#Who wants to hear me taking about them in every way possible because I volunteer
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Good omens has given me the great ability to reconnect every song I listen to to Aziraphale and Crowley, in every way possible and I could talk about it for hours
#crowly x aziraphale#aziraphale crowley#aziraphale x crowley#azirowley#aziraphel#aziracrow#crowley x aziraphale#ineffable husbands#good omens#crowley#ineffable lovers#ineffable partners#good ineffable omens#this is haunting me#save me from them#I only think about them everyday#I already got a playlist and I WILL TALK ABOUT IT#aziraphale and crowley#Who wants to hear me taking about them in every way possible because I volunteer
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Hi! I love your writing so much, you portray all the characters so accurately!! Could I possibly request the M6 with an MC that procrastinates a lot?
The Arcana HCs: M6 with a procrastinator MC
~ ... why do I feel personally called out by this lol
Dear procrastinators, you are not alone and you are not lazy. It is very likely that you experience executive dysfunction or are a perfectionist, and neither of those things say anything negative about you - brainrot ~
Julian
This man screams undiagnosed ADHD
He is painfully familiar with looking at several large tasks made up of lots of smaller tasks and mentally blue screening
It's such a common habit for him to put things off until the last minute and then do two days' work in an hour and a half that he just assumes it's the default way of functioning
So the first time you tell him about how you're going to put off practicing a spell until two hours before you need to use it, his reaction is just "mood"
You'll have to be the first of the two of you to bring it up and point out that it hurts your ability to function
Once you do, he's giving you all of his emotional support. You agree to hold each other accountable since neither of you can justifiably hold a grudge about it
Just don't say "I'll start working on this once you start working on that," or else you'll end up in a procrastination deadlock as you sit and experience the existential dread together
Asra
They don't seem to understand how much stress this causes you. They're the kind of easy-going person who shows up five minutes before an airplane flight
He assumes it's just your working style
Until they catch you stressed to the point of tears one morning because you know you have to take inventory today and you know you're going to wait til sundown and you know it'll keep you up late
He's immediately pulling you into a firm hug, rubbing your back and giving you little forehead kisses while you rant about it
Volunteers to begin tasks with you until you have the momentum you need
"Would you like me to read the numbers to you while you check? Or would you like to make some tea for us while I get started, and then you join me when you're ready?"
Faust is very good at reminding you to take breaks when you start to work too frantically
They will (lovingly) tease you about it
He will keep a kisses reward system and praise you until you blush over every effort
Nadia
She doesn't deal with this at all, but she does know what it's like to feel overwhelmed
Picks up on your struggle instantly
The moment she asked you to take over a murder investigation with 0 leads she saw the frozen dread on your face and knew
She doesn't want to cramp your style by imposing her own habits on you, so instead she'll ask you questions about your day's to do list and guide you through formulating a plan of attack
She's an excellent strategist, you're in very good hands
Tackling a big goal is a lot easier when you already have the steps planned out and can concentrate on one at a time until you've picked up enough steam to carry through
The struggle never goes away, of course, but in the moments when something unexpectedly big makes your brain begin to stall you can almost hear her silky voice in your ear:
"There is no such thing as only one problem, my darling. Look for where it breaks apart, and we'll conquer one piece at a time."
Muriel
He doesn't procrastinate things the way you do, but he certainly avoids uncomfortable issues for as long as possible until he's forced to confront them
He can tell that this is different. Sometimes the thing you put off is actually good and pleasant for you, you just can't seem to do it
More accurately, you can't seem to start
He notices you, and he notices how well you work once you've started. It's the part where you have to set up the tools, or write the first word, or get up out of your chair that makes you balk
There's a book on magic you need to read? He'll leave it open on the table to the chapter you mentioned, next to a pretty feather
If it's just a matter of getting up, he'll start sweeping the floor and ask you to move your seat
Sometimes he misreads the situation
You might be relaxing after having finished something on time for once, only for him to come in and start hustling you around because he thought you hadn't started yet. It's fun to call him on it and watch him blush
Portia
She cannot relate at all
Nobody can fit as many tasks into one hour as she can. Nobody can wrangle a to do list like she can. She gets stuff done
She might get frustrated with you at first
When she left you this morning, you had one thirty minute task to do before you could enjoy your day off, and now it's evening and you're stressed out because you still haven't done it yet
This makes no sense to her. Just do the thing
Once she realizes that it's not on purpose, she'll support you tirelessly. Tell her about your to do list
Oh, that task? Here's a few tips she follows to make it easier. An errand to that part of town? Here's a shortcut to try. You need to write a letter? She'll dictate the salutation and opening sentences to give you some momentum
It can be hard not to compare yourself to her productivity levels, but nobody has the unquestioning faith in you that she does. You'll be alright
Lucio
Procrastinating? He loves procrastinating
But only if it's something he'd rather not be doing. Or something that takes more effort than he thinks is worth it. Like chores
But when it's something that will make life easier, or something actually fun? It takes a while for him to notice, but once he does it really bothers him how much of a party pooper it is for you
Not to mention that when you get stressed, he gets stressed, and that's not fun
As loathe as he is to admit it, he knows he can be really annoying when he puts his mind to it. So that is what he does
He'll threaten to sing the entire score of Phantom of the Opera until you start doing the Thing that you need to do
All it takes is him mimicking the pipe organ's starting notes for Mercedes and Melchior to start whimpering, howling and barking:
"Don't get mad, you asked for it, MC." *deep breath* "BWAAAAAAAA! BWAM DUN DUN DUN DUUUNNNNN -"
Your productivity goes up but now you wince every time you see a chandelier
#ask arcana brainrot#the arcana#the arcana headcanons#the arcana hc#asra the arcana#julian the arcana#nadia the arcana#muriel the arcana#portia the arcana#lucio the arcana#the arcana game#the arcana fluff#asra alnazar#julian devorak#nadia satrinava#muriel of the kokhuri#portia devorak#lucio morgasson
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Can u write some fluff and comfort for grayson.
i would appreciate it <3
Of course! Thanks for the request - ✨
Duty Bound
a/n: added in some hurt/comfort and a slight touch of angst for this one, it's just how the story came to me :) my requests are still open, send me your ideas I'd love to hear them 😊
Warnings: almost break-up, arguments, feelings of neglect
Summary: Grayson has been busy with work, and you're starting to feel tired of coming in second. When you deliver an ultimatum, will it make or break your relationship?
Word Count: 2k
“I think you are the most beautiful girl I have ever laid eyes on, y/n, and I want to spend my days and my nights making you happy. I will do anything you ask, will take you anywhere you wish to go as long as I can come with you. Just please say you’ll be mine, and nothing could possibly make me any happier.”
A beautiful memory.
You sighed as you packaged the baked macaroni cheese into Tupperware containers and labelled them before putting them in the fridge, yet another dinner you’d eaten alone.
Your cat, Whiskers, wound himself around your legs and staring reproachfully at you with his wide, green eyes. Rolling your eyes, you filled his feeding dish and put it on the floor for him, earning a grateful squeak. You scratch just behind his ears, when you hear the lock turn in the front door and the heavy thud of your girlfriend’s work boots as she finally arrived home.
“I’m home, beloved! Oh, do I smell cheese?”
She appeared in the kitchen archway, her Enforcer jacket slung casually over her shoulder and her pristine white shirt unbuttoned to just above her cleavage. You fix her with faux annoyed stare.
“You do smell cheese…I’ve just put your dinner in the fridge.”
Grayson huffs, running her hands through her messy, silver streaked locks. “I’m so sorry, my love. There was a situation in the Undercity that required my attention.”
You rolled your eyes but smiled. “I suppose I’ll have to let you off then, won’t I? Sit down, I’ll warm up your dinner.”
She obeyed, sitting at your small table as you warmed the macaroni cheese and started a spinach omelette for her lunch the next day. Grayson started unlacing her boots, lightly smacking your ass whenever you passed her because she knew it made you blush. Whiskers however soon realised she was home and pawed at her laces until she lavished him with attention. She looked tired, and you knew she must’ve had a very busy shift. It seemed with every week she was the Chief Enforcer more lines carved their way into her handsome face.
“I swear, more and more Shimmer is being pumped into the Undercity and we still haven’t got a single idea on how, or who is behind it all. Every factory I shut down, two more pop up to replace it! Not to mention how many Enforcers I’m losing to those Shimmer crazed thugs! I’ve had to inform three more wives of their husbands’ deaths today! Three!”
You kiss her cheek and run your hands through her hair, massaging the nape of her neck to help her relax. “I think you need a break, Gray.”
She groaned with pleasure at your ministrations but scoffed at your words. “If I take a break, I think the entire station will collapse.”
You tried to remain bright, placing her meal in front of her and grinning as she dug in eagerly. “Well…maybe we can do something this weekend? Maybe go to that little vegan café we both like?”
“Sorry my love, I can’t. I volunteered to lead a seminar on firearm maintenance on Saturday, and the Council wants me to make an appearance at the charity gala on Sunday.”
“Oh, a gala! That could be fun, it’s been a while since we’ve gone to one, I’ll have to see if I can dig out one of my old dresses…”
Grayson swallowed, eyeing you apologetically. “About that…I’m sorry. I’d like nothing more than to have you on my arm, but as I’m there to represent the Enforcers, it wouldn’t please the Council.”
You try to keep your breathing even, turning back to the stove and flipping the spinach omelette carefully.
“So, I’m not going to see you this weekend at all?”
You hear the scraping of her chair and close your eyes to prevent tears from falling as strong, broad arms wrap around you and the scent of her fresh, citrus cologne fills your nose as she kisses your cheek and your neck, her short curls tickling your face.
“Please don’t be too upset, my love. I have a duty to the people of Piltover.”
You sighed, your entire body filling with leaden disappointment. You were so sick of this. “And what about your duty to me?”
Grayson pulls away from you, her mouth agape. “What do you mean?”
Your hands ball into fists. “This apartment is haunted by you, Gray! I’m only graced with the presence of your shadow!”
“My love, I-”
“You’re always working, and when you’re not at work, then you’re at the gym! It’s like you have no time for me anymore! You’d always rather be doing something, anything else, than spend time with me, your girlfriend!”
Grayson crossed her arms. “That’s not true. My work is very important, beloved. I cannot simply drop everything to indulge in personal leisure.”
“But your work doesn’t have to take over your entire life, Gray.”
Grayson’s eyes were like liquid steel, sharp and cold. “My work IS my life. I have spent years, decades getting to where I am now! I thought you understood that.”
Your chest felt tight, your whole body felt stiff, and a prickling heat was coating your skin. This was a losing battle. Grayson was a woman of honour, a paragon of justice and was bound to her duty. Serving and protecting the people of Piltover was her lifeblood. That would never change, perhaps could never change.
“Then I think I should stay with my sister for a while.”
Before Grayson could reply, you turned on your heel and headed into the bedroom, burying yourself under the duvet and letting your salty tears burn into your face.
The next day had gone by in a blur. Grayson hadn’t been in the apartment when you’d woken up, so you assumed she’d gone into work early. Weary from working so late, but pleased you were able to complete the wedding cake on time for that lovely couple, you stabbed your key at the rusty lock in your apartment door until it finally clicked open and allowed you entry.
The apartment was dark and silent, but you expected that. Grayson was either at her office or she was hitting the gym. Again. The satisfied high from working at your small bakery was ebbing away, leeched from you by the depression radiating from the walls that had once surrounded you with love and warmth. You were too melancholy to cook, so you order chilli oil noodles from your favourite takeout place and trudged into the bedroom.
Opening the wardrobe, you were greeted with several Chief Enforcer uniforms, all starched and ironed to perfection, the belts and buckles gleaming proudly in the dim lighting of the bedroom. You carefully pushed them aside, not wanting to crease them and reached for your jumpers hanging beside them. As you folded them, you tried to ignore the sharp aching of your heart which only intensified when you pushed Grayson’s uniforms back into place on the rail.
You were pushing her out of your life.
You growled internally at the intrusive thought. Grayson had pushed you away first, now you were just letting yourself fall from the impact. If this is what Grayson wanted, then she would reap what she had sown.
On the bed lay your frayed duffel bag, beaten up from the many camping trips you and Grayson took. Used to take. It was open, the soft material hanging apart like a mocking, laughing mouth. However, as you approached it to put the jumpers inside, there was a folded piece of paper that wasn’t there when you’d left for work. As you opened it, you gasped as you recognised Grayson’s efficient scrawl.
Giovanni’s. 7pm. Wear the red dress. Please come.
Your eyes widened. Giovanni’s, a small Italian restaurant where you’d had your first dinner date with Grayson. The red dress she mentioned had been the one she’d slowly peeled you out of that evening, the first time she’d ever touched you like that. It had been the perfect night. Your heart fluttered at the implications of the note. Did she want to recreate that night? Or was this the final goodbye? Glancing the clock, you quickly put on the dress she requested and touched up your makeup before dashing out of the door and hailing a cab.
When you arrived, the waiter smiled knowingly and led you to the private terrace which was lit with candles and fairy lights. There was only a single table, by which Grayson stood wearing a crisp, black dress shirt, matching trousers, and a red paisley tie exactly the shade of your dress. She pulled out your chair for you as you sat, somewhat dazed, and kissed your knuckles before taking her seat opposite you.
Her eyes were serious, her forehead creased with stress. “I came home at lunchtime. I wanted to surprise you, to apologise for my recent behaviour…but I forgot today was one of your workdays. Just another way I’m failing you as a partner, I suppose.”
You reached for her, entwining your slender fingers with her larger ones, the warmth of her hand travelling up your arm and into your chest. “Gray…I-”
“I saw the bag.” Her voice was a whisper, the dreadful confession staining her lips with sadness. “I realised then, that you meant it when you said you were leaving. You were absolutely right. To have driven you to this, it’s unforgivable.”
You can feel your own heart swell at her words, tears pricking at the corners of your eyes as you take in your forlorn lover, such a great, upstanding woman reduced to despair, her eyes pleading and so very remorseful.
“Gray, I do understand-”
Grayson silenced you with a gentle finger to your lips. “Please, my love, I need to tell you. You are the sun that wakes me at dawn, you are the stars that watch over me at night. You are the beat in my heart, the reason I thrive. I love you more than anything I have ever even comprehended. To neglect you this way, is the greatest pain I could have ever inflicted upon myself. You are why I work so hard, so make sure you will always be safe and never have anything to fear. But you were right, I let it consume me. It almost cost me everything I hold dear.”
It's everything you’ve needed to hear, and it takes every shred of your emotional self-control not to burst into relieved sobs. “Gray, I love you. Your sense of honour and your need to fulfil your duty are all part of you, and I love you even more for having these qualities. I just want to be able to share my life with you and know that you’ll always want to come home to me, see me, be with me.”
Grayson leaned forward, cupping your cheek. “I want for nothing more. My soul sings when I am with you, and you alone, beloved.”
Then she kisses you, and it’s just like the first time all those years ago. She cups your face with her warm hands and wipes away any tears falling, her soft lips caressing yours with care and reverence, the two of you pouring your deep love for each other into a kiss that’s been a long time coming. When you break apart, you’re sure you are blushing, and Grayson’s look of pure adoration warms you from the inside out. You eat a beautiful meal and as you stand from the table, Grayson ceremoniously gathers you in her arms, bridal style, making you squeal with surprise and delight.
“Hey! Gray! What are you doing?”
She nuzzles into your neck. “We are going home. I have a weekend of pampering to spoil you with.”
“But what about your weekend obligations?”
Grayson kisses you, tender and slow. “Marcus is leading the seminar on Saturday, and I’ve informed the Council that I will not attend the gala. They will likely not miss the Enforcer representation anyway. Now come, I have many plans for this evening and many of them involve much less clothing. Shall we?”
Sighing contentedly, you rest your head on her shoulder as she carries you away. “Let’s go home.”
#my writing#arcane#lesbian#fanfic#arcane fanfic#grayson x you#grayson x reader#fluff#comfort#hurt/comfort#anon ask#thanks anon!#anonymous#request#angst with a happy ending#light angst
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Hi hi!
So I'm considering approaching my bosses to ask if I can put together a presentation (that can possibly be adopted into our training model) regarding deconstructing ableist language within our field. I don't foresee them saying no but I do think that they may tell me I'm still too new and they don't want to put extra responsibilities on me. Even though I'd be volunteering to do this and I have volunteered myself to take on next steps earlier in the past, my bosses are very big into making sure their employees are taking care of themselves first and foremost and I have felt safe in disclosing my own conditions to them so they are aware that I sometimes have limitations that I don't feel comfortable speaking up about and they will do so for me. In preparation for that possibility I was thinking of actually going ahead and putting this together anyway because I think that it's something that could benefit the writing community as well.
A big reason why I think that this is so important (and can be used in all fields but is a huge deal in my own) is because disabled people are often times un- or under-employed. So when it comes to my field, we are lacking in representation of the very community that we serve. This leads to a lot of outdated language and it leads to a lot of inaccurate understanding of the individual that they are serving. The language that is often used regarding disabled people is language that paints us as sad and evokes pity. So somebody who has never worked with this or that person automatically has an image in their head based on that language and that is what they go into interactions with and it leads to poor experiences where caregivers and families and individuals themselves feel unseen and unheard and uncared for by the very people who are supposed to help amplify their voices.
How this could benefit the writing community is helping with ensuring that we're not intentionally excluding an entire group of people from narratives. I've talked about this before but I don't expect to see myself in every story nor do I want to see myself in every story but I'm very good at picking up on when people like me are not wanted or welcome in a story.
That being said, I'd really love to hear from other disabled people regarding things that have been said to them that wasn't meant to come off as aggressive or dismissive or ableist but did anyway. Two of my biggest phrases that I plan to focus on are suffers from and struggles with.
For example, I've had somebody say, "she suffers from hearing loss," about me. Well... no. I don't suffer from my hearing loss and I'm not some half drowned kitten in a thunderstorm. What happened is that I had an infection that, as a result of poor access to medical care, I experienced partial hearing loss in my left ear. This is something that compounds on top of my auditory processing disorder that I experience as a symptom of my cognitive disability, which is autism and ADHD.
I hope that the difference between the original statement and the way that I presented my own abilities was noticeable and I welcome discussion and suggestion from abled and disabled people alike. Obviously, I'm prioritizing disabled voices but abled voices do have their space in this conversation. Why? Because it has to be a conversation and it has to be about learning and no gaps can be closed if abled people feel as though they can't ask questions or can't speak as somebody who loves a disabled person who has also experienced disrespect of language.
I also want to hear from queer and BIPOC people with disabilities on this topic because it has been my experience while working in this field that both populations are underserved and language plays a huge part in that not only by being ableist but also by being anti-LGBTQ+ or racist. My goal with undertaking this project isn't only to help my colleagues address and check their biases in real time but also to become a better advocate and hopefully help to increase services for people in my community who need it and are ignored.
#long post#disability#disabled#actually disabled#writing community#idk what to tag this as actually but this feels like a good start
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Prompt idea:
IronStrange no!powers AU wherein Stephen goes into education after his accident, adopts America, and realizes that he has a passion for working with kids, so he takes a job teaching biology and chemistry at a private academy for gifted children in K-12 in upstate New York. It isn't long before he becomes the PTA liason for the school, and immediately he's proven to be great at his job.
Meanwhile, Tony Stark has been divorced for a few years now, but his family has only grown with the adoption of Peter and Harley. After discovering that the boys have been struggling with a bullying problem, Tony decides to move all three of his kids to this academy Pepper and May had told him about, and buys a house in the area. All three of his kids thrive there, and Peter and Harley won't shut up about their new science teacher, so when they come home with a flyer from him asking parents to volunteer for the annual autumn carnival, Tony finds himself attending a PTA info meeting and immediately becomes smitten with the alluring Doctor Strange. Pretty soon, Tony finds himself volunteering for every PTA event just to spend a little more time with Stephen, completely oblivious to the fact that his growing crush isn't unrequited. Bonus points if America is fast friends with Peter and Harley, and Morgan adores Stephen too. Additional bonus points if Stephen is just as oblivious as Tony- gotta love that pining, lol.
Sorry if that's too much detail for a prompt, I just love your style so much and I think you could really do something like this justice
Can you hear me singing?! I really love this prompt, thank you so much for sending it!!
It’s gonna take me a while unfortunately, as I’m currently working full time and writing some other fics, so I wrote this whole thing for the meantime (I’m thinking the actual fic is going to have to be chaptered to get the full effect, I’m getting a million ideas already for this one).
~
This prompt kind of ties in with this idea I’ve been wanting to write about Stephen actually delivering America, and that’s how they meet and he actually meets and adopts her through the connection there.
The idea has been sitting in my list for a while, because I’ve never had anything to follow up with, but I think it would be cool to add in this fic (because I love Doctor Dad and backstories, I’m sorry).
Maybe America’s Mum’s have an accident on the way to the hospital, and Stephen has to emergency deliver her because he’s the only Doctor available at the time.
Maybe her Mum’s both passed away then, and she’s an orphan baby now
Or maybe they’re all okay, but another accident years down the track claims their lives, and Stephen finds out she’s an orphan
Or he meets her again in the hospital because she goes looking for the doctor who delivered her while she’s staying there recovering herself from the accident. Even better if this is in the same timeline as Stephen’s accident, and they’re both patients and they build a connection during the long hours of having no where else to go.
He wasn’t really looking to be a Dad, but something deep inside of him is really drawing him to her. He can’t stand to let her fade into the unknown, so he puts his hand up for carer, and later he makes the adoption official.
Let’s headcanon she’s really smart, but because of her dislexia, it’s hard for her to put her thoughts on paper. So Stephen tutors her and they have these brainstorming nights where they just talk science all night long, and he realises he likes this, teaching kids, they’re so optimistic and artistic and anything is possible to them.
He lost that optimism spark a long time ago, but she’s reigniting it again.
So he starts looking for teaching jobs, thinks of maybe starting his own after school club or something, when an old college professor of his, who finished out his last working years at a gifted school, retires and actually recommends Stephen. He’s heard about Stephen’s accident and thinks this’ll be good for him.
It has to be a sign, that the job practically found Stephen, and it’s so close to home they could walk, and America gets a free education and all the resources she wants- whatever career she decides to pursue.
So he accepts the job. Has five crisis’, almost a breakdown before he starts, but America drags him in the school gates their first morning. And he’s worried, that he’ll hate these kids, or they’ll hate him, and they’ll be annoying and disinterested, disrespectful, or ask a million questions about his hands.
But they hit him rapid fire with questions from the very first bell, and when they realise Stephen really knows his stuff, they’re actually super excited to be in his class.
This won’t be a year of boring lectures from a textbook, Stephen is interesting, and not afraid of gore or messiness. His classes are interesting and real, and it hits Stephen one day, that these kids are wanting to grow up and be doctors and research scientists because of him.
He may not be the king of an operating theatre anymore, but being the king of a classroom of young minds, where he’s making hundreds of other masters of their craft is… wow, this is so much more important than anything else he’s ever been and he loves it.
Meanwhile, Tony has primary custody of his three kids. He’s stepped back a little from work and the limelight (leaving Pep to be CEO of Stark Industries) and he’s really just enjoying being a Dad. These kids are healing traumas he didn’t even knew he had. He still can’t believe he’s kind of good at it.
Pepper and May are still involved in the kids lives, they’ve all got their routines and their family dynamic works seamlessly. They’re both thriving in their careers, and Tony is equally happy for them.
He isn’t at all prepared for the day he’s phoned to the principals office, and Peter and Harley are both pouting and Harley has an actual black eye, and for a second, Tony questions his humanity, because he’s going to kill whoever did that to Harley.
He fusses over the boys until one of the school officials comes along and invites them into the office. Neither of the kids would tell him anything, they’ve never been so shut down with him before, practically sticking to one another silently and refusing to tell him anything.
It all makes sense when he’s told the boys have been the targets of bullying at the school. It literally shatters his heart, and he doesn’t understand why they never told him, until it’s revealed half of the awful things said to them are mockeries surrounding their relationship with Tony.
“I bet you don’t even know Tony Stark” “He’s just using you for good PR because you’re so pathetic” “He only adopted you to look good” “Tony must be ashamed that you’re his sons” “I hope Tony comes to his senses and drops you back on the doorstep you came from.”
Tony un-enrols them on the spot, shouts some choice words to the heads of the school who have allowed this to go on to the point where it became physical, and takes the boys home and cuddles them for two days straight, heartbreakingly icing Harley’s black eye.
Late at night, Pepper and May have heard all about it, while the boys are sleeping. Tony’s wanting names- the kids names, family names, Tony wants to take down anyone and everyone associated with whoever has been picking on his kids, but the women talk Tony out of becoming a bully himself, pushing him into devoting his energy to the kids and giving them a fresh start.
When Pepper is dropping Morgan back off at the end of the weekend, she and Tony discuss the situation, and Pepper tells him about a school for the extraordinarily gifted, like their three children.
She’s heard good things, and she’ll look into it for him. She’s not really happy with Morgan’s school either, and Tony agrees, and it might be easier if all three kids went to the same school.
A week later, Tony is ushering three nervous faces in the gates, holding all three hands. He’s keeping it together- business cold, hoping if he’s calm, it’ll calm the kids. He spends the day stress pacing and calling the school to check that there hasn’t been any incidents.
His said his goodbyes in the morning to three quiet, anxious children, and is bombarded at the gates that afternoon by three smiling, laughing, shouting kids, all talking over each other to tell him about their day.
Their hair is in shambles, they’re literally buzzing. Meanwhile Tony’s been on the verge of vomiting all day with anxiety.
A couple weeks go by, and the hype stays. Tony feels good about making the decision to enrol them there, so good that he’s happy to pack up their life and move closer to the school. Out of their apartment and into a home. It’s a little further away from Pep and May, but they’re happy with the move, too.
Every afternoon the kids brag for hours about school, and Tony hasn’t missed that Doctor Strange is the favourite teacher by far as the boys are concerned. They love his science lessons, love his teaching, his experiments, his guidance. Also, his homework is actually cool, even Tony can admit that, so he gets bonus points.
A few months go by, and Tony is actually hoping parent teacher meetings come up soon, because he so wants to meet this Doctor Strange, who is good as God to the boys. Tony’s even considered reaching out and making one, under a false pretence that he wants to check the boys are warming well to their new school.
So when the boys come home one day, a couple months later, with a flyer from the one Doctor Strange about the upcoming PTA meeting, Tony see’s it as the perfect opportunity to meet the man. They’re also seeking donations for the autumn carnival, and Tony is sure he can sort something out with Pep, so that he has an excuse to speak to the man one on one.
Peter and Harley are insisting he should go, he’s gonna love Doctor Strange, and honestly, Tony’s kind of got a weird little crush? on the man. Even though they’ve never met, the boys have talked so much about him Tony honestly feels like he knows him.
So, he puts on some nice dress pants and a button up and more casual jacket, and goes to his first ever PTA meeting.
He phones May in the car park, kind of freaking out, and she talks him into taking the last steps into the building.
Tony has loved being a Dad, and he’s done all this school stuff before, but suddenly, he’s really spooked at the idea of attending an actual PTA meeting. Suddenly he’s feeling totally inadequate being there.
He’s glued himself to the drinks table at the entrance, and Tony Stark has never, ever been shy, but he feels like he doesn’t really belong there.
Meanwhile, Doctor Strange has noticed a new face at the meeting, and makes his way over to welcome him. He wasn’t expecting Tony Stark, but he’s glad at least one of his students parents read the flyer and actually turned up.
They talk, and Stephen calms him down while Tony is very steadily growing heart eyes.
Stephen is so authoritative, and well spoken, and intelligent, and actually Peter and Harley don’t brag enough, this man is incredible. He’s so thorough and clear running the meeting, he’s organised and has such great ideas.
Tony’s afraid to stand up out of his seat afterwards, he’s fairly certain he might be more than a little turned on.
So he says his goodbyes and goes home to 1) research more about this Doctor Strange, and 2) find something good to donate/contribute to this carnival so he has an excuse to talk to the man again.
They meet casually here and there, talk politely, and Tony finds any and every excuse for them to bump into each other again as soon as possible. It might as well be Christmas the day Tony finds out Harley’s new best friend America is Stephen’s daughter!!!!
She’s got an infinite invitation to the Stark house, so long as her Dad drops her off and picks her up so Tony can see him.
Tony gets more and more involved in the PTA, just to be close to Stephen, and they get friendlier and friendlier, and Tony’s crush is bigger than Jupiter now, and all the kids are teasing him about it, but who could blame him?
Stephen is perfect, and such a good Dad, and god Tony just wants the man in his house for the rest of their lives.
Maybe they have a lot of almosts.
Getting stuck together at he top of a ferris wheel at the carnival, but they never quite kiss.
They go tea tasting together, and Tony could fucking spit it back in his mug, but he swallows every sample for Stephen.
They decorate the hall for prom, and chaperone and they almost kiss again under the lights like a teenage dream. But they don’t.
Tony’s so fucking desperate he might just steal a kiss.
Maybe on the school camping trip they go on, or at the competition where Harley and America win first prize for their invention. Maybe while they’re cooking for charity work, or when Tony invites Stephen to the tower and lets him poke around at their research.
In the end, it’s simple. It late at night, and goodbyes are too hard when they’re this tired.
Tony kisses Stephen, and later, when his head is clear, he can’t believe that Stephen actually kissed him back. He literally goes to bed smiling that night.
It’s Stephen who suggests their first date, and everything falls into place from there.
Eventually, America and Stephen pack up their apartment and move into the Stark’s house, and they do bonfires, and light marshmallows. Friday nights are for movie marathons, and Saturdays are usually spent brainstorming world changing devices and medicines.
They’re happy, and in love, and a family.
Tony and Stephen both adopt all children, and Stephen gets to know Pepper and May, and they all go together to the kids big functions, and share tissues and embarrass them all every time.
And even well past the older kids graduation, Tony is a familiar face around school.
The husband of everyone’s favourite Doctor Strange, always at his husbands side, practically a trophy-spouse, making sure everything is in order and his husband is happy and successful in his endeavours.
Everyone knows them, everyone loves them. They’re the it couple, even though they’re both in their fifties now.
They visit the kids at college all the time, and vacation most of the rest of their spare time.
They’re happy, and eventually they downsize to a small cottage and live a simple life together in one another’s company, far from everything that was difficult in their earlier lives.
