh and it was maddening him to the fullest.

You let out a ear-screeching giggle, jesting him till he would detonate. Chase's jaw clenched from the sound because he still felt the need to hug you and for you to cuddle him back. Treat him like he was your baby.

It's because its true. He's your baby boy. The only one whom you've risk your marriage with.

Hence, you were his little secret where he could find solace in the midst of his monstrous abnormality of trying to be human.

"Yet, you knew I had a girlfriend and you tried your best to ruin us, me." His voice was shaking from anger, wanting to laugh in spite of the betrayal he was feeling. You were supposed to be crying because his resentment should fear you, though all those anguish felt like everything was falling in your hands and in the right time.

He hated you for looking so vindicated, small and almighty when being guiltless should be the least of what you looked like.

Nonetheless, he would still cave in because it was you.

"What's there to ruin when its already ruined in the first place, Chase." Your euphonious voice, he remembered how soughing it had been and it's still there and he hated you for it again because he couldn't stop the way he felt for you and it was breaking his strong facade apart.

"You made me break up with her," the lights to the elevator turned on and off as he emphasized his words with gritted teeth, getting a glimpse of his ruddy face that was making you feel a little weird, a fathomable feeling forming in the pit of your stomach and you were quick to grab onto his black tie that was hanging out of his coat. He stiffened and you grinned against the darkness surrounding you both.

"I didn't," you stood on your tippy toes, warm breath fanning his ears, giving him a weird feeling of just taking you up inside the elevator for all he wants as he was controlling the whole blackout situation. He could hear the jocularity slipping with your words and it was driving him insane.

He was insane.

A witch has always been insane. Psychopathic. Or maybe it was only him?

"You made the choice all by yourself, I'm not the bad guy here. I'm just a giver, your confidante, the only person who could support you in this life you have. I literally give you everything, Baby. Every, damn, thing." your words came out as seething. The mouth against his ear scratching his earlobe that could make him kneel before you. Kneel before the queen as he sees it fit.

He would. For you. Only for you.

You continued your little twitting, the smug grin never leaving your face. "You want me to leave my husband? Is that what you want to be, baby? A homewrecker?"

Chase's lips formed a thin line, tightly biting half of his lips in between his gritted teeth because no matter how bad that sounded, it seemed the only thing possible to say. It was the truth, he was because he was your baby boy. The latter could feel his diabolic state of mind roaring in the back of his brain. It wasn't like he had never been insidious. He still is, especially with what happened a month ago.

Burning.

The barn.

Caleb.

Ipswitch.

His two-month ex-girlfriend.

The will to have that power..

"I do," Your baby boy murmured as the lights to the elevator was flicking on and off in the most chilling way. You've stared up at him, eyelashes fluttering like a cherub watching behind the clouds. He hated you, still. Albeit, the hate he felt was actually adoration, passion or love if humans may call it.

Chase Collins never felt so much connected towards a human before and he loved it. He loves you, yet he also hated you at the same damn time.

"I'm your homewrecker, as long as I'm the only one," At long last, the lights finally flickered on. The brightness making you squint your eyes shut before you were met with a pair of black ones which should trigger you to run to the hills because he was showing you who he was.

Strangely enough, you were more drawn to him than any other woman would. Not even his ex-girlfriend would accept him, only you because you already knew him deep down. His secrets, his mysteries and the certain blood that runs inside his glorious body.

He was a witch. He was one of those warlocks and the thought never bothered you ever because you accepted him. You still wanted him despite of it.

"Let me be the one to ruin your marriage," his smile was sinister, like a diabolical plan was about to unleash. "I can be anything you want, Mistress."

He roughly snatched the tie off your hands, blinking in the process as his once black eyes turned to normal. A fiery gold outline flashing around the blackness of his eyes before consuming the normality of what color he wanted. Now, the hues of his baby blue eyes sparkling against the lights of the lift ignited a beam out of you. You had him on the rocks. You were his. It should end up that way. It always does. The latter's fingers straightaway went up to the first button beneath his collar, hastily unbuttoning with heedful need as the elevator never moved its spot. Chase being the one to control the lights to the lift you had and you definitely knew why. The boy knew you all along.

"Ruin me if you must, my evil miss muffet."

Despite of the depravity you were both feeding off each other, together you laughed as though the perniciousness was making you both satisfied with your lives.

My divider is contrasting with the content of this post of mine. HAHAHAHHA Fook me, Chase--I mean. Yeah. You get what I mean. Gosh, this is so wicked. Y’all gotta throw me in a bucket of holy water. 🤣🤐🤣😎🤣

XOXO,

TATA (SEBASTIAN’S POTATO BITCH)

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eternaljouska · 5 years

Text

One-One-One - Wen Junhui

Pairing: Junhui x MindReader!Reader (lol)

Genre: Fluff

Warning: Just several profanities

Word Count: 1963

Note: Another one-sitting fiction. I feel like I could’ve expanded this, narration-wise. But I think this is pretty decent, so hope you like it.

‘Ugh, this is gross! Why do people chew gums if they can’t carry out the responsibility to throw it properly?’

‘Ganadaramabasaa hakuna matata! A! Nanana nanananana nananananana.’

‘Shit! Where’s my key? Fuck, don’t tell me I left it upstairs. Arrgh! I hate myself.’

‘Alright, you can do this. You can do this, Minji-ya. You’ll get through the presentation. You’ll do great. Just breathe.’

‘Why does the cat do not meow back to me? This is a sad way to start the week.”

‘BABYYY! YOU’RE MY LADY! Oh? Be my lady? You’re my lady? Nevermind. BABY, YOU ARE MY ANGEEELLL!”

“STOP SINGING SO LOUDLY! YOU’RE SINGING IN YOUR HEAD FOR GOODNESS’ SAKE, HOW COULD YOU BE SO OUT OF TONE? AND STOP THINKING SO LOUDLY ALTOGETHER!” you slam on your table and shout out to everyone within your perimeter. You know today is going to be a tough day simply because you started on your schedule late, meaning that you have to grab your daily latte when the café is already packed with half-alive people.

You’re trying to eat your tuna sandwich on the outdoor table to get away from the crowded buzz of people giving up on life and hanging their hope on caffeine, but the few people outside wouldn’t allow you that. Well, frankly, it’s not them, it’s you. As overused as that sentence is, it’s still the truth. You won’t have to deal with people’s thoughts if you couldn’t read their mind. Yeah, it’s pretty cool, whatever. Try to live with it, though, you’ll see how tiresome it is. People just can’t shut up. That’s why you shouted in the first place. You don’t need people whining, cursing, or singing in your head. You know shouting wouldn’t help your case because you can’t control your ability and again, people just can’t shut up. But this is too much for your Monday morning.

“Thank you very much. That’s better,” you whisper to yourself as the ruckus inside those people’s minds reducing to a calmer ponder of is that lady okay? You take a sip of your hot latte—hazelnut this time—when an inward gasp dominates the string of thoughts in your head.

‘Oh no, the cat’s going to jump for her sandwich.’

You put your cup haphazardly to look at your lunch box—or breakfast box? Does that even make any difference?—where you placed your tuna sandwich to slam your palms on the table. And true to the man’s thought, a millisecond later, there’s a cat leaping to the chair in front of you and ready to spring for your sandwich if only you don’t put it away in a speed of a cheetah. Yeah, cat, you’re in no way a match for a cheetah. You growl at the cat, making it scurried away from your table, which in turn, makes you giggle. Oh, lord, please keep another mind readers away from me. It’s for their best interest, I promise.

Unbeknownst to you, the cat man—the man sitting on the table across from yours who warned you about the stealer cat—has been watching the little interaction you had with the cat. You clear your throat a few times before raising your head to acknowledge his gaze. “Um, thank you! For the warning,” you said with too much excitement for your taste. And although the man’s trying to politely smile at you, his frowning brows and incredulous eyes are pretty obvious, and just a second too late, you understand why.

