#and as we are walking to our next ride i am physically blocked by this family. and as i go to complain about it what do i hear? | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

mehbzz · 3 years

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Claimed

NSFT 18+ ABO AU. FFXV Omega isekai F!reader claimed by Alpha Gladio and Alpha Ignis. Includes - dubcon, forced claiming, aggressive possessive controlling behaviour, yandere and general asshole behaviour. oral sex, double penetration, anal, lactation. Includes smut, explicit but not too detailed, I tried to skim over it. Feat. oral with Prompto and Drautos being creepy. Needs some editing I think. It's long!

“An omega?” The shock is strong in Drautos’ voice and you feel Ignis tense immediately beside you. You smile in greeting and Drautos takes a curious step closer, although Noctis tugs your arm to drag you behind him before you can say hello and Gladio steps in front of you both blocking your view entirely.

The bemusement in Drautos voice is evident, “I see.” “The King gave his permission for the Kingsglaive to serve as protection if needed. However as we don’t plan on leaving the Citadel it is unlikely,” Ignis’ voice is deep in his ‘advisor mode’ as you had dubbed it, and you smile slightly at his officious tone. “Confidential information, need to know only.” Ignis continues. Drautos hums in response. “Of course. However you know you won’t be able to hide her status for long? She smells too different. Too appealing.” He must have taken another step forward as Gladio growls low in his throat, a warning that makes even you flinch back. “Come on, I’ll show you where you’ll be staying.” Noctis pulls you away from the rising tension. You let him pull you away, glancing back to see Ignis standing between Gladio and Drautos before he tugs you round a corner, obscuring your view.

🦋---------------------------------🦋

“Trigger a heat?” Ignis frowns, “Risky. We don’t know enough about omegas and their heats. The first one should be natural.”

They both fall quiet for a moment before Gladio speaks again.

“I’m not letting her leave, she’s ours. There’s nothing stopping us from just taking her.” “A forced bonding would ruin all the hard work it has taken to get her to this point, it would take even more work to get her to forgive us once she realise what it means.”

“She’s not leaving Iggy.” Gladio repeats, watching you as Noctis enthusiastically shows you what looks like a new fishing lure he’d bought. Whether your interest is genuine or not he can’t tell “And she’d forgive us, she wouldn’t have a choice once bitten.” He glances back at Ignis “And you didn’t say no.”

“It’s a last resort. She’s nearly there, just a little more patience.”

“I'm not waiting forever. She’s getting to much attention.” He sighs. “Fine. But if she's hasn't by her first heat we do it my way.”

🦋---------------------------------🦋

Drautos is the only one outside of the King and his Shield that officially knows your status as an omega. Since your first brief meeting a week ago you hadn’t seen him outside of a nodded acknowledgement when you had passed him in the halls outside your room. He’s big, his scent is intimidating, and as you walk closer to where he and Ignis are talking you feel more than a little nervous.

“…with a pretty thing like that.”

Ignis doesn't reply to whatever Drautos’ comment had been instead flicking his gaze to you as you approach. He looks tense, and steps closer to you when you arrive.

Drautos looks surprised at your appearance “Why is she not helping the Prince with his rut?”

“I'm no-“

Ignis tuts at you and you shut your mouth unquestioningly at the sound.

Drautos smiles "pretty and obedient". His eyes roam over you, tracing over your curves in a way that makes you feel slightly queasy, before lingering on your neck and his smile gets wider, flashing his teeth. “And unclaimed.”

Ignis immediately steps in front of you with a tight smile. “If there was nothing else Drautos, we should be on our way.”

Drautos nods but you can feel his eyes burning into your back as you half walk, half stumble as Ignis tugs you back towards your room; you skip to catch up with his quick stride.

“What does he mean I'm not claimed?” “Why are you wandering around alone?” You roll your eyes “You said don’t leave the Citadel, not my room and I’m not wandering around. I was hungry.” He studies you out of the corner of his eye. “You’ve been eating a lot recently. Are you feeling well? Hot flushes? Cramps?” his gaze drifts to your chest. “Lactation?” “What?! No! I feel fine.” You try to pull your arm out of his grip but he tightens it and growls at you in warning. You submit immediately and after a few steps he relaxes his hold.

“Am I supposed to be helping Noctis?” Ignis looks at you in surprise and then smiles. “Ruts can be intense, and would probably trigger your heat. Is it selfish to want you to experience your first with me and Gladio?” It wasn't a yes, or a no, and you still feel confused. “Is it something omegas are supposed to do?” “Do you want to?”