They watch the kids take over Tony’s company and do great things, and they feel so incredibly lucky this is their lives. It’s been perfect.
#ironstrange#supreme family#ultimate supreme family#Doctor Dad#Iron Dad#Stephen Strange#Tony Stark#ask#marvel#Stephen & Tony
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I do get very frustrated with the "how can you tell me to vote for x dem/leftist" and "I'm not going to vote for anyone" takes because like
demonstrably, one side at least entertains the possibility of governmental reform and freedom of speech and anti corruption laws and undoing gerrymandering and voter suppression. another side is adamantly against it and has spent countless millions to make an environment where violent racism and voter suppression and domestic terrorism against minorities is PROMOTED and UNPUNISHED.
during Trump's election I told all my friends after a certain point: "if you vote third party or for Bernie because of principle, knowing that they will not have a chance to become president, or if you sit out, you are saying to me that you are okay with what Trump is saying about Mexicans. You are going to have to look me in the face when the day after the election, a crowd walks through town and chants "go home" to every person who isn't white. You are saying you would rather give up and let it happen than accept that this is what we have to work with in our society as it stands. And if you decide to not vote because you want to keep your moral purity you better sign up immediately to go into policy and change our electoral college, and change how government officials are paid, and to work on anti corruption laws. You have to put in the work somehow to prove to me that you actually want the world to be better, because by putting trump in office you are making it HARDER and MORE DANGEROUS for me to do that activism."
and guess what fucking happened. the day after the election. in my town.
guess whose friends don't do anything but complain on the internet. Who don't call their politicians and who don't donate and who don't volunteer.
by sitting out and for voting against the nominee they said they would rather put trump in the office than to put a stop to white nationalism. they would rather put trump in the office than empower an administration that wouldnt gut the EPA (which by the way got investigated for misuse of funds and embezzlement under trump lmfao). they would rather put trump in office than empower an administration that probably would leave the majority of the state department alone to do effective work across the globe on most issues.
there is no moral choice except to keep that party out, and go leverage the tools we have to push the more malleable party to be better. And you know what, every us president is going to have blood on their hands until the day we dismantle the whole fucking military. None of us are going to live to see that day so we owe it to the future generations to set up a world where that WILL be possible.
WHO actually chased down the big banks? WHO actually chased down sketchy political donations? WHO actually enshrines laws that protect whistleblowers at least in name?
Getting big money out of politics, getting lobbyists out of politics, getting whistleblower protections and getting more independent-thinking government officials who are of minority backgrounds and empowering them to do the work they are experts in -- that is how we change the US society. And that will never happen under a conservative republican government.
Working for a government agency now I hear about how hard it was for good people to get good work and changes made in their jobs, even if it wasn't political at all! Because promoting better workplaces and a safer environment and green energy and food security and better infrastructure and better healthcare is all, apparently, Political. People were moved, fired, hushed up, and replaced with stooges during the last presidency. On the ground levels of government where people are really trying to make a difference.. And now they are ABLE to do the good work bc this administration is a) more inclined to want those things and b) is more inclined to keep its nose out of that, since they actually tend to respect the hierarchy of government.
If you DONT vote, or if you vote third party, the statistics and history show that we will end up with increasingly fascist and hostile government from top to bottom, that is NOT malleable to public opinion in any way shape or form.
We live in a terrible fucking world, alright? The rich protect their own interests and old white men protect the Norms and Biases that have kept them in power and kept the world quiet for so long. We don't have a lot to work with but the option to sit back is to allow another monster like Trump and Bush take over, who will UNDO many great improvements normal people have worked so hard to get implemented into policy, get rid of the people YOU WANT to be making policy on the ground, and IMPOSE WORSE POLICIES for everyone.
There is only so fucking much we can do with this fucking mess of a world where the figureheads are all rich buddies at the same country clubs and all of them laugh about arms deals like it's a trade on free and for sale, but like. Demonstrably. Demonstrably the only way to make sure the government gets incrementally better is to keep democrats in office.
And yes if you locally have a democrat up and comer who you like better than your old rep then yeah vote the old bastards out of office. But fucking hell literally when you are voting for a president you're voting for a whole administration and ideology about government. And sitting out IS LETTING SOMEONE ELSE'S VOTE FOR FASCISM COUNT MORE THAN YOURS!
Everyone has the potential to be a single issue voter. For a long time it was whether a politician was pro choice or not. Remember? But when the choice is between a Democrat who is prolife and a Republican who is pro life, you can't sit out. Because when the republican is in office, they are more likely to put in judges and officials and policies that will be incredibly restrictively prolife, and the dem is less likely to do that and more likely to leave it up to the states.
like god I hope we get an anti war presidential nominee, I hope we get a pro choice nominee, I hope we get a pro labor nominee, I hope we get someone willing to buck decades and decades of fundraising and lobbying and form their own moral stances but most of all I hope we don't end up with another round of hobbling government agencies, and silencing any and all dissenters and whistleblowers, and putting in even more conservative judges across the country and in the supreme court, and I hope we don't give a green light to fucking fascists everywhere to run rampant and hurt people and promote hatred because we're too busy eating each other alive about moral purity.
I hate the world we live in. I know the most important differences we can make are on the ground, volunteering with each other and doing actions in our communities. But it becomes infinitely harder to do that under certain administrations.
And if you still don't agree then you better fucking get out there on your hands and fucking knees to make the world better.
Yeah it's fucking unfair to ask minorities to do the work. But the other option is what?
Sitting in your internet armchair being angry at people and refusing to act because *they* should do it hasn't done fucking shit in your community. Yeah *they* should be better. That doesn't mean we get a free divine indulgence to let things get worse.
Take breaks? Sure. Tell people to do their own research and growth? Sure. But when it comes to bettering the world and there is a choice to potentially maybe make it better or definitely make it worse you have to act.
#us politics#personal#long post#i am angry! i am tired!#i am sick of voting for politicians who dont represent my moral views on very important issues!#i am! i am!!!!!!!#i do not want to sit at the healthcare planning table with someone who is prolife but#id rather sit with someone who is prolife but willing to listen on this planning table to every voice and come to a compromise on policy#rather than one who is prolife and crushes every other voice because they feel like they got a blank check to make policy no matter what
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Shisui and Kisame being on opposite sides/enemies kinda made me think of a Hunger Games AU. Just imagine the type of chaos two tributes from different districts allying and sticking by it would cause on the capitol 😭(also the angst potential??? Jesus)
But that begs the question, would the stunt that EverLark pulls with the nightlock berries even work with KisaShi in this scenario?
I think they “allowed” it in HG because they were from the same district, but I think that would be harder to achieve in this AU.
Not to say that I think that these sacrificial idiots would not do the stunt fully expecting to die, because they absolutely would.
( They did kill themselves in canon for the causes they believed in, so if there was a possibility that them dying that way did more good that harm, i think they would take it)
(Also i have no ideia who's Katniss and who's Peeta in this scenario, i think they both have the potential to be either them)
(Also also, i have thoughts about the reaping itself but i didn't want to derail the subject away from KisaShi, so let me know if you wanna talk about that lmao)
And, would KisaShi even manage to end up playing the romantic act? I feel like they would lean more in the friendship thing because Peeta an Katniss had known each other before the games, so that gave them something to work it, but Kisame and Shisui literally would only have assumed hostility. I feel like it would suit them more to have romance later.
Anyways, so sorry this is so long, the revival the HG fandom got in tiktok just got me really happy
(Do you have any thoughts on this AU? Maybe even another duo that would be interesting to see as Peeta and Katniss? Would love to hear opinions! No pressure though! ��� )
xoxo
Nalyvia, babe, I haven't interacted with HG in a long time so its very dusty in my mind... But, frankly, I love this.
You should also know that I am (affectionately) cursing you.
I was never a fan-fan of HG (I'm always a bit more happy-escapist, I say like I don't write angst and read non-fiction 🥴) but you unlocked my brain with this one. This was written via voice-transcript because the brainstorming wouldn't stop and my fingers aren't fast enough. It took half an hour to edit this 🤣
To feign normalcy for a moment, I agree that romance would be amazing later. If they somehow both survived, maybe the crowds at the Capitol rioted or something, then can you imagine the tension and looks across rooms? The winners don't exactly socialise amongst each other, probably for fear of collaboration, so it's just glimpses at functions and shit....ARGH
At the same time my horrible goblin brain would LOVE a lovers speed run, like imagine an adrenaline kiss and then it's all angry and they bite and the crowd is going BALLISTIC 😵👀
Okay, back to my honest reaction to this ask.
I lost it, like dropping a ball of yarn and it won't stop rolling and unravelling. Except I didn't expect to lose it so imagine I didn't know the yarn was there and went flying when I tripped on it. Except the yarn is a daisy chain of writhing poisonous snakes and they're also on fire and I'm on fire and everything was very much out of hand ✨🥹
Disclaimer: I planned this so much, it's basically begging to be written. However, my interest in delving into HG is extremely low (ha!) so if anyone would like to collaborate on this idea, then DM me.
To fit the Narutoverse characters into the HG social structure... We need to rethink exactly why the districts are shaped and viewed the way they are. Also only one champion per reaping because I can't be bothered with thinking about expendable people and having them clog up the plot.
Konoha is the first village. It's the biggest, the winner of every war, it's the largest and probably the richest. It is District One: Lumber, Military, Agriculture, mercantile goods.
Who is District Twelve? I would say Ame. It's poor, there very little there, small population, overlooked until it's too late. Nagato (volunteering for Konan) was be the first and only champion to win for this district (Yahiko was killed for resisting the Reaping and inciting civil unrest when Konan was called).
Kiri is somewhere in the middle. They are where the capitol's Naval fleet is based and all funding goes to public offices there, leaving the locals to forge weaponry and build ships or starve in poverty. They have a long history of revolutionary excitation and this means the Capitol are particularly brutal with them. District Six.
Plotline background!
Shisui survived and won the games when he was a preteen. He was picked, he trained hard (as all District One Champions are), and he absolutely demolished the competition. Because winners are so common from the top few districts (in keeping with the Five Great Shinobi Nations, the others are Uzushio (hold your horses, wait for it), Kumo, Iwa, Suna, with Kiri as the problematic straggler) they have policies in place to give the champions higher social status. Shisui is chosen to be the bodyguard of a local Elder, Danzo.
When his young cousin Itachi is chosen at a Reaping a few years later, Shisui defies his new social status (snubbing the Elder Danzo) and volunteers in Itachi's place. There is absolute scandal and Shisui is threatened by the Elder and Peacekeepers (ROOT) into allowing Itachi to compete as intended and not make waves. With the support of some of his fellow District One winners (Kakashi, who was traumatised that his fellow competitor and best friend Obito was killed off by the organisers because they both couldn't win, and Tenzo, who was personally trained in one of Elder Danzo's fight rings to ensure he won money and political favours that year) Shisui stands firm.
Meanwhile, Kisame has grown up in the shipyards of Kiri. His parents were both killed in failed uprisings and he had to mature quickly. Because he is so tall and strong, he has survived where many of his peers haven't and he was able to get his hands on food and shelter because he could work so hard. He has grown up with the mutterings and stories of the disillusioned around him and he truly hates the Capitol (and, to a lesser extent, the Top Five Districts, who are considerably richer and more successful than the rest and seen as largely complicit). When he's chosen, the shipyard community descends on him and he's stuffed into a secret underground collective that are looking to make yet another run at revolution. They need Kisame to not only win the games but provide them access to the Capitol. He needs to survey how the whole city functions, how to gain access to the main buildings both in Kiri as well as in the Capitol, and he needs to incite revolutionary fervour in the other districts if he can. Zabuza and Mei, two previous Champions, are able to swing themselves onto Kisame's 'prep team' and the trio set off for the Capitol.
Plot thickens!
In the Capitol, Shisui is the clear favourite. He's their darling, a familiar face and a proven good bet (he shocked them all as a kid, but now he's a man and only more talented/skilled, as well as old enough for sex appeal to also factor into his campaign). He is constantly playing an act, even in his rooms, because every single member of his team is in Danzo's pocket and Shisui knows that Danzo is going to control him and punish him if he's not extremely careful. However, one of the guards subtly does let him breathe a little more.
Shisui wows the crowd at the parade by wearing a richly decorated silk kimono (as Konoha includes luxury fabric and mercantile goods) that appears to blossom with real branches and flowers before bursting into flames (Shisui looks very hot when on fire ok) (I wanted to do the Katniss moment, it's a need, and also Shisui IS an Uchiha and it is KONOHA so fire has to be in there, let's say the fire is because.... Forest fires? They burn fields every year and it's visible from the Capitol? Idk let me have this)
Kisame, however, absolutely robs the show for District Six because, in his ship-shaped chariot, he's (done a Finnick) draped in just a bit of net and oiled up like a sea god. He's blue (because I say so 😤) and tattooed to high heavens and... It's a lot of muscle, a lot of man. The dark horse, if you will.
Kisame isn't one to lie or deceive, that's what the officials and Capitol do, but this is justice to turn it back on the lot of these rich fuckers. Mei has way too much creative license. Zabuza is making a lot of bets to ensure they get as much money as possible as well as sneaking off at every chance to scout the city. The crowd are so delighted that two Kiri champions have stepped up to prepare this new one, it's very fun to see familiar faces again.
They are massive rivals. Shisui is trying to play a political game here and fuck up the whole party. Kisame is trying to incite a revolution and Shisui is part of the enemy in his eyes.
They get into the arena. Its a labyrinth outside of the capitol that they have to escape. Closest to District Two, Uzushio.
Lots of hunting, killing. Shisui starts causing problems because he's so fast that half of the others are tracking him and failing spectacularly. Kisame, meanwhile, is killing the hyperagressive ones without mercy whilst trying to form alliances with the more downtrodden districts.
Cutscene to Mei and Zabuza who are fucking around and finding out with the capitol and meet elder danzo who lets some stuff slip about district one and shisui and shit.
Cutscene to one of Danzo's guards, that had been making life horrible for Shisui, pushing another over a balcony to terrible injury. Another bodyguard is sent from District One. It's revealed to be Kakashi in disguise, with Tenzo (who has a history as one of Danzo's private fighters) having been the one to maim the other guard and who was the friendly but silent guard watching Shisui's back~
The President (I completely forgot lmao) is Kaguya! Games organiser is Zetsu I guess
Kisame meets contestant Anko (they met during the rallying at the Capitol before this, obvs, but just bear with me dammit), from the newly formed Sound District (she was previously from Konoha but, when the new district was formed for medicinal and scientific manufacturing shit stuff blah blah then she was transferred) and manages to recruit her before realising that she's originally Konohan. He belatedly remembers her strange behaviour (exchanging secret messages) with Shisui and she reveals to him that it's not what he might assume. Anko goes off to help the other (subtly because cameras, so want to make a statement but also don't want to get nuked by the organisers) converted competitors and Kisame finds himself facing Shisui at last (they squared up in the Capitol obvs but that was brief posturing and UST), who was secretly watching on to make sure Kisame didn't kill Anko.
They fight.
It's badass.
(Small scenes of various Capitol reactions. Danzo is smug, thinking Shisui will put Kisame down and quiet whispers about political dissent as well as his own disobedience. Kakashi and Tenzo watch from behind Danzo's shoulders, hidden by Danzo's personalised Peacekeeper helmets. Zabuza and Mei watch with wariness for Shisui's professional skill/speed compared to Kisame's strength and creativity, as well as growing realisation -from the interactions with Anko etc - that more districts might be on side if they try hard enough.)
Shisui guesses what Kisame is doing with the revolution and he's right. Kisame goes to attack him but Shisui decides to return that transparency (even if Kisame's wasnt exactly willingly shared) and reveals that he's actually been scouting the perimeter this whole time.
And he thinks, combining the differing specialities of different districts and competitors together, they can break out. And survive getting to the Capitol.
Cue the slow progression of wary allies to friends to pining counterparts to lovers!
In the Capitol, Kakashi and Tenzo team up with Zabuza and Mei. They also make friends with married couple Minato and Kushina, previous winners from Uzushio (District Two, power station and security of the Capitol) who have become such favourites that they are welcome guests each year... But they hate the system and have secretly been running a smuggling route for years~
They also meet Orochimaru, the first (and only) winner from Sound, who has wiggled his way into being the President's private doctor.
Lots of shit happens.
The competitors break out, Kakashi (who has become extremely close with Minato and Kushina) is subsequently devastated when Minato nearly (aren't I nice) dies when taking one for the team and sabotaging the Capitol's security network to allow the districts to rampage and help the competitors make it back to the Capitol alive.
The districts rise up, it turns out that Nagato and Konan of District Twelve have been preparing since before Yahiko died, and the Capitol is quickly overrun. The people rise up, the President begins to flee!~
And this my brain starts to get mushy 😅 hmm, something-something Obito didn't die but Zetsu saved him and squirrelled him away as like a "Super Peacekeeper" (Winter Soldier parallels whoops lol) as an ace in case he needed personal protection/as a crowd shock factor as games organiser (gotta think of the views, even in a civil war!) And there's a huge thing blah blah Kakashi breaks the indoctrination, the President is killed by Shisui and Kisame Eternal-Honeymoon-Dream-Team and society is restructured.
Turns out Itachi's mom (and dad, who is forming a proto police force) took the chance to lead the District One revolt, and Itachi is like the poster child/mascot of the revolution there lol mikoto is pregnant with Sasuke and kushina is pregnant with Naruto!
Happy ending all around! (And look at that, none of my favs died, amazing 🤩)
This got out of hand and I wrote it in one go so now my brain is dead, if you couldn't tell by how...wonky... Things started to get at the end 🤣 it only took me.... Uhh two hours PFFFT-
"Do you have any thoughts on this AU?" Nalyvia, darling, don't JINX IT look what happened?!
#torship#torship talks#torship OVERtalks#ask#nalyvia#shisui#kisame#hunger games#HG AU#kisame x shisui#KisaShi
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Chapter 7: EVERYBODY HATES ME BUT THE HORSE
"Oh I'm sure that's not true Percy," Alex told him in a completely unhelpful tone of voice as Jason read the new title. "Chiron's likely hacked off at you too for losing the game and fighting with Thalia."
"Thanks Alex," Percy resisted the urge to throw her from her chair on purpose this time. That surely wouldn't help the fact everyone in here probably hated him too for nearly killing them every five minutes.
The least the Oracle could've done was walk back to the attic by herself.
"No!" Will looked at him aghast. "The less she uses this midnight stroll ability, the better!"
"I didn't hear you volunteering to take her back up there!" Percy huffed.
Rachel was biting her lip to stop herself laughing at Will too just a bit. She was used to the Apollo cabin being overtly nice to her and always thought it was some connection to their dad, she'd never realized it was because they were just so relieved to have the last one gone.
Instead, Grover and I were elected to carry her. I didn't figure that was because we were the most popular.
"And here I was always a little upset I'd never gotten a yearbook before," Percy rolled his eyes, "now look at me, winning a whole competition!"
"I'm sure it's a great honor?" But Jason looked a little queasy too at the idea of this.
"Watch her head!" Grover warned as we went up the stairs. But it was too late.
Bonk! I whacked her mummified face against the trapdoor frame and dust flew.
"Cursed," Alex and Magnus said together.
"I was born cursed," Percy sighed. "I'm sure she can't do any worse to me."
"Let's just hope the curse isn't following you around giving you everyone's prophecies," Rachel mock shivered.
"Ah, man." I set her down and checked for damage. "Did I break anything?"
"I can't tell," Grover admitted.
We hauled her up and set her on her tripod stool, both of us huffing and sweating. Who knew a mummy could weigh so much?
"Be grateful she doesn't go around in a sarcophagus," Alex shrugged.
I assumed she wouldn't talk to me, and I was right. I was relieved when we finally got out of there and slammed the attic door shut.
"Well," Grover said, "that was gross."
I knew he was trying to keep things light for my sake, but I still felt really down. The whole camp would be mad at me for losing the game to the Hunters, and then there was the new prophecy from the Oracle. It was like the spirit of Delphi had gone out of her way to exclude me.
"That is exactly what happened," Alex agreed. "I'm sort of impressed."
"At least somebody is," Percy told her indulgently. If everybody in here did hate him too, they weren't acting like it.
She'd ignored my question and walked half a mile to talk to Zoe. And she'd said nothing, not even a hint, about Annabeth.
'She's alive, she's alive, she's a live...' Percy was starting to drive himself nuts he was repeating that over and over, but there was no other answer out there, apparently not even a magical one!
"What will Chiron do?" I asked Grover.
"I wish I knew." He looked wistfully out the second-floor window at the rolling hills covered in snow. "I want to be out there."
"Searching for Annabeth?"
He had a little trouble focusing on me. Then he blushed. "Oh, right. That too. Of course."
"Wow, I thought he and Annabeth were friends," Will seemed mildly offended. He knew life goals and ambitions were important of course, but he'd have still thought Grover would want to be looking for Annabeth more than Pan.
"Why?" I asked. "What were you thinking?"
He clopped his hooves uneasily. "Just something the manticore said, about the Great Stirring. I can't help but wonder... if all those ancient powers are waking up, maybe... maybe not all of them are evil."
"You mean Pan."
I felt kind of selfish, because I'd totally forgotten about Grover's life ambition.
"It's not that selfish," Thalia promised with a look of fond exasperation that was still quite strained on him, and possibly Grover. "Annabeth's been missing for days, Pan's been missing for thousands of years. We prioritize the warm cases before the cold ones."
"He did almost die for that quest last summer though," Jason shrugged, "I can see why he's still so invested."
The nature god had gone missing two thousand years ago. He was rumored to have died, but the satyrs didn't believe that. They were determined to find him. They'd been searching in vain for centuries, and Grover was convinced he'd be the one to succeed. This year, with Chiron putting all the satyrs on emergency duty to find half-bloods, Grover hadn't been able to continue his search. It must've been driving him nuts.
"Nuts and berries," Magnus echoed a little sullenly. Maybe if Grover did find Pan though he'd grant him a wish, like saving Annabeth!
"I've let the trail go cold," he said.
"You were kidnapped and nearly married to a cyclops," Nico corrected. "It was an understandable diversion."
"You are trying to replace me as Grover's best friend," Percy grinned at him. He couldn't think of a thing to say to him, at least that would have been something!
"Hardly," Nico muttered.
"I feel restless, like I'm missing something really important. He's out there somewhere. I can just feel it."
I didn't know what to say. I wanted to encourage him, but I didn't know how. My optimism had pretty much been trampled into the snow out there in the woods, along with our capture-the-flag hopes.
Will gave Percy a smile brimming with confidence though and said, "well the bright side to losing the game means the Hunters might be in a better mood now. Maybe they'll talk to Grover without slapping him?"
"Thanks you two, I'll hide you around the corner next time I need to cheer someone up," Percy gave a reluctant grin.
Before I could respond, Thalia tromped up the stairs. She was officially not talking to me now, but she looked at Grover and said, "Tell Percy to get his butt downstairs."
"A classic," Alex snorted.
"Better than shocking his eyebrows off," Magnus muttered.
"Why?" I asked.
"Did he say something?" Thalia asked Grover.
"Um, he asked why."
"Dionysus is calling a council of cabin leaders to discuss the prophecy," she said. "Unfortunately, that includes Percy."
"I'm so sorry I couldn't send Tyson in my place," Percy told her snidely.
She hesitated like she was still going to give him the same treatment now, but then gave a brave smile and snipped, "see, everyone comes up with the best ideas out of the moment." Mostly she was just stung for a spurn Percy couldn't even know. She didn't have any siblings to send in her place if she didn't want to deal with something.
The council was held around a Ping-Pong table in the rec room.
Jason looked as if he'd been stabbed in the gut and yet couldn't tear his eyes away from the carnage as he got to hear more of this strange setting.
Dionysus waved his hand and supplied snacks: Cheez Whiz, crackers, and several bottles of red wine. Then Chiron reminded him that wine was against his restrictions and most of us were underage. Mr. D sighed. With a snap of his fingers the wine turned to Diet Coke. Nobody drank that either.
"It was diet!" Percy emphasized to some of their confused faces.
Mr. D and Chiron (in wheelchair form) sat at one end of the table. Zoe and Bianca di Angelo (who had kind of become Zoe's personal assistant) took the other end.
Nico pushed his seething resentment aside hard to try and appreciate the moment Zoe was taking his sister under her wing...and turning her into a man hater who probably would have grown to loath him if she did survive. Gods this letting go shit was hard!
Will gave him an uneasy smile, clearly wishing he'd speak his mind, but Nico pressed his lips firmly together instead. Bianca was his businesses, and while he occasionally still got sympathetic looks from everyone, most often Percy, for her being mentioned, nobody had yet asked him how it was having a long distance sister for a huntress and he wasn't going to be talking about it any time soon since he wouldn't be able to avoid it in the near future!
Thalia and Grover and I sat along the right, and the other head councilors—Beckendorf, Silena Beauregard, and the Stoll brothers—sat on the left. The Ares kids were supposed to send a representative, too, but all of them had gotten broken limbs (accidentally) during capture the flag, courtesy of the Hunters.
"I'm pretty sure they actually bragged about that to their siblings when they got back," Will told them. "It's some kind of badge of honor in there to get the most injuries you can walk away from in a fight. They still argue about it though since the whole cabin wasn't there, but it's on record one of the highest broken limbs in any game."
"I'll sow them a patch," Thalia smirked.
They were resting up in the infirmary.
Zoe started the meeting off on a positive note.
"Wait, that was everyone?" Nico asked in surprise. "Why weren't you there?"
"I wasn't the head of the Apollo cabin at the time," he reminded with a very, very sad smile. He was busy in the infirmary, and Kayla had later said she didn't have the heart to go and sit around a table wondering who wasn't coming back. "Most of the cabins don't have year around campers for all the kids to get a voice." He couldn't help thinking how ironic it was Nico seemed surprised by this, since he'd never been at camp long enough to represent as head of his cabin. Bianca was unintentionally filing the roll now, marking the first and only time in camp's history they'd had a child from each of the big three there to direct a quest.
Will had a chipped tooth, Nico noticed, and there was something about the way he was being studied that made him want to blush. "Maybe I was watching the orientation film again," Will added cheekily.
"You're obsessed," but Nico found himself smiling back at this guys effortless good mood.
"This is pointless."
"Cheez Whiz!" Grover gasped.
"Not the rebuttal I would have used," Rachel grinned.
"Let's see if it got through to her," Jason chuckled.
He began scooping up crackers and Ping-Pong balls and spraying them with topping.
"There is no time for talk," Zoe continued. "Our goddess needs us. The Hunters must leave immediately."
"And go where?" Chiron asked.
"West!" Bianca said.
"That is a very vague direction," Percy spoke from experience, "usually in no straight line."
"I'm sure you could write a book on your worldly advice," Thalia said grimly, and she was so distracted she seemed to miss the obvious about the literal book she could have been waving under his nose. If Percy was hacked off at her now, he was probably going to be royally pissed at the entire universe when he remembered he wasn't even supposed to go on this quest until he invited himself along.
I was amazed at how different she looked after just a few days with the Hunters. Her dark hair was braided like Zoe's now, so you could actually see her face. She had a splash of freckles across her nose, and her dark eyes vaguely reminded me of someone famous, but I couldn't think who.
"Lame!" Alex shouted, studying Nico's eyes now in hopes for a hint.
"He'll probably remember it after they tell us who their mortal parent is, typical," Magnus shrugged before looking curiously at Nico too. It actually made quite a bit of sense that a lot of demigods would have famous parents, those put on pedestals in society would be most likely to catch an immortals attention.
Nico quickly looked away from the both of them and tightened his jacket around himself, fighting back the urge to scream at all of them to buzz off. Their speculation was natural, but it didn't mean he liked being on trial. Jason mercifully kept reading instead of directly asking to his relief.
She looked like she'd been working out, and her skin glowed faintly, like the other Hunters, as if she'd been taking showers in liquid moonlight. "You heard the prophecy. Five shall go west to the goddess in chains. We can get five hunters and go."
"Yes," Zoe agreed. "Artemis is being held hostage! We must find her and free her."
"You're missing something, as usual," Thalia said. "Campers and Hunters combined prevail. We're supposed to do this together."
"No!" Zoe said. "The Hunters do not need thy help."
"You'd think somebody as old and wise as her would know better than to fight these things," Thalia still scoffed a bit at her stubbornness. They would have gotten on well if Zoe had lived.
"Your," Thalia grumbled. "Nobody has said thy in, like, three hundred years, Zoe. Get with the times."
Zoe hesitated, like she was trying to form the word correctly. "Yerrr. We do not need yerrr help."
"So she went from Ye Old English to Southern Hick English?" Rachel chuckled as Jason, poorly, tried to imitate a drawl. "Poor thing has nothing on some of the dialects I've heard trying to imitate us." Her dads wide array of conference calls were occasionally fun to listen in on to mock at the very least.
Thalia rolled her eyes. "Forget it."
"I fear the prophecy says you do need our help," Chiron said. "Campers and Hunters must cooperate."
"Or do they?" Mr. D mused, swirling his Diet Coke under his nose like it had a fine bouquet.
"What other interpretations are there?" Jason asked eagerly. "For once this one was pretty direct, I can't imagine a lot of surprises to come." He seemed to be missing the glaring detail some of those literal directions were two deaths and a vague point on a compass.
"You keep thinking that man," Percy looked at Jason strangely though, considering the last two had some pretty obvious twists at the end. Nico was glaring at the book too, as if just waiting for it to jump up and bite him, while Thalia was twirling her bracelet around. Percy swallowed and hoped he was wrong this time.
"One shall be lost. One shall perish. That sounds rather nasty, doesn't it? What if you fail because you try to cooperate?"
"Mr. D," Chiron sighed, "with all due respect, whose side are you on?"
"I wasn't aware gods had to pick a side," Alex rolled her eyes. "They're on their own side, and he wants all of you dead."
"Dude," Percy groaned even if he did agree.
"Dudett!" Alex challenged back this time rather than waiting for him to correct himself.
Percy stared at her for a moment, before shrugging and saying, "yeah, sure, whatever."
Dionysus raised his eyebrows. "Sorry, my dear centaur. Just trying to be helpful."
"We're supposed to work together," Thalia said stubbornly. "I don't like it either, Zoe, but you know prophecies. You want to fight against one?"