He didn’t warn you. Well, at least, not vocally. When you shout while looking at the general direction of nowhere like you did after the false note of someone singing triggered your temper minutes earlier, it’s okay. Your earphones still can save you. But now that you address the man specifically, you know you’ve messed up.

“Um, I-I saw your panic expression from my peripheral view, so, you know, I just…” your words trail off with an awkward laugh.

‘Was I that panic, though? I was just—nevermind, where did she get that sandwich anyway, that looks good. It smells good enough to attract the cat, who by the way, didn’t even respond to my series of meow. But he did, though, when she growled at him. Well, he didn’t meow, he basically screeched. He should learn his lesson. But she was more cute than scary, though. Crap! She must’ve noticed I’m staring. Uh, her red cheeks are cute. Crap, Jun, stop it. Look away. Wait, she was talking to me, should I respond? I mean, it made me a little bit sad that the cat wouldn’t respond to me, so, she—ugh. Stop it, Jun. Stop it. AND STOP STARING.’

You clear your throat once more as you lower your hand and progress to close your lunch box, opting to escape the situation at hand as soon as you possibly can and continue your eating in the privacy of your office. But your hand halts when his thought streams into yours yet again.

‘No, no, no, no, she’s packing. Junhui, why are you like this? She must’ve been able to read what your thinking about just from your expression alone. Don’t freak her out like you freaked the cat out, I beg you.’

You almost choked on your saliva when he thought about mind reading, but fortunately, you both are thinking of a different mind reading. “Zero, one, one-zero, one-one, one-zero-zero, one-zero-one, one-one-zero,” you mumble, counting in binary to distract you from the cat man’s—Junhui—incoming wave of thoughts.

And distracts you it does, for you fail to notice he has risen up from his seat and planted himself on the chair in front of you within your count of zero to six, replacing the cat he was trying to get acquaintance with less than half an hour ago. “One-one-ONE!” you exclaims when you do realize the distance Junhui has cut off by sitting on your table.

“What?! Wh-wh-wh-why? Why? Why? Did you say nine-one-one? What-what happens? I’m-I’m sorry. Did I scare you? I-I-I just—“ Junhui doesn’t finish his sentence. Instead, he stands up—at least halfway—obviously not quite knowing what to do. His eyes are comically wide, and you can’t help but snort when you hear him repeating the words nine-one-one and why over and over again in his head. This is so ridiculous.

“Why, why, now you’re laughing.”

“No, no, no, I’m sorry,” you snort, again, “I’m sorry. This is so funny—so, so funny.”

“What is? Why-why did you yell nine-one-one when I sat down?” he asks, his body still uncomfortably half-standing, weight leaning on his hand on the back of the chair, and eyes still blown wide. You take in his appearance and let out a small scoff. Despite his manly exterior, his eyes give out such an innocent air about him, childlike even.

“You can sit down,” you say, the trace of laughter still very much apparent in your words. “I didn’t yell out nine-one-one. It’s one-one-one. Don’t think too much about that, it’s just what I do. And yeah, you did kinda scare me. Just, uh, a little bit.” You bite your lips to prevent yourself from bursting into another set of laughter as you continue your binary counting, not wanting to hear his answer before he expresses it aloud himself.

Junhui drops himself on the chair, exhaling his much-needed air, head thrown back and eyes tightly closed. “You scared me!”

“What, why?” Now it’s your turn to look at him with wide eyes.

“Nine-one-one! What if someone else thought they heard nine-one-one instead of one-one-one and actually call nine-one-one?”

You chuckle. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to do that. I didn’t see you walking from your table to mine, but you suddenly appear in front of me just like that! Of course, I was surprised. Why did you go over here in the first place?”

“Just because.”

‘You are cute.’

God damn it! Keep your counting, buddy! One-zero-one-one, one-one-zero-zero, one-one-zero-one.

“I thought I might regret it if I don’t introduce myself to you.”—one-one-one-zero, one—

“I think you’re cute, so—“

“ONE-ONE-ONE! DAMN IT! I don’t think he’d actually say that out loud. Oh, no, SHIT! You can hear me. Yeah, you can hear me.” You can see him nodding through your half-ducked head. “Hahahahaha, oh, lord, oh, God, oh, earth would you swallow me, right now, do it and I’ll be grateful for the rest of my life, he, hehe, hehehe, shut up, buddy, shut up, stop rambling,” you murmur. But from Junhui’s laughter, you know that he can definitely hear you.

“You’re cute,” he repeats, as though hearing it the first time wasn’t enough to cause shortage to the wires of your brain.

“Yeah, as cute as a clown can be. Now, if you’d excuse me, I need to go find a new face to replace this one. Apparently, I can’t save it from the burn of my embarrassment.”

“I’m Jun,” he states, but you don’t pause and continue to gather your stuff.

“I know that,” you blurt out, and then, “Shit! No, haha, no, I don’t know that. How could I know? See, gotta go! Need a new face!”

You’ve only walked a few steps away from your tables when Jun caught your arm. “You can read mind, can’t you?”

“What?!”

“Yes, you can. I can’t believe I meet another mind reader!”

“Wait, wait, what? You-you’re a—“

“Nope. My friend is, so don’t ask me how I know that you are, too.” Jun ends his sentence with a little smirk and as you start to wonder the reason why, he let you know.

‘So, you’ve known all along that I think you’re cute.’

“Stop that,” you warn him, but he persists.

‘Ah, so your cheeks were red because you heard me thinking that you’re cute. Is that why, huh? Tell me—wait, what’s your name? Unlike you, I can’t find out someone’s name from reading their minds, you know. “I’m Jun.””I know that.”’

“I didn’t sound like that! And you can speak, you know? Ask my name properly!”

‘Well, I guess I’ll let Minghao meet you and read your mind for me.’

“You can’t do that!”

You know that to the passerby, you look like a mad—or pathetic—person, whisper-shouting your words to a man who doesn’t even bother to reply. You huff and walk away from Jun, throwing your cup of half-empty latte to the trashcan on your way.

“Hey, wait!” he hollers.

You don’t wait. You refuse to wait. You’re a boss. You have your own office. You don’t wait. You make people wait. Wait, that doesn’t sound right.

“Hey, I’m sorry! What’s your name? Wait up!”

You hear his steps behind you, but you only bolt up running, shouting in glee, “I have no name! You won’t recognize the new face I’ll buy! You won’t find me!”

But then you stop short, for Jun repeats your name over and over again in his head. You whirl around only to see Jun holding the cup of coffee you’ve thrown away in his hand.

‘See, I know it’s true when I said to Minghao I don’t need mind reading. I’ll find you again. Miss—uh—one-one-one, is it?’

“Hey! I have a name, and you know it! It’s not one-one-one!”

‘Indecisive, I see. You said you have no name, and now you do.’

“SHUT UP!”

‘I ain’t talking, though.’

You turn away from him and stomp your way to the parking lot, determined not to think about the cat man anymore.

“Don’t miss me!” Jun yells out smugly.

Huh, now he’s talking, the audacity.

“Don’t call nine-one-one when you do!”

“SHUT UP, JUNHUI!”

‘Done it, sweetheart.’

God, and you thought he’s innocent.

#junhui fluff #seventeen jun fluff #seventeen fluff #wen junhui #moon junhui #wen junhui fluff #moon junhui fluff #jun fluff #seventeen jun #jun imagines #jun scenarios #junhui imagines #junhui scenarios #seventeen imagines #seventeen scenarios #moon junhui imagines #moon junhui scenarios #wen junhui imagines #wen junhui scenarios

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jaredandlee · 4 years

Text

Loudtale Chapter 1, RUINS

A long time ago, there lived two races, humans and monsters. One day, war broke out, but because there were humans that have befriended the monsters for a long amount of time, so a few of the humans joined the monsters as their allies during the war. After a long battle, the humans were victorious, and with the best sorcerers, they created a magical barrier to seal the monsters underground, along with the humans whom sided with them were casted deep underground together and never to be seen again.

