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hogwartsfirebolt · 3 years

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Hello everyone! I’m back for my (omg time flies) third yearly drarry rec list, in which I share with you my 30 favorite drarry fics I read in the year, divided in three parts. What a year 2020 was. It was challenging, scary and confusing, and it was also an amazing reading year for me, I read so, so much more than I ever had before, and I’m really excited to share these masterpieces with you! The banner art is by @dragontamerdame who is one of my favorite artists and was kind enough to let me use this beautiful piece, which you can (and totally should) reblog right here. Now, with nothing else to add and in no particular order, here’s my

FAVORITE FICS I READ IN 2020 PART ONE

1. Who we are in the shadows - @quicksilvermaid - 100k - E - What happens when you’re forced to become the very thing you despise? Ex-Auror Harry Potter, tossed out of the Ministry for something he had no control over, has been looking for a way back to his former life. When he comes across Draco Malfoy in the criminal underbelly of Wizarding London and in need of protection, Harry figures bringing him in to face the Ministry's justice is his ticket back to everything he's lost. But nothing is exactly as it seems. Not even Harry himself. And as he gets drawn further and further into Malfoy's world of honour and deception he finds himself questioning everything he thought he knew—about his childhood nemesis, the Ministry job he misses so much, and most of all, about himself. What happens when you’re forced to see that you were wrong?

THIS FIC!!! It was the first one I read in 2020, and it immediately became my favorite fic of the entire year, and one of my favorites of all time. I have since read it two more times, the entire 100k of it. There are absolutely no words to describe how amazing it is, how much it floored me to read their characterizations, their jobs and the roads life took them on to end up where they end up, the connection between them in a time when they don’t even know how to relate to anyone, their sorrow and struggles which, despite being so rooted in the magical world, are painfully human, just... wow. It’s a masterpiece. It changed the way I view their characters, forever, and I suspect I will read it many, many more times in the years to come. It’s that kind of story. If for whatever reason you haven’t read it, this is your sign to take that chance and embark on this amazing journey.

2. Every Kingdom - @thistle-verse - 7k - E - Every kingdom needs a prince. Every prince needs a good and useful knight. Draco and Harry play their parts and renegotiate some borders while they’re at it.

So, so lovely. Even though I don’t read them very often, alternate universes fascinate me so much, and I am in awe of the author for being able to pack so, so much story, so neatly into 7k words. This features a princely, lonesome Draco, a charming, golden Harry, and a blossoming love that could change everything. It’s beautiful, and I recommend it deeply.

3. The Bucket List - GallaPlacidia - 32k - Draco will die in six months if he can't get Harry Potter to fall in love with him. Since that's not going to happen, he might as well spend his last days working through his Bucket List. Tap-dancing lessons? Rock climbing? Poetry-writing? Threesomes? Cocaine? Getting to know his adorable cousin, Teddy Lupin? Draco will try them all! Feat. Cheerily pessimistic Draco, devoted bitch queen Pansy Parkinson, and a Harry who can't help but notice that something seems DIFFERENT about Draco, these days.

I’m positive that many, many of us got acquainted with GallaPlacidia’s writing this year, and I, too, fell in love with it. This story aches in the most beautiful of ways, the humor happens to be somehow light in such a difficult circumstance that it ends up hurting when you laugh, it hurts when everything is right because it’s also wrong, it aches when it’s supposed to be a happy moment and feels tender and sweet when it’s not. I can’t even imagine the challenge of writing this kind of story, and they pulled it off beautifully. It’s a lovely story, one you will take with you long after you finish it, and, personally, I think it’s a great introduction to the author’s writing.

4. halcyon days - @the-starryknight - 1.3k - T - Sleepy mornings caught while the sun rises are reserved for silly word games and soft touches and feelings.

Oh my god, the amount of tenderness in such a low wordcount made me weak in the knees. I almost couldn’t take it. Being able to convey such a deep emotional connection in a short story seems like such a daunting task, and the author makes it seem almost effortless. I guarantee that this will make you bring your hands to your chest and sigh with how lovely it is. Reading it will be the best ten minutes of your day.

5. Clouds That Veil the Midnight Moon - @drarrytrash - 37k - E - According to Harry’s personal narrative regarding the incident, he’d hooked up with Draco Malfoy for purely self-destructive reasons, or out of convenience, or by some unlucky accident. Looking at him, sprawled in the moonlight, Harry is devastated to recall that he’d hooked up with Draco Malfoy because he’s hot. Draco is a secret werewolf and Harry is doing his best and they've got criminals to catch, darn it.

Reading this, I found myself laughing out loud, nodding profusely with how freaking spot on the characterizations are. The dialogue is amazing, so hilarious and real and Harry’s inner monologue is so, so him. I love everything about this story. I have a soft spot for werewolf fic, and this one hit everything I love about it, the case is interesting and engaging, the incidental characters, the OCs, Ron and Hermione, everyone and everything is absolutely perfect and I had an absolute blast reading it. You HAVE to read this and see for yourself what I’m talking about.

6. Sex Ed for Aurors - curiouslyfic - 8k - M - Some things, you need to learn on the job.

Oh my god this is so freaking good. The premise is, basically, that Harry is accidentally doused with a lust potion while in the vicinity of Draco, and suddenly wants him more than anything. I loved this take on that trope, we’re in Harry’s head, and it’s absolutely hilarious and endearing to experience the near childish glee he feels whenever Draco looks his way, when he smiles, when he feels he’s made him happy, meanwhile Draco and Ron are horrified and doing whatever they can to correct it. This is so funny and such a good time, I can’t recommend it enough! While you’re at it, you should definitely read megyal’s remix of this, which is also a blast.

7. plasticine porters with looking-glass ties - @bonesliketambourines - 15K - E - Lately, Harry thinks things don’t seem the same between him and Draco. His head is in the clouds when he thinks about what their relationship is now, and where it might be headed—he’s happy with their friendship, but he wants something else. A potions accident over a lunchtime visit to Draco’s lab (what does he get up to in there, anyway?) changes things, though, and accelerates their relationship faster than either of them had ever expected. How are they going to get through this new development together?

Atmospheric, beautifully-written and delicious. Their relationship is tender, just on the edge of something more, when they’re forced to quarantine together and face the effects of a potion that makes them see and feel things differently, which makes for the most intense, visual, gorgeous sex scene I think I’ve ever read. It’s just absolutely phenomenal.

8. i wake up falling - warmfoothills - 9k - M - Draco’s always leaving, one way or another. Harry’s usually 240 thousand miles too late.

In trying to come up with a way to summarize this story, I’m feeling the overwhelming urge to cry again, just like I did when I read it. It’s just so, so, beautiful, every single word of it aches in the best way, the longing feels deeply authentic and just, the setting and the jobs and everything is so unique and gorgeous. Every single work by this author is beyond beautiful, but especially this one is incredibly close to my heart and I think everyone should read it. It’s a gem.

9. In Every Universe - @skeptiquewrites - 27k - M - They sent Professor Harry Potter to search for Unspeakable Draco Malfoy. Draco has stolen a Firebird, an experimental magical device from the Department of Mysteries that lets you enter parallel universes as yourself. As Harry traverses from universe to universe, he begins to think Draco might be the one searching for him. A story about whether knowing what's possible makes it possible.

Stories where the characters find themselves somehow hopping from one reality to another are always so, so fascinating to me, and this one is incredibly creative and well-written, so entertaining all around. The mystery of it kept me on my toes, and every single reality was a joy to read. 10/10

10. Life goes not backward - @shealwaysreads - 8k - T - Harry still isn’t used to gifts, but this one is different. A story of coming home, finding safe ground, and the wild courage of putting down roots. Leaving one life behind isn’t always a sacrifice, and sometimes the greatest good comes from embracing the people you love.

My god, there are not enough words to describe how much this story means to me, how beautiful it is, how every single time I’ve read it, I’ve cried. Bella has undoubtedly become one of my absolute favorite writers in fandom. She has such a way with words, there is not one of her stories that hasn’t touched me, that doesn’t feel like an actual, full-length novel no matter the word count. I read so many of them this year, so many of the masterpieces she’s gifted us, but this one especially is so tender, so dear, that I ended up choosing it as my favorite of hers this year. Harry’s charactertization, the unbelievable warmth of their relationship, absolutely everything about this is gorgeous. Go read it, right now, and then binge all her other works!! You won’t regret it.

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Each of these fics is incredibly close to my heart and I enjoyed them immensely. In the midst of everything changing, I really found comfort and solace in the amazing works of the people of this fandom. I hope they give you the same amount of warmth and comfort they gave me, and I’m ALWAYS here to gush about any of them ❤️ Happy New Year!

#drarry #drarry fic #drarry fanfic #drarry fic rec #2020rec #ficrec #draco malfoy #harry potter #drarry rec list

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blue-pastel-cat · 3 years

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Xiaobedo Fanfic Recommendation

Welcome to my personal “if you are new to xiaobedo peeps please read these” list. As said before this is my personal list so please feel free to reblog/comment/hit me for not including any gem here. I might miss a lot of them because I am drunk or blind. (mostly have them on my to read and then forgot as I am being assault by real life shit).

I would like to say first that so far there are 150+ Xiaobedo fics on Ao3. I can’t review all of them but I can say that I have read a majority of them. Most of them are just pure love and I would like nothing more than a thousands thank you for all the fic writers who spent their free time writting these gems for us to read for free. But these...these takes the cake as it finds a special landing spot in my heart that I would just thrust them into someone’s hand if they say “I am new to this ship can you recommend me?”

1. Orange dust by bobamilkteas (Wes)

In which Xiao learns to open himself up to the world a little more after the collapse of Rex lapis's contracts but it was not always easy for a soul doomed to eternal damnation. Meanwhile, Albedo liked to tempt fate where the extraordinary are concerned.

If only the traveler's comrades are made of saner bunch.

Comment: Long ago when I like both Albedo and Xiao as a character, I was wondering hmmm....will anyone actually even write about them lmao they never met each other. I am surprise to see this one as the 3rd fic in the whole 3 Xiaobedo fic on Ao3 (yeah back when there’s literally only 3 fic for this couple). I was like I’ll read it for the curiosity, I’ll probably won’t ship them. And that people is how I put my clown make up on my face upon finishing reading it. This ONE fic alone convert me into a devotee of Xiaobedo. Please consider joining me in this circus if you want to know what is Xiaobedo. I would put this as the first of my “Big 3″

Orange Dust also come with its compliation of short stories over the course of the game and a big sequel to it. Please also consider reading ALL OF THEM.

2. Solar Wind by birdpriestess (Sparrow)

For the yaksha, his duty was his life, and his life was his duty. No human could ever hope to understand the eternal war he fought out of sight and in silence.

So why, then, did he feel that Albedo would understand?

---

Finding himself at death's door once more, Xiao is saved by a surprising person, setting off the unlikeliest of adventures.

Comment: Do you like crying? Do you like the feeling of getting your heart ripped into pieces as the author destroy your emotions over the end of each chapter as the story picked up the climax? Yeah, this one is for you masochists. The action, the characterisation, the drama THE EMOTIONS OH WOW. I kid you not that it was so good I read this while workinng when I am not suppose to me. Also, this fic has my favourite characterisation of Gold ever. I love that dramatic queen Mad Alchemist. AND DAIN. I LOVE DAIN IN THIS FIC. Our dearest Sparrow manage to toy with our feelings like how I bully ruin guard for big numbers lmao. This is the secound of “Big 3″ of my Xiaobedo list.

Again, just like Orange Dust, Solar Wind comes with its own compliation of short stories of what came after that. Please also consider reading ALL OF THEM.

3. Castle of Glass by AlchemicalStardust (Morgie)

A black shadow rises over Huaguang Stone Forest. Caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, Albedo flees the shaking ground and the crash of boulders tumbling form the sky. As the dust settles, Albedo finds a young man – an Adeptus – amidst the carnage. Despite the karmic agony ripping his body from the inside, Xiao’s only question is “How?” How did a human survive after witnessing his battle?

Comment: The last of the “Big 3″ of my Xiaobedo list. And it is still on going! Castle of Glass? More like I AM IN A GLASS CASE OF EMOTIONS! Have you read a fic about 2 people yearning, longing, reaching out for each other so damn well that you just want to throw your phone in the air as they both had their impending doom coming down upon them? Yeah this is one of them. You will like want to be stuck in the moment they express how much they just yearn for each other’s love and care that you want to shake the author for what comes next. Like...everytime Morgie update I am expressing my gratitude at the end of the chapter by writing on Xiaobedo discord “MORGIE COME HERE AND LET ME BONK YOU WHY ARE YOU ENDING IT THERE”

trust me when you read you will def feel the same. With just Big 3 and their compliation alone that would give you like a LONG list of reading already LMAOOOOOOO

4. Find a place to call it home by yamajiroo

Our room, he said. Xiao’s brow twitches. Zhongli never said anything about this. But then again, perhaps he should anticipate this from the beginning...

Xiao looks over at Albedo, who is now tilting his head, his look as innocent as ever.

“Are you not okay with sharing a room?”

Comment: College AU for Xiaobedo! One thing that I love this is the slow burn and what made me LOVE LOVE LOVE this fic more is how cute Klee is in this fic. Their relationship in this one is very simple, but that simplicity highlight why their chemistry work. Xiao is someone who was just very gentle, who was largely misunderstood by his lonesome nature. Albedo was someone who like peace and quite in his introvert bubble. And how they respect that bubble that each other has actually made their relationship work. I love it when fic highlight this and this one captures it.

5. I Can't See Your Face From the Other Side of the Classroom by MissWeaver

When Albedo and Xiao unexpectedly start eating lunch together, they begin to find that they have more in common than anyone would have realized. They both struggle in their own ways with blossoming feelings, too many assignments, and annoying classmates as they navigate a relationship for the first time.

Comment: I’ll be honest, I usually hate high school au just because its so cliche. I don’t even watch and drama/anime surrounds high school student anymore LMAOOO (unless it’s very good). So if there’s an high school AU that I actually keep come back and read after a couple of chapters, it means that the cliche that I hate wasn’t there or barely was there at all. The pinning in this fic makes me want to bang their head together sometimes LMAOOO The tag wasn’t kidding when they said both Xiao and Albedo are bad at feelings. Also that’s a lot of heart broken caused by these two idiots XD

6. new world, same me, same bullshit by bobamilkteas (Wes)

At the belly of Dragonspine, Albedo lost control to the festering corruption that permeated his senses and watched, from the recesses of his mind, as his devoured body turned his allies into enemies. Before his rampage reached its climax, he is sealed in a crystalized confinement by the last hand of Reindottir, where he then reawakens centuries after, in a rebooted Teyvat.

Comment: Yeah I know it was list in Orange Dust but here me out. This sets out in an entirely different universe. And if you like Polyamory, this one has Zhongli joining the duo and I love it because I also love ZhongXiao with my life. Time Travel is my biggest kink. Especially when I am the person who love it when people explore Archon War era/ Alatus!Xiao. So this one hits double of my kink. Of course it is still on going and I will bully Wes whenever I can to see that new chapter. Albedo is a total fucking badass in this story and I completely agree from using him in Abyss so often. Everyone should write badass Albedo.

7. misplaced heart of mine by inkburn

“If you are ill, then you should be resting at home. In Mondstadt.” He emphasized Mondstadt with a pointed look in his direction.

“I assure you I won’t be troublesome, Adeptus Xiao,” Albedo said, “You’ll find I’m a rather low-maintenance traveler.”

“Travel,” Xiao scoffed, “without airstep?”

Albedo looked him up and down. “Are your legs just for decoration?”

(albedo is sent to liyue on mandatory vacation. xiao is his unfortunate bodyguard.)

Comment: Most of the time you will see Albedo and Xiao starting their relationship with one of them taking interest in another. But this one took another approach, they starting off by make them hating each other’s guts LMAOOOO and I live for every second of it. There’s only 1 chapter so far but wow it was SOOO GOOD. I am really really excited for next chapter and is waiting patiently ;w;

8. Blossom of Grace by birdpriestess

One day in Liyue Harbor, Albedo watches a street performance by an enigmatic dancer named Xiao. And he becomes completely obsessed.

Comment: Have you ever look at Xiao fight and thinking that he’s one of the most beautiful deadly thing ever? How it was like he was dancing around the battlefield? How about actual dancer Xiao being so absolutely beautiful and perfect and that slow burn of Albedo falling in love with that beauty with a touch of Modern AU and cute Ganyu as the Wing woman. Yes, Sparrow delivers yet again another beautiful slow burn and while it’s still ongoing it is worth the read.

9. i think we could make this work (could get used to this) by outspaced

“Xiao? What are you doing out here?”

“I—”

“It’s raining,” Albedo says, as if it isn’t obvious. “You could get struck by lightning.”

“What are you doing out here then?” Xiao does the only thing he knows how to do, he challenges Albedo. “It’s raining.”

Albedo just hums. “If I get struck by lightning, it’s for science.”

Comment: A short one-shot where I read the summary and went “This is it... this is their relationship.” I am sold immediately. Oh god Albedo why are you like this.

10. Ephemeral by criedprinz

“It’s not for your investigation, is it?” Aether asked mildly.

Albedo traced a finger around the sketchbook, considering the question. “No,” he admitted finally. “I... I just want to see them again.”

He opened the sketchbook to reveal the drawing he’d just finished. Aether nodded, clearly recognizing the sharp golden eyes.

“Xiao,” he said. “You were rescued by an adeptus.”

When a visit to Dragonspine goes horribly wrong, Albedo is rescued by an unknown stranger, wielding powers he's never heard of. Led on a search to find out who it is, he finds himself in the middle of an unforgettable encounter..

Comment: A really really well written one-shot that I love. The yearning oh godddd the yearning from Albedo side is just so so much that I have to put it here. (I think you can see the trend here lmao. I am a sucker for yearning). And the moment they get to meet each other again is just chef kiss. MWHAA

11. Idle Yaksha, Brilliant Yaksha by Pit0fTheEarth

Alatus didn’t have a lot of responsibilities to keep. He spent most of his days dancing across the sky and eating away all nightmares that plagued a person’s sleep.

But one fortunate encounter led to too many unfortunate ones, taking his carefree existence and plunging it in darkness. His wings, stripped from him. His gentle touch, replaced by an unforgiving grip of destruction.

There was a lot of blood on his hands. With each passing moment, it became harder for Alatus to recall the last time someone gently held him.

Comment: This is one of the ongoing fic where I am very very much excited on the take of Naberius. And the way the author portray Xiao when he’s still the innocent Alatus is just *clench fist*. Baby ;w; Baby why do you have to lose all that innocence. Also the fic has long LONG flashback to Xiao past and his relationship with Naberius. We are unwielding more what happened to both of them and why perhaps does this have to do with Albedo.

That’s it for now, might add more later! Thank you <3

#xiaobedo #tetsu likes to ramble #genshin impact

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saphirered · 3 years

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I thought this would be an interesting twist: After the failed ritual, what if Lucien's s/o ran into Molly? Thank you!

Okay so this one came out quicker than I expected 😅. Little 'twist' at the end because I could not help myself. I hope you enjoy it! 😘

You warned him. You warned him so many times but he wouldn’t bloody listen. Too caught up in his own game for power, never satisfied. But what were you supposed to do? Stop him? No, you’d never. You loved him more than that but you were not prepared to follow him to his own death. Lucien, you idiot how could you? You tried everything but he didn’t come back. The ritual failed. You didn’t want to uphold your part of the bargain. You knew this mage had ulterior motives and after being granted a peak of those pages she wouldn’t back down.

The woman wanted it all for herself and Lucien stood between her and that power the Eyes of Nine had to offer. Knowing the Tombtakers would follow Lucien to the extremes they would also accept the risks of this ritual and would be content but disappointed should it fail. With what you had seen you knew it shouldn’t fail. You had warned Lucien of your suspicions but his own arrogance made him blind to the consequences of this all. He wouldn’t listen and you were becoming an obstacle so when the ritual was to go down you weren’t there.

Lucien has slipped away from your warm embrace in the dead of night to perform the ritual and of course Vess messed with it, assuring he wouldn’t be able to return to his body therefor as per the agreement, she’d take the book as payment. It was too late when you found him, already dead. No amount of healing or revivification could bring him back to you. You had to accept that but you could enact revenge on the bitch that took him away from you. You’ll have her wishing she was the one in a shallow grave instead.

The Tombtakers diverged, finding their own paths. Cree tried to take you with her but you wouldn’t. You had your own task to complete. After that you could rest. Making the arrangements, finding allies where you could, earning and cashing in favours from anyone of power or resources you could left you with quite the arsenal at your disposal but you couldn’t just walk into the capital of the Dwendalian Empire and murder one of the archmages of the Cerberus Assembly. You had to be patient, lay low and let everyone think you moved on.

Still you visited the grave whenever you could. There was a comfort in the hope that maybe, wherever he was he could hear you. Lucien would probably scold you for going on a revenge path against one of the most powerful magic users on the continent all by your lonesome. He’s one to talk. Nevermind, you told him about your adventures, and hoping to acquire the resources to attempt to bring him back. You won’t give up hope.

Then you returned, returned to find the grave empty. You followed the tracks but they lead you nowhere. You had to find him. You had to find Lucien before anyone else did because what might they do? What state would he be in? Does this mean he’s already ascended? Would this mean he’d truly fully become the Nonagon for once and for all? But most of all, you just want him back in your arms knowing he’d be safe. You’d scour Exandria to find him.

There you are standing in a dark alleyway, hood blocking direct view of your face as you’re quite literally in the middle of a back alley deal. You’re no stranger to the shady business and shady people can most often be found in these places. You pay your contact in exchange for the information your requested, satisfied with the results. You hear commotion on the main street. Guards. Parting from your contact you wait for the guards to pass. That’s when you notice a lavender tiefling bolt past you. A very familiar lavender tiefling.

Confusion, relief, heartache, panic, happiness, disappointment, a wave of emotion hits you in a way you’re not even sure how you’re supposed to feel at this point. Many questions accompany those feelings. What are you supposed to do? Well, go after him of course! If Lucien’s back and he’s being chased by guards, that’s not a good thing for the current situation. Sticking to the shadows you trail along. Lucien may just have lost his touch but perhaps the city is an unfamiliar one to him and alone, he doesn’t know the way. The tattoos are new, so are the rather colourful clothes but you know he never does anything without reason.

You figure out where he’s going, the direction at least and from your own past encounters here you know the side alleys. You take a path that should have you end up ahead of him. You’ll have to take a few rooftops and private yards but it’s the quickest and you’ve done it plenty of times. Once you get in place you take off your cloak, get ready. You hear the guards shouting for reinforcements. The closer he gets from around the corner you can see the smug grin filled with mischief as he runs. You’ve missed that one.

The moment comes and you grab onto him as he passes pulling him into the alley with you, wrapping your cloak around him and pulling the hood up. Hands on both sides of his face you look at him closely. There’s confusion in his eyes as they focus on you. He’s already out of breath but you pull him into a deep kiss. Lucien hits the wall behind him and readjusts the hood of the cloak to keep his face covered. The response to the kiss only comes with the sound of the guards drawing near and is very confused. The guards pass by. They glance into the alley but awkwardly turn back to following the street upon seeing the two of you together.

As soon as they’re gone Mollymauk breaks away from you. He’s breathing heavily more from the run than the kiss you shared. He’s very confused. Indifferent to being kissed by a stranger, this… unexpected to say the least. He’s got no idea who you are but you saved his ass so you’re alright in his books at the moment. That doesn’t mean he’s not wary of you. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out you know him, or well whoever he used to be and with the conflicting emotions running through you he’ll have to think fast to spin his bullshit correctly.

“You have no idea how happy I am you’re alive. Does this mean it worked after all? Did you succeed?” You run your thumbs over Lucien’s cheekbones as he holds onto your wrists lightly. The pressure in your chest grows heavier as you await his answer.

“It did. I did. It didn’t go as planned but I’m here now.” Molly works his charm like his life depends on it because he entertains the thought it might. Your touch, there’s something eerily familiar about it, akin to being reminded of a distant long forgotten dream. Hazy but it feels real. He still has no idea who you are and there’s no bells ringing either. While he much rather run far away avoiding any and all connections to a past not his, he cannot help but commend whoever came before him. The one that got buried definitely had a good taste in lovers? Friends? Molly’s not going to assume even though you kissed him quite passionately.

Your chest clenches and it feels as if your breath won’t leave your body, your blood stopping in your veins, like you got hit by an extra dimensional force attempting to pull everything away from you. You listen to Lucien’s words. It looks like him but why do you feel like you hear someone else? It’s not an illusion or some trick you’re sure. If it were your enemies would have known to pick a better imposter and you’d have been dead already. Your own mind fights against this train of thought, justifying it. Lucien had been dead for weeks until you found the empty grave. Of course there were bound to be side effects or even consequences to the ritual. But then again, it had been two years since then. Two years to recover from whatever happened…

“You don’t know me, do you?” Speaking the words out loud breaks your heart. You don’t fight the pain they cause. There’s no tears. You’ve already grieved Lucien once. You’re not doing it again. This will be nothing more than a painful reminder, a cruel joke from the gods behind the divine gate. Why must the fates torture you so for nothing more than loving an ambitious man reaching for the stars and beyond?