Zoe grimaced, but I could tell Thalia had scored a point.
"My one and only," Thalia agreed with mock pride.
"We must not delay," Chiron warned. "Today is Sunday. This very Friday, December twenty-first, is the winter solstice."
"Oh, joy," Dionysus muttered. "Another dull annual meeting."
"Don't let him lie, it's his favorite time of year for getting to leave, hence the cheez whiz," Will shrugged.
"Artemis must be present at the solstice," Zoe said. "She has been one of the most vocal on the council arguing for action against Kronos's minions. If she is absent, the gods will decide nothing. We will lose another year of war preparations."
Jason still looked a little tongue tied reading that like he struggled more with the concept of the gods as bickering idiots than he did half of the monsters. He still slipped up and stuttered over the Greek names and more than anything, even appreciating greatly Diana seemed odd but not as backwards as the rest of them, Jupiter himself wasn't leading these war preparations.
He kept plowing on though, stubbornly determined to finish what they'd started and not pass up on his killer headache just to read like everybody else managed.
"Are you suggesting that the gods have trouble acting together, young lady?" Dionysus asked.
"Yes, Lord Dionysus."
Mr. D nodded. "Just checking. You're right, of course. Carry on."
"Jeez, you weren't kidding about his good mood," Percy said to Will, frowning why she didn't get the glowing eyes of doom even if he did agree too.
"I must agree with Zoe," said Chiron. "Artemis's presence at the winter council is critical. We have only a week to find her. And possibly even more important: to locate the monster she was hunting.
"I don't see how that's more important," Magnus grumbled, trying not to look at Jason with betrayal just because he read it. "If the Goddess of the Hunt couldn't find the thing before getting caught, we focus on her first, then the killer beast."
"If the beast kills all the Olympians first than none of the gods will be anybody's problem," Jason said practically, clearly agreeing with what he read anyways.
"They need to get to Annabeth and Luke first," Magnus insisted, "find out what their master plan is, not just stumble around looking for it."
"You think he'll just tell now because he was caught?" Jason said in a very practical way, but it still sounded condescending to Magnus's ears. "They should circumvent around what they're being forced into, not walk into the obvious trap. Going looking for the monster first-"
"Hey!" Percy and Thalia said together to break up the growing tension as Magnus still opened his mouth with a familiar, only to them, stubborn Wise Girl comment.
Thalia continued earnestly, "I wasn't lying to Oceanus, we do enjoy your insights, but this did already happen," she gestured at Percy who now had a seemingly permanent gray tone to his skin as he struggled against the headache of who was right and what they did do. "Arguing about our past won't help us get out of here."
Jason and Magnus sat back to let it go, while Alex looked a little disappointed at them being cut off. She liked seeing Magnus this passionate.
Now, we must decide who goes on this quest."
"Three and two," I said.
Everybody looked at me. Thalia even forgot to ignore me.
"I swear you could annoy the god of peace into not ignoring you," Thalia brushed off, "it's no major accomplishment."
"Five seconds," Rachel mock stopped a stopwatch. "It took you two five seconds to go from agreeing to snapping at each other again."
"Not even close to our record," Percy shrugged.
"We're supposed to have five," I said, feeling self-conscious.
Oddly enough, not a first for him, Nico was smiling to himself he wasn't surprised anymore Percy wasn't leading the meeting and dishing out orders how to save everybody.
"Three Hunters, two from Camp Half-Blood. That's more than fair."
Thalia and Zoe exchanged looks.
"Well," Thalia said. "It does make sense."
Percy grinned at her she was now actually agreeing with him, but she only smiled faintly back. She already knew which five were supposed to go wasn't going to sit well with him.
Zoe grunted. "I would prefer to take all the Hunters. We will need strength of numbers."
"She's just fighting this every step along the way," Will said in exasperation.
"It's a miracle she's even waiting around anymore rather than sneaking off to do this herself," Thalia agreed. Without Artemis's last request for them to remain at camp, Zoe likely would have been doing exactly that.
"You'll be retracing the goddess's path," Chiron reminded her. "Moving quickly. No doubt Artemis tracked the scent of this rare monster, whatever it is, as she moved west. You will have to do the same. The prophecy was clear: The bane of Olympus shows the trail. What would your mistress say? 'Too many Hunters spoil the scent.' A small group is best."
Zoe picked up a Ping-Pong paddle and studied it like she was deciding who she wanted to whack first.
"I vote herself," Alex offered, "you can't guarantee how good a weapon is without first hand experience."
"Please tell me you've never tried to cut off your own hand?" Magnus asked.
"Nah, but it is a very sharp wire, that I have tested," she grinned. Magnus decided he didn't want to know.
"This monster—the bane of Olympus. I have hunted at Lady Artemis's side for many years, yet I have no idea what this beast might be."
Everybody looked at Dionysus, I guess because he was the only god present and gods are supposed to know things.
"Are they?" Rachel gave a bemused smile. "I can't get a straight answer out of Apollo when Elvis died, I'm not sure I expect them to know everything."
"I swear he was just there to watch us argue, he missed his family," Percy rolled his eyes.
He was flipping through a wine magazine, but when everyone got silent he glanced up, "Well, don't look at me. I'm a young god, remember? I don't keep track of all those ancient monsters and dusty titans. They make for terrible party conversation."
"So when are you supposed to discuss politics and religion exactly?" Nico asked with a faint smile. "Not at party's, not at dinner?"
"It doesn't sound like it would make great pillow talk either," Alex nodded seriously. "I think it should be reserved for rallies when everyone's shouting at each other."
"I can't tell how much you're joking, but I do know now isn't that time," Thalia sighed.
"Chiron," I said, "you don't have any ideas about the monster?"
Chiron pursed his lips. "I have several ideas, none of them good. And none of them quite make sense. Typhon,
A horrible pain erupted in Percy's mind, causing him to twitch uncomfortably. He had a really bad feeling about that name.
for instance, could fit this description. He was truly a bane of Olympus. Or the sea monster Keto.* But if either of these were stirring, we would know it. They are ocean monsters the size of skyscrapers. Your father, Poseidon, would already have sounded the alarm. I fear this monster may be more elusive. Perhaps even more powerful."
There was a heavy current around the room, and for once it wasn't from Percy. It was now twice mentioned that things should have been stirring down in Poseidon's domain, and the god of the seas truly seemed stretched thin keeping it all in order. Even Thalia, Will, and Nico weren't entirely sure what they were doing down here now that could lean towards any good news.
"That's some serious danger you're facing," Connor Stoll said. (I liked how he said you and not we.)
"Glad I wasn't the only one who noticed that," Will grinned.
"It sounds like at least two of the five are going to die."
Nico couldn't decide in that moment if he wanted Percy to glance at Bianca, to notice if she was upset or dismissive of that. She shouldn't have gone, she was to new, she was just trying to impress the Hunters... How she'd even gotten herself onto this quest was a question he'd never thought about long enough to wonder on. It was like ripping claw's out of his chest even trying.
"One shall be lost in the land without rain," Beckendorf said. "If I were you, I'd stay out of the desert."
Jason gave an uneasy laugh as he tried to pull up a map of the US in his mind, but it wasn't very accurate he was sure. Places, locations, he was sure there were giant blurry patch's all over, but he was confident enough to say, "it's not exactly as if you're going to get a choice if you're following a specific trail, but if you stay to the north you might have a better chance."
"Define land without rain though," Alex reminded. "Under the ocean could technically be a land without rain, any location that's gone more than a few days could be a land without rain. It's the dead of winter, half the continent could be a land without rain while it's snowing."
Will watched Nico take a shuddering breath and shift something around in his pocket. Gods he wanted to just ask what he was thinking, but he seemed to be taking their speculation in stride. At least, it wasn't making him feel worse as far as he could tell, or he was so lost in thought he wasn't paying attention.
There was a muttering of agreement.
"And the Titan's curse must one withstand," Silena said. "What could that mean?"
"Even in a group, there's a leader of the quest," Jason said confidently. "It's likely only one of the five will have the answer."
"Maybe not even one of them, it could be Annabeth or Artemis, anybody associated with the quest," Magnus stubbornly reminded.
Jason nodded peacefully to that, he wished there was somebody around that was known to interpret prophecies. He again glanced at Will and away, there really was something about him that should be clicking in his mind.
I saw Chiron and Zoe exchange a nervous look, but whatever they were thinking, they didn't share it.
"Typical," all eight of them muttered.
"If anybody actually spoke what was on their mind without prying it out of them, save for Percy, these books would end in half the time!" Alex groaned.
"And Chiron is the worst," Percy agreed.
"One shall perish by a parent's hand," Grover said in between bites of Cheez Whiz and Ping-Pong balls. "How is that possible? Whose parent would kill them?"
There was heavy silence around the table.
"I think the easier question would be who's parent would save them," Alex whispered morbidly. She watched as Magnus winced, the fact that he had no clue about his godly parentage was probably driving him nuts. Jason was in the same boat and tracing the lines of his tattoo with a familiar look of frustration.
Even Percy wasn't immune to this, because his mortal mother was the only answer to her question.
I glanced at Thalia and wondered if she was thinking the same thing I was. Years ago, Chiron had had a prophecy about the next child of the Big Three—Zeus, Poseidon, or Hades—who turned sixteen. Supposedly, that kid would make a decision that would save or destroy the gods forever. Because of that, the Big Three had taken an oath after World War II not to have any more kids. But Thalia and I had been born anyway, and now we were both getting close to sixteen.
I remembered a conversation I'd had last year with Annabeth. I'd asked her, if I was so potentially dangerous, why the gods didn't just kill me.
Some of the gods would like to kill you, she'd said. But they're afraid of offending Poseidon.
Could an Olympian parent turn against his half-blood child? Would it sometimes be easier just to let them die?
Thalia could have answered that one from experience, and the resigned sigh that passed her lips was the answer.
If there were ever any half-bloods who needed to worry about that, it was Thalia and me. I wondered if maybe I should've sent Poseidon that seashell pattern tie for Father's Day after all.
Rachel at least still got a laugh out of Percy's random sense of humor.
"There will be deaths," Chiron decided. "That much we know."
"Oh, goody!" Dionysus said.
Nico began mentally imagining melting his Wine Dude figurine next. He'd definitely hunt down his card again just to rip it in half at minimum.
Everyone looked at him. He glanced up innocently from the pages of Wine Connoisseur magazine. "Ah, pinot noir is making a comeback. Don't mind me."
"If we could we would," Percy assured.
"Percy is right," Silena Beauregard said. "Two campers should go."
"Yeah, the gods enthusiasm of this aside," Jason muttered.
"Oh, I see," Zoe said sarcastically. "And I suppose you wish to volunteer?"
Silena blushed. "I'm not going anywhere with the Hunters. Don't look at me!"
"A daughter of Aphrodite does not wish to be looked at," Zoe scoffed. "What would thy mother say?"
"Learn to pick your battles?" Will offered without hope.
"Only if you get her good side," Nico corrected with an eye roll.
Silena started to get out of her chair, but the Stoll brothers pulled her back.
"Stop it," Beckendorf said. He was a big guy with a bigger voice. He didn't talk much, but when he did, people tended to listen.
Percy felt a funny feeling in his mind trying to connect some dots there, but he couldn't imagine what.
"Let's start with the Hunters. Which three of you will go?"
Zoe stood. "I shall go, of course, and I will take Phoebe. She is our best tracker."
"The big girl who likes to hit people on the head?" Travis Stoll asked cautiously.
"Don't we all?" Percy asked innocently as if he had no idea where this was going. For once he had a pretty good guess though that didn't resort in a headache for future knowledge, but prior.
Zoe nodded.
"The one who put the arrows in my helmet?" Connor added.
"Yes," Zoe snapped. "Why?"
"Oh, nothing," Travis said. "Just that we have a T-shirt for her from the camp store." He held up a big silver T-shirt that said ARTEMIS THE MOON GODDESS, FALL HUNTING TOUR 2002, with a huge list of national parks and stuff underneath. "It's a collector's item. She was admiring it. You want to give it to her?"
"Well Phoebe's going to die," Magnus sighed.
"Nah, they've never killed anyone," Will tried to reassure, but hesitated a moment to long and reluctantly added, "um, I think."
I knew the Stolls were up to something. They always were. But I guess Zoe didn't know them as well as I did. She just sighed and took the T-shirt.
"And Chiron didn't stop this!" Magnus yelped.
"Learn to pick your battles," Will repeated in exhaustion. "If the shirt explodes, it'll mostly likely be on the bus."
"Remind me later Will, we might need to work on your encouraging speeches," Thalia sighed.
"There's no help to be given when it comes to them," Will shrugged.
"As I was saying, I will take Phoebe. And I wish Bianca to go."
Nico had gripped the hilt of his sword and was moving before the third syllable had left her name before Will grabbed him and pulled him back down.
"You'll regret it later if you stab Jason while spearing that book," Will promised him, his hand still warmly encircling his wrist.
Nico decided he had to trust him on that right now because it didn't feel like it...but at least Bianca hadn't volunteered.
No, he'd have rather she did! That she'd wanted to do this, to prove herself, not be told to do it by the upstart who'd dragged her into this in the first place!
Will was rubbing soothing circles into the back of his wrist though and it was finally distracting enough he jerked his arm away and muttered, "fine." Unbeknownst to Nico, the shadows on the wall stopped shifting about, but mercifully nobody had realized it was him again. They were all looking at the ceiling and the door for the culprit of Oceanus popping up again. Jason wasn't even looking at him in anger or fear for his life being threatened as he casually went back to reading. Why Nico wouldn't want his sister on this quest wasn't hard to guess. If he'd had a sister, he'd be worried about her going off on this dangerous mission too.
Bianca looked stunned. "Me? But... I'm so new. I wouldn't be any good."
"You will do fine," Zoe insisted. "There is no better way to prove thyself."
Thalia watched miserably as Nico shook his head furiously as if to chase the words away. She couldn't claim she'd have made the same call, she wouldn't speak for Zoe's motives if she could. She knew how badly this was hurting Nico though, and she couldn't say anything to him. She'd lost her little brother to the unknown, but she had asked and begged and demanded from every deity until she couldn't feel anymore what had happened to him. Nico had vanished when they'd returned, gods knew what he felt about his sister never coming back. He wasn't giving much away now except a lot of anger.
Bianca closed her mouth. I felt kind of sorry for her. I remembered my first quest when I was twelve. I had felt totally unprepared. A little honored, maybe, but a lot resentful and plenty scared. I figured the same things were running around in Bianca's head right now.
"And for campers?" Chiron asked. His eyes met mine, but I couldn't tell what he was thinking.
"Me!" Grover stood up so fast he bumped the Ping-Pong table. He brushed cracker crumbs and Ping-Pong ball scraps off his lap. "Anything to help Artemis!"
Zoe wrinkled her nose. "I think not, satyr. You are not even a half-blood."
"Is she going to protest every person there?" Alex asked in exhaustion. "She shouldn't even get a say, who put her in charge here?"
"Herself," Thalia reminded with a very understanding grin. She had a tendency to take lead in all groups too. "Chiron won't let her dictate the meeting," she promised, otherwise Zoe wouldn't have sat down in the first place.
"But he is a camper," Thalia said. "And he's got a satyr's senses and woodland magic. Can you play a tracker's song yet, Grover?"
"Absolutely!"
Zoe wavered. I didn't know what a tracker's song was, but apparently Zoe thought it was a good thing.
"Very well," Zoe said. "And the second camper?"
"I'll go." Thalia stood and looked around, daring anyone to question her.
Now, okay, maybe my math skills weren't the best, but it suddenly occurred to me that we'd reached the number five, and I wasn't in the group.
"Slow clap for you pal," Jason smirked.
"I will break your fingers if you try," Percy scowled not at him though, his sea green eyes locked on her suddenly averted blue ones on the floor.
"Whoa, wait a sec," I said. "I want to go too."
Thalia said nothing. Chiron was still studying me, his eyes sad.
"Oh," Grover said, suddenly aware of the problem. "Whoa, yeah, I forgot! Percy has to go. I didn't mean... I'll stay. Percy should go in my place."
Percy kept forcing himself to breathe through his tight chest as he strained his neck to look at the book and back to her. This wasn't right, and she knew it. He wouldn't be happy going on this quest without Grover, but if that was how it had to be...
"He cannot," Zoe said. "He is a boy. I won't have Hunters traveling with a boy."
"You traveled here with me," I reminded her.
"That was a short-term emergency, and it was ordered by the goddess. I will not go across country and fight many dangers in the company of a boy."
"What about Grover?" I demanded.
Zoe shook her head. "He does not count. He's a satyr. He is not technically a boy."
"Hey!" Grover protested.
"I have to go," I said. "I need to be on this quest."
"Why?" Zoe asked. "Because of thy friend Annabeth?"
Yes. Was that so awful of him!? He'd already been denied his own quest, by that useless God and the Oracle herself, no way was he going to sit aside and pass this up!
I felt myself blushing. I hated that everyone was looking at me. "No! I mean, partly. I just feel like I'm supposed to go!"
Nobody rose to my defense. Mr. D looked bored, still reading his magazine. Silena, the Stoll brothers, and Beckendorf were staring at the table.
A torrent of water surged through the room and created a new crack on the ceiling at the betrayal trying to rise fast in his throat, that his friends whom he'd known before Thalia even fell out of that tree wouldn't even side with him over this, but he forced it away and locked himself on the book not to impact anything again as the water steadied around them.
Chiron then, Chiron must see he was the best bet to go!
Bianca gave me a look of pity.
"No," Zoe said flatly. "I insist upon this. I will take a satyr if I must, but not a male hero."
Chiron sighed. "The quest is for Artemis. The Hunters should be allowed to approve their companions."
Percy couldn't stop himself this time and whipped around to look at Thalia so fast she flew out of her seat by the force of the ocean, sprawling on the floor as Percy slowly, carefully unclenched his hands from fists but didn't apologize. Jason kept reading rapidly, a reminder the words were their only way out of this. Percy could barely hear him through the buzzing of his ears as he waited for Thalia in the book to say she'd back out then, force Zoe into no other choice.
Thalia sat up slowly, brushing her dripping hair out of her face as she watched her friends glower carefully.
My ears were ringing as I sat down. I knew Grover and some of the others were looking at me sympathetically, but I couldn't meet their eyes. I just sat there as Chiron concluded the council.
"So be it," he said. "Thalia and Grover will accompany Zoe, Bianca, and Phoebe. You shall leave at first light. And may the gods"—he glanced at Dionysus—"present company included, we hope—be with you."
Percy closed his eyes gently, trying to reach out for his father again as he prayed for guidance, 'please let her be alright.'
Nothing. No sense of warmth, no presence other than the icy cold depths of the ocean around them. He didn't know what he'd done to gain his dad's attention before but wish for Gabe's death, but he wasn't going to do that now as he slowly looked back at Thalia and tried to say as calmly as possible, "You couldn't just let me have this?"
"What was I supposed to do Percy, hide you under my jacket?" Thalia clearly still thought him nothing but an idiot as she stubbornly refused to see any other answer. She crossed her arms but remained on the floor, eyeing her chair in case it came pelting towards her more than looking at him.
"You could have opted out, like my friend offered to do!" Percy missed Grover like a physical ache, but even his best friend had more value on this quest than just some boy.
"Zoe never would have let you come! I had to be there, you of all people should have understood that!" She was trying so hard to reason with him, but it was doing no good, they could all tell he was only getting angrier as his hands spasmed in frustration, but he was valiantly still keeping a lid on it not to drown her, or them all.
"Right, because you should always get first picking on a quest and I get left behind! Sent back to my mother!" It was petty, and just mean to throw that around, but he was tired of them all looking at him with envy because he had a home to go back to when Annabeth was out there, perhaps not even knowing he knew she was alive, that he wanted more than anything to be looking for her.
"I had no where else to go! Back to a school where I was flunking every class, getting attacked every weekend, had no one else? Stay at camp alone? Chiron's my friend, but he's not- she was my only family!" Thalia lost her own fight and shouted back now, slamming her fist on the floor, a crackle of electricity arched only between her fingers and linked several plankton into a dead sparkling trail as they floated to the floor around her when she slowly drew her fist back.
Deep down, Percy knew she was right, he didn't hate her, but he couldn't look at her right now as he stormed out, every muscle tensed. He felt someone move behind him and snapped, "I need a sec, alone!"
...
Percy stood on the terrace over looking the dark ocean beyond. It was a circular walkway, crumbling even before the cracks they'd added in the domed ceiling behind him as he paced the length, a pathetic resemblance of intricate iron bars mostly vanished with time. He'd tried willing himself just an inch off the ground from every pebble of this place and it was doing him no good. He could not leave.
He'd known that when he came up here, and still he blamed himself.
He could remember a lot from his past now, little things that had been trickling in over the past few days. His mom's teary eyed smile when he brought home his first assignment with a C+. A few years later, her proud promise he'd keep getting better when he cried all night because he failed a test he'd really tried to study for, before Gabe called her off to do some cooking.
He remembered riding Pegasus at camp and training with all the cabins, Chiron continuing his teachings about Latin when he could hold his attention, and Annabeth.
Her architecture books, a scar she had on her foot from her first archery practice, brushing out her hair in the sunshine. She taught him how to bake a pie, and he went home that semester to do it for his mom, bringing that tearful, joyful smile to her face once more he so rarely saw. Annabeth was so patient with him studying no matter how many times he got the answer wrong. She still sometimes stepped on his face when they climbed the lava wall together, and he was pretty sure it was on purpose at least half the time as she giggled from the top and reached a hand down for her eleventh win in a row.
Moments, memories he was to young to understand why he clung to them so dearly now in fear they'd slip away again.
His harsh pacing increased, he was creating more cracks on the walkway from how hard he stomped every step as he looked on into the darkness. Watching the disformed sea life, the plankton, but nothing. Not another soul for miles. He knew he should go back in there, apologize to Thalia because this wasn't her fault, but the idea of just sitting there knowing he was useless on this quest, of all quests, was going to send him into a frenzy state.
Nobody came up though.
If it was a Titan's plan to make him weak, hateful to the gods for never seeming to get anything right, it was starting to work. If Zeus had just believed him when he was eleven, Luke might have been destroyed by now!
If the plan was to make him hate this strange group of kids, his friends, it wasn't. Percy knew if he sat up here for a week they would respect the space he'd asked for.
It would get him no closer to an answer though.
Thalia was his friend, he respected the hell out of her in just the few, short months he'd come to know her for all she'd been through. Bickering over the campfire together how to make the perfect s'more while Annabeth sat between them laughing. Whispering during practice of all the techniques they couldn't use on anybody but each other, they were the only swordsmen at camp who could match each other. Then getting in the ring and having it out, laughing off every bump, bruise, and scrape. She got a quiet, haunted look in her eyes when she gazed at her tree to long and went still. Sometimes he remembered those dark days of his first time at camp thinking his mother was dead, only to shake it off and see her watching him with a knowing, sad smile.
Gods Annabeth had been right about them.
...
Magnus was waiting for him at the bottom of the stairs with a bag of blue candy.
He was sitting on the bottom step, his blonde hair and hunched over profile as miserable as Percy felt as he offered the bag. Percy's mind glimmered a taunting image of Annabeth, alone and dying under a pile of rubble as he slumped down beside him. 'She's alive, she's alive, she's alive...'
And Thalia would get her back, even if he couldn't.
"Thanks," Percy sighed as he took it, popping three different shades of blue jellybeans into his mouth at once. "Sorry, I really needed that break."
"I know you're angry at her, I kind of am too," Magnus nodded as he dug around for a blue piece of chocolate. The idea Percy was only going to keep up with what they were doing on the quest in fragments of nightmares terrified him, what else was going to be covered in this book in the meantime would be just as trivial and frustrating to them all. "Just, wanted to know if you had anything else you needed to get off your chest before we keep going. She doesn't expect you to come back not angry at her, but still."
"I don't think poor Jason's innocent ears should hear the cursing I want to remind him of on her," Percy glibly answered around another mouthful of sweets. He took his time chewing, then swallowing before saying again, "thanks, but I kind of did say it. I know it's not true now, not the way she's been my friend since I woke up down here, but when I look at her all I think of is how perfect she acted. Annabeth never shut up about her, now she might be going to join the hunt with her savior all those years ago? Chiron expected her to be the child of the prophecy, and I'm kind of relieved about it, but also I sort of suspect she came up with the perfect solution and I just got dropped at the of bottom the ocean to be forgotten about. Maybe Poseidon's using this as some kind of do-over? I sound crazy."
"No, you don't," Magnus promised. "Trust me, I've met people who literally pass the crazy test. You sound like a really confused guy who's trying to get your memory back one word at a time like some cosmic joke."
Percy watched his gray eyes for a moment, as something bubbled on his tongue he only could have said to her, had she been here. It still felt rotten to say to him, of all people. "I'm making myself finish this for my mom, I have to get back to her, but Annabeth too. Just to know she's alive, okay out there somewhere as more than a feeling."
He'd expected the sadness to creep over Magnus again and still felt the guilt full force when it did. He almost hoped Annabeth's cousin would tell him the unspoken hurt he'd been carrying around in here the entire time.
He didn't, just dug out a blue cookie and munched on it until Percy got back up and Magnus rose with him.
Percy flopped down without invitation between Rachel and Thalia once more, with a sheepish look at the dark haired girl. "Sorry, for taking that out on you. Again."
"Wasn't the first, probably won't be the last," Thalia shrugged with an already forgiving grin, and a punch on his shoulder that probably had a little more zap to it than any other friend would get. "Honestly Percy, I'd have probably just killed you if you tried to go on this quest without me, so," she shrugged in a 'what can you do' way.
He wondered if that whole immortal thing is what gave her such patience, but hoped it was that they didn't want to kill each other by the end of this quest. Either way, he waved for Jason to keep reading again to get to something he could look forward to.
I didn't show up for dinner that night, which was a mistake, because Chiron and Grover came looking for me.
"You're lucky Percy," Rachel told him gently as he sat crumpling and tearing at an empty bag in his hand without any hint of going to get seconds. "I know it doesn't feel that way right now, but not everybody does hate you."
"Yeah," he agreed, but it didn't make his frustration any less when Thalia winced. He knew what she wasn't volunteering, her preparation for this quest. Something else he'd barely gotten his first two times. Somehow she'd gotten more notice than he'd ever gotten and had probably packed the perfect solution to everything they stumbled across.
He shook off the begrudging thoughts though and elbowed her. "I bet you never get advice from a pink poodle or get to ride Rainbow."
"If we start comparing quests we're going to be here for a long time," Thalia chuckled, resisting the urge to brag about her kill of the five Daemones of Ceramici by herself.
"Percy, I'm so sorry!" Grover said, sitting next to me on the bunk. "I didn't know they'd—that you'd—Honest!"
He started to sniffle, and I figured if I didn't cheer him up he'd either start bawling or chewing up my mattress. He tends to eat household objects whenever he gets upset.
"Grover's not a horse, so I don't think everyone hates you right now," Alex helpfully reminded too.
"He's the one being the least like a jackass around there," Percy agreed, though he was sitting there waiting for it now. For Chiron to tell him what that look during the meeting meant, and he wasn't going to like it.
"It's okay," I lied. "Really. It's fine."
Grover's lower lip trembled. "I wasn't even thinking... I was so focused on helping Artemis. But I promise, I'll look everywhere for Annabeth. If I can find her, I will."
I nodded and tried to ignore the big crater that was opening in my chest.
"That damn tracking song better be something special," Percy scowled, not understanding Thalia's odd snort.
"Grover," Chiron said, "perhaps you'd let me have a word with Percy?"
"Sure," he sniffled.
Chiron waited.
"Oh," Grover said. "You mean alone.
"People usually reserve single words for group efforts, Grover's mistake is understandable," Alex smirked.
Sure, Chiron." He looked at me miserably. "See? Nobody needs a goat."
He trotted out the door, blowing his nose on his sleeve.
"He needs a hug," Will sighed.
"He needs a box of tissues," Jason said more critically, "is that what they eat for comfort food?"
"Credit for trying," Will chuckled.
Chiron sighed and knelt on his horse legs. "Percy, I don't pretend to understand prophecies."
"Yeah," I said. "Well, maybe that's because they don't make any sense."
Chiron gazed at the saltwater spring gurgling in the corner of the room. "Thalia would not have been my first choice to go on this quest. She's too impetuous. She acts without thinking. She is too sure of herself."
"Wow," Thalia mock pressed her hand to her heart, but the smile tugging at her lips meant she was aware of all those traits.
"Would you have chosen me?"
"Frankly, no," he said. "You and Thalia are much alike."
They exchanged indulgent smiles now and even shrugged at the same time. Another unmistakable trait of theirs, moods shifting fast enough they could ease in and out of the flow as needed from wanting to kill each other to laughing it off. Nico still sort of admired them both for that, even if it made him feel like an alien again for somehow never being anything like them.
"Thanks a lot."
He smiled. "The difference is that you are less sure of yourself than Thalia. That could be good or bad. But one thing I can say: both of you together would be a dangerous thing."
"We could handle it."
"The way you handled it at the creek tonight?"
I didn't answer. He'd nailed me.
Alex mock raised a bow and arrow to emphasis the point while the two exchanged sheepish looks at each other for that.
"Perhaps it is for the best," Chiron mused. "You can go home to your mother for the holidays. If we need you, we can call."
"Yeah," I said. "Maybe."
I pulled Riptide out of my pocket and set it on my nightstand. It didn't seem that I'd be using it for anything but writing Christmas cards.
"I'm just imagining you going around plucking cards off the end of your sword as your signature now," Jason informed him.
"Better than any Christmas gift I could think up," Percy admitted. Annabeth would probably laugh at him if he found an old cigarette lighter to flick on for her underwater. Somehow she'd kept the cool souvenir from their first quest. Maybe he could go steal her a Waterland T-Shirt?...like that would make her want to stop from joining the hunt if she survived.
When he saw the pen, Chiron grimaced. "It's no wonder Zoe doesn't want you along, I suppose. Not while you're carrying that particular weapon."
Percy smiled at the wide arrange of 'huh's,' and 'what's' and Alex verbally complaining already she doubted Chiron would explain himself for what that could mean. At least he wasn't always the one in the dark.
Only Thalia, as usual, bit her lip and looked away indicating she knew what was up with this particular weapon, but he gave her a poke with the pen now and laughed off, "don't tell me I've finally found a Hunter's secret weapon, their penmenship!"