201X, Mount Ebbot

Legand say that people who climbs this mountain never returns.

AN:the humans whom sided with the monsters had gain their trust and were granted with some magic abilities, and some humans even lived as long as the monsters, which the scientists had claimed the humans had evolved into half like monsters ,(for instance, Rita has toriels horns, Lisa has alphas tail and Lynn has blue skin) in which case, they shared the ability to stay alive for a long time.

A small figure with a red cap fell into the cave of mount Ebbot, she landed on a patch of white flowers,it was dark, the only source of light was from where she had fallen, "Well, guess there's no turning back now. "Lana thought. She was wearing a dark blue sweater with sappy green stripes, with her hair in two pigtails tied down and missing front teeth. She saw only one way and went through the door, in front of her was a patch of grass, and among the patch was a single white flower ,the flower had a baby-ish face, and greeted Lana with mostly baby gibberish, but somehow Lana understood the white flower, the lilian said, "Poo poo" (Howdy, I'm lily, lily the lilian, you're a human aren't cha? Hehe ,you must be so confused, somebody ought to teach ya how things work around here). "The room got dark, a red heart formed in front of Lana, "poopoo(that's your soul, the culmination of your being, your soul starts off weak, but you can get stronger by gaining exp, which would increase your lv, what does lv stands for? Why LOVE of course! You want some love don't cha, here have some friendliness pellets). "Five white pellets appear in front of her, " poo poo(Move your soul to catch them, ready? Here we go). "Lana thought, "this is unexpected, but this cute flower couldn't want to hurt me ,could it?? "

Just as the pellets gained a closer distance, a voice whisper in her head ,"MOVE YOU IDIOT!! "But it was too late, Lana was struck and pain coursed through her whole body, her hp went down to 1.When she was able to see, she saw lily laughing menacingly and said more baby gibberish, "Hehehe poopoo(YOU IDIOT! WHY WOULD ANYONE PASS UP A CHANCE LIKE THIS?!? AFTER ALL ,IN THIS WORLD ,IT'S KILL OR BE KILLED!! )"With that lily threw more pellets surrounding the red soul, as they inched closer, lily laughed with a maniacal smile, just as Lana thought she was a goner, the pellets vanished, she felt a sudden surge of relief, and was healed back to full hp, Lily the lilian was astonished and suddenly a fire ball flew and hit the flower out of sight. Just then , a blonde women in her mid forties wearing a-pink robe and white sleeves, she grumbled,"Dang it, this weird flower has been nothing but trouble. ",she turned and saw Lana confused and scared. "Hello there sweetie,don't be scared, I'm Rita, the caretaker of the ruins, I come through the ruins in case anyone is need of help, looks like you fell down from the surface aren't you honey? Come on, I'll guide you through the catatombs. "

As Rita lead Lana through the gateways and puzzles, she explained that one must solve each puzzles in order to enter the next room. Rita also explained that monsters in the ruin would attack and would be in a FIGHT,she said she can choose to FIGHT or ACT so that Rita would be able to solve the conflict. After a few rooms and a battle with a froggit (in which Lana was handling just fine by talking to it and bringing up her pet frog, but Rita got worry some and ask her to keep up), Rita intentionally fasten her pace to test Lana's independence. Fortunately for Lana, she was a fast one, and caught up to Rita with ease. While Rita was fixing her hair, she noticed a set of small horns on her head, but decided it was an underground thing and put the question aside. Just as Rita finished explaining the reason, Lana received a cell phone from her , in which looked very ancient and can only be used for calling. When Lana was asked to stay in the room she obliged, and off left Rita. After five minutes, Lana received a phone call from Rita, as she was concerned of Lana being alone, Lana told her she was doing just fine, but then she heard barking from the other side of the phone, "No Charles, come back here with my phone!!, "Lana was determined on helping Rita, (plus she wanted to check out that dog )so she entered the next room.

Just as Lana entered the room, a froggit from before showed up and talked to Lana. "Ribbit ribbit(Excuse me human, I have some important information on fighting monsters. When you encounter a monster, you can FIGHT them or ACT in a certain way to wear them out, but when they do not want to FIGHT, please human, use MERCY, and spare them.) "Lana deeply considered the options, as she was an animal lover on the surface, she nodded and went into a room with only a bowl of candy and a note that said"Take a piece ",so she took the monster candy and continued her journey.

Just as her journey begun, she encountered a whimsun, it was a small creature with wings behind, before she could say anything, whinsun flee in terror and disappeared. After another few encounters with some monsters and puzzles, Lana arrived in a room where a ghost was blocking the way, and from the unusual snoring, she realized the ghost was faking it. "Zzzzzzzsigh......aretheygoneyet?zzzzzzzzzzzz"Lana was tempted to walk pass it as it was misty and gloomy but decided it would be rude, so she gave a gentle push, and was encountered. NAPSTALUCE blocks the way. Napstaluce starts to sigh, the dread air slowly intercepts Lana while she dodged them. "Oh........... I'm sorry................ ".Lana decided to cheer her up, "that felt......a little better........ "Bats flew in and were all over the room, "Fangs, please ...............ask your friends............... to be nice............. "Lana dodged the little critters and cheered Napstaluce again, "Hey.......... do you......... want to hear........ my poems.....? "Lana agreed and so the ghost recited her poem.

I came to the ruins alone,

Never to be heard of a moan.

But just then somebody came,

And put all my misery away.

Napstaluce awaited patiently for Lana's response, Lana simply cheered and the ghost blushed"Oh gee......... "And the fight was over. Lucy the ghost have never felt this happy, she almost suppressed a smile"Sigh............I'm just a dark and gloomy ghost, never was I praised of anything but being dim, overlooked, but today I met someone who enjoys my poems and my presence being, and that's what I'll do." Napstaluce went through the wall and dissapeared.

After Napstaluce left, Lana continued her journey through the ruins. A bunch of other monsters were encountered, monsters like mouldsmol the pudding like monster, Vegetoid the carrot monster insisting Lana to eat her greens, Migosp, a beetle like monster that just wants to chill, three normal size froggits and an ant-size froggit who waved at Lana. Loox, who wanted Lana to pick on him.

In one room, the puzzle consisted of six trap doors, and only one of them had a button, so Lana decided to try her luck but ended up battling another Vegetoid. "Eat your greens.. "said Vegetoid, with a lot of concentration and avoidance Lana ate the green vegetables, just enough for Vegetoid to be satisfied. After the battle, she found a pink ribbon, and used it for her loosen blond hair ,which increased her defence. Lana came out of the chute and decided to try again,though in the next room, she saw nothing until Lucy the ghost materialized right behind her and scared the heck out of Lana , "Sigh...........,I was too focused on my poems that I stumbled in , sigh.............. now I'm stuck down here, sigh............"Lana questioned Napstaluce about her ghostly abilities,then it dawn to Napstaluce,"Oh right.......... I'm a ghost .............,sigh..........I can just levitate out of here............"And with that, the gloomy ghost left the room, but faintyet distanced sighs can be heard. Lana looked around, but saw no switches for the obstacle, and went back up. At the next room, she finally found the switch, and proceeded with her adventure.

After another series of puzzles, Lana went inside another room, and in a corner were spider webs and other little critters, there was a stand that said"Bug smooties, by bug critters, for bug critters. "Lana went through her inventory, and found it empty ,but she received a lot of gold from the battles, so she bought three bug smooties, and kept them just in case she would be at low hp. Next, she went forward and a foggit said to her "Hello human,not to be a bother, but I saw Rita passed by."Lana realized it was the same froggit from before and said"Okay, thanks for the tip. "wondering if she was on her way to the groceries, and decided to ask about it later .