“No. I’m sorry.” Molly can’t help but feel your pain. It’s clear you cared a great amount about his predecessor, the way you speak reveals intense heartbreak at the passing of that one. It also shows acceptance that whoever he used to be is gone and you’ve come to terms with that a while ago. That’s enough for him to recognise you won’t hurt him. Molly had never felt sorry for the death of who he used to be and he won’t start now but he does feel sorry for you. This whole situation is messed up.

You close your eyes and nod, dropping your hands and take a step back. No matter how much your heart may tell you to be close to this tiefling, your mind knows it’s not Lucien. You cannot in good conscious hang onto whatever remains. It’s not fair you him, to Lucien but most of all not fair to yourself. Do you wish it was Lucien standing here in front of you? Of course you do. You’d do anything to get him back but what would directing all your pain achieve directed at this new person in the same body? It would accomplish nothing but more pain. You can’t imagine this tiefling in front of you doesn’t have any friends, loved ones, people who care about him. You weren’t going to put you don’t know how many others through the same pain you’ve been put through.

“I am as much of a ghost of the past to you as you are to me.” You’ve come to the conclusion that based of his responses there may not be any recognition, there is an unknown familiarity to you on his end. Perhaps the final slivers of Lucien remaining but nothing more than a fleeting memory. A hand reaches out for yours. You allow him to take your hand and he rubs circles in the back of it with his thumb in an attempt to bring you some comfort. It’s a gesture out of kindness. Not out of selfish intent or with the expectancy to get something out of it, like Lucien would when faced with a stranger he clearly had the upper hand over.

“You seem to have cared for my predecessor, Lucien, quite a lot. I truly am sorry.” You offer him a saddened smile as a silent thank you. He knows Lucien’s name so he must have learned something of the past. You gather it hasn’t been much and most definitely is second hand knowledge by his lack of information on the ritual, who he used to be, everything really.

“You know his name?” The sentence is voiced somewhere in between a question and a statement.

“A blood cleric named Cree. She ran into us-me and mistook me for him. I played along but I don’t think she really bought it. She didn’t reveal much.” The name of the tabaxi alone is enough to make your blood boil. If Cree had known for however long, why hadn’t she gotten in contact with you? You know exactly why and are debating wether or not you could do with a new fur rug. You also acknowledge that Cree is a risk and this new-not Lucien will have to watch his back.

“Since you’re not Lucien nor do you seem to be using that name, what do I call you?”

“Mollymauk Tealeaf or simply Molly to my friends.” The tiefling-Mollymauk smiles at you, a genuine smile. You have to appreciate the small gestures of comfort and kindness.

“I would give you my own name but for both of our sakes I won’t. You may refer to me as an old friend. I know I have no right to but may I ask you a favour?”

Mollymauk nods. As always he leaves a place better than he found it, tries to bring joy and happiness wherever he can even if that means making a fool of himself. Very few times has he been faced with someone who needs his help as much as you do. While there’s definitely limits to what he can provide, you deserve some compassion. Especially after the shitty cards life had dealt to you. He’ll try to ease that if he can.

“May I- May I ask you to tell me about your life, Mollymauk?” Not the request he expected. Then again, to be fair he didn’t really know what to expect. A kiss maybe? Stick along for a while? Perhaps even a final goodbye so you could close this chapter once and for all? But of all the things you asked about him. Not Lucien. Him.

“It’s a long story…” Molly drifts off reminiscing the wild ride of the past two years, especially the events of the last few months upon joining the Mighty Nein and the adventures they had already gone on; were currently on but if you really wanted to hear all about that, he’d tell you.

“I have plenty of time. How about we walk and talk? Get you back to your traveling companions? Your friends? And if there’s still plenty more to tell, if you want to you can tell me over a few drinks. My treat.” You feel within yourself you’d better be able to let go knowing this Mollymauk is happy and lives content. Lucien might be gone but Mollymauk deserves a good life free of Lucien’s burdens. You’ll do what you can to assure that.

“Never tell a story for free. That sounds like a good deal.” Molly offers you his arm and when you hesitate, expects you not to take it but to his surprise you do. There’s something strangely comforting about the whole ordeal. You’re both strangers to each other but it still feels like you have known each other for years.

On your way to where Mollymauk is staying he feels no need to hold back or deceive and instead tells you what happened to him; how he woke up, dug himself out of a grave and was found by a kind man, joined the circus, became a fortune teller, made friends along the way, found a family, many tales of the mischief he was up to, leaving every place better than he found it. You had some good laughs and were able to ask some questions throughout. All in all you came to the conclusion Mollymauk’s life hasn’t been an easy one but it was a good one and he was happy.

Then he found this group of strangers in a tavern somewhere in Trostenwald. His old family was torn away in the wreckage of a devil toad but he found a new one in these strangers. The Mighty Nein. Their time together has been but a few months but they already feel like family and he’d do anything for them. They might be assholes but they’re good people.

You got to meet them. Molly- as he keeps insisting because you are his friend now, introduced you to this Mighty Nein as he thought it best you heard some of these stories from their mouths too for the sake of perspective. He introduced you to them as such; an old friend from the past. The details were left blurry but Molly’s confidence was enough to leave them at the very least accepting and not mistrusting you. They shared their stories with you. They needed him. They may have come far from the assholes they were, but they still had a ways to go. You knew you could not tear that away from him nor did you feel right to join them, even if temporarily.

It’s time for you to say goodbye. You bid your farewell to the Mighty Nein and while they would ask you to stay just a little longer, you know you cannot. You will not insert yourself into their lives based on the merits of your own lies and life. They are free so let them be free. Molly walks you out so you may have one final conversation before you leave his world behind you.

“You don’t have to go yet. They enjoy your company and honestly, they could learn a thing or two from you.” Molly offers as you stand outside of the tavern, the sky since having grown dark and the stars out. The air is cool, winter is drawing near, before you know it the frost will stick to the ground and you’ll be back in Shadycreek plotting the demise of a certain Cerberus Assembly member. You’ll have to leave this all behind.

“You know I can’t. For all of our sakes.” You offer Molly a smile. You’re happy with what you got to see, the stories you were told but this is where it ends and that’s okay. Molly knows it too. Sometimes it’s better to let go than to hang on. You have your own life just as he has his.

“So I guess this is goodbye then.” Molly takes hold of both of your hands and squeezes lightly before he pulls you in for a hug. You return the embrace. Pulling apart enough to look him in the eyes you stroke his cheek, tracing the tattoos fanning up his neck and jaw.

“I am still but a ghost of the past. A ghost I will remain. I wish you a good life, Mollymauk Tealeaf. May we one day meet again.” You kiss his cheek and despite the appearance of Lucien, it doesn’t feel the same. Despite how it may sound, you’re happy it doesn’t. You step out of Molly’s arms.

“May we meet again.” The words Molly speaks are like a breath upon the wind as you walk backwards, one final look at the lavender tiefling as you blend into the darkness, fading like a ghost.

There may be many more things Molly would like to ask you. He’d like to get to know you and the thought that maybe one day he might, sounds like a good day in his mind. You have your own business to take care of first but maybe one day you will meet again. For now a ghost of the past he doesn’t recall you will remain…

——————

But a few months later you find your way back on the road to Shadycreek Run. There you found a grave marker along the Glory Run Road… The marker held a colourful ostentatious red coat embellished to the nines. It appears to have been left to the weather for some time but you recognise it. Hit with a sense of dread you approach the grave already knowing who it belongs to. The least you can do is pay your final respects to the friend you never got to know more.

You dismount your horse guiding it the reins closer to the marker. That’s definitely Molly’s coat. There’s no denying that now. You walk further up the hill offering a silent prayer to the Moonweaver who Molly admitted to being a follower of.

Approaching the grave you see it dug up. You expect grave robbers, thieves of some kind as you brush your fingers over the fabric of the coat. You get a glance of the grave and see it empty instead. Not robbed; empty. No body, nothing but the marker and the coat. Down the other side of the hill you see a figure, a lavender tiefling, tapestry draped around him watching the skies. The back is turned to you so the tiefling doesn’t see you. A wave of both relieve and dread washes over you as you are met with your own ghost of the past.

#critical role x reader #critrole x reader #critical role #mighty nein x reader #mighty nein #mollymauk x reader #lucien x reader

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whump-me-all-night-long · 3 years

Text

The Jewelry Box: Carnelian’s Undoing

my contribution to Spiral Day, started by @brutal-nemesis

Did I cry while writing this? Absolutely, it was like Niagara Falls over here. This is probably one of the most emotionally draining pieces I’ve ever written. It took me several different sessions, spread out over quite a few days, to get it completed. It’s also one of those where I feel like it’ll never be really and truly ready, so here it is anyways. I hope y’all enjoy it because this was one piece that I was extremely nervous to post and share.

Taglist: @newbornwhumperfly @unicornscotty @itsleighlove @whump-scribbles @getyourwhumphere @skunkandgrenade @penny-for-your-whump @lektric-whump @just-a-whump-lover @thelazywitchphotographer @restrainthenmaime @angstyachesplus @lilbitwhumpy @leaderofthebeanarmy @aquard-skaii @whumprincess @thatgaysnail @finaldreams1106 @reveriedeludesme @kemonoinuzuka @circlingravens @whumpasaurus101 @spicy-wendigo @femmewithadhd @wafflestakethecake @lonesome–hunter @as-a-matter-of-whump let me know if you want to be added/removed!

CW: thoughts of death, like so many thoughts about death, that’s basically the entire piece, acceptance of death (not in a suicidal way, more in a “I’m okay with dying” type way), beating, painful wound cleanings, noncon touching (nonsexual), implied death (but no real death), referenced grief, intimate whumper, creepy whumper, pet whump, being sold, noncon drugging, please please please let me know if I missed anything, this is a rather heavy piece and I want to make sure everyone can read it as safely as possible!

Masterlist

He was laying there, unable to move, every single inch of his body aching, a pain he’d never experienced before. Distantly, as if from another life, he heard screams, sobs, pleas that went unanswered. He wanted to move, to get up and comfort the person that had become his entire world, but he was stuck; he couldn’t move a fraction of an inch, no matter how hard he tried.

Soon enough, the horrible sounds of grief and guilt and death were replaced by the shallow, near-silent rattle of his own breath and the pounding of blood in his ears. He knew there was something important that he needed to do, something that he knew his life depended on, but he couldn’t remember what.

So instead, he just stayed there, his broken body sprawled out on the hard floor, blood pooling out from under him like a halo of death.

There was movement around him, stirring him from the half-conscious daze he was in, delirious from pain and blood loss. He blinked slowly, vision so blurry he couldn’t make out a thing, surprised to find his eyelashes meeting something wet.

Am I crying? When did I start crying?

A hand in his hair pulled his head up, the part that had been pressed into the floor feeling damp and sticky. Dark eyes met his own glazed gaze, and he saw the flash of teeth. He would’ve flinched if he could, but he couldn’t.

“Hey there, sugar,” a low, soft voice said. “You took your punishment so well. Played your part like a champ. Now my sweetheart’s breaking, all thanks to you. I knew you’d be absolutely perfect.”

For some reason, he started crying harder at that. No, he thought, I didn’t want to do this. You made me do this. He can’t break, not now.

Not over me.

The other dropped his head back down, and he went back to drifting, letting all the thoughts fall out of his head.

He woke next to the tap tap tap of footsteps. Blinking groggily, he tried to sit up, tried to get up, but the pain lancing through his body prevented him from doing more than rolling over a couple inches.

A shiny shoe resting on his cheek, pressing his head down, kept him from attempting it again. A face settled in his line of sight, and his lip curled.

The Jeweler stared at him for a moment, a pleasant smile on his face. “Hello, sugar,” he said, removing his foot and replacing it with his hand, which stroked his face in a way that made him want to push him off, but his body was still not responding to him.

He swallowed several times before cracking open his mouth. “What-” His voice was rough and hoarse, sending a cough through him. “What did you do to, to me? Where- where is he?” Panic started overwhelming him, crashing over him and pulling him down, drowning him.

He couldn’t remember anything. He had been in his cell, whispering with his world, and then there was nothingness, blankness, emptiness. Tears pricked in his eyes, and he took a shaky, shuddering breath that ended up sounding like a sob.

The Jeweler moved his hand to comb through his hair, still softly smiling. “Shh, shh,” he soothed. “Don’t you worry your pretty little head about any of that. You don’t need to remember any of this. What you need is to forget. You’re going someplace new, and you’re leaving all of this behind. Okay, sugar?”

He tried to shake his head, but it was barely more than a twitch. No, no I don’t want that. Please, don’t kill me, don’t make me leave, I can’t leave him, please.

The Jeweler laughed softly. “My silly sugar,” he said, voice dripping with condescension. “Just relax, okay?”

“Please,” he managed to whisper before his head was set back down.

The Jeweler stood, grabbing something out of his line of sight. When he did see what it was, the fat tears rolled down his face even harder. The large needle, filled with a menacing amber liquid, came close to his neck, piercing it easily with him weak and nearly paralyzed. His mouth opened to whine softly at the cold flooding into him, before it withdrew and was left alone again.

His eyes found the Jeweler and he sobbed, begging, “Please, not this, anything but this.” He just smiled.

He didn’t so much as wake up next as he did rise to consciousness, suddenly and roughly. Hands, too many hands, were touching him, grabbing him, manhandling him.

A low groan slipped out of him as he tried and failed to open his eyes and he heard a muttered curse.

“It wasn’t supposed to wear off yet, was it?” someone asked in a hushed voice.

“Who cares?” someone else responded. “It’s not like it’ll remember any of this anyways.”

He whimpered and the hands resumed their work. He could feel them harshly cleaning out his wounds, bandaging them up. The people surrounding him were thorough, his gently throbbing muscles telling him that much, and it felt like an eternity before they were done.

He sighed as they set him back down, ready to slip back off to oblivion, but then they were back, pulling at his clothing, taking it off-

He yelped as the cold air hit his sensitive skin, struggling against the hands. Weak as he was, it barely affected them, but he still heard several more curses as flailing limbs knocked into them. A backhanded slap had him stilling, though, knocking all the fight out of him and leaving him even more dizzy and disoriented than he was before.

He let them pull new clothes onto him, although they felt less like clothes and more like scraps of cold, thin cloth that barely covered him. He shivered and whimpered, high in his throat, face burning, desperately wishing he was anywhere else in the world.

Another voice joined the fray, this one too painfully familiar. “Is he ready?”

A chorus of “yes, sir”s followed, and then hands grabbed at his arms, lifting him up and dragging him along. His head rolled wildly, completely out of his control.

After what felt like an eternity, he was dropped yet again onto cold floors, crumpled in a heap. He whimpered as his head knocked against the hard tile, eyes struggling to stay open.

Distantly, he heard the Jeweler barking orders. He let the words wash over him, floating around him, unable to pierce his drug-induced bubble of semi-consciousness.

Instead, he let his thoughts drift back to him. The him that had started all of this, that he’d known since day one, that had helped him and held him, guided him and encouraged him. The him that had loved him. The him that he had loved.

It took him several moments to realize that he was crying again, silent, salty tears dripping down his face, causing the small cuts littering his skin to burn faintly. He knew he was about to die. He wasn’t scared. Angry, yes. Sad, yes. But scared? No, he wasn’t scared of death at all.

He used to be scared of being stuck in this hell on earth for the rest of his life, of never escaping, always stuck in this stasis. Now, he was scared of leaving him behind, not knowing what was going to happen to the person he was about to die for. Wherever he went after this, he didn’t want him to follow very quickly.

No, he wanted him to escape, to forget, to live. He wanted him to find someone else, someone new, to make him happy, who understood and forgave. Maybe one day he’d tell this new person about the old one, the one who had been sacrificed to get him there.

There was only one regret he had. The one thing they’d sworn never to say, he wished he had said. And he wished he had heard it in return.

I promise, if I make it out of this, the first thing I’ll do when I escape - when, not if - is find you and tell you that I lo-

He was yanked out of his thoughts by hands grabbing him, lifting him. One last tear rolled down his face, into his hairline. He took a deep breath, one of his last. He felt ready to die. He didn’t mind dying, not for this reason.

He wondered, vaguely, how he would go. Would it be a bullet? Fire? Knife? Poison?

It was none of those things.

He was placed inside a large wooden box. His hands were easily tied behind his back with what felt like silky ropes, and his ankles were forced together with the same material. A cloth gag was placed in his mouth, securely fastened around his head. He blinked slowly, confusion evident on his face. This wasn’t how this was supposed to go.

Somewhere above him, the Jeweler stood, seen through flashes of dark hair and pale skin, sparkling teeth and bright eyes. He reached down into the box to cup his cheek, stroking a smooth thumb over his skin, pressing lightly into a blooming bruise there.

“Just a bit beat up, right, sugar?” he said, almost.. gently? “By the time you get there, you’ll be nearly back to full health, I dare say.” There? Where was there? “Just close your eyes now, and stay calm, alright? You’re doing such a good job here, making me a wonderful sum along with a new business associate. You’ve really been the perfect Jewel for me, sugar.”

The hand withdrew, and he almost found himself missing the warmth of it when the light above him was cut off, something large being placed over the top of the box. It wasn’t until a painfully loud whirring sound started that he realized that it was the lid, and it was being drilled down, secure and unable to be broken.

Then the box was being lifted into the air and he went rolling as much as he could, unable to stop himself due to his restrained limbs. There was a hard thump and he banged his head against the side of the box, immediately losing consciousness.

When he woke up next, he was still in the box. It seemed like it was in some sort of plane, gliding smoothly through the air, occasionally tilting to one side or the other. He breathed in a ragged breath, most of his memories coming back to him. As he struggled to pull himself up into somewhat of a sitting position, he remembered three things, three very important things:

One. His name was Carnelian. He’d all but forgotten the name he had before that. The name that mattered was Carnelian.

Two. He was supposed to be dead, but he wasn’t. Instead, he was being sold, shipped off to God knows where, to God knows who.

Three. He had to get back to Sapphire. He had to find the love of his life again, rescue him and tell him that he loved him.

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ddaengtae · 3 years

Text

in the in-between || bbh

pairing: byun baekhyun x reader

genre: friends to lovers, new year’s eve!au, slight angst, fluff

word count: 7.4k

summary: you had never been a fan of new year’s eve. something about the illusion that once the clock struck midnight, the past would be behind you and everything would change for the better never sat right with you because it never turned out to be true. yet every year, the holiday provided a sense of false hope that maybe this year, things would be different. maybe this year things would change between you and baekhyun for once and for all.

a/n: well i finally pushed myself to write something after nearly 5 months and the result turned out to be none of my initial ideas and very mild compared to what i’ve written before. not totally content w it but it is progress and it is complete!! it’s been a bit so my writing is a little rusty, but happy new year everyone and i hope you enjoy. :)

There had always been something rather paradoxical about the concept of celebrating the brink of a New Year to you. The night of New Year’s Eve itself was at conflict with itself; the idea was to cheers to leaving the past behind, but doing so often led to much indulging in nostalgic memories of the exact year that everyone was aching to leave behind. The premise had always been to throw one last grand celebration to celebrate the accomplishments of the past 365 days and drown out all of the past sorrows with some deafening music and a bit too much to drink. After one last hurrah surrounded by the ones you love most and an alcohol coma bound to keep you knocked out until the next afternoon, the blanket assumption was that all would start anew and everyone would at last conquer their greatest fears and commence accomplishing all of the things that they had been putting on hold for far too long.

Yet every year it felt like a sham to you. Too many January 1sts had you woken up with a mind-numbing hangover and the overall sense that despite all you had pledged to change the night before, everything still felt precisely as it had in the previous year. Sure, you and everyone around you would follow their lackluster resolutions of going to the gym more or eating healthier for a month or so, but once the pressure and urgency died down, so did the effort. In the end, there was no substantial change. It was almost like being stuck in a gridlock; despite wanting out and craving for something more, you could never bring yourself out of the stalemate. Maybe your typical resolutions were too safe. Maybe you were just too secure remaining in the cozy comfort zone you had resided in for most of your life. Regardless of reasoning, New Year’s Eve had always felt like a sort of in-between dimension; a place where both the past and future existed both at peace and in conflict of each other for just one night, and a space where they both could be deemed as of the utmost importance or a pointless memory of the past.

“If your New Year’s resolution is to be the life of the party, you’re going to be off to a bad start,” a sarcastic chide and a bubbly laugh broke you out of your lonesome philosophical pondering. It was only once a shoulder was playfully nudged against your own bare arm that you snapped out of your trance and realized that you had been standing in the abandoned kitchen for long enough to be noticeable, cradling a half-downed glass of champagne in one hand and your cracked cell phone in the other. It was only then that you noticed Baekhyun popping your personal bubble and bringing you back to reality.

Baekhyun. How ironic for it to be him of all people to interrupt your contradictory New Year’s Eve stupor when your relationship with him was perhaps the best analogy of all for your perspective on the holiday. The pair of you had felt an immediate connection upon being placed in the same orientation group your freshman year of college years prior; the effortless way your personalities molded together and the jokes bounced back and forth nearly diminished all of your anxiety of fitting in and making friends in a new environment. From that day forward, the two of you, as well as the extended group of friends you accumulated with time, stuck together through failed tests, heartbreaks, job offers, and all of the other highs and lows of life as confused university students. Miraculously, you had made it to graduation in one piece and both managed to land jobs and apartments in the same university city along with many of your other friends. Miraculously, the two of you were still friends. Just friends.

The dynamic of your relationship with Baekhyun, like New Year’s Eve, always existed as a sort of in-between. What it was in between, that you were not completely sure of. One thing was for certain: you were friends and always had been. Friends who could tell each other just about anything. Friends who helped each other pick out their outfits for the night, and then assisted one another in getting out of them if one of you happened to have a bit too much to drink that night. Friends who stared at each other, perhaps longingly, for just too long when they thought the other wasn’t looking. Friends who joked around and touched each other constantly in a way that could only be described as flirting. Friends who had “accidentally” kissed-- nay, made out-- more than once when under the influence. Friends, but also not just friends. Not just friends, but not anything more than friends. It was yet another frustrating in-between that had never been resolved over the years, and one that you believed at this point never would be.

Downing the rest of your glass of room temperature champagne, you placed the empty cup down on the kitchen counter of Baekhyun’s apartment and raised an eyebrow at the bleach-blonde-haired boy beside you. “Well, if it’s your resolution to be more obnoxious and invasive of my space, then congrats. It’s not even midnight yet and you’re already off to a great start.”

Letting out a scoff, Baekhyun turned to face the counter and slowly re-filled your empty champagne glass with one of the many opened bottles remaining on the counter. It was evident from his shaky hands and the way the liquid splashed over the rim of the glass that he too had already had quite a bit to drink. “I haven’t been able to talk to you all night and now that I am, you choose violence? In my own home? Disrespectful.”

Offering him a half smirk, you reached to ruffle his hair with your free hand. “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.”

“Oh, the heat?” Baekhyun’s lips twitched upward and his smirk was soon matching your own. “Is it because you’re hot? Because I can get behind that.”

Rolling your eyes, you tried to ignore the heat rising to your cheeks as you shoved his shoulder with the heel of your hand. It was the alcohol causing your flush, you told yourself. There was no need to feel flustered by his meaningless flirtation after all of this time. “You’re unbearable.”

Baekhyun flashed you a toothy grin, his eyes remaining on yours just long enough to make you feel even more jittery. There seemed to be a sense of warmth, or even admiration, in his eyes as he stared at you, his once beaming expression slowly morphing into a more pensive one. “Mmm, maybe I am.” Reaching forward, he nonchalantly-- too nonchalantly-- tucked a stray strand of hair behind your ear. “No, but I’m actually curious. Do you have any resolutions this year?”

All you wanted to do was melt into the warm touch of his hand as it brushed against your cheek, but it was gone before you could indulge too deep into that fantasy. Pursing your lips, you crossed your arms over your chest and shrugged. “Nothing out of the ordinary. Probably just the usual… Make more time for the gym, be more organized… Stuff like that.”

Clearly not impressed with the cookie-cutter answer you provided him with, Baekhyun shook his head as he retrieved one of the nearly-full bottles of champagne off of the countertop and took a swig directly from the source. “I don’t mean that sort of resolution. I mean the type that you tell yourself deep down, the important type, that you usually don’t tell anyone.”

Of course that’s what he meant. And of course you had thought of one, but it struck a little too close to home to feel completely comfortable sharing. It struck a little too close to him.

Wanting to stall for more time and also needing to make your nerves less obvious to the boy standing in front of you, you tilted your head to the side. “What do you mean? Can you give me an example?”

Placing the glass bottle back on the counter, Baekhyun stared down at his feet for a few moments before nodding his head. By the way his teeth dug into his lower lip you almost would have sworn he looked nervous, but the expression was gone before you could dwell upon it and overthink as you always did. It was only once he urged you closer and leaned towards your ear that you realized just how loud the music and other voices were booming in the adjacent room and just how close the pair of you were despite the kitchen being quite spacious. He leaned in as if though he feared that others would hear him, but you were aware that such a thing would be impossible with the volume in the other room. Instead, his warm body barely grazing against yours and his breath against your ear created a feeling of intimacy that had your stomach in knots. Clearly his throat, he slowly spoke, “Yeah, I have one. It’s kind of a lot… But it’s to be more open and honest with the people around me.” He paused for a moment, his fingers mindlessly playing with the hem of your shirt as his hand rested just above your hip. “I’ve started to come to terms with the fact that I tend to use humor to cover up my real emotions a lot, and I think it’s fucked up the potential of a lot of great things for me.”

