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huramuna · 1 month

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banshee's lament - chapter 8.

aemond targaryen x stark ofc minor jacaerys velaryon x stark ofc masterlist prev | next

wordcount: 4.7k

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i've been planning this chapter for months now, i hope you all enjoy! there is a surprise in this chapter 👀

content: smut, angst, fluff, disabled ofc, aemond being delulu & obsessive, major canon divergence, ofc has a service direwolf, i'm taking canon rules and putting them in a blender and taking a shot, arranged marriage, graphic depictions of violence, talk of chronic pain and illness

story playlist

It was slowly nearing half a year since Shera and Cregan arrived at King’s Landing– she still hadn’t gotten used to the heat but she had finally, somehow, begun to adjust to the people, the looks, the whispers and sneers.

She, albeit slowly, was losing care in such things. She had been spending more and more time with the people she cared about– the ones who made her happy. She still visited Helaena and the children once a day and sometimes would even stay overnight and giggle under the covers with the princess like they would when they were children.

Her mornings started by watching Aemond spar with Ser Cole. She didn’t hide from it anymore– as she felt… somewhat liberated from showing her eye to him. She couldn’t exactly explain, to herself, much less anyone else, why she felt warmer than usual when watching him clash swords with his mentor. Sweat dripping from his face, the little sneer he plastered on when he was particularly concentrating. It felt like butterflies were trapped in her stomach, beating against her skin to get out. It was unfamiliar at first, the feeling– but now it’s become a recognized acquaintance, even if she couldn’t exactly name it.

Aemond, as well, had taken it upon himself to make more effort to spend time with Shera. His days before she returned to King’s Landing were very structured, very planned and scheduled. He would wake up, spar with Cole from morning light until lunch with his mother, then back to sparring until early evening when he would wind down by reading in his chambers, eat dinner, and then go to bed. ‘Going to bed’ didn’t really indicate sleeping, however. He didn’t need much of it to function and found the dreams (and nightmares, to his chagrin) that came with sleep uncouth– so he laid, usually for hours, until his mind drifted into the lightest of sleep cycles. He valued organization and repetition– impromptu changes to such a rigid routine were unwelcome.

Except for Shera– a very impromptu change to his life on her own. Mayhaps unwelcome at first, his outward antagonistic behavior to her was improper and came from a place of, surprisingly, regret. Regret and self-loathing. Usually, he attributed the feeling of self-pity and self flagellation in association with his brother, who was in all rights, a pathetic example of a man (but still his brother and wouldn’t tolerate such talk about him from anyone else) but when Shera came back, walking down that hall– she had looked so small, like she was a fragile heirloom on the verge of breaking at any moment. She could hardly walk without guidance and hid herself.

When his mother said she was returning, as vague as it was, he felt some sort of resentment bubbling up in his gut. What gave her the right to return now? He fully expected her to be the epitome of a Northern lady, hardy and strong, unyielding. The letters ‘she’ (unbeknownst to him at the time, the words were fabrications of Cregan) sent after Driftmark, painted the picture of someone who was fine, who was well adjusted, who didn’t have to go through moons and moons of relearning how to be a person. The image of Shera he had concocted into his mind, and onto paper– an icy woman with fiery hair who would come to blows with someone rather than shed a tear– was not what he saw.

No, what he had seen in that hall, who he had seen– he didn’t recognize her. Then, seeing the small curl of copper hair, the fur stole, the wolf. It struck him like a bolt of lightning, spurring every cell in his body into action, setting them on fire. Blood pumped in his ears and he could hardly hear her (whispering voice aside).

She was broken. Harsh, yes– but it was true. She was a shell, behest to the terrible experience they both suffered.

Regret flooded through him. She was this way because of him, because he dragged her along in the middle of the night to watch him claim Vhagar.

I should have killed them. I should have killed them.

And he retreated from her. He hardly remembers his words to her after she came out from his mother’s chambers– they felt vile in his mouth, like spewing venom. The primal part of him, the dragon, was unruly and restless.

He couldn’t stop lashing out at her–

But what did he really feel?

He fucking missed her. He missed her more than he could ever profess. He wouldn’t admit it outloud, of course, he had to maintain some form of self-preservation.

After their night in her room, after seeing her eye– there was a shift. They spent more time together and she became a fixture of his schedule.

Wake up, spar with Cole and have Shera watch him until noon, they would lunch together three days out of the week with Helaena. He cut his afternoon sparring in half and spent that time with Shera. At first it was awkward, but they melded into one another like their youth quickly.

She begged him to teach her how to draw, to help strengthen her eyesight.

“It… it hurts to focus.” she sniffed, looking up at him. She didn’t wear her veil when they were alone, which he made sure they were when they were drawing. Her blind eye was red rimmed slightly, twitching.

He had set up a vase on a small table for her to draw– it was a simple clay vase with a depiction of two nightingales in flight. They had just moved on from plain objects to something a bit more detailed, albeit only by a little bit.

“Don’t strain, Shera. Just… look at it normally. It’s blurry in some places, right?”

“… yes.”

“Okay. You looked at it up close for a good five minutes. Do you remember what was on the side?”

“The… the nightingale imprint.”

“You can see it in your mind, but it’s not clear to the eye. Use your memory to fill in the blanks.”

“Aemond— this… this is just a test of memory. How is this helping my eyes?”

“Trust me.”

She started off shaky, her first slew of sketches no better than his were when he had first started, but she fell into it quickly. She developed her own style, straying from the charcoal that Aemond used exclusively, and opted for more colorful tools– she had woad paste pastels imported from Dorne. They would sit and depict the same thing and come out with completely different results.

It was so easy to forget that she was betrothed to another. That she was to leave soon.

That she was to be his nephew’s wife. His nephew who didn’t give a shit about her. His nephew who was there. Did no one else think it a bit sick that she was to be the wife of someone who took a part in her mutilation?

Was he the only sane one?

He sighed softly as they finished up their drawings for the day. They had been sketching the coastline of Blackwater Bay– Shera went with a color scheme of blue and green and sparse spots of orange and yellow.

He stuck to his monochromatic charcoal.

“Rhaenyra’s name day gala is… in a fortnight, right?” Shera hummed, using her foot to pet Moongeist, who was at her feet.

“Mm,” Aemond responded, flicking some errant charcoal powder from his doublet. “A mummer’s farce, if you ask me.”

“... I don’t care much for events– but at least… your mother and sister are getting along,” she tilted her head as she wiped her hands off.

Rhaenyra and Alicent had been working together to plan the event and were in high spirits. They were frequently seen chatting lightheartedly.

“Half-sister,” Aemond clarifies, giving her a pointed look.

“Half-sister,” Shera says, brows raised. “I suppose it is a send off, too– since…” her voice trails off slightly, not really wanting to talk about her impending wedding to Jacaerys. She hasn’t spoken much to her betrothed as she didn’t feel the need to– she let him run around with her brother and do what he liked. She imagined it wouldn’t be much different when they were married.

An uneasy silence settled over them. There were many words on the tips of their tongues that they just couldn’t say– it would make it real.

“Shera-,”

“Aemond-,”

They spoke at the same time, standing up simultaneously. Moongeist made a warbling chuff sound that sounded like a laugh.

He must be sick of our antics.

“I should get back to my chambers– before dinner. Cregan wants to… eat with me, for some reason.” she shrugged her shoulders.

“Hm,” Aemond hummed in his usual manner.

—

Shera sat across from Cregan, leg crossed over the other as she fed Moongeist scraps under the table.

“What did you want to speak about?” she broke the silence, glancing up at him. She had put her veil back on– to her dismay, as she had come to like not having it on… around Aemond, at least.

“Do I need a reason to want to dine with my sister?” he asked, clenching his jaw slightly.

“... no,” she mumbled, flicking her nails against one another. “But you don’t usually dine with me.”

He chewed on his piece of mutton slowly, regarding her. “I’m leaving, Shera. I need to go back North.”

“Why?” she blurts out, a bit more emotionally than she wanted to. She and Cregan didn’t have a great relationship, but they were… siblings. There was familiarity.

“I’ve stayed too long already, there is a keep to run, things to do, Shera,” he narrowed his gaze. “Will you be alright… alone?”

Her lip caught between her teeth. “... I suppose so.” she and Cregan had their moments– she thought he was a huge idiot most of the time, but that was her brother. She had been by his side for the last ten years and he nursed her back to some semblance of health when she returned from Driftmark. No matter the choices he made, the ones he made for her– they were all one another had, really.

Her chest ached slightly that he would be going back North and leaving her here. She wouldn’t be alone, per say, but… her blood would be so far away.

“Will you… attend the wedding?” she asked then, drawing little circles on the table with the tip of her nail.

“Yes, I’ll return to Dragonstone for it.”

“Dragonstone?” Shera looked up, slightly alarmed. “I thought the wedding would be in King’s Landing?”

Cregan stopped chewing, suddenly looking sheepish. It was unbecoming of him. “I… yes,” he cleared his throat. “Jacaerys said that after his mother’s name day gala, they will move back to Dragonstone.”

Why does no one tell me anything? “Hm.” she grumbled, sounding much like Aemond– she’s picked up on his little mannerisms and made them her own, it seemed.

“You will be going with them and will be wed soon after.”

She made another noncommittal noise, scraping the remains of her plate to the floor. She’d lost her appetite.

She would be alone sooner than she thought.

—

Returning from a luncheon with Helaena, a few days after Cregan’s departure, she discarded her veil right away as soon as the door was closed behind her.

She waved her hand in front of her face, despairing in the heat of the South. Moongeist agreed, his tongue lolling out in a pant as he lapped at a small tub of water at the foot of the bed.

“It’s too hot for us here, dovey,” she whimpered, wiping sweat from her brow, beginning to strip the various layers of clothing she had on— she did have somewhere to be later in the day, but she would simply have to redress. “I hope Dragonstone is more breezy, lest we melt.”

The layers flew off of her, pooling upon the floor like a puddle of dark ichor. It likely didn’t help that she only wished to wear dark colors, attracting the heat of the sun to her poor constitution. Her cheeks flushed red with the errant warmth and she wondered if this was how those with Targaryen blood felt all of the time— constantly huffing, puffing, warm and sweating. It was terrible.

Finally in nothing but her shift and underclothes, she walked to the bed, hand reached out to peel back the blanket when something shiny caught her eye.

Investigating further, she found a small velvety box, opened to reveal a silver choker, inlaid with three sapphires. Blinking profusely, Shera carefully pried the piece out of its holdings and inspected it. It was, to say the least, flawless. It matched her silver earrings that she always wore almost down to the exact detail, the engravings even the same— long, flowing tendrils into the metal, outlining the gems like garlands. Pearls hung from the bottom of each sapphire. Her thumb roved over the center sapphire, the largest one and the most prominent. It was cool to the touch.

Gently placing the choker down, she dismantled the box looking for a note or any indication of who might have left it. She guessed it to be Jace— did he intend for her to wear it to the gala? She would have to find a garment to match.

Shera descended to her wardrobe, rummaging through until she landed on something that would go swimmingly with her new necklace. It was a dress she hadn’t worn at all, and had been tailored for her shortly before leaving Winterfell. It was a silver and blue dress with intricate embroidery akin to that of a Godswood, but the leaves were a cool toned blue rather than red. She had a pearl-laden head garment, imbued with a silken veil and ringed headdress of sorts, with silver moons hanging down on each side.

Curious.

–

“You… must stay outside, lovey,” Shera murmured to Moongeist. She had received a missive– unclear from who, but either Alicent and Rhaenyra– that they would prefer if her wolf was not in attendance to the gala. She wanted to cry, leaving him outside of the ballroom. Contrary to popular belief, she didn’t really command her companion– their relationship, as impenetrable as others may see it, was the culmination of years of hard work and trust. They were so attuned to each other, Moongeist knowing when she was pushing herself too far, when she was in distress, and when he needed to step into a situation. He was, on all accounts, very polite and well-mannered – for a wolf. He had never bitten anyone who didn’t deserve it. His good conduct thus far and impeccable record was apparently not enough for him to be admitted to the event. He whined as Shera snuffed into his fur, murmuring soft nothings into it. “I’ll return as soon as I can,” she whispered. “I’ll come get you when everyone leaves and you shall have all the scraps you’d like.”

Tearing herself from him, he sat dutifully outside of the glass door that led from the gardens into the ballroom. She willed herself not to cry, not to cry.

She was unsteady on her own feet, hoping to find someone familiar to steady herself on. The last option of familiarity presented itself first. Jacaerys spotted her right away, putting a hand on her waist. “Shera,” he smiled warmly. “You look… wonderful tonight. Mother is going to be so happy to see you in attendance.”

“Jacaerys,” she responded, willing a smile on her face. He was better than no one. She steadied herself by putting a hand on his shoulder. His eyes, usually sparkling with mirth, were a bit dim. He seemed… forlorn. “We don’t have such lavish events like this much– up North… apart from feasts. There usually isn’t much dancing.”

He swallowed, his brow furrowing minutely. “May I interest you in a dance, then?”

“Mm,” she hummed as they descended to the dance floor. She thought about her dance with Helaena and Aemond on the night of her betrothal dinner– it all felt so far away now. She tilted her head slightly as they danced. Jace’s head was looking to the door, as if he was waiting for someone. “As annoying as he is– I miss him as well.”

Jace looked slightly bewildered. “Pardon?”

“I may only be able to see from one eye, but I’m not completely blind,” Shera murmured. “You’ll see him again.”

The prince softened slightly, nodding his head. He was grateful for the words.