He’s being evasive and you focus on the flash of annoyance rather than the blush that threatens to overrun you at his question. “Well what do alphas in rut do without an omega?”

Ignis stops and interrupts you with a kiss that only adds to your irritation. The half answers and evasions from all of them were getting more prevalent now you had returned to the Citadel. Their expectation for your obedience had also risen, as had their control over you. You nip at his lip in retaliation and he pulls back with a soft grunt. “Packs help each other out if warranted. It's something we can discuss at a later time.” He sounds exasperated, but he’s actually, sort of, answering your questions and you decide to take the risk to push for more.

“Why aren’t I claimed?” He stiffens and you can tell straight away he is uncomfortable with the question. “It doesn’t apply to us” You feel a pang of hurt as you consider his words. “You don't want me?” “Yes I do.” His reply is quick and the emotion that flashes across his face is gone too fast for you to read. “Then why?” “You want to leave us and return home, don't you?” His words sound like an accusation and sting even if his tone is casual. “Oh. I-, yes, I guess.” “Then it’s a moot point.” His voice is cold and you shrink little at hearing it.

You walk in silence for a few minutes, and by the time you reach the staircase back to your room you’ve worked up the courage to ask more questions. “Who can claim an omega?” He hesitates but he answers you which is a surprise. “Any Alpha.”

“How? Like a marriage ceremony?”

“Not quite”

“Does a whole pack claim one omega?”

“Depends on the pack”

“What about ours?”

He stops just outside your door and turns towards you. He's frustrated, and you hesitate, unsure if it's directed at your endless run of questions or lingering from Drautos.

“Ours?” He echoes your word with a faint smile. “It depends on the pack” he repeats. He cocks his head to the side and stares at you curiously. “Did you want to help Noctis through his rut?” You ignore the mild rush of aroused interest that flitters through you and try not to notice the way Ignis’ nostrils flare as he scents you. “You’re avoiding my question.” “As are you with mine” “I don’t think so.” You give in and answer his question “I like, uh, doing stuff with him.” You can feel the blush across your face thinking of all the times you had woken to him suckling or nosing at your chest. “But I don’t feel the same way about him that I do about you and Gladio.” Ignis hums. “Physical and casual sexual affection between packmates is normal darling, you don’t need to be embarrassed.” You clear your throat “so what does a claim mean?“

He sighs wearily, “A claim is a type of bond. We can discuss this another time.”

“You always say that.” He smiles at your pout and steps closer. “Do you want to be claimed?” His voice is low and the abrupt change in his attitude throws you off balance. “I don’t- I don’t know.” You stutter and try to avoid his gaze he pushes you back against the wall. “Next time I have you beneath me, next time I have you cumming hard around my knot I could claim you. Do you want that?” He doesn’t give you time to answer as he strokes a finger down your throat before sliding his hand into your hair. Gripping it tightly enough to draw a small pained whimper from you as he bares your throat. The rare show of physical dominance from him both excites and unnerves you. “Tonight when you are pinned between Gladio and I, we could claim you together, mark you as ours.” You moan and arch your back but his grip on your hair is tight and he stays just out of your reach. “Ours to love,” he presses a soft barely there kiss to the sensitive spot just below your ear “Ours to keep. Ours to own” His left hand slides between your legs, cupping your pussy through your pants. “Ours to knot and fill with cum again and again. Ours to breed.” He watches you try to grind against his palm, offering you no assistance as you whine pathetically at the lack of friction.

He takes pity on you and presses his thumb in firm circles against your clit through your pants, the sensation just enough to ease the ache and have you rising slowly towards orgasm. “We want you to stay.” he whispers against your ear “We want you” it’s his words that send you over the edge. We want you to stay the words echo round your head and you bury your teeth into the shoulder of his shirt as you ride out your high. The sob escapes you before you can stop it, but Ignis doesn’t say anything, just lets you curl into him and bury your face into his neck, nosing beneath the collar of his shirt to scent him better. “You’re not doing a very good job of keeping our omega hidden, making out in the hallway like a couple of horny teenagers.” Gladio’s voice is singing with amusement and you bury your face further into Ignis neck to hide your blush “Could smell her two floors down.” You feel mortified at his words and reluctantly step away from Ignis. You can’t tell from Gladio’s expression whether he’s just teasing you or not. He grins at you before turning to Ignis. “We’ll be late.” Ignis nods in response and urges you towards you door. They both usher you into your room, insisting on seeing you safely inside before they leave despite your assurances you could walk the 5 steps inside on your own.