Thalia groaned entirely authentic for the awful pun but mock-swiped it away as Percy easily switched it behind his back. "You're handwriting would send anyone insane!"
I didn't understand what he meant. Then I remembered something he'd told me a long time ago, when he first gave me the magic sword: It has a long and tragic history, which we need not go into.
"Did I not say that would come back and bite you in the ass!" Alex said in exasperation.
"I said that," Magnus corrected.
"Yeah, but I agreed," she shrugged.
"You did not," Magnus was not blushing faintly he remembered in vivid detail every time Alex had spoken to him in here.
"I was thinking it," she assured.
Jason gave a resounding sigh and kept reading loudly over them. It really was a mystery how they were ever going to finish these.
I wanted to ask him about that, but then he pulled a golden drachma from his saddlebag and tossed it to me. "Call your mother, Percy. Let her know you're coming home in the morning. And, ah, for what it's worth... I almost volunteered for this quest myself. I would have gone, if not for the last line."
This answer, at least, they knew. It wasn't an easily forgettable detail Percy's teacher's father was the enemy. Chiron would basically be volunteering himself for slaughter if he went on this quest with that line hanging around, and yet Percy and Thalia exchanged disappointed looks. If he'd insisted on going with Grover, Zoe would have likely, if just as reluctantly, accepted that.
And they both would have snuck out. It wasn't even a question to them as they tore their troubled looks away back to the book. If one was pissed at the other for being left behind, they never would have accepted co-captaincy of sitting around camp just waiting for Chiron to get back!
"One shall perish by a parent's hand. Yeah."
I didn't need to ask. I knew Chiron's dad was Kronos, the evil Titan Lord himself. The line would make perfect sense if Chiron went on the quest. Kronos didn't care for anyone, including his own children.
"Chiron," I said. "You know what this Titan's curse is, don't you?"
His face darkened. He made a claw over his heart and pushed outward—an ancient gesture for warding off evil.
That got a collective smirk out of all of them again though, as they remembered that door slamming on Gabe once more.
"Let us hope the prophecy does not mean what I think. Now, good night, Percy. And your time will come. I'm convinced of that. There's no need to rush."
"The actual worst thing he could have said," Nico grumbled. Was it a staple all adults said that to them at some point?
Percy gave him a similar smile of frustration for this, and Nico smiled tentatively back.
He said your time the way people did when they meant your death. I didn't know if Chiron meant it that way, but the look in his eyes made me scared to ask.
Then Percy's eyes flickered to him again, and stayed there! Nico felt his heart shriveling up in his chest as those sea-green eyes bored into him, that Percy would always associate death with him first like everybody.
"Percy," Rachel rolled her eyes, "would you stop making everything gloom and doom, especially the centaur!"
"Maybe if a unicorn shows up," he snipped back. It wasn't his fault he'd been plagued by nightmares and zombies after Annabeth went missing, he wasn't exactly in a sunshine mood!
Nico gave her a grateful, if surprised look and she gave him a cheerful grin back. And he'd always thought she'd throw him under the bus at the first opportunity, his dad cursing her Oracle and all.
I stood at the saltwater spring, rubbing Chiron's coin in my hand and trying to figure out what to say to my mom. I really wasn't in the mood to have one more adult tell me that doing nothing was the greatest thing I could do, but I figured my mom deserved an update.
Percy patted his pocket now, but as usual the only thing there was his pen. He wished he could update his mom now, even if she had no more advice on the situation than his friends. Just to see her smile out of a memory again.
Finally, I took a deep breath and threw in the coin. "O goddess, accept my offering."
The mist shimmered. The light from the bathroom was just enough to make a faint rainbow.
"Show me Sally Jackson," I said. "Upper East Side, Manhattan."
And there in the mist was a scene I did not expect. My mom was sitting at our kitchen table with some... guy. They were laughing hysterically.
There was a choking, spluttering, very concerning noise from Percy heard under the snickers of the room almost replicating the moment.
It was almost a tinge sad though, that he'd be so surprised to see his mom so happy with someone her age.
There was a big stack of textbooks between them. The man was, I don't know, thirty-something, with longish salt-and-pepper hair and a brown jacket over a black T-shirt. He looked like an actor—like a guy who might play an undercover cop on television.
Thalia however was smiling in relief Paul was finally on the scene. Even Phoebe had grudgingly admired the man's knowledge of literacy when they'd had to use the Jackson house as a waystation one turbulent night in need of a patch up. Percy hadn't even been there, he'd been out with Annabeth that night, but Sally hadn't batted an eye as she ushered the half a dozen girls in and offered them drinks and snacks as they bandaged up their wounded and caught their breath. Paul had been right beside her the whole time engaging them in different authors he was doing a study on and regaled them over a bit for Virginia Woolf he was currently chest deep in.
I was too stunned to say anything, and fortunately, my mom and the guy were too busy laughing to notice my Iris-message.
The shock that slammed into Percy would have been funny if Thalia had actually done it, instead she hid a wince. This was the last thing he needed right now, of all the times for him to see this. Now the kid was even going to start feeling outed in his own home!
The guy said, "Sally, you're a riot. You want some more wine?"
"Ah, I shouldn't. You go ahead if you want."
"Actually, I'd better use your bathroom. May I?"
"Down the hall," she said, trying not to laugh.
The actor dude smiled and got up and left.
"Mom!" I said.
She jumped so hard she almost knocked her textbooks off the table. Finally she focused on me. "Percy! Oh, honey! Is everything okay?"
"What are you doing?" I demanded.
She blinked. "Homework." Then she seemed to understand the look on my face. "Oh, honey, that's just Paul—um, Mr. Blofis. He's in my writing seminar."
"Teaching it?" Alex asked with a siliceous smile. "It's never a shame to ask for homework help."
"Fellow student," Thalia corrected cautiously as she glanced at Percy so as not to remind him of his profession.
He wasn't paying them much mind anyways, attention solely on the book, and a strange smile on his face.
"Mr. Blowfish?"
"I think your mom has a type," Rachel grinned, "first your dad, now him?"
Percy's smile melted away as he realized Rachel didn't know about Gabe, but he didn't want to mention him with that bright smile on his mom's face. "Whatever makes her happy," he instead shrugged.
"Blofis. He'll be back in a minute, Percy. Tell me what's wrong."
Percy smiled again, a somber thing with his head tipped curiously to the side. How she could always do that. Everybody in the world deserved a mother like his. Sally was his.
She always knew when something was wrong. I told her about Annabeth. The other stuff too, but mostly it boiled down to Annabeth.
"Those who are surprised, please raise your hand," Jason's teasing was light, he didn't pause to see the nonexistent hands, just for Percy's indulgent laugh.
My mother's eyes teared up. I could tell she was trying hard to keep it together for my sake. "Oh, Percy..."
"Yeah. So they tell me there's nothing I can do. I guess I'll be coming home."
She turned her pencil around in her fingers. "Percy, as much as I want you to come home"—she sighed like she was mad at herself—"as much as I want you to be safe, I want you to understand something. You need to do whatever you think you have to."
The God of Test Taking couldn't have appeared in this room to make them any more gobsmacked. Not a joke could pass Thalia's lips about wanting some alone time with her new boyfriend, or a sarcastic comment from Alex about Sally finally joining the Hate Percy club. Jason just shook his head that every single aspect of Percy's life somehow always surprised him as he kept going.
I stared at her. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, do you really, deep down, believe that you have to help save her? Do you think it's the right thing to do? Because I know one thing about you, Percy. Your heart is always in the right place. Listen to it."
"You're... you're telling me to go?"
My mother pursed her lips. "I'm telling you that... you're getting too old for me to tell you what to do. I'm telling you that I'll support you, even if what you decide to do is dangerous. I can't believe I'm saying this."
"I can't either," Percy promised, prodding around his ears to make sure water hadn't leaked in there.
"Maybe your mom's just pulling your leg to see that look on your face," Magnus tried to reason out, but his voice was faint. All he could think was his mom checking his gear when they went hiking no matter how many times he assured her he remembered everything. Somehow the extra sunscreen always still made it into her bag.
"Mom—"
The toilet flushed down the hall in our apartment.
"I don't have much time," my mom said. "Percy, whatever you decide, I love you. And I know you'll do what's best for Annabeth."
"How can you be sure?"
"Because she'd do the same for you."
Percy traced his fingers end over end on his pen, studying it with the same intense look his mother had given him as a rock caught in his throat. He hoped so.
And when had she ever been wrong before?
Was rescuing her into the arms of the Huntresses the best for Annabeth? He'd better start getting used to it.
And with that, my mother waved her hand over the mist, and the connection dissolved, leaving me with one final image of her new friend, Mr. Blowfish, smiling down at her.
It wasn't a smile Percy was used to people bestowing on his mother either. That polite, indifferent look of customers and cashiers alike as they walked New York. The disgusting, grimy smiles Gabe's chapped mouth had managed when he spoke.
Paul's smile had been the same kind as the last he'd seen on Annabeth's at the dance. Cheerful, excited, Paul couldn't wait to keep talking to his mother about whatever their homework was about. There hadn't even been tears of joy in her eyes, no hint of sadness in her good mood. His mother was just happy.
I don't remember falling asleep, but I remember the dream.
I was back in that barren cave, the ceiling heavy and low above me. Annabeth was kneeling under the weight of a dark mass that looked like a pile of boulders. She was too tired even to cry out. Her legs trembled. Any second, I knew she would run out of strength and the cavern ceiling would collapse on top of her.
Percy longed to see that smile now rather than this! Her strained, sweating face, paler than the Oracle. Her hair had been the color of those boulders, gray and dark and hung around her face in an unrecognizable mass, her eyes rolled back into her head with pain. She was going to die.
"How is our mortal guest?" a male voice boomed.
It wasn't Kronos. Kronos's voice was raspy and metallic, like a knife scraped across stone. I'd heard it taunting me many times before in my dreams. But this voice was deeper and lower, like a bass guitar. Its force made the ground vibrate.
Jason hadn't needed that description. It came back with a deceptive ease like nothing yet had. He didn't have to struggle a single second to hear in his traitorous mind.
It didn't stop him continuing. It only caused a slight hitch in his breath before he kept going with an almost freighting intensity once more, the same they'd seen of him on Circe's island. Jason knew of this place, even if none of them understood why.
Luke emerged from the shadows. He ran to Annabeth, knelt beside her, then looked back at the unseen man. "She's fading. We must hurry."
Yet another crack appeared on the floor in here, with the ominous, heart stopping sound of a block of an iceberg falling into the water. They could start playing hopscotch soon if Percy didn't recreate the building crumbling on them first.
The hypocrite. Like he really cared what happened to her.
Thalia was replaying the feeling of kicking him off that ledge a couple more times with a few extra jabs of her spear so as not to add any further structural damage. It was a ripping sensation to hear heart every single time, but it soothed her need for these few moments.
The deep voice chuckled. It belonged to someone in the shadows, at the edge of my dream. Then a meaty hand thrust someone forward into the light—Artemis—her hands and feet bound in celestial bronze chains.
I gasped. Her silvery dress was torn and tattered. Her face and arms were cut in several places, and she was bleeding ichor, the golden blood of the gods.
The clasp on Thalia's bracelet was in danger of snapping she was twisting it so hard as she willed herself into this dream of Percy's too. Let herself rush forward days earlier than they'd managed, to get Annabeth free, to save Artemis this terrible fate only this lifeform deserved!
"You heard the boy," said the man in the shadows. "Decide!"
Artemis's eyes flashed with anger. I didn't know why she just didn't will the chains to burst, or make herself disappear, but she didn't seem able to. Maybe the chains prevented her, or some magic about this dark, horrible place.
"Both," Thalia and Jason whispered together.
They looked at each other, and a horrible idea began forming in Thalia's mind. He very well could be her little brother Jason, risen back from the dead by some twisted magic of Krono's. Some old, unplayed ploy to gain her to their side, her little brother all aged up, and hidden away on Mount Tam, the one place she'd never dared searched for him. Why would Hera have taken Jason to Krios? Some extra punishment to Zeus?
The moment was broken by Percy making a desperate, painful noise as he strained against causing any more damage during this nightmare, and Jason only batted those blue eyes at her an extra moment before he continued with the same single-minded focus to get back every detail of this.
Thalia shook her head slowly at herself, she was being nuts. Even knowing Artemis was safely out of this entrapment, some base instinct of hers was going literally crazy at her goddess in chains and causing her to lose it.
The goddess looked at Annabeth and her expression changed to concern and outrage.
"How dare you torture a maiden like this!"
"Our sentiments," Alex muttered, though she liked to think anybody with a heart would be outraged at any woman or man in this situation.
"She will die soon," Luke said. "You can save her."
Annabeth made a weak sound of protest. My heart felt like it was being twisted into a knot. I wanted to run to her, but I couldn't move.
"Free my hands," Artemis said.
Luke brought out his sword, Backbiter. With one expert strike, he broke the goddess's handcuffs.
Artemis ran to Annabeth and took the burden from her shoulders. Annabeth collapsed on the ground and lay there shivering. Artemis staggered, trying to support the weight of the black rocks.
The man in the shadows chuckled. "You are as predictable as you were easy to beat, Artemis."
"You surprised me," the goddess said, straining under her burden. "It will not happen again."
The frustration, the yearning for more knowledge bubbled around the room as they all longed to know for their own reasons how this had come about. Who this otherworldly figure was to take a Goddess, hear Zoe's dream for themselves.
And yet it was possibly a nightmare no half-blood could live through knowing.
"Indeed it will not," the man said. "Now you are out of the way for good! I knew you could not resist helping a young maiden. That is, after all, your specialty, my dear."
Artemis groaned. "You know nothing of mercy, you swine."
"On that," the man said, "we can agree. Luke, you may kill the girl now."
Every one of them went stiff as a corpse at that, even the four who knew she was alive and okay. The question remained how she'd gotten out of this, it didn't seem like Luke to disobey after he'd been the one to put her in such a vulnerable position.
"No!'" Artemis shouted.
Luke hesitated.
Jason couldn't believe the words out of his own mouth, nobody could quite trust their ears for several moments before Will sighed in relief and grinned.
Thalia fought the urge to punch him for it as her hand tensed. Luke's hesitation after he'd pulled this stunt meant he'd only regretted the final straw. Not the betrayal. Not the heartless way he'd tricked her and left her there. Will had a curious look in his eyes as he watched this book, like he was considering showing this to Annabeth as if it would give her some peace. Thalia would burn this book before she let that happen.
"She—she may yet be useful, sir. Further bait."
A very obvious lie any of them could spot. Percy narrowed his eyes distastefully, but he couldn't bring himself to want Luke dead that exact moment any longer. They had reason enough to go save Artemis and hope Annabeth was still there. Luke was being selfish keeping her alive for his own twisted reason, like they were still on the Andromeda and Luke was carelessly waiting for her to get with the program and join him no matter who got hurt in the meantime.
In that moment though, he was the only one keeping Annabeth alive.
"Bah! You truly believe that?"
"Yes, General. They will come for her. I'm sure."
The man considered. "Then the dracaenae can guard her here. Assuming she does not die from her injuries, you may keep her alive until winter solstice. After that, if our sacrifice goes as planned, her life will be meaningless. The lives of all mortals will be meaningless."
How it was possible anybody could still be on Krono's side after a statement like that left them all flabbergasted, let alone Luke not immediately defecting. Stabbing this voice and taking Annabeth far away.
His whole motivation for listening to the whispers in his dreams had been he wanted more credit, to be seen by the gods, his hatred of them had stemmed from how little they cared about their own kids. Percy sat there in boiling frustration how Luke could continue on like this.
Luke gathered up Annabeth's listless body and carried her away from the goddess.
"Percy," Rachel gave him a vigorous shake to his shoulder and he blinked to see the red in his eyes was real, the floor was glowing, the heat radiating from beneath their feet through the fissures. He quickly clamped back down on his anger and the boiling water receded, but even so, Jason rushed to finish this already.
"You will never find the monster you seek," Artemis said. "Your plan will fail."
"How little you know, my young goddess," the man in the shadows said. "Even now, your darling attendants begin their quest to find you. They shall play directly into my hands. Now, if you'll excuse us, we have a long journey to make. We must greet your Hunters and make sure their quest is... challenging."
"No, no you mustn't," Alex was twining her hair between her fingers with her own pit of unease growing as she didn't take her eyes off the floor. If anything else happened to Annabeth over the course of this, Percy was going to literally kill them. She was going to be pissed if she died.
The man's laughter echoed in the darkness, shaking the ground until it seemed the whole cavern ceiling would collapse.
I woke with a start. I was sure I'd heard a loud banging. I looked around the cabin. It was dark outside. The salt spring still gurgled. No other sounds but the hoot of an owl in the woods and the distant surf on the beach. In the moonlight, on my nightstand was Annabeth's New York Yankees cap. I stared at it for a second and then: BANG BANG.
Someone, or something, was pounding on my door. I grabbed Riptide and got out of bed.
"Hello?" I called. THUMP. THUMP. I crept to the door.
"Hooves," Percy murmured, his hand relaxing away from his pocket on instinct for the vaguely familiar sound in his mind from all the times Grover had come knocking on his door.
Somehow he knew it wasn't his friend back in the middle of the night. A horse, something he should have been remembering about a horse, and it wasn't Chiron...
I uncapped the blade, flung open the door, and found myself face-to-face with a black pegasus.
Magnus grinned in delight while Alex snorted with shock. "I think you should just strictly stick to making friends with livestock, it seems to work out best for you."
"The Minotaur would disagree," but Percy was smiling along too for the friendly house call rather than another disaster.
It was still lackluster, the turn around from his newest grave nightmare was a permanent scar on the floor, but Nico watched with the same anger he'd felt for Bianca at that ping-pong table as he studied Percy trying to smile and keep going. It wasn't quite as admirable as it had always been to him at the beginning, just another facet of Percy to him he understood and could never be himself.
Whoa, boss! Its voice spoke in my mind as it clopped away from the sword blade. I don't wanna be a horse-ke-bob!
Its black wings spread in alarm, and the wind buffeted me back a step.
"Blackjack," I said,
"Who?" Jason asked, thumbing through the pages in his mind to see if he'd missed something.
"That pegasus that escaped Luke's ship," Percy reminded him, for once, in exasperation. "He kind of took to me,
"He?" Alex interrupted, more in surprise than outright offense. Percy had yet misgendered her, on purpose, and it seemed strange he was doing that to a horse.
"Oh, yeah, Blackjack's not a mare, I guess, he definitely sounded like a male now when he called me boss," Percy agreed with a shrug.
Alex considered this for a moment before saying, "Some fish can change gender. Poseidon created horses, therefore horses are fishes."**
Percy looked at her for a long moment before turning away so his brain didn't explode.
"Anyways," he continued to address everybody and rather pointedly, "I guess it hadn't been mentioned yet," he messed up his hair as his scalp tingled with the settling of memories. "He'd showed up a couple of weeks after we'd returned to camp during lunch in the middle of the pavilion, much to everyone's surprise. Nobody would quit fawning over his coloring. Silena volunteered to put him in the stables, but he just followed me around for days until finally I convinced him to start trusting others. The apples, sugar cubes, and donuts all the campers slipped him helped a lot with that. Now he just shows up at all hours, calling me boss and telling him to help with sea life."
"How'd he get the name Blackjack?" Magnus asked eagerly.
"He said he spent the first few days free flying to Vegas," Percy chuckled. "I don't know, Blackjack was what came to mind and stuck, he never protested." He cheerfully recalled as he relaxed in his seat.
This wasn't the first time this had happened, and Percy was almost smiling again for at least some familiarity around camp again, even if it wasn't with Annabeth rolling her eyes and shooing him away to go help some otter pups while she went back to her voluntary studying.
relieved but a little irritated. "It's the middle of the night!"
Blackjack huffed. Ain't either, boss. It's five in the morning. What you still sleeping for?
"Are horses nocturnal?" Was Jason's brilliant interruption of that stunning silence.
"Pegasi aren't," Percy rolled his eyes in exasperation. "This one just seems to be literal!"
"How many times have I told you? Don't call me boss."
Whatever you say, boss.
"I like him!" Alex laughed at once.
"He's very likable," Percy agreed indulgently, "when it's not 5AM!"
You're the man. You're my number one.
I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and tried not to let the pegasus read my thoughts. That's the problem with being Poseidon's son: since he created horses out of sea foam, I can understand most equestrian animals, but they can understand me, too. Sometimes, like in Blackjacks case, they kind of adopt me.
See, Blackjack had been a captive on board Luke's ship last summer, until we'd caused a little distraction that allowed him to escape. I'd really had very little to do with it, seriously, but Blackjack credited me with saving him.
"Would you rather he follow Chiron around calling him boss?" Thalia grinned.
"Yes," Percy reluctantly smiled along. He was sort of kidding anyways. As annoying as it could be, Blackjack was too good a friend to even think of passing along anyways, even with the misguided credit.
"You called that pegasus a mare though," Alex reminded. "Am I missing something?"
"Their voices aren't an exact science, it doesn't sound like ours," Percy gestured between them.
"That horse reared though, couldn't you see-"
"Dude," Percy cut in with exhaustion, "I didn't sit and study-"
"Dudett," Alex snipped back, "you have a bad habit of-"
"Dear gods make them stop!" Rachel cut in loudest of all with a winning laugh.
Jason was on Rachel's side and kept reading as they made silent faces at each other.
"Blackjack," I said, "you're supposed to stay in the stables."
Meh, the stables. You see Chiron staying in the stables?
"Well... no."
Exactly. Listen, we got another little sea friend needs your help.
"Again?"
Yeah. I told the hippocampi I'd come get you.
I groaned. Anytime I was anywhere near the beach, the hippocampi would ask me to help them with their problems. And they had a lot of problems. Beached whales, porpoises caught in fishing nets, mermaids with hangnails—they'd call me to come underwater and help.
"Are you applying for saint hood?" Nico asked with a weirdly teasing smile Percy wasn't used to seeing on his usually stoic face. Not that Nico would admit this was how he'd spent those days imagining Percy at all hours, doing exactly these good deeds at the drop of a hat, any time or day as he swooped his hair aside. Bianca loomed in his mind, but he wanted to be what she'd asked of him, and he'd never before taken the time to talk to Percy without the impending guilt of just watching him a moment to long before. Not that this could possibly be what she'd want for him either, though he'd never the opportunity to ask...
"Only if it's the saint of naptime," Percy sighed, making Nico chuckle. Will was grinning at the sight and Percy decided not to question it, at least he wasn't glowering at him and creeping him out.
"All right," I said. "I'm coming."
You're the best, boss.
"And don't call me boss!"
Blackjack whinnied softly. It might've been a laugh.
Percy gave an exasperated sigh at all of their little grins, but he'd had worse experiences lately than getting mocked by a horse and his friends.
I looked back at my comfortable bed. My bronze shield still hung on the wall, dented and unusable. And on my nightstand was Annabeth's magic Yankees cap. On an impulse, I stuck the cap in my pocket. I guess I had a feeling, even then, that I wasn't coming back to my cabin for a long, long time.
"I swear your impulses are going to make or break the world," Jason told him with excitement as he passed the book along.
"Fingers crossed it's make," Percy shivered as his hand was still reaching uselessly for a cap that was not here, a hand that his fingers could not find. Constantly sitting on the edge of his seat waiting for the next thing to drop in his head was leaving him with a persistent, sick, dreaded feeling in his gut he was starting to wonder if he'd ever shake.
PJOPJOPJOPJOPJO
*Keto is later depicted as the Goddess of All Sea Monsters in Mark of Athena, making me wonder if RR meant for this to be Cetus, which is a sky-scraper-sized sea monster. In general the likely answer as with all the plot holes in this series is he probably just changed his mind later and depicted her differently.
**Suggestion offered by LaytonJr, the answer made me laugh to much not to put it in.
#pjo#Percy Jackson#Thalia Grace#Jason Grace#nico di angelo#will solace#rachel elizabeth dare#Magnus Chase#alex fierro#reading the books#fanfiction#hoo#rick riordan#Titan's Curse#How Do You Say Gods#HDYSG
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summary: r gets hurt saving nat (who she’s in love with) and natasha wants nothing more than to get her back
based on these two requests:
1: If you still need Hurt and Comfort prompts, would you accept a scenario where Reader fell in a coma after a mission gone wrong, and the whole time she’s unconscious, Natasha doesn’t want to leave her side. She doesn’t sleep, barely eats, and constantly talking to reader thinking she can hear. Reader then wakes up after 3 months, and Natasha confesses her feelings for Reader.❤️🩹🥺
2: How bout Natasha x fem!Reader where Reader takes a bullet after saving her crush, Natasha, on a mission. Reader survives and brushes it off as “it’s my job” but Natasha doesn’t take the whole situation well, especially since she has feelings for reader too!I HOPE YOU FEEL BETTER! 😘😫❤️*have some tea 🍵 *
word count: 2.8k
genre: fluff and angst but fluff ending
warnings: swearing, gunshot, comatose, blood, medical knowledge that only comes from grey’s anatomy, catradora quote because i have no self control, lmk if i need to add any more!
A/N i combined these requests since they were kinda similar, i hope you don’t mind kind anons!
“She’s tachycardic! Push one of epi, STAT!”
“No, no,”
“Hang on, Y/N, I’m going to do everything in my power to help you. Just keep holding on, okay?”
“You’re gonna be okay, alright? You’re gonna be okay. You’re gonna pull through this,”
“Why would you do that? How could you be so stupid? Why did you do that?” She yelled.
“Just doing… my job…” You managed to get out.
Eventually the voices around you began to fade out as you succumbed to unconsciousness.
As you felt yourself slipping away, the only thing on your mind was the woman you loved; Natasha Romanoff.
~12 hours earlier~
“Are you ready to go home soon?” You asked.
“Kinda,” she replied honestly. “Don’t get me wrong, I love the team and all, but it is nice to get away sometimes,”
You shrugged,
“Yeah, I guess,”
She smiled, then walked closer to you, putting an arm around your shoulder.
“It is nice getting away with you, though,”
You grinned, feeling your cheeks heat up.
“I like getting away with you too, Nat,”
She smirked, squeezing your shoulder,
“Then it’s a good thing we still have a day left,”
You could feel your heart-rate increasing as your cheeks got even redder.
Her smirk turned into a soft smile before she pulled away and went to the bathroom to change.
You sighed, thinking about your hopeless crush on her. You had been an Avenger for three years, friends with Natasha for two, and in love with her for one.
You never imagined that you would fall for the Black Widow, but now you couldn’t imagine your life without her.
-
“So… there’s a mission Fury assigned me to,” she said, leaning back against the couch. “It’s in France, and he said it could last anywhere from a year or two,”
“What?” You sat straight up. “No! That’s too long!”
“I know. It’s a no-contact mission too,”
“That’s such bullshit. You can’t accept that mission, Natty,”
“He assigned me, Y/N, there’s nothing I can do unless someone else volunteers to take the mission instead,”
You stared at her, suddenly feeling very defeated.
“No…” you whispered as your eyes began to pool with tears.
You looked at Natasha, who held her tongue at the roof of her mouth so she wouldn’t cry. You leaned in and wrapped your arms around her tightly, letting out quiet sobs into her neck.
As she held you in her arms, the only thing running through her mind was that she had no idea how the hell she would survive being away from you for that long.
-
After two days of crying, and resisting the urge to scream at Fury, you heard a knock on your door.
“Come in!” You called. The door opened to reveal none other than your favorite redhead, who had the biggest smile on her face.
“Hey,” she said, sitting on your bed.
“Hi,”
“Guess what?”
You shrugged, not really in the mood for guessing games. You just wanted to cherish your last few moments with her before she left.
“So I got a call from Fury this morning…” she told you, her smile growing bigger. “And he said that someone else took the mission,”
You couldn’t believe it. Your best friend didn’t have to leave.
You opened your mouth to say something, but you couldn’t speak. So instead, you threw yourself into her arms.
As they had done several times in the past two days, your eyes began to fill with tears. But this time however, they were tears of joy.
She was holding onto you just as tight as you were holding onto her.
When you finally backed away, she smiled, then reached her thumb up to your face to wipe away your tears.
“Hey,” she said softly. “You don’t need to cry, I’m staying,”
“They’re happy tears, Natty,”
She brought her other hand to your face to wipe away tears on the other cheek, then just held your face in her hands for a few moments.
Oh fuck you thought to yourself. Those tears weren’t platonic.
-
After that night, you had tried to deny your feelings for her for a bit. After all, you had gotten romantic and platonic attraction mixed up in the past, who’s to say that this wasn’t one of those times?
But as time went on, the butterflies would happen even more often around her. Your heartbeat began to race if her hand brushed up against yours. Your face would flush when your arms wrapped around her in a hug. You wanted nothing more than to be with her, to feel her lips against yours, and to be able to tell her you loved her and have her say it back.
The only person who knew about your crush on Natasha was Wanda. She had asked if anyone caught your eye, and you refused to tell her anything. However, she decided to read your mind to find out.
You were a little frustrated that she did that, but you weren’t too mad, knowing you would’ve done the same thing to your best friend.
So since then, Wanda would always try to convince you to tell her, and you would always say no.
As much as it hurt to have these feelings and not tell her, you knew it would be nothing compared to telling her and having the feelings not reciprocated and losing your friendship. You’d rather stay just her friend forever than to lose her.
So here you were now, in love with one of your best friends.
“Ready to go?” She asked as she finished putting her suit on.
“Yep!”
She smiled, then gestured for you to follow her. Today was the last day of your mission, and you just needed to erase all files from some druglord’s computer.
For the past week, the two of you had done several stakeouts, gotten information, and identified people. The last step was destroying their information.
So, Natasha was currently driving the two of you to the location. She had the radio playing, and the two of you were softly singing the lyrics to the songs.
You turned to face her, feeling yourself smile at the sight of her being so carefree around you.
Not that you knew this, but you were the only person she would ever allow to see her like this.
She kept her eyes on the road, but saw you looking at her through her peripheral vision. You were simply mouthing the lyrics now, not really paying attention to them. Instead, your attention was purely on Natasha.
She kept singing the words though, but she was also smiling at the sight of you.
As she began to turn her head to fully face you, your cheeks grew red.
“Eyes on the road, Nat!” You told her, laughing.