They danced a bit more and mingled, more so Jacaerys talking to people and stringing Shera along. Somehow, through it all, she became separated from him, walking on her own through the throngs of people. The heat, even with her less thick layers than usual, was stifling– from all of the bodies.

She suddenly felt… panicked, like when she was lost in the tunnels that one evening. “Excuse me,” she whispered hurriedly as she pushed through people, who didn’t even seem to see her there. “Pardon m–”

Her voice was cut off by a strong arm pulling her around her waist. Her anxiety damped right away as the familiar smell of sandalwood and leather took over her senses. Aemond looked down at her. “Lost again?” he was wearing a black and deep purple button-up doublet, with a long overcoat. It had a flared collar. He looked nice– it wasn’t much different color wise to his usual garb, but it absolutely wasn’t something he would spar in. He was even without his sword– but a brush of Shera’s hand near his waist revealed he did have his dagger strapped to his belt.

“... mayhaps.”

“And where is your guide? It is unlike your dog to abandon his post.”

“He wasn’t invited to the gala,” Shera frowned.

“And you’ve… been left alone?”

“Jacaerys was–”

Aemond held up his hand. “You don’t need to tell me any more,” he rolled his one eye. “He wouldn’t be able to keep track of you if you were the size of a dragon.”

They fell into an easy sway– he was much more relaxed than he was when they first danced. But Shera couldn’t shake what her brother had said– they… Rhaenyra and her brood, which included Shera now, would be leaving a few days after the gala. She hadn’t told Aemond, she didn’t know how.

“You’re worried,” he tilted her chin up to him so their gazes could meet. “I can feel your unease from here.”

“... I…” her mouth felt dry, her hand clutching his inner elbow shakily. “We’re leaving.”

Aemond stayed silent.

“Jacaerys and I… are to be wed upon Dragonstone– and we are to leave… in a few days.”

Aemond still declined to speak.

“Aemond,” she pressed her thumb into his skin.

“You can’t leave again,” he stated. He did not ask, nor plead. He stated it, as if it was a definitive fact. “I won’t let you.” the same moment of rage she had seen before was there, bubbling under the surface. A vein in his neck bulged out and she could feel the control he was trying to keep over himself, over the situation. He gripped her face with both hands now, boring into her with a surprising and sudden placid smile.

–

With a hand over her swollen belly, Rhaenyra scanned the crowd. It’d been so long since she properly enjoyed an event. The planning of it with Alicent had been… more fun than she thought it’d be, and the two women quickly fell back into a rapport, akin to when they were girls together.

It felt right.

Her eyes eventually fell upon two familiar faces— Shera, her veil pulled back slightly by Rhaenyra’s half-brother, Aemond. His hand gripped her face softly, but with intensity as the two locked gazes, lips pursed, brows furrowed, clearly in a heated conversation. It took Rhaenyra all but five seconds to be teleported back to her own wedding to Laenor, all those years ago, where she and Daemon had been in the exact same position— where she had dared Daemon to cleave through her father’s men, steal her away to Dragonstone and make her his wife.

Fuck.

–

“They think you are tame and controlled— but I can see it, the blood welling and boiling just under the surface of your skin. You’re hardly holding it together,” she whispered harshly. “Do you not think I’ve tried to devise everything I could… to stay? To stop any of this?”

“Quell me, then. Let me take you to marriage and let me cut your lip, taste your blood in the ways of old. Dampen my molten blood. I’ll do it in an instant, under the heart tree, in the molten halls of the Dragonmont– anywhere,” his nail pressed into her cheek, angling her head upward to look directly at him. No escape from madness, look me in the eye, he seemed to taunt silently.

It was overwhelming. She was overwhelmed with the warmth in her stomach, the butterflies she felt– they bursted into ash, searing into her like a brand. Shera felt the world around her chill, her extremities cold. “A-Aemond,” she croaked, her hand grasping at his shoulder with all of her might, but it’d only came through as a light tug. “A-Aem—“

Coldness spread through her, her vision fading to white. Then she was warm, extremely so— like she was on fire, panting and spewing hot breaths from her open maw.

Blinking her eyes— she was outside, her heavy wisps fogging the glass pane on the door. Wait. She had full vision, not just the one. It felt odd, so wrong for her to be able to see all around her like she was whole and normal.

Why was she outside? Just let me in, Godsdammit, let me in! She growled low, hands coming up to scratch at the wood and glass, nails digging into it. Her nails were longer than normal and much sharper, a deep black in color.

She wanted in, in, in, in— her hands, no— her paws and claws shredded at the door, eyes peering into the crowd. They were gathered around, shifting slightly to let her see what was going on—

They were gathered around her, eyes rolled back in her head as she laid limp in Aemond’s arms. She saw Jacaerys storming over, already hurling accusations towards Aemond.

No, no, he didn’t do this, stop! She screamed, barking and howling, her teeth biting into the wood and beginning to rip it apart, splintering and cracking the glass.

Shera watched in horror as Jacaerys unsheathed his sword. Aemond was still holding her, loathing to give her up—

Stop, stop, stopstopstop! She bursted through the weakened door, glass and all, feeling it tear at her fur and skin. Patrons gasped around her as she mulled through them towards the center, snapping and snarling.

“Moongeist, calm down!” Jacaerys said, his eyes wide in surprise as she sat between him and Aemond.

So she was Moongeist— that is why it felt so familiar. She, no, they drew their lips back in a growl, hackles raised. Back off, back off, back off! They screamed, snapping at anyone who got too close.

‘That wolf has gone mad!’

‘Is that the prince’s intended?’

‘Yes, but not the prince that’s holding her.’

‘How wanton.’

They panted heavily, still feeling a deep rage within them. Everyone was too close, too close– the sounds of the gala drowned out as they looked to the upper windows of the ballroom. A familiar sight to behold– the cream colored blur and siren’s song of a voice.

A beige and cream colored barn owl sat atop the eave of the window, staring down at them with wide eyes.

‘Now you know, dear Shera.’

–

Shera awoke later, still cold as ice. She was back in her own body but still felt the remnants of itching fervor from being in Moongeist– not ‘in’, it had a word. Warg. She heard children’s tales about it, how a man can enter the mind of a beast and become one with it.

She glanced around the room. Aemond was pacing– she was in… her chambers. Jaw clenched, she sat up from the settee with surprising vigor.

“Shera–” Aemond sputtered, stopping his pacing.

“Hush, come with me,” she grabbed his wrist and strung him along, feeling more lively than she had in ages. Moongeist padded alongside them, hugging to her leg just in case.

She led them down to the weirwood, not letting go of her grip on him.

“You cannot lie to me, Aemond Targaryen, not here. Do you see that?” she gestures to the face etched in the bark of the Great Oak– staring back at the two of them.

How silly they must look.

“Do… not… lie to me,” Shera pleaded. She approached him, her hand skimming the edge of his jaw. He was so warm, always so warm– he permeated through the cold she always felt. “You can lie to everyone else. Keep… those walls up and don’t let anyone in. But not… not to me. Never to me,” she was trembling with the weight of what she was asking, her fingers drumming against his skin. “Did you mean it? Did… you mean it? You want me here with you?”

He stilled her by covering her hand with his own. “I wouldn’t–,” Aemond murmured, his free hand coming up to unhook his eyepatch. Her breath hitched as he discarded it. The moonlight caught the concaves of the gem first, expanding over the flecks of blue, all shades of it.

A sapphire.

She palmed the matching stones on her mysteriously gifted choker. “You… you… your eye…” Shera stumbled slightly, her knees wobbling beneath her.

Aemond held her upright with one arm, slung around her waist. “Hm?” he asked in return, a playful lilt to his voice– something only reserved for her.

“It’s… it’s blue!” she squeaked, pulling his face closer to her, observing with the same scrutiny that she had when they were sketching together. “And… and…” she kept babbling, tugging at her gifted choker. “And this? You… you git! You… cad! Oh, you’re incorrigible.” her words were inflammatory in nature but she… was laughing– as much as she could anyways. It was a quiet giggle, like the soft trill of a small bell.

It made Aemond chuckle in return. The two of them soon devolved into a fit of joviality. “I quite like you in blue, Shera. In my color,” he leaned down to whisper in the shell of her ear. “I had to let Jacaerys know… exactly…” he punctuated each word as his hand made a home on her jaw, inching closer to her lips. “... where and to whom,” his thumb pulled down her bottom lip. “You belong.”

Every nerve in her body was on fire. She’s never felt so warm, so hot in her life. Is this what it felt like to be a Targaryen? Gods, it was fucking stifling.

“And… to be clear,” he continued. “You belong here. With me.”

Her mouth parted, she was barely breathing. She… she wanted… she wanted to kiss him. She wanted him, more than anything she’d wanted before. She was mad; this was mad. Even on shaking legs, she pushed herself on her tippy-toes, pressing their lips together.

She felt… elated. More than elated, it felt like she was flying, skimming the clouds like a dragon, wings spread… free.

Aemond melted into her right away, pulling her closer as they melded together. His tongue swiped against her lower lip as he caressed her so softly, so gently– more gentle than she could ever imagine him being.

This was the first time she ever took something– something she wanted, and she got it. It was selfish, she knew– selfish and dangerous and reckless and just… hers. This was hers. He was hers. “Mine,” she whispered as they caught their respectful breaths. “If… I’m yours, then… you are mine, right?” she clarified, a bit less confident than her previous possessive declaration. “Quite right, little wolf.” he hummed, pressing another kiss to her temple.

In a brazen show of exuberance, she captured his lips once more.

Things were forgotten. Namely, everything that wasn’t them in this moment. Their individual turmoils, their shared despair. All notions of her mysterious collapse, Aemond’s scuffle with Jacaerys, Shera’s impending marriage to the said prince, tensions rising between two sides of a family–

This was for them.

The only time that either of them had taken anything for themselves in the last ten years.

a/n: ART IN THIS CHAPTER BY @lonelymagpies who, as always, was LOVELY to work with! they captured the scene perfectly.

#aemond fic #aemond x oc #aemond fanfiction #aemond targaryen #hotd aemond #house of the dragon aemond #prince aemond #aemond one eye #hotd fanfic #aemond fanfic #aemond fandom #my writing #banshees lament #aemond targaryen smut #aemond smut #hotd #house of the dragon #aemond x original female character #aemond x ofc

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mybeautifuldelirium · 1 year

Note

Hi, can I request an angst prom "And you left me!" with aegon ii, please, maybe reader is rhaenyra's daughter and she goes to dragonstone but never contacts aegon, so when she comes back to kingslanding she is already engaged to someone and maybe she is expecting a baby👀 (by the way, reader and aegon got along super well, they had a nice friendship and aegon always hoped to marry her) thanks!

And you left me! || Aegon ii x reader

Part 2

A/N: took some liberty w this request but the overall premise is the same :)

Had so much fun writing for Aegon so I hope you enjoy 💚 and lmk if you’d like to be in my Aegon ii x reader tag list xx

Warnings: ANGST!, targ incest, Aegon being Aegon, some fluff

Y/N Velaryon never thought that her feet would once again grace the shores of the Crownlands, her homeland. It had been so long, many moons had passed, many years. Though how many in number, she couldn’t say, long ago she had lost track. Yet there she stood, by the gates of the very place that held all those memories she had fought to forget.

“Is everything alright, my dear?” Rhaenyra placed her hand on her daughter’s shoulder “You look pale; mayhaps the travel didn’t fare you well?”

“No, mother, no need to worry, I’m fine” the princess put her hand on top of hers “It’s just…this place…”

“Y/N, don’t” Rhaenyra cut the girl off, cupping her cheek “You’re no longer a child, you’re a woman betrothed, remember that”

Y/N had forgotten how insanely huge the keep was, the countless corridors weaving into one another forming into a maze. The princess was trying to locate her childhood bedchambers when shouts of fury stopped her in her tracks. Curiosity took over her body and she gingerly slid by the agape doors.

Oh how she wished she hadn’t done that, alas too late it was. Her eyes fell on the very face she had desperately tried to erase from her mind, the face of her once dearest friend, Aegon Targaryen. Y/N sucked in a gasp, clutching her hand by her chest.

He stood there, in the flesh, so close before her yet he hadn’t noticed her presence. The prince sat naked, covered by a single sheet on his bed, his silver locks, a mess falling down his face, deep violet eyes bloodshot red with tears as he desperately looked at his mother who was screaming and cursing at him.

Y/N’s heart clenched at the sight of his state, a small part, deep inside of her, wanted to rush towards his embrace and wipe away his tears much like she used to when they were children, but she was no longer a child.

The princess was so deeply indulged in her thoughts that she hadn’t noticed her weight shifting onto the heavy door, making a small screeching sound. Aegon’s face suddenly shot towards the doors, his teary violet eyes widening as if he’d seen a ghost. Y/N could see the pure shock and confusion written on his features as if he was trying to convince himself ‘twas not a dream but before he could say anything, before Alicent could turn her head, the princess ran away, cursing at herself, trying to hold in the tears that threatened to spill out of her eyes.

The king had ordered for a supper in honor of the family being together at once. Y/N dreaded that night, she couldn’t bear to see Aegon’s face again. The princess thought she had long ago ripped out the memories from her heart, the fond memories they shared as children and yet since that day, his broken, teary face had kept plaguing her thoughts and dreams. But who was Y/N to refuse the wishes of her grandsire, her king.

Despite the cheerful music, the tension in the dining hall was suffocating, all these familiar faces gathered around the lavish table felt so distant and estranged.

“You all made me so happy, honoring my request and gathering here as a family” the king smiled lightly, examining the room “Aegon? Where is Aegon?”