“You made a nest?” The surprised pride is evident in Ignis’ voice and you follow his gaze to the pile of blankets and pillows on your couch. “Uh, no?” You frown at the look exchanged between Gladio and Ignis once again excluded from whatever assumptions they were making. “I thought you were going to be late.” it comes out snappier than you intended and Gladio glowers at you. “Watch your tone Omega.” Your apology is immediate, an instinctual desire to appease your alpha. “Sorry.” It’s met with silence and you force yourself to look up at him. He watches you expectantly for a few seconds and you glance towards Ignis to help you out. He’s just watching you too; his willingness to step in when Gladio was getting too domineering or aggressive was getting less and less frequent. You fight the urge to roll your eyes and look back at Gladio. “Sorry Alpha.” Ignis finally steps up at your words and motions him towards the door. “She is right Gladio, we need to leave” Ignis gives you a smile before he closes the door behind him, “We’ll be back later tonight. Behave yourself.”

🦋---------------------------------🦋

The morning after your short run in with Drautos you had been subjected to a new list of rules from Ignis. Your movements within the Citadel were now incredibly restricted. You had felt mildly uncomfortable with Drautos’ attention but not the threat your pack seemed to deem him as. If you were not with Ignis or Gladio, you were to stay in your room. Your room was more than adequate, a rather large lounge area which led into an amazing bedroom. Those two rooms alone were larger than your apartment back home, and the extravagant bathroom had left you speechless. Despite staying in such luxurious surroundings you hadn’t received the new rules very well, and once you had realised they were actually locking you in your room it had resulted in an argument that had ended with you tearfully apologising for not trusting them to look after you.

With Noctis still working through his rut, Prompto was your solo company for tonight. He’d tried teaching you how to set up and take the perfect selfie before realising you weren’t really in the mood and had eventually settled down with you on the couch, snuggled together among the pile of blankets and watched a couple of pretty cheesy action movies. He had offered, or had been told; to stay overnight but you had happily accepted either way. He was good company and the pair of you had lay in bed and chatted for a couple of hours before he had nodded off next to you. You however couldn’t sleep. Your thoughts for some reason kept straying to Noctis, in rut, alone. It had been just over a week since your return to the Citadel and nearly 4 days since you had seen him and you weren’t ashamed to admit after spending so long with him every day, you missed him.

Your relationship with Noctis wasn't exactly platonic, the various fading hickeys across your breasts and one still painful bite on one nipple was testament to that, but you'd not slept together. Your thoughts straying yet again to the thought of Noctis all wound up and horny made your breasts ache and nipples tingle and you huffed in annoyance, wriggling to try and get comfy.

“Can't sleep?” Prompto stirs beside you and rolls over to look at you. “What’re you thinking about?”

“Noct” you answer before you can stop yourself.

“Oh”

“Is that what omegas are supposed to do?” He looks confused at your question. “Help the pack alphas with their ruts?” you clarify.

“I don't know. What does Iggy say?”

“He doesn't”

The fact that Ignis doesn’t talk about it seems to make Prompto drop the subject. He fidgets again, lying on his side and propping his head up on his hand. “What’re you thinking about Noct?” His voice is light, trying too hard to sound casual.

“Just…” you pause as lewd images skip through your brain again and the pulse of arousal has you squeezing your thighs together. “Stuff.” you finish lamely.

You hear Prompto’s breath hitch and he cautiously rests his hand on your thigh as he scoots closer.

“What's a rut like?”

“Intense. Messy.” He blushes and looks away “uh, can be a lot of fun if you have someone to spend it with”

“Do you help each other?”

He shrugs. “Sometimes.” Sometimes. The thought of Ignis and Gladio sharing their rut together, naked and sweaty, writhing and fucking for days on end makes your pussy throb.

The sudden tension in the air is making it hard for you to keep your breath steady and you lean slightly into Prompto’s touch, letting your thigh press into his hand and sliding your calf in between his.

His fingers dance over your thigh. “Want me to help you relax?” His voice is eager but you can smell the nervousness in his scent. “Yes please.” It’s no more than a sigh but he hears you and slides his hand slowly between your legs, his fingers clumsily stroking your clit before he sits up.