“Okay, mom,” She retorted, earning a playful eye roll from you.
“Oh don’t be like that,” she said, beginning to as well. “C’mon, we’re here anyway,”
You nodded, opening the door as soon as she stopped the car.
Once she locked the car, the two of you made your way into the building.
She had her gun ready, holding it out at every corner you turned.
“We’ve been here like four times already, Nat,” you told her, scoffing. “We’re fine”
She grumbled in response, but kept her gun out.
You shook your head, letting out a sigh, then continued on.
Once you made your way to the necessary room, each of you sat down in front of a computer.
“Delete, erase, goodbye,” you muttered as you typed.
Natasha didn’t say anything as she typed away, just wanting to get out of this building as soon as possible.
You glanced over at her every once in a while.
You smiled, watching her type with the clacking on the keyboard. The tip of her tongue was poking out the corner of her mouth. Her eyes began to squint as she focused on the screen.
Unfortunately, while you were staring, you failed to notice someone else come in the room behind you.
“Avengers,” A voice from behind you said.
You whipped around, your eyes widening to see someone wearing a combat suit holding a gun out.
Natasha stood up, raising her gun immediately.
Before you could even process what was happening, you heard the sound of a gunshot.
Without even thinking about it, you threw yourself at Natasha, knocking her to the ground.
Turns out, she was the one who shot first, considering that the other guy was currently laying in a pool of his own blood that was spilling out fast.
But as you jumped, he aimed his gun at Natasha, pulling the trigger.
You let out a groan of pain, feeling a pain growing in your shoulder.
“Y/N no! What did you do?”
She cried your name a few more times, but you couldn’t respond. You only let out a few shaky breaths and sobs as the pain in your shoulder began to grow.
She pulled her phone out, calling for help as fast as she could.
Everything hurt, but you wouldn’t have changed a thing you did. All that mattered to you, was that the woman you loved was safe.
All that mattered was that Natasha Romanoff was safe.
~two days later~
“How’s she doing?”
“Same as before.”
Natasha sighed as she reached onto your bed, placing her hand over yours.
As soon as you were brought back, everyone began working on you right away. Dr. Cho saved your life, and managed to get the bullet out.
However, because of how long it had taken to get you into surgery, you had a lot of internal bleeding.
So, here you were now, in a coma. No one knew when, or even if, you would ever wake up.
Natasha stayed by your side the entire time.
“Nat, you can’t stay in here forever,” Wanda said, gently placing her hand on her shoulder.
“It was my fault, Wanda,” she replied, her voice hoarse from crying. “It should’ve been me,”
“Don’t say that. You’re both alive. She wouldn’t want you to say that, or to sulk in here all day,”
Natasha said something, but kept her gaze on your unconscious body as her red eyes began to fill with tears once again.
“I can’t lose her.”
-
After the first week, Natasha finally left your room at night. She would usually come in around 7:00 AM, and stay until midnight.
Clint would come by, and bring her food. He was genuinely worried that she wouldn’t eat if he didn’t.
Wanda came by often too.
“Do you think she can hear us?” Natasha asked her.
“I can try and find out, if you’d like,” Wanda offered.
Natasha nodded, removing her hand from you.
Wanda stood up, then placed one hand on your forehead, closing her eyes.
After a few moments of silence, she gave Natasha a soft smile.
“She’s dreaming,”
“Is she aware of things going on outside?”
“Not right now. I don’t think she’s constantly dreaming while unconscious. Hearing our voices right now, she’s either drowning them out or they’ll be in her dream. She might become more aware later,”
Natasha let out a shaky breath, then connected her hand to yours again.
“Hi, Y/N,” she breathed out. “We did it. We destroyed the files, and the building ended up being destroyed after we left. We did the mission, you can wake up now. You can come back now,”
She could feel herself about to cry, so she turned to Wanda.
“What’s she dreaming about?”
Wanda closed her eyes again, looking into your mind.
“She’s at this house, and there’s comforting energy coming from it. I think it might be her childhood home.” Wanda explained. “Something’s happening in slow motion. There’s like, cracks of electricity and… oh my god there’s a lightning strike right in front of her,”
“She’s dreaming about lightning?”
“I can hear her inner voice. Part of her is afraid, but the bigger part of her is thinking the lightning strike will give her superpowers… and she’s floating in the air right now,”
Natasha laughed for the first time since getting back. Of course superpowers would be on your mind while getting struck by lightning.
“Thank you, Wanda,” she told her, gently squeezing your hand.
“Of course,” she replied. “You should get some rest. I know Y/N would want you to,”
Natasha sighed, then nodded. She was feeling better for the first time since you took the bullet for her.
-
“Hey,” she said, getting a laptop out and setting it on the side of your bed. “It’s been three weeks now, and uh, I thought it might be a good idea to bring this down and watch your favorite movie. Y’know, maybe hearing it will help you,”
A lump began to form in her throat as she stared at you. However, she said nothing else as she pulled up your favorite movie, then placing it close enough so you could hear, and see it if you were to open your eyes.
Once she pressed play, she sat on the edge of your bed. She wasn’t looking at the laptop screen, she was looking down at you.
She brushed a strand of hair out of your face, and ran her thumb across your cheekbone.
Natasha didn’t even realize she was crying until she had to wipe her own tears off your forehead.
“Sorry,” she muttered, pulling away so she wouldn’t cry on you anymore. “I just… really miss you, Y/N.”
She opened her mouth to say something else, but stopped when she noticed your eyebrow twitch.
It felt like everything in her body stopped working for a moment as she replayed it in her mind; you moved.
Before she knew it, she was sprinting out of your room at full speed to get Dr. Cho.
“She moved! I think she’s waking up! Her eyebrow moved!” She yelled as she barged into her office.
Dr. Cho tilted her head to the side, but followed her back to your room.
She walked over to you, then examined the monitors. She looked at you, then back at your vitals.
“Miss Romanoff, I’m so sorry, but there’s nothing in her brain activity that indicates her moving or waking up. Sometimes, when we want to see something so bad, our mind tricks us into thinking we saw it. It’s a cruel thing, but it’s not uncommon for situations like this,”
Natasha’s heart dropped as the doctor left the room to give her space. She thought she had you back.
-
She wasn’t going to give up on you. She pulled the laptop away, then sat next to you again.
She then layed down, and wrapped her arms around you, sobbing into your neck.
“Wake up, please,” she begged between sobs. “Come back to me.”
Natasha pulled back, placing one hand on your cheek. She leaned down, pulling you close again.
“Don’t you get it?” She said at almost a whisper. “I love you. I always have. So please, just this once. Stay.” She pulled back again, then placed a gentle kiss to your cheek. “Stay.”
It was like everything in her froze again.
Your eyebrows were definitely twitching now. A groan escaped your mouth, as you blinked your eyes open.
“Natty,” you said, wrapping your arms around her neck. “You love me?”
“Of course I do,”
You smiled at her, despite the pain running through your body.
“Good, ‘cause I’ve been in love with you for like the past year,”
She let out a mix between a laugh and a sob as she leaned close to you once again.
You leaned forward too, and before you knew it, the distance between the two of you was closed as you were kissing.
It was gentle, considering the fact that you were still hurt, but you both savored every second of it.
“I love you so much,” you told her, keeping your arms around her.
At this point, you both had tears streaming down your cheeks. Neither of you cared as you leaned in for another kiss.
“Never do that again, okay?” She told you.
“Do what? Kiss you? I plan on doing that a lot more, thank you very much,”
She rolled her eyes, letting out a small laugh.
“Don’t ever put yourself in danger like that for me again, alright? I don’t care if you say it’s your job. Don’t do it again,”
“I did it because I love you, Natty,”
She sighed, wiping away one of your tears.
“I’m never leaving you though,”
“Good, I don’t want you to leave,”
Of course, the two of you would end up arguing about putting yourselves in danger to save each other, but it would all work out in the end.
You loved her, and she loved you. You wouldn’t have it any other way.
#natasha romanoff#natasha romanoff x reader#natasha romanoff fluff#natasha romanoff angst#natasha romanoff x you#natasha romanoff x yn#natasha romanoff x fem reader#natasha romanoff x fem!reader#black widow#black widow x reader#black widow x fem reader#natalia alianovna romanova
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✨SWALLOW YOUR WORDS – l.d.h.✨
© sparklysung – 2021. all rights reserved. no reposts, modifications and/or translations allowed.
pairing – lee donghyuck x female!reader
genre – smut | non-idol!au, enemies to lovers!au
warnings – switch!donghyuck, switch!reader, lap dance, cumming in pants, grinding, dry humping, cum eating, hair pulling (giving and receiving), spanking, mirror sex, protected sex (reader’s on the pill), degradation, dirty talk, bondage (belt), possessiveness (i guess?)
word count – 6.043 words
summary – it only took a couple of words to make the blood boil in your veins and being the competitive individual you are, you had to prove lee donghyuck, your all-time enemy, wrong.
note – not my best, probably could've done better, but oh well. also this was frkng hard to write, damn, and i may have changed things a bit? BUT, i think it's better like this so… hope you enjoy! btw, i got the idea while reading this, so go check it out –it's good–.
taglist – @prvncejxon, @iwishihadabettername
another friday night wasting your time at some random classmate’s party. you were everything but happy to be there. you didn’t even want to go there in the first place, only finding yourself sitting on the kitchen counter, drink in hand and an ugly scowl adorning your face, because of your annoying best friend.
“hey, i get it, you didn’t wanna come here when you could have been peacefully sleeping in the comfort of your room, but come on, at least try to have some fun. you’re already here anyway.” eunbin –aka your annoying best friend– said, pouting her lips in a failed attempt of looking cute.
you kind of felt bad for her, you suppose it wasn’t exactly easy to deal with your lazy ass. but still, she was supposed to love you and appreciate you just the way you were.
and most of the time she did, just not in this specific situation.
“this isn’t fun at all, i just wanna go home. there’s nothing in here for me at all.”
you brought the red plastic cup to your lips, taking a sip of the bitter liquid eunbin had mixed for you. you weren’t lying, there really wasn’t anything that would make you want to stay, only a few friends of yours getting drunk somewhere in the big house you were currently in.
“come on, please, stay for me,” eunbin fake cried, and for a moment you thought she was going to give up and let you go. “in a bit the guys are gonna play something fun! we should join them, please?” as her last resort, she looked at you with puppy eyes. she was playing dirty and she knew it, you both knew you couldn’t resist them.
giving in with an exasperated sigh, you jumped off the counter to get yourself another drink from the bar in the living room. you were minding your own business until you heard him, the last person you wanted to see at the moment.
“so, i’m telling you guys, she was literally begging me to fuck her, she even moaned while sucking me off–,” donghyuck’s obnoxious voice filled your ears, making you roll your eyes. he was surrounded by a couple of other guys you didn’t know so well but were sure you had seen them before around campus hanging out with him.
“shut up already, dongdong, no one wants to hear it.” you interrupted, walking past him and towards the half empty bottle of vodka on the bar counter.
the group of boys stopped abruptly, all of them turning to look at you, ready for the scene that was going to take place in matter of minutes. donghyuck’s attention also turned to you, biting back a triumphant smirk with a raised eyebrow. he could see past you so he didn’t mind the mocking nickname you used; he could tell you were trying to irritate him enough to make him go away. but he wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon. he had been eyeing you all night, trying to find ways to get under your skin to catch your attention. and finally, after staying at a safe distance for a while to not spark suspicions, he got what he wanted.
“why so feisty, babe.” the cocky smirk he gave you just made your blood boil, the growing desire to punch it off his pretty face only getting stronger the more you stared at him.
“don’t you get tired of talking shit all day?” you barked, eyes trained on his body while pouring yourself a good amount of alcohol.
you were certainly going to need a lot of liquid courage to get through the night.
“you boast about girls begging for you but i think you’re just trying to hide the fact that you’re the one who has to beg to get laid.”
“i don’t beg, baby.” you rolled your eyes and muttered a ‘sure’. “also, if you’re jealous of me fucking other girls you just had to say it. i wouldn’t be against giving it to you instead.” the stupid wink he threw at you made your body shake in anger, already fed up with the conversation.
“you wish, asshole.”
“actually, i do.”
donghyuck was so fucking annoying, always teasing you and never leaving you alone. your personalities clashed constantly resulting in fights filled with screams and curses, sometimes to the extent of interrupting the class and getting the two of you kicked out of it. he enjoyed watching you struggle and suffer due to his awful pranks, so you were his favorite target. you couldn’t even have a proper date with anyone because he made sure to mess it up either by scaring the crap out of the guy or sabotaging your plans. he almost completely ruined your love life and cockblocked you forever.
you did not get along and everyone knew it.
although eunbin thought it was pure sexual tension and you just needed to get your frustrations off of you with a good fuck.
it wasn’t though.
or was it?
“let’s go hang out with the guys,” your best friend nudged your arm excitedly and you sighed, not feeling like playing anything with them. every time you decided to give in and take part in ‘something fun’ with the guys, it always ended up with you either in trouble or scarred for life.
you had a bad feeling about this all.
“ugh, fine.” she cheered and pulled you through the crowd of drunk people until you reached the basement.
the sound of laughter and screams drowned the music blasting upstairs, there were empty bottles of alcohol sprawled all over the floor and tables and a circle of people in the middle of the room. both of you joined the group with you sitting between eunbin and mark, a close friend of yours that you sadly shared with donghyuck. while you casually chatted and played around with the boy, happily laughing the night away, you could feel a pair of eyes burn holes into your skull. you didn’t have to look up to know who those eyes belonged to, as said person wasn’t even trying to dissimulate.
and by said person you meant donghyuck.
donghyuck hated the way you leaned on mark’s body, how you let his friend rest his head on top of yours and wrap his arm around your waist.
he was jealous, really jealous of your close friendship with the older boy.
mark and you had been friends for a long time now and you could even consider him your best friend, so you were comfortable around each other. you usually hugged, held hands and cuddled, he was used to you wearing his clothes –half of your closet were stolen hoodies that once belonged to him–, he even had a spare change of clothes in his room just in case you decided to drop by for an improvised sleepover. so it wasn’t surprising when sometimes when the two of you hung out on your own, people –even your friends in common– mistook you as a couple.
and the idea of you two dating made donghyuck feel sick to the stomach.
“we’re playing truth or dare, who wants to start?” seoyeon, one of your friends, spoke while looking around for someone to volunteer.
“i’ll go.” lucas raised his hand and everyone nodded, not minding.
the game went smoothly for a while and eventually, the more alcohol everybody drank, the crazier things got. mark ended up getting dared to lick whipped cream off of yuta’s chest and xiaojun had to cross-dress and dance on a table. everything was fine, you hadn’t been picked by anyone yet so you were pretty much having fun just enjoying the show.
until someone called your name.
“y/n, truth or dare?” jaehyun asked with a smirk.
he had an evil glint on his eyes making you feel suspicious. you knew you couldn’t choose truth or else everyone would make fun of you for being a pussy. and jaehyun just knew you well enough to know you weren’t going to let that happen.
you weren’t one to back down.
still, the way he stared at you made an uneasy feeling settle in your stomach.
what could he possibly have in mind?
“dare.”
seems like your gut feeling was right after all.
“give hyuck a lap dance,” jaehyun said immediately after the words left you mouth, making everyone in the room shake, some in excitement and some –you– in anger. donghyuck wasn’t expecting to take part in the dare, but he really wasn’t complaining either. “thank me later babe,” his shit-eating grin only adding fuel to the fire.
fuck.
just as eunbin, donghyuck could sense the sexual tension. and unlike you, he acknowledged it.
but for him it wasn’t just that.
you two had known each other –or at least acknowledged each other's existence– for a few years now, since high school. he was forced to see you almost every day at school, so, naturally, fondness for you started growing slowly in his chest. but it wasn’t until you both left for college that your ‘enemies’ label was established.
and if someone thought he may possibly like you, they were damn right.
he did.
it all started during freshman year, when he tried to befriend you during one of the classes you shared. you seemed irritated by his advances and wanted him away from you, so after a few attempts of softening your heart, he resolved that the only way to stay close to you was annoying the hell out of you.
childish? yeah. he cared? not really.
“come here, babe.” donghyuck tongued the inside of his cheek, a smirk forming on his lips. as he saw the grim look on your face, he sprawled his legs, patting his toned thigh invitingly, eager to get things started.
the look jaehyun gave you had ‘you’re not backing down, are you?’ written all over.
“shit, i hate jaehyun, why did he have to do me dirty like that?” you mumbled angrily to eunbin and she just laughed, finding the situation way funnier than you.
“maybe tonight won’t be as boring as you thought? maybe you’ll end up getting laid.” she wiggled her eyebrows suggestively and you only scoffed, “shut up, dumbass.”
“why did you have to do me like that, huh?!” you almost screamed at the older, taking a mental note to beat him up later. he just shrugged and threw you a wink, “asshole.”
mark patted your back to help you relax, he could see you weren’t exactly happy about your dare.
“come on, which song would you like, my lady?” lucas asked, scrolling through his spotify for suiting songs.
“or nah!” yangyang answered before you could even open your mouth. just as you were about to ask for a less sexual song, cheering erupted through the room.
everyone was pumped, adrenaline running through their veins and pushing them to do stupid stuff they would probably regret the next day after waking up hungover. and things just took a rather interesting turn, so they obviously were excitedly awaiting the next series of events.
yay, more stupid memories to regret later.
on the other hand, donghyuck was as doomed as you. he knew the song well, he knew the lyrics by heart but what he didn’t know was if he could control himself with you basically dry humping him in front of a bunch of people to the rhythm of it.
he wasn’t sure it was a great idea.
as soon as you got up to complete the dare, you heard cheering and clapping. and you weren’t going to lie, you wanted to throw yourself out of a window.
breathing deeply in an attempt of relaxing to just get it over with, you made your way towards donghyuck until you were standing a few feet in front of him.
as the music started playing, you started moving. running your finger on the surface of his clothed shoulder, you walked slowly around him, like a predator circling its prey. he tried not to follow your movements, already getting anxious by your closeness and nervously waiting for your next move.
i’ma smoke this joint then i’ma break you off.
i’d be lying if i said you ain’t the one.
you pushed his legs open and settled between them. your hands rubbed his thighs teasingly, fingers drawing closer to his crotch but not quite getting there. you took your sweet time feeling him up, softly scratching his strong arms and leaving red trails behind. donghyuck was so into it, enjoying the sight of you kneeling before him so much that his pants were already starting to feel tight.
heard you not the type that you take home to mom.
is we fuckin’ when we leave the club or nah?
i ain’t spendin’ cash for nothin’ i wanna see you take it off.
and oh how he wanted to see you take it off. all night he couldn’t take his eyes off of your figure, you looked really good in the outfit eunbin had chosen for you.
so good it was almost making him drool.
you sat on his lap, hands going to caress his toned chest and stomach. it was well-known that donghyuck exercised frequently, but it still surprised you. he felt so good you had to bite your lip to prevent a sound from coming out.
when you shifted to sit closer to him, his hands flew to your hips and you could tell his intention was to move them lower to grope your ass, but you weren’t having it.
do you like the way i flick my tongue or nah?
you can ride my face until you’re drippin’ cum.
“if you try to touch me again, i’ll tie you up,” you said with a sweet smile plastered on your face, grabbing him by the wrists and harshly dropping them away from you. donghyuck let out a startled gasp at that, obviously not expecting your attitude. with his hands twitching to grasp anything, he went to grip tightly the sides of the chair.
can you lick the tip then throat the dick or nah?
can you let me stretch that pussy out or nah?
your hips ground against his crotch at such a slow pace that donghyuck was having trouble not pushing you down on him faster. he was getting embarrassingly hornier as seconds passed and wanted nothing more than to fuck you right then and there, even with his friends’ eyes on you both.
donghyuck tried so hard to restrain himself from touching you. he wasn’t one to follow orders, but he tried just for you, he really did.
i’m not the type to call you back tomorrow.
but the way you wrappin’ ‘round me is a prob.
and everything was fine until you kissed him. synchronized gasps filled the room, the sudden show of affection confusing everybody. not even your intoxicated self could understand what the hell were you doing nor who you were doing it with. his breath got stuck in his throat, heart thumping against his chest at an alarming rate. his hands almost tried to bring you closer, but he realized what he was doing on time to stop himself.
he finally broke down when your mouth sucked on his tongue, making his hips grind up against yours unconsciously as his hands grabbed you by your waist, pressing your body flush against his.
that was it.
“you asked for it,” your movements came to a stop as you took off your black leather belt, sticking to your threat of tying him up if he didn’t quit it.
pussy so good, i had to save that shit for later.
took her to the kitchen, fucked her right there on the table.
“oh shit,” donghyuck stirred under you trying to get out of the situation.
this couldn’t be happening.
“no, please,” he whimpered as you fastened the belt until it was wrapped tightly around his wrists, locking his arms behind his back. your audience was unable to hold in their surprise, some mouths falling open. he fought against the restraints to no avail, desperate to free himself, “please, let me go,” he cried out quietly, not wanting the other occupants in the room to hear him.
“stop complaining or else i’ll also gag you,” you spat harshly in his ear, done with his attitude, and he swallowed hard. as you nibbled on his lobe, you felt a strong sense of confidence. it made your chest swell in pride to see the usual big mouth jerk with a smug grin constantly attached to his face falling apart under your touch.
seems like he was the one to beg, after all.
you moved your hips to the rhythm of the music, making sure to press harder against the sensitive tip of his cock, which was already leaking precum. although you weren’t an expert, you’d given a fair share of lap dances, so you knew what you were doing.
and donghyuck could certainly tell.
don’t play with a boss, girl take it off.
take it for a real one.
you gon’ get it all.
“whose bitch are you now, huh?” donghyuck couldn’t speak properly, way too hot and bothered for his brain to come up with any smart-ass response.
you tsked disapprovingly at his lack of response.
“when i ask you a question, you answer.” your fingers tangled in his hair and with a harsh tug you forced him to look up. donghyuck was dazed, lips swollen from you biting on them, eyes glassy from arousal, and mind clouded with lust.
“yours.” he whimpered quietly, forgetting momentarily about your audience.
“good boy.”
you loved how easy it was for you to break him and leave him wanting more, to have him so putty in your hands. specially since hearing comments of other female classmates about donghyuck teasing them almost till the brim of tears was part of your day-to-day life. it felt like you were getting revenge for all of them, so you were enjoying it a lot more than anyone could imagine.
your plump lips trailed down the length of his neck, leaving wet kisses along his honey-like skin, and he threw his head back to give you more access. as you licked, sucked and bit the flesh, donghyuck could hear his heartbeat loud over the music. he usually wouldn’t let a girl suck hickeys on his skin, but the idea of you marking him while everyone watched was rather exciting.
he swore the seconds passed slower than usual. you were just halfway through the song but he didn’t know if he could survive any longer.
donghyuck felt light-headed and painfully aroused, and he wasn’t going to last long if you kept kissing him and moving your hips the way you were.
“i’ma go as far as you let me,” your movements became slower to tease him, making the poor boy want to cry in agony. his jeans felt way too tight to be comfortable and he hoped everyone could just leave you two alone to take it off.
“shit, please,” donghyuck’s eyes closed, head falling forward and hanging low as drops of sweat slid down his forehead. the room felt like an oven and he didn’t know if it was a result of the significant amount of people in such a small space, the alcohol, his choice of clothing or your body pressed closely against his.
probably the latter.
girl, is you sucking me or fucking me or nah?
can i bring another bitch? let’s have a threesome.
“keep saying you’re a freak, you gon’ prove it or nah?” you quietly sang along, pulling his face closer by his hair and grinding down on him harder.
donghyuck was going crazy, he had never expected you to be so sexy, to behave so dirtily. but he loved it, and by the prominent tent in his pants, everybody could tell he was in for the ride of his life.
you’s a ride-or-die chick, you with this shit or nah?
say you not a side bitch, you all-in or nah?
you gon’ make them eggs cheesy with them grits or nah?
you brought him in for a hot kiss that left his head spinning.
donghyuck was growing restless as his climax neared, he was so close he could almost taste it. he couldn’t remember when the last time he got so close to cumming only from some teasing was.
everything was happening so quickly he wasn’t able to stop himself before giving in to the pleasure.
“h-holy fuck,” with a shaky moan that you swallowed, donghyuck shot his load, staining the crotch of his dark jeans. you could feel the wetness seeping through the piece of clothing and dampening your bottoms. his hips gave a few more sloppy thrusts, legs shaking weakly and cock twitching from the confines of his jeans, before falling limp on the chair.
or nah.
as the song ended, he came down from his high. you freed him from the iron grip of your belt, the skin on his wrists was red and slightly swollen. you may have tightened it too much in the heat of the moment, but you weren’t apologizing after giving him probably the best orgasm of his life.
the bewildered expression on his face quickly turned grim as it hit him.
he came in his pants like a fucking teenager.
in a room full of people.
in front of his friends, yours and you.
his friends stood there, both confused and surprised to see donghyuck so affected by your touch. nobody had expected things to end the way they did.
“damn, are you okay my man?” johnny asked, laughing at his friend’s flustered state.
“shut up,” donghyuck answered bitterly. he shot up from his seat, grabbing your hand and shoving you inside the nearest bathroom in the house. he didn’t even care to cover the wet spot on his pants, walking with his chin up and a scowl plastered on his face.
and blame it on how riled up you had gotten from the feeling of his hard dick pressing against your needy pussy, but damn, he looked good.
“i wanna go next!” hendery spoke excitedly. you couldn’t tell if he was just messing with you or if he actually wanted you to give him a lap dance too. either way, it made your lips turn upwards in a smug grin.
once you both made it to the bathroom, he locked the door before pushing you against it, back pressed flush into the hard piece of wood. the ambience took a 180 turn, your confidence faltered slightly at the sight of his angry form.
“you think it’s funny, yeah?” he hummed angrily in your ear. “you think i’d let you do whatever you want and embarrass me in front of my friends just because you feel like it without payback?” the look on his eyes getting darker as the words left his mouth.
“if so, oh baby, you were so wrong.”
trying to test him, you decided to answer.
“you’re all bark and no bite, what else am i supposed to think?” you smirked devilishly when you saw him clench his jaw.
“you’re gonna regret being a brat,” his slender fingers wrapped themselves around your waist and with a harsh tug, he pulled you closer to attack your lips, biting and sucking on them, making your legs wobbly. he tasted sweet and bitter at the same time, probably from the liquor he had been drinking all night, and you couldn’t seem to get enough. his lips were soft and plush as they mingled with yours, teeth roughly clashing and tongues fighting for dominance, “am i?”
donghyuck hissed through his teeth as he unbuckled his pants, letting his cum-covered shaft spring free. he was already hard and you unconsciously rubbed your thighs together to ease some of the tension building up between them. his hand shot to your throat, tightening his grip until you couldn’t breathe properly, before forcing you on your knees.
donghyuck tapped his hard and heavy cock on your lips a couple of times before speaking. “open up, slut,” and you did as you were told, parting your lips and poking your tongue out, waiting for him to slide in.
but he didn’t.
he wanted you to lick him clean, he wanted to see you do as he said, follow his orders like a good girl without complaints.
“clean the mess you’ve done. now.”
the harsh tone of his voice sent a wave of arousal straight to your core. your hands immediately shot up to grab a hold of his length, but before you got too close he stopped you. confusion was written all over your face and for a moment you worried he had changed his mind.
“no hands, i want you to work on it only with that dirty mouth of yours.”
with your hands gripping onto his thighs, your tongue swiped from the base to the head of his cock, eagerly licking him clean. once you had swallowed every drop of his cum, your mouth took him whole, hollowing your cheeks, one hand massaging his balls. donghyuck threw his head back as yours bobbed at a rapid pace, the tip of his cock reaching the back of your throat as you swallowed around him.
when he was about to cum, he pulled away from your mouth, making you whine at the loss. wrapping his hand once again around your throat like a beautiful necklace, he forced you up on your feet. he turned you around before pulling you closer by a rough tug. your clothed ass pressed against his dick, a mixture of his arousal and your saliva wetting the cloth. your hips ground back to both tease him, desperate to feel something, anything. his hands went to the front of your jeans, rubbing his fingers over your clothed clit and a whimper fell from your lips.
“more, i need more,” you pleaded, the barrier of clothes making the feeling less pleasurable.
he surprisingly complied without resistance, dipping the digits under the restricting cloth. a deep groan vibrated against the side of your neck when he felt the wetness that had been gathering inside your panties since your dare.
“look at you, so damn wet,” his mouth watered at the feeling of your needy heat. at this point, donghyuck knew everyone had an idea of what you two could possibly be doing, and although he would enjoy returning the favour by eating you out to his heart’s content, there wasn’t enough space nor time to do so comfortably. but he swore he would make it up to you some time.
“for who is it, baby?” the answer was obvious, but still, he wanted to hear it directly from you. he inserted one long finger until it was knuckles deep inside of you and you let out a squeak, head falling back onto his shoulder.
“for you donghyuck, all for you.”
“that’s right, slut, only i can make you that wet, only i can touch you like this. you’re mine, don’t forget that,” he inserted a second finger and pumped them deeply into you.
“yes,” you breathed out softly, too far gone to fight back with a snarky remark.
although his fingers felt good and you could possibly –with a bit of an effort– cum just from them, you still wanted more. you wanted to feel the nice stretch of his cock tearing your walls apart.
“please, donghyuck.”
“what do you want?”
donghyuck knew what you wanted. fuck, he wanted it too, so bad. he had been waiting for an opportunity like this for a long time and now that he could finally have it, he was going to make the best out of it.
“fuck me,” your core ached to be filled so you swallowed your pride and spoke out.
“condom?”
“we don’t need it, i’m on the pill,” you rushed, stomach twisting and turning in excitement, “please, just fuck me.”
donghyuck’s eyes turned darker, lust clouding both of your minds with the only desire to fuck each other stupid. he pulled down your jeans so they were pooling on your ankles and went back to pump his fingers inside you to make sure you were ready to take him. as he entered you, you had to lean on the sink in front of you to hold yourself up or else you would have faceplanted the mirror.
“you feel so good, fuck, so fucking tight,” donghyuck growled when he was balls deep in you.
whimpers fell from your lips from the delicious stretch of his thick cock. after a few seconds of you adjusting to his size, you backed your ass into his hips to let him know you wanted him to move. he gave a couple of thrusts to test the waters before picking up his pace and you gripped the sides of the sink as he pounded into you. his mouth worked on your neck while you brought one of his hands under your shirt to play with your breasts.