Y/N felt her heartbeat fastening at the mention of his name as she had foolishly hoped he wouldn’t show up.

“He’s on his way, I’m sure, my dear” Alicent faked a smile, quickly glancing at the doors, hoping to see her son.

“Forgive my delay, father, mother” Aegon slurred, entering the hall. He was in a much more presentable state than when the princess last saw him yet his eyes still held that sadness.

Y/N nervously bit her lip, praying he wouldn’t pick the empty seat beside her which of course, he did.

“Ah, if that’s not my beloved niece, It’s been so long; I’ve missed you too, you know” he smirked at her, lifting the wine cup to his lips “Next time you peer at me through my bedchambers’ doors, just come in, I would gladly have your company”

The princess choked on her food, shock washing over her features. She could feel the rage building up in her younger brothers while her mother shot her an outraged look.

“Perhaps, dear uncle, you’d be just as gracious to congratulate my beloved sister on her betrothal” Jace glared at him.

These words struck at Aegon’s heart like an arrow, making him slam his cup down in disbelief, his demeanor suddenly dropping. But why? Was it sadness, anger or could it have even been jealousy?

But before Y/N was able to realize what was going on, the prince had already pulled back his composure or more so cockiness.

“Is that so, dear niece? Quite unfortunate, truly” he scoffed, bringing the goblet back to his lips “Well, if you ever wonder how it feels to be truly satisfied, you already know where my bedchambers are”

“Aegon!” Y/N slapped his shoulder in disbelief, much like she used to back in the days when he would make inappropriate remarks about the maids.

“Ouch! ‘Twas a mere jest, dear niece” the prince grinned “Unless-”

“I see you haven’t changed one bit, Aegon” Y/N scrunched her nose “Just as insufferable”

“Perhaps, my princess. But I see you’ve changed, you’ve changed in a lot of ways” he smirked, eyeing her figure. But before Y/N was able to chastise him, his eyes grew dark and heavy with sadness as he quietly mumbled under his breath “Alas for that promise of yours”

‘What promise was he talking about’ the princess thought to herself, she reached her hand towards Aegon, prompting him for further explanation but was interrupted by Aemond who had gotten up, wishing for a toast for her “strong” brothers.

“And let’s not forget, to our beloved niece’s betrothal and how “strong” she is, to forget of my dear brother” he smirked slyly.

‘Twas when hell broke loose, her younger brothers charging towards Aemond, initiating a petty fight. Y/N instantly stood up, heading towards them as someone pulled her by her arm.

“Go back to your chambers” Rhaenyra gave her a stern look “Daemon and I will take care of this”

“B-but mother I-”

“You heard me Y/N! It’s for your own good”

The princess threw one last glance at the ordeal yet what or rather who caught her eyes was Aegon who just kept drowning himself in wine seemingly oblivious to his surroundings.

Y/N was back in her childhood bedchambers, her only safe place, everything looked the exact same, apart from the new silk cushions that were nicely laid on the spacious bed. It was as if she had never left, as if all those years hadn’t passed before her eyes.

The young maiden was about to lay and drift into a sweet slumber when the doors creaked open, a tall figure slowly heading towards her.

Y/N was on the verge of a scream when the flickering light of the candles outlined that unmistakable silver head.

“A-Aegon?!” She squinted her eyes “What in the seven hells are you doing here?!”

“Oh, I thought this was my bedchamber, is it not?” He barely slurred his words, plopping himself on the bed beside her “Or perhaps this time you decided to come in, instead of peering through my doorframe”

The strong stench of wine filled Y/N’s lungs which further proved that even dead drunk Aegon was just as insufferable.

“You must go, this is highly inappropriate” she gasped, covering her thinly clothed body and shifting further from him “What if someone comes in and sees you?!”

“Hmm, yeah, you’ve changed” he mumbled “That never used to bother you”

“Yes, Aegon! Things have changed” she persisted, pushing him to sit up “You’re married for gods’ sake and I am betrothed!”

“Ah yes, that thing” he let out a sarcastic laugh “And who is he? The bastard that managed to sweep the indomitable Y/N off her feet”

“Lord Cregan Stark if it so concerns you, uncle” the princess tried to maintain the confidence in her voice “I trust he shall be an honorable and loyal husband”

“Pfft honor” Aegon scoffed “All this cunt could do is bore you to death”

“Don’t you dare speak of him as such” she glared at him “He is to be my husband”

These words as if sobered the drunk prince who now sat directly before her.

“I was supposed to be your husband” he suddenly screamed, his handsome face overwhelmed with emotions “You were supposed to belong to me, not to some pathetic northern bastard”

“A-Aegon w-what are you-” Y/N’s eyes widened in shock at his confession.

“You promised, you promised” he cried, no longer trying to contain his emotions “On my 13th nameday you promised to be mine! But you lied, you lied and you left me!”

Y/N’s heart sank to her feet, of course she remembered that day, no matter how hard she had tried she could never forget it. It was the day she had excitedly woken up Aegon, her closest friend, at dawn, leading him to the great weirwood tree where she had giddily kissed his cheek and made this very promise. The promise to wed him and only him. Alas for her mother seeing them from afar, taking her away to Dragonstone, making her swear to never speak of him again, to forget him.

“Oh, Aegon, you know it was not my decision to make, we were but children” the princess reached her hand towards his face only for him to push it away.

“Aemond was right. You forgot about me! You never cared for me! It was all a lie!” He spat , tears rolling down his face “I should’ve known, nobody can ever love me, not even my own mother, let alone you. You who always run after your forsworn mother and bastard brothers”

These cruel words made Y/N swiftly raise her hand, but then she saw the pain in his beautiful violet gaze. He was broken, eyes blood red and swollen, clear tears, staining his ivory cheeks and yet she could still clearly see the face of that young boy who was always belittled and pushed aside, that young boy who she had long ago fallen for. Aegon flinched, preparing himself for the hit of her palm. But, it never came, instead he felt her warm embrace as she pulled his head towards her chest, gripping strongly at his head of silver curls as if scared he’d disappear any moment.

“I’m sorry, oh, Aegon I’m so sorry” she whispered through tears “I tried, I truly tried to pull you out of my heart, but I couldn’t, I could never, I would never”

The prince let out one last cry as he tightened his arms around her, nuzzling his face in her neck.

Those few minutes in each other’s arms felt like a blissful eternity as they fell back now laying tangled on the soft mattress just like they used to as children, much to their mothers’ disapproval.

“Do you love him?” Aegon hesitantly broke the silence, sitting up to look at her eyes “That Cregan Stark, your betrothed”

“I’ve never met him, even. How could I possibly love him?” She chuckled, palming his face, brushing few tears away

“Don’t marry him” Aegon pleaded, leaning into her touch “Stay here, stay here with me. Marry me, like you promised”

“We both know that’s not possible, my prince” Y/N lightly shook her head as tears were once again filling her eyes.

“You are to be king Aegon! You shall fulfill your father’s last wish” Alicent pulled at her son’s arm “It is your duty”

“He had 20 years to name me heir and never did, because he never loved me.” He sobbed “I have no wish to rule!”

“And yet, with his final breath, he whispered to me that you should take his place on the throne.” The queen insisted, tightening her grip.

“Only on one condition shall I obey” Aegon narrowed his gaze “I am to take Y/N Velaryon as my second wife like Aegon the Conqueror did. She is to be my queen”

#aegon targaryen x reader #aegon x reader #aegon ii x reader #aegon ii targaryen #aegon targaryen x you #hotd imagine #hotd x reader

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johnny-cages-used-sock · 18 days

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would YOU ever write a fic of johnny getting pegged 👀 mayhaps hes into making his partner a size queen and then the tables get turned and hes the one taking fucknormous dicks 👀👀👀

...idk if ur aware but i suck ass at writing fics :/ but ill try

<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3

"Babygirl what-" johnny cage, your giant ripped dilf bf, whines as he wakes up. While he was asleep, you tied him up, wrapping him in pink ribbon and setting him face down ass up on the bed. He looked very scrumptious

"Good morning princess^^"you coo, poking his (ass?)cheeks

Johnny groggily looked up at you, suddenly realizing the position he was in and eyes wide as he noticed the thingy hanging from your body... he opens his mouth, shocked.

"...HELL YEAH!!!!"

You pause, smile dropping in surprise

"Wait johnny-?"

"GIVE IT GIVE IT TO ME NOW FUXKING USE ME MAKE ME YOUR SLUT"

"WOAH WOAH WOAH JOHNNY WHAT"

"SHUT UP AND PEG MY ASS"

<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3

All of a sudden i just thought- PILLOW PRINCESS JOHNNY CAGE? CAN I PAMPER HIM IN MY BED? GIVE HIM MY SQUISHMALLOW TO SCREAM INTO WHILE I LOVINGLY POUND HIM FROM THE BACK? Nyways theres an idea anony

#johnny cage #johnny cage x reader #fanfic inspo #johnny cage mk11 #johnny cage smut #fanfiction ideas #ask #i debut once again #i need

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prisiidon · 1 year

Note

what do you think abt Yunobo not being in the trailers?👀

Decided to be a rock farmer and gave the champion role to a goron npc (or village leader)

Turned into bara macho with a handlebar moustache and 12 pack abs. They didn’t show it bc we’d loose our shit

LOST-

Boot Camp to work on his confidence and powers more

Death Mountain is fkkd up in the trailer, Yunobo mayb died or is trapped up there rIP. In Twilight princess the Goron Patriarch got possessed by Fused Shadow so… new champions’ possessed by ganon blight??

Regardless someone’s wielding a goron weapon and running with the new champ squad!

Also someone’S rolling at Link in this shot with Gorons watching in the bg! Yunobo mayhaps?

#pri responds #totk spoilers #theory #yunobo #goron #totk #tears of the kingdom #loz #tloz #loz totk #text #legend of Zelda

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xxgoblin-dumplingxx · 2 years

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This might be random, but my favorite fic of yours is the one with Dick and plus size!reader. I’d absolutely loooovvee if you continued that or wrote about some other characters with plus size!reader. Mayhaps Soft Dom!Jason manhandling her.👀👀😊

"Listen, Princess," Jason growled, unfolding his arms and starting forward and pulling you away from the mirror you were standing in front of, pinching at the softness of your body and looking irritated.

Irritation that would become frustrated and then just as quickly angry sobbing. "What did I tell you not to do, huh?"

You look away, flustered and embarrassed and he loosens his grip on your arm when you wince, but refuses to let you cover yourself with your arms. "You told me not to-"

"Told you not to what?" he rumbled, tilting your chin up and cradling your face in his hands, "Told you not to grab at yourself like that, huh?"

He slid his hands over your skin, chaffing the red marks you'd left behind and kissed you tenderly.

"Jay-"

But that kiss is the last of the tenderness he's willing to give you. He can tolerate a lot of behavior- but he refuses to tolerate you being mean to you. Not now or ever. So when you find yourself over his shoulder, protesting, he smacks his hand down on the swell of your ass- just hard enough to shock you into silence.

"My princess," he growled, sucking brutally on the column of your throat as he held you against the wall, "Evidently forgot her job."

"But Jay-"

"Shut up," he laughed, kissing you, "Do you remember your Job, Princess?"

"Be pretty," you recite looking away.

"Be pretty for who?" he encouraged, dragging his cock head against your slit and hefting you closer.

"You," you whimper.

"And does my cock feel like you have a problem, huh? Does it look like I don't think you're not a beautiful goddess? My own personal goddess of love? Huh? Look at you. Weeping for me- ah. Fuck."

"Jay," All you can do is whine. Helpless and needy as your cunt throbs.

"Look at you," he purred, sucking on your neck again and he ground against you. Happy to see you distracted. Mewling and needy in his arms. "Who gives a fuck in anyone else thinks you're pretty?" he growled. "Fuck them. They let burger king put bacon on a sundae- they don't have taste."

"You like that sundae-"

"Shhhh," he said, shoving himself inside you, drowning out your rebuttal with your gasp of discomfort when you had to stretch to accommodate him. "I like you more- that's saying something. You taste like honey."

#Jason Todd #Jason Todd x reader #prettybitchfatwitch #ask answered #minors dni

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zhongrin · 8 months

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Nono you're the sweetest!! ❤️❤️🤭

Rin your smart husband is mocking me :(( (even he knows how much in love I am BYE KDBDBSJSK)

Emperor!Zhongli sounds like such a good thing tbh, it fits so well!!<33 (except that, as an emperor, he surely isn't poor anymore .. that's something weird for him then 🤔💞) but that's so cute?? Him being a regular although he's an emperor and you fall for him!! Not because he's an emperor or so (like everyone else before you did) but because of his personality!! He thinks this is so endearing ❤️❤️ YOURE endearing!!<3

Alhaitham and arranged marriage >>>>>>> but pls just imagine Alhaitham proposing to you while you're just ".. we are already married, 'haitham." And he's just ".. right." Idk but this is so funny to me fbksksbsn

Royal!AU Baivi is kind of angsty because theres no happy ending :(( <//3 I'm a princess and he's the doctor of the royal family. Due to my clumsiness, I visit him often and pls, we talk about everything and we're so close, but already too close considering our positions :( 💔 I fell for him the first time I saw him in our garden shh.. he looked so mesmerizing and he still does!! While he fell in love the second he first visited our castle and I was walking down the hall at that time (but I didn't see him grrrrr)

But!! He writes me anonymous notes to SOMEHOW tell me what he feels for me and fhidsjnsjs I gush about these notes everytime I visit Baizhu and he's so in awe and smiles sm knowing that he makes me smile so much and feel this way - anonymous, but he doesn't mind, really.