In another room, a breathtaking view of a big city was shown, but from Lana's point of view, the city looked abandoned and hollow, not much life going on anywhere. On the left side of the floor, there laid a toy knife, Lana had a piece of stick as a weapon, she rarely used it in FIGHTS, but kept it anyway. So the toy knife was left behind, and Lana continued forth.

Lana reached a lifeless tree in the middle of the room,orange leaves we're scattered all around the tree bark, she felt sorrow for the old tree. Suddenly her phone rang, she heard someone from the other side of the tree saying"Oh dear, what's taking her so long? "And was startled as Lana appeared right in front of her ,"Oh, sweetie you made it, you must be tired from the whole journey, come, let's go inside ,I'm making a chocolate cake for you. "Lana followed Rita inside the house. The house looked small but cozy, in front of the doorway was a staircase down, Lana thought this must be the way to the basement or something. Rita said, "Welcome to your new home sweetie "She led Lana to the right and entered a hallway, but stopped in front of a room, "So this is your room, "she explained, and patted Lana's head in a sweet motherly way. A burning scent came in, "Is something burning? Ermm I'd better go check, you just make yourself comfortable okay? "With that, she paced off anxiously to the way they came in. Lana decided to look around and adjust herself in to the new territory and went down the hall. There were white flowers decorated all over the place, Lana stopped at Rita's room, trying to debate to herself whether to explore the rooms or just get into her own, her final decision was thinking, it couldn't hurt to peek around a bit right?

And so she did.In Rita's room, more lilians were in various corners, a single bed was placed at the left side of the room, a desk at the doorway, a huge closet, and some reading materials. There was a book laid on the desk, a paragraph was circled red , it said"What did the sea do to say goodbye? Nothing, they just waved "Lana snickered a bit, but doesn't intended to read anymore personal business of Rita.

At the end of the hallway, there was a locked door, but it said, "Closed for renovations ".A mirror was beside the door, Lana looked at herself, the reflection was just as before, blond hair, empty front teeth, but with a ribbon tied in her hair. As energetic as Lana was,she decided to take a break in her room, the room was small enough for two children, in front of her was a toy box, which doesn't interest her at all, in a closet hung different colours of striped clothing, and below was different shoes in various sizes.

Lana yawned, tired from a day's adventure, got in the bed and slept. In her dream, there was froggit in a corner, the froggit stared at Lana as if she was someone familiar, her vision blurred, in front of Lana was a mirror, but instead of her own reflection, she saw someone else,different yet so alike, the reflection was wearing a tiara and a pink dress, which Lana would rather not wear in any occasion .The girl in the reflection was smiling, her face glowing red ,"Hello there mirror, "the pink girl said in a sadistic way. Lana wanted to protest that she looked nothing like her, but seeing that they were both blonds and at the approximately the same height, she decided to listen what this princess has to say. The girl continued "You know how these monsters treat you like a friend, like family, Well, your being too much of an idiot to realize that they are not what they seem".Lana gave her the silent treatment, but the pink girl refuse to take it, "oh, so this is what I get for telling you the truth? Well then, hear me out this one time. You'll never get home with your current attitude of kindness and friendship and whatnot, it's all about getting what you want, and now all you want is to get back up there, right? "Lana gave her a -_- face, the pink girl ignores her state and said"Never mind, you'll see what I mean by the end of your journey. "With that, she vanished.

When Lana woke up, she smelled a delicious sensation of chocolate cake, and saw a piece laid on the desk and a small fork beside, she took a small bite , but decided it would be best to save the rest for later. She decided to look for Rita, and thank her for the pie. She went out of the room, walked past the basement stairs, and into another room, in front of her was where there's a fireplace and an armchair on the left side, and a dinner table at the other corner. She went straight to the kitchen, and there laid normal equipments refrigerator to stove. The kitchen sink shone as if it was newly scrubbed, the stove looked untouched, Rita must've used fire magic for the baking. On the counter laid the pie, it's too intimidating for you to eat ?The comment was bit excessive, but she decided to be reasonable and leave it be.

Lana went back to the living room, and saw Rita on the armchair, she went to the fireplace, and felt pleasant warmth.Rita noticed Lana and explained that she was delighted to have her around ,wanted to show her favourite spot in the ruins, and admitted that she wanted to be a novelist, to write about the life of a caretaker in the ruins, but with small population and uninterested behaviour of reading nor writing in the ruins, she needed to put that dream aside for a while.

"Oh, did you want to ask something? "she questioned, Lana thought about living here in the ruins for the rest of her life, the idea bores her, but not to hurt Rita, she didn't complained and asked if she could read her something, "Anything for you child, "she responded, "How does 109 milk facts? Did you know that milk also reproduced cheese other than cream? Fascinating! "Lana turned from interested to slightly less interested ."Yeah, it is. "She replied.

Lana went back to her room, she tried to entertain herself by checking out the toys in the chest. But sadly, still nothing interest her at all. A few days passed, Rita was happy with Lana's company, they read books together,(Rita read them to Lana as she listened) ,they went to her favourite bug hunting spot ,in which was fine with Lana as she rolls in the mud full of worms and tried to eat them (and the dirt covering the insects) only to get stopped by Rita, "I know they are full of protein and nutrition, but it is safer for them to be properly boiled or cooked, all right? "Lana shrugged and said, "Yeah sure. "But took a sip of a worm anyways without Rita noticing.

More days passed, or maybe weeks, Lana lost count and there wasn't a calendar in the house. She was so bored she ventured the ruins multiple times and was getting pretty sick of the same scenario all over again. Finally, She mustured up her courage on asking Rita to let her go home, "What? "She replied with concern and a hint of fear, "Oh no sweetie, this is your home, you can't leave, it's dangerous out there ."she answered with hints of sadness. Lana refused to stay much longer ,being mundane was never her lifestyle, but she also doesn't want to have a collision with her, so she requested with much patience. With hours of pleading, Lana stayed determined ,but Rita was determined of Lana staying as well. "Wait here, there's something I need to do first ,"she fast paced to the entrance and down to the basement, leaving Lana confused yet it was clear what has to be done.

Lana followed her down, they were in a dark corridor, but bright enough to see. "Every kid who comes down here is met with the exact fate ,they come, they leave, they die. You naive little youngster, if you leave the ruins, you can never come back, so please, "she said deliberately, "GO TO YOUR ROOM , this is an order, do not even try to rebel against me. "Lana's head wanted to obliged the order, but her heart was reluctant, and her heart lead her deeper into the corridor. At a turn to the left, Rita warned her in a serious tone, " This is your last warning, if you go out there, they.... "She paused, "King Lynn senior... "She shuddered at the name, "will kill you. "Before Lana processed this whole scenario, The blond mother continued, "don't you see I'm just trying to protect you?Saving you from all those pain and misery in your way? so please, go back upstairs. "The mother continued forth, with Lana on her tail, feeling hesitant and determined at the same time. At last, they've reached a huge door as tall as the wall, and with the same symbol on Rita's dress.The blond mother was still facing the door, "Behind this door lies the way to the outside world, I will destroy it, so you can be safe ,so I can watch you grow up, .......so I would be lonely no more. "She said with tears filling up her eyes. Silence was everywhere, Lana could not comprehend the situation she was in, she only issue she understood was that Rita has been alone in the ruins for so long, and she would rather destroy the exit of the ruins than be alone for a few hundred more years.

Rita stayed calm in her position, understood that Lana would not be as easily convinced as thought, in so, another way had to be done. "If you want to leave so badly, there is only one way for you to do"Rita's expression darkens, "Prove yourself, prove to me that you are strong enough to survive the inevitable outcome ."Lana thought of ways to overcome this situation, but all her ideas were useless, and decided that the situation must be handed head on.