“such a pretty sight, don’t you think?” he tugged harshly at your hair to force you to look at your reflection on the mirror, thrusts never faltering.
your makeup was ruined; lipstick smeared messily all over your lips from the hot make-out session, neck full of bruises donghyuck left to claim you, shirt pulled above your breasts displaying your puckered nipples while one of his big hands grabbed your boob as they bounced with every hard snap of his hips.
“you have no idea how many times i had to control myself not to pounce on you,” his eyes never left your quivering reflection, completely in love with the way your frame molded with his, “every single time you couldn’t keep that pretty little mouth of yours closed and all i wanted to do was shut you up with my cock.”
“f-fuck,” his thrusts turned rougher as his free hand wrapped around your neck, tightening his grip and amplifying the mind-blowing sensations he was giving you.
your asscheeks slapped against his hips, which drilled against you at an unhuman pace, hitting the right spots with every snap and making your eyes roll to the back of your head. you couldn’t keep your mouth shut, loud moans threatening to fall from your lips so you slapped your palm over your mouth to muffle your sounds.
“don’t, i want to hear you,” he gave a particularly hard thrust to try and draw a sound out of you, “i want you to be so loud that all of our friends know what we’re doing, i want them to know how good i’m making you feel.”
specially mark.
but he wasn’t going to tell you that.
“h-hyuck,” you couldn’t hold back the broken moan that fell from your lips, pleasure overtaking your body. your hands gave in and you almost fell forward, but donghyuck reacted sooner and pulled you by your hair, holding you up.
“address me properly, brat,” he growled in your ear. you felt a hard slap on your ass, the skin of the abused area stinging from the impact.
“i’m sorry… fuck, donghyuck,” your cries went straight to his dick, urging him to fuck you harder. he kneaded the flesh soothingly before spanking it again and again until you could make out the imprint of his big hand on your asscheek.
“f-faster, please,” you pleaded in a whine and he tsked, shaking his head, “such a greedy little slut.”
“what would everyone think of you if they could see you so eagerly taking my cock, mm?” donghyuck hummed, “begging for me to fuck you until you can’t walk properly?
shocks of pleasure shot through you, his dirty talk helping you reach your release faster than you anticipated. his grip on you was so tight you were sure you were going to be sore the next day. your moans turned pornographic as you neared your release, your walls squeezed around donghyuck to the point he was unable to move, so he started drawing circles over your sensitive clit to help you get off.
“let go, baby.”
and soon, his touch threw you over the edge, causing your body to shake and a broken moan to fall from your lips, legs weak as your whole weight only relied on your arms for support. he followed shortly after, grunting as he filled you up with his warm and sticky essence.
as he pulled out, a mixture of your slick juices and his seed leaked from your abused hole, dripping down your inner thighs. his fingers slid over to gather the drops of cum and opposite to your assumption, he didn’t push it back inside of you but brought the digits to your face, waiting for you to open your mouth.
“suck.”
and you did, eyes locked with his through the mirror as your tongue swirled around his fingers to lick them clean.
“fuck,” donghyuck sighed, “i didn’t know you were so dirty, sweetheart.”
and the teasing comes back.
“do you want me to remind you how i made you cum in your pants back there in a room full of people?” you rolled your eyes in disbelief and he just let out a breathy laugh.
“whatever. either way, even if they didn’t have the pleasure of fucking you or at least seeing you get fucked, they surely could hear you from how loud you were screaming my name.”
“good thing mark now knows who you belong to,” the words slipped out of his mouth before he could think and both of you shared a look of pure shock.
“did you just mention mark?”
“…no?”
“you did! what the fuck? were you jealous of mark?” you asked, eyes wide as you remembered the disgusted look on his face when you and mark got too touchy with each other during the game.
“i am jealous of mark.”
“what? why?”
“oh my god, you’re so dense.”
“shut up, i’m not.”
“yes, you are. i like you dumbass, that’s fucking why. why wouldn’t i be jealous if you two act like you’re dating but always deny it when questioned? i can give you my hoodies, i can cuddle you and hold your hand, i can spoil you with cute stuff. i can be your boyfriend, it doesn’t have to be him.”
everything was so weird.
you were supposed to be enemies for fucks sake.
but he looked cute with pouty lips.
“well, you sure have got a damn weird way of demonstrating it.”
“shut up, okay?” donghyuck snapped, done with trying to get you to shut the fuck up. “i just didn’t know how to approach you or talk to you at all, alright?” he sighed, a scowl forming on his face. “you always seem to be angry when i’m around.” the change in his voice shocked you, it was much softer now, as if he was afraid of you hearing it.
“hey, don’t beat yourself for it, alright?” you sighed, feeling bad for being so mean to him for no reason. because you really didn’t have a reason. whenever you weren’t at each other’s throats and you got time to observe him from afar, you saw how caring he was with his friends, even if most of the time he annoyed the crap out of them.
donghyuck actually seemed like a good guy… if you ignored his teasing.
maybe you didn’t hate him as much as you thought.
“so, would you be my-,”
suddenly, the sound of banging on the door resonated through the room.
“are you done already? i need to pee.”
you quickly fixed your clothes, embarrassed by the presence of someone outside the door waiting for you and donghyuck to get out and momentarily forgetting about the boy’s proposal. just as you were about to open the door and get yourself the fuck out of the situation, his arms wrapped around your waist to pull you closer and whisper to your ear in a way you could feel your panties get damp once again.
“we’re not done yet, princess.”
–lia:)
#nctcreations#neosmutcollective#lee donghyuck#donghyuck fic#donghyuck#haechan#lee haechan#nct x reader#nct scenarios#nct 127#nct smut#nct imagines#nct u x reader#nct u smut#nct u#nct dream#nct dream donghyuck#nct dream haechan#donghyuck smut#haechan smut
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ME AND THE DEVIL – PART ONE
Featuring: Tommy Shelby x Reader
Words: 3555
Warning: Smut, Abuse
Notes: This is fiction and not historically accurate. It plays somewhere in the middle of Season 5, after Tommy met Oswald Mosley and became affiliated with him but before he planned to assassinate him.
Tag List:
@lilymurphy03
@deefigs
@theflamecrystal
@chrisevanshoeee
@desperate-and-broken
@weepingstudentfishhorse
@severewobblerlightdragon
@captivatedbycillianmurphy
------
You were the oldest daughter of the chief of police in London and married to Oswald Mosley. The marriage between you and Oswald was arranged by your father who was supporting Mosley’s fascist movement.
Your husband was abusive and disrespectful towards you. You despised him and his fascist views. Luckily for you, he didn’t involve you in many political events. You were only obliged to attend functions with him where it benefitted him and his party.
You were aware that he was expanding his party but you didn’t involve yourself with politics, at least so it seemed. You knew that the fascist movement was dangerous and you hoped that, one day, your husband would pay for his sins.
You were not allowed to work, but you were allowed to volunteer at the local orphanage and soup kitchen. As the wife of Oswald Mosley, this was beneficial for his political campaign so he didn’t intervene. Little did he know that this was where you would meet one of his enemies.
Just so it happened that, on a Thursday evening when you were volunteering at the orphanage, you met a mysterious stranger.
Dressed in a comfortable but elegant dress, you unpacked several toys that were delivered from the Womens Association of Birmingham for the children at the orphanage.
The children were excited and you could barely keep up with their demand. Their excitement was overwhelming and their eyes lit up as they took the toys from your hands. It wasn’t often that they received brand new toys and you took joy simply in seeing their excitement. You wanted children of your own, but not with your husband. He wasn’t capable to be a good father and you were glad that, despite numerous attempts, you didn’t conceive.
After years, he told you that you were worthless, not being able to give him a child. But you were somewhat grateful for it. It also meant that he no longer bothered to force you to sleep with him, which never was pleasurable in any sort of way. You were pleased to learn that, after years of abuse, he found whores to be of more interest to him than you.
The work at the orphanage took you away from your miserable life. Working with children was pure joy for you and gave you the courage to inform on your husband to the communist partry. You did it for them, so that they can grow up in a world free from oppression. Your husband was the devil and you knew that very well.
Just as you went to get the last box of toys from the van, a man approached you from behind.
‘Please, let me help you with this’ the man said, taking the heavy box from your hands. He could see that you were struggling with its weight. After all, you were of small statue.
‘Thank you, Mr…’ you said in a way you would usually ask a question.
‘Shelby. Thomas Shelby’ the man said as he walked inside with you.
You showed him where to place the box so that you could unpack it as, all of a sudden, one of the nuns from the orphanage walked towards you from the hallway.
‘Please, Mr Shelby, you do not need to do this’ the nun said with a hasty voice.
‘But it’s my pleasure’ Tommy said as he opened the box and helped you unpack it.
‘Thank you’ you said with a shy smile as you couldn’t help it but stare into his bright blue eyes.
‘No thank you for the work you are doing here Y/N. It is admirable’ Tommy said with a warm smile.
‘I take joy in it’ you said before asking him how he knew your name.
Your question caused Tommy to point to your name tag.
You flushed immediately. Of course, he can read.
‘Very informal’ Tommy said as he observed that the name tag only had your first name on it.
‘Well, I like to be the children’s friend. I am not one of the mistresses or teachers here. I simply volunteer’ you said whilst, the truth was, you were embarrassed of who you were. Y/N Mosley, the wife of a fascist. Of course, you weren’t going to tell him that.
‘We need more kind hearted people like you in a world like this Y/N’ Tommy said as he unpacked the last toy from the box.
‘Please, you make me blush Mr Shelby’ you said shyly while looking up into his piercing blue eyes again.
He was much older than you, probably the same age as your husband, but he was incredibly attractive. Unlike your husband, he appeared kind hearted in his own way.
‘My apologies, it wasn’t my attention to make you uncomfortable’ Tommy said with a smile.
‘It’s quite alright Mr Shelby. Thank you again for helping with this’ you said as you were wondering why he was at the orphanage.
‘Tell me, why are you here? What is your business?’ you asked with curiosity.
‘I am having a meeting with Miss Walsh at 4 o’clock to discuss the funding of the new library for the orphanage. As you know, the orphanage has the facility on site. It’s unused and will need to be fenced. And of course, we will need books’ Tommy said. You could hear the passion in his voice for the project.
‘Are you funding it?’ you asked bluntly.
‘My late wife’s charity is. She cared deeply for children who were abandoned or lost their parents in the war’ Tommy explained.
‘She seemed like a wonderful woman and I am sorry for your loss Mr Shelby’ you said.
‘She was and thank you for your kind words Y/N’ Tommy said.
‘May I offer you a tea? Just while you wait for Miss Walsh?’ you asked.
Tommy agreed and you sat down in the reading room for 15 minutes before Miss Walsh arrived.
You enjoyed your conversation with Tommy. He seemed like a smart man, elegant, firm and yet kind hearted.
The conversations you had were mostly about the orphanage and plans for the education of the children. You loved to read and you liked the idea of a library. You shared ideas for fundraisers and it was evident to you that Tommy was intrigued by you. His eyes wandered everywhere, from your face, down to your hands, which is where he noticed your wedding ring.
‘You are married. Do you and your husband have children?’ Tommy asked.
‘No, we do not. How about you Mr Shelby?’ you asked.
‘A son and a daughter’ Tommy said.
‘Then you are lucky’ you responded just as Miss Walsh arrived.
You said goodbye to Tommy and, just as he was about to leave with Miss Walsh, he asked you whether you would be interested to help with the establishment of the library since you were familiar with literature.
You were surprised that a man like him would personally involve himself with a project like this. It was more common for rich men to simply provide the funds. But, he seemed to care for this particular project, so you agreed.
A few weeks after your encounter with Tommy, the books arrived and you volunteered to sort them and arrange the library for the children.
Tommy came by one afternoon to see how the project came along and offered you his assistance. But most of the time it was his sister Ada who attended the library to catalogue the books with you.
She was a kind woman, socially aware and most defiantly in favour of the communist movement.
Despite your numerous discussions about politics, Ada never thought to mention that her brother Tommy was a politician himself. In fact, she didn’t like to speak about him at all.
Another week later, you were surprised to see Tommy at the library at lunch time.
‘Good Afternoon Y/N’ Tommy said as he brought in another box of books.
‘Mr Shelby, I am surprised to see you’ you said. This was your third encounter with Tommy and you were pleased to see him. You were intrigued by him.
‘I thought you could use some help since my sister is busy with errands today’ Tommy said.
‘So, you came here to help me catalogue books?’ you said sheepishly.
‘Making appearances Y/N, that’s all’ he said as he began to unpack the books.
‘Thank you, Mr Shelby, but…’ you said and before you could continue, Tommy interrupted you.
‘Please, just call me Tommy’ he said as he handed you the books.
You climbed up the ladder to put them onto the higher shelves just as Tommy advised you that, the truth was, that he had meeting with Miss Walsh again but that he set aside some time for the library beforehand.
Tommy and you talked for a while as you shelved the books. You noticed his eyes gaze over you again on several occasions in particular when you stepped up the ladder. He was clearly looking at your ass, possibly even your underwear, but you didn’t mind.
Every time you came down from the ladder, he stood uncomfortably close to you, so close that you could smell the scent of his aftershave. It smelled like musk and he was clearly chewing mint, probably to hide the smell of the cigarettes.
He was handsome, very handsome and the look he gave you every time he handed you more books from the table was intense. A look of want and desire. Or were you imagining it?
Unfortunately, your encounter with him only lasted for about thirty minutes before he had to excuse himself in order to meet with Miss Walsh.
You said goodbye to Tommy with a warm smile and received a smile in return.
Just after he left, you went on with cataloguing the books. It was a slow process and you were the only volunteer on duty that day. Your husband approved. Doing community service was beneficial to his party and political goals. It shows that him and his family care for the community.
But you simply did it because you felt it was right and gave you a purpose.
You spent nearly every day at the library and almost all books were catalogued.
After another half an hour, you had one more box to shelf for the day. You were focused, your mind entirely with the books.
To your surprise, just as you stepped down from the ladder to grab more books for the top shelf, your face was just above Tommy’s face. You couldn’t believe that he was there. You never heard him come back.
‘How long have you been standing there?’ you asked as your foot touched the floor.
‘A few minutes, just enough to admire the view’ he said sheepishly and you weren’t sure whether to smack or kiss him.
But, before you could make up your mind, he leaned in and took the kiss he’s been desperate for since the moment you’ve met.
The kiss was gentle at first, brushing his lips against yours a couple of times, then locking them together in a haste, allowing your tongues to explore each other.
You had never been kissed this way before and gave into him completely.
Your mind told you to stop, to push him away. You didn’t know this man and if your husband was to find out, it would be detrimental for the both of you.
But in your heart, you wanted this so badly. This and so much more.
As your tongues played with each other, coyly at first, then like long-lost lovers, Tommy’s hands ran over your back all the way down to your ass.
His lips tasted sweet and his hands sent shivers through your body.
Without breaking the kiss, Tommy’s hands wandered beneath your skirt, gently and passionately.
‘Not here. The reading area’ you whispered just after you broke away from the kiss.
Tommy nodded just before he planted his mouth just above your clavicle.
While planting gentle kisses over you, Tommy navigated to one of the long desks in the reading area.
He was so gentle, a feeling that was unfamiliar to you. Despite the fact that you barely knew him, you somehow trusted him and wanted him.
Just as your back hit the desk, Tommy lifted you up to sit on it before gently pushing your legs apart.
He moved in between your legs while continuing to kiss you. His skilled fingers began unbuttoning your white blouse, revealing your lace bra.
No words were spoken as Tommy ran his index fingers down the inside of the straps of your bra, over the edges of the cups, then down your cleavage, all while gazing his eyes over your body.
He kept this tease up until you got impatient. Your breathing became heavy as he pulled the bra down, freeing your breasts. Your areolas were covered in goosebumps and your nipples were puffed up. The reading lamp lit all your curves in titillating contrast and you could that Tommy enjoyed what he was seeing.
Not ever had a man looked at you with such desire. You only ever been with one man, your husband, and this was new territory. You actually enjoyed yourself and were feeling guilty about it.
‘So beautiful’ Tommy whispered just before his lips kissed, licked and sucked their way to your stiff nubs on your breasts.
His hands cupped, squeezed and kneaded your smooth flesh and you moaned deeply and gripped the edge of the desk behind you.
Tommy flicked the tip of his tongue across your nipple before nibbling naughtily around it. Not ever had anyone paid such attention to your breasts and you started to feel something that was unfamiliar to you.
You could feel a tingling sensation build up in between your legs and your lace panties were getting wet.
Just as Tommy continued to stimulate your breasts, you gasped and threw your head back as his teeth ever-so-gently brushed up against your nubs again.
Tommy’s hands soon moved from your breasts down beneath your skirt, brushing over the inside of your thighs.
You pushed your legs together for a moment, unsure whether to give in or not.
You despised being touched there by your husband but this was actually enjoyable.
‘Do you want me to stop?’ Tommy asked, noticing your reluctance.
‘No, please don’t’ you said as you decided to let him proceed, opening your legs again.
You were slightly embarrassed by the wetness pooling in between your legs but, to your surprise, Tommy seemed pleased with it.
‘You are so wet Love’ he smirked as his fingers finally brushed over your panties just before he crashed his lips back onto yours.
You moaned into the kiss as his fingers pulled aside your panties and you could feel his finger tips roam over your entrance.
You tried hard to relax as Tommy’s fingers ran up and down your slit and started spread your juices.
He teased your entrance, just slipping in a single finger and only to his first knuckle.
This must be what foreplay was all about you thought as you kept giving in to your moans.
‘Tommy’ you moaned, desperate for more and, just like that, Tommy suddenly bit your neck gently while plunging his finger deep inside you.
Your moans turned to a gasp and a whimper as pleasure flooded your senses. You knew that Tommy had just left a hickey and, whilst you should be concerned, it just made you even wetter.
Tommy kept kissing and biting your neck as he added another finger inside of you and explored you with his fingers. The tip of his finger found many crevices but, unbeknownst to you, he was searching for your g-spot.
‘Fuck, oh god’ you screamed all of a sudden as Tommy’s fingers pressed upwards, earning you smirk from Tommy.
He had just found what he was looking for and, based on your reaction, it was evident to him that he was the first to have found your sweet spot.
Just as he relieved the pressure inside you, he pushed his fingers up again, and again, each time causing you to moan loudly.
‘Shh Love, one of the nuns might hear you’ Tommy whispered sheepishly just as he pulled his fingers out of you.
All these sensations were unfamiliar to you.
‘Please don’t stop’ you pleaded. It felt so good.
Tommy pulled you close for another kiss to shallow your moans before slipping his fingers back inside of you.
His fingers began to push against your g-spot again, running smooth circles and stimulating it just the right way. You were panting. It was ecstasy and you could feel an unfamiliar tension build up in your stomach.
‘I am going to make you come now Love. Try to be quiet’ Tommy said and you had literally no idea what he was talking about until, all of a sudden, he pushed into you with more force.
Your whimpers soon turned into shouts and you clenched onto Tommy’s arms firmly.
It wasn’t long until Tommy could feel your walls tighten around his two fingers.
‘Oh my god’ you moaned before you held your breath, not knowing what was happening to you as you felt your orgasm roll through your body.
‘That's it Love’ Tommy said satisfied as he continued to stimulate you.
You gasped as electricity shot up and down your spine while Tommy kissed you again to soften your screams.
He could hear footsteps approach and quickly withdrew his fingers.
‘Mr Shelby, is everything alright?’ one of the nuns asked loudly.
‘Yes, I am just helping with the books’ Tommy said with a grin on his face as he rearranged his pants to deal with his throbbing erection.
You were quick to button up your blouse before the nun approached.
‘I just thought I could hear a scream, that’s all’ the nun said.
‘Yes, that was me, I caught a splinter from the ladder and Mr Shelby just helped me get it out from my finger’ you said, your face still flushed and your hair messy.
‘Mr Shelby, if you do have a minute, Mr Connel would like to discuss the article in the paper for your campaign’ the nun said. ‘We thought that you had left but when I saw your car I hoped that I would find you here’ she added.
‘Of course’ Tommy said and, just like that he left.
‘It was nice to see you Y/N. Perhaps we meet again sometime soon’ he said with a grin as he followed the nun.
‘Likewise, Mr Shelby’ you responded.
You wanted to so much more but, since you almost got caught, it was probably for the better that you didn’t take this further.
You were hoping to see Tommy again but, for the next couple of weeks, he didn’t attend the orphanage.
You asked his sister Ada about him with some curiosity.
‘My brother is probably busy in Westminster. Although, who knows. I have given up on following politics. Why are you asking?’ Ada said.
‘Politics? Is Thomas a politician?’ you asked surprised and slightly concerned.
‘Yes, he is a member of parliament. Did you not know?’ Ada asked surprised.
‘I had no idea’ you said, wondering whether he knew your husband and whether you were nothing but a political stunt. Was this planned by an opponent? Did Tommy know who you were? Or was it a sheer mistake?
All these thoughts were wandering through your mind as Ada was talking to you and you didn’t listen to a single word she said.
‘Y/N? Are you alright?’ Ada asked.
‘Yes sorry, I am fine’ you said just before finishing up for the day. You had to make your way home soon before dinner.
You excused yourself and headed home. The thoughts however wouldn’t leave your head.
Your husband wasn’t home when you arrived. As usual, he was either with your sister or at the whorehouse.
You didn’t care much and enjoyed the nights on your own. You were no longer sharing a bedroom but you hated to cross his way when he was around. A black eye here and there or some bruises and scratches were the norm when he was there.
The next morning, Oswald walked through the door at around 8 o’clock, just in time for breakfast.
‘Did you buy yourself a dress for tonight?’ he asked after shouting at the maid. The coffee was too cold for his liking.
‘Oswald, please’ you said, trying to reason with him as the maid left rather upset.
‘Then you get the fucking coffee, wife!’ Oswald shouted and you got up, taking his cup and walking towards the kitchen.
‘There you go’ you said as you returned with a fresh cup from the kitchen.
‘See, that wasn’t that hard now, was it? Even my fucking wife could manage’ he said to the maid as he took a sip.
‘Now dear, did you get yourself a dress? Something outstanding for the gala?’ Oswald asked.
‘Of course. You will approve. It is very elegant and expensive’ you said.
‘Good. We need to make an impression. You will meet the new members of my party and, as you know, all politicians judge each other. There is no room for mistakes’ Oswald explained.
‘Of course, I understand. Now would you please excuse me. I will need to freshen up’ you said before Oswald waived you away
#Tommy Shelby#tommy shelby smut#tommy shelby x reader#tommy shelby imagine#tommy shelby x y/n#tommy shelby x you#thomas shelby#thomas shelby smut#thomas shelby x reader#thomas shelby imagine#thomas shelby x y/n#thomas shelby x you#Peaky Blinders#peaky blinder imagine#peaky blinders fanfic#peaky blinders smut#ada shelby#oswald mosley
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@stars-for-thought @imprisioned-in-the-hole @linked-heroes @ice-cream-writes-stuff
This...wrecked me.
BUT it was a long time coming! Had to cut half of it out cause it grew too long (nearly 6k is still long right?). But I did it! I honestly hope I did it justice!
If not for @yandere-linked-universe, I would have lost all motivation a week ago!
But I was successful!
Still though...heroes and their need to argue...
It wasn't something they've done in a long while.
Gathering around one another.
Not willingly at the least.
Eight of them sitting a fair distance away from the houses, the camp fire being the only source of light for them at this time of night.
Hyrule the last one to arrive, having checked up on (y/n) before arriving at the designated place, so the eight simply sat around the camp fire in silence, stewing in their own thoughts.
When he arrives, informing them of y/n's stable condition, it was then Legend claps his hands and brings their attention to him.
'I think I speak for all of us when I say we need to air out some things.' He would give them all a stern look. 'And let me be clear on the fact that we can't hide anything right now.'
None of them look at each other.
Hyrule nervously agrees but expresses concern over being heard by the nearby houses, more worried at disturbing (y/n) than he was about disturbing the neighbors.
Wind assures him that they wouldn't be heard.
'Mesa doesn't sleep at night cause of the monsters that used to pop up, plus he hates being alone nowadays so he stays with Miss Sue-Belle and her grandpa at night.' Wind explained with a shrug.
'Even if he was there, he's a really heavy sleeper, we could scream at the very top of our lungs all we want and no one would hear us from over here. I've tested it.'
'How convenient.' Wars remarked with a snort but wouldn't make a comment after getting a look from Time.
Before things could become awkward, Legend does not hesitate to be blunt about it.
'We need to stop.' He would say, resting his elbows on his knees.
'Stop what?' Wild mutters.
'All of 'this'.' He's wave his hand towards the group, a scowl on his face.
Wars rolls his eyes.
'Legend, my dear hoarder, you need to be more specif-'
' When was the last time we talked to one another without taking note of eachothers weaknesses?'
Warriors closed his mouth, the group looked at each other, none speaking up with an answer.
'When was the last time we actually shared a space without tension? Covered each other in battle because we were worried instead out of obligation, or just leaving each other to fend for themselves? Or shared our potions willingly?' A sharp smile on his face. 'Or better yet, when was the last time we trusted one another?'
...
No one had anything to say to that.
Legend shook his head, a scowl appearing. 'I'm not dumb, I can see what's in front of me. Whatever trust we forged during our journey is at risk of fading to almost nothing. It's a fucking miracle y/n hasn't noticed us going for each other's throat.
'Okay, that's a bit harsh.' Sky interjected nervously, 'I agree that it's possible things have been...rather tense lately, but I wouldn't say it's that bad.'
Legend leveled a look at him.
'Four, Wild, and Twilight have all scared off at least 12 different people for looking at her recently.'
'It was necessary!' Four exclaimed in defense, Twilight placing a hand on his shoulder keep him from jumping up from his seat, Wild staying in his seat, though his hands tightened into fists. ' We saw the intentions in their eyes! The way they stared at her! They were looking at her like she was food!'
Legend turned the leveled look at the blacksmith.
'All 12? All of them? In the same town? In the same day? He asked with a scoffed, 'Same hour? Half of them women? Oh yes, very dangerous. And it's rather convenient when the Cook joins in and helps you scare them away.'
Four had a sneer on his face but the silent rancher's hand on his shoulder kept him from doing anything else.
Legend watched them for another moment before turning back to Sky.
'Warriors and Hyrule have been awfully careful with keeping any of us from encroaching upon her personal space, either by being the ones to guard her while she's bathing or when she's hurt.'
'What, so that makes us suspicious?' The captain crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow at him, Hyrule nervously ducking his head. 'She deserves some space away from you clingy lot! We're just making sure she has it!'
'Funny how you say that when you've been taken advantage of your position to have some alone time with her.' Legend doesn't even look away from the skyloftian as he answers back. 'You know, you're quite charming when you think no one is paying attention. And don't think I haven't noticed how our resident healer has been hoarding potions for some time.'
Warriors and Hyrule tensed at being found out, keeping their eyes from settling on anyone else's as they were looked at.
'The old man has been very careful in sending one of us ahead when there's danger. That honestly took me a bit to figure out, since he rotates who goes. Yet he never seems to volunteer himself.' The vet looked over at Time, who's featured remained impassive.
'Wild has been more aggressive with strangers than Four, which is saying something considering how violent the blacksmith has been. The sailor has been growling at every kid that's been as close as 5 feet of her and clings to her when he thinks we're too busy, and don't think I haven't noticed the way you've been nudging the tension between everyone while going through her things Sky.'
He raised an eyebrow as he looked back at the pale faced skyloftian.
'And you're telling me it's not that bad?'
There wasn't anything the group could say to those (accurate) accusations, Four looked to be visibly restraining himself from hitting him.
...
'...Maybe it's because you all force your presence on her...'
'...What was that?' Four growled out, solid blue eyes snapping up to glare at the speaker.
Wind lifted his head, glaring back at the blacksmith.
'You heard me Blacksmith, or is your attention span as short as your height?' He sneered. 'You all force your presence on her when she wants to be left alone! At least she feels comfortable with me!'
Four sneered back at Wind. 'The way you hog her attention is the very comforting.'
'Hey, I at least GIVE her space! I saw how you yelled at that shopkeeper when he asked if she needed anything-'
'I had to! Didn't you see the way that disgusting bastard-'
...
Legend watched as the group slowly dissolved into chaos. Each hero soon shouting at one another.
This is what he had been worried about for so long, and here was proof that the trust they had between one another is dangerously close to collapsing.
He watched as Twilight was talking coldly to Time, who didn't even have the decency to look ashamed of his choices.
Four and Wind were at each other's throats and Warriors was basically growling at Wild, who was screaming about how he always knew Warriors was keeping y/n away from everyone else.
Sky and Hyrule, who were shouting at each other over what they've been doing.
He needed to get them back on track, so with a deep breath, he whistled as loudly as he could.
He began speaking the moment they all looked at him.
'Well ain't this a beautiful example of shit I've ever seen!'
'Enough Veteran!' Time ordered, speaking up for what seemed the first time since this conversation began.
'You've been doing a good job keeping quiet old man, better get back to being a good boy and let the big people talk.' Legend didn't need to look at Time to know his expression was thunderous.
'All of you acting like little BRATS, ready to play 'it's not my fault, it's YOURS.' A humorless laugh escaping him.
'News flash bastards, IT'S ALL YOUR FAULTS.' His grin was more bearing teeth than a grin.
'None of you are innocent.'
He expected Wild to shout at him, maybe Wind or Sky. Hell, the good captain looked ready to tackle him.
Yet it was Four who jumped to his feet, growling at the Veteran.
The smaller boy slipped away from the hands restraining him, rushing forward and grabbed the taller boy's collar, slamming their foreheads together and hissing, 'Just who the hell do you think you are?!?'
'That's a funny question.' He remarked mockingly, making sure not to show that the head bashing hurt. 'Considering how you seem to think you're in the right.'
Four wasn't pleased by his comment. 'I'll take out anyone that lays a malicious hand on her. How dare you even insinuate that I would let such a thing happen!'
'For someone who sounds so sincere, you have a funny way of showing it.' Legend retorted with gritted teeth, never taking his eyes off the shorter man's.
'Acting like you care but when it matters, you're as blind as the rest of us. That's why she got hurt.'