But yeah, no happy ending for us because of our positions :( <//3

Omg ?? Wriothesley and you ?? What's your shipname? 👀⁉️

*smacks haitham (affectionately) with one of his books* sorry about him, he's just a little sulky at the moment-

vi, he might not be poor, but will he remember to bring mora on outings? no. he's too used to people just paying for him. an attendant probably shadows him whenever he's out and about and will pay for him after he departs from the store lmao

haitham is probably rambling like "-so i've read in books that the next step to our relationship would be us moving in together." "we. we're already living together in the palace?" "... right. then next would be marriage." "..... we're already married?" "........ i suppose our relationship is an outlier that deviates from a normal relationship's milestones."

NOOOOO WHY NO HAPPY ENDING THIS WON'T DO I DEMAND A NEW LAW TO ALLOW PRINCESS VI TO MARRY WHOMEVER SHE WISHES TO MARRY 😭

the anonymous notes are so adorable goodbye i need to cry for a moment hsldfjslkd

mayhaps. perhaps. maybe. idk. we'll have to see him in the story first aaaaa his design has me hooked, but if his personality and backstory align as what i suspected (i haven't seen any leaks) then...... *cough cough* not sure yet about shipnames. wrin fits so well but it's kinda too short. wriomei? wriorin?

#rin answers #rin is having tea with: dresvi 💚#rin selfships #zhongrin #meitham

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aberooski · 19 days

Note

Since Princess Peach Showtime is out... Are you gonna have Chazz wear the costumes as well?

👀

I can say that when it comes to my crossover fic itself, no, I'm not. I'm already 8 chapters into it as it is and there’s not really any opportunity that would arise for that to happen.

BUT!

I am very much interested in the idea...... mayhaps I'll have to come up with some drawings....... hehehehehe 😈

#mermaid and figure skater chazz are calling my name 😈#omg no fr gimme like.... an indeterminate amount of time and I'll do this fr #peach and chazz figure skating while atticus and mario swoon over them on the side AUGH #hold on guys I'm COOKING !!!!#yugioh gx #chazz princeton #princess peach showtime #princess peach #your princeton is in another castle #abby's fanfic writer power hour #aberooski asks

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trashlie · 10 months

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aw you flatter me 💕 thank u, the feeling is mutual!! you have such an in-depth understanding of the story, i want to know your thoughts on all kinds of things! and if our discussions are interesting to other people as well, that's even better! 🥰 i'm probably not gonna be able to keep up this streak because life... so i'm leaving you an extra long message teehee >:3 run with this all you want! ofc there's absolutely no rush for you to reply ~ and please be more careful with the stairs, i hope u feel better soon 🥺

ahh i'm so glad you can see my ceo kousuke vision!! ✨ and you bring up great concerns re: yui, his own issues, his own wishes etc… there's A LOT that needs to happen for him to develop that potential and to even have the opportunity to take on that role… and tbh that's why i can only picture ceo kousuke the way i described him only after yui is defeated. because right, it would be basically impossible to do as long as yui is in power, especially if he's already gonna be dealing with all his personal stuff.

ceo kousuke is to me a possible conclusion to his character arc. we might never even see him "in action" and it's more like, the ending will show us that this is what his goal is now. i mean if he's like "fuck this company i'm gonna be a shepherd in the himalayas" or smth i'd respect that too lmao. but wouldn't it be sooo satisfying to see yui come so close to achieving her ultimate goal? if kousuke became the ceo like she planned, but instead of being her puppet, he'd end up thinking for himself and actively undoing everything she built? and like you said, he might currently not be very happy in this career, but if he had a different incentive and motivation to be the ceo, who knows? he might even find a bigger purpose and fulfillment in that position. wouldn't it be somewhat noble (mayhaps even gentlemanly wink wink) to try and make up for what his family has done? related to this, i can't help but think of the comment rand made to shinae in ch 89: "i have more respect for an honest individual that challenges rules and conventions than the dishonest that mindlessly follow and remain in comfort". i was immediately like !!! kousuke should hear this. if kousuke, as the ceo, challenges the status quo of the company and his family instead of mindlessly following it, he'd be exactly the kind of person rand would want him to be, and so he would even win the approval he initially wanted ;; yes yes rand already loves him and kou doesn't have to "earn" anything etc etc but ykwim 😗 it would just be the cherry on top ✨ if rand is even still alive at that point oh god rand please don't die yet ;A;

until we get to that point though, i have a strong suspicion that kou will be pretty much "trapped" for most of s2; by yui, by having to deal with yui, and also by all his internal, personal struggles. tbh i can't imagine him being able to make any significant moves because even the tiniest sign that yui might actually lose her most valuable pawn will trigger her, and who knows what this woman is capable of when she gets desperate or cornered 😶 my guess is it'll probably be up to the black team and especially shinae and nol, both characters who will be more "free" and have more power, to take yui down and, as a result, make it easier for kousuke to finally free himself. and i realize it sounds a lil bit like saving the princess from the dragon that keeps her locked in a tower fgshdfjk (is *that* why some characters call kousuke a princess sometimes :O am i onto something here? 👀) but hey i don't mean kousuke won't be doing anything, he'll likely be going through a lot of character development (like you said not a 180 but just realizing a lot about himself and yui and his past, dealing with all that, figuring out his relationship with nol etc etc) which in itself is already defying yui, isn't it? so that when the opportunity arises he can join the black team. obviously this is all just speculation and i'm staying open to anything but idk it's so fun so think about the possibilities for the future plot ~

on a side note, from a story structure perspective, it'd be interesting if there was a reversal between the brothers in terms of who is "trapped" (by yui), and who can "move". similarly to how in s1, team white has the upper hand, and we can expect a power shift to team black. in s1, nol was basically trapped and powerless - in the sense that all his attempts to change his situation have been futile, so he's mostly been going through a character transformation/deconstruction and sparking actions in other characters. it'd be pretty clever if, in turn, s2 focused more on kou's character development (while he's "trapped") and nol is the one who will be more "active". cause right, like you said, we can assume that the exposé will give nol stronger goals and, by damaging or weakening yui at least temporally, more freedom and "power" to move. and similarly, shinae, who has been pretty powerless, will gain more "power" by spending time in the corporate world/near yui and learning her language, both of them will essentially power up for the final showdown. is this even making any sense. i'm getting soooo carried away like [insert pepe silvia meme] do i sound like a crazy person. u can be honest with me LMAO 😭

(and there's definitely a certain appeal to nol going for the ceo position, taking the company from the hiraharas for good, reforming it and breaking the cycles of abuse and corruption, or simply dissolving it… for yui it'd be the worst nightmare that's for sure 👍�� but idk, something about "the underdog coming out on top" in the most obvious way feels a bit cliché, doesn't it? :/ especially since it's been hinted at so many times. i guess we'll just see, it strongly depends on how everything is executed either way ~)

LOVEEE what you said re: yui and shinae!!! <3 for shin, what i expect we're gonna see realistically is that even though she'll play yui's game (or pretends to), yui will never actually be able to "get her to the dark side" (not even with cookies. that was bad i'm so sorry) and i'm really looking forward to that because yui is used to getting everything she wants, but she can't have shinae, she can't corrupt her. shinae will continue to "shine light" no matter what. double-agent shin oh i really hope that's where the story is going WAH ! 💖 and future shinae looks so cool in the illustrations too, her energy is so different i'm so excited to meet this version of her!!!! 🤩

……….and fINE ok tbh the main reason ceo shinae came to my mind was that clip that was posted on patreon not too long ago (it's not up anymore unfortunately :<) where quim showed some prints, and two were of shinae/nol and shinae/kousuke on that armchair/throne and i couldn't help but be all 👀👀👀👀👀 the poses, body language, the clothing, the implications... i know it's bonus content and doesn't have to mean anything but we know with quim most things do mean something don't they?? and it just stood out to me that in the illustration with nol, shinae is dressed in a pantsuit (as opposed to her assistant outfit in the image with kou) and she's basically taking up the seat and he's positioned on the armrest behind her (no comment about neither shin or nol being able to sit on that chair normally but note taken), and sure it could be about their general dynamic and not anything business-related but my one lil stupid brain cell was still like "WAIT OHMYGOD WHAT IF!!!!!!!!!!" you've seen these illustrations bc i know they've been discussed before, you know what i'm talking about, right??

"Kousuke might end up at the same hospital as Nol to get checked out" ooh OOOOH that's possible!!! oh i swear this 3 day extention is planting all kinds of ideas in our heads bc it's pretty much the last opportunity to interact with nol before he goes to jail… who else might show up. rand? alyssa? minhyuk? YUI GOD FORBID?? 😭 (btw re: nol and kou - if the lovely artist ever shares the "get along shirt" drawing publicly, please give us the link if possible! <3)

AHHHH you hit me right in the feels talking about nol and shinae ;A; we're so on the same page when it comes to those two love that for us ! love that we can see the light 😌✨ no but, right. if they're not someone's cup of tea that's fine, but at least give this pairing and their dynamic and buildup and narrative purpose (role reversal; rand/nessa counterpart) the credit it deserves 😤 i can't help but feel like a lot of it has to do with how """problematic""" (more like flawed and messy) nol is, the boy has been quite controversial hasn't he (love that for him), and people tend to prefer the "cinnamon roll" male characters that make for "healthy" and "unproblematic" ships, because if a ship isn't perfectly smooth-sailing from the moment the characters fall for each other it's toxic right /s 🙄 or maybe it's about the immediate reward, because they think shinae x dieter would be easily digestible cute fluff sunshine romance forever (questionable given shinae's baggage but ok), whereas shinae x nol would have to "work" for it (for the lack of a better word)? but then again so much of ily has been about working on relationships, communicating and apologizing and adjusting to one another and making it work, and isn't that what (often) makes your relationship stronger? so why would a romance between nol and shinae be different? when has anything in ily ever gone smoothly?? LMAO give shinae and nol time they'll figure it out. a rocky start is actually a good thing because they'll learn early on where the problems are. and we've seen what they could be, what kind of potential they have, how much they care about each other! and yeah it'll take time to get there, but it'll be worth it!! sigh. anyways…

"There is now way we are moving into a time skip with Nol's walls all the way up!" SAME!!! i'm gonna riot LMAO jk actually it's kinda funny how we're currently on two cliffhangers: nana/shinae and yui/simhan (absolutely WILD character combination btw) so actually it'd be an opportunity to leave yui/simhan and jump back to shinae/nana :> but either way how exciting!!! btw how do you think the yui/simhan encounter will go? would either of them figure out who the other is, or would yui just immediately move on to find rand? i have such a bad gut feeling about simhan and it's horrible bc things were just starting to look up for him, now this? and the hint that he's gonna fall back into alcoholism or even die?? gosh please no ;;;

alright WOW that's really enough for now. looking forward to your thoughts, and talk to you soon, take care mwah 💗 - lil anon 😼

ah! sorry, i meant to say nol is flawed and troubled, not troubled and messy ~ and re: the entire ship paragraph... like i mentioned before i'm not much of a shipper, so if i'm misunderstanding something or jumping to wrong conclusions, please feel free to correct me <3 - lil anon 😼

Lil Anon! My precious, my beloved! You told me take your time and then I DID ;_______; LMAO I promise you I was up to good things, practicing a lot of drawing and feeling really proud of myself and really fixating on that - til 231 came and knocked me on my ASS and unhinged me and now I've just been swinging from the rafters for half a week AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

But this is a message I was really looking forward to, so I'm still going to answer it and maybe it will temporarily ground me and subdue my unhinged feral streak (we'll see.... LMAO) I always look forward to these asks and getting to expand on thoughts or really dig into things I've never had to give reason for LMAOOOOOO

I agree that it's sooooo fun to speculate and think about all the ways things could go! Like, obviously the idea of Kousuke doing something other than CEO is because so many people want to see him in a position he can LOVE that he can be passionate about. But I think CEO Kousuke as a conclusion, as a goal to actively work towards for himself really does have some poetic justice to it even before we account for how it would be something so very in Yui's face which makes it so much more delicious. Sometimes life isn't about getting to follow our dreams but figuring out how to make of our circumstances something we can love or be proud of. That seems to be the path we'll see Shinae on, right? Is the corporate world what she wants? Does she have the mind and heart for business? And worse, being there of someone else's volition, no agency in her choice. That's what makes that conversation with Rand so enticing. He's right; Yui won't give up and it's almost inevitable that Shinae will remain in Yui's grasp, but if she finds a way to work it to her advantage, to use the experience to learn how to play Yui's game, at least it gives her agency. Letting Yui believe she's trapped, letting her believe that she's got Shinae under her thumb, allows Shinae that agency. And thus, the idea of Kousuke making an active choice to be a CEO, for his own ambitions, for his own desires, and to dismantle what his mother did, to take a leaf out of Nol's book and put good in the world to make up for what Hirahara Corp has done/been behind? Oh I LOVE it. And I love what it would say of Kousuke, of the choices he's making and why he is!

But frankly if he chooses to be a sheep herder I'm helping him pack his bags because I am WORRIED. His future looks so bleak right now no matter how things play out - whether or not he finds out Yui has been drugging him and he's actually able to believe it (and not, yknow, try to hide from the truth which is a perfectly reasonable response to your reality being completely upheaved) or how he chooses to cope with it. That one image really speaks volumes - the poster with the image in the puddle below them. He looks so miserable and generally unwell in their future. But this really ties into your point re: from a story perspective. Beginning the story with Nol the miserable one and Kousuke walking "freely" only to swap their roles IS incredibly interesting! It's a lot like Nol and Shinae switching roles after the formal. Frankly, it's always fun to watch mirrors switch places and swap situations, but especially so with Nol and Kousuke because of the whole history with their relationship. But from both a story perspective and in general as a fan, I think watching that role reversal but seeing it play out differently is what will set that apart. Nol could easily, without any blowback, carry on and leave Kousuke struggling in his dust, if he so wanted. The idea, though, of them eventually playing on the same team, as allies, is SO MUCH BETTER to me than any revenge plot. I LOVE broken families I LOVE tragic brothers and I really want to see them have each others' backs at some point.