The room blackened, Lana's soul appeared in front of her chest, Rita blocked the way, flames were everywhere ,her stance was fixed yet fierce, and with that, the battle began. Rita started forming balls of fire around her and threw them at the soul while Lana sidesteped the attacks. When it's lana turn she uses ACT and tried to reason with her, but she doesn't listen nor took interest on what she said. The blond mother attacked again by using a tactic of an hourglass while Lana dodged them, but was struck with a fireball and was down to 14 hp. Despite the pain, Lana decided to use MERCY and spared toriel, "What are you doing?! "She exclaimed, "Fight me or leave! "Lana was surprised by her anger and anguish voice, but proceeded to do the same. Rita prepared a magical attack, the speed of the flames was getting ridiculously fast even for Lana, and her hp went down to 1."Attack or run away! "Rita ordered, but also looked aloof, when it's her turn to attack, the fire balls missed the soul intentionally, so Lana decided to take the chance, and spared her again. In the next turn, Rita was looking through Lana while aiming the fireballs at the wrong route, while Lana was still using MERCY to spare Rita, this scenario went on for so much time, and Rita was getting tired of using so much of her magic."Stop looking at me like that! "Rita said in distress, but Lana did nothing but proceed more MERCY. Rita looked more drained than before, and with Lana's last strength she drank the bug smoothie and her up was healed to 15. With Lana alleviated and Rita being so drained out of energy, Lana explained her reason of wanting to leave, not because of the hostility that was given nor was it because of the tedious scenario given over and over, but because she shouldn't stay so long for the people who worry for her so much. "I have to go, not because I don't want to stay, it's because I miss the outdoors, and there's NO MUD IN HERE! "Rita got pretty startled at the last part, "my point is, there are something we have to let go sometime, and even if I got back, I'll always come visit you mom. "The blond mother was stunned of Lana calling her mother, but was glad as well that she wouldn't forget her nor abandon her. "Well, if this is really what you want, "Rita said, "then, I won't stop you, I know we don't have much, but we could have a good life here, and maybe..... "She paused, "Ha... Ha....woeful, isn't it, I can't save even one of you, but...... "Lana felt a little guilt tripped,and Rita continued, "I understand, you would be unhappy trapped down here the Ruins is kinda small once you get to used to it, my expectation, fear, loneliness, for you sweetie, I'll put them aside for now. "The battle concluded.

The room was dark no more, Lana saw some tears clinging on Rita's eye, but above her chin was a great motherly smile. "Oh honey, I'm so sorry for what I've done, I never wanted this to happen again, but I can let you go and know that you will be safe the whole journey. "Lana started to smile, but when she was asked to never return, the smile faded. "You have to understand, this is for your own good, and so I won't have to look back and regret everything I have done to you. "She explained. Rita bend down on her knees and hugged Lana tightly as their last goodbye, when she was done, she went back the way they came, looking at Lana one last time, and left without a word.

Lana sent through the door, into a long corridor, went through another door and reached a patch of grass with a certain devil waiting outside.Lilian started smirking,and said,"He he he.. Poo poo(well well well lookie here, it's seems that you were able to go through your own rules afterall, but hear this, my little monarch. Don't you think you've won yet, you haven't kill anyone and spared the life of a single person, but what if you encounter a relentless killer? You'll die again and again! Would you kill them out of frustration? Or give up entirely on this world? And let ME have the power to control? I AM THIS WORLD'S FUTURE! So don't worry mud girl, my plan isn't regicide, this is much more interesting he he.) With that, the flower made an evil crackling laugh with an expression with the force of nature and disappeared under the earth.

Lana took no interest in the Lillian's plan and kept moving forward, when the door was opened, a bright light blinded her sight and a sudden cold air went through her, when her vision cleared, there was a forest and a snowny path in front, and her adventure was no even half done.

#Loudtale #Lana #Rita #Toriel #Undertale #Loudhouse #Characterswap #Frisk #Flowey #Lily

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mint-yooxgi · 5 years

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{5} - Scales of Fate: Bringer of Light - Dragon!Baekhyun X Reader // Part 5

Dragon AU - Part of the EXO Dragon Series

Genre: Mature, Fluff, Angst

Pairing: Baekhyun X Reader

Words: 3,281

A/n: Okay, so I'm really excited for this part and the next two or so parts since a lot is going to happen! Who knows, maybe another dragon might be introduced soon... hehehe... Anyways! I hope you enjoy, and as always, feedback is greatly appreciated.

Previous ~ Next

The next day, you find yourself hiding away inside Hakyeon’s house for the entire day. You figure the dragon can go one day without seeing you as you need time to sort through your own problems. You do hope he’s okay though.

Sitting up in bed, you hear a knock at the door. Muttering a small ‘come in,’ you’re greeted by Hakyeon’s concerned face.

“How are you feeling?” He asks, moving into the room, and sitting on the edge of the bed.

“A bit better,” you send him a small smile. “Thanks for letting me stay here for a few days.”

“Of course,” he smile back. “What kind of friend would I be if I forced you back into an uncomfortable situation with your parents?”

“See, this is why you would make such a better suitor for me than Yoosung,” you joke, leaning back against the headboard.

“Well, we both know I’m a catch,” he winks, playing along with you.

“How were the trainees today?” You inquire, and you see his expression light up.

“They’re all doing a great job! You should come see them tomorrow, and use the time to blow off some steam, too,” he suggests, and you find yourself nodding your head subconsciously.

“That might not be a bad idea,” you agree.

“Anyways, dinner will be ready shortly, come down when you’re ready,” he tells you, patting your knee that’s hidden beneath the covers. “I’m going to go freshen up beforehand.”

With those words, he’s giving you a final nod as he stands up, and leaves the room, closing the door softly behind him.

Letting out a sigh, you toss the covers off of your legs, deciding to freshen up yourself before dinner. Tomorrow will be a new day, and you hope you’ll be able to pick yourself back up on your own feet and go from there.

Meanwhile, back at the clearing, Baekhyun finds himself pouting. He was really hoping you would come back to the clearing today, but as the sun begins to set in the sky, he knows you’re not coming for the day. You must still be very upset about what happened yesterday for you to not be here.

An involuntary growl escapes his lips. This Yoosung guy will pay for hurting you like this.

More than anything, Baekhyun wants to fly to you. To hold you in his arms and let you know that everything will be okay. To reassure you that he’ll take care of you, and that you don’t need to worry about anything.

The only thing is, he can’t. Well, at least, not yet.

All he can do is curl himself around the cloths for another night, and hope that you’ll at least come to see him tomorrow.

Waking up in the morning, you let out a loud yawn. Stretching your hands above your head, you hear a few satisfactory pops come from your back. A small smile graces your features as you realize you slept well for once.

Throwing the covers off your legs, you get ready for a morning of training with Hakyeon and the rest of the hunter trainees. After grabbing everything you need, you meet him downstairs.

“Well, you look ten times better,” he comments, closing the front door behind you on the way out.

“I feel rested for once,” you reply, adjusting the strap of your quiver of arrows on your shoulder. “Also, trying not to think about tomorrow.”

“Ah, yes,” he hums as the two of you start walking through the village. “The dreaded date.”

“Don’t call it that,” you grumble, closing your eyes briefly in annoyance. “It just serves as a reminder for my impending doom.”

Hakyeon chuckles in response, “well, hopefully you won’t actually have to deal with him for long. Maybe you could fake not feeling well, and leave early.”

“As much as I would love to do that, my parents would get suspicious if I did do that,” you sigh.

“I feel for you, friend,” Hakyeon pats your shoulder comfortingly. “Anyways, we’re almost there.”

“Good, I can finally show these chumps who the real archer of the village is,” you tease, wiggling your eyebrows at him.

One thing you’ve always loved about Hakyeon is that the two of you can change the subject without a moments notice and he won’t care. The two of you can have some real fast paced conversations at times, and you wouldn’t have it any other way.