Well that was a lot more than you expected. Despite your mind telling you to stop and that it wouldn’t be healthy, you found yourself instantly trying to pick apart the possible deeper implications behind his words. What potentially great things was he referring to? He tended to joke around with you a lot, even in serious situations, so could this possibly have anything to do with you? Baekhyun had always been the straightforward type when it came to most of his relationships, so although it was highly unlikely, you found yourself fixated on the possibility of his resolution existing because of you. A girl-- especially one with champagne flowing through her veins-- could dream for a moment.

Realizing that you had remained silent for perhaps a bit too long, you at last nodded your head and smiled slightly. “I think it’s great that you recognize that about yourself and want to work on it. I love your humor, but you shouldn’t let it get in the way of anything important.” Pausing for a moment, you realized that it was now your turn to share. After Baekhyun’s deep and honest confession, it was only fair that you told him yours. Another hefty sip of champagne reassured you that the tipsy boy standing in front of you would never read too deep into your resolution and realize that it applied to him. “Well, my main one is probably to be a bit bolder and to stop letting my fears hold me back. It’s kind of like yours but instead of humor, it’s just me constantly getting in my head and talking me out of pursuing what could be some incredible things that I’m missing out on. I would hate to live my life and find out later that some of the peop-- things-- I want in life could have been easily attainable if I had just been brave for like… A few seconds.”

If your eyes hadn’t been so busy tracing the tiles on the kitchen floor, maybe you would have noticed the look of absolute adoration in Baekhyun’s eyes as he stared at your face as you spoke. It was only once his arms engulfed you in a warm hug and his chin pressed against the top of your head that you were snapped back into the present moment. “Thank you for trusting me with that,” he mumbled into your hair, his proximity never being something you could grow accustomed to. “Just know that I’ll always be here for you to push you through your fears.” After a brief pause, he pulled back to examine your face, a warm smile stretched across his lips as his hands remained clenched around your arms. “I mean, you’re not afraid of me, right?”

He could not have picked a more ironic question to ask if he had tried. It took every ounce of control remaining in your drunken system to force down the laugh that threatened to push through your glossed lips. Were you afraid of him? Of course not. Were you afraid of exposing your feelings to him and having it ruin everything you two had created over the years? Absolutely terrified. Maybe you would tell him eventually. Maybe you would follow through with the true intent behind your resolution in the new year, but for now, you were for once enjoying the in-betweenness of the holiday because it simply meant that you would not have to address your fears just yet. Instead, for now, you allowed yourself to respond, “Of course not, Baek. You’re like a… Marshmallow.”

Baekhyun feigned offense and gently pushed you away from him. “A marshmallow? Of all things... Are you trying to tell me that I should add working out more to my resolutions?”

The anxiety finally washed away for a moment as you giggled at his baffled expression, shaking your head. “No, no. It’s just the first least-threatening thing that came to mind.”

“Oh, I can be threatening.” Puffing out his chest, he made a valiant effort to flex his muscle through his rather thick sweater. When he earned another giggle from you, his eyes shifted over to the other much-more-lively room. “Well, now that we’ve shared our deepest, darkest secrets for the night, will you please accompany me back into the real party? It’s painful without you in there.”

Glancing over your shoulder, you grimaced as you caught sight of Chanyeol attempting to shotgun a beer like he was still in college, and groaning as much of the liquid splattered over his white t-shirt. Shaking your head, you turned back to Baekhyun. “I’ll meet you in there in a few minutes… It’s only 10:30 anyway.”

Instead of simply nodding and leaving you to your own devices, Baekhyun remained still, except for his eyes that studied your expression. After leaving you to awkwardly sway from foot to foot and swallow the nervous lump in your throat, he at last verbalized his thoughts. “You never liked New Year’s Eve, huh?”

Blinking in surprise, it was your turn to become completely frozen in place. Sure, he was right, but you had never vocalized your distaste for the holiday. Additionally, you always believed you did a stand-up job at making all of your friends believe that you were having the time of your life each year. Sure, you would sneak out to the kitchen to catch a breather a few times, but you always ensured you were smiling and keeping up with the crowd when it came to socializing and drinking. It unnerved you that despite your best efforts, Baekhyun still managed to see through the facade. What else did he know about you that you thought you had kept secret?

Sucking in a sharp breath, you decided to be honest. “I mean, you’re not wrong… I’m just surprised you noticed.”

Pressing his tongue into the inside of his cheek, he nodded slowly. “You do this thing where you smile wider when you’re sad, but it doesn’t reach your eyes. I’ve noticed it happens a lot on this day.”

The sincerity of his words had the lump you had just swallowed returning back to its righteous spot in your throat. The fact that he had noticed such a subtle habit of yours and thought about it enough to connect it to how you were feeling had you feeling oddly emotional, but you refused to let it show. Instead, you decided to use Baekhyun’s own coping mechanism against him to carry on, even if it would internally resurrect some of your past feelings of jealousy and sadness. “I have no idea how you would even notice that… You’re usually shoving your tongue down someone’s throat at midnight or passed out in a drunken slumber on the floor before the ball even drops.” To your relief, you were able to force a quiet laugh through your lips.

“Stoppp. I’m not usually like that.” Baekhyun visibly cringed at your words, lifting a hand to cover half of his face in shame. When you raised an eyebrow at him, he dropped his hand and gently grabbed one of your own. “But I’m serious. You’re my top priority and I want my top priority to be happy.”

“I am happy,” you replied a bit too quickly, giving his hand a squeeze before dropping it in fear that he would feel the perspiration on your palm. Keeping his recent words in mind, you twisted your lips into a smile and squinted your eyes a bit in hopes he would mistake your expression as genuine. “And I want you to be happy too, so let’s go enjoy the party.”

“Lead the way.”

Somewhere around 11:40, you lost Baekhyun. After a rather enjoyable hour of catching up with old friends and consuming your body weight in food and alcohol, the blonde-haired boy slipped away through the dozens of people until he was out of your sight. It wasn’t supposed to be a big deal; the two of you had separated numerous times within the hour to indulge in conversations with other people or to grab refreshments.

It wasn’t supposed to be a big deal, but the closer the clock ticked to midnight, the more you found yourself preoccupied with Baekhyun’s absence. With each minute that passed, you became more and more frustrated with yourself for being so fixated on the lack of his presence despite being in the middle of a lively party surrounded by so many of your other loved ones. Sure, Chanyeol and a couple of your other girlfriends had also gone missing, but all you could focus on was where Baekhyun had gone. This wasn’t the first New Year’s Eve he had disappeared shortly before the new year rolled around. In fact, as you sat alone on the couch as everyone around you counted down from ten, you were overwhelmed with a sense of sickening deja-vu.

As loud cheers and embraces of arms and lips around you signalled that it was at last midnight, it was then that you decided that this moment was why you despised the holiday so much. It was the in-betweenness of New Year’s Eve that allowed you to hold onto an imagination of false hope that perhaps, things would be different this year. Maybe at last the drive for a new beginning would thrust you out of the in-between stalemate that you had existed in for so long and propel you to confront all of the things your fears had been preventing you from doing for so long. However, as the ball dropped and the television screen filled with fireworks and confetti, you were reminded of your solitary state and that the holiday was simply a superficial deception of change. The state of in-between was no longer and you were pushed back to square one.

“You alright?” a quiet voice broke you out of your trance. Sat beside you on the couch was a concerned-looking Kyungsoo with an empty glass of wine resting on his thigh.

Clearing your throat, you nodded your head and curled your lips into a half-smile for your friend. “Yeah, just sleepy. I think I’m going to head out soon.”

Scanning you up and down more than once as if to assess the truthfulness behind your statement, he at last nodded and rose to his feet, extending a hand out to you. “Me too. I’ll walk back with you.”

Hesitating for just a moment, you eventually reached for his hand and allowed him to pull you into a standing position. While you would have preferred to endeavor on the short walk back to your apartment building alone, you knew your friends would kill you if they found out you were all alone so late and that it would be much safer to do so accompanied by someone else. Besides, Kyungsoo lived in the same building and he was also the least likely to probe you with too many questions or unnecessary conversation.

The two of you fell into a common rhythm of saying your goodbyes to your friends and grabbing your belongings before meeting at the door. After one last glance over your shoulder to see if Baekhyun had reemerged to no avail, you nodded your head at Kyungsoo to signal that you were ready to go. With one last wave, you shut the door behind you and the loud music and voices were at last a muffled thing of the past.

After escaping the apartment building, you and Kyungsoo fell into a comfortable cadence, the speed of your strides matched in urgency due to the crisp winter air biting at the parts of your skin that were exposed after being enveloped in a warm space for so long. A relaxed yet curious silence settled over you two; while you were friendly enough with Kyungsoo to know that he resented unnecessary small talk, you couldn’t help but notice the way he kept glancing at you out of the corner of your eye as if though to check that you were alright.

The collective quiet lingered all the way until you paced inside your shared apartment complex, brushing the dusting of snow off of your arms as you followed Kyungsoo into the elevator. Once it began to ascend, Kyungsoo asked, “Do you want to talk about it?”

Pretending to be occupied with unzipping your winter coat, you avoided his concerned stare. Although you were well aware that the attentive boy would see right through you, you still feigned ignorance and responded, “Talk about what?”

A stifled laugh slipped through Kyungsoo’s lips as he shook his head at you. “You know what I’m talking about, Y/N…” Reaching over, he brushed a speck of remaining snow off of your shoulder. “I’m not saying that you have to talk about it with me, but it hasn’t seemed to do you too much good keeping it in for all this time.”

Finally allowing yourself to meet his eyes, you let out a breath you hadn’t even noticed you were holding in. Kyungsoo knew about your feelings for Baekhyun. You had drunkenly confessed your deepest secrets to him at one of your wine and movie nights last year, to which the pensive boy merely smiled and told you that it was ‘obvious.’ He had done an honorable job at keeping your secret thus far, only urging you every once in a while to set your fears aside and go for it (obviously without much success). Shaking your head, you crossed your arms over your chest as the elevator came to a halt at your floor. “If it was going to happen at this point, it would’ve already happened a long time ago.”

“I don’t think that’s true,” he objected, extending his arm to hold open the elevator door for you. “You can’t expect things to happen if you’re not straightforward.” Ah, the ever so logical Kyungsoo was back at it again.

“That’s easy enough for you to say,” you huffed, stuffing your hands into the pockets of your coat as you stepped out of the elevator. “Don’t worry about me… I’ll be fine.”

“I mean, you especially have to be direct when you’re dealing with someone who is as big of a dumbass as Baekhyun is.” Kyungsoo smirked to himself, obviously amused by his own jab at his long-time friend. His hand remained on the opening of the elevator as he watched you exit from inside. “But seriously, are you alright?”

Stepping into the dim light of the hallway, you playfully rolled your eyes at him and nodded your head. “Yes, I’m alright. Goodnight, Kyungsoo.”

“Okay, okay. Goodnight, Y/N.” With one last smile and wave, Kyungsoo allowed the elevator to close and left you alone with your incessant thoughts.

As you walked down the foyer toward your apartment at the end of the hallway, you couldn’t help but scoff at the tacky ‘new year, new me’ sign surrounded by confetti obnoxiously plastered onto one of your neighbor’s doors, vibrations of loud music emitting from under their door.

There was nothing new at all about this year. While the passing of the eve also swept away the hope that comes along with the in-betweenness of the day, it dawned upon you that maybe some things just weren’t meant to be and that perhaps moving on would be the only way to officially break out of the stalemate you had been stuck in for far too long.

It wasn’t clear how long you had been asleep for. One moment you were in the blissful world of your dreams atop your plush cloud of the bed, and the next you were suddenly jolted awake by a ceaseless banging noise seemingly coming from outside of your apartment. When you were finally brought back to your senses, the light splashing through the blinds suggested that you had in fact been asleep for much longer than you originally believed. The moment your eyes landed on the clock on your nightstand and saw the numbers ‘11:44am’ etched into the clock, you shot to your feet and were confronted with your unruly appearance in the mirror. Sure, you had managed to take a shower and change before you climbed into bed the night prior, but the disheveled state of your hair proposed that it had been a rocky night of sleep.

The banging at the door, which you were finally able to identify was coming from outside of your door, continued and shook you further out of your tired fog. Who the fuck needed to see you so urgently right now? Sure it was nearly noon, but in your defense, you hadn’t remembered making plans with anyone and New Year’s Day was an internationally recognized hangover-recovery day.

Letting out a huff, you slipped the pair of sweatpants hanging off the side of your bed over your underwear-clad legs and threw your mess of a hair into a bun on the top of your head before stomping out of your room and towards the entrance of your apartment. Without bothering to look through the peephole, you swung the door open with a frustrated pull.

There before you stood a flustered-looking Baekhyun, a tray holding two coffees held in one palm and a box of what you deemed to be doughnuts balanced on that same arm. His other hand was still raised in a fist as if he was about to pound on the door once more. When he finally registered that you had opened the door and acknowledged his presence, his lips twisted upward into a small small. A smile that almost looked embarrassed… Or nervous. “Hi, Y/N.”

Raising an eyebrow, you rubbed your eyes and scanned him up and down once more. What the fuck was he doing here? There was no way that you two had made plans and you had already forgotten. You knew you weren’t that drunk when you were in his presence last night. God, if it was your plan to get over him this year, you certainly were not off to a good start. “Uh, come in…” you finally said, opening the door a bit wider and beckoning him with a nod of your head to follow you. Once he followed you into the kitchen and set his belongings down on the counter, you crossed your arms over your chest and turned to him. “Not to be rude… But also kind of to be rude… What are you doing here?”

“Well, I texted you and tried to call you like ten times to let you know that I would be stopping by, but somebody didn’t answer.” Shrugging his jacket off of his shoulders, he occupied himself with hanging it on the back of one of the chairs. “I brought coffee and doughnuts… I bumped into Kyungsoo in the lobby and he stole one of them, but I made sure he didn’t take any of the chocolate ones because I know those are your favorite.”

Keeping your eyes on him as you slowly opened the box and picked out one of the chocolate glazed doughnuts, you tried to study the unreadable expression on his face. Something was off. He usually exuded an almost childlike glow and enthusiasm that radiated through his body language and words, but it was absent at the moment. Instead, the way his eyes refused to meet yours and the way he was rocking back and forth on his heels made you think that something was wrong. After taking a bite of the doughnut, you wiped your mouth with the back of your hand. “Okay, thank you. Now tell me why you’re really here.” You glanced back down at the opened box of doughnuts. “This feels like some sort of weird sympathy gift before you give someone before you tell them that their dog died or something.”

Baekhyun hesitantly took a seat at the table, his eyes meeting your curious ones for a quick second before they flitted back down to his hands. “I don’t know… I kind of felt bad for losing you last night. Jongdae pulled me away because he knew I was the only one who would take care of Chanyeol puking his brains out, and before I knew it, I had missed the ball dropping and when I finally got Yeol into bed and came back out you were already gone.”

That was it? Furrowing your brow, you offered him a small smile. “Baek, it’s no big deal. We’ve rarely ever been together when it hits midnight in the past anyway.”

“But I wanted to be with you.”

You would be lying if you said his simple statement didn’t send a swarm of butterflies to your stomach that ignited a sort of fire in your insides. You knew you shouldn’t have allowed yourself to interpret his words in such a way, but you couldn’t help it. It was definitely going to take more than one day of the new year to push your feelings aside. Instead of showing any emotion, you solely asked him, “Why?”

Baekhyun’s eyes remained fixated on the clock on the microwave behind your head as you took a seat in the chair beside him. His demeanor was so unlike his usual self; you were so used to him being direct. “I thought a lot about what you said.”

Another cryptic answer could only yield another vague question. “What did I say?”

“Just about your resolution and how you’ve never liked New Year’s Eve. I was thinking about that a lot.”

Now it was your turn to feel uneasy. Picking a small piece off of your doughnut, you rolled the object between your thumb and index finger to avoid meeting his gaze that was finally set on you. “Why were you thinking about that?”

Taking a drawn out sip from his iced coffee, Baekhyun shrugged his shoulders. Despite the gesture anticipating to come off as nonchalant, the boy’s disposition was still rather timid. “I want to know why you don’t like it.” His eyes lost yours again, moving back to the clock behind your head. What the fuck was so interesting about the clock? “And I want you to be honest.”

The tension in the air between the pair of you had you wanting to rise out of your chair and lock yourself in your bedroom. You knew you couldn’t do that, and you knew he would see right through you if you provided him with some conventional answer of why you didn’t like the holiday. Instead of opting to do either of those things, you chose to be honest. Honest, but in a way that didn’t include him in the narrative. “I don’t know… I guess I’ve just always seen it as some sort of facade of an in-between dimension. The whole point of the day is to leave all of the troubles of the past year behind and it gives off this sort of false hope that things are going to be drastically better and different when the clock strikes midnight, but it’s all an illusion. So I guess it’s kind of just like any other day except it exists as sort of neither the past or the future, but it’s the false hope that comes along with it that usually makes me sad.”

“An in-between,” Baekhyun repeated, nodding his head. He bobbed his head in a manner that suggested not only that he agreed with your words, but that he may have even anticipated you saying them. Without missing another beat, he murmured, “So kind of like us.”

Sucking in a sharp breath, the remnants of the doughnut remaining in your mouth shot down your throat, sending you into a coughing fit. “W-What?”

Baekhyun hesitated for a moment, mindlessly twirling the straw around his plastic iced coffee cup. “You heard me.”

Taking a long sip of your beverage to clear your throat of any stray doughnut crumbs, you blinked a few times in disbelief as you stared at the boy sitting next to you. How the fuck had he read your mind? And why was he bringing this up right now? There was absolutely no way he understood the weight of his words, and there was no safe way for you to respond to what you thought he might be implying. Instead, you played it safe, asking, “What do you mean by that?”

“I think you know what I mean… Or at least I hope you do.” Baekhyun’s nervous brown eyes met yours for a moment. The only sound filling the room was that of your heartbeat pounding in your chest, and the anxious tapping of his foot on the wooden floor. “I think you should put that resolution of yours to use though and tell me what you think I mean.”

Your resolution. The one where you had told him you needed to stop letting your fears hold you back from the things you wanted, and that sometimes just a few seconds of bravery could possibly lead to drastic changes in your life. That was certainly the one he was referring to, it was just a matter of you putting your words into action less than twelve hours into the new year. You knew there was a chance you were reading his body language wrong and that this could go horribly wrong. However, in the moment, the want for something more to push you out of the in-between and Kyungsoo’s advice that nothing would change unless you were more direct proved to be stronger.

“You’re saying we’re also like an in-between because while we’re definitely friends by label, a lot of the things we do makes it feel like we’re more than that… But because we’ve never talked about it, we’re stuck in a sort of in-between state of friends and something more than friends…” After pausing for a moment, you lost total control over the words escaping your lips. “So if what you’re saying is that New Year’s Eve makes me sad because it reminds me of us, you’re right.”

You weren’t sure precisely how you were expecting Baekhyun to respond to your unexpected confession, but it certainly wasn’t him putting his face in his hands and letting out a loud groan. “God, I hate it when Kyungsoo is right. Even Jongin was right. Jongin. I’m such a fucking dumbass.”

Clearing your throat awkwardly, you stared down at your lap and sucked in a deep breath in an effort to decrease the accelerated speed of your heart. You wished he would say something more. In fact, you needed him to elaborate or else you wished the floor would swallow you up right then and there. “Oh…?”

“Y/N…” The sound of the legs of his chair grinding against the floor interrupted his unusually quiet voice for just a moment. Within a moment, his knees knocked against yours and a shaky hand found shelter beneath your chin, urging your head upward. “I’ve been so caught up in my own fears of you rejecting me that I usually spend every New Year’s Eve drinking until I black out before midnight the years you’ve been with another guy so I don’t need to see you kiss somebody else at midnight, or making out with another random girl in an attempt to make myself feel better and forget about you. It never worked. It never will work because I’m a dumbass and I have been so disgustingly and blindly in love with you that I’ve been too scared or too stupid to consider that just maybe you felt the same way.”

It was in that exact moment that you felt as if though you finally understood what people meant when they said their hearts are full. With each word that Baekhyun spoke and each absentminded stroke of his thumb across your cheek, you were sure that yours was about to burst; burst from knowing that all of the pain and longing had been without a purpose, and burst yet again for how much love you had to offer the boy sitting before you. If you hadn’t been so well-rested and used to being cautious for so long, you probably would’ve thrown your arms around him and burst into tears.

It was also in that moment that you felt a drastic shift in the energy between the two of you. No longer were you trapped in the longing and sadness of the in-between. No longer did you have to wonder ‘what if’ or if your deepest feelings were reciprocated. The vulnerability plastered across his face washed away all of the doubts you had been carrying around and beating you down for too long. He wanted you and you wanted him. The curse, that torturous trap, had been broken. The in-between was no longer.

“You’re right,” you at last vocalized, unable to bite back the exuberant smile toying at the corners of your lips. Reaching up, you gently rested your palm on top of the outside of his hand on your cheek. “You are a dumbass.”

Baekhyun blinked a few times, almost as if he didn’t believe the words that left your mouth. His body froze for a moment, but when he noticed the genuine joy spread across your face, he instantly relaxed and his smile grew to match your own. “I just poured out my heart to you and that’s all you have to say to me?” he whined, lowering his arms to wrap around your waist and tugging you onto his lap. “I already had to hear that from Kyungsoo on my way up here. I told him that I was probably going to chicken out and then he asked me for a doughnut. I thought he just wanted something to eat, but instead he threw it at my head and told me I’d be a total dumbass if I waited any longer.” Glancing up for a moment, he ruffled his messy blonde hair. “There’s probably still some frosting in my hair.”

“He called you a dumbass to me just last night, so at least he’s consistent.” Wrapping your arms around his neck, you giggled to yourself as you eased a small clump of strawberry frosting out of his hair. Once you were able to settle comfortably on his thighs, you allowed your eyes to meet his alluring stare. “Baekhyun, I love you more than you could ever know and I am just as much of a dumbass for not telling you sooner and believing that my feelings would just disappear.”

If you hadn’t believed him before, the look of sheer infatuation in his eyes as he smiled at you wiped your slate clean of any remaining worries or doubts you had. The love overtaking his features almost had you feeling embarrassed for ever thinking that he didn’t love you in the way that you loved him. It had always been crystal clear. No wonder why all of your friends were constantly urging you to confess to each other and that the chances of rejection were nonexistent. No wonder why your friends had even told you that it would be impossible for you to love someone as deeply as you loved Baekhyun.

Playing with the hair on the back of his head, you leaned forward to comfortably rest your forehead against his. “So can I kiss you now? For real this time? Or if I do, are you going to say ‘nice work, team’ and give me a bro fist bump like you did last time?” you teased, bringing up an unfortunate memory of the past, earning a groan and a visible cringe from Baekhyun.

“I panicked and I choked in the worst way possible. You should know that I still wake up in a cold sweat some nights because that absolutely haunts me.” He let out a breathy chuckle, nudging the tip of his nose against yours. “And you can. We just have to wait a minute.”

Furrowing your brow in confusion, you tilted your head to the side. “Wait a minute? For what? We’ve been waiting years.”

“You’re going to laugh.” Baekhyun chewed on his lower lip, a bashful blush smearing itself across the apples of his cheeks.

“Tell meeee.”

Puffing out his flushed cheeks, his hands slipped under the hem of your shirt to rest on the warmth of your lower back. “While I was tossing and turning last night, I came up with this grand plan that if everything worked out, I was going to kiss you at exactly 12 o’clock noon as a sort of recreation of what I wasn’t able to do last night and all the midnights before. Now that I’m saying it out loud, it’s even cringier than I originally thought and I’m emb--”

“Well, did everything work out?” you cut him off with your question, peering over your shoulder to take note of the time on the microwave clock that Baekhyun had been so preoccupied with just shortly before.

“Well, yes…”

“Then count down from ten.”

A knowing smile consumed Baekhyun’s lips as he began to murmur the countdown in unison with you. With each number, your voices became just an ounce quieter. With each murmur, your faces moved closer in proximity. All of the tension and anticipation that had built up over the years existed as a bubble bound to be popped in the minimal space remaining between your lips.

“And 1…”

Baekhyun decided to take initiative once the last number was uttered, a firm hand gripping the back of your head and nudging your face forward until your lips crashed against his. After the initial urgency of clamouring lips and teeth wore off, your lips and bodies molded together and fell into a mutual rhythm that burst the bubble of fears and replaced it with intense fervor. While your kiss may not have been accompanied with the same boisterous fireworks and confetti that those who kissed at midnight experienced, it didn’t matter; the awakening of all of your senses from your head to toe ignited a fire inside of you that was brighter and louder than any holiday celebration could ever be.