“Can I taste you?” You moan your agreement and open your legs wider to allow him space to kneel between them. He lies flat on the mattress between your spread legs, pressing little kisses up the inside of your thigh, and letting his tongue trail up to suck lightly on your labia. He swirls his tongue through your folds but avoids the place you want him to touch the most. “Tell me what you like” “A little higher,” it’s hard to catch your breath, words escaping you in a breathless rush, but he doesn’t listen to you. Continuing to swipe his tongue slowly through your wetness “Prom, please don’t tease.” “I’m not.” He doesn’t sound like he’s lying, but you’re not convinced his teasing is purely unintentional. “Tell me again.” “Higher, harder” you mumble around your moans, trying to guide him with your hips. He licks a broad wet stripe up your slit before focusing on your clit. “Like that?” “Yes, fuck yes, just like that” you fingers swirl stroke through his hair and you tug him firmer against you. “Does it feel good?” he speaks against your clit and the vibration makes you moan. “Yes gods prom, so good” you tighten your hold in his hair “just like that, good boy” he moans loud at your praise, his own hips gently rocking as he grinds into the mattress. He’s eager, sloppy and uncoordinated but he learns fast, changing and adjusting his technique to the way your body responds to him. He groans as he pushes his tongue into your wet pussy and you cry out in surprise, bucking your hips up against him. He shifts one hand from your thigh to press a palm flat on your belly, holding you still as he fucks you with his tongue. The steady rise of your orgasm increases quickly with each thrust of his tongue. “Prom m’ so close.” He hums and wraps his lips around your swollen clit and sucks hard, jolting you roughly into orgasm. It takes you by surprise and you let out a choked cry as you ride it out, “Fuck, don’t stop, don’t stop, good boy” Your thighs tremble and shake and a lone whine of alpha escapes you. Prompto whimpers at your words and you can feel the bed shake as his hips stutter into the mattress as he cums untouched. You’re not sure if it was the praise or the title that pushed him over the edge, and you try to make a mental note to explore it later. He continues to lap at you, slowly tracing his tongue round your clit until you gently push him away with a contented sigh.

"Good?" He asks happily as slops down next to you

“Very good.” You reach up to grip his hair again, pulling him down for a gentle kiss, his lips still wet with the taste of your arousal. He pulls back and you can’t help but smile wearily at his proud grin.

He adjusts himself through his pants with a grimace before he lays down half on top of you, head resting just below your breasts as you both try to catch your breath, your hand stroking through his hair. “Shower in a minute” he mumbles drowsily against your skin. You doze off like that and wake a little time later to hear him talking quietly but animatedly on the phone.

“Prom?”

He hangs up looking a little sheepish, and smiles. “Just checking in with Iggy.”

“Everything ok?”

“Yep, all good, he's happy.”

“Oh. That’s great?” You frown. “Happy about what?”

“Just you know, happy in general.” He sits on the edge of the bed and avoids your gaze “He and Gladio will be back tonight. Want some breakfast?” You roll your eyes at his quick change of subject. He was not as subtle or as tactful at Ignis as hiding his avoidance of your questions. 🦋---------------------------------🦋

“Drautos?” His presence in your room shocks you and you stand there frozen in place, not knowing what to do. His eyes sweep over your outfit and his gaze rests on your bare thighs. You’re not wearing anything but an old t-shirt of Gladio’s, having only just rolled out of bed and you awkwardly try to tug the hem down as far as possible. Prompto had left less than half an hour ago and you had assumed it was him, returning for something he had undoubtedly forgotten in your room. “Playing a dangerous game aren’t they? Leaving an omega all on their own.” He takes a step forward and you take an immediate step back. “What do you want?” He pauses, just watching you and the silence drags on until you start to feel uncomfortable “Just checking in.” He wanders away from you and around the room, letting his hand trail along the back of the couch, plucking a cushion from the jumbled array. “The safety of the only omega arou–“ “What do you want?” You repeat His jaw tenses at your interruption and his eyes flick to you, “You're forgetting your place omega.” His pheromones are strong, it screams alpha and the apology escapes you before you can stop yourself. “I’m sorry.” His lips crook into a smirk and you feel like you’ve just lost whatever game it is that he’s playing. “You address me as Alpha,” he states, dropping the cushion back onto the couch, “or Captain.” he waits till you nod your assent before continuing his examination of your room. “Where’s the rest of your pack?” he walks round the front of the couch, hand trailing over the pile of blankets in obvious amusement. “They’ll be here soon” He hums noncommittally at your response and sits down, legs spread as he pulls the corner of a blanket across his thigh. “Any progress on the quest to find you a way home?” His tone is mocking and you flinch. You genuinely don’t know the answer to that and if you are honest with yourself you hadn’t really thought about it since you arrived back at the Citadel. “I’m not sure” your eyes flick to the door and then quickly back to Drautos watching him warily as he fiddles with a loose thread on the edge of the blanket. “You seem anxious, pet. Would you like me to sta-“ “I’m fine, thank you.” You swallow hard, “Gladio will be here in a minute” “You interrupt me again,” Drautos’ voice is calm but you can see the anger in his eyes, “and I will have to remindyou of your place.” He rocks his hips up slightly and lets his gaze roam over you again, “I’m more than willing to teach you.” “I’m Sorry Captain” despite the fear starting to grow in your chest you are absolutely not going to call him alpha, but you still can’t bring yourself to meet his gaze for more than a few seconds. The hungry look in his eyes promises violence and the pheromones permeating the air are getting stronger. He examines you for a few more minutes, eyes lingering across your breasts before his mouth twitches into a smirk and finally stands up dropping the blanket back on the pile and heading back towards the door. He spares you another quick glance as he leaves, “I would suggest some more suitable attire. You seem cold.”