Reaching the training area, you already see the trainees sparring. As soon as they see you and Hakyeon approaching, they form a line and stand at attention, waiting for their orders for the day.

“Alright, since the majority of you were already sparring, we’ll be practicing hand to hand combat for now,” Hakyeon’s voice rings loud and clear through the area. “Who’s feeling brave enough to take on our village’s very own, (Y/n)?”

“Hakyeon!” You protest, not believing he would set you up like this at first chance. All you want to do is practice your aim to warm up, not spar first thing in the morning.

“What? Scared a trainee is going to take you down?” He teases, and you can hear how the trainees chuckle at his words.

“They should be more scared of what I may do to them,” you smirk, turning to get a good look at them now.

You notice a few of them standing smugly in the line, while a few of the others look nervous.

Good. They should be nervous. You don’t go easy for anyone.

“Alright, who wants to go first?” You stare them down, watching as a few avoid your gaze now.

“I’ll go,” a girl near one end of the line steps forward, meeting your gaze.

“Ah, Sunmi,” Hakyeon hums, “good, good.”

“Good luck,” you bow to her as she does the same to you.

“Thank you,” she replies, a small smile coming to her lips until her face turns serious in the next moment.

The rest of the trainees move off to the side with Hakyeon, giving the two of you space to spar. You both get into fighting stances as you square each other up. Once you hear the signal from Hakyeon, the fight begins.

The two of you spend the first few moments circling each other, simply sizing each other up. She’s the first to attack, lunging at you with speed and agility. Quickly sidestepping her, you notice her footing is uneven, so you take this opportunity to swipe her feet out from under her, landing her on her back.

Before she knows what’s happening, you’re pinning her to the ground with a knee on her chest and hands on her shoulders. She can no longer move, so she admits defeat.

Helping her up, you give her a pat on the back as the others look on shocked. Never has anyone taken Sunmi down that quickly, and easily.

“That was good, you came at me with full intent to take me down,” you smile. “Be careful of your footing, though, that’s your weak point. If you can’t solidify your feet, you’re not going to get another chance to attack.”

Moving into a fighting stance, you give her directions on how to solidify her footing better, and read her opponent better. You can tell she’s listening intently to what you’re telling her, as are the other trainees.

“Remember, this stuff takes practice,” you say, seeing Hakyeon nodding along out of the corner of your eye.

Before you can get roped in to sparring another trainee, you grab your bow and arrows from the ground and sling them over your back. Moving off to the shooting range, you see them all starting to spar with themselves, Hakyeon watching over them carefully.

Breathing a sigh of relief, you set you bow up, grabbing a few throwing knives as well along the way. Taking your place at the starting mark, you prepare to run through your warm up, shooting a few test arrows into the targets.

After about thirty minutes, you’re warmed up, ready to start your actual training. You notice you now have a small audience of a few of the trainees watching you as you practice.

“Hey, why don’t we show them Par Four?” You hear Hakyeon call out to you from across the field.

“I could use the practice,” you find yourself grinning back.

The trainees look on in confusion as the two of you set up Par Four, the shooting course you go over with Hakyeon on occasion. However, there’s a catch. Every time you go through this, it’s a different course, and Hakyeon adds an element of surprise to the course, providing different moving targets for you to hit.

Once you get the nod from Hakyeon, you move to your starting position. Letting out a long breath of air, you close your eyes, relaxing your muscles before starting the course. As soon as you hear him shout, your eyes fling open, and you’re beginning to shoot.

The trainees watch on, silent and in awe as you shoot arrow after arrow at the targets Hakyeon throws at you, hitting every one dead on. Once you run out of arrows, you start to use the throwing knives you grabbed earlier.

Finally, you’re down to your final knife, and your final target. This one is the most challenging, for it is usually silent, quick, and hidden.

Closing your eyes, you listen to your surroundings closely, tuning in to the world around you. You can faintly hear the small gasps that escape the lips of the trainees, the swooshing of the wind between the branches of the trees, as well as the faint sound of the water on the docks below.

Quirking your brow, you hear the familiar rushing sound of the target moving through the course. Without another thought, you fling the knife off to your right, hearing a solid thunk once it hits the intended target in the centre.

Opening your eyes, you see a smug looking Hakyeon standing off to the side, while the trainees look on at you in awe before they start cheering. In the next moment, they’re surrounding you, asking you for more tips and advice in their training, flattering you and your skills all the while. A smug smile comes to rest on your own face as Hakyeon walks over to the group of you.

After about fifteen minutes of talking with the trainees, collecting your arrows, and giving them tips and tricks to better improve their training, you find yourself making the trek back up the hill to Hakyeon’s house. You’re all sweaty and gross from training, so you want to freshen up before you do anything else. Besides, you do want to go check on that dragon at some point during the day.

Making it back to his house, you take your time cleaning the dirt from your skin. Hakyeon won’t be back until later, so you can relax. He also told you not to worry about using his things, since you are staying at his house for now.

Drying off with a towel once you’re done, you make your way to the room you’re staying in to change. You can feel a slight chill in the air, and you momentarily curse yourself for not bringing a warmer jacket.

Figuring Hakyeon won’t mind, you sneak into his room to grab one of his thick sweaters, throwing it over your head on your way back to your room. Grabbing the rest of your things after leaving a small note for Hakyeon saying you’re going out for a bit in the woods, you take your leave. You make sure to grab your bow, arrows, and some food before you go.

Trekking through the woods, you find a smile tugging at your lips. You’re happy about the training you got done today, and that you haven’t had your parents breathing down you neck for the past few days. Now, if only you didn’t have to worry about that stupid date tomorrow.

Meanwhile, back at the clearing, Baekhyun lets out a long breath. He went searching for food last night and managed to find a few things, consisting of some squirrels, rabbits, and a possum. He even managed to find a fruit tree, so at least he’s not very hungry.

All he wants, is to see you again.

The scent on the cloths you’ve left with him is starting to fade, and he misses you. The fact that you didn’t come to see him yesterday really made him feel down on his luck. Did you forget about him already? Do you no longer care?

Sucking in a long breath, he finds his head snapping up as he catches your faint scent in the air, getting closer with each passing second. However, there’s another scent lingering on you that he can’t recognize, but he can tell from the stench of testosterone that it’s a male scent.

Baekhyun lets out an involuntary growl. Who the fuck left his scent all over you? If Baekhyun ever gets the chance to meet this guy, he’ll rip his head off.

With his tail twitching in anxiousness, he turns his head to watch the spot in the clearing where you usually come down from. In the back of his mind, he can’t help but to think that the unidentifiable male scent on you is that Yoosung guy you talked about the other day.

Another growl escapes his lips.

Yoosung didn’t touch you, did he? If he did, Baekhyun is going to make a full course meal out of him, starting with this fucker’s hands. That should be his scent you’re covered with, not anyone else.

About a minute later, he sees you coming into the clearing, and he nearly runs over to you and tackles you from how happy he is to see you once more. You look much better since the last time he saw you, like you have a more natural glow to yourself. You look well rested, too.

“Hello,” you greet him with a smile that lights up your face. “I’m glad to see you’re still here.”

I could never leave you, Baekhyun thinks, now taking this time to look over your figure. His lips curl in distaste as he sees the sweater covering your torso. The sweater which reeks of the male’s scent. If given the chance, Baekhyun would rip it off of you in a heartbeat. Besides, you would look much better in one of his own sweaters, or nothing at all.

“Sorry I didn’t come to see you yesterday, I was-“ you pause as if unsure whether to tell him or not, before deciding to tell him anyways, “I needed a day to relax for myself after what happened the other day with my parents.”

Baekhyun rumbles in understanding, which causes you to let out a small laugh. A laugh which is music to his ears.