To go into this further (and honestly we have probably talked a lot about this already but... yknow lol) Nol has written Kousuke off right now - but Nol doesn't know the full story. Kousuke has been his abuser of his own volition, but Kousuke was weaponized against Nol. Long before he ever faced him, Nol was subconsciously drilled into Kousuke's mind as an enemy and lord knows what else Yui has actually said of him. Seeing events like the night Nol was taken away altered and re-shaped by Yui's "versions" during vulnerable moments ensured that Nol would always be this volatile, violent monster in Kousuke's mind, even when it has become abundantly clear to the people in his life that this version of Nol doesn't align with what they know of him. This is stuff we already know lmao my point is: there is a lot that Nol doesn't know about what shaped and fueled Kousuke's fears of him and jealousy towards him, but also what fed his paranoia, why he was unable to ever see Nol for who he really is, could never see truth in his offerings of brotherhood and could only see him as someone trying to take his place. Nol, like Hansuke, is convinced that Yui loves Kousuke, that he has greatly benefited from the maternal care (something that was taken from Nol far too soon). He doesn't see that her motivations have never been for Kousuke's benefit. So likewise, while he knows Yui is a monster to him, he's got no idea she's a monster to Kousuke, as well. In his head it's Yui and Kousuke, a team.

I think we will see in Nol what Kousuke could not do - extending the hand to someone who needs him, even if it's in his best interests to let him suffer. Something I always come back to is that at Nol's core, he does care. He held out hope that one day he could reach Kousuke, that Kousuke would reveal some shred of love he'd hidden away. He cares about people, even strangers who he knew could use his (friendship) help. I repeat myself all the time but anti-hero Nol who turns cold in his quest for revenge doesn't feel right to me, it doesn't suit him. I love the idea of him being able to see that Kousuke, too, was at the mercy of Yui and that while yes, everything he did to Nol was of his own doing, it was fostered by Yui. It just feeds right back into that delicious hope of how good it would be to see Kousuke do everything Yui never wanted - to form some kind of alliance with Nol, no longer isolated and controlled by her. Team up with the very man who has been an alleged threat to the Hirahara name/family/fortune(???) all this while. GOD I want it so badly!!!!!!!!!! But also I think it would read SO WELL because it's what Kousuke could not, at this point in the story, do. Where Nol reached out and Kousuke confessed his darkest secret his darkest desire and left Nol alone, I want Kousuke to be in need of Nol's help and companionship, and Nol pull him up.

IT MAKES ME SO FUCKING EMOTIONALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL ;A;

IT'S THE BRIDGE FORMED BY SHINAE ALL OVER AGAIN!!!!! IT'S SHINAE SEEING A LIGHT AND GOODNESS IN PEOPLE EVEN IF IT'S OVERSHADOWED BY THE UGLIER, NASTIER PARTS OF THEM. IT'S SHINAE SEEING THIS IN SOMEONE AND SHINING THAT LIGHT FOR OTHERS TO SEE, TOO. FOR SOMEONE LIKE NOL WHO HAS SEEN IN KOUSUKE SOMEONE UNCHANGEABLE TO BE ABLE TO BE A FIGURE WHO COULD, PERHAPS, HELP KOUSUKE FIND THE COURAGE TO STAND UP TO WHAT SCARES HIM, TO GROW THAT SPINE? AAAAAHHHHHHHHHH I just ;________; I have FEELINGS you know? HOWLS

But yeah, that's exactly it!!!! It's that unlearning everything he believed about Nol, everything he believed about Nol in relation to himself, defies Yui. It's that being the brother he failed to be defies Yui. It's that teaming up with him and putting his trust in him defies Yui and LIL ANON I WANT THAT SOOOOOOOO BADLYYYYYYYY ;_____;

But yes, Nol the active force, while Kousuke is the one in the character development stage feels SO good to me, I want it so badly lmaooooo it's gonna be SO GOOD I promise you you don't sound crazy but also I've been pretty high on this catnip banquet quimchee gave me so like... take everything I say with a grain of salt because I AM SO UNHINGED NOW

I know there are a lot of fans who DON'T want Shinae to take up Yui's offer because I think they do fear it means Shinae will be corrupted - that learning to play Yui's game means becoming Yui or something but yeah, like you, I think Shinae is the opponent Yui CANNOT convert. She's met countless girls and even guys who would do anything for the power and money they possess, who attached themselves to Kousuke in hopes it would rub off on them. Alyssa bends to her EVERY WHIM. Meg was so fun to play around with and harass her own son with. But Shinae has such strong convictions that I think she WILL be the worthy opponent, because she IS the light. I firmly believe in that, too. Shinae shines so that others can find their glow, too. She shines so that others can escape. She'll play the game, but on her own terms, in her own way, never stooping to become what Yui has. If anything, I think her convictions coupled with her experience will yield someone so much more powerful than she'd ever imagined, because while in the corporate world empathy can be a weakness, I fully believe Shinae will be able to wield hers to help and to detract from Yui. UGH ALFJKAFKJAJFKJKF /AUGH/ I get SO excited thinking about iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit

ALSO

ALKFJALFAJFJKAFJKAF

/ALSO/!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SCREAMS

and i couldn't help but be all 👀👀👀👀👀 the poses, body language, the clothing, the implications... i know it's bonus content and doesn't have to mean anything but we know with quim most things do mean something don't they??

OF COURSE I KNWO EXACTLY WHAT IMAGES YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT OF COURSE I DO!!!!!!!! The 2021 Valentine's Doodles (do a search of valentine and they'll come right up) LKJAFLJAFLJAFLJKAFK AKJLFJLK AFKLAJFLKFJAFKJA AFLKJALJFKF HOWLS SO MUCH JUST BARKS AT THE MOON FRRRFFFFF RRRRFFFF FR FF AWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

okay listen being reminded that illustration exists makes me feel SERIOUSLY unhinged like I CANNOT AND WILL NOT be normal about it because yes listen yes i agree. i know quimchee draws things for fun, but even when she does it always feels very... in character. her illustrations always suit the characters "why would they be in this situation" and like..... YEAH. It's the BODY LANGUAGE and how it ties right into what we are hoping we'll get from Nol and Shinae's continued relationship, it's something about the CONFIDENCE and her expression, how SHE'S the only one really seated on the throne - Nol lounges behind her, seated on the arm of the throne. It's HER throne, he's not even trying to take it from here - it feels SO VERY Shinae in charge so HONESTLY? I totally get why it gives you CEO Shinae vibes. Even if Nol does somehow end up in the family business (and listen I'm still pretty leery of that for now) there's this remaining sense that SHE'S in command, they aren't competing. in fact, if anything, Nol is her back up. He lounges out behind her like a cat on her shoulder, his arm draped over her shoulder connecting them. His gaze is as intense as hers!!!!! It feels SO FUCKING MUCH like power couple Shinae and Nol???? lmao (sorry Alyssa I know that was your dream)

I've always felt that a lot of quim's illustrations DO have some kind of implication, whether it's just telling us a dynamic between characters, a tone, or what, and this one just feels SO LOADED. Every time I think about Nol and Shinae as a unit, as a team, as having each other's backs. The fact that Nol LITERALLYYYYYYY has her back!!!!!!!! That feeling that he would sic you, if she so commanded it? OH GOD I LOVE IT lajkfkafjkafkjajkafjkafjkaf Cos yeah that's the thing even if it IS just their dynamic and not business-related, the dynamic STILL tells us a lot about Shinae in charge, of boss babe Shinae who is no victim to Yui, who is able to stand up to her adversary and look her in the face afljakfkajfkafj

god i am biting my hand and telling myself to reign it in but OH MY GOD I HAVE FEELINGS ABOUT IT

and now that we can pretty safely assume that Kousuke's role in this story never was as a love interest I think we can glean a little bit about the juxtaposition of these images against each other - again, like you said, it's the body language it's the attire. Shinae in Charge. I love her!

(no comment about neither shin or nol being able to sit on that chair normally but note taken)

aren't they both confirmed bi or bi-curious? LFKJALFJALFJAKFJAF LMAO see quimchee really tells us everything we need in these illustrations FLJAFLJKAFKJAFJ LMAO

I keep going back and forth on what I expect to happen at the hospital, because 3 remaining days IS a lot! I'm really torn on if I think Yui is going to be. It feels like it, right? It feels like it's building up to it, but part of it is because Yui is grappling for control, she needs to reign it back in and part of that involves finding Rand and/or Nol. But I keep thinking about like.... what purpose does it serve? Does Yui wield any power over other hospitals? The obvious and therefore most unlikely is that of course she'd find him and do something to harm him, but.... idk. I don't think Yui really wants Nol dead. She lives to torture him, she's like a sadistic cat with the half-dead mouse it's plays with til it exhausts itself and dies. She wants to instill fear in him. He's probably not on Nol's emergency contacts so no receptionist would just.... let her in and see him - but we're also talking about a person who could pay off anyone so it's like... are they likely to stand their ground against her? There's something very sinister and scary to me about Yui showing up where Nol is injured - though he's not totally bed-ridden but. Still. She didn't like his insolence the night before, but what kind of scene can she make in a public place? The other thing is, I can't imagine Nana leaving his side and if she WERE to leave his side, I imagine she would ensure SOMEONE, one of Nol's friends, are there to keep watch. Nana is no fool - she has a witch hunting book. She knows that Yui is relentless. So I've considered even IF Yui were to show up, Nol wouldn't be there alone, isolated. He'd have people there at his defense, and we know Nana is a great force against Yui already. We've seen Shinae stand up for him time and time again.

If anything, because this is meant to be setting things up for us to move into our timeskip, maybe it would be a "face off" for them, with Yui trying to remind Nol he better stay in line, lest anything "bad happen" (IMPLICATIONS) and Nol showing he is no longer that meek, scared little boy, that the power she holds over him isn't what it used to be. Of course, he was pretty drunk at the party the night before but I think a lot of the resolve remained. He jumped into that pool and came back Nolan, no longer Yeonggi. Maybe it would set up for the future that he is not to be underestimated. Nol officially entering the match~

I contemplate if I think Rand will show up at all. I feel like... when he left, it felt kind of final? He had made his decision - he had let enough harm befall his son, he doesn't deserve him after any of this. He's been a terrible father, he couldn't protect them, but at least he now has people in his life, people who have been for him what Rand couldn't be. But also.... I'm not satisfied with that and i wish rand would show up even if it's just to apologize. I know Nol isn't in the place to accept it or even believe his father loves or cares about him but I want Rand to at least make the effort. Even if Nol won't accept it. Especially if Nol won't accept it. Just fucking put it out there! Say the things you never do!!!!! Tell him how fucking SCARED you were when you saw his body in the snow bleeding out a pool of blood. How terrified you were and how you knew it was your failure. The pool was just mere HOURS before! Like, TWO? THREE TOPS?

Whatever Rand says can't and won't make up for anything but... especially because the theme of heart attacks continues to surround Rand, I want him to say it while he has the chance. I want him to admit his failings but also I want him to tell Nol what he means.

fljafjafjkjfka ;__________; I have such complicated feelings about them. Like. Like Kousuke, Nol does not require Rand's validation or love. But they deserve to know it, to see it, even if just once. Just to know it was real. Just to know that despite it all.

Part of me also wants Rand to visit just so Nol can really see: that could be his future. Maybe subconsciously become a warning to himself that he cannot continue to isolate himself, lest he become that husk of a man.

(I wonder if Alyssa even knows. Like. It sounds like news coverage was hush hush, at least about the involved parties. Nol isn't reaching out to her. Unless LMAO Rand does? Or god forbid Yui does. But even then it's like...... hmmmm. Would she want to see him? They parted on such bad terms and as an idol she doesn't exactly have a lot of free time, especially with a new album coming up. As far as she knows, Nol was meant to turn himself in today and be off to jail! WILD)

I absolutely think you're right, and especially as a non-shipper your insight is even less biased. It's funny because I am a person who always hated "toxic relationships" but I think what I hated was that often a female character was denied agency and she was often in love with (told but never explicitly shown in a way that makes you understand it) him despite how much of a jerk he is how he purposefully hurts her or doesn't respect her feelings. And I think that idea really snowballed and became a much bigger umbrella to things that don't apply. Nol definitely can be seen as being "toxic" although I wouldn't categorize him that way. When he has hurt Shinae, we've seen that it affects/hurts him, too. The sheer guilt he went through after their confrontation outside of his school that had him RETCHING. I think, yeah, if you aren't a pure cinnamon roll, there's a big chance you might get written off as toxic. Now, don't get me wrong. Stalkyoo is clearly the majority popular ship of ILY and has been for a long time, but when people try to pit Dieter vs Nol, that's how it largely feels. Like saying that because Nol is going through it, he's going to be a bad partner.