🦋---------------------------------🦋

“Hey baby” Gladio’s appearance makes you jump, not having heard the lock open and you stand up from where you were sprawled on the couch to greet him. You hadn’t bothered to get dressed, still in Gladio’s stolen t-shirt and his eyes flare with approval.

“Did you and Prom have fun last night?” he makes a show of licking his lips and you flush in embarrassment as he grins, he opens his mouth to undoubtedly tease you more and then he stops, he breathes in instead, scenting the room. “What’s wrong?” you frown as Ignis steps into the room and seems to do the same before Gladio grabs your arm firmly with a snarl, pulling you towards him. “What the hell are you doing??” You try to yank your arm back but he tightens his grip, pulling the collar of your t-shirt down and nosing into your neck

“Gladio stop!” You push at his chest but he doesn't budge. “Gladio please, you’re hurting me!”

At your whimper of genuine pain Ignis steps forward. “Why did you let Drautos in?” He rests his hand on Gladio’s arm, encouraging him to loosen his grip. “I didn’t! He let himself in.” Gladio lets you go but doesn't step away and you fight the urge to run. “You let him in dressed like that?” Gladio’s voice is void of any discernable emotion and that scares you more than his anger. “I didn’t let him in!” exasperated you take a couple of steps away from him, rubbing your arm you avoid his gaze and look at Ignis. “He let himself in, he surprised me. I’m sorry.”

You feel Gladio’s eyes burning into you but you can’t bring yourself to meet his gaze. “What did he want?” he doesn’t acknowledge your apology and you keep your eyes on Ignis, watching as he looks around the room. “I don’t know, nothing really,” you hesitate, eyes flickering between the two “he asked if we were making progress about me going home”

The look that flickers across their faces is dark, and you feel a pang of genuine fear at their shared glance. “Home?” Gladio scoffs “You still want to go back there? What do you have waiting for you that you’re so eager to get back to?” He growls and steps closer, ignoring Ignis’ attempt to stop him “Nothing from what you’ve told us. You were nothing and had nothing. You have us here. Here you are ours.” His words are an angry snarl “You have nothing back home ‘cept parents that don’t care about you” he pauses “and did you even have any friends? If you did they probably haven’t even noticed you’re gone.” You stand there staring at him in shock, whatever you had been expecting him to say, that wasn’t it. He’s furious, the scent coming off him in waves and you feel tears start to overflow at his words. You turn away from them both, anger and fear at their aggressive behaviour threatening to smother you and you feel at a loss at what to say. Ignis turns you back towards him, shooting a glare at Gladio before gently brushing a thumb across your cheek, although his touch does little to calm you down. “You let another alpha into your nest. That’s not allowed, darling” “I didn’t”. You try to reign in your tears. His words were not the comfort from Gladio’s outburst you were hoping for, instead you can hear the accusation and anger in his tone. “And it’s not a nest; it’s just pile of stupid blankets!” Ignis ignores your outburst and wipes away some of your tears “Would you be happy if we let another omega in to our room? If their scent was all over us?” You feel something dark and possessive curl in your chest despite your tears at the thought of sharing Ignis and you reluctantly shake your head. “So you understand why we are so upset?” He kisses you, a soft gentle press of his lips against yours “you won’t do it again will you, darling?” “No”. It sounds more than a little petulant and you hear Gladio scoff. “I’m sorry” you mumble. The words feels all too familiar on your lips and you wonder why it’s always you that’s in the wrong.