“Let’s check on that wound of yours, shall we?” You chuckle, moving over to his side after placing your weapons on the ground.

He nearly coos in content. Even after a day of being away from each other, you’re still concerned about him and his well-being. Turning his head to look at you, he watches as you look over his wound. He sees the corner of your lips twitch as you see that the wound has completely closed now, and is almost healed. No more infection, no more worry.

“Well, that look a thousand times better,” you comment, gathering the cloths in your hand and tucking them into your back pocket. “I’m glad I got to you when I did-“

You don’t even get to finish your sentence, for the dragon has knocked you over with his head, and rests it on top of your chest. You stare at it with wide eyes, your heart skipping a beat momentarily for you fear the dragon is going to attack you. A gasp of surprise leaves your lips as the dragon begins to litter your face with kisses, nuzzling his snout into your neck.

“Okay, okay, you’re welcome,” you giggle, and Baekhyun never wants this moment to end.

He pulls away to stare into your eyes, and you stare back. You can see fondness being reflected in the dragon’s eyes, and it makes your heart warm. Here is your sworn enemy, trusting you to heal him, and take care of him, while you trust him to not hurt you in return. You never thought you’d live to see a day like this.

With a slightly nervous hand, you reach out to the dragon, him watching you with curious eyes. Ever so gently, you begin to stroke the side of his face, and he finds he cannot resists moving into your touch, rumbling contently. With every second that passes, you find yourself moving closer to the dragon’s head, now coming to kneel on the ground. In a moment of bravery, you use your hands to hold his chin up as you press your forehead to his.

As soon as you make contact with him, he finds his eyes closing in bliss as he lets out a content hum. This moment with you feels so intimate for him, that he never wants it to end, and he knows, he has to reveal himself, his human self, to you soon. You’re meant to be together, and nothing, no one, is going to stop that.

Eventually, you find yourself pulling away to stare into the dragon’s eyes once more, much to Baekhyun’s disliking. He prefers feeling you close to him, feeling you pressed against him, and having you in his arms to hold on to.

“I know I haven’t been here for long, but I should get going,” you say, standing up and brushing off your pants.

Baekhyun lets out a whine, eyes drooping slightly as he pouts.

“I know, but I have a big day tomorrow,” you sigh, “I promise I’ll be back tomorrow night, and I can tell you all about that stupid date. How does that sound?”

You swear you’ve gone crazy, conversing with this dragon like a regular human, but you know he understands you. Ever since the first day you spotted him and took care of his wound, you’ve felt a connection to this dragon. From the way the dragon perks up, you can tell he does too.

You’ll be sad to see him fly off and rejoin his family when the time comes.

“I’ll see you tomorrow. Okay, handsome?” You grin, grabbing your things, and heading out of the clearing without another look back.

Baekhyun nearly roars in happiness. Once he’s sure you’re gone, he shifts back into his human form, a large smile coming to rest on his face. His mate just called him handsome, and she hasn’t even seen his human form yet. He’s so overcome with joy in this moment, it feels as if he’s floating on cloud nine, completely forgetting momentarily about the supposed date you have to go on the next day.

Taking a seat at the edge of the water, he stares at his reflection, goofy smile still resting on his face. He takes this time to look over his features, tracing them in the water, and creating small ripples where his finger makes contact with the water.

“She called me handsome,” he whispers to himself, still in slight shock. Leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees, Baekhyun continues to stare at himself in the reflection of the water. “See you tomorrow, beautiful.”

#part of the exo dragon series #dragon au #dragon exo #exo au #kpop #kpop au #exo #exo scenario #kpop scenario #baekhyun scenario #au #fantasy au

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qhostqizmo · 4 years

Text

In Her Honor

my last braincell: heheh soft....

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“Would you shut your mouth? You’re an animal; your opinion doesn’t matter.”

Like gravity, the pull on Amon’s instinct first was towards the loudly uttered gasp from the woman beside him. Essätha’s gaze was wide with hurt, and she held to her throat as though she was choking; bleeding out from the infliction of a wound not visible to the eye. She appeared small and frightened; wavering on the edge of flight. What flame usually burned so bright from within her; a guiding light, a warm fire to rest, a blazing passion, seemed to have suddenly collapsed.

His anger was red. A kettle about to burst beneath pressure; shaking, sputtering, steaming. There was molten lava searing in his veins made of hate and fury. Rubber stretched too thin, ready to snap. He knew this feeling; had felt the bitter metallic taste on his tongue like blood when he became almost dizzy with rage. Less a man, more an animal frothing at the mouth ready to charge; ready to pounce and rip and shred and bite and claw. It was a wrath he took years to learn to control and push beneath the surface.

His fingers felt more like claws now, turning in to bury biting fingernails into palm as a white-knuckled fist formed. With breathing heavy and loud, the nobleman strode forward in a few short steps. The man’s shirt fabric was wrinkled in his fist in seconds, and he blindly reached for the hilt of his sword without thought.

“Lord Amon-”

Abernathy’s hand was firm upon his shoulder, but he could barely distinguish his soft voice beneath the ringing in his ears. Teeth bared like a snarling animal, he dragged the man up from the ground with hissing, snorting breathes.

“Release him, Amon,” Sulhadur chided gently beside them, his expression troubled. “This isn’t how we resolve conflict.”

Grasping at his arm, the man gagged for air as his collar tightened around his throat. The whites of his eyes were ghostly pale; visible as his searching stare frantically ran up and around for some sign of aid.

“How dare you speak to her like that?” He snarled, ignoring the unsettling charge in the air from his companions as he shook the young man.

“I can’t… breathe…”

Snarling, he shook the man while the sun caught dangerously off his blade pressed close to the fellow’s throat.

A fearful squeak caught his attention, as a small tug pulled upon the bottom of his cloak. Amon’s eyes flickered down. The tension in his shoulders grew more rigid; as though expecting an attack.

Pri’cha stared up at him with their innocent, almost unreadable expression. Something in the cleric’s parted-mandibles though spoke to their shock; and their terror as they spoke apprehensively, “Lord Anon, are you well?”

Well? No, he felt raw and savage. Something however, in the trusted Thri-Kreen’s look made him doubt his brutish advances just enough to slacken the man down to his heels. His arm was aching holding them up by their toes, anyway.

Looking back to regard the startled man, taking in large gulps of air now, he sneered viciously, “I challenge you to a duel; for Essätha’s honor.”

A round of audible gasps followed. A series of defiant responses filled the air; warning him not to be hasty. One voice cleared through them all; a sweet and beckoning call both soothing and energizing. Waves on the shoreline, birdsong in the morn on an early summer morn, the melody of a water cascading over babbling brooks and embers crackling in the fireplace.

“M’lord Amon, you don’t need to do this.”

Maybe she didn’t need this, but he did. The monster in him craved resolve. It wanted blood and violence. How many days would he spend otherwise, regretting letting such insult pass? How many times would he stare at himself in the mirror and be disgusted with himself? Or worse, how many times would he catch her staring off distantly with the ghost of hurt, and feel hollow, knowing he did not do enough? He hadn’t stood up for her; had not supported her, had not put his foot down and told the world it was enough. He had seen and heard enough. She deserved better; and true a better more rational soul may go about it differently, but he was hard and cruel and this is what he knew how to do.

Dumbfounded, the man gulped loudly as he looked him up and down. It took him a few moments to finally rasp, “Do you plan to play by the rules of honor, Lord?”

Amon thrust the man aside, watching him stumble as he readjusted the cuffs of his jerkin. “If you can manage to do the same. I recall there being a rule not to inflict insults during a match.”

The man worried on his neck with heaving breath. “There is also a rule not to meet or inflict damages prior to a dule, Lord Amon.”

He curled his lip at the man. “The challenged picks weapon of choice.”

Licking his lips, the man’s eyes went to the hilt of his blade, still in hand. “Swords?”