Like, first of all, never mind that knowing feelings doesn't immediately mean dating. But also.... idk it starts to rub me weird and I think we start to see a LOT of weird ableism. Cos right, Nol is so bad because he's SOOO unstable and thus Dieter is better - but like you said, they think nothing of Shinae's own baggage. It's not just about the male partner, it's about HER, too. We could even argue that Shinae having baggage would create issues for her and Dieter. That doesn't make them impossible. But we've seen that Nol and Shinae are getting better at handling each others' baggage, too. When she tried to run away after he climbed up to the roof to join her, he knew to stop her, because he knew it was Shinae shrinking in on herself, feeling vulnerable and exposed and wanting to run away from the situation instead of face it. Shinae is calling him out more and more. And after 231, which I assume you've read but I'll still keep it vaugue, I think we're seeing that even though Nol has been pushing her away, that part of his resolve is starting to break. He's figuring out his feelings and what they mean to feel them, to share them.

Idk it's just. Right lmao you're very right about all of it! I think there was this really big push about toxic relationships and wanting to see healthier relationships in media, especially YA books, right? To see fewer asshole male leads and more wholesome relationships. There's nothing wrong with that, I LOVE that! But that's the thing about Nol and Shinae - like you said. Relationships ARE work. They're SUPPOSED to be. You're constantly having to match yourself with your partner, to understand and meet their needs. Hashing things out early helps figure out your dynamic, if it's worth it. Arguing ISN'T bad. It doesn't mean "this is an ill fit relationship". It only is when neither of them resolve to change, when neither of them can accommodate the other. And I think we've seen that Shinae is VERY willing to accommodate, and I think we've seen enough of Nol's want vs resolve (he always caves; EVERY TIME he gives in and goes to her) will wear down. It's so inherently tied to his self-image but that's not an eternal thing.

Talking about one being more stable than the other just reeks of ableism. I hate the adage that you'll never be able to be loved until you can learn to love yourself. It's GROSS, it's stupid!!!!!! Sometimes people see in us the things we can't see until they illuminate it, until they help us see that thing in ourselves, and THAT is Nol and Shinae to me. It's Nol seeing in her someone who is so scared and insecure who doesn't believe in herself and just needed encouragement, just needed a little nudging, just needed to be believed in. Look HOW MUCH she's grown since we met her, how much she's come around!!!!!!! He illuminated something in her she couldn't see. And I think that's what Shinae's persistent love and care for Nol is. He is so convinced he's unloveable, that he's this monster, that he brings harm to those he loves, but she's so persistent I think it can't help but wear down that resolve. Can't help but give him some hope. To think maybe, maybe, if anyone can find it in him, it's her. That maybe if she can see it, he might one day, too?

Relationships are about GROWING TOGETHER. It's not come back when you're "healthy" and "recovered" or whatever that means. Like, yeah, there are circumstances that will stand in the way of Shinae and Nol being in a relationship - but it's not about their "mental states". aljfkjafkjaf this is a whole other essay but lmao I JUST HAVE SUCH STRONG FEELINGS like I don't hate people shipping Shinae and Dieter! I love them, too! I enjoy them as a pairing. Yeah, Stalkyoo is my OTP but it doesn't stop me enjoying other pairings. I just hate when people try to make it about who is "better" and by better than mean "mentally healthier" or that relationships that require effort and work are somehow inherently unhealthy and toxic. At the end of the day, anyway, it's about who Shinae loves. Who lights her up, who makes her feel that spark, who she WANTS to put that effort into. She could easily decide that yeah, loving Nol is a fight she doesn't want to have, that she doesn't have the endurance for it. But that still doesn't make it a toxic pairing - it just means it wasn't right for her.

(But yes I WILL bark at the moon about it! Speak your mind, Lil Anon, you are on the same page!!! It's about the MUTUAL GROWTH AND SUPPORT. IT'S ABOUT SEEING SOMETHING IN EACH OTHER, AND LIKEWISE HELPING ONE AND OTHER SEE IT. IT'S ABOUT FINDING SOMEONE WHO LIGHTS UP THE DARKNESS, YOU GIVES YOU HOPE, WHO MAKES YOU A LITTLE LESS AFRAID. IT'S ABOUT THE PARALLELS, GOD HELP ME IT'S ALWAYS ABOUT THE MIRRORS. It's about the people you will run to the ends of the earth for because THAT'S how much they matter THAT'S how important they are because you CANNOT bear to lose them because life without them means nothing AND GOD I cannot imagine their lives without each other sobs)

Also don't worry about your wording! I think we CAN argue Nol is flawed and messy, in addition to troubled, and that's not an inherently bad thing. Everyone is flawed, and I definitely knew what you meant. Aren't most teenagers messy? He has such big feelings and especially for his age on top of normal feelings and it's so hard to NOT be messy. There's no way he can have everything figured it out!

Okay I know this response is like SO LATE lmao but I'll tell you anyway what I EXPECTED to happen. I thought Yui already knew of Simhan - what he looked like and stuff like that, but it felt felt much like she didn't quite know until the details started to come in and the DREAD was just HEAVY in my stomach I was just screaming and climbing walls during their meeting. All the information! Just like that!!!! Right into the palm of their hands!!!! AND!!!!! They can lead her to Nol. GOD it's so unnerving and stressful how easily she could just gather all of that and I am TERRIFIED. The ominous image of Simhan trapped in the beer bottle is just back to HAUNT MEEEEEEEEE. I don't doubt that's where it's going - or at least that he'll be tempted towards it. It's definitely going to be a battle but I don't want to see things fall apart again. :( Earlier I'd wondered if that might be what lead Shinae to HAVING to rely on Yui's offer, against her better wishes. But now that Rand is convincing Shinae to do it.... idk. Maybe it still will be? I hope not. I DO want to see things go well. I DO want the Yoos and the Parks to be a family, for Minhyuk to be the big brother he's been, for them to know PEACE and not have to struggle and fight and claw their ways to stay afloat AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

May Mina and the power of love be enough to help Simhan avoid tragedy FLJAFJLKAKFJAKF SOBS

#I Love Yoo #ILY Brainrot #Lil Anon #Shinae Yoo #Nolan Oliver T. Lochlainn #Kousuke Hirahara #Randulf Skuli Hirahara #god i gotta check if that's right LMAO #Yui Hirahara #Simhan Yoo #Stalkyoo #so many feelings oh my god this is so long LMAO #Lil Anon forgive me you know how i get and i've had so much catnip #oh my god SO MUCH catnip aljafkafjkkjafkjafjkafjkaf #I HAVE SO MANY THOUGHTS #the more I think about the future the more excited i get the more i can't wait for it #there's so many possibilities it can go so many ways #and getting a TASTE of it through quimchee's patreon and that one poster image just #has me rocketing out of this world careening to THE MOON #CORPORATE OFFICE GIRLIE SHINAE!!!!!!!#HER LONG HAIR!!!!!!!!!!!!#I LOVE HER I LOVE HER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!#I'M GONNA BE SO PROUD OF HER I JUST KNOW IT #part of me wants to write about that poster but part of me fears it will just be me feral gnashing my teeth but #i should because I've been thinking Thoughts about Kousuke esp re: what we've been talking about #with Nol and Shinae and alliances or secret alliances and coping and struggling and AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH #GOD I LOVE THIS WEBTOON SO MUCH AND I LOVE SCREAMING WITH EVERYONE AND I LOVE YOUR MESSAGES LIL ANON #AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH #thank you for always coming back to me even though i write you whole messy essays LMAO

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devilishstylist · 8 months

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💞: Aside from with your f/o, who else would you commonly be shipped with? Why?

👀: How does your ship with your f/o influence both of your characterisations and the world? Would there be any interesting metas written about your dynamic?

(Imma ask about your killer cyborg 😝)

💞: Tekken-wise, Helena would be commonly shipped with King and/or Armor King. The simpler reason is that I've been eyeing and crushing on them lately AMFKSKKFKD but it's also because I think they could get along since they like helping people, particularly children.

She could be commonly shipped with Yoshimitsu, mayhaps. Mostly cuz I think it'd be hilarious if there's some rivalry happening between him and Bryan where Helena's involved somehow LMAO. I also think they'd have a knight/princess dynamic, similar to one of my other f/os (Lobster Cookie).

It's possible she'll meet all of them in canon.

👀: Bryan and Helena's dynamic is like a game of cat and mouse. What makes him different compared to my main f/os is that we are not lovers, cuz romance never felt right for them tbh??? They got no labels for their relationship, but that sense of love is still very much present (or in Bryan's case, obsession). He wants to keep Helena within his reach no matter what, so he can fight her until she gives in, either to release her full strength or make her be the inferior one. But Helena being Helena, she will not give him that satisfaction. The more she refuses, the more Bryan's "love" for her grows.

That's the main charm of their pairing. Helena would find some bit of amusement from the more he tries harder each time they interact.

#🎀.mail #killer cyborg 💢

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catboygirlboss · 1 year

Text

new au idea (spawned from this fusion generator)

princess twilight and princess sunset are the original princesses instead of celestia and luna

sunset becomes nightmare shimmer and twilight has to send her to the moon

idk how this au would work from a technical standpoint but. yeah. this seems like something that would be so fucking cool

maybe the others could be princesses too? and they’re the princesses of harmony? that could be cool 👀

and this is what they look like (poor rainbow dash… she deserved better)

these won’t be their names lmao

and then mayhaps there’s the threat of nightmare shimmer returning to equestria, and celestia is the one who predicts it 👀👀👀👀 and this is what celestia looks like

and where’s luna you might ask? well

i ran out of ideas lmao

maybe spike is. um. a grown up dragon. idk jsjdjdjf

#mlp #mlp au #sunset shimmer #twilight sparkle #fluttershy #applejack #rainbow dash #rarity #pinkie pie #princess celestia #princess luna #the princesses of harmony au

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adonis-koo · 2 years

Note

Missy you’ve done it again. THE NEW CHAPTER AHHHHHHHH !!!!

First off, namjoon and MC are so cute he’s so sweet please😭 her little study papers and such it’s sweet of him to take time to do that and when he praised her!!!!!😭 ahhh I love him lmao also LMAO not MC being in her own world debating whether jungkook actually cares about her and namjoon being like ,,, hello ???? And then when she explains he’s like,,,, lmao r u dumb he cares about you PLEASEEEEEE I mean he wasn’t mean like that but the vibe was definitely “wow y’all are both oblivious huh?” But him reassuring her,,, also I can’t really remember how close jungkook and namjoon are? Are they friends like how he is with hobi and jimin? Bc I wonder if namjoon would like,,, try to help things move along with MC and jungkook and like hint to stuff with jk too? HHH also MC asking joon about Jin 👀 ofc there’s even more reasons to why jungkook doesn’t like him and OFC it also has to do with the wars hhhh LMAO BUT NAMJOON BAGGING ON JIN FOR LOSING I LOVE IT Omg when MC talked about shadows not looking like shadows anymore that happens to me all the time!! It was oddly comforting to read?? But also the way you wrote it was literally perfect and really like took me even further into the world and what MC was experiencing!!! Oh no not a lack of guards ,,,,, missy my heart is POUNDING reading this good lord ,,,, YESSSSSS GOING TO JKS ROOM AHHHHH IM EXCITED NO IM LITERALLY WHISPER SCREAMING WHILE READING THIS MISSY AHHHHHH okay sorry that was some live reacting while I read LMAO I want to give you a like long review but writing my thoughts while i read is the best way to do that hhhh anyways i love that MC went to jks room for comfort essentially and ended up trying to take care of him once she was in there it was kinda sweet imo🥺 also her asking if he wanted her to leave as a response was 🫶🏻 she seemed so like sweet but also vulnerable in that moment? Like she already took a lot of courage to come and ask if she could stay but she is still worried about making things uncomfy and upsetting him she’s so precious my sweet bby🥹 WAIT LMAO NOT “as always your judgement is horrible” PLEASSEEEEEEE I mean,,,, she’s right ! Oop jungkooks emotions showing through with how upset he was at the thought of that being their last convo 👀👀👀 HE GRABBED HER HAND OMG AHHHHHHHHH what a sweet little ending scene Missy 🥹

OMG OH MY GOD AHAHSGSHSHSHSHDHDDHD listen I knew they’d wake up in each other’s arms bc duh but a part of me still thought they’d be all “omg I’m in his arms let me pretend I didn’t notice how close we got and I’ll just shinmy out of here” so them staying there and /enjoying/ it was literally the best thing AHHH also ,,,,, “partly” PARTLY ??????? AHHHHHHHHHGGGG🫠 this banter was so cute tho omg ,,,,, okay I REALLY hate his uncle like I already didn’t like him but god,,,,, however it’s really nice to see jungkook being so vulnerable and open🥺 I’m sure the physical vulnerability led to the emotional vulnerability but it’s just nice and then MC being vulnerable too ahhhh I love to see it !!!! What a profound idea though wow like about death I mean and how to grapple with that fear ,,,, ahhhh this is my favorite scene between the two of them so far also MC comforting jungkook again after he again mentions his fear of losing her and blaming himself🥹

LMAOOOOOO NOT THE INTERRUPTION PLS I knew this would happen but it’s still chefs kiss LMAO WITH THE ENTOURAGE LMAOOOO WHEEIN TOOO OH NOOOOOOOOOO 😭😭😭

OH SHIT A PLOT TWIST HELLO ??????? I truly feel sucker punched wow,,,, honestly though I did think it was odd like ??? There’s literally someone trying to kill the princess and no one’s there hello???? Jk immediately reassuring MC that they believe her I 🫠

This is so scary omg ,,,,, jungkook really said squad only LMAO also ,,,, not to worry about the guard situation ,,,,, mayhaps bc ,,,,, MC will be staying with him 👀👀👀 jungkook what do you mean you don’t know what to do?? HOLD HER HELLO ?????