The others surged forward,
'How dare you-"
'That's not true-'
'Damnit Vet, you can't just-'
'SHE NEARLY DIED DAMNIT!!' He shoved Four back, basically throwing him to the floor, having enough of everyone's nonsense.
Everyone stills at his words.
'SHE'S STILL UNRESPONSIVE!! SHE'S ALMOST DIED BECAUSE OF OUR FUCKING RIVALRY!!!' He blazed with impotent rage.
'She's laying in that house, because she got LUCKY. Do you hear me?' He emphasized his point by gesturing in the direction of Wind's house.
'Because had we not gotten our shit together? Had we argued just a moment more? We would have been standing before her GRAVE.'
His face was dark with fury.
'And you have the fucking nerve to tell me I'm in the wrong?' He hissed through clenched teeth.
...
...It is quiet.
The veteran stared right into the blacksmith's eyes, vaguely noticing how it shifted colors rapidly. The way his face twitched, as if physically restraining himself from saying something he would regret.
Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the others frozen in different positions of action.
Some halfway out of their seats, others reaching for the two of them as if to pull them away from each other.
He focused back on Four, noticing his jaw was tightly clenched.
'WE. NEED. HER. ' he said in a firm voice.
This seemed to make him flinch, but Legend wasn't finished. He took a deep breath and lowered his voice a few notches though he was still partly yelling.
'Not the other way around. SHE doesn't need us.' he slowly shook his head as he looked at every one of them.
'She NEVER needed us.'
Four looked away at that.
'We need her more than we need air in our lungs. Need her more strongly than water or food. ' He focused back on Four and pointed at him.
'And you...you think I'm going to let you, let any of you, let MYSELF, lose her because we couldn't control ourselves?' His chuckle was icy, his smile was unpleasant and full of teeth.
'Oh you don't know me as well as I thought. '
'Because allow me to be as clear as possible when I say, I would slaughter anyone that laid a filthy hand on her' Legend leaned forward, smiling coldly. 'Push me enough, and you'll be on the list.'
'Isn't that extreme..?!' Hyrule exclaimed worriedly, looking at Legend with an uncertain expression.
'Oh...so you wouldn't hurt them if they laid a hand on her? You would actually hesitate to tear off limbs if they forced her to go with them. If they dared to speak her like some cheap whore-'
'How could you even say that-!!!'
'That is uncalled for!'
Legend spread his arms out. 'Well you all might as well be saying you would!!'
'Hold your tongue or I'll cut it!' Wild suddenly snarled, Twilight, visibly tense from Legend' words, was forced to put both hands on Wild.
'I bet you would just stand there while they tried, hm? Stand there while she cries for your help?' He kept pushing, because he needed to. 'Just stand there, watching her shed her tears? Stand there and let. them. touch her? Is that what you would do? Answer me.'
'Don't you DARE say such a thing.' Wild growled, his lips drew back in a snarl.
'You all seem so eager in proving me right, I see nothing wrong with saying this if this is how you really feel.' He masked a scowl with a smirk even as the others began to raise their voices again.
'WHAT THE HELL!'
'You miserable pile of-!!'
'JUST TELL ME YOU'RE READY TO ABANDON HER SO I CAN KEEP HER AWAY FROM YOU ALL!!'
'HOW DARE YOU!!' Warriors roared, suddenly on his feet and in Legend's face.
'You think you can accuse us like this, act like you have the high ground, and expect us to sit here and take it?!' Legend didn't even hesitate shoving him away.
'I can accuse you all I want! Whatever friendship we may still have be damned, BECAUSE YOU'RE AS GUILTY AS I AM!!!' Legend shouted, even as the captain grabbed the front of his tunic and pulled him up to his face again.
'WHO THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE.'
'I'M ONE WHO'S ACTUALLY TRYING TO FIX THIS MESS!! UNLIKE YOU WHO'S READY TO LET HER END UP AS A CORPSE BECAUSE SHE DOESN'T NOTICE YOU THE WAY YOU WANT HER TO!!'
'You miserable, disrespectful, arrogant-
'STOP ACTING LIKE YOU'RE NOT PART OF THE FUCKING PROBLEM YOU STUPID SOLDIER!!'
'SHUT UP! JUST SHUT UP!'
'NO! WAKE UP FROM YOUR FUCKING FANTASIES!'
'What gives you the FUCKING RIGHT-'
'BECAUSE I LOVE HER YOU BASTARD!!'
The admittance silenced them swiftly.
But he didn't care at the moment.
He was breathing deeply after saying those words. Face flushed with anger. Fists clenched so tightly, they were bone white.
'I. Love. her.' He hissed to a frozen Warriors.
'I. Need. her.' He grabbed the wrist attached to the had gripping his tunic.
'I. Can't. Lose. Her.' He bared his teeth, slowly shaking his head.
'I won't hesitate.' He voice was a whisper at this point. But it didn't matter. The crackling fire was the only other sound at moment.
'I won't hesitate to kill anyone that takes her away from me.'
...
And that's what he needed them to understand. Needed them to understand that as much as he cared for this group, as much as he's willing to put the effort to fix things...
If they didn't work together?
There would be corpses.
And he wouldn't be one of them.
He wanted to keep screaming at them. Wanted they to hang their heads in shame as he pointed out every flawed thing they've done as of late.
But he..sighed.
'I want..so much.. ' He began, looking straight into Warriors' eyes, a numb sense of calm filling him. 'I want so many impossible things.'
'I want to fall asleep to her peaceful face, and wake up to the sight of her kind smile. I want her to lean against me as she draws, to watch her eyes light up when I show her something new. To see her laugh, hear her hum a tune, to know I'm the reason she glows with happiness.'
He could feel the pale faced captain tremble beneath his grip.
'I want the exact same thing you bastards want...' he took a deep breath, to settle his heart.
'I just want her by my side every single day.'
His voice almost quiet.
'I don't want to lose her.'
Silent stillness enveloped them after Legend had finished speaking, only the sound of the crinkling fire all that was audible at the moment.
Warriors stared at him, swallowing. visibly shaken by the veteran's honesty.
After a beat, Legend slowly pulls the captain's hand off of him.
He was met with no resistance.
He looks at them all. Tired, drained, a headache slowly making itself known.
'So...' he raised an eyebrow, tone dull, 'How about the cook whip us up something.'
Wild blinked, startled by being acknowledged.
'Wha-'
'And while he's at it, our resident healer can check up on our mutual darling.'
Hyrule jolted at the sudden acknowledgment.
'We have a lot to talk about and we can't do it on empty stomachs and worry in our minds.' He grinned sardonically, slowly clapping his hands twice.
'Chop chop people. The night is still young.'
--
--
It took a while for them to speak up after that, because what could one say after such an outburst?
It soothed their hearts when Hyrule returned, saying she was healing nicely. That information helped them calm down while using the time Wild spent cooking to gather their thoughts.
It was difficult to come up with something after the explosive event of earlier.
They were silent when their food was served.
Silent as they ate.
But slowly, very slowly, they did.
Legend pulling the words out of them.
Each grievance, thought and feeling.
It was a snail's pace, but as the Veteran calmly pushed them into speaking, the atmosphere surround the group slowly calmed, the words flowing just a bit easier than before.
'I just don't want her to leave.' Hyrule admitted quietly, looking down at his hands, almost ashamed to admit such a thing.
Warriors sighed. 'I think I speak for all of us when I say the feeling is mutual.'
Murmurs of agreement met his words.
' I don't disagree. It's obvious why, she's...just so kind.' Sky shyly put out, a small blush on his face.
'I mean, when was the last time she even demanded something from any of us?'
Warriors couldn't help but snort. 'I think you mean to say 'when has she ever demanded anything from us?'
'I believe I can answer that.' Time said, speaking up after staying silent for most of the evening.
Four raised an eyebrow. 'Oh, and when was this?'
'When she and I got separated, I injured my leg fighting the Lynel? Back in Legend's era I believe it was.'
'I remember that!' Wind piped in, snapping his fingers and pointing at Time. 'In the lost woods! She was tugging your ear when I reached you guys!'
Time nodded with a chuckle, resting his chin on his hand.
'Got quite the lecture too. She can be...quite stern when pushed enough.'
' That was the first time she saw one of us fight a Lynel wasn't it...' Twilight realized, blinking in comprehension. 'I can't believe I forgot that. She must have been terrified witnessing such a thing.
'Ah, but that was the thing. She was calm when she saw me kill it.'
'So she has thicker skin than an average civilian.' Legend sighed. 'Impressive but not that surprising.'
'Don't get me wrong Vet, she was quite unnerved when she saw the battle but once it was over and she saw my injury, I was the main focus.' He looked down, almost unaware that he was touching the place where the injury once was.
'She could have gone to get one of you guys, I knew she heard you calling out to us, we both did, but she stayed.' He smirked then, 'Pulled out a couple of red potions from her bag too.'
He had the group looking at him in surprise.
'Wait, potions?'
'Who gave her a potion?'
'Wars, was it you?'
'I would remember that!'
'Well well, isn't she well prepared.'
'Looks like she's paying attention to the Vet's paranoia!'
'Ha ha, such flattery.'
'Did she buy a few in town before we swapped eras?'
'Actually she has a stash of them in the event of one of us becoming injured and she's the only one around.' Time interjected, one of his amused grins on his face.
That brought another round of questions.
'She knows how to make potions?!'
'No Wind, we would have seen her.'
'It's not something that could be hidden either.'
'And where did she get the money to buy enough potions?'
'When'd she have the time to even get potions??'
'My question is, how did we not see her get the potions?'
' Did she tell you?' Time snorted softly as the last question was directed at him.
'Matter of fact, yes. Clever answer too, know all those 'silly bets' she got us to agree to?'
He waited for them to nod. ' Well, she's been stashing every rupee she's won from us specifically to buy 'emergency potions'. He answered with a breathy chuckle. 'As for when? She's been buying them from Beedle when we were at stables. And since we also give her money to buy herself stuff...'
'None of us would be the wiser.' Legend finished for him.
'You're serious aren't you...' Warriors couldn't help but say.
'Absolutely.' Time nodded, not able to suppress a grin when he realised the captain's tone was admiring.
'She looked so embarrassed, thought I would be upset with her for ' sneaking behind our backs'. Tried to justify it by saying it 'felt stupid to be the only one in the group who wasn't prepared for some type of emergency.'' A round of chuckles emerged from the group as they all imagined the expression on her face.
'When she saw my injury, she immediately pulled out the potions from her pouch, didn't even pause in shoving a few into my hands and asking me how much pain I was in.' He smiled at the memory. 'That's when I made the foolish mistake of telling her to leave me there and go find one of you.'
' And you lived to tell the tale?' Warriors asked, smirking widely.
'Barely, the glare I receive was quite fierce.' Time didn't even bother to hold the laughter down, still remembering how startled he had been, having such a glare directed at him.
'Like a raging Goddess, she demanded I take better care of myself, or face mothering the likes of which I never saw before.' He looked exasperated, yet his voice was the definition of amused.
' She then proceeded to baby talk me until I agreed.'
Time was not ashamed as the group roared with laughter.
'Are you serious?'
'Poor man!' Warriors reached over and clapped a hand on the older man's shoulder.
'Oh, THAT must have been uncomfortable!' Sky commented between breaths.
' I barely lasted a few sentences before I was pleading for mercy.' He rolled his eyes and huffed through his nose.
'So THAT'S why you were so careful in battle the weeks after.' Hyrule realized, grinning as Time shrugged.
'When I'm threatened with something like THAT? How can I do anything else but obey?'
Wars held his hands up in a shrug, smirk on his face. 'Ah but who are we to question Her divine command?'
'Who are we indeed..' Time murmured with a breathy laugh.
Wild smirked, eyes glinting with glee. 'Speaking of her doing things we don't expect, Vet! Remember when she met Wolfie?'
Legend smirked, even as Twilight send a glare at the cook. 'Rather brave of her, despite never being near an actual wolf before. '
Sky frowned. 'But didn't she look nervous?' Twilight sighed as Legend and Wild let out a laugh.
' You would think! But she apparently didn't want to break any unspoken rules about touching him.' Wild couldn't resist the sharp grin as he eyed the embarrassed rancher. 'You should have seen her when she was given the okay. I'm surprised the mutt was able to escape her constant pets and kisses.'
Twilight wasn't able to keep the blush down when Wind grumbled a very clear 'Lucky bastard.' To the amusement of everyone else, especially those who knew his secret.
They fell into a comfortable silence after that, the sound of the waves a song that filled their ears, the wind playing with their hair as they got lost in thought.
'...Go and bring peace to Hyrule.'
They looked at Wild, he was looking at the sea. 'Every time I went to one of those statues, that's what Hylia would tell me.'
He dug his boot into the sand. 'She would heal me up when I had enough spirit orbs, fill me with vitality, but every time she finished, she would always say those same words.' He grimaced
'And every time, I would think, 'is she healing me because cares, or because I'm just a means to an end?''
Wild shooked his head, never taking his eyes off the sea.
'Even though I've fought evil for her sake. For Zelda's sake. I always felt like she wanted more.' He grimaced.
“I don’t even know what more I could have given…” He admitted, “Always thinking that I’ll one day wake up and realize that I was fated to sacrifice more.'
Then a small smile pulled at his lips, 'But when I'm with (y/n)...I don't feel that weight of responsibility...the weight of those thoughts.' His words were barely above a whisper by the end.
'With her...I feel free.'
For several moments, there was stillness. Watch of them could feel the bite of the ocean breeze on their skin, the heat of the campfire barely able to hold off the chill and darkness surrounding them.
"She said she was proud of me..' Wild whispered, "Said that every breath I took, every moment I opened my eyes to greet the day, was rebellion against what destiny, what Ganon, had wanted.'
'She saw me, a failure of a hero, and said she was proud of me,' He whispered, unable to trust himself with anything louder. 'How could I possibly love another when she says such things with so much honesty?'
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
'How could I go on, following Hylia's command blindly, when (y/n) comes to me with those kind eyes and says She just wants me to be happy?'
'Hylia does not want champions.' Time shook his head, smirking bitterly. 'She merely wants toy soldiers.'
Sky's eyes flew up to the look at eldest of the group.
'Surely that's a bit much, Hylia..has done what she could for us.'
'Who is Hylia? A being who seeks soldiers to clean up her mess? A being who only expects us to obey?' Time interjected.
Sky swallowed. 'But..she's assisted us-'
Time shook his head. 'No, she simply made sure we survived long enough to eliminate her enemies.'
Wild frowned, rubbing the back of his neck. 'When you think about it, he's right. We have never worshiped Hylia because we wanted to. But because we were obligated to. Because most of us were raised to believe it was an honor.'
He looked at Sky. 'But...isn't a goddess of benevolence supposed to be someone who is kinder than a mortal could comprehend? Someone who cares for her servants for no other reason than because we love her as much as she loved us?'
Twilight smiled bitterly. 'A goddess like that is someone I wouldn't mind serving. '
'Isn't that why we love Her so?' Legend said softly.
Warriors looked at him oddly. '(y/n) isn't a goddess Legend.'
Legend looked at him with carefully impassive expression. 'But we want her to be.'
They all looked anywhere but at him.
'You've all already admitted it. Even if you don't want to say it.' Legend smirked.
'Vet-'
''Who are we to question Her divine command?'' He repeated, smirking when the captain's mouth snapped shut.
'We all want her to be.' Legend repeated, catching Hyrule's eye and staring him down.
-Admit it.- His eyes said. Hyrule flinching at being seen through. Wanting to deny the silent accusation.
...But his heart wouldn't let him deny such a thing either.
'...(y/n) would make a better goddess than hylia.' He admitted, looking down.
Sky snap his attention to the traveler, his eyes slightly wide.
'Hyrule-' Legend cut Sky off, looking right at the skyloftian.
'Can you deny that she's already better than hylia?' Sky seemed to struggle with an answer, but Legend didn't wait for an answer.
'Is She not kinder, sweeter, more beautiful than anyone else? She never asks for anything other than our safety and happiness. Becomes upset when we try to do more than we can handle and tries to actually help us whenever she can. '
Twilight sighed, but nodded in agreement. 'Her presence is like a soothing warmth that never falters. I don't think I've ever had someone who's presence relieved me the way Hers does.'
He grimaced. 'Not even Hylia herself can claim such a thing.'
A glance at Sky, causing him to grimace and look away.
'Someone with a beautiful soul like Hers...' Hyrule whispered, folding his hands in front of his chest, almost like he was praying.
'I..I could worship someone like Her everyday without regret.' He looked away, as if shameful of his admittance.
'..What's wrong with that?' Hyrule looked at who spoke.
'Wars?'
Warriors did not look at him, staring at the ground. But his face had shifted into an expression of thoughtfulness. 'What's wrong with wanting to worship her? '
Hyrule's face flushed red. '..it...it seems a bit inappropriate to-'
'Because we're supposed to worship Hylia?' He looked up at him. 'Farore? Nayru? Din?'
'...I-'
Wind frowned, looking around. ' Why can't we worship who we desire? Worship someone we CAN trust?'
Twilight bit his lip, shaking his head. 'That's too much of a dream to even CONSIDER-'
Legend barked a laugh.
'Dreams are only dreams until we make them a reality.'
'...!' He chuckled at the shocked looks he received from most of them.
'You said it better than I ever could Hyrule. Someone with as beautiful of a soul as Her's is someone we could worship everyday of our lives without regret.'
'But we can't-'
'Why? Because we're Hylia's 'Champions'? I don't know if you remember this, but we've done our duties, defeated Ganon and the only reason I'll not complaining about THIS journey anymore is because it brought us Her.'
'Legend-'
'And don't we in a way worship her already?'
Wild tilted his head. 'What do you mean?'
He raised a finger, 'Don't we find joy in caring for her? Providing for her? Is that not paying tribute?' A second finger, 'Don't we defend her when danger is near? Cutting down every enemy that come near her? Is that not raising our swords in her name?'
He leaned forward, A manic glint flashing in his eyes. A third finger was raised. 'Do we not find joy when she whispers our name, do we not find peace when we whisper Hers? Is that not devotion? Tell me otherwise and I'll concede.'
But no one said anything.
No one wanted to.
Because they agreed with his words so much.
'She deserves someone to protect her...' Hyrule whispered, as if to himself, as if to convince himself to listen to the words being spoken to him.
'She deserves US to protect Her.' Legend corrected, his smile was all teeth, but it wasn't malicious.
'We've defeated literal evil. We're the best people to protect Her.' Wind added, his eyes matching the Veteran's. Soon matching the eyes of all of them.
'And doesn't She deserve the very best, after everything She's done for us?' Legend spread his arms out, smirk on his face. Sky smiled, looking at his hands, laughing softly, shaking his head.
'I...suppose you're right...' he slowly admitted, his shoulder releasing tension, almost relieved.
'I..can't see anyone else providing for her the way we can.'
'We have the resources...' Four slowly added, a note of mania woven through the blacksmith's words, 'We have much sway in our eras and what we don't have, I'm reasonably sure we know someone who can provide it for us.'
'We've faced more than enough adversaries to be able to counter any situation.' Warriors smirked, sitting back, arms crossed.
'The safest place is with us.' Time said, a sense of finality in his words.
And for the first time in so long, they all were united with such a decision.
It didn't matter if there wasn't a drop of divinity in her.
It didn't matter if she wasn't able to use magic or blessed by any spirit.
She was not a goddess in the way they knew. But only a fool would deny the beautiful divinity that radiated from Her heart.
She was Divine to them.
A presence that was not unlike an ocean of warmth that wanted to drown them in love and safety. Eager to drive them mad, to drive them to protect Her happiness.
And they would drown in that ocean willingly.
She didn't even realize what she was doing to them.
She didn't realize that the very person She was was causing them to crave Her gentle touch, Her beautiful smiles, Her arms wrapped around them.
She didn't realize any of this.
Because it was as natural as breathing to Her.
How many times was Her kindness going to steal the breath from their lungs?
How many times was Her gentle voice going to soothe them when they wake from their nightmares, Her hands wiping the tears from their face?
How many times will they crave the chance to kiss away Her tears but only be able to brush them aside.
But it was alright.
They loved Her so much.
A Goddess of their own making.
One that they would worship freely, not like how obligation and duty forced their hand with Hylia.
Hylia demanded their loyalty.
(y/n) merely asked for their continued happiness.
Hylia commanded they fight in her name.
(y/n) requested they remained safe and healthy.
Hylia wanted heroes.
(y/n) wanted only them.
She wanted them.
She trusted them.
She cared for them.
She was the one they wanted to serve.
They fulfilled their duties to Hylia.
They no longer were obligated to serve her.
But (y/n)...She was so fragile compared to the rest of them. Having lived in a world with no monsters, no calamities or destiny.
She needed to be protected.
She needed them to protect Her.
They were the only ones who could protect Her.
They needed to unite. To stand side by side, as a shield against the monsters, against anyone that would dare take Her from them.
They couldn't fight amongst themselves anymore.
They couldn't allow Her to come to harm ever again.
All this time wasted fighting when they could have been protecting Her. Making her happy. Keeping her safe. How foolish of them.
But no longer.
To protect their Reason for breathing, there could be no room for trickery or lies between each other. Only for those that stood between them and Her.
The sun was rising, washing away the rivalries and dissonance of the past night, and the rays of dawn shining upon renewed unity and brotherhood.
She is their's; a Gift that pure chance had bestowed upon them.'
They would protect Her. Together.
They would protect their Goddess.
No one will ever take Her away from them.
No One.
#timeline two au#linked universe#linkeduniverse#yandere linked universe#lu#lu hyrule#lu time#lu wild#lu sky#lu twilight#lu warriors#lu legend#lu wind#lu four
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what happened to mc after that?? JUNGKOOK I WILL WHOOP YO FUCKING ASS
cold senior!y/n x stem major!koo masterlist :D
the aftermath of stem koo breaking senior!y/n's heart
"do you need anything from us?"
yoongi asks you for the fifth time in the twenty minutes you've been home, heart breaking from the inside out when you haven't moved a single inch
he is begging that the thing you need from him and jin is to go beat j*ngkook up
HE CAN'T EVEN SAY HIS NAME WITHOUT BEING ANGRY AT HIM!!!!!!!
anything. anything to atleast make you sleep in peace tonight.
or them honestly,, either way
your body's facing the backrest of the couch and maybe that's for the better, because that way, seokjin won't feel the need to cry looking at the coldest person he's known to be openly vulnerable
you're still wearing your jersey!!! your stained dirty jersey that you've been in for the past three hours and the reason that it's still wet was that you've been using it to wipe your tears all the way to the dorm
"no. i'll be alright."
you mumble for the fifth time out of the five times you've been asked, and yoongi just has to grapple at his fist because he knows that being frustrated wouldn't help
you are the fURTHEST thing from okay
to be honest, it was only a miracle that you told the two of them what happened in the first place
it was in between sobs that you asked them why they were friends with you and they couldn't be anymore dumbfounded
it was in between violent tears that you mentioned hyeji that seokjin looked for a box of tissues because you've been intentionally rubbing your eyes raw
it was in between heaving that you said that no one wants to go the extra mile for me that yoongi started holding your cheeks and trying to get you to breathe with him in his panic too
it was in between hiccups that you uttered that no one wants to walk me home and that's when both of yoongi's and seokjin's throats started tightening, the dots hazy yet aligning nonetheless
it was in silence when you told that jungkook said that no one likes me, and that's when out of the three of you in the room – you're the one who's the calmest.
"okay. i'll bring you a blanket."
yoongi leaves it at that, standing from his spot on the floor to walk over to the kitchen where the blankets cLEARLY aren't there
no one really prepared yoongs for this
no one really is
there isn't a manual on how to act when the dearest friend that you have is crying their guts out for the first time
he can't explain his close bond with you and he's always seen you as his platonic girlfriend!!! his platonic girlfriend who has a bond with him that's closer than a sister's, more understanding than a mother's, and the utter admiration more than a friend's
you r literally yoongi's (platonic) soulmate and he would die on that hill
he would rather subject himself to torture via having to stay in a freshman's dorm equipped with the de facto led strip lights everyday!!! every single day, than to see you like this :(((
"what do you have on the bitch?" yoongi doesn't spare his words when he sits on the kitchen stool next to jin's figure
the dude is sTANDING and that means business
jin doesn't feel a single ounce of regret fetching his work laptop and scrolling through the files and tabs he has on every single student on campus, eyes only looking for one lee hyeji that's contributed to your anguish rn
jungkook is atleast 3/4 in this equation and seokjin will get to him of course
no one makes his emotional support best friend cry and nOT pay the consequences for it!!!!
in another life, vincenzo cassano's character is based on seokjin and the events in his life that definitely happened >:(
"she's daddy's money. can't fucking believe that sHE'S representing the school," he sighs in genuine annoyance, but not loud enough to pique your attention as he turns the screen so yoongi could clearly see her headshots, "must be a diversity hire. every university needs a fucking bimbo, apparently."
you see,,, yoongi would've SNORTED at that but now is not the time!!! he is still planning discreet retribution to avenge you!!!!
jin lets yoongi look at hyeji's entire file, wanting to get even the smallest bits even if the information he's taking in is against his will
he'll immediately delete whatever he learns about her right after it's served its purpose
"just messaged the faculty groupchat," seokjin himself didn't imagine the words coming out from his lips determinedly, but he knows that he's willing to do anything for the sake of this, "been crushing on jeon ever since the start of last semester. philosophy professor thinks it's because he once saw jungkook lending her a pen when they were in the topic of soulmates."
jesus christ
now THAT'S just annoying ://
this
whatever this is
seokjin and yoongi don't know what they're digging all this information for
they don't know what this unspoken plan is for, or if they even have a plan in the first place
if jin were to tell the faculty gc about this???
absolute mayhem
but he knows for a fact that they'd hate star student jungkook easily within a tap of a finger
the philosophy prof would lose all sense of rationality and reasoning and INSTANTLY point to jungkook as an asshole!!! no questions asked!!!! no elaborations!!!!
"i could get jeon eliminated from all the academic listings he's in."
jin pipes in at the silence that he and yoongi share, both listless in this situation that they never expected to encounter with you
"i could always spread a rumor and make him unlikeable."
yoongi toys with the rings that he wears, a heavy exhale tearing away from him
they could think of a thousand other ways to get back at jungkook!!! they literally can
seokjin knows a contract guy who leaves shredded paper with his contract's initials written on red ink (for a base fee of three dollars, he can switch up the ink for you!!!) right next to their side on the bed
yoongi knows a guy whose modus operandi is to discreetly follow people, have subliminals playing in the background (for an extra fee of ten dollars, he'll use wireless bass-boosted speakers), and continue doing so until the desired message is achieved!!!!
none of the people they have connections to could employ the same amount of pain he's caused on you
there's literally nothing that could hit home with jungkook besides you.
but there's no way to do that and even in your state of anger and sadness tHEN utter vulnerability, you can't even really think of hurting jungkook in the way he did
because you know and yoongi knows and seokjin knows and everyone knows that you aren't the type to wish ill
you admit that sometimes you're unavailable but you don't want that to be an asshole-reason to make everyone else around you suffer in the same way you do
the people around you aren't your shock absorbers!!!! that's why you hang out a teddy bear on your doorknob when you're mad so that neither yoongi or jin would have the possibility to be caught in your rage
that's why you call for a break when your soccer team is out of their game and make everyone drink their electrolytes before they speak to you!!!!
that's why you have the old heart of your even older build-a-bear stuffie in your pocket, one of the only reminders that your childhood even happened, one that you'd squeeze between your fingers in any remotely anxious instances that you find yourself in
jungkook's words hit home and it put you into a spiral if you even had one in the first place
your parents divorced when you were young and it's just that,,, no one from the two of them wanted you because you were the reminder of the other parent
you're a place marker for when a commitment started and ended and god did it make you grow up quickly
your aunt raised you!!!! she's an angel and she's the maternal figure in your life that you'd always be grateful for
you love her all the same and as much as you didn't wanna relate yourself to your parents in the same way that they don't, the feelings of being unliked hit you ever so often
lol it's quite a dashing mindset you have but you can't see any other interpretation you should employ
you leave before they could leave you.
it's not really as dramatic as it sounds
BUT IT COULD BE
there's always obligatory groupchats for projects and you're the first one to leave it instead of awkwardly waiting out for the conversation to dwindle and then leave one by one
when you and yoongi argue, you leave before he attempts to get the last word in
when jin is about to ask if you want to split the bill, you're already putting more than half of your share on the table
it's a nagging feeling of not wanting be unwanted in every situation you're in, but you aren't all that sure of wHAT you'd do to be liked
the only thing you could think of are lunchboxes, and even that gets taken away from you.
does no one really like you??
you're shifting in your position before you know it and the lone sound makes jin and yoongs come to your side immediately, looking at you in concern
you're looking up and you could just fEEL your eyes are puffy and even the light's hurting them
"i need to sleep."
"o-oh! m'kay, sure. i'll carry you to bed, let's go," seokjin wastes no time in responding, about to hook his arms underneath you when you repeat yourself again
you only chuckle but it's the driest and most painful they've ever heard, wincing when they can hear how breathless it was
"no. i mean i need to sleep."
jin blinks once
yoongi blinks twice
OH
right
they get it now
you don't want to sleep, and you really can't, but you need it
"i'll get it!!" jin volunteers to grab what you need, leaving yoongi with you
oh god you could fEEL that he's going to cry
what a big baby ://
seokjin comes bearing the joint :D
he's about to light it for you because he knows that three specific short hits would lull you to slumber then knock you out cold for like a day lmao
he minored in chemistry actually but he cAN'T explain shit on why that's your body's reaction
you're all-good for literally anything besides three short hits lmao
yoongi was about to scold jin because he lights it and tHEN he's the one who takes the first drag, but there's an assuring wave of his hand
how romantic
jin just blew you a heart
<3
they can't get anything from you besides the slight crinkling from your eyes but they don't mind at all — your eyes are atleast one degree less sad
you take your turn and even pass it to yoongi but he rEFUSES,,,,, not the least bit dejected that he decided not to because he wants to watch over you instead and not see every inanimate object with cartoon eyes on them while watching over you
"bake her a cookie if in case she suddenly gets hungry in the middle of her sleep. sneak a carrot in it or something," jin reminds yoongi and he's sERIOUS about the recipe, holding you in tow as he makes the way to your room
yoongi's about to break out the bowls, freezing in his steps when he hears the doorbell frantically ring
oh god
the ONE time that they didn't plug the door with a wet towel and now it's probably the hall manager outside about to do an inspection
that is not..... the hall monitor
that is a fucking asshole
jungkook's been pacing on his heels, his knocking loud enough to wake up the entire hallway at this point
he's SWEATING and he's not even wearing his hoodie
the door finally opens and the words start tumbling out of his mouth
"good evening. i-i wanna explain myself and-..."
that is not,,,,, you
it's his senior that he's disrespected probably too many times
yoongi leans to the door, a sickeningly sweet smile on his face that the junior's never seen before
"you ever had a sandwich before, jungkook?"