A glittering darkness crept into the nobleman’s triumphant stare. “Excellent.”

“Amon, you can’t be serious,” Adela weakly exclaimed. “This isn’t going to solve anything; duels are for bitter mad-men.”

He shot the tiefling a glaring look so icy she clammed up, though appeared somewhat unnerved by whatever his complexion showed.

To his surprise, Penimra came to his defense: “I never cared for duels, but they are quite common among gentlemen, Adela. They’re a symbol of honor, and one is considered a coward to refuse one. They’re not usually very dangerous; the first sign of blood, no matter how minor the wound, ends the duel, anyway.”

“That’s a stupid was to reassure yourself you still have honor.”

“Shh,” Ravamora quipped. “I want to see what happens.”

With Abernathy’s heeding words to stop this nonsense going unheard, and Sulhadur’s attempts at calming his demons hopeless, the pair drew their weapons and paced the span of teen feet away from each other. They turned to face, sabers drawn at the ready and poised.

Essätha was behind him, out of sight’s range. Amon was grateful. He wasn’t sure he wanted to see her expression. Was it still torn with crushing doubt? Or would she look at him like he was the beast he feared he was?

The Briarton Protector advanced first; boots scuffing against dirt. Blades clashed, running along each other. The man parried his weapon, and took a swing in retaliation. It bounced off Amon’s, his footwork shifting dust. A third clash; metal meeting metal in a harsh strike.

Tentatively, the man shuffled to try catching him at the side. Amon swung, knocking his blade back.

With more aggression, they came at the nobleman; arcing sword and side-stepped evading maneuvers. Each attack grew bolder; more cutthroat on both sides. It was well-paced, and the man was beginning to start to show his own nature; growling and bellowing a roar with each mighty swing. They were but two wild animals against each other.

Only, Amon felt he had something to lose here. Not his pride, but the message he would send the hard way: wound Essätha, and you would answer to his sword.

They circled like dogs, pivoting and hopping away and back again to meet in an exchange of strikes. As Amon’s sword came crashing down again, the man’s wrist twisted, exposing an open area. Instead of taking the opportunity to slash or stab, Amon moved in swiftly; striking his knee into the man’s left side.

Yelping, they tried to recover. Not fast enough to bring their blade up, Amon forcefully knocked it aside with his own. The blow was more than anticipated; throwing the man’s out of his hand. He gasped with surprise, but didn’t have time to recuperate when Amon’s fist struck him right in the jaw.

They hit the ground. Groaning, the man tried to push himself up. Blood dribbled out of the side of his mouth and into the swirling dirt.

Quickly, the nobleman raised his boot and slammed him back into the dirt, where he belonged. The air came out of his lungs in a rush; snarling at the man as he pinned them down.

“I’m going to let you get up. When I do, I expect you to look Miss Essätha in the eye, and apologize to her for your daft, cruel, and uneducated comment.”

“… Aye,” the man wheezed, staring up at the boot grinding into his tunic. He gave a final, short nod as he finally met the nobleman’s expecting glance.

Sneering one final time, the nobleman removed his footwear from the man’s chest. He slid his sword back into its sheath.

As his eyes traveled away, the man jerked upward; his hand reaching for the hilt of his broadsword.

Amon moved to react; reaching for his blade at the same time, and he paused. The man appeared frozen. His face was a painting of irritation, but his eyes were panicked as they darted wildly around.

Just as caught off guard as the man was, he looked for the source of the problem. His eyes finally traveled to Essie, her hand extended with wisps of magic dancing off her fingertips. She exhaled in relief as the nobleman stepped aside, releasing the man from the grasping force of magic she had held him with.

Penimra tisked. “Ungentlemanly conduct. You lack dignity, and would surely be thrown out of any court and lose and good justice and honest praise to your name. Per the rules, anyway.”

Arms crossed, Abernathy, too, grunted at the younger man and shook his head. “That would have been a low blow, especially to so wisely do around one’s comrades. I don’t know if I should applaud your bravado, or hit you upside your head for your stupidity.”

The wrath inside of the nobleman cooled rapidly; the sweat still dripping down his temples from the squabble. He tore his eyes away from his friends; moving to surround the shrinking form of the scared man, to where Essie stood, watching him. She wore a look of concern that troubled and gnawed on his own heart worringly.

He moved to approach her slowly; weary his outburst may frighten her. He was not a soft man. He was something else. But he did not want her to fear him. The idea of her being scared of him; of her flinching from his touch, avoiding his glance, unwilling to be close… His stomach churned uncomfortably at the thought. His lungs felt restricted. A stutter crept into his heartbeat; and he dared to pray, silently, to the Gods for her not to hate him.

She reached for his hands, and the familiar flutter entered his chest as she gently took hold of him; rough and callused and broken as he was.

“You aren’t hurt, are you m’lord?” Her eyes darted over him; back to his face.

He offered her a half smile. “I’m fine.”

“You could have been hurt,” she fretted; cradling his hands close to her chest. Her fingers fiddled with his, placing her eyes down to them as she whispered hoarsely, “You shouldn’t have done that. I would have gotten over it. I wouldn’t have been able to get over you getting hurt because of me.”

“I would have gotten hurt because of my own choices, not yours,” he corrected, a sense of guilt wavering his confidence.

Essätha remained silent, nervously rubbing his hands.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have… I shouldn’t have done that, without your permission or blessing.”

“I’m just glad you’re unharmed.”

Amon pulled his hands away from hers, gradually. He reached for her face. His hands were slow; careful, delicate to cradle her cheeks in his palms. There was a spark in her eyes that returned to in a shimmering gleam. She breathed in deeply, and out slowly, as searching gazes met and danced over each other.

“No one should ever disrespect you like that. You are a beautiful woman. There’s nothing wrong with your ability to change how you appear. It doesn’t change the person you are, it doesn’t change the magnificence and charm inside you, and it doesn’t make you less of the lovely, thoughtful lady that you are. It certainly doesn’t make you an animal by any means.”

He could see the flush on her skin as he felt it beneath his hands. Warm and radiant, she was glowing shyly and nervously beneath her quirky small smile, which grew beneath his gaze.

“You are very sweet, and very gentle m’lord,” she whispered with encouragement. “Thank you. I… think that’s all I really needed to hear.”

Her fingers threaded through his hair. He practically melted, feeling a shudder race down his spine as she touched him. The fluttering feeling was maddening in his chest now. There was something about the way she looked at him that felt like an echo to his own feelings, but was he seeing things? She appeared almost yearning; staring at him tenderly, a sparkle in her warm regard… It made him wonder if she felt the same burning in her chest; the flutter of butterfly wings, the weightless giddiness in his presence as he did being in hers.

She leaned into his touch with a grateful sigh as he held her face, lashes falling until she closed her eyes. When they opened again, he was drawn magnetically to them, to her. It was almost a push, a whisper in the back of his mind, a want that went well beyond flesh and into a something that people had only one flimsy, short-comings word for that didn’t could never encompass the whole of what he felt for her.

Her posture straightened, she leaned up to brush a kiss to his forehead as he leaned into the sun-shining aura of her space.

“No more duels,” she murmured in a voice that betrayed a hint of teasing. “I prefer m’lord entirely in one piece.”

A wild grin spread across Amon’s face. “Alright.”

Essie smiled radiantly in response, her forehead pressed to his as she closed her eyes. He’d preferred she’d left them open, so he could get lost in them a little longer. A sigh fell quietly out of him as he held her face fondly, wondering what could possibly be going through a mind as fascinating and kind as hers.

The nobleman closed his eyes, too; oblivious to the wandering gazes of his traveling compatriots locked on them both in their silent display of affection. In that moment, nothing else mattered.

#qhost story #Essatha Meduza #Amon Illiad #OTP: Essamon #softly written #ft: Noisy Bastards

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