Neither of you had to ask what all of this meant for the two of you when you at last pulled away; there was simply a sense of mutual understanding that the stalemate had been broken.

At last, you were no longer trapped in the in-between.

At last, you were home.

#baekhyun x reader #baekhyun imagine #exo imagine #baekhyun fic #baekhyun writing #baekhyun fluff #baekhyun angst #exo fic #exo scenario #baekhyun x you #exo #baekhyun #ddaengtae

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danddymaro · 4 years

Text

Temptation | Claude Faustus x Reader

This is the original [ HERE ]

It is pretty different and changed up. Heck, now that I'm re-reading both , I kind of don’t recognize much of the original. I like this one more, since its more recent and edited. I had actually written that one when I was younger and posted it up much later on that site... but I feel like I’ve done better now, like I’ve vastly improved. I guess cause I like having more details now, Idk about anyone else.

Thoughts are italics in quotations = ‘Example’

Flashbacks are in italics = Example

Word Count : 6335

Temptation

"Don't cry..." she cooed softly, all whilst petting the young boy, her hand gently running over his blonde, silken hair, combing it down with her small raking fingers to soothe him.

"Shh...it'll be alright young master," she assured him, her voice sweet, almost saccharine as she spoke to him, "I'm here...I’m here... And I'll always be here," she said yet again, repeating the words over and over, chanting them to him in a low, melodic tune that only she could produce.

- And it wasn’t just for that night she had made such a proclamation...

To always be there; to never leave him...

‘Never leave me...Never abandon me (f/n),’ He thought to himself, silently ordering her.

She so often assured him there was nothing in the world more important to her than he was, feeding the desperate young boy with everything he wanted to hear, not because it served to her benefit, but because he needed it.

-Because she truly loved him.

"It's so dark..." Alois whispered back to her as she sat on the large bed with him, satin sheets draped over both of them as they stayed huddled close together.

He had insisted she crawl in there with him, and of course, she wouldn’t dare dismiss his request, not when his blue eyes were nothing but melted ice, overflooding, and momentarily causing streams of sorrow down his young face.

His arms then wrapped around her with a sudden quickness, surprising her enough to put a halt to the gentle strokes she had provided on the fair-haired youth.

“It’s so dark...” He said again as he clung to her tighter, his face pressed against her left breast like the needy brat he was.

At his desperate hold, she too held him close, quickly coming down from the light start he had given her, holding him tightly against her and keeping his trembling body near her.

‘I see....it is expected,’ She mused to herself.

"The darkness is what you fear the most, yes master?" she said softly, embracing the poor child, knowing how frightened he was of not just the loud clapping sounds, but also the blackness surrounding them.

She was aware of just what the harsh sounds of chaos outside did the boy, and moreover what the lonesome void of light caused within him.

She knew him through and through, or at the very least she believed she did...

She knew what made him sorrow-filled, becoming familiar with what made him angry, as well as taking into account what unnerved him.

However, she hadn’t a clue as to what lay in his past, because he never spoke of it, but of course, she could more or less figure. She knew, of course, the world was a cruel place, and even then she was still surprised at man’s corruption where not even a child was safe.

She could put pieces together, ones that created a dreadful puzzle, one that made her weep at times.

Admittedly she had shed tears for Alois, and she wouldn't ever hide the fact, because she wasn’t ashamed to let it be known that she loved him.

‘I know what matters young Lord,’ She thought to herself, ‘ I may not know everything about you, but I don't need to...’ she added with motherly love.

‘Because that’s all that matters now...’ She reasoned, ‘ Nonetheless, I'm here now...I’m here now young master... and I won’t let you be harmed. I won’t leave you in the dark.’

“I know it is,” she voiced, “ But no worries young master,” she assured him. “You should have no worries now, not of the thunder or darkness...” she added with certainty.

“None of it...” she murmured, bringing her chin down to lay on top of his head, her eyes closing momentarily.

Meanwhile, the young boy in her arms stirred from within furthermore, '(f/n) am I wrong?’ Alois asked himself as he was embraced back, feeling her chin touch the top of his head.

‘ Do you truly care? Could you really..?' He wondered,‘ Or do you fear me instead? Do you only stay because you have no other choice as well?’ He continued on while his tears continued to fall,

‘Could it be...? Or am I wrong to doubt you?’

Alois Trancy always asked himself this, along with many more questions that ran along the same lines, because to his dismay, he always doubted.

The young boy always doubted.

No matter how certain he could be, he always challenged the notion that he could truly be loved, and that somehow, someone truly cared for him.

‘How could anyone really?’ he asked himself with spite directed at himself, at his tainted soul, and moreso his soiled body.

All of him was used...soiled...filthy.

‘Filthy...Filthy and unloved... I am...’ He thought with a hiccup. ‘ I am nothing more than that...’

Hearing what was the unmistakable sound of his blubbered cries accompanied by the little shiver coursing throughout his slim frame, (f/n) brought her gaze down to him, separating from him a bit in order to gaze at him properly.

She stared back at soft baby blue irises in the desperate attempt to comfort the lost, tainted soul, knowing he was suffering and fretful, well aware he was hurt more than words could ever fix.

A small, sweet smile overtook her pale-rose painted lips as she stared down at him, hoping to somehow raise one out of him.

Kind eyes, lovely, sweet and pure stared down at him, absolutely sunning him, making his heart still. They were filled with love, pure, unadulterated love he’d never received before, making his breath hitch in a notable fashion.

The way she gazed down at him, it told him she didn’t want his body. It reminded him that she didn’t want his soul either.

No... his (f/n) wanted nothing more than to give...accept...wholeheartedly devote herself to him, not because she was forced to by contract, and not because she had any hunger for him either.

‘(f/n) truly cares for me,’ he thought to himself, pushing away the thoughts of before, trying to shove them clear out the window,

‘(f/n) desires only my joy...She desires nothing more...’

He hated having to be reminded he mattered, hated needing the validation, but the truth was that the way he believed love to work was different. His mind had been warped, twisted and turned so much that it was nothing but a mess.

‘No...No...The way you look at me...’ He resisted, his glazed eyes gazing into hers, ' The way your eyes fall onto me... The way you hold onto me...’

She wordlessly challenged him, more specifically his doubtful thoughts, unknowingly giving him assurance with her (e/c) gems, giving validation to her words of promise.

He was aware of the existence of demons, the same unholy creatures which surrounded him. He knew those evils existed as his home had become nothing more than a nesting ground for the fiends.

He knew they were real, so he often asked himself if there was such a thing as angels.

Did they also exist?

He often wondered if the light lived with the darkness... if it had come down to roam free with the meager humans just as the demons had traveled from the depths of hell.

Did those holy angels exist? Or was their world just a playground for the fiends to fester and feed?

Had the humans been left to their monstrous mercy?

Had he been destined to just be pray?

As he brought his eyes back down, he lay them on the cloth over her chest, more specifically, the white apron trimmed with ruffles that followed a heart-shaped edge.

He looked on at her uniform piece, mindlessly letting his right hand reached up to the ruffled pieces, the tips of his fingers occupied with them,

‘ How different they are, ‘ he mused, a small sniffle meant to let out amusement, though very lukewarm.

If anything the action itself served more to vacuum up the snot running down his nostrils.

‘Like night and day,’ He went on.

The young Trancy maid was so different from his head butler that It wouldn’t surprise him in the least bit if she did turn out to be a divine spirit, one being the complete polar to the fiend Claude was,

‘Would you save me (f/n)? Could you be here to save me? Save me from the world?... from Claude even?... from myself if you had to?...’ he wondered idly. ‘Could you heal me?’ He wondered with a sliver of hope, knowing he was being foolish in his pondering, cringing as he heard large droplets smack his large window.

‘ Even if I were to be wrong...’ he started, ‘ I wouldn’t want to let you go. I wouldn’t want to give you up,’ he continued on, ‘ In fact, it’s meaningless to wonder, because I don’t want you to leave either way...

You could be yet another demon... you could also want my soul and I wouldn’t mind it...’

Nonetheless, he loved her still, loving her attention, loving her more than he could love anything else in the world.

‘-I’ll give you anything so long as you stay, I’ll promise you anything you wish,’ He compromised, ‘I’d break my soul in two halves...share it with you as well to feed your hunger...

I just ask that you stay...’

He could feel it in his chest, the aching he felt when he so thought of the possibility of her abandoning him.

Whether it was all some lie or not, he’d still wanted her with him.

‘Never...’ He told himself, ‘Never will I be alone...not without you or him...not without you both....’ He insisted, not being able to stomach the notion of lonesomeness.

It was then that an incredibly loud boom came from outside, making even the woman release a small sound of surprise.

Being caught off guard, her body had begun to melt by the strangely soothing sound of heavy falling rain, so when the roar erupted she couldn't hold back the alarm she felt. Meanwhile, the Trancy head’s eyes went enormously wide, a cry leaving him, nearly choking as he tried to speak,

"P-please don't let go!" He pleaded, burying his flushed face in her warm chest, trying to drown out the thunder.

Somewhere in there lay her heart, ‘Somewhere in here, it’s cradled by her...just like I want to be.’ he thought breathlessly, his heavy tears wetting her uniform even more, his nose going runny as well.

His hands clawed at her, small, thin fingers digging into her back as his grip tightened, his nails digging in, even though the cloth.

’Please keep me safe (f/n), Tuck me in near your heart, with what little space may be there... I'll take it.’

‘I’ve given you your own spot,’ He silently reminded her, knowing his heart was in two halves, one meant for her, and one meant for his butler, the same one who had yet to show face...

Something he hadn’t overlooked, because, in spite of all his wondering and fear, he couldn’t push the absence aside, " Damn it! Why isn't he here! Where's Claude?!" He demanded in anguish, which to her, sounded more like a soft, muffled plea.

It sounded weak...small.

‘ Where is he...’ the young boy wondered, ‘(f/n) your here... but where is Claude... where is he?’

Unknown to the two, the said man watched them, all with glowing interest, one that could not be truly measured, and that was unimaginable to them both. His golden eyes were both overtaken by fluorescent pink as he continued to eye them both in the manner a mischievous one would gaze at unattained decadences.

‘Sweet little treats left out for anyone to grab,’ He mused.

Both were sweet and savory little bites to take at his liking, and what was best;

Nothing would get in his way.

Nothing could stop him.

Claude licked his now dry lips, eyeing the young maid from a dark corner, watching as she embraced their young lord with a hold so fierce, one would have to tear her arms open to steal him from her.

She held him with an iron grip, one that cradled him near as though he truly was precious, as though he’d been nested within her womb at one point.

The butler knew she’d fight for him with the same ferocity he would, despite her mortality, and moreso, for reasons that were polar to his.

While to Claude he was nothing more than a meal, (f/n) saw something else.

She saw through maternal eyes that had given her a strength Claude hadn’t thought humans could come to obtain,

"It all excites me …" He said lowly, smirking at the vulnerable pair, his dark, delighted voice there for only himself to hear and reflect upon.

He watched with amusement as both the creatures jumped as the world outside flashed white, a roaring cry echoing with viciousness.

“Yes, it is indeed exciting... Madly rousing,” he said, feeling actual exhilaration, his body growing hot, the temperatures of it rising to a boiling point.

He looked all too much like a coiled serpent, waiting with glee, glimmering eyes filled with excitement as he waited for his moment to spring forward, viscously sinking its fangs onto innocent, little beings he’d make dinner out of.

They both were in his vision and interest, but only one left him truly spellbound because truth be told, everything about the woman made him go mad...feral even.

"Naughty me, wanting a treat before the main course," He snickered.

He wasn't the least bit concerned about the want he felt, because after all, it didn’t mean he couldn't have it all.

By having her, it didn’t mean he would have to give up the boy.

It was never in his plan to simply let go of something he’d already worked so hard on.

‘All the humiliation... the intolerable brat’s constant swings in between bitter and sweet...’ He thought with bitterness,

'...But of course that wavering...it does make him all the more appetizing,’ he reasoned. ‘ And it will make it all the more satisfying to see my young lord bloodied red,’ He went on.

The whimpering child's soul was appetizing, It had been his only focus, at least until a certain point.

It had been all he could focus on until she arrived.

‘And then, of course, there is you, my dear...’ He thought to himself as he continued to eye her.

“There is you my sweet (f/n)…Sweet...You’re all too sweet with that aromatic warmth... all of that tempting flavor you know nothing of,” He sighed in a daydreamed state, drunk over her tempting image.

Her soul begged to be devoured, shared with no one else, and swallowed whole by his gluttonous hunger, and all the while, he wasn’t even ashamed to admit it:

He wanted everything from her, from the soft (h/c) hair on her pretty head to that teasing, sweet soul she carried within her lovely vessel which was in every sense perfection.

She was perfection to him, pleasing every sense of his.

How he longed to ravish her pure, virgin body, run his nude fingers up and down her smooth legs before he’d have the chance to dig his sharp fangs within her silky neck.

He could smell it, she was untouched, untainted, and oh so tempting.

Never before had he felt such an overwhelming urge to completely devour a defenseless creature such as herself, not even his prior fixation on his master was in comparison, and it was indeed something for him to relish in with joy.

He was fortunate.

The day she stepped foot in the household, that single move marked her fate.

From that day forth, she was his, and his alone.

She was off-limits to the other roaming demons who he knew glared at him in spite...brewing in envy as he made another claim. He was aware he wasn’t the only one interested in her, but no one else would dare mark territory where he had plans to.

Surprisingly enough, watching her with the brat somehow made her more appealing, it made her much more delicious,

'How kind you are, how nobly sweet...’ he mused with mockery as he saw her being latched onto, no qualms on her part.

‘...No, better yet, How naïve and incredibly stupid, ' He thought darkly.

He knew she had a horrible inability to say no.

She couldn't escape out of the affection from the young boy, even if it meant living her life in servitude, even if it meant living her life in a nest of demons and possible death.

In his mind, such kindness and sympathy she demonstrated could only belong to a naïve and utterly stupid creature.

"- I'm sure he'll be here soon your highness,” (f/n) told Alois, “ I’m certain he would never abandon you," she added, lightly running her fingers through her master's silky blond hair to soothe the young male, continuing on with the tender action from before.

‘One’s heart would have to be black to leave you, ‘ She thought to herself. ‘Rotten and evil...Young master...”

"...And what about you?" He questioned unsurely, all with a quaking voice. His fingers dug into the fabric of her dress, fearing she'd leave him right then and there.

‘I know you’ve already told me,’ he reasoned, ‘ I know I may be annoying, ‘ he then thought, ‘ but please, please tell me again, once more... a million times after that as well...’

“Would you ever leave me?” he asked her, sniffling up at her.

‘ You’ve asked me so many times,’ she mused, a small shake to her head.

"I love my young master far too much to ever leave him," she said lovingly, making his heart warm and his body melt on to her furthermore.

She cherished the child, being pulled back to him, rendering her weak to the idea of disappearing from his lonesome life.

Moreover, something had drawn her to the home in its entirety, despite the cold chills she felt, despite the unease, her heart pulled her there,

‘I felt it my first day here...before the large door to this place were opened to me... before I knew what lay within these walls, All I wanted to do was to stay in what felt like home.’ She thought to herself.

‘As though a thread pulled me here, so thin...invisible to me, yet tied around my heart, controlling me every step of the way,’

The rain let out, sounds of fallen drops being the only thing still audible by then. and soon after, the lights flickered on, revealing a tall figure approaching them with slow, steady steps.

"Claude!" Exclaimed the young boy, fresh tears still running down his flushed cheeks, but none the less sounding completely elated, and just like that his eyes glowed, happily and with complete joy. He wiggled out of (f/n)’s hold, making the woman momentarily be forgotten, her own happiness evident as she watched her young master’s tears begin to cease.

"(f/n) was right! You didn't leave...." he said trailing off, furiously rubbing his puffy, tired eyes with enthusiasm.

Alois then looked at his either side to see the two people he loved the most; the two people he couldn't bear to live without.

(f/n) sat with him still, her head slightly cocked to the side as she watched him, the same warm eyes he had been staring at still there while Claude stood at the opposite end, his hand falling over his chest, beginning to kneel to him,

“ Your Highness, “ he addressed him.

They would never leave him... They could never do so...

‘I’ll never be alone again,’ He thought. ‘ With them, I'll never be lonely again,’

A soft smile made its way onto his young face, wanting to stay just as they were for all of eternity, wanting them to always look at him, always have him in mind.

Because he was their center, the path their eyes would take.

His angel and his demon, there for him...

' My Claude... and my (f/n)' he thought to himself, knowing he was safe.

With that thought aside he smirked discretely, his head lowering to hide it.

He then remembered there was something else he loved about having his (f/n) and his Claude,

Something that entertained him heavily...

'I suppose it's time for some fun,' he squealed inwardly at his favorite pass time.

He turned back to (f/n), wrapping his arms around her again, but this time purposely rubbing his face over her cushioned chest,

“(F/n),” he said happily, knowing he was being eyed by the other male.

'Oh Claude, u desperately want her...don't you?... Don't you wish you could hold her as I do?' He taunted the demon, not needing words to do so. With a single look shot towards the demon as he teased him, wordlessly toying with him.

‘ She’s always soft, she’s always warm... she’s always loving, but only to me,’ He thought to himself, a mocking, little smirk adorned.

As though he could read minds, Claude tightened his jaw, staring on with sharpness, knowing just what the boy was doing,

‘All the more reason,’ Claude started, ‘All the more reason I will enjoy swallowing you whole...Your highness.’ He swore seething.

His hands twitched at his sides, knowing he could do nothing to tear them apart, his only choice being to watch,

‘And you...’ He thought snidely, eyes glued to the woman’s smiling face as she remained unaware of the boy’s games, and much more ignorant to the demon’s possessive nature towards her.

‘You...’ He added, not knowing just what to think.

Within his mouth his pointed tongue swiveled, gliding over his sharpened teeth as they itched to bite. With a press to his left fang, he released a long exhale through his nostrils, wanting to sink the dangerous pearly white’s to her (s/c) skin.

"Your so warm...." Alois whispered softly, actually loving her coziness. All jokes aside, he really was enjoying himself.

"Your Highness...” The tall, slim butler started, struggling through the words, “Don't you think you should head back to sleep already?" Claude suggested, gritting his teeth, trying to sound pleasant as he offered the suggestion.

“It is awfully late,” he went on, eyes shooting right at the (h/c) haired young woman, his piercing golden eyes staring into hers with expectancy.

‘My dear... Darling (f/n),’ he addressed her silently, a sharp end to his own inner voice as he addressed the woman, warning in his fierce gaze as he gave her an opening for her supporting input,

“Claude is right,” (f/n) said in agreeance, her voice soft and small as she broke the connection she had with the man. Instead, she brought her focus down to the younger male, “ You need to sleep,” she told Alois, her hands both on the sides of his face, making him look up to her.

“ The storm is gone, you can now rest,” she assured him. “ And I promise you if it returns, we will come to you. “ she added with a placid smile, being tired herself as well as feeling shaken by the Trancy butler.

The young boy became entranced by her (e/c) eyes and slowly he nodded as she spoke, somewhat spellbound, having no room for opposition.

If it had been Claude he would have toyed more, played around more with his butler, but with (f/n) there wouldn’t be the same enjoyment.

There was no real satisfaction in disobeying her.

Yawning, he agreed with her, truly feeling drowsy, watching as she slipped out from the sheets.

Alois then looked up at her with large innocent eyes, his hand reaching out to capture her long skirt before she drew farther away,

“wait...” he muttered.

"(f/n)…” He started, his voice gentle and sweet, “ would please kiss me goodnight?" He asked shyly, the bashfulness being partially genuine.

As his blue eyes strayed, Alois caught sight of the demon, watching him begin to grow tense, notable stiffness in his tall frame as the question was asked.

‘Riled up are we?’ He wondered, ‘It’s truly amazing... I would have thought you looking at someone else in such a way would hurt me...’ He mused, ‘ But somehow it doesn't bother me...

Only entertains me,’ He went on.

“A kiss?” (f/n) asked with risen brows, a playful, little smile perking her up.

‘Still a child I suppose,’ She thought to herself, finding the boy’s request adorable, not at all suspicious or strange, especially with how rough of a past hour he’d had.

"Don't they say an angel's touch heals all wounds?" Alois responded in wonder, putting up a false play of a sinless child, pulling out his final move for his game.

"I'm no angel, but I will do so anyway," (f/n) responded and giggled lightly as she was shaking her head.

Placing a soft, chaste kiss on the boy's forehead, (f/n) tucked him in, leaving him with a good night's wish. She turned, ready to wish the butler the same, but found him gone already, something she found strange because he’d usually stay behind with the young lord, but this time he didn’t.

What she didn’t know was that he had left the room seconds before her lips touched the boy, not standing through the show before him.

All in all, the only reason he parted from them was that he couldn't stand the sight.

He couldn’t stand the idea of envying some child, especially for receiving something as a chaste kiss from the woman he craved.

‘That brat...’ He thought to himself, his hands balled tightly. '...That damned woman,' He went on, yet again left at a loss for words.

(f/n) quietly maneuvered throughout the dark halls in hopes of not disturbing the sleeping child with any loud noise. The last thing she wanted to do was knock something over, much less something that cost more than his own life did.

She knew calmed steps would be best, and yet, she found herself in a fast-paced walk back to her quarters.

The same odd feeling that someone was watching her made her spine tingle, her light hairs standing on end as she felt a cold shiver course through her.

It hadn't been the first time she'd felt so uneasy in the gloomish nights, and even during the sunny mornings as well.

Regularly she felt the same unease.

Occasionally, she wondered what evil lurked in the halls, what it was that watched her with such ferocity that she felt her body bare, vulnerable to anything that could be standing there in its hunt.

Before she could think twice, or even react, another body was pressed against hers, caging her between it and the hard wall. Her scream was muffled by a gloved hand, pressing over her trembling mouth.

She felt her heart race, blood pumping through her veins with a high dose of adrenaline, "Shh...now-now, although I'd absolutely love to have your screams echo throughout the halls...I have a different method...." A masculine voice muttered, voice falling so low it was deliciously husky and arousing. And she couldn’t believe it, the sound being familiar to her that there was an immediate click in her mind.

The grip on her lower face gradually loosened, enough for her to be able to speak and be understood. "C-Claude..." she stuttered shocked, never having been so close to the man, or even touched by him for that matter.

It was to such a state that there was not even an accidental brush-up she could recall until then.

"(f/n)....." he said in the same sensuous tone, practically purring in her ear, letting his hand fall from her lips, his fingers lingering over the thick flesh of her bottom lip.

'This is too much...it's all a dream...all a dream....this can't be real..!' She chanted in her head, closing her eyes tight, squeezing them close together, before opening them wide, expecting to see the roof of her bedroom there, but instead, seeing the same dark hall she had in sight before closing them.

"Pl-please! Get off of me!" she squeaked, squirming in his hold, her voice nothing but a harsh whisper at best.

He responded with a low chuckle, amused by her frail, little voice, knowing that it was much more than the unwillingness to wake their master causing her voice to fail.

He changed positions with ease, her two hands both held above her head by one of his strong ones as he pressed her back to the narrow hall's wall.

His golden eyes flickered pink, staring into hers, trapping her soul and making her go still, her entire body melting into a strange calmness she’d never experienced before.

Caught in a trance, she stood dumbfounded, watching him draw near.

‘He’s...He’s not even human,’ She thought to herself, watching as the vivid color glowed, a sort of magic certainly held within them that she relentlessly shook.

The uneasy feeling of before when she’d feel watched and preyed upon were present yet again as she was put under the glowing orb’s trap,

‘It’s been him... this whole time...’ She concluded, understanding now that what lurked within the darkness had been the seemingly perfect, beautiful butler.

The creature that gazed at her, followed her so fiercely was none other than the Trancy butler, and it took a single look from the glowing fluorescent gaze to realize it.

' I should... I should move...but... but...I can't...'. Mind set blank as she found it difficult to think properly.

He came close, his glowing eyes closed, dark lashes fanning over his perfect, pale skin.

She could have imagined it, with the lack of light she could be mistaken, but over his alabaster skin was a touch of rose, dusted over his face as he drew near.

His lips pressed over hers with notable yearning, the press being needy, screaming of a desperate desire.

Unresponsively, she let him continue, still stuck in surprise, (e/c) eyes still widely opened.

It was then that his pair of mystic oculars opened up to her from their closed state, eyeing her.

"Don't be uncooperative...Ms. (f/n)" He said softly, letting go of her hands, deepening the kiss by tilting her head upwards and bending down slightly to her stature, giving her the true taste of his craving mouth.

Reacting, she protested struggling to push him away, her attempt performed in a half-hearted manner as her balled fists pressed against his chest, hitting his strong chest with helplessness, weakening furthermore as she was lip-locked with him.

'No....' she thought desperately fighting the urge to give in, but she couldn't help but release a smutty, little moan as his free hand-molded her round breast, teasing her through the soft fabric.

She cried aloud as he squeezed it lightly, the male holding a teasing grin at the sound, filed more to toy with her to rouse the sounds of her purity being muddied by him.

“Claude...” She said softly, drunk on the taste of his mouth, driven mad by the crude crease of his hand.