"w-what?"
the younger boy stammers, his eyes following yoongi's actions of looking behind him out of worry and then going outside to join him by closing the door softly without noise
yoongi only snorts, not even sure if he's up for conversation
"hyeji's never packed you a sandwich before?"
jungkook pales at the mention, mouth drying when he sees yoongi bring up the soft smile that doesn't comfort him at all
"the one that's all knuckle?"
#WHAT DO WE THINK BESTIES :D WHAT'S HAPPENING NEXT#stem koo#jungkook imagine#jungkook imagines#jungkook oneshot#jungkook oneshots#jungkook drabbles#jungkook x reader#jungkook x y/n#jungkook au#jungkook angst#jungkook angst imagine
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1 - Soulmate AU - Soulamtes share dreams to learn more about each other and to teach each other their local traditions if necessary. Obi-Wan learns the hardship his mate faces in slavery, their secret language, and how to help free slaves. Anakin gets taught about the Jedi, reading, writing, and how amazing his mate is.
ahhhh ok i really don't want to share this under this prompt because i wrote the ask down wrong in my notes so the prompt i wrote follows my poor notes that just say - 'soulmate sharing/learn about them before they meet' but this is amazing prompt wise and it would clear up a ton of misconceptions in the prequels obviously if they both got dreams of the other's early lives but this is.... not that but i hope you enjoy anyway <3 <3
1. Soulmates (and daemons) (2.0 k)
Obi-Wan doesn’t have a soulmate for sixteen years.
It’s just him and the animal representation of his own soul that had traveled to the Temple with him as a babe, a Vulptex kit. She’s named herself now and grown larger and stronger through the years, her coat growing out to perfect crystalline ends. From a distance, they look like razor-sharp spikes of ice. Or so other people have said.
Obi-Wan knows that’s not true. He knows that his soul isn’t cold or untouchable or unreachable. But he’s had no luck telling anyone else that, not when Avarie snaps at everyone who tries to touch her in a manner that’s quite un-Jedi like. She’s prickly and quick to bristle. He’s emotional and angry, even before he’s ten years old.
Look, it’s not easy living around people who all know they have soulmates, either because they’ve met them or because they’ve woken up to find that their own animal has disappeared only to be replaced with their mate’s soul representation.
Most of the time, that sort of switch happens when a person’s still a youngling. A very young youngling. Sometimes babies are taken to the Temple with their soulmate’s animal tucked between tiny arms. Those, in Obi-Wan’s opinion, are the luckiest ones. They never have to wonder if they even have a soulmate at all.
They just grow up knowing that they’ll be loved one day.
Obi-Wan grows up thinking maybe it’s just going to be him and his vulptex until the day he dies. It makes him angry at the injustice of it all.
He knows his own emotions probably keep him from a Padawanship, but he can’t help but think that Avarie’s own appearance and attitude certainly don’t help. They’re at odds with one another for two years, bound together but each ignoring the other. Obi-Wan’s never heard of this before, of fighting with your own soul’s animal.
But, he thinks, most people don’t spend as long with theirs as he has with Avarie.
Perhaps she is everything unlikable about himself, made apparent to everyone else. No one, master or soulmate, would ever want him. Not when everything about his soul screams keep your distance.
Master Jinn taking him as his Padawan is a surprise then, one that soothes over some of Obi-Wan’s soul-deep aches. The night he gets his padawan braid is the first night in years that Avarie curls up against him to sleep.
When he is sixteen and a few standard months old, he wakes up alone in his bed, Avarie nowhere in sight.
Well. Not alone, actually.
A ball of fur that he had originally thought to be a wrinkle in his bedspread whines pitifully and moves to follow him when he sits up.
He stares dumbly down at the strange little muzzle and unopen eyes. Half of its face is a pure white, and the other half a solid black, as if someone has taken it and held it against a fire until its fur was stained with smoke.
“Uh,” he says to his soulmate’s animal. The creature, some sort of canid, perks up at his voice and snuffles closer to him eagerly. “Yes, hello,” Obi-Wan grins, petting its tiny head with the tip of his thumb. It tries to prolong the touch by lifting its muzzle up and whining.
It’s so small.
His soulmate must be...must be just as young.
Obi-Wan is sixteen and a few months and his soulmate has just been born, most likely. But.
But he has a soulmate.
-----
Odyna grows fast, much faster than Obi-Wan had thought possible. It feels like he blinks once on the morning he wakes to see her, and then suddenly she’s at his knees. Her paws and ears are huge still, and Obi-Wan knows she’ll grow much, much bigger.
His master in particular is very interested in trying to figure out what species his soulmate’s animal is.
“She feels incredibly strong in the Force,” Qui-Gon says on more than one occasion. “And her markings--”
Odyna growls from where she’s laying splayed out in Obi-Wan’s lap as he brushes over her furry back. She instantly preens when he taps her gently on the nose.
Some days he thinks she’s the exact opposite of Avarie in every way possible, and has to wonder how his soulmate--who would be six now--is faring with Avarie. He hopes she’s at least letting them pet her.
Odyna relishes Obi-Wan’s attention always, though she scorns anyone else’s hands or affections in a way that reminds him of his own Vulptex.
The Jedi Council was unimpressed with Avarie’s aversion to touch and seems even more skeptical at Odyna’s. “A dangerous, possessive attachment, it will be,” Yoda has told Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan more than once.
Soulmate relationships in the Order are common and practically encouraged, seen as the will of the Force. But even then, possessive attachment is heavily forbidden. The Force animals of the Jedi will often allow other Jedi to touch them and greet them. It’s unbecoming of a Jedi’s soul, to close itself off from the touch of others.
And yet a part of Obi-Wan can’t stop himself from feeling smug about how overt Odyna’s claim over him is. She’s clingy, incredibly needy, and overprotective at turns.
A Jedi’s mission to Lothal brings back a trade deal and a name for Obi-Wan’s soulmate’s Force animal. “It looks just like a Loth-wolf,” she tells him. “But the ones on Lothal I saw were huge. Taller than a Wookie.”
Obi-Wan groans at this. His master is already so much taller than him. Now Odyna too? If his soulmate grows to tower over him as well, he’s going to have some choice words for the Force upon his death.
“You wouldn’t do that to me, would you?” He asks Odyna that night as she flops down onto his bed in her customary position of splayed everywhere. “My room is only so big.”
She grins at him and licks his face.
“Force, that’s so uncivilized,” Obi-Wan grouses, getting up out of bed again to go wash his face.
----
Surprisingly, Tatooine’s heat is not the first thing Obi-Wan notices about the planet. No, what he notices first and foremost is the way that Odyna, until this point relatively satisfied to lay curled around his chair (at nine, she’s big enough to come up to his shoulders when standing), seems to lose her damned mind as soon as the door is open and the hot air permeates the ship.
He was just going to look at the damage, but his soulmate’s Force animal seems to have other plans. Odyna bounds out onto the sand and nudges Obi-Wan forward, hard enough that he loses his balance.
She nudges him again, even as he tries to bat her away. “Odyna, stop it,” he demands, scrambling to his feet.
“Are they...alright?” One of Queen Amidala’s handmaidens asks.
Qui-Gon at least tries to hide his amusement, but Obi-Wan shoots him a dirty look anyway because he can hear the smile in his master’s voice when he says, “Oh yes. This is quite normal.”
It is not normal, thanks.
Odyna howls in agreement.
When Qui-Gon tells them that they’ll have to go into the nearest town to barter or buy the parts needed to fix the ship, Obi-Wan volunteers first. Maybe if he can let Odyna stretch her legs, she’ll calm down.
Instead, the closer they get to Mos Espa proper, the more antsy she becomes until, quite suddenly, she bolts through the streets. Obi-Wan has little choice but to take off after her. It’s almost impossible, of course, to lose a Loth-wolf when they’re that huge, but there’s a sort of strange tight pressure in his chest at having her out of his sight.
He leaves his master and the handmaiden behind without a second thought, but at least he doesn’t have to run far.
Outside a shop that looks as rundown as the other ones, Odyna has stopped and sat down, her tail wagging furiously behind her.
Obi-Wan has a fair few things in mind to yell at her, but all of that gets knocked out of his head when he sees the crystalline figure of a very familiar vulptex standing in the shadow of the loth-wolf.
His breath catches in his throat and he almost loses his balance again when Avarie turns to look at him with those intelligent black eyes, head cocked.
If she’s--if she’s here, then that means--that means--
He stumbles forward until he can kneel in front of his Force animal, hand outstretched.
Suddenly there’s commotion inside the shop and a little boy tears outside holding some sort of rusted pipe over his shoulder threateningly. “Don’t touch her!” the boy yells, brandishing the pipe. “She doesn’t like it, get gone or I’ll make you get gone!”
Obi-Wan blinks. His very first interaction with his soulmate after waiting twenty-five years, and the boy is threatening him.
“You’re mine,” he says dumbly, brain trying to process these impossible events.
It is, of course, the wrong thing to say. If anything, the boy puffs himself up even more. “I’m no one’s!” He yells indignantly. “I’m a person. My name is Anakin Skywalker!”
Obi-Wan holds up his hands in apology. “Ah, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean--I meant that she’s mine. Avarie. She’s my soul.”
Anakin lowers his pipe with narrowed eyes. “How’d you know her name?” he asks suspiciously.
Obi-Wan fights the urge to roll his eyes. He’d never considered that he’d have to win over the trust of his soulmate. “She’s my soul,” he says again slowly, before gesturing to the black and white loth-wolf behind them, who has laid down in the dust, tongue hanging out in response to the heat. “As she is yours.”
“You’re my...soulmate?” Anakin drops the pipe as he looks over Obi-Wan in frank disbelief. “But you’re so….”
Obi-Wan raises a wry eyebrow and grins. He braces himself to hear old, or maybe even male.
But instead his soulmate shocks him again by saying, “....pretty! Are you sure you’re not an angel instead?”
Which, of course, corresponds to his master’s arrival. The maiden with him at least has the decency to cover her smile with her hand. Meanwhile, his master’s smirk is probably going to be burned into his memory forever.
“Yes, Anakin,” Obi-Wan responds. “I promise, I’m your soulmate.”
“Mine,” Anakin says in a wondrous tone. And then, a grin steals across his face and he grabs Obi-Wan's hand. “My soulmate.”
Obi-Wan hopes this isn’t the beginning of that dangerous possessiveness Yoda has spent years lecturing him about.
-----
“I’m going with him,” Anakin argues, stomping his foot in the Council chambers. Obi-Wan hides his face in his hand. “He’s my master.”
“Anakin, we’ve been over this. You’re much too young for this mission,” Obi-Wan explains gently, as if they don’t have a dozen interested eyes on them.
“I’m twelve!” Anakin will not be deterred. “That’s plenty old!”
“It’s too dangerous,” he tries instead.
“Then you shouldn’t go!”
Obi-Wan wonders if he should try arguing that he’s a twenty-eight year old Jedi Knight, who may go where he pleases. He doesn’t think that’ll go over well with his padawan.
Anakin, he says through their training bond. Do not do this in front of the Council.
Anakin turns to stare mulishly up at him. I want you to be safe.
I will have Odyna with me, Obi-Wan points out, tilting his head in reference to the loth-wolf spread out on the Council Chamber’s floor. And you will have Avarie with you. You will know I am safe. And I will know she is making you sleep and eat and bathe.
Anakin seems to consider this and then crosses his arms, but eventually nods. I don’t like it when she bites me until I go to bed, he grumbles, kicking his feet and glaring over at Avarie, who is dozing between Odyna’s paws.
Obi-Wan fights the urge to chuckle out loud. In truth, he’s a bit jealous that Avarie has figured out a way to get obedience from their soulmate. Half the time, Obi-Wan is still floundering to get simple acknowledgement of a command.
-----
Many years later, of course, when Anakin is a knight and Obi-Wan a master, he figures out the thing that never fails to get Anakin soft and pliant and relaxed.
It’s kisses.
More specifically, kisses from his soulmate while they’re lying in bed together, sheets tangled around their feet and both of their Force animals in the other room, keeping watch at the door.
#asks#prompt fill#soulmates#obikin#this entire fic took hold because i couldn't stop thinking of a physical representation of anakin's soul just#draped behind obi-wan's chair during council meetings#so hell yeah after he gets a seat on the council#odyna sits behind him and growls loudly when she feels his displeasure#its very intimidating actually mission successes are going through the roof#meanwhile anakin has avarie in his lap shes either dozing off#or she's grooming her paws#which always makes anakin laugh#because 'look master she's as picky about her appearance as you are'#soulmate au
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some thoughts on what living with bakugou would be like:
-he’s weirdly organized. like he remembers where he put everything every time so if ur ever looking for something, most times he’ll just find it for u and it takes like .2 seconds
-will cook meals a large majority of the time, but if u bake sweets he’s an absolue sucker for them.
-if you’re like reALLY allergic to a certain type of bug or plant,, man’s got his eyes pEELED whenever y’all go somewhere together. like lets say, for example, ur allergic to bees. bakugou is blowing bees up left and right and u look at him and ur “no!! stop!!! bees are endangered!!” ,, he looks u dead in the face, like ur stupid or something and says “yeah. because of me. i’m gonna kill all of them.”
- if u have to get in an argument with somebody over the phone, he wants to hear it. like he’ll ask u to put the phone on speaker and he’ll just make mocking, bitchy faces while the other person is speaking. like,, he lets u fight ur own battles, but he wants to be there bullying the other person mercilessly in the background.
-if he doesnt like a song ur playing, he’ll just skip it. won’t ask, wont look at u, he’ll just skip it. borderline dick move tbh
-gets grumpy if u don’t follow his nightly routine on time, but also wont go to sleep without u. like he’ll just stay up and crab at u until u go to bed with him
-likes when u brush his hair for him. like u’ll be brushing yours, totally by urself fine, and he’ll just look at u and clear his throat until u roll ur eyes and beckon him over
-if u get like a bag of junk food or something,, do nOt leave that shit out, bakugou will finish it 10/10 times. he’ll finish it but then look at u and “why the fuck would u even bring that shit in here, huh? u tryin’ to get me out of shape or somethin?” ,, and u look at him like “idk man maybe just dont eat it then.” ,,, the glARE he gives u in response is muRDEROUS //pls this is quite literally the only area he lacks self control dont remind him\\
-has absolutely no regard for neighbors. he yells a lot and if y’all get noise complaints he just glares and 😡💥at the neighbor until they get scared and leave
-he thinks it’s funny to just subtly move things from time to time. like, for example, lets say plates. ,,, so like, u always keep plates on the left side of a certain cabinet, right?? but if he’s putting dishes away and feeling particularly petulant that day, he’ll just put away the plates on the right side instead. man’s then proceeds to smirk and laugh at u every time u open the wrong side of the cabinent from then on with a “jeez, u rlly are a moron, huh? they’re on the right side, remember?” god he’s annoying
-genuinely enjoys going grocery shopping by himself. like idk he just thinks it’s his quiet, personal time, u kno?? and he enjoys doing super-intense meal prep for the week anyways so he’s gotta make sure he gets the right ingredients
-u just hear muffled screaming from time to time. like u’ll be in the kitchen eating breakfast totally calm, and he’s making the bed and all the sudden just a “jesus fucking christ, swear to fuck im gonna blow up this stupid fuckin’ fitted sheet!” (which honestly??? valid. fuck fitted sheets.)
-if he doesn’t want to hang out with the bakusquad but they’re forcing him he’ll text u something like “I love you.” and then ofc ur like “i love u too. but also, u never just say that to me normally?? is something wrong?” and then total radio silence from him for like 20 mins and u get super worried,, and then he just sends u a video of mina or denki being loud with a “Can you get sick or something? I want to come home.” ,, i- 🧍
- isnt going to want a pet,, but if u have, like, a dog already when u move in with him, then it’s going to become bakugou’s dog. if he’s going to have to have a dog than he’s gonna make sure it likes him more than u
-hates doing laundry. will volunteer to do dishes instead 11/10 times
-he doesn’t sing in the shower but 100% plays the drums on the walls or his own stomach fight me on this
-he hates the smell of nail polish/nail polish remover. so if ur painting ur nails he’ll just walk in the room and walk directly out,, quickest way to get alone time
-speaking of alone time- say bye. u’ll get none of it,,, it’s not that he’s constantly on top of u or like talking to u, he just always sorta ends up in whatever room u are. like a cat, pretty much. like he won’t say anything, but if u get up to do something, he gets up and chooses to move his lounging to somewhere nearby
-he likes to scare the shit out of u. just like, rlly juvenile stuff like hiding around corners just to jump out at u. will just stand there and laugh when u scream, and will never, never apologize
-he gets weirdly worked up about hair?? just hates it, thinks it’s disgusting if he sees a stray hair anywhere. even if its his own. like yes it’s gross ig, but he gets so 🤮 about it
-he does house chores unecessarily loudly. like, u watch him and it seems like he’s doing everything totally normally,, but jesus christ why is it so loud
-gets bitchy around christmas if u decorate without him. he will complain the eNTIRE time if he does have to decorate, but will throw an even bigger fit if u dare to do it without him
-he gets mad if people drive too fast in ur neighborhood/ past ur apartment complex. like, y’all have 0 (zero!) kids, but he’s still up at the window like “Slow the fuck down, asshole! Why the hell doesn’t anyone have any common fuckin’ sense around here? That’s dangerous, you piece of shit!”
-if u sing around the house a lot, it’s the only habit of urs he’ll have absolutely nothing to say about. like it doesn’t even matter if ur a good singer or not, he just likes when he can hear u in the house even if ur not in the same room. he finds it comforting
-bakugou hates having people over to ur place. he thinks of it like his calm-space/safe-haven and it rlly pisses him off when people are there
-on the rare days he doesn’t have to work at all and stays home, mans is a total baby. he just refuses to get up for anything other than bathroom or meals and even then goes straight back to bed. he takes basically a 24 hr nap and expects u to do the same with him he’s so dramatic pls
-will make snarky comments about reality tv shows with u. just the bitchiest shit possible bc he enjoys trash talking as an art form, and absolutely does not care who it’s about
-likes to watch u do skincare stuff. he won’t ask questions and will be borderline offended if u offer some to him, but he just likes to watch u do it. man’s thinks of it as like his personal asmr
-hates online shopping. (pls i have absolutely no explanation for this one i just know its true)
-he has a lot of pride in his house so it’s actually rlly well decorated. like, he would never consent to living somewhere busted, lmaooo, so if u dont kno how to decorate he’ll figure it out for the both of u
-u can always tell if he’s falling asleep bc he constantly does that weird full-body jerk. like the one where it feels like ur falling
#bnha bakugou#bakugou katsuki#bnha bakugo katsuki#mha bakugou#bnha fic#katsuki bakugou#bakugou x reader#bakugou x y/n#mha fic
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CQL-Verse: Wen Ning did a whole lot of risky stuff saving JC and the bodies at Lotus Pier. What if NMJ hears and gets talked into helping protect him and the Wen remnants by the Jiang bros, because even if he's a wen, he still 1. whole ass poisoned wen chao 2. straight up commited treason and was punished for it to protect sect heirs and 3. is extremely baby brotherable. you can fit so much h/c into this bad boy
ao3
Untamed
1
Wen Qing was angry about the trials, but Wen Ning thought they made a reasonable amount of sense.
After all, how was the rest of the cultivation world supposed to know what they did in the war without a proper trial? It was only reasonable for them to make certain assumptions about them based on their surname, the same way everyone assumed that those surnamed Jin were rich, those surnamed Lan were beautiful, those surnamed Jiang were bold to the point of arrogance…
The Nie were supposedly known for their tempers, but Wen Ning hadn’t seen much evidence of that so far.
In fairness, his only experiences with a Nie were, firstly, with Nie Huaisang at the Cloud Recesses, which he was fairly sure didn’t count, and now, during the trial, with Nie Mingjue.
Nie Mingjue laughed the entire trial.
“You poisoned the wine,” he sniggered. “At their own celebratory feast…! And then you just went straight to Yiling, where your sister was in charge. And it still took him how long to find you?”
“Weeks,” Wen Ning meekly admitted.
“Can we go back to the bit where you saved Wei-xiong from the giant dog beast using stolen needles?” Nie Huaisang asked.
“No, we cannot,” Nie Mingjue’s deputy – a somewhat long-suffering looking man that they all called Meng Yao – said. “He’s already gone over it four times, Huaisang.”
“But –”
“No.”
“Spoilsport! Look at how much fun da-ge’s having; it’s not fair.”
“He’s the sect leader. If he wants to hoot like a shrieking monkey, he’s entitled to it.”
“I’m not hooting,” Nie Mingjue protested. “I am recognizing talent.”
“Talent.”
“Exactly. Talent.”
“At…what, exactly?”
“Causing trouble,” Nie Huaisang volunteered. “I recognize it from Wei-xiong, I could spot it anywhere.”
“Could we possibly proceed with the trial?” Meng Yao asked, obviously deciding not to continue with that discussion. “We have six more to finish today. Can I assume that given the evidence of Wen-gongzi’s subversive activities and his subsequent imprisonment throughout much of the Sunshot Campaign, he is absolved of all crimes and allowed to go free?”
“You spoilsport,” Nie Mingjue said, rolling his eyes at him. “Yes, I think so. Wen Qionglin, you are free to go your own way – though if you wish to stay here in Qinghe as a guest cultivator, we would be glad to have you for however long you wish.”
Wen Ning thought that sounded all right.
2
The Nie sect were known for their tempers, and justly so, but Wen Ning quickly figured out that he didn’t need to be afraid of Nie Mingjue’s occasional outbursts (quickly roused, quickly doused) or Nie Huaisang’s temper tantrums (petty) and occasional grudge-holding (rarer but much more dangerous).
No, Wen Ning figured out very quickly in his first weeks that the one to be afraid of was clearly Meng Yao.
Wen Ning had been weak and sickly his whole life in a sect that valued strength above all; he had survived hiding behind his sister, but she couldn’t always be there for him, no matter how she tried. He’d soon learned that surviving on his own meant being quiet and obedient, never making trouble or drawing attention to himself, and it also meant being extremely attuned to the minute expressions that might signal the difference between Wen Chao being angry enough to throwing a teacup at his head and being angry enough to order him to be taken outside and beaten until unconscious.
The same skills helped him in the Nie sect, where people were very often angry. Wen Ning could tell the difference between Nie Mingjue raging to let out steam (moderately common and generally innocuous, easily ignored) and being actually upset (typically only dangerous to the furniture, which was a nice change, but more worrisome in the sense that he might go and do something stupid afterwards), and he could tell that Nie Huaisang’s true anger, so rarely triggered, tended more towards the cold and hidden (definitely a sign he was going to do something, but unfortunately for everyone involved it’d invariably be far more malicious - enough to make you long for stupid).
He could tell that Meng Yao was, despite all his smiles, very often angry.
Like Nie Mingjue, Meng Yao’s temper was easily roused to the point of fury; like Nie Huaisang, his anger lasted a long time and usually called for some malicious action before it could be properly assuaged.
“Senior Meng,” Wen Ning tentatively said one day when his curiosity got to be too much for him. “Could I ask a rude question?”
Meng Yao’s temper, hidden deep in his eyes, flared at once, preemptively, and Wen Ning shivered and looked down at the ground. He had known what he was risking, but he hoped that asking permission in advance might allow him to get the question out with minimal reprisals – cold meals for a few days, perhaps, or being assigned to the training yard only when the most sadistic training-master was supervising, but only for a week or so.
“Of course, Wen-gongzi,” Meng Yao said, and he sounded nice and pleasant and like no question could possibly be rude enough to cause him any disturbance. It was a little frightening how good he was at that. “I can’t imagine what you would want to know that would be rude.”
“Are you related?” Wen Ning blurted out. “To Sect Leader Nie, I mean – his family –”
Meng Yao stared at him. His mouth was slightly hanging open.
“…it’s a stupid question,” Wen Ning concluded, feeling ashamed. Of course Meng Yao had been promoted entirely on merit; it was only his imagination getting away from him. “I’m sorry. I’ll go –”
“No, wait,” Meng Yao croaked. “Related – to the Nie sect – forgive me. How did you reach that conclusion?”
“I mean, you’re obviously treated as part of the main family,” Wen Ning pointed out. There were plenty of Nie cousins that weren’t treated anywhere near as well; both Nie Mingjue and Nie Huaisang were not only protective but almost possessive over Meng Yao’s time and dignity - surely by now everyone knew that the surest way to get them each angry in their own ways was to slight Meng Yao. “You wear Nie braids like them – you wear clothing like them – you have a temper like them –”
Meng Yao started laughing.
“…did I miss something?”
3
“I’m surprised you didn’t go to the Lotus Pier after you’d been absolved,” Nie Huaisang said, tapping the weiqi piece on the board a few times before making a move. “Given your fondness for Wei-xiong and all that.”
“Wei-gongzi’s very nice,” Wen Ning said vaguely, staring down at the board. He’d played a lot of weiqi in his life – including against Wen Ruohan when the man had still been remotely sane, mostly because he’d been the only one stuck back at the palace with him more often than not – but playing against Nie Huaisang required all of his attention. The first time he looked away, he’d get lured into a trap. “Very kind.”
“And yet you stay here,” Nie Huaisang prompted. “In Qinghe, with us, when even your sister picked the Lotus Pier.”
Wen Ning had never been without his sister this long before. He knew that she still expected him to come to the Lotus Pier. She hadn’t expected him to last the week without her; she’d said as much when she first went, huffing at him for being ridiculous – a Wen as a guest cultivator in the Nie sect, of all places? – and telling him, in between reminders to take his medicine on time, that she’d prepare a place for him there so that he would be comfortable when he arrived.
Her letters, in the weeks and now months since that time, had never overtly asked when he was going to finally get around to moving there, and had recently developed an almost quizzical tone, as if she’d finally realized that he wasn’t.
“I like it here,” Wen Ning said, and moved his piece.
Nie Huaisang moved his own almost immediately in response, which meant that Wen Ning had made a horrible mistake that played straight into Nie Huaisang’s hands. Not an uncommon occurrence.
“I’m glad to hear that,” he said. “We like having you here, too.”
Surprised, Wen Ning looked up.
Nie Huaisang was smiling at him – he smiled nearly as often as Meng Yao, but unlike Meng Yao, he never smiled if he didn’t want to, so his smiles were actually sincerely meant each and every time. He had a wide range of smiles: nervous smiles, cheerful smiles, devious smiles…
Wen Ning was good at reading expressions, but he had to admit he’d never had to work as hard at it as he did with Nie Huaisang.
“We’re a very nice sect, really,” Nie Huaisang said, and even seemed to believe it. “We’re always open to people who are like us. The only thing we can’t tolerate is injustice and betrayal; as long as you stick with us and put us first, you’re ours, and we’re yours.”
That sounded nice, Wen Ning thought, and moved a piece blindly. “You think I’m like you? My sister doesn’t think so.”
“I think you fit in very nicely,” Nie Huaisang said, and his smile had teeth to it. He moved quickly, again. “You’re angry and resentful, but you don’t let it get in the way of what you want - just like us. Your sister probably doesn’t think that about you, either, but then again, that’s why she’s in the Jiang sect, with their heads in the air, dreaming of the impossible. I bet she never even noticed that you had a temper.”
She hadn’t. Wen Ning had been her baby brother and nothing else for a long time; he never had to defend himself as long as she was around.
He’d never had the chance to defend himself.
(He didn’t resent her for that. He didn’t. She was his big sister, his favorite person, and he loved her so much that he didn’t mind the way that all her fussing sometimes made the world feel cramped and small, as if he were being forced into a place that he’d long since outgrown.)
“Do I have a temper?” he asked, and moved another piece.
“Oh, yes,” Nie Huaisang said. “You’re like me – slow to boil – and like Meng Yao, hiding it behind your eyes. You’re even a bit like da-ge: you don’t need to be the one get the frustration out as long as something deals with it, but if nothing does, it nags at you and wears at you, like a thorn stuck in your flesh, until you can’t be silent any longer. Until you have to do something, or else you’ll explode.”
That sounded about right, Wen Ning thought. He’d never really had a chance to explode in the Wen sect, out of fear of what they’d do to his sister if he did, and he’d been sick with it – he’d limited himself to little rebellions, nameless pranks, right up until he met Wei Wuxian, who was kind to him, and couldn’t stop himself from helping him. He sometimes thought, in the days he’d spent in the dungeons, that if he died he’d come back as a fierce corpse, soul-calming rituals or no, and he’d might even enjoy it if only for the opportunity to finally vent his feelings – to finally pay back every single injustice that he’d ever seen, each one marked down in his heart in an indelible list of regrets.
Maybe Nie Huaisang was right.
Maybe that was why he stayed here, in the Nie sect, the sect of do not tolerate evil instead of the Lan sect’s chivalry and righteousness or the Jiang sect’s attempt the impossible.
Maybe he wanted to fight back for once. To have a temper, to have rage, to be something more than Wen Qing’s shy, stuttering shadow.
“I like it here,” he said again, but if his words were the same then the flavor was different: he meant it this time.
He understood, this time, what he meant by it.
Nie Huaisang smiled at him and moved another piece. Winning the game, Wen Ning noticed.
“Good,” he said. “Now move over – sit in front of the mirror. I’ll show you how to do your hair right.”
“Really?”
“Really. Also, Da-ge’s been practically champing at the bit to teach you saber, and Meng Yao has been making grandiose plans about redoing the way we recruit and train doctors with you leading the charge, so if you’re not up for either of those, now’s the time to say something.”
Wen Ning settled down in front of the mirror.
“No,” he said. “Those sound good to me.”
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