Ignis glances at Gladio, and you don’t like the look they share, whatever silent conversation they’re having makes you anxious. You open your mouth to apologise again but instead you yelp as you’re spun abruptly around. A harsh grip around your arm, and then Gladio is yanking you close and kissing you hard. You don’t want to kiss him, still upset by his words but he gives you no choice. Gripping your jaw until you relent and let him in, his tongue invades your mouth and thrusts so far down your throat that you nearly choke. The heady alpha pheromones thickening all around make it hard to think anything other than ‘alpha angry must appease’ and your body responds despite your attempts not to give in to it. You press your legs together to stem the slow wet trickle down your thighs.

“I think you need to apologise properly.” Ignis speaks from behind you; his voice is low, darkly possessive and you feel the fear come back tenfold. You’ve never heard him sound like that before. He pulls you away from Gladio and turns you toward the couch, a strong palm between your shoulder blades forcing you to bend and balance yourself against the arm. You turn to look at him, still dressed in his suit; pants loosened just enough to free his already hard cock and your chest tightens with the first stirrings of panic. He tugs your t-shirt up over your hips and the snarl when he realises you aren’t wearing underwear causes your pulse to spike alarmingly. “You must have given Drautos quite the show” Ignis spits his name as he lines himself up with your entrance. “Are you wet for me or for him?” Your repeated denial is torn from your throat in a strangled cry as he thrusts into you in to one brutal stroke. The rare aggression from him shocks you into silence as much as the pain. It hurts and you try to ignore the sting as he fucks you hard and fast. He doesn’t even try to make it pleasurable for you, focused solely on his own gratification and on punishing you. After he cums neither of you move, your quiet sniffles, Ignis ragged breathing and the slow shlick as Gladio strokes his cock idly as he watches you the only sounds in the quiet of your room. Ignis hadn’t knot you and despite the pain you feel strangely hurt by that. Eventually he pulls himself out of you and before you can straighten, Gladio is wrenching you forward and turning you around to sit on his lap, your back to his chest. He’s inside you before you can register the new position, he’s thicker than Ignis and the stretch burns, but the sounds of his harsh pants and moans easily eclipse your pained cries. Growls of your name and mine are muttered out between clenched teeth. He fucks you roughly and your automatic cry for Ignis to help you slips out involuntarily. Ignis is quick to step into your line of vision, leaning in close to press a quick kiss to your mouth, “I’m right here, darling, what do you need?” “Too much.” you moan, nails digging into his shoulders to steady yourself as Gladio fucks into you, knot grinding against your entrance. “It’s too much. Hurts.”

“Relax darling” Ignis coos softly at you, hands cradling your face “You trust us don't you?” You nod, fighting back tears you try to tell yourself they won’t genuinely hurt you, to just listen to Ignis and relax, until Gladio ruins the illusion and yanks your head back by your hair and sinks his teeth deep into the crook of your neck, hard enough to tear the skin and draw blood. It hurts, the pain makes you scream and then it’s like a something snaps and pulls inside you and everything dulls and fades until all you can sense is Gladio.

Gladio’s hand clasps across your mouth as his knot locks inside you, smothering your cries as he whispers into your ear and rides out his orgasm. “Mine. My Omega,” He groans he nips your ear, lapping at the blood trickling down your neck “gonna fill that womb till you can’t take anymore” he slides his hand from your mouth to spread out over your abdomen, “gonna breed this tight little pussy.” His knot deep inside of you and his hips still stuttering upwards, he spreads his legs further, pulling your thighs open wider. Ignis takes a moment to admire the view of your pussy stretched around Gladio’s knot, calling you beautiful before kneeling between your spread legs. You sob and push weakly against Ignis’ shoulders, you know what he’s going to do, you can see it in the way his gaze lingers on the unblemished side of your neck “No, don’t–”

You don’t say no to us darling,” the gentleness of his tone and the soft way he strokes your hair does nothing to ease the panic inside you. “Ignis,” Your voice is a pained whisper. “Please don’t.” He ignores you and leans in, kissing the sensitive skin of your neck, his tongue tasting the salty tang of your sweat and breathes in the sweetness of your scent.

You try to shake your head, but Gladio’s hand is in your hair again, tilting your head firmly to give Ignis better access. He bites down just as hard as Gladio did, until your skin pops beneath his teeth and he growls, blood dripping down your shoulders. The swirling encompassing aura of Ignistwisting and intertwining with Gladioin your chest smothers you, until you feel completely surrounded by them, inside and out. They seem to wedge themselves deep inside your psyche, filling a deep dark void you didn’t know was there. You feel complete, whole and the