He was dark-haired, tall, and handsome, always sporting A firm pressed suit, one that held not a single improper crease nor a snag or tear.

He was always the picture of absolute, pristine perfection, somehow unraveling before her eyes as his hair fell over his face, his breath released in heavy pants while her hands wrinkled his perfect suit.

"(f/n)...dear..." he murmured, his nose buried into the crook of her neck, inhaling the soft scent of Lillies and lavender, the same soothing scent that covered her flesh and had been soaked into it as she bathed,

"You are divine," He added with the same tender longing, lightly nibbled the soft skin, playfully nipping her to get a small taste before he bit down harshly, finally tasting the sweet blood that leaked from her wound.

Surprised, she cried out, an anguished release that sounded strained as she choked on air, alarmed as she felt sharpened fangs piece through her.

'Oh my....this taste better than expected ...' he thought to himself, planning to make more small nibbles over her (s/c) toned skin.

His moistened tongue dragged over his lower lip before darting out to drag over the bloodied patch of flesh, making her wince, the stinging pain there as in the corners of her (e/c) colored eyes, tears welled.

A decadent taste of sweetness lingered over his tongue, dancing over it teasingly as he drew his opened mouth down further, trying to find another spot to selfishly dig into.

Again, she released a strangled noise, one filled with pain as he had torn through the tissue a second time,

“It hurts,” she gasped out loud, her breath huffing out, voicing her pain while trembling in his hold,

“Claude...” she said desperately, her voice cracking, the sound making his body’s stance falter.

To say his name in such a way...

“Then I’ll take care of it,” he murmured against the skin, one of his hands trailing up to the naked flesh, his gloved thumb pressing over it with gentleness, before his other fingers trailed down it, falling to the top hem of her ruffled apron.

“Would you allow me to, miss (f/n)?” he asked teasingly, offering her a rather cocky smirk, knowing she’d certainly agree. Even while she shivered in pain she left him continue, silently begging for more.

Half dazed, her own hand trailed up to the spot, her glazed eyes looking right into his underworld glimmering gems that shinned with mesmerizing pink.

She contemplated the offer, knowing that it was best to deny him and flee, but nonetheless, she stayed planted, watching him with a want he could see.

He took a step back from her, knowing she'd already fallen into his web, and all she could do was tangle herself more into it, falling toward him and his trap. With a daring step forward, she took a hard swallow, "Claude.....please....make me yours", she practically begged, breathing ragged.

'Fight it,' Her inner voice begged, speaking with futility as it was ignored by the starry-eyed servent.

'Claude...' She mused, 'Your kisses are like wine...' She thought to herself, drunk on the sweet, addicting taste that fogged her reasoning.

'They taste as though I shouldn't have more.

They leave my mouth dry... wanting more...desirng more I know I can't handle,'

With a small lunge, she fell into his arms, where he once again took dominance over a feverish kiss.

During then he was met with a response, one that admitted to the overwhelming desire which reigned over him aswell.

She stood right at her toes, tightly gripping his shoulders as his mouth moved in sync with hers in a dance that had never been practiced between the two but was executed with perfection.

‘-As though you were made for me...’ He told himself, his hands gripping her tightly, her body melting onto his form.

He could sense the desire laced within words she spoke, as well as feel the need she felt to be claimed by him.

Oh, how he loved it...

She felt ready to collapse, her legs giving out as they became just as shaking as a platter of gelatine. Somehow, they felt like they’d never been used, giving out beneath her with inexperience as she fell onto him,

‘Like a fawn... an innocent fawn,’ He mused, and In a single swoop, he picked her up, breaking off the heated kiss with a harsh breath coming from him, a wild grin etched onto his features.

He watched her pouting mouth begin to press together, her own tongue which had been tangled with his now tasting the remains of him over her lips, leaving a glossy shine as she was left desperate for more.

He gave her a devilish smirk before he chuckled, “ Shall we continue elsewhere?” he questioned her, and with an eager nod, she pleaded.

With the same curl to his lip, he pulled her into the empty room, planning on giving her just what she wanted, planning on diving into the tempting enchantress more.

Yes, everyone would know she was his...

The Next Morning "Say did u hear miss (f/n) Last night?" Said masculine a voice while speaking in a quiet murmur. "Good grief, One would give to be deaf not too," another voice, almost identical to the first replied back to the gossip, “ Though, I'll admit... I wouldn't mind havin’ her squirmin’ beneath me instead... too bad that glory hog got to her first...." he continued on.

"I must say, I agree, she is quite a screamer, not that I'd mind either." The last of the three added, tilting his head, curious as to what her face would be set as while she made the final cry that had left him shaken to the core during the previous night.

It was then that the three men, all perfectly aligned nodded in agreeance.

"Indeed....." The other two said in sync.

The ruby eyed trio followed the (h/c) haired woman as she continued to walk forward, slipping past them without so much as a word of address. It was evident that her mind was set on something else, a look to her eyes that seemed glossy and dazed being what gave it all away.

“He’s on her mind so it seems,” Timber said sighing, pouting. “Foolish if you ask me,” he added. Thompson shook his head with disappointment, “ Honestly, I just don’t understand the appeal,” He went on.

“Yet even the young master fancies him,” the last of the triplets, Canterbury voiced out with notable displeasure.

What was so great about Claude anyway?

129 notes · View notes

songsformonkeys · 3 years

Text

Digging Up Bones (whiskey x f!reader) - chapter 3

[Banner by the lovely @yespolkadotkitty ]

Summary: You work for the Statesmen as the head of their medical department. It’s your job to patch up anyone who gets back wounded and to work on ways to prevent them from getting badly wounded in the first place.

Agent Whiskey, in particular, seems to be more accident-prone than the rest and he never passes up a reason to come see you, whether for real injuries or imaginary ones. The two of you form a close friendship, which slowly turns into something more.

Then a British man with a headshot wound and a fascination with butterflies shows up in your emergency room and in the events that follow you’re forced to reevaluate just about everything you thought you knew about your partner.

Warnings: canon typical violence

Masterlist

Chapter 3

The following three days passed in a slow fashion. Not just because Whiskey was gone but the rest of the agents seemed to be staying out of harm's way as well. It was a bit boring, but that was something Tonic had taught you not to complain about out loud since it apparently made it sound like you longed for injuries and carnage.

On the bright side, the slow days gave you, Ginger, and Tonic time to begin interviewing the agents on base for their emergency folders for the Alpha-gel.

The three of you had realized that while the gel and the nanites healed the brain perfectly fine they still needed something to counter the retrograde amnesia, which seemed to be a standard side effect. The sample of agents that had needed to use the gel was still small and so you couldn't draw too many sure conclusions from it, but every single one of them so far had suffered memory loss. It had been Tonic's idea that reminders of a past trauma might jump-start the memory again. The results had been good but guessing and digging up past traumas had been painstakingly difficult and had taken up more time than ideal. So you had collectively decided that each agent should have a file or a folder containing their very worst memory and ways it could be triggered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On Wednesday evening, you curled up in your armchair and called Whiskey. He picked up after three rings.

“Moonshine, “ he drawled, voice sounding a little tired.

“Sorry, did I wake you?” you asked, suddenly feeling a little bad. It wasn't that late in the evening but maybe Whiskey had needed to tuck in early.

“No no, I was awake,” Whiskey assured you, “Just got home from a looong day at an art auction. I'm not sure if you've ever been but it is possibly the most boring thing I have ever done.”

“Yeah? What was so bad about it?” you asked, smiling to yourself. You would be caught dead before admitting it out loud but you had actually missed him these past few days.

Whiskey began describing his day. A soon as he began talking, his voice relaxed you. You pictured him walking around in a swanky hotel room, with a view of the big city, probably still wearing his hat. You were half convinced he even slept in that thing.

Whiskey told you about the auction and the few stuck-up people who had pretended not to understand his southern accent just to make him feel less than. Then he told you about the way he'd later wiped the smug smiles off their faces by actually bidding home the small painting they had been ogling.

“Champ might kill me for it, 'cause it cost a small fortune, but it was worth it!”

“What will you do with the painting?” you asked.

“Hm,” Whiskey said and you didn't need to see him to know that he was shrugging, “Dunno. Might hang it in my apartment. It's a beautiful painting, reminded me of someone special... Speaking of my apartment, have you finished the cake yet?”

You nodded, before remembering that he couldn't see you.

“Yes, Ginger and Tonic helped me eat the rest of it.”

You had been over to Whiskey's apartment the day after he'd left. When you'd gotten to work, his key had been in a white envelope on your desk and you hadn't been able to keep your curiosity at bay for longer than a workday.

The apartment hadn't been quite what you thought Whiskey's home would look like. It had been much neater and cleaner than you had expected, for starters. You had expected more of a bachelor pad but Whiskey's apartment was quite nice. It looked lived in but not messy. Each thing seemed to have its own designated spot. As you had walked around the living room towards the kitchen you had taken in the big, comfortable-looking couch and multi-colored knitted blanket that looked like it was homemade.

There had been a couple of books on art history resting on the wooden coffee table. You had stopped, slightly in awe, in front of the big bookshelves that covered a whole wall of the room. You'd never pictured Whiskey to be the reading type, but here was clear proof otherwise. You had scanned the titles of the books and the exceptionally wide array of subjects made you suspect that a lot of these had been read for previous missions. But there had been a whole shelf of fiction too and you smiled a little as you noted that a lot of them seemed to be old western classics.

You had found the cake in the fridge in the equally clean kitchen. The cake had been in a plastic container and Whiskey had stuck a post-it note with a smiley on the lid.

“I liked your bookshelf. And I borrowed a book from you,“ you confessed over the phone and Whiskey chuckled in response.

“Is that so? Which one, if I may ask, was it that caught your fancy?”

“Lonesome Dove.”

“Ah, a classic! Didn't have you pegged as a western girl, Moonshine.”

“I'm not sure if I am, I've never read any. But you had a lot of them and I thought...” You cut yourself off, glancing over at the book on your bed, “You had a book on human anatomy as well that looked interesting and one on make-shift medical treatment when you don't have access to a hospital. I didn't take those, though. It felt wrong to take so many books without asking...”

Whiskey chuckled again and the sound did weird things to your insides, or maybe it was the nerves of having just admitted to raiding his bookshelf.

“Darlin', if it makes you happy, you are more than welcome to help yourself to any book in that apartment”

“Really? But what if it's a book that you suddenly need?”

“Then I'll know perfectly well where to find it.”

You couldn't really argue with that logic, didn't really want to either because the prospect of getting to read all those books almost made you giddy.

“So besides ogling my books, what else have you been up to while I've been gone?” Whiskey asked and you proceeded to tell him about the work with the Trauma Folders, which Tonic so affectionately called them.

“You still haven't submitted yours either, by the way,” you told him. Whiskey didn't immediately answer. The line was dead silent for a few seconds and just when you were about to ask if he was still there, he cleared his throat.

“Yeah, I know. I promise to get right on that as soon as I'm back, okay?” He sounded a little odd and your brow furrowed slightly. Whiskey cleared his throat again.

“Look, darlin', I'm pretty dead on my feet right now and as lovely as your voice is to listen to, I think unfortunately we gotta hang up before I start snoring on you.”

“Oh, of course! Sorry, I've talked too much.”

“Hardly,” Whiskey replied and his voice was warm and soft again, which eased the nervous knots that had begun forming in your stomach at his abrupt attempt to end the call. Usually, that was your role to try and say goodnight and his to try and linger. “I cherish every word, which is why I prefer to be awake for them. Call me tomorrow again?”

“Sure. Good night, Whiskey.”

“Good night, darlin'”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If the previous days had been slow, the following day was anything but, at least when the afternoon rolled around.

Ginger had called you about some very strange low-frequency readings coming from a church nearby in Kentucky. She told you that she and Tequila were gonna go check it out but that you should be on standby, just in case.

You told her to be careful. Ginger was excellent at her job but she was also one of your closest friends and you couldn't help but worry.

After you'd ended the call, you immediately set about preparing the emergency room and double-checking to make sure everything was there. Seeing as neither of you knew what the strange readings had been about, it was difficult to prepare for every possible scenario, and while you knew that the health effects of exposure to extremely low frequencies were being discussed in the medical community, no one knew exactly what the effects were.

It seemed like a lifetime had passed before Ginder called you again. You heard the sound of the helicopter in the background. She told you that they'd be there in thirty and that they were bringing someone in with a headshot.

“I'll get the chamber ready for him!” you told her

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thirty minutes later, on the dot, you watched as the helicopter landed and Tequila emerged, carrying a man in a suit. The man's face was obscured by the balloon containing the Alpha-gel but his clothes looked expensive.

“Entry point?” you yelled, over the sound of the helicopter as you waved for Tequila and Ginger to hurry inside.

“Straight through the left eye,” Ginger replied and you winced. The left temporal lobe would be damaged, for sure, maybe part of the occipital one too. You were confident that the nanites would be able to rebuild the brain matter but with the temporal lobe damaged you worried that the memory loss might be even more extensive than what you'd seen before and you wondered if it would affect his speech.

“Exit point or is the bullet still in there?” you asked.

“The bullet went all the way through as far as I could tell. Not sure what he was shot with though so we'll have to scan to make sure there's nothing left in there.”

Said and done. When you got down to the medical rooms you first put the man through a thorough scan of his skull. Just like Ginger suspected, the bullet had gone straight through and it luckily hadn't left anything but damaged tissue in its wake. Tequila helped move him over to the nanite chamber. Carefully, you removed the Alpha-gel balloon and quickly closed the chamber around his head.

“What happened?” you asked as you sat down in front of the computer and began tapping away at the keyboard, starting the machine and readying it for the healing and rebuilding process.

“We have no idea,” Ginger said. “We found him like this outside the church, no sign of who had shot him. Inside the church, however...”

“What?” you asked.

“Inside was a total fuckin' bloodbath,” Tequila supplied, “Whole congregation just...slaughtered.”

You looked over at the strange man.

“You think he did it?”

Both Ginger and Tequila shrugged.

“We don't know. But he's got blood on him that isn't his own and there was no gun in his hand so he clearly didn't shoot himself, which means someone got away from that Church alive.” Ginger reasoned, “And there's one more thing..”

She pulled a pair of glasses from the pocket of her jacket. The left glass was shattered.

“He was wearing these. These aren't normal glasses, which means he's not a civilian. And his watch... he's some sort of intelligence. I'll dig around and see if I can find out whom he belongs to.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You called Whiskey again that evening. He sounded more awake today but you could practically hear the frown on his face when you told him about your strange new guest. He was not happy.

“He's an agent?” he asked.

“We think so. Ginger is running some tests on his glasses and his watch to see what we can figure out but so far we have no idea whom he's working for. So we just have to wait for him to wake up and see how much he remembers.”

“I don't like this,” Whiskey stated. “Not one bit. If he's intelligence, he's dangerous, Moonshine. You shouldn't be alone with him, not under any circumstances!”

“I won't,” you reassured him while rolling your eyes. “Agent Tequila also has an over-protective streak and has, therefore, put himself on guard duty until further notice. I've had him looking over my shoulder all evening.”

You had found it somewhat annoying but Whiskey had instantly calmed down upon hearing that bit of information. He told you to promise to listen to Tequila on this, which you reluctantly did. You didn't tell Whiskey that if the arrangement continued, you would have to come to some sort of agreement with Tequila on how close was close enough for protection. You couldn't have him reading over your shoulder all day long or you'd go stir crazy.

Whiskey continued to ask you a bunch of questions about the strange man and you couldn't answer a single one. He asked you about the signal too and you couldn't give him any answers to that either. It was all Ginger's area of expertise and you told him as much.

“Sorry, darlin', just wanna make sure my favorite girl is safe until I get back.”

Whiskey's words made you smile stupidly, despite the slightly patronizing undertone of them. You would like to think you knew how to take care of yourself, especially around your patients. But you did enjoy it when Whiskey called you his favorite. No one else had called you their favorite before.

After a few more minutes of chit-chat, you both said good night.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day, your patient woke up.

It had been decided the day before that Tonic and Tequila would be the first ones to greet him. Tequila because of the whole bodyguard business and Tonic because he was by far the one who had the most experience with calming people in shock and panic. You had only sulked a little when you'd sat down the desk on the other side of the one-way mirror showing you the stranger's cell. You turned on the cameras in the other room to record the interaction before leaning forward over the desk to watch.

As anticipated, the man was more than a little freaked out by waking up in an unfamiliar place with unfamiliar faces around him.

“Where am I? Who are you?” he immediately asked and you raised your eyebrows as you noted his British accent. The stranger tried to scramble off the bed where he'd been lying. Tequila took a step forward but Tonic quickly held up a hand to stop him.

“You are in a hospital,” Tonic told the frightened man and gave him a calm smile, “My name is To...Tom.”

“A hospital? What happened?” the stranger asked.

“We were hoping you would be able to tell us. You were in some sort of accident and when we found you, you were unconscious.”

Unconscious... that was definitely an understatement to describing having had one's brains blown out through the back of their head.

“Do you remember anything of what happened?” Tonic continued.

The British man looked around the room with wild eyes but he was already calming down a bit. While you were a bit jealous that Tonic, or Tom apparently, was the first one to get to talk to your new patient you had to admit that it was a privilege to get to watch him work. Tonic continued talking to the man and answering his questions by saying just enough to calm him but not enough to confuse him.

You found out that his name was Harry, but he couldn't remember his last name. He was from England and he thought he was 23 years old, which he most definitely was not. You caught Tonic and Tequila exchange a look as Harry told them his age. If Harry couldn't remember anything beyond his 23rd year then you estimated that he had forgotten more than half of his life. And since he wasn't one of your agents, you had no idea how to bring those memories back again...

Tonic and Harry spoke for a while longer and Tonic told him about his injuries. He also told harry about the memory loss. Harry didn't believe him until Tonic guided him over to the one-way mirror separating you from them and let Harry have a look at himself. You stood on the other side of the mirror and could watch as realization dawned on Harry. His breathing immediately sped up again and he was beginning to panic.

“Harry,” Tonic said calmly, “Harry, I'm gonna need you to breathe slower with me, okay? We've seen this kind of memory loss before and we will do our very best to help you recover the memories you can't remember right now”

“Think of it as one hell of a hangover,” Tequila supplied and Harry gave him an incredulous look.

“Hangover?” he asked in a weak voice “I look old enough to be a grandfather and I don't remember any of it... I don't think anyone has ever been drunk enough for that kind of hangover.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tonic and Tequila handled the whole ordeal in a way that made you proud to call yourself their colleague and they stayed with Harry for most of the day, talking and explaining. Harry listened patiently and you had to give him credit for taking the situation a whole lot better than some of the Statesmen who had gone through the same thing. He was scared and worried, sure, but he managed to keep his panic in check and asked Tonic a whole bunch of relevant questions.

You wished you could have stayed and watched all afternoon but eventually you had to go back to your own office and begin typing up your report.

You had barely gotten two paragraphs in when your phone started ringing.

“Moonshine?” Whiskey said as soon as you picked up and you could immediately tell that something was wrong. He sounded scared. There were car horns blaring and loud crashes in the background.

“Yes. Whiskey what's...”

Whiskey cut you off before you could finish your question.

“Where are you?” he asked and when it took you a fraction of a second too long to answer, he repeated the question, “Moonshine! Where are you?”

“I'm in the office. Whiskey what's wrong?”

“Good! Whatever you do, stay where you are! There's something in the air! People are killing each other!”

“What?” Before you could say anything further, your door burst open and you screamed from surprise.

“Moonshine!” Whiskey yelled, panicked, as Ginger stormed into the office and pushed you out of her way to get to the computer. She began tapping on the keyboard and you watched as she pulled up live feeds from several cameras around the country. Your mouth fell open as you watched the chaos that filled the screen.

“MOONSHINE!” Whiskey yelled again and you realized you hadn't answered him.

“I'm fine!” you quickly assured him and you heard him exhale loudly. “Ginger just showed up. What the hell is going on?” The last question was aimed at them both. The quality of the feeds wasn't the best but there was no mistaking what was going on. All over the country, people were killing each other.

“The fuck if I know,” Whiskey said at the same time as Ginger supplied the slightly more helpful “It's the same signal! It's the same low frequency as we picked up from the church. But this is all over...well the world”

She turned and looked at the phone in your hand.

“Is that agent Whiskey?”

You nodded but then froze as you heard a banging noise on the other end of the line, which sounded much closer than the previous ones. You heard Whiskey curse.

“Whiskey?”

There was another crash and he cursed again.

“I'm sorry, darlin', I seem to have a visitor. I gotta go.”

“Whiskey,” you begged and you heard your own voice break as you spoke his name.

“Don't worry, sweetheart. I'll deal with this and then I promise I'll come right home to you. You just promise to stay inside and stay safe, okay?”

What about you? you wanted to ask, but Whiskey had already hung up.

“He'll be fine,” said Ginger, who must have seen the expression change on your face. You nodded. She was right. Whiskey was an excellent agent. He would be fine.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He would be fine. You managed to convince yourself of that up until about an hour later when the office phone called. You were too busy clutching your own phone, waiting for Whiskey to call back, to pay any attention to the other phone so Ginger picked it up and answered. She exchanged a few cryptic comments with the person on the other line before ending the call by saying:

“We'll be ready for him.”

After she'd hung up the phone she turned towards you.

“Whiskey's on his way back. He's been stabbed but according to the pilot, he's stable. They're flying him back now. “

#whiskey/reader #whiskeyxreader #agent whiskey #kingsman golden circle fanfiction #kingsman golden circle #my fanfiction #female reader

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jennhoney · 1 year

Text

I decided a couple months ago that I wouldn’t talk to abeariknow for my own health. I was (and still am) feeling pretty vulnerable. It was just a bad scene for me. I decided if I ever feel better and stronger in the future I might be able to hang out with him but that it was doing me no favors to think I might have a friend in the area, when I in fact have nothing of the sort. But I’ve been thinking about something he casually mentioned. The car that he was going to sell me, for practically nothing, had to be scrapped. And I just dodged a huge bullet there. Good job me, following my instincts! I wanted it so badly and if it had been drivable it would have been such a help when I was in GA. I could have seen friends and had independence. But an actual mechanic was the other possible buyer and they passed for Reasons. And my eyes were fucked up (still are) and my left foot was difficult to control even well over a year ago and then it was completely unusable for the past 6 months. It was nearly impossible for me to drive the manual when I was getting lessons and it would have been impossible for me to drive back to Iowa in it even if it was working. It just would have eaten the little bit of money I was able to make and turns out I needed that money to survive my convalescence. I don’t like how any of this stuff has played out but since my hospitalization it has been hard for me to ignore the feeling that it may have indeed needed to play out exactly as it has been.

#I cannot fucking believe this path that I am on #but so many times lately it feels like I dodged even worse shit #jennhoney personal log #I am safe #for now #also i am real low down lonesome

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werezmastarbucks · 3 years

Text

boston

honeymoon masterlist

word count: 2538

music: savage streets by perturbator, you’ll only be safe with me by tuff turf, dark all day by gunship

You stood on one knee, feeling Kai’s fingers under your belt as he held you. You shoved out of the window half way, and yelled,

“I’m good!”

He pushed the gas pedal into the floor, and the car roared angrily, tearing through the night mist.

The black shadows surrounded you, floating out of the metal and brick twilight of the street so suddenly fear shot through you like lightning. You held up your shotgun and aimed, trying to balance with your hip on the frame of the window. Falling out of the window would mean imminent death: zombies were everywhere. They were waiting on the corners, in the windows of the buildings, hiding in the shade, behind the smelly dumpsters and in the middle of the road. As the city lights died out, and the car raced deeper into the district, golden and silver changed into cold blue and electric, the colors of docks and warehouses.

“I got them!”

“Shoot!” Kai yelled.

You exhaled and did not inhale, because the best snipers don’t breathe when shooting. As the monster truck passed by the cluster of black silhouettes, you fired three rounds into them, scaring the gathering and hitting one of them. Then you fell back into your seat and pulled your hair away from your face. It will be a bitch to try and brush after. The car drove out into the narrow quay where black water lay like glistening dirty skin, and Kai’s face was yellow in the passing bleak lights.

“What the hell is that?” he asked, poiting at the figure on the roof on the left. He slowed down a little, and you looked back to make sure nobody’s following you. You set the shotgun on your right.

“It’s Jeepers Creepers”.

“Wha... Y/N. What is Jeepers fucking Creepers doing at our zombie apocalypse?”

“I don’t know, Kai”, you snarled, “maybe he launched it. How am I supposed to know?”

“You’re driving me crazy”.

“I am afraid of Jeepers Creepers, okay? He’s gonna be the final boss”.

“I’m gonna tear his balls off”, Kai mumbled.

“He’ll take yours. That’s what he does”, you reminded him.

Kai snored.

“Get up. There’s more. They must have circled the parking lot. Look”.