,,,,, and there it is! Staying with him,,, oh no I guess she just /has/ to stay with him oh darn 🫤🫠 LMAO

,,,, if his damn uncle doesn’t shut the FUCK up oh my god I bet his uncle is a part of this whole scheme too I HATE THIS MAN OH MY LORD trying to make jungkook feel shitty about himself and his worth ,,,,

JUNGKOOK WHAT THE FUCK OH MY GOD HOW COILD YOU SAY THAT THIS BETTER BE SOME FUCKING PLOY TO TRICK YOUR UNCLE OH MY GOD ??????

okay bless good lord I was about to lose WAIT NO JUNGKOOK YOU KNWO SHES NOTNLIKE THAT AHHHH THISBIS GONNA NAKE THINGS WORSE NOOOO ,,,, I know taehyun is rolling his eyes inside his head LMAO if wheein doesn’t track him down at some point and find out about this I’ll be surprised

SEOHYUN ???? ARE WE FUCKING SERIOUS RN

OH MY GOD WHEEIN I LOVE HER PLEASE 🥹 honestly though we know she’s a decent fighter so like,,, it’s good she’s there YOU SRE FRIENDS WHEEIN OKAY YOURE BEST FRIENDS OKAY ????

MC IS SO NICE OMG pls their friendship is the sweetest thing to ever exist I love them so much😭 but also I hope this doesn’t haunt them and something happens to MC I’m worried now ,,,

If MC doesn’t get her ass back in that castle ,,,,, going out to the forest when it’s starting to get dark is the worst idea pls

MC is so sweet but I feel like something bad is about to happen between her and jk bc of the wolf ,,,,,,,

🤢🤢🤢🤢 seohyun talking to jungkook I could throw up 🤮🤮🤮

WHATVTHE FUCK no like,,,, if we don’t get an explanation to what happened in the time between when jungkook ordered them to back down and then then going after the wolf????? WHAT HAPPENED???? God this is going to be such a hard thing for them to get through,,,,,,, OOF and we still don’t have updates on the assassins and jimin had news too,,, What a cliff hanger oh my gosh!!! The wait for the next chapter will be agonizing but I know it’ll be worth it!!!! Sorry this wasn’t a well thought out long review like my last one and is mostly just my reaction and it’s also prob too long,,, but what an amazing chapter Missy !!! Thank you again for such great writing I can’t wait to see what’s next!!!!💜💜💜

!!!! OKAY WOWOWODBHSJWJS I HAVENT GOTTEN AN ASK THIS LONG IN SO LONG OFMEHJSS 😭😭😭 gotta contain my beating heart, I won’t be able to reply to everything in this but let me first start off by saying I LOVE how I can tell what part of the story you were on just by your reaction 🤣

Some things that we’ll definitely get a little more info on is Jungkook and Namjoon’s relationship a little further on! Along with his relations to the rest of the boys! But as far as we know now Namjoon helped lead the younger boys when they were all in the war together, so you can imagine they all have a lot of trust in one another, even if they don’t interact on a day to day basis!

I’m also SO glad you enjoyed my description of the darkness and MC possibly imagining things, it’s a pretty common thing but it’s never written about enough!! Which I think it should be written more because I’ll be seeing fucking demons or some shit in the dark when it’s just a pile of clothes 💀 I also wanted the atmosphere set between her eyes already making things up vs reality of someone possibly following her, which means we don’t know what’s actually real or what’s not!!

HAHAHAH yesss ofc it crossed my mind to make them act all coy when they first woke up and have them separate but I feel like at this point they’re just too far gone to start doing that right now 😭 especially after she was almost killed, if the assassination hadn’t happened, they would’ve most likely separated from one another in embarrassment. But the impending possibility of her dying really has them- *ahem* HIM stuck to her like glue. Like c’mon mans couldn’t let himself relax until he finally had her in his arms in his bed 😭 PLUS I don’t know if their talk classified as pillow talk but god do I LOVE some sleepy talks and comfort while opening up more to one another

‘okay bless good lord I was about to lose WAIT NO JUNGKOOK YOU KNWO SHES NOTNLIKE THAT AHHHH THISBIS GONNA NAKE THINGS WORSE NOOOO’ THIS SHIT TOOK ME OUT LMFAOOO I hope y’all could hear my fucking gremlin laugh as I typed that shit out knowing DAMN well this could possibly come back to bite him in the ass

Hahaha omggg I love this message SO much thank you for taking the time to write it all out!!! Even if it was live reacting I am LIVING for it! We will get some more detail next chapter on the whole situation that transpired at the last scene so worry not!! We’ll also be getting a …🫣 very comforting scene

#missy answers #fic: wicked #anon #KEHDJDJD THANK YOU SM FOR THIS OMFGGG #😭🥹🖤🖤🖤

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lovelyisadora · 3 years

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Septimus hcs or marcia hcs,, or some for both of them together,,,, mayhaps 👀👀👀

i was just going to do septimus but then I started crying about septimus + marcia so here we go:

pre-apprenticeship:

· boy 412 reasons that the young army is wrong because they are wrong about marcia—she isn’t monstrous. she isn’t the enemy. she’s magyk, and if the young army is wrong about marcia, then they are wrong about everything else.

· he attaches himself to her not just because they are so similar, but because the heaps, despite not meaning to, other them. they are not heaps, after all, and they can’t share what the heaps share. so when the heaps are doing heap things, boy 412 seeks out marcia and just watches her do whatever it is she’s doing. she finds it unnerving at first, but soon she is including him. he doesn’t speak, but she doesn’t mind. she can read him very well.

· he is so hungry the first few weeks at zelda’s and marcia so not hungry for anything zelda makes that she gets into the habit of sliding her plate over to him once she decides she’s had enough.

· after she teaches them the unseen charm, he finds other charms in the old magyk books and sets them in front of her. his meaning is clear—teach me. and she does.

· boy 412 is selectively mute and doesn’t speak. he does however find a book on sign language. he likes it, and once he’s certain he can trust marcia, he sets the book in front of her. at first, she’s confused; these aren’t charms. but then she understands. he is teaching himself sign language and he wants to teach her, too.

· wizard is a political position and the apprenticeships more like internships, and therefore seldom offered to children—especially the extraordinary apprenticeship. but marcia likes this boy, and when she offers him the apprenticeship, what she really means is this: he has no one and nowhere to go, and she has gotten attached. she wants to take him in, but she has no idea how to say that. so she offers him an apprenticeship he’s too young for instead. now no one can accuse her of caring.

· when they rescue her from the vengeance and she later collapses from exhaustion, he refuses to leave her.

during the apprenticeship:

· early into his apprenticeship, they paint his bedroom ceiling to resemble the night sky because he is tired of staring at the stupid glow in the dark stars marcia had placed there when she was an apprentice. there may or may not be a subsequent paint war.

· marcia is there to wake him from every nightmare (he’s too young to realize that she is also suffering from PTSD, and never sleeps to avoid her nightmares) and they sit by the fireplace with hot chocolate to recover. she never presses him to talk about it, but eventually he starts to.

· sometimes he finds her passed out at her desk and he’ll drape a thick blanket over her because she’s always complaining about being cold.

· marcia tries to instill a good fashion sense in him, and to at least get him to comb his hair because she’s a fashion icon and frankly he’s doing her a disservice, but it’s a lost cause. alther can sympathize—he tried to do the same with silas.

· they are the definition of adhd/autism solidarity. no one ever knows what they’re talking about because it’s impossible to follow their conversations.

· septimus has a lot of brain thoughts okay and sometimes that means he needs to kick down marcia’s door and tell her all of them immediately regardless of whatever it is she’s doing.

· when he comes out as bisexual and is freaking out because he kissed beetle, his bestie, marcia just nods sagely. she did that once. except her bestie was the crown princess, and it takes septimus a moment, but then his eyes widen because marcia has kissed jenna’s mum.

· septimus has a mum and it would be weird to call marcia mum because it’s just not a word that applies to her, but she isn’t not his mum. if jenna can have two mums so can he.

· septimus misunderstands the reason for marcia and marcellus’s mutual dislike and tries to set them up, thinking they like each other and don’t want to admit it. it freaks them both out and they confront each other—I have a boyfriend, they say, and their eyes widen. as it turns out, marcellus and julius pike are exes, and now have a very complicated relationship considering that he can never die and julius is dead. they decide to get back at septimus though, and he comes home later that day and finds marcellus and marcia making out in her living room. he screams—he wanted them together, but not like that.

· not todhunter moon compliant, but septimus withdraws from his apprenticeship a few months after fyre. he has an identity crisis. not over whether he’ll be alchemist or extraordinary, he already knows the answer to that, but over who he is. he needs to sort some things out and so he lives with marwick in the marram marshes for a bit, because that’s the first place he didn’t have to be anyone (solider, apprentice, seventh son of the seventh son) and had the freedom to learn who he was. he restarts his apprenticeship when he’s seventeen.

· halfway through his second attempt at the apprenticeship, marcia kicks down the door to his apartment (he has his own apartment in the tower now) to tell him the tower is his because i’m marrying milo, see you in three months! so he’s temporarily in charge until she gets back from her elopement.

· marcia and milo don’t have a wedding, but they do throw a reception when they get back from their travels, and during the reception septimus’s girlfriend breaks up with him. he’s devasted and miserable and he’s trying so hard not to let it show because marcia is never this happy, but he fails. marcia ends up leaving her own reception halfway through to go home and eat ice cream out of the container with him to cheer him up. (she also offers to set him up with one of milo’s nieces or nephews to which he says, no thanks).

post-apprenticeship:

· septimus is not twenty-one when he becomes extraordinary wizard because marcia became extraordinary wizard at twenty-four and it was stressful enough (even if the situation was entirely different). when she is ready to retire, she moves out of the tower and not out of the castle, but she’s still in the tower a lot because she can’t leave the pyramid library. she sometimes forgets to tell him she’s coming over and it startles him every time.

· they have weekly lunches where they share wizard tower gossip because marcia likes to be kept up to date.

· at her retirement party when she has to give up the amulet (which has been uh. a crutch more or less. she doesn’t like to be without it) septimus gifts her a recreation of the fly free with me charm that she can wear around her neck. it’s the same weight as the amulet and she gets to keep alther’s shoelace. did she start crying in front of everyone? oh yeah.

· septimus brings marcia in as a guest lecturer from time to time for his apprentices.

#septimus heap #marcia overstrand #feel free to add more marcia + septimus headcanons!!#i love this mother and son so much #also stay tuned because one of these bullet points is going to be the subject for the fic you requested :)#septimus-heap #this is the short list unfortunately. i have lots to say #the idea for the fly free with me charm pendant came from another very old no longer existing septimus and marcia headcanons post

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introloves · 2 years

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sooooo the ending left a room for so many interpretations but... did knight!Ushi and reader end up together? 👀

hehehe who knows (๑>ᴗ<๑) mayhaps there’ll be a part 2 >.> maybe they’ll live happily ever after >.> mayhaps ushi gets introuble for corrupting the holy princess >.>

#asks

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thewayofthemandalorian · 3 years

Text

doubt truth to be a liar - chapter two

Pairing: Ezra x F!Reader Rating: T (for now) Word count: 3,463 Notes: Thank you for all the feedback on Chapter 1! I’m really enjoying writing this story, and I’m glad that everyone is enjoying reading it! This was supposed to be up a few hours ago, but then the power decided to go out for a while and throw off my plans. Chapter warnings: Mutual pining, some swearing, mayhaps a kiss or two? 👀

Taglist: @goldafterglow @frannyzooey @absurdthirst @catfishingmorales @ithinkhesgaybutwesavedmufasa @hopelikethesun @forever-rogue @f0rever15elf @thewaythisis @marvel-and-mischief @seasonschange-butpeopledont @sin-djarin @ezrasarm @din-damn-djarin @opheliaelysia @pajamasecrets @mandohatesdroids @poenariuniverse @fioccodineveautunnale @fleetwoodmactshirts @auty-ren @profkenobi @storiesofthefandomlovers @ithinkwehitametaphor @yespolkadotkitty @cinewhore @wille-zarr @tangledlove27 @ahopelessromanticwritersworld @cryptkeepersoul @hayley-the-comet @clydesducktape @jaime1110 @computeringturtle @lovinglokiforever @justanotherblonde23 @sesamepancakes @phoenixhalliwell @giselatropicana @buckysalefty @fromthedeskoftheraven @paintballkid711 @ghostwiththemostbitch @revolution-starter @demigod-dragonrider-schoolidol @lilkermit14 @luvzoria @none-of-your-bullshit @sithkrispies @xserenax-13 @princess-and-pedro @dee-rosemary @kid-from-new-zealand @chibi-liz05 @dearspacepirates @mandolover86

previous chapter || next chapter || masterlist (main) || masterlist (ezra)

You had to admit, it was odd being back in a classroom again after so long. But you very quickly re-gained your footing. The strangest part was that you were not a student, but rather the one grading the students.

The former teaching assistant, Amy, had left behind what little grading she had recorded - you were grateful that she had been clear in her criteria, and that this was a full-year course instead of just for the fall semester.

Though you would not fully admit this to yourself, the main reason you were so glad it was a full-year course was because of the man teaching the course.

It didn’t take the two of you long to fall into a rhythm together. Ezra was one of the most unique teachers you had ever seen. The way he came to life when he was speaking about Shakespeare, whatever play it was that the class was studying, the themes of it all. He had everyone on the edge of their seats, holding on to his every word. Including you.

For as odd as it was to be in a classroom again, it was refreshing. Like you actually had a purpose in your daily life again. You knew that that might be a bit dramatic, but you didn’t feel as though you were in that rut anymore. As much as you had enjoyed working in the library, it didn’t give you satisfaction anymore. Not as it once had.

You were so glad that the students hadn��t yet submitted their first essays yet. The due date was quickly approaching, though. You knew you would need to speak with Ezra about his grading criteria. He had mentioned a little bit when he had given you more details about the job, but what with the first assignment coming up next class, you knew that it was something that you needed to get on top of.

After your shift at the library - where you and Mary had spent the entire shift cataloguing new books - you made your way to where Ezra was sitting in the stacks.

He looked up at you as you approached him. “Good afternoon, birdie.”

You greeted him in turn, “Hi, Ezra - uh, professor.”

Ezra waved you off. “Birdie, you’re not my student. I must insist that you continue to call me Ezra.”

Butterflies fluttered in your stomach at the look he gave you. “O-okay, Ezra.”

He gestured to the unfilled seat across from him. “Have a seat. How can I help you on this dreary afternoon?”

Ezra was right. Today was cold and windy and rainy. The kind of day that you just wanted to spend curled up in a blanket on the couch.

You sat. “I know that the essay for Shakespeare is coming up next class,” you started, absently playing with Ezra’s discarded pen.

Ezra nodded.

“And I was just wondering what your criteria is,” you said. “I don’t want my grading to be that much harsher or easier than yours.”

Nodding again, Ezra explained exactly what it was that he was looking for. It was a relief to hear that his criteria was not so very far off from what you expected yours to be.

“Does that sound about good? Yeah? Good,” Ezra said once you were satisfied with his explanation. He shifted gears suddenly. “I’ve got a question for you, birdie,” he said.

“For me?” you asked. You hadn’t been expecting him to ask you a question. “Um, sure.”

“Don’t sound so surprised, sweetheart. I value your opinion.” Heat flushed through you at that. “I was wonderin’ - it’s my first time teachin’ a class like this - how am I doing? The kids seem to like it, but as someone who’s taken a Shakespeare class before…”

You cut him off. “Ezra. You’re doing fine. Hell, outstanding, even. I’ve never seen a more engaging professor before. I only wish I had someone like you when I took Shakespeare. My professor had us read silently from the plays. That’s not how you do Shakespeare. The way you teach it is how Shakespeare would have demanded it be taught.” You cover his hand with yours for emphasis.

Just friendly, though. Right?

The way his thumb stroked your knuckle, though, you weren’t so sure. “Thanks, birdie,” said Ezra.

Begrudingly, you took your hand back, suddenly feeling shy. “I’ll, uh, I’ll let you get back to whatever it is that you’re doing,” you said.

“I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon?” said Ezra, as though he wasn’t sure you would show up to class.

You nodded as you stood. “I’ll be there,” you confirmed, giving Ezra a small smile which he returned.

* * *

“What’s up?” asked Mary as you paced back and forth in the breakroom twenty minutes later.

You had come back here to get your lunch and coat, but you couldn’t stop thinking about your interaction with Ezra. It hadn’t even been three weeks since you had first accepted his job offer, less than two months since you had first met him, and here you were with the worst crush you had ever had.

As you explained to Mary what had just happened, she didn’t look surprised. “I’ve seen the way he looks at you in class, of course he likes you,” she said.

Flopping down on the plush couch, you sighed. “What am I supposed to do, though?”

Mary sat down beside you. “He’s not him, you know. He’s not Damon,” she said softly.

Damon. Your ex. You still didn’t know what you ever saw in that selfish, lazy man to keep him around for as long as you did - which admittedly wasn’t very long as far as relationships went. Mary was one of the few people that you had told about that relationship. It had been years since you had seen him, but he still served as a blueprint for what not to look for in a prospective partner.

“I know,” you whispered. “But it’s still awkward because he’s faculty and -”

Mary stopped you. “So are you, technically. You don’t work for him. You’re not a student.”

You sighed. Mary was right. She was a smart one.

“You’re probably right,” you conceded.

Mary raised a brow at you. “I am right. Now get out of here before Josephine takes this moping as you wanting to work extra hours again. And all I want you to think about is how you’re going to give me an A-plus on that essay.”

Picking yourself up off the couch, you sighed in agreement. “Okay. I should probably get out of here. I have things to do.”

As you slung your bag over your shoulder and zipped up your rain jacket, you looked back at her. “But who’s to say that I’m going to give anyone an A-plus?” you teased.

At home, you tried to unwind, tried to let your mind wander to other things other than the way Ezra made you feel. Instead you tried to think about reading break that was quickly approaching - the week after next.

Inevitably, your mind strayed to Ezra. How he had held your hand in his when you had patted it. What Mary had said.

I’ve seen the way he looks at you in class, of course he likes you.

You had seen the way he had thrown glances your way while he was lecturing, too. The way he gazed at you in the library every time you spoke. How excited he was when you had said that you would be his teaching assistant.

I value your opinion, he had said. Not many people had said that to you before. No one had said that to you before, the more you thought of it. At least, not in a very long time.

Ezra was kind-hearted; you knew he wouldn’t be a repeat of Damon if you decided to pursue him. He was everything Damon was not.

Eventually, you allowed yourself to fall asleep, your dreams haunted by deep brown eyes and a roguish smile, reserved - or so it would seem - just for you.

The next day, Wednesday, you were one of the last people to arrive to the class, just ahead of a group of girls who were chattering nervously about their essays. You didn’t miss that part of school one bit - the stress of it all. While it was a daunting task to grade things, it was far less daunting than having your own work evaluated.

You slipped into your seat at the front just before Ezra entered the room.

Ezra was like every stereotypical English professor in the way that he dressed for teaching. He rocked a cardigan or tweed jacket with elbow patches on top of a button up shirt (with the top button undone) and loosely-tied tie. As with everything else he did, he dressed with a certain flair that couldn’t be easily replicated. Though the clothes were basic, he wore them with style. You thought he would look good in just about anything.

Grabbing the attention of the class (never a difficult feat), Ezra said,“All right, first order of business. Your first essay. If you can drop them on my desk now, we can get started with the conclusion of Coriolanus.”

After the din of scraping chairs and shuffling papers had died down, and everyone had submitted their essays in two piles - one for you, one for Ezra - on his desk, Ezra began his lecture. He always enjoyed acting out the more intense scenes, his accent becoming more pronounced as he spoke. After reading break, he was going to start having students perform scenes for the class.

Keeping Mary’s words in your mind, you noticed that Ezra dropped several glances in your direction as you sat, spell-bound as he read the final lines of dialogue that the main character spoke before his betrayal and murder before launching into the discussion.

Spell-bound was a good description of how he made you feel most of the time.

Mary caught your look and winked subtly before returning attention to the discussion.

* * *

You groaned as you read the notice on your apartment door. The power would be cut for twelve hours tomorrow for maintenance work.

There go your plans for grading at home.

You dumped your bag on the couch before toeing your shoes off. Re-reading the notice again, you sighed. You had booked tomorrow off work so that you could grade the essays, but how would it look if you went to the library to do your marking?

That was your only option. It was too dark in your apartment, especially at this time of year. You supposed you could hide away in a corner, where no one would see you. It wouldn’t be a big deal.

Maybe, if you were lucky, you could share a table with Ezra.

As you prepped dinner, you thought back to his reading today. You wondered if he was that passionate about everything he did. You suspected, as you took a bite of your dinner, that he probably was.

You were not lucky the next day.

It was as though everyone in the entire school decided to do their studying and assignments at the library the next day. The only free table was in the common area, which was also the area where people didn’t need to be quiet or mindful of other people.

Cringing, you turned on your heel. You hadn’t seen Ezra as you had perused the second, third, and fourth floors for an empty table. Should you work at the cafe? No. It would be noisy and busy there, too. You were out of options, it appeared.

“Birdie?” Ezra’s voice pulled you from your thoughts.

You smiled up at him. “Hey, Ezra.”

“You seem vexed today. What troubles you?”

Gesturing vaguely around you, you said, “I have nowhere to grade these papers in peace. The power’s out at my place until 6pm tonight, and there is not a single free table.”

Ezra frowned consolingly at you. He appeared to be thinking about something. “This does put a damper on things. I, too, was plannin’ on gettin’ these essays read and graded today. Tell you what, why don’t we go back to my office? It’s nice and quiet there.”

Your mind went blank for a moment. Alone with Ezra for a prolonged period of time.

Wordlessly, you nodded. “Y-yeah. That sounds great,” you stammered.

Ezra led the way to his office, chattering about this and that as the two of you walked across campus.

The part of campus that his office was in was nearly deserted. One or two other people were in the hallway chatting about something as you passed them. Ezra ushered you into his office and shut the door behind him as he switched on the lamp beside the door.

Ezra’s office was simple, but suited him well. There were a few framed pictures on the wall. A couch with two end tables. Bookshelves filled with books just past the door. His desk had two chairs, one on either side.

“Make yourself cozy, birdie,” Ezra said as he set his bag on the couch, taking out his stack of essays.

Handing you a pen, Ezra sat down across from you at the desk and the two of you began to mark the pile of essays.

You had to hand it to most of the students whose papers you were responsible for marking. They had submitted well-thought essays that had clear statements that were backed up well. Of course there were a few stinkers in the pile, that would be the case in any class, but you would say for the most part, the average was a solid A-minus.

You and Ezra worked in almost complete silence, the sound of paper flipping over the only sound. You tried very hard not to notice how his free hand was almost always right next to yours, just barely touching.

That was one of the things you noticed about being with Ezra. It was always comfortable. Easy. You didn’t need to speak to be comfortable. It wasn’t awkward. You felt as though you could always be yourself around him without fear of judgement or ridicule. It was something you had never had with Damon. You liked - loved - being in Ezra’s company, and it was the same for him. He never felt like he had to explain himself to you, nor you to him. It was what it was with Ezra, and it was beautiful.

After about an hour and a half, your backside was killing you. As nice as Ezra’s office was, his chairs were not comfortable. “Is it okay if I move to the couch? This chair is starting to kill me.”

Ezra looked up from his own paper. “Go right ahead, birdie. So long as it’s okay if I join you.”

Setting your backpack on the floor, you sat down on the cushy couch. “Have you ever taken a nap on this couch?”

Ezra smiled in memory as he sat down next to you. “So many times,” he said. “I apologize for the discomfort the chairs bring. Usually people aren’t in here for hours on end.”

Waving away his apology, you looked back to the essay you were grading. It was Mary’s. You were just at the end when a grunting wince from Ezra pulled your attention from the closing remarks you were writing. “Are you all right?” you asked, concern lacing your voice. It wasn’t the first time he had winced suddenly.

“I’m fine, birdie. Nothin’ to worry yourself over. Just this damn hand. Nerve damage,” explained Ezra. At your confused, concerned look, he continued. “I fell out of a tree when I was a kid. The break didn’t correct properly. Most of the time it’s manageable, but every now and again…” Ezra’s grunting sigh was enough to paint the picture.

You placed your hand on his gently. “I’m sorry,” you said genuinely. “Do you wanna take a break for a while?”

Ezra placed his other hand on top of yours. “I appreciate it, sweet thing,” he said gruffly. “But I should be just fine.”

So the two of you carried on, long into the afternoon. You were halfway through the third-last essay of your pile when you suddenly felt your eyes droop.

It wouldn’t be a nap, you thought as your eyes slid shut, not noticing that Ezra was drowsy as well. Just resting my eyes.

“Birdie.” Ezra’s voice was far away as he shook your shoulder gently. “C’mon sweetheart. As comfy as this couch is, we can’t stay here all night,” he said.

Your eyes fluttered open. Ezra was still sitting beside you. “Mmm… fell asleep,” you said sleepily.

Ezra smiled his rogue smile. “That you did. I’m not that borin’ am I?” he asked. You shook your head, holding his gaze.

“Never. How long was I-?” You glanced at the clock, answering your own question. It was just after five in the afternoon. It had been about four-fifteen when you last checked the clock.

Ezra was still looking at you intently when your attention was drawn back to him. You glanced at him self-consciously. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to fall asleep.”

Ezra didn’t seem concerned. He wasn’t concerned. He smiled softly at you, before you and he continued your marking.

It didn’t take long for you to finish grading the last of the papers. They weren’t overly long essays.

When you and Ezra had finally finished, about an hour and a half later, you sighed in relief, the daunting task over.

“You survived your first grading. How do you feel, birdie?” asked Ezra as you capped the pen, setting it on his end table.

“Relieved. Tired.” Ezra nodded. Both common when marking essays, as you would continue to find out

His gaze never left you as you neatly stacked the papers, putting them back in your backpack.

“You’re beautiful,” he whispered as you met and held his gaze, so quietly that you almost didn’t hear him.

Heat washed through you, a warmth that you hadn’t felt in a very long time, at his words. Butterflies flipped and twirled in your tummy as you replied, inching closer to him, “You are, too, Ezra.”

And then you kissed him.

It wasn’t a long kiss, but it didn’t take Ezra any time to respond, his lips exploring yours as you kissed each other with eager curiosity. His beard tingled against your lips, your cheeks. His hands moved up to your face to cup your cheeks. Your own were at his hips, bunching the material of his sweater in your fists.

Oh, you thought as you pulled apart, this is what was missing.

Breathing heavily, you said, “Was that okay?”

Ezra made a sound between a growl and a laugh. “Only if we can do that again.”

And he pressed his lips to yours once again.

#ezra x reader #ezra x you #ezra prospect x reader #ezra prospect x you #ezra prospect #prospect fanfiction #pedro pascal character fanfiction

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