Right in the middle of the road, where yellow fog was floating in the air like phantom veil, and the asphalt glistened, sweaty after 10PM rain, the black shadows barricaded the road. Kai stopped the car, and the low grumble slowly faded into the quiet, monotnous howl of the city. Somewhere, trains were moving to and fro on the rails, colliding with each other, creating noise. The factories were working, sending black smoke into the opaque sky, clogged by unwilling cigarrette clouds. The river itself, it seemed, hummed something very low, like a deadly lullaby. This world was a hostile and lonesome place. The only warm thing in here was Kai’s body sitting next to you, radiating humanity. You jerked your shotgun. You knew he was seeing exactly the same thing as you did - a bunch of zombies swaying slowly in your direction. He turned up the music a little.

“Ready?”

“Yeah”.

“Aim better or else we’re gonna drive in circles all night”.

“Don’t tell me how to kill zombies, Kai”.

He mimicked you, starting the car.

Next night, it was his turn, and you did the same thing, racing through the night city, crashing into cardbox fortresses and blowing up the glass forts, shooting the heads off the zombies, until you both have had enough of that zombie apocalypse world. It has been some time until you got tired.

(To get into the right mood, you have occupied the Columbus Movie Theatre for like a week, rewatching zombie movies. Turned out, you can’t just walk into a movie theatre and find all the zombie films piled up neatly in the movie room - or whatever it’s called. You have argued about them again and again, Kai insisting on Evil Dead being immortal classic, but the Day of the Dead was his all-time favorite. You nearly got into a fistfight with him over the Return of the Living Dead.

“Of course”, he puffed and laughed out, condescending as hell.

“What’s that laugh?!” you demanded. Kai shrugged.

“It’s such a girly thing. Return of the Living Dead. The third part is also your favorite, isn’t it?”

And he gave you the nastiest look. You narrowed your eyes.

“You bigot. You absolute fuckface. The first one is my favorite”.

He was enjoying himself too much, obviously agitated by the topic, not entirely there.

“Okay, okay”.

“But for the record, yes, I do think that the third part is the best love story I’ve ever seen on screen. It’s incredible”.

Kai nodded, the smile never leaving his face.

“She managed to fight off her cannibalistic instinct not to hurt the person she loved. She tore herself with needles and hooks to fight the urge to kill him and actually managed to keep him safe although she was literally a flesh eating zombie. How cool is that?”

Kai sighed and looked you in the eye.

“Very cool’, he said, with the tone that screamed ‘you’re silly and I adore you’.

“What other movies came out this year?”

“Not many, it’s only May”, he replied, digging deep into the box with films.

“Is Dream Lover out yet?”

“Yep”.

“We should watch it”.

“Later”, Kai said, throwing a film across the room and allowing it to crash into pieces. You hoped to hell it wasn’t Dream Lover.

“And Freddie Krueger?”

“No, not yet”.

“Damn it”, you looked over his shoulder.

“No Freddie Krueger!” he announced, “that’s it, she draws the line at Freddie. We’re leaving now”.

You laughed.

In the dark movie room, you could choose any row, any seats. You nested against each other, honoring the sacred cinema theatre tradition to gently touch in the twilight. While the action unfolded on screen, you had to shove popcorn into Kai’s mouth because it was the only way you could make him stop talking. When you ran out of popcorn, you had to shut him up with your mouth. It was a great week.)

You looked around the street and then, at Kai. How lucky he was, to find himself in this wretched place with someone as willing to play zombies as you were. You should do it more often. Maybe you should act out Mist next, somewhere in Houston.

You pulled your backpack up, and your eyes darted towards the black tower, ominous, insidious without any light, like a gigantic grave stone. Before Parker cut all the electricity, it was the Hancock Tower, now, it was just Tower. And the path to it lay through the dangerous city filled with brain craving monsters, bloodthirsty, dumb and ferocious, and you were running out of bullets. Besides, earlier on, you fell through one of the cardboard box forteresses and bruised your knee so badly, together with your left hand which you landed on. This adventure would be the death of you.

Kai twitched.

“I hear something”, he said, cocking his gun. You stood behind him, one-handed, unable to shoot. You closed your eyes. Lo, if they attack from all directions, you won’t be any help. A wounded companion is worse than an enemy in this world. You wondered if Kai would leave you alone to be eaten and stall them, or whether he’d shoot you in the head first, to spare you.

He walked on a little, entering a small square, and the black outlines of hairless, clotheless humans frightened you like you weren’t the one who had put them there ten hours earlier. They spooked you every time.

Kai shot three times, hitting each mannequin with one bullet.

“On the roof!” you pointed, turning back. You bowed as he threw up his shotgun, and fired. Heavy plastic body hopped and rolled down, falling on the ground. Kai could see in the dark so well you had to remind yourself he was human. Sometimes you would forget that fact completely. He was so different from everybody else.

He led you towards the tower where you stabbed one of the zombies in the throat. He was good at shooting, but you were very gifted with stabbing. You never missed.

“God damn”, Kai panted, as the mannequin swayed and collapsed on the asphalt just next to the glass door he was holding for you, “you saved my life”.

He took you in the movie gesture, pulling you into a long kiss. Your wrist started swelling and you had to take off your electronic watch temporarily. In the bleak room, it shone with green thin neon light from the bedside table while you had sex on the matrass.

In the middle of the night something fell off the roof, and scared the hell out of you - for real this time. You did not put anything on the top of the Tower since it was your fort. In the morning you came up on the top, while Kai went down and examined the object. Turned out, on the tenth of May, 1994, one single bag filled with files and staplers fell off the roof of the Hancock Tower. There was no way of knowing why.

“Wake up”.

You opened your eyes and rubbed your neck, aching from sleeping on the single mattrass on the floor. You looked out of the window. It has just stopped raining, which meant it was already close to midnight. In the dystopian Boston, you have switched to night regime of living completely because in the daylight, mannequins randomly standing in the streets looked simply stupid.

“The Titans”, he said. Kai’s face was so close to yours, you could feel the words on your skin. His eyes shone nervously.

“What Titans? It’s zombie apocalypse, Kai”.

He frowned.

“And what was Jeepers Creepers doing there then?”

“Oh my god”, you groaned, “let go of it already! You killed him like a week ago”.

“Come on, see for yourself”, he pulled you up, and you walked to the window, and gasped, instantly feeling for Kai’s hand. It couldn’t be happening.

That’s it! This madness finally drove you... mad.

There was an actual silhouette, the one you didn’t put there, and possibly couldn’t. The one that could not be put there for the life of you. The one of proportions too great for anyone to put it in the middle of the city, one foot on the right side of the river, and the other, on the left.

“What the fuck!” you yelled, your fright real as ever. Kai grinned happily, but then his face changed back to the philosophical expression of impending doom.

“This is it, Y/N. The zombies... and that dude... were just omens, but that’s it. The sky people have come to destroy us. It’s the end“.

“Seriously, Kai, how did you put it up... there?”

The sky was blackish-bordeaux, like usual. The river was seen just fine from here, from the top floor of the Tower. You had a pretty good look on the gloomy city and all its post-war industrial charm. The figure was so big it stood almost above the Tower itself; he reminded you of the Colossus of Rhodos, the Bronze Man, or one of the mythical golden gods of ancient times. You could actually feel your heart trying to break the hell out of your ribcage in a desperate attempt to kill itself. You couldn’t breathe for a second, mortified by the size of that thing. It was one of the deepest nightmares of your childhood, one of the visions haunting you from when you were little and kept dreaming about the end of the world.

You told Kai about those, and he now used them against you, but you appreciated the performance. It was all almost like art. It was horrifying and great, but you hated it.

“He came down from the clouds”, Kai said quietly, like a dispassionate narrator. Who already knows what’s coming, and doesn’t give a shit, because he’s already dead.

“To press the earth into the core of the planet, and make all life perish. He shall walk the land... waging his wrath on all that breathes. Including you and me”.

You made an effort to turn away, mesmerized by the statue, and looked at Kai.

“How much magic have you wasted on it?”

“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t break the character, it takes me a lot of concentration”.

“Sorry”, you whispered.

“How do you feel about facing the end of the world with me?” he asked.

It was a damn good question. Parker really did ask all the right questions. After all the time in post-apocalyptic Boston, surrounded by enemy, living in a dark den and barely seeing the sun, it was very easy to actually sense the end coming. You clutched your own elbows, thinking. Strangely, you weren’t scared anymore.

A part of his face was in the shadow. He blinked the way you’ve only ever seen Kai blink, just a little, as if he didn’t want to lose visual even for a split second.

“I’m okay with it. I have lived a fine life, in my totalitarian city, guarded by robots and...”

“...zombies...”

“Hunted down by Harrison Ford...”

“You just jumble together all the movies, it’s actually insane, stop it”.

“But now as Cthulhu has sent its warriors...” (Kai rolled his eyes), “I’m ready to go”.

A lonely honk of a train cut through the distance making you feel melancholic. The trains were just crawling there day and night, filling the air with their lonesome cries occasionally. It would make any reasonable person go crazy, too.

“What will be the last thing you do before you die?” he whispered, his nose almost touching yours. You gave in, hot slow lava crawling up your body. You took Kai’s waist, trying to feel his ribs through three layers of clothing.

“You”.

He probably wore three or four shirts just to see you go nuts as you tried to undress him every time. His street jacket goes, then, a pullover, then a shirt, then another shirt, and you groan with anger as he chuckles at you, his hands snaking under your clothes at once. Your skin went shivering, covered with goose bumps under his fingers, like by magic.

As he pushed you against the wall, the gigantic Titan started melting above the river, looming shadow stepping away from the city, which was flattering. Kai’s whole mind was directed at you now.

You thought about how one loves at the brink of extinction; is it passionate, like when Kai grabbed your shoulder, your hair, pounding you into the floor, or is it gentle and thoughtful, like when you only moved your hips slowly, pressed against each other like two halves of Oreo, or is it impatient, breathless and vile, like when he was fucking you against the wall, talking all the way through your whimpering?

It took the end of the world for you to end up on his dick.

#kai parker #kai parker imagine #kai parker x reader #vampire diaries imagine #tvd #vampire diaries

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migeviellardi · 3 years

Text

Out Of Comfort

Rottmnt Donnie Centric Fanfic

Genre : Adventure, Action, Humour, Hurt/Comfort

Summary : Things happens sporadically at times, especially when you meet an interesting stranger that saves you from a lonesome rock decides to fell on your head.

Chapter 3 The Stranger

Mikey : All clear.

Leo : What do you mean ‘all clear’?

Mikey : I’m making sure there’s no police around.

Raph : I thought they’d let us go.

Splinter : They are. But that doesn’t mean that you boys don’t behave.

April : It’s alright, Splints. I’ll make sure they won’t cause any troubles.

Casey : Ugh, what’s the point of life if there won’t be a trouble?

Baron : That you won’t be here, existing.

Casey : WHAT?!

April : Okay. You need to chill.

Donnie walks right behind the group as they strolls the Hidden City’s streets. Head covered in his hoodie with his hands shoved in his pockets. So far, they hadn’t realize he’s being quiet. He’s not having the mood to talk to any of them.

Although, he agrees with Mikey, he still hasn’t trusted this whole situation. He looks around to make sure there’s no undercover cops or something, perhaps Big Mama’s goons.

Big Mama. What could she be doing right now? There’s no telling if she’s watching or plotting something. Two years after the incident of ‘You-know-who’, was caused by that wretched spider-lady.

Nobody knows what her deal is. Her fanatic obsessions about Battle Nexus always made everyone in the world got involve. She had no chill, she never does. Which come to wondering why would his father dated a girl like her?

“Donnie!”

April’s voice startled him. The group had their heads turned to him. “You okay?”

Donnie : Uh, yeah. Yeah, I’m fine.

Leo : Uh, no. You’re not.

Donnie : Can it, Leo!

Leo : You were spacing out again, Don! And considering we’ve been brothers for like, forever, usually that means you’re not.

Donnie : Oh, so you’re an expert now?

Leo : I’m an expert to know what you’re thinking, Donnie.

Donnie : No, you’re not.

Leo : Yes, I am.

Donnie : And, why is that?

Leo : ‘Cause we’re twins.

Donnie : We’re not twins.

Leo : Whatever you trying to say, Don. I don’t care. We’re born with the same age.

Donnie : And that doesn’t MEAN that we are. We’re not even the same-

Leo : Ah ah ah, don’t wanna hear it! Lalalala~~~

Donnie : Leo-

Raph : ENOUGH!!

The twins startled at Raph’s shouting. Raph sighed, pinching his nose-bridge.

Raph : We’re here to have some fun, okay? And if I see you two fight again, imma SHOVE YOUR HEADS into a toilet. Y’all understand me?

Leo : Yeah, yeah.

Donnie : Hmph.

Raph : Good.

Splinter groaned, massaging his constant headache. Why can his sons just behave?

Splinter : Alright, since you two done arguing, why don’t we split up-

Baron : I’ll call dibs with Mikey.

All : .............

Leo : Whoawhoawhoawhoa, did you just say ‘dibs’?!

Baron : Yes, I did.

Mikey : Aawww, okay Barry. I’ll go with you.

Leo : Does nobody questioning that he said ‘dibs’?!!

Donnie : Great, now it’s haunting me.

Raph : He looks weird saying that.

April : Am I hearing things, Barry? Did you eat something alive at your lab again?

Casey : Why you making this a big deal?

Leo : Of course, it’s a big deal. Calling ‘dibs’ is our thing!!!

Splinter : For the love of Hamato, please don’t say that ever again!!

Baron : Don’t worry. I already regretting ever saying that. But my point still stands, I’ll go with Mikey.

Mikey : Don’t listen to them, Barry! You did a good thing.

Donnie : Michael, you better stay out of his head!

Splinter : Okay, fine. Baron will go with Mikey. I’ll go with red.

Raph : Sure thing, pops.

Leo : Nah, fam. I got somewhere else to go. I’ll fly solo.

With that, Leo took off immediately.

April : What about you, Donnie? Are you fine on your own?

Donnie : Yeah, I’ll be good. You go ahead dealing with the....

Casey : .....

Donnie : Uuh-I’ll go this way.

Donnie left the group. He can sense for-sure that Casey staring at him. He doesn’t know why she terrifies him so much, she hasn’t done anything to him, regardless of those times they fought her while she still a Foot-recruit. Maybe he’s just paranoid, the fact that he did forgot to take a battleshell with him.

His hoodie made it obscure and that his brothers didn’t warned him about it means they didn’t know he didn’t use it. With that in mind, he should be more careful and not get himself involve on a fight. The fact that he also didn’t bring his bo.

“What is wrong with me?” he said to himself. Now fully knowing that he’s extremely vulnerable and too open for an attack, he began to be more cautious. Perhaps he needs to visit a place where there’ll be no violence. A place that strict with rules, like a Mystic Library.

No. Raph ever told him that their last visit got thrown apart by the Foot-Clan, and if he make a noise above whisper, he’ll be send to a Kiddie Room that filled with hungering monstrous children-behaved Yokais who’s out for blood.

Guess not every safe places are safe after all.

Then, Donnie yelped as he felt being pulled backwards. Suddenly a huge rock drops in front of him and shattered to bits. Donnie went shocked as he tumbled and fall on his back. A short flying yokai flew down to him.

“Oh my gosh, I am so sorry. Are you okay?” she apologized, her wings flutters real fast as he helped him up.

“Uh, yeah yeah. I’m okay.” the fairy like yokai blew away some dust from him.

“Oh good, I am very glad.” then she turned to his left. “Thank you kindly, sir. I’m not sure what will happen if you didn’t save him.”

Save him? Donnie looked to his left. A tall human stood still with a sharp gaze staring at him. Donnie flailed back at the guy. The stranger gave him an unexpressive look. He’s a few centimeters taller than him. His slim posture stood steady and a bit stiff.

He’s unruly silverish grey hair nearly obscuring his slanted grey pupils in his pale skin tone. He’s collar on his cyber yellow jacket unfolded. It also unbuttoned that reveals a white blank T-shirt underneath. His hands shoved in his navy blue pants pockets, looks somewhat made out of a comfy fabric. He’s black and intricate design shoes looks appealing as well.

Donnie don’t know what to say. The stranger keeps staring at him, not saying a word, not even when the fairy said her final apology and flutters off.

And there it was, the awkward silence. Donnie held his hands close to his chest, he knows he’s extremely vulnerable, but he needs to be ready for a fight.

Then, the stranger walks towards him. Donnie instinctively walks backwards, keeping his distance from him. He startled and horrified as his shell hits a wall, he was cornered. The men were an inch away from his face. Donnie pressed himself against the wall, body’s trembling in fear, seeing the guy eye to eye.

Then, the guy swept his shoulder from the leftover dust. Donnie flustered by his gesture. The air somewhat less tense than two seconds ago.

“You alright, kid?” the stranger finally asked. He spoke in a low tones, but not a deep one. Donnie was stunned, he would say something but he can’t. “Are you shook?”

Once again, Donnie couldn’t speak. Some lump in his throat made him unable to let ou a single word. The stranger sighed, arms crossed.

“I assumed that you are, so I don’t think leaving you here alone will be a good idea.” he walks away from him. Donnie still flustered of what just happened. He stares as the guy moved away then startled when he turned back to him. “Come.”

He ordered. Donnie isn’t sure if he should trust the guy, let alone that he’s a human. Since when there’s a human besides April and Casey walking in the Hidden City? But he did saves his life. If that rock got him without his battleshell, he probably be dead by now.

Donnie took a deep breath and release, he followed the stranger somewhere. At least he still have his phone with him, so whenever he’s in trouble, he could call for help. Right now, he keep his distance to the guy in front of him.

What was he doing here? Is he from New York? Because he doesn’t look like he does. And his aura are extremely, menacing. He can’t see it, but he could feel the tensity whenever he got close to him.

The stranger stopped and turned to his right. Donnie was confused when he realize that he took him to the Run-on-the-mill Pizza place. Huh, so he likes pizza too.

Donnie followed him inside, he took a side on the sofa side. He points at the other end of the table, telling him to sit down. Donnie do what he told, and things back to its awkward silence. This time, the guy took his attention at his phone, ignoring Donnie’s constant staring at him.

Donnie probably would do the same if it wasn’t with the awkwardness hanging in the air.

“Good day, gentlemen.” Donnie look up to see Hueso stood there with his notepads on his bony hands. He seems unimpressed seeing Donnie. “Anything you would like to eat?”

“Order up, kid. Don’t wait for me.” the stranger said, eyes still on his phone. Donnie blinks at the words. He looks back at Hueso who’s staring at the guy then back at him, raising his boned-eyebrow.

“Uuuh, as usual. Please.” Donnie forced out to smile. Hueso notice that, he wrote his order at the notepads. Then, turned to the stranger.

“Whatever the kid’s ordered, make it two. I’ll take the bill as well.” he said, still not looking up from his phone. Hueso wrote it down and took off, he took the chance to pat Donnie’s shoulder.

It made him jumped, not sure what’s that for. He watched Hueso leave until he’s longer visible.

“Something bothering you?” Donnie looked back to the voice. The men stares at him at last. The lump in his throat is back, but he knew he can’t stay quiet forever, the guy knew he could speak. He might gets angry and pissed if he didn’t talk.

Donnie clears his throat, gathering his courage to speak up.

Donnie : Um, thanks. For saving me.

Stranger : It won’t happened if you didn’t spaced out.

Donnie : Oh, yeah, that I...*rubbing his neck* I didn’t mean to- Well, I guess I can’t help it.

Stranger : Can’t help what?

Donnie : Well, I dunno. I just can’t think straight for these past years, science block often drives me crazy.

Stranger : Science block?

Donnie : More of a tech block, I guess. I just, every time I tried to built things it’s just didn’t work, all I do it’s fix and fix and FIX-

Stranger : Kid.

Donnie : -it keeps jeopardizing my usual productivity, if wasn’t for a certain ‘you-know-who’ who took pleasure destroying my LAB that I built since I was NINE-

Stranger : You what?

Donnie : -destroying my techs like layers of newspapers, my home, my family’s life!! Sure, we start off with new lifes now that we’re ‘Hamatos’, elite group of ninjas or whatsoever. Yeah, life was good, until I certainly am NOT!!

Stranger : Okay, kid-

Donnie : -And what would I do? Quit? Run away? Oh, I could. I thought about it. But of course, my father won’t let me. Keeping me in full surveillance 24/7, For YEARS!!

Stranger : KID!!

Donnie flinched, then he looked around to see Hueso, with their orders in his hands, and all the customers staring at him. Donnie felt very embarrassed, he pulled down his hood to cover his face, looking away towards a wall. Hueso sighed heavily.

“Here are your orders.” he puts down two large portion of pizzas on the table. Donnie held on to his hood, ducking his head onto his arm. “If you like, I’ll call Pepino to-”

“No.” Hueso blinked, “No, please don’t! Don’t call anyone!” his voice was semi-whispered. Hueso can see his hand trembles clutching the fabric of his hoodie. Hueso felt sympathetic, it wasn’t the first time the turtle took this place to vent his feelings.

“I will get some coffee, my treat.” Hueso took off again. The Stranger glanced at the kid, he could hear some sniffles coming off of him. He knows the kid’s crying. He held on to his hoodie for dear life, not wanting everyone to see his tears.

He hates it, Donnie hates it. Crying means weakness, feelings that aren’t supposed to show that make him more vulnerable. He can only hope his family and friends didn’t know about this. He doesn’t want them to worry, he wanted them to stop. He’s fine, he can take care of himself. He’s also a Hamato, he can fix his own problem.

“Sorry.” the word took him back to reality, he sniffles as he slowly peeks from below his hoodie. “Didn’t mean to upset you, kid. I just concern that if you keep spacing out like that, you might hurt yourself.”

The stranger apologized to him, why? What did he do? It was him that supposed to be sorry. For what he done, Donnie just revealed his whole problems to a total stranger. Now, he’ll probably payed the price. Way to go, Donnie. What a way to keep yourself from trouble. Now watch this stranger use your weaknesses to enslave you.

Suddenly, a small blue entity appeared on his face. Donnie flinched, the blue thing looks at him. It looks like a little ghost, with it looks limbless and its body looks like tiny tendrils work as torso and arms with its round head containing two white friendly eyes.

The little thing squeaks, tilting its head. It was a cute to look at. It then flew close to Donnie’s face and hugged his cheek with its tiny tendril arm. It felt warm and comforting, as if it was a real hug. Donnie hovered his hand onto the thing, wondering how to hug back the thing without squishing it.

It then let go of the hug and gently patted his head, telling him to calm down. Donnie wipes his tears, he smiled at it. The blue thing smiled back, twirls happily knowing its attempt of comfort works.

It then flies towards the stranger, perching on his finger. The stranger smiles down at his little friend. It squeaks away, seems talking to him. Donnie titled his head slightly, curiosity began to appear.

“What is that?” he asked. The stranger glances at him. “It looks, cute. It’s that a ghost?”

“This is a wisp, kinda like a small ghost. And also, it’s a ‘she’. Not an ‘it’. Her name is Sia.” he explain. Sia waves happily at him, Donnie waved back.

“Their more of a soul remnants rather than ghost. Whenever someone or something died, their memories remains, in a form of a wisp.” he added. Donnie blinks, he don’t know souls did that.

“So, are you a....psychic?”

“Kinda.”

“So, you can see ghost. And,....her type of thing?”

Sia flew circling the stranger’s head, “Yes, that’s what psychic means.”

“Well, I know. It just--are there more around here?”

The stranger looks around him, from corners to corners. Then back at Donnie. “There are, but not much. Five including the one besides you.”

“My what?” then a small greenish entity appears right beside him. Donnie startled. It looks exactly like Sia, only it’s on different color. Donnie somehow felt a familiar precent from it, suddenly a tear came down to his cheek. He startled, what makes him cry?

“Who-who’s this?” he asked.

“Some wisps might wanders around aimlessly when they separated from their souls.” Donnie glanced back at him, “Others, might come back and followed whoever they’re close to.”

“Whoever they close to?”

“The same case with the one in front of you.” Donnie’s eyes widened. This wisp is whoever close to him? Who was it? Why it felt familiar?

“And, I believe it’s a ‘she’ as well.”

Donnie gazed back at him, tears began to streams out some more, “And, her name is Karai.” the men revealed. Donnie shocked hearing her Gram-Gram’s name. He looked down to the wisp, she nodded at the sound of her identity.

Donnie’s tears began to burst. It might not be a real form of her body, but it’s enough to make him pulled her small presence into a hug. Donnie let himself cry one last time, holding close the wisp of his dead Gram-Gram to his chest.

He could feel the wisp hugged him back. He felt it somehow, the warmth of her arms began to wrapped around him, hugging him close. Almost felt like she never left, that she’ll always be there. Watching over him, accompanying him. He didn’t get to spent much time with her, he wish he could. He wished she still alive. Here with his family.

Donnie let go off the hug, wiping his tears. He cupped his hands to let his wisp sits on his hands. He smiled, she’s not Gram-Gram, but she’s the closest thing about her.

Then, he realized that the stranger still there. He quickly dried his tears with his sleeves, gathering back his bearings.

“Sorry, I...Name’s Donnie by the way.” he finally introduced himself. The stranger raised his eyebrow. He held out his hand at him. Donnie stares at it and took the handshake gesture.

“Silver. Just call me Silver.”

#rottmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #rottmnt fanfiction #oc crossover #rottmnt donnie #rottmnt leo #rottmnt raph #rottmnt mikey #tmnt #teenage mutant ninja turtles #fanfiction #fanfic

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mummybear · 4 years

Text

Sleeping With The Enemy

This Is Day 3 Of RolePlay May

Words: 3700

Warnings: Smut, Semi Public Sex, Dirty Talk, Rough Bathroom Sex.

Characters: Damon Salvatore, Reader, Mentions of Stefan Salvatore, Bonnie Bennett and Caroline Forbes

Pairings: Damon Salvatore x Reader

Summery: The reader is new hunter in Mystic Falls, tasked with catching what she believes is the big bad in town. The one and only Damon Salvatore. However what happens when you realise you’re mistaken and it’s in fact someone else? And things between you and Damon become very heated in the Mystic Grill.

Being a hunter was often difficult, especially when you’d been stationed in Mystic Falls, where almost everyone and everything was a second away from murdering you. You weren’t the kind of hunter that would go after anything supernatural, only the ones that warranted being put down. The cops were practically useless, some of them even helped some of the worst vampires, witches and werewolves stay hidden, even helping to cover up their murders. Of which there were many.

You’d been hunting this son of a bitch for what felt like forever at this point, the lack of information that people were willing to give you wasn’t exactly helpful either. The Salvatore's were very well known in your circle of hunters, you had been chosen for this hunt since your boss had thought you were the perfect bait. You were just Damon’s type, at least according to the others it was definitely an edge that you could use.

You’d seen pictures of both brothers in order to stay extra careful, especially when it came to bringing him in, since Stefan would more than definitely be close by.

Sitting in the Mystic grill nursing your drink, you watch the locals going about their days and nights, without a care in the world, sometimes you wished that could be you. But this was your life, you didn’t get to choose.

However when you glance over to the table hidden in the corner, you spot Bonnie Bennett and Caroline Forbes. Two people who were known supernaturals, who had been close to the Salvatore family. You hadn’t spoken to those that were too close to the vampire brothers yet, since you hadn’t wanted to tip them off that someone was looking for them.

A sudden tap on your shoulder causes you to freeze, doing your best to control the rapid beating of your heart like you’d been trained to. Whoever it is smells really good, placing your drink on the bar, you turn to face the newcomer with a smile.

“You’re new around here” he states matter of factly, that smirking smile and those stunning blue eyes leave no doubt as to who you’re speaking to.

He takes the seat beside you signalling the bartender for a drink, clearly a regular, since he doesn’t have to say a word and the drink is just placed on the bar.

“I am. But I’m just passing through” you explain, giving him your sweetest smile in return, looking up at him from under your lashes.

That seductive smirk grows as he extends his hand to you.

“Damon Salvatore. And what’s your name beautiful?”

Taking his hand you shake it gently, you're very quickly surprised and a little distracted, when he brings your hand to his soft lips and presses a kiss to your knuckles.

“Well, my name is Y/N. It’s nice to meet you Damon” you smile as he leans in closer. “So, are you here with anyone?” you inquire suggestively, your eyes still fixed on his as the tip of your finger circles the rim of your glass.

“Are you flirting with me, Miss Y/N?” Damon asks, sounding a little smug as he runs his fingers up your bare arm, creating goosebumps across your skin.

You hum low in the back of your throat, gripping his wrist before that hand can travel any further up your arm, moving it back onto the bar. He pouts at you, which you find kind of adorable, but you can also see the smile that lurks beneath that pout.

“Well Damon, that’s all gonna depend on how your answer”

You lean back against the bar on your elbows when Damon stands from his stall, coming to stand in front of you, drink in his hand. “All by my lonesome tonight” he assures you, eyeing you carefully, like he’s looking for something.

“That is, unless you wanna keep me company? Come on, you know you want to, how about a dance?” he asks, wiggling those eyebrows and holding his hand out for you.

The smile that slips onto your lips isn’t something you’d planned, but there really is something about this vamp, something you can’t put your finger on. Sure he’s hot, but there was something else. Maybe something that he wasn’t showing, you knew all about their past, everything the brothers had gone through, but you had your orders. You had to bring him in, you couldn’t let yourself fall for his charms.

However, you had to play along for now, just until you had him where you wanted him.

Biting your lip, you fix your eyes on his as you take his hand.

“Well how can I say no to such an invitation” throwing back your drink, you place the empty glass back onto the bar.

Taking Damon’s drink from his hand and throwing that back too, you watch his plump lips part as you swallow the amber liquid with a single gulp, feeling the burn as it warms your throat. You drop the glass beside yours on the bar, running your tongue across your lips, collecting any wayward drops.

“You’re a right little firecracker, princess. Real spunky, I like it” he grins, pulling you over to where some of the bar have gathered for the dancing. You can’t help but laugh as he tugs you through the crowd of grinding bodies, over to one of the darkened sides of the room.

Damon walks around you slowly, finally settling behind you. Your instincts are on high alert, even more so when he wraps his arms around you. Keeping his hands on your hips as his thumbs dip just inside your jeans, pressing against your skin. You know that this is all a part of your plan, but then you feel his surprisingly warm breath fanning against the side of your neck and you’re quickly reminded who you’re up against. It’s taking you every ounce of your willpower to keep your heartbeat under control, at the same time though you're stuck, part of you wants to stake him of course.

Unfortunately, there was also that part of you that wants him to stay right where he is, he feels so fucking good. So solid and yet so soft, his front is pressed tight against your back, guiding your hips to rock with his big hands.

So when Damon’s lips brush across your neck the small moan that slips past your lips isn’t an act, not even close, but you really wish that it was. You can see why so many people fall for his charms, he oozes confidence and just pure sex, that was without using any of his vampire abilities. You can feel him smirking against your skin, his hands tightening somehow on your hips.

“So what brings a woman like you to this dingy little town then? His question takes you by surprise, you don’t have time to control the way that your heartbeat speeds up at his question.

“I told you Damon, I’m just passing through” you respond quickly, trying to keep your voice light, annoyed with the way that it shakes. You don’t miss the tiny growl of what you assume is annoyance that slips past his lips, which are now pressed against your ear.

“Oh, see now that’s just not smart. Don’t lie to me pretty girl, you’re not that stupid,” the tone of his voice has completely changed, god help you but you like it, you have to fight your body to repress the shiver.

“Why would I lie to you Damon, I’ve only just met you” you state firmly, starting to let your own voice take on a little annoyance of its own.

Then his fingers tighten on your hips and his blunt teeth scrape against your neck, “True. We have just met, then again you know exactly who I am. Don’t you Y/N?” Damon asks you, making you swallow hard, he’s keeping his voice even, but it isn’t really a question.

Clearly he knows that you know what he is, who he is. But how much does he know about you, and why you’re here? You need to try and lie your way out of this one, you know Damon Salvatore isn’t exactly known for his mercy, he’s going to kill you the first opportunity that he gets. But before you can reply his hands have moved from your hips, and he’s pressing you into the wall behind you, forearm across your throat.

“Don’t you dare tell me whatever lies forming in your pretty little head of yours,” he growled menacingly, as he leans in closer, it’s very apparent to you that nobody is even looking at the two of you, had they even noticed?

“Fine, I-I know you,” you choke out, feeling the pressure from his arm ease off a little when your voice breaks.

God you hate yourself right now, although he might kill you any second and it’s going against your every instinct, all you can think about is kissing him and letting him fuck you in front of everyone. His arm presses against the underside of your chin, forcing your eyes to meet his. The cool blue of his eyes almost chills you to the bone as he stares down at you, with an intensity you’ve never seen before.

“Good girl, now we’re getting somewhere. So, how do you know me?I want a straight answer this time, what are you doing here?” his pupils widen and shrink quickly, you’re sure that he’s trying to compel you into telling him the truth. You could go along with it, act like it’s working and maybe get away. But if you do that then he gets away too, and that wasn’t something you could allow to happen.

Damon’s grip relaxes more when you smile and lick your lips. “Oh Mr. Salvatore, did you really think compelling me would work? I’m protected so don’t even try killing me. I know exactly what you’ve been doing lately, all those bodies. Very sloppy Damon” you tut in disappointment, but your smirk doesn’t seem to faze him as he leans in closer, his lips almost brushing yours.

“Oh princess, you have no idea how wrong you are. First of all, I haven’t technically killed anyone, not any humans at least and not lately. Secondly, I don't do, sloppy” he shrugs with a wink when he catches you watching his mouth.

“Stop with the princess and stop lying” you demand angrily, trying to shove him backwards, which of course is like trying to nudge a house over with your pinky.

“Why would I lie? If and when I kill people, I definitely admit it. Surely the other hunters must have told you that. I’m very proud” he smirks when your mouth drops open in surprise.

“How did you know?” you ask quickly, forgetting the rest of the conversation completely.

He grins all teeth as he leans in even closer, his lips brush over yours as he speaks.

“You think you’re the first sexy little minx they’ve sent after me? You are however my favourite, so far” Damon reveals, groaning when your nails sink into the arm that’s still braced against your neck, nudging one of his thick thighs between your legs.

You suck in a breath when Damon’s lips finally press against yours, his free hand moves to roughly grip your ass, helping you rock back and forth against his thigh. His arm drops from your throat when your lips start to respond to his, moving to grip your other ass cheek, fingers digging in and squeezing hard. You moan into his mouth, fisting your hands in his thick black hair when your clothed clit starts to repeatedly rub back and forth against the muscle in his thigh.

The kiss ends far too soon and you throw your head back against the wall, giving Damon’s mouth more room to explore your skin, his teeth and tongue eagerly exploring the new skin. His teeth drag over your ear lobe, “You’d let me fuck you right here wouldn’t you? Right against this wall, with everyone watching us” his voice is nothing more than a husky growl, which shoots straight to your core.

You can’t even tell him that he’s wrong.

“Restroom now!” you bite back breathlessly, a squeak of surprise leaving your lips when Damon chuckles and uses his vamp speed, hurrying you both into the ladies restroom. He kicks the door shut behind him, when he lets you go you stumble back on shaking legs, bumping into the door behind you.

“Someone’s bossy” Damon grins that panty dropping grin, pulling his belt loose from the buckle, the leather slap echoing in the room. “I like it” he winks with a glint in his blue eyes.

You ignore everything instinct that’s telling you to turn and run, you want this, you need this. Besides, if he hadn’t killed anyone then what was the problem. Other than the fact he was supposed to be everything that you hated and hunted. Right now that didn’t seem to matter. Every movement he makes is so slow and teasing, he’s so close yet so far away.

You want to say something smart, but you can’t take your eyes off of him. The echo of cowboy Casanova playing out in the bar makes you smile, kind of reminding you of the man in front of you.

He's a good time cowboy Casanova

Leaning up against the record machine

He looks like a cool drink of water

But he's candy-coated misery

He's the devil in disguise

A snake with blue eyes

And he only comes out at night

Gives you feelings that you don't wanna fight

You better run for your life

Popping the button of his jeans he slowly slides the zip down. You lick your lips as he tugs his jeans over his firm ass.

Damon wraps his fingers around his thick cock as it springs free from the confines of his jeans.

“Commando huh? Somehow that doesn’t surprise me” your remark pulls a chuckle from the vampire.

“Your turn princess” Damon winks, resting a hand on the back of your neck, and he pulls you in for a demanding kiss. A kiss which quickly becomes heated, all teeth, tongues and breathy moans. But before you can even attempt to get your jeans off, Damon’s free hand pushes between the two of you, and he starts undoing them for you.

You push back against his firm chest when you feel your jeans loosen. Damon steps back, but it doesn’t stop the possessive growl that slips past those plump lips of his. You notice his sharp white teeth drag over his bottom lip, as he watches you closely, finally pulling off your jeans and panties and tossing them to the side.

“Just fuck me you cocky bastard”

There’s a swish of air and he’s pressed back against you, a hand roughly parts your legs, you practically double over when Damon pushes two thick fingers inside your throbbing pussy. They’re so much thicker than your own and your whimpering pleas for more seem to fall on deaf ears.

“I would make you beg normally, like the little hunter slut you are. But you’re so fucking tight. I need to feel this wet little pussy wrapped around my cock” he grits out, causing your pussy to clamp down around his fingers, your orgasm teetering right on the edge.

Removing his fingers from inside you, you both moan as he pushes his fingers wet with your juices between his lips. Lips parted so you can watch his tongue swirl around the thick digits.

“Damon, please” you whine loudly, as he pulls his fingers from his mouth with a lewd pop.

“Oh well, would you look at that. Begging already baby girl. You just wait until next time” he chuckles darkly as he picks you up, roughly slamming your back against the door.

You can’t help but groan at the force behind it, wrapping your legs around his waist and pulling him close. With one hand on your ass steadying you, his other hand wraps back around his cock lining himself up with your entrance.

Suddenly Damon’s eyes fill with red, black veins bubbling under the skin below his eyes.

The way that you react next, surprises both of you. You drop your head back against the door, exposing your throat to him.

“Don’t ask me why, but I trust you,” your breathing gets heavier as his nose brushes along the side of your neck, where that thick vein pulses.

You can hear him inhaling along your neck, when his hand covers your mouth, your breathing becomes laboured, your eyes hooded and you’re inhaling through your nose the best you can.

A muffled scream of surprise rips past your throat, when Damon’s thick length is pushed into you in one swift thrust. Your pussy immediately flutters and clamps down around his cock painfully, you grip onto his shoulders tight, eyes rolling into the back of your head, very aware of how hard you're holding onto him.

Damon’s forehead drops against yours, cool against your clammy skin. Looking into your eyes as he pulls his hips back, you can see the lust and the hunger there staring back at you. Then he thrusts roughly back inside you, pulling a large gasp of air from your lungs.

You cling to him, nails clawing down his back, causing Damon to groan and push himself against you harder.

“Oh fuck” you gasp as your stomach clenches, heartbeat beating harshly in your ears, blood rushing through your veins.

“Good little hunter slut, you gonna come all over me? Are you sure you don’t wanna kill the big bad vampire” he grunts, pulling your bottom lip between his teeth as he gives another hard thrust. Pushing you over the edge, your orgasm rips through you, the heels of your feet digging into his ass.

You practically vibrate in his arms, but he doesn’t stop to let your orgasm pass. Instead his pace changed rapidly, the speed and strength behind every thrust was completely inhuman, and you had no idea how bad you’d needed this. You were making noises that you’d never made before, you could feel the sharp point of Damon’s vampire teeth against dragging along your neck, but you didn’t care, you never wanted him to stop.

His hips slow slightly, fingers roughly gripping your thighs in a bruising grip as he pushes them back against his chest, ankles almost over his shoulders. “O-Oh fuck! Damon, you’re so fucking d-deep” you whine loudly, fingers gripping his hair roughly as you hold on like your life depends on it.

“You’re gonna be feeling me for days princess, so fucking close” he grunts against your lips, dragging his human teeth over your bottom lip and sucking roughly. You can hardly breathe, everything is on fire and feels beyond amazing. Your ass bounces off his hips, the sounds filling the room, the door is even creaking behind you.

The wet sounds of his cock fucking into your dripping pussy only spur you on, he’s practically hammering against your g-spot, your legs are shaking and an unfamilair feeling builds within you. Your body is buzzing, like electricity is coursing through your veins.

“D-Damon! Fuck so-” your mouth drops open stopping what you were talking about and your lungs are burning.

“Oh there's a good girl, you’re so close. Fuck, squirt all over my cock” Damon moans loudly, his voice sounding completely wrecked as his hips begin to stutter. White completely clouds your vision as you come, harder than you ever remember, or than you’d ever thought possible. Squirting all over Damon’s cock and his thighs, dripping down at his feet.

You’re not sure if you’d passed out, but when you blink your eyes open your legs are touching the floor but Damon’s still holding you up.

“Well good morning sleeping beauty” he chuckles as you tip your head back to meet his intense blue eyes.

“What the hell happened? Did I pass out?” you laugh at the idea of it, looking between you and seeing Damon fully dressed, you blush and meet his eyes again.

“Yeah, pretty much. Made you squirt and fucked you unconscious” he laughed when you slapped his chest, blushing fiercely.

He steps back when you gently push against his chest, picking your jeans and panties up for you, he hands them over. You thank him with a small smile, quickly slipping your clothes back on.

Your eyes go wide when a thought hits you suddenly, “Wait, what’s the time?” you ask quickly searching for your phone. Saved by Damon who hands you his.

“Shit, it’s eleven. Damon you need to go, if they find you, you’re dead. They’re gonna be looking for me, I didn’t check in” you worry trying to shove him in front of you and out of the door but he stops you, gentle hands on your shoulders.

“First off, it’s adorable that you’re this worried about me, when you were supposed to be killing me. Second, just breathe. If you come back with me, I can tell you who’s doing the killings, then they won’t have any reason to come after me” he explains calmly, a small smile on his lips when you finally stop shoving him.

“I still might kill you” you grumble as he surprises you and takes your hand.

“Nah, you won't. You might fuck me to death though, you keep doing that” he nods at the puddle behind you and you blush all over again. “Don’t be embarrassed, it was hot” Damon grins wiggling his eyebrows at you and you can’t help but laugh as you leave the restroom together.

Tags: @chewie-redbird @julzdec @lettersofwrittencollective @stiles-o-dylan24 @mogaruke @all-alone-he-turns-to-stone @dylanholyhellobrien @holyhellpit @desireepow-1986 @emichelle @lilulo-12 @22sarah08 @deanwanddamons @simsadventures @charmed-asylum @nicole-lynne @hazel-eye-coffee-shop-girl-blog @defenderrosetyler @emilyshurley @emoryhemsworth @foxyjwls007 @captain-shannon-becker @negans-lucille-tblr @fandomfic-galore

#roleplay may #damon salvatore #damon salvatore x reader #damon salvatore x y/n #damon salvatore x you #the vampire diaries #The Vamprie Diaries #the vampire diaries damon salvatore #TVD #tvd fanfiction #damon salvatore TVD #hunter reader #damon salvatore fanfiction #fanfiction #the vampire diaries fanfiction #damon x reader #damon smut #damon salvatore smut

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babbushka · 4 years

Note

Good morning!!! I’d love to request something with your favorite lumberjack Flip picking you up, throwing you over his shoulder, carrying you around, swinging you, whatever lol and in any context you like! Thank you :)

Anonymous said: Bite your lip once more i dare you. From your prompt list. For Flip, please. Thank you very much!

You’re a dream come true, there in the station. He looks forward to it, every day, every day the highlight of his day is when you come walking through those lobby doors with your little basket of goodies for him, like the two of you are going on a picnic, a small adventure to the rec room to steal a few moments together on his lunch hour.

So it kills him when he has to work through lunch, days like today where you’re both in the red room but he’s got file folders all around him, has been staring at them all morning to try and figure it out, crack the pattern. Days when you’re so pretty and such good company, so smart and funny and he can’t indulge in you because he’s got to do his job.

But what kills him even more, is how you get to be too much, entirely too much, too distracting, all because he’s not got the time to properly be with you. You’re being too much right now, and Flip flicks the ash of his cigarette onto the little tray on the coffee table in the rec room, straightens up his posture and raises a brow at you.

“What do you think you’re doing?” He asks, and you blink, putting your hand over your heart in mock innocence.

“Me?” You’re doing your best to repress a grin, but Flip can see, he can see the way the corners of your smile tick up, the way you’re biting at the inside of your cheek.

“No, Jimmy – yeah you ketsl.” Flip rolls his eyes playfully, beckons you over with a tiny nod of his head, and you take the hint.

“I haven’t the slightest idea what you mean.” You shrug, getting up from your chair next to the couch where he’s working and eating at the same time. You meander on over, standing right in front of him, standing between his legs. “I’m just over here, minding my business, thinking all by my lonesome.”

“Whatcha thinkin’ about that’s getting you so hot and bothered, hm?” He rubs his hands up and down the backs of your thighs, voice low and deep.

You’d been giving all these little sighs, licking your lips and humming to yourself while you leafed through the pages of a magazine someone left behind, and it’d been driving him mad with want for you. Not just your body, but also your shining personality, want for your sense of humor and your insight. But okay, yes, also your body.

“Nothing…just my man.” You sigh dramatically, loop your arms around his shoulders and sit down on his lap as you whisper, “He’s real big and strong, handsome too. Drives all the women wild, but he’s all mine.”

“You’re pretty lucky then, if he’s such a charmer.” Flip grins, smug as shit, and you tug on his ear and let your own grin crack through finally, biting at your lower lip so you don’t dissolve into a happy puddle at getting to be with him.

“You bet I am, and he is. But there’s one thing wrong with him.” You click your tongue, as Flip reaches up up up to kiss you.

“Oh yeah and what’s that?” He smiles, hands so warm through your blouse as he rubs your back gently, chasing lips that deny him, a little chase that he’s determined to win.

“He’s a real hard worker, can’t always pay attention to me.” You’re so dramatic, theatrical, over the top in the most subtle and understated way. Flip’s about to scold you for it, for making him fall so in love with you every single day, every single second of every single day, but he zeroes in on your mouth instead.

“Bite your lip one more time, I dare you.” He says lowly, with a sparkle in his eyes even though he’s got your jaw pinched in his massive hand, looking for all intents and purposes like the most serious man in the world. You lick your lips and bite at your lower just to spite him, and he grins, stands up abruptly with, “That’s it -- !”

“Flip!” You gasp as he hoists you over his shoulder without warning, carrying you around the rec room like you’re nothing more than a sack of potatoes. You laugh and laugh and laugh, ankles crossing immediately so you don’t accidentally kick him or drop a shoe as you smack at his back. “Philly honey – ah!!”

“I’m gonna march you through the whole fuckin’ station and show everyone how much I love you, is that what you want? You beautiful fuckin’ angel? Want me to shout it out to the whole city?” Flip grins, beams even though you can’t see it, beams and says his polite little excuse me-s as other officers try to make their way down the hall.

Flip manages to get you as far as through the little doorway to a side hallway that leads to the file room, and it’s thankfully not too busy at this time of day while everyone’s on lunch.

“Flip! Waitwaitwait put me down I’m getting dizzy!” You laugh, and he immediately sets you to rights, watches as your eyes shine bright and your hair falls back into proper place, no longer practically upside down.

He collects you in his embrace, tucks you against the wall and you wind your arms around his neck once more, your foreheads resting together as you both smile like loons, noses bumping.

“Kiss?” Flip asks, and you nod.

“Please.” You whisper, and Flip’s more than happy to oblige.

His mouth moves against yours perfectly, two halves of the same coin, two pieces of the same puzzle. You fit together in every conceivable way, and it’s enough to make Flip’s chest tighten up. He loves you, loves that you still show up to the station and stay with him, even when he’s busy working – maybe especially then. He appreciates you so much, everything you do for him, he decides then and there he’ll treat you to something extra special tonight to make up for how busy he was today.

“How’s that for paying attention to you, hm ketsl?” Flip whispers against your lips when you both move away to breathe, smiling and batting your lashes up at him.

You know he doesn’t have much time left for lunch, but that doesn’t stop you from taking a peek around the corner to make sure no one is coming, before pulling him down for another kiss, and another, and another, biting at his lips all the while.

#flip zimmerman #flip zimmerman x reader #flip zimmerman/reader #flip zimmerman x you #flip zimmerman/you #flip zimmerman imagine #flip zimmerman fluff #blackkklansman #adam driver character #adam driver #Anonymous #cowboy answers

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youarejesting · 4 years

Text

Blue Side

[Masterlist]

Beta: @nightshadevinter Thank you for reading the rough draft, I know it didn’t end spectacularly but I think I like it better with this ending it sets a tone and leaves you just there. I mean it could have been better but I was starting to dwell on the story far to long and it was making it harder to finish. Networks: @btscreatorscorner @castlebangtan Words: 2.3k Warnings: Blue is a metaphor for Depression Summary: Jhope finds himself always slipping back to the Blue side. (Based on Jhope’s song Blue Side)

Hoseok had always lived two lives. He had the life in the world he was born and grew up in with friends and happiness and the world he discovered along the way full of darkness and sorrow. The world he found was almost always empty and cold, it looked like a frozen tundra. Everything was tinged a slight blue haze and so he un-affectionately called it the ‘Blue side’.

As he grew older he began understanding the Blue side more and more, as he frequently visited the space. Though visited wasn’t quite the word he would use, as he never had control over his visits —If he had the choice he wouldn’t go at all— but there were clauses to each world.

He couldn’t live permanently in one, if he neglected one world too long it took over and he was stuck there for sometimes weeks. He hated the Blue side and tried to stop himself from crossing over but it happened anyway.

When he was in the Blue side he was asleep in the real world and so neglecting the Blue side meant he would be asleep for days, the last time he tried not to go to the Blue side it literally took him and he was gone from the real world for almost a whole month. He called these his ‘Blue Sleeps’

Then there were his phases where he would feel like escaping and would try to stay in the Blue side but he would be forced back. So after many trials and errors he learnt to alternate, every night he went to the Blue side.

But even in the sad cold dystopia that was the Blue side Hoseok created a life for himself, he took care of his vegetable garden in a glass greenhouse and even wrote songs in front of the fireplace. He found himself trying to fill the cold with activities that could make him feel a little less alone.

Since he became a trainee and even when he was on tour every sleep he had would be in the Blue side. This was to maintain some sort of balance between the worlds he couldn’t go MIA for several weeks so he took this as his way to keep the Blue sleep at bay, to keep the darkness and the cold from touching his happy and bright persona.

It wasn’t easy, it almost felt like he was not quite alive or dead, like he was missing important moments with his band members. So, he tried to make the most of the times he had between their work schedule and the few and far between occasions that they got the chance to sleep.

He met Yoongi in the Blue side a few times and he thought he was dreaming but invited him into his home nonetheless.

“What are you doing here?” Hoseok asked confused and kind of excited

“Dreaming what about you?” Yoongi gave a sigh sitting in the chair by the fire. “Is this your house, it does seem a bit like you”

“Why are you here?”

“I am dreaming,” He sighed

“No, I get that but like what are you doing here?” Hoseok was getting a little frustrated by the older man’s lack of expression; he was just so unresponsive.

“I mean, I am not into being all sentimental and feelings man,” Picking at Hoseok’s armchair he seemed annoyed as well, “I always come here when I am like depressed and stuff”

Something struck a chord with Hoseok, how could he say that nonchalantly, this was the BLUE SIDE, named by him as a child because he always felt a little Blue when he was there and he couldn’t shake the feeling that perhaps Yoongi was right in his assumption. Maybe this was a manifestation of the world's sadness, loneliness and depression.

Hoseok woke with a start and went to breakfast, he saw Yoongi pouring himself some coffee looking particularly pale. “Hey man, what did you dream about last night?”

“Uh… I can’t remember” He mumbled

“Hobi, it’s too early to be asking everyone questions like that right now” Namjoon tried to maintain the peace he was the leader after all, and keeping all the members happy meant sometimes making other members follow his directions.

“I just, I saw you in my dream,” Hoseok said, “You were there on the Blue side, you told me you got there sometimes when you feel depressed.”

Yoongi’s eyes widened and he sipped his coffee, trying to play it off saying, “I don’t what you were talking about, I can’t even remember my dream, I didn’t sleep long enough to dream”

“Actually dreams usually occur towards the start and end of your sleep cycle. It's called REM sleep the middle is the deep sleep cycle where you don’t dream” Namjoon began spouting his words of wisdom.

“So what you’re saying is dreams are like the pre-soak and spin cycle and the rinse cycle is deep sleep,” Taehyung’s words made Jungkook’s tired head lift at the odd talk of laundry.

Yoongi didn’t speak of it again and didn’t appear in the Blue side for a long time, Hoseok had started to believe he was in fact dreaming up that the pale rapper had indeed been there. But he saw him again, the two sat and spoke about what this world was each giving their theories and waking up in the reality.

It was normal for Yoongi to appear in the Blue side sometimes and over time he saw many of the other members pop in and out of the world but he was the only one who was a permanent resident, the only one who had made a home and a life in the Blue side.

Whenever he saw his fellow members wandering aimlessly and scared through the cold wasteland he would always invite them in and try his best to cheer them up. He never told the others it was real, the cold, the sadness, the emotions, any bumps and bruises were all real.

The Blue side was as real as the real world and it tried to sucking the life from anyone who stepped inside. Their appearances allowed him to talk through their troubles and in waking life he could help them through things.

Yoongi appeared again after knocking on the door, “your house is getting harder to find, colder too?” Yoongi muttered sitting on the couch.

“You have to open up and talk about your Blue side” Yoongi used the term he had heard many times. “Otherwise we are going to lose you, you are sleeping longer and longer these days”

“I know it’s just every time something happens and I get Blue I fall deeper in the Blue side”

“What makes you feel Blue?”

“I just feel like nobody wants me around, they are just putting up with me?”

“Hey, you know that’s not true,” Yoongi stepped closer, touching Hoseok’s shoulder. The young man didn’t look up so he tilted his head down to catch his eyes. “Right?”

“Yeah I know, I just can’t help the thoughts” he gave a weak smile “what brings you here?”

“The usual digging up the past with my music dealing through the heavy emotions, cried a little while writing a song but on the bright side” he smiled gums showing as he slumped back into a couch. “I will be in the ‘Blue’ with you for a while”

“We will get better soon for now we feel the emotions. It reminds us how special the good times are and how beautiful all our good feelings are,” Yoongi always had such wise words he was always battling his Blue feelings.

But Hoseok was a little jealous, why did Yoongi have the ability to overcome his Blue feelings every time he felt them he wasn’t constantly struggling for control he had moments without a care in the world and other times he was as Blue as could be.

Was it bad that sometimes Hoseok wished Yoongi could stay, trapped like him, the only one who understands him. He shook his head knowing it was bad to think that way, bad to wish Blue upon anyone.

One day Hoseok brought up Blue with the group and said sometimes he felt Blue and would go to the Blue side where he would sometimes meet them. Yoongi corroborated his story and told them the two would often meet within the Blue side.

Jimin had coincidentally found himself within the Blue side that night and was ushered out of the snow by Hoseok who smiled at the lost and nervous young man.

“This is the Blue side isn’t it?”

“It is, but don’t worry, I am here” Hoseok grinned “What brings you to the Blue side Jimin, you can talk to me about anything here?”

“Well, I just get uh upset sometimes about somethings that is all”

“You don’t have to talk about it Jimin, I won’t force you, we can just sit and chat and I can keep you company until the Blue feelings pass.”

Jimin walked around the little home and at Hoseok and gave a small sad smile “You have been here for a long time haven’t you?” Hoseok saw Jimin’s fingers brush the small hand print on the wooden bannister in the home. The imprinted hand had long thin fingers and didn’t fit Jimin’s.

“It’s my second Home, Jimin even in the Blue Side I have little joys, this place is nostalgic and I love the little private home I have even though it is eerie and lonesome”

“I guess I know what you mean, I am upset, but I am happy you are here Hyung” Jimin looked around cautiously “How did you get here, I mean like when did it start?”

“Well I think the Blue Feelings started when I was a teenager, I started discovering people were different and my self esteem was kind of low, it still is sometimes” The man chuckled rubbing the back of his neck. “It was just your everyday Blue feelings but then as time moved on the blue feelings changed as did the intensity of them”

Joining BTS didn’t really help not entirely, though it brought a lot of happiness and fun it also brought a lot of doubt and sadness. I doubted my place, I doubted my abilities compared to the others. I doubted my…” his breath seemed stuck Jimin could tell he was choked up with emotion, “appearance compared to you all”

“Hey,” Jimin tried to interfere but the older young man raised his hand

“No, I know, trust me, I know” He said “Just sometimes your head lies to you, it knows what you hate the most, what you fear and it turns it against you” He sighed, making two mugs of hot tea over the fireplace and pouring them for him and Jimin.

“But everytime things are going good, something comes along and knocks me back. It could be a hashtag or comments, it could be a bad dance practice. Or it could be my head making up problems that aren’t real, making me doubt myself and letting the blue feelings back in.”

“I think I get it” Jimin nodded “I just wish you didn’t have to face it on your own”

“I am never really alone, I always know you are all there for me, plus being here makes it easy to help you all with your Blue feelings when you appear.”

So much was happening, tours and interviews cancelled, their schedule ripped to shreds. The Army felt like they had disappeared and Hoseok fell asleep one afternoon. He woke in the Blue side a Blizzard like storm howling outside his small home and he sat in his arm chair waiting, he felt Blue, he felt so icy Blue that he felt numb. So he just sat in his chair and waited.

He spent his time pondering why he was so upset and it all stemmed with just feeling like he had no control over what was happening coupled with the disappointment of not being able to do what he loved and see the Army. He felt like a failure letting people down and sitting in his home for weeks on end and he just didn't know what to do.

There was a knocking on the door. It was fierce and when he opened the door he saw his fellow band members all standing there. “Hoseok, you have been here for too long, we got lucky walking through the dark until we saw a faint light”

Hoseok rushed to make tea and they all gathered around the fire, and Taehyung broke the silence, tears falling down his cheeks. “I hate it”

“Taehyungie, what is wrong?” Hoseok grabbed at the boy and pulled him onto his lap rocking him slowly.

“When the Army aren’t their it sometimes feels like I don’t have any love” He sniffed “I know its shallow to think and it’s something stupid to get upset over…”

“Hey, if something makes you upset it is not silly or trivial. It means something to you,” He said “even if other people don’t understand, it doesn’t make it any less important to you.”

“I see no point getting out of bed if we aren’t working to make the Armies happy” Seokjin said

“Well maybe that’s what we need to do, we have all this time on our hands, let’s use it well” Hoseok clapped his hands together and stood up pulling Taehyung to his feet also. “Let’s make another album. “We can’t waste time and we are sad but think of all the Army who are feeling Blue and are stuck in the Blue Side because they can’t see us”

The group sat discussing new ideas, their feelings and anything that came to mind until the storm stopped and the sun came out thawing some of the ice and snow. They all woke in their bed feeling a little warmer and Hoseok had a bit of closure that he was never truly alone and the Blue side wasn’t all that scary or lonely. Even the Blue side could hold joy and laughter if you had the right company.

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judediangelo75 · 4 years

Text

Under the Celestial Lights

Hi everyone! First I would like to thank you guys for my first post for the TalbottxMC fandom. I appreciate it a lot. So this is my second contribution, this time covering the Celestial Ball.

As you all already know, Talbott is not option (tragic I know) so this is gonna be a hint of a love triangle situation. Playing the game, I did go with Andre because I found him to be rather sweet (and cute). It was either him or Barnaby, sue me. But I pick our favorite style wizard.

I would entertain my MC liking Andre as a bit, but her endgame is Talbott. And she feels terrible for having to choose and breaking someone’s heart in that process. She doesn’t like to hurt anyone she considers a good friend.

Also this is featuring my best friend in this story, we’re co-writing our Hogwarts experience from the game.

So here it is, my version of the Celestial Ball featuring our favorite bird boy, Talbott Winger. Hope you all like it!

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

(Talbott Winger)

The Celestial Ball.

Something that caused a stir in the student population at Hogwarts. Where everyone seems to be anxious on what they will wear and who their guest will be as they'll dance the night away.

Not my scene.

Or so I thought before I saw her.

On Andre's arm was my secret crush. Judith Harris.

If I thought she looked beautiful before, she was absolutely stunning now...

If I were in my human form, I would most definitely be blushing. The dress seem to be made just to fit her and her alone. Red and gold complimenting her skin and eyes. Even the slit of the dress that showed off her leg did funny things to me. Her dark brown hair styled in curls flowing around her shoulders and upper back. Her gold eyes were outlined in black, making her eyes sharp and enticing. The dark brown, nearly black, shadow added depth to her eyes. Her lips looked soft and a bit shiny.

Andre looked like he was walking on air, a hint of a blush can found on his cheeks paired with the biggest smile on his face. He gazed at Judith with a soft lovesick expression.

'Lucky bloke...' I mentally huffed as I shifted in my little corner by the windows. I didn't even plan on going to the Ball but after a certain conversation with Judith early this morning.

---------

"Hey Talbott..." I glanced at the Hufflepuff sitting next to me. After breakfast in the Great Hall, Judith decided to join me in my hiding spot in the Courtyard.

"Yes, Judith," I asked. On the way here, she seemed to thinking about something.

"I was wondering... you plan on going to the Ball?" I rolled my eyes.

"I see no real point to go. Sure, there are people I know that'll be there, but it's not like they're looking to spend time with the weird looking loner. Plus, it's not my scene to begin with," I shrugged. I didn't notice a crestfallen expression on Judith's face.

"O-Oh... Just wondering..." I turned to the Hufflepuff who was facing the opposite direction.

"I'm going. I'm sure it'll be fun..." I arched at brow.

"You going with a guest?"

"No one asked me. I guess I'm going to be third wheeling Brooke and Penny. No wizard would want me as their guest..." I frowned. I would want her to be my guest. I opened my mouth to say something but the girl abruptly stood up.

"I got to go, I'm pretty sure getting ready for the Ball will take forever. Might as well and get a head start. I'll... I'll see you around, Talbott..." were her final words before walking back into the castle. I was left alone in the quiet Courtyard, feeling like I ruined something...

-----------

Turns out Judith did find a guest, but her eyes didn't hold it's usual spark. Whenever she was alone, I notice the look on her face. Her eyes were half lidded, it almost made her eyes enticing. But by closer inspection, her eyes looked slightly clouded and dazed. Like she wasn't truly present. She would look outside, her expression wistful before morphing to a smile when one of her friends or Andre approach her. But I know what I saw.

A look I've seen in our long classes. A look that reads she rather be somewhere else.

Or maybe in this case, with someone else...

"Heyyyyyy Talbott~" I blinked as I turned to Brooke, who was now casually leaning against the windowsill. She looked amazing, I wouldn't be surprised if she was the master mind behind her and her best friend's outfits. But that's not what I wondering about.

Just how did she see me and why is she talking to me...

"So I noticed you here all by your lonesome so I decided to come keep you company with awhile." I detect a bit of lying in that statement. I blinked at her unimpressed.

"Hey! What's with that look? I can't check up on one of my friends?" I don't know, can you? I gave her a head tilt as answer. She rolled my eyes.

"Why can I tell that you're being sarcastic with me right now?" Maybe because I am. She sighed, exasperated.

"Alright, alright. So I have a bit of an ulterior motive here, but it's nothing bad. I promise!" If I could raise a brow at her, I would. I simply sat there, waiting for her to continue.

"So I know that you fucked up, but I'm here to help you..." I flapped my wings, slightly bewildered. What was that suppose to mean? The girl rolled her eyes.

"I promised I wouldn't interfere too much but I can push you in the right direction..." I still not following completely...

"The Ball will be over soon and I wouldn't stand to see my best friend sulk any longer! So here's the plan: I gonna convince Judith to help me with something and I separate her from Andre for little while. You're gonna be hiding out in the Courtyard. While Judith is "helping" me, I gonna go back to the Great Hall and you'll make your grand entrance. I think a dance with you will make her night ten times better. You got all that, bird boy?" I simply turned around and flew out of the open window behind me.

I guess a quick stop to my room wouldn't hurt...

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

(Judith Harris)

I'm ready to just crash in my bed right now. I'm over it.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm happy to be at the Celestial Ball. After all this timing planning, it great to see that it was all worth it. Though one detail that just made me see dim colors.

I wasn't with the person I wanted to go with.

I have no clue where I possibly got the idea that Talbott would be interested in me and would go to the Ball with me. Once I heard that he wasn't going, I just mentally gave up and walked away before I could make a bigger fool of myself. I was internally wallowing in my self pity when I unknowingly bumped into Andre.

The boy seem anxious for whatever reason. I softly asked the style wizard if everything was okay. And that's when he shyly asked me if I was going to the Ball with anyone. Still kinda down about how the situation played out with Talbott, I told the stylish Ravenclaw no. Perking up a bit, he asked if I would like to go with him.

The silence that ensued was deafening. I meant what I said that I doubt any wizard would consider asking me to be their guest to the Ball. Look at the universe proving me wrong and shit. I shyly accepted Andre's offer. We're going as friends.

The universe was partially laughing at me.

I was enjoying my time with Andre, don't get me wrong. He's the definition of a gentleman. Making sure that I was okay, getting me drinks or little snacks if I needed it, showering me in compliments. Everything.

And I admit, he looked rather handsome tonight. The lights bringing out a shine in those brown eyes that never seem to leave me. Even when I was in his arms for a particular slow dance, he looked down at me with a fond expression. The way his hand was holding my own and the way its twin held by the curve of my waist was rather... intimate. The way he spoke is low hush tones as we quietly spoke during our dance felt private. For the life of me, I couldn't stop blushing because of how being that close to him made me feel. The dance was rather sweet but I knew my heart wasn't in it, which made me feel a bit guilty.

His arms weren't the ones I wanted to be in.

His brown eyes weren't the eyes I wanted looking at me with adoration and shy affection.

Andre wasn't the one I wanted to be with.

I consider him to be a good friend, an amazing mate at that. But that's as far as I'll ever see him.

I let out a soft sigh, gazing out one of the windows of the Great Hall. I wonder how Talbott is spending his night. I felt someone grab my hand, bringing me out of my thoughts.

"I brought you some more punch, Judith," Andre said, holding a goblet in his other hand. I gave him a small smile.

"Thank you, Andre..." Taking the goblet, I drank the cool beverage. Shit, I need it. With trying to help Brooke with her chaotic love life and making sure a jealous Penny doesn't rip Diego a new one, I deserve a small breather. Especially when I had to steal Diego away temporarily for a dance. Diego was a hint to overzealous about this and didn't hesitate to sweep me across the dance floor. Just as I was regretting my decisions in life when Diego talked about a possible "date", Brooke stepped in and saved my ass. I was surprised I was able to dart away so quickly in heels.

Needless to say, I need a little something to relax me.

"Heyyyyy Judith~" Oh for crying out loud, what now? I side eyed my best friend as she gave me a guileless smile.

"What did you do this time," I asked. Brooke looked at me slightly offended.

"Psh, me?! I didn't do any-" I gave her a pointed look. She had the decency to look embarrassed.

"It's nothing bad, I was wondering if you can help me find my earring..." Looking closer, I noticed that one of her clip on dragon earrings was indeed missing.

"How the heck did you manage to lose it," I asked, confused.

"I went to the Courtyard to get some air because it was getting hot in here and it must've fallen off my ear." I raised a brow.

"Wouldn't you have felt it come off? Plus, isn't it metal? So you would've heard it hit the ground," I pointed out.

"I was wondering around and was lost in my thoughts, Judith. You know I wouldn't be paying attention like that," she said with an eye roll.

"But you should've been able to find it, you do have sharp eyesight thanks to your glasses," I hinted. The girl was an avian Animagus. She should have ridiculously good eyesight.

"I must've been so much in a panic looking for it, I gonna need a second pair of eyes."

"But-"

"Oh my gosh, Judith. Are you gonna help me or not?!" I sighed and nodded to my best friend. I turned to Andre, who was smirking down at me.

"The Sorting Hat certainly was right about you having the qualities to be a Ravenclaw, Judith," he said. I rolled my eyes and let out a soft chuckle.

"But I'm not. I just tend to think about certain things more. I'll be back later..." Andre nodded, taking my hand and kissing the back of it. I was a little stunned, even as Brooke quickly dragged me to the Courtyard.

Oh Andre, why must you make this difficult?

"I'm gonna look at this side of the Courtyard and you'll look over there? Alright," Brooke said as she walked over to one end of the Courtyard. I rolled my eyes. Okay, I guess. I casted Lumos and began to search for the earring. After awhile, I came up with nothing.

"Brooke, I can't find the damn thing, you sure you dropped it out here?"

"Hello Judith..." ...that's not Brooke...

I slowly turned to find myself looking into red eyes. I felt my heart stall in my chest for a few moments.

"T-Talbott?! What are you doing here," I asked, my face felt like it was burning. The quiet Ravenclaw boy sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck, looking slightly unsure of himself.

"I-I... um... I'm actually here to see you..."

"R-really," I asked shyly. Sugar Honey Ice Tea, is this really happening right now? Talbott stepped closer and held my right hand, tying something around my wrist. I looked closer and blushed.

A red camellia with a gold ribbon...

You're a flame in my heart...

Do. Not. Faint.

"I know I said I didn't want to go to the Ball, b-but... I was wondering if you're willing to spare me a dance," he whispered. I looked into his eyes. His red eyes screamed his fear... but whispered his hope. My heart was jack hammering against my ribcage as I made my decision.

"I-I... I would love to dance with you..." Talbott gave me a small smile, relief washing over his features. That's when I took a moment to study him. Surprisingly, he wasn't in his class robes. His usual black slacks and dress shoes were present, but a red short sleeve dress shirt with gold tribal designs on his right side took the place of his usual vest and robe.

Has he always been this handsome?

Stupid question, yes he has been. Dear Gods, help me...

His hand slipped into my own as he led me to the middle of Courtyard. I felt my heart race as he paused to look at me. I suddenly became self conscious.

"W-what? Is there something on my face," I asked shyly. Talbott shook his head and let out a shaky sigh.

"N-no... I just... you look stunning tonight, Judith... I almost can't believe that you agreed to do this with me..." Mind if I swoon right now?

"T-thank you, Talbott... and if I can be honest right now..." I took a deep breath, my heart just threatening to make me pass out right now. Talbott's red eyes staring into my own.

"I-I-I... I actually wanted to go to the Ball with you," I confessed. Talbott froze, for a second I thought he forget to breathe. He let out a low chuckle and dropped his head.

"No wonder she said I fucked up... because I did," he mumbled, running his fingers through his hair. I blushed a bit at the sight of him looking slightly disheveled. But I picked up on what he said and mentally slapped my forehead.

Brooke...

As much as I wanna find her and shake her stupid...

She did give me an opportunity...

I reached up, taking the Ravenclaw's face in between my hands so he could look at me.

"Hey, that doesn't matter right now. We're here, aren't we? So let's make the most of it," I whispered. Talbott bit his lip before nodding. One hand found the small of my back while it's twin held my right hand. I rested my remaining hand on his shoulder, stepping closer.

Why does this feel so familiar...

"There isn't any real music for us to dance to," I pointed out. The boy smiled at me.

"I know a song... from my childhood... something my parents use to dance to. I'll share with you one day, but for right now, do you trust me," he asked, looking slightly unsure of himself. I squeezed his hand.

"I trust you, Talbott..." That was all he needed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7JXLczaxJs

Talbott led the dance. It was surprisingly slow in the beginning but picking up speed and fluidity as the song played in Talbott's head. Even more surprisingly, how I was able to keep up with him and never heard the melody. I could only imagine seeing Talbott as a little boy, sitting and watching his parents dance the same way he is now...

With me, of all people...

I snapped out of my thoughts as I felt him release my hand in favor of the holding the curve of my waist. I instinctively gripped both his shoulders and he picked me and spun me around. I couldn't help the carefree laughter that escaped me. The warmth the bubbled within my heart spread throughout my body as I looked down at him. This moment...

His eyes were shining bright under the moon light, shadowed by his dark lashes. His full lips spread into a small smile, but something about this smile was different.

It held a level of warmth and sincerity.

Fondness and affection.

Shyness and caution.

His expression spoke of emotion I wouldn't dare to name aloud. Talbott has been alone for a good portion of his life, for him to lo...

Me?

I didn't dare put any hope on it, in case I was wrong. I don't wish to be on the receiving end of a broken heart. I've seen it happened to Brooke, and I don't think I ready to face such a thing myself.

Talbott set me down, resuming our initial position and continuing our dance.

"I've never known you to be playful, Talbott," I chuckled as gazed into those captivating red eyes. He smirked at me.

"There are many things you don't know about me, Judith," he said, spinning me under his arm. I let out a laugh.

"'Tis true, Mr. Winger. You are a Keeper of Secrets, everything hidden away under an cold lock," I teased as I found myself back in his arms. The hand on my back pressed me closer to him and for a split second I almost forgot how to breathe.

"You may be on to something, Miss Harris... maybe you hold the key to that lock..." I-

I didn't get the chance to reply as Talbott braced his arm around me, dipping me with surprising grace. Time seem to slow down as he pulled me back up, both of us spinning around with grace and poise. We slowed to a stop. I felt him release my hand to find my waist yet again, pulling me closer. Both my hands pressed against his chest, leaning into him. Neither of us spoke, simply taking in the moment. Our faces were surprisingly close, our eyes half lid as we silently stared at each other.

Red and gold...

I took a deep breath, the scent of his cologne, which reminds the crisp morning air in the forest. My eyes fluttered dainty as I felt my knees weaken. Talbott's grip tighten on me, keeping me upright.

"Talbott..." came my breathless whisper.

"Yes, Judith," he whispered back. I don't know what came over me. Maybe because of the adrenaline from our dance. Maybe it was because of the comforting scent of his cologne that was just so him. Maybe it's because of how I'm noticing how dashingly handsome the loner Ravenclaw boy was, especially until the mystical moonlight.

Maybe it's because I like him more than I'm willing to admit at this current point in time...

I leaned in and pressed a chaste kiss on his cheek. I heard his breath hitch but he didn't push me away. I let myself to linger for a few moments, longer than necessary. I didn't want to part with him so soon, but I knew I had to go back to the Ball and Andre...

I pulled away, giving the blushing boy a smile.

"Thank you for the dance, Talbott... you made my night..." Talbott returned the smile.

"Anything for you, Judith. I know you have to go back but..." he took one of my right hand, kissing my knuckles while he looked into my eyes.

"Goodnight, little bird. Sweet dreams," he said softly. If he keeps this up, I'm gonna swoon for real...

"Goodnight, Talbott. Sweet dreams," I softly replied. I slowly began to walk away, our hands lingering until I was too far away to hold on anymore. As I approached the entrance of the castle, I glanced over my shoulder. The aloof Ravenclaw graced me with one last smile before transforming into his massive Golden Eagle and taking off. I sighed, gazing at the flower around my wrist before holding it close over my heart.

What a night under the Celestial Lights...

#andre egwu #talbott winger #andre x mc #talbott x jacob's sibling #talbott x mc #hphm talbott #hphm andre #hogwarts mystery #hogwarts mc #judith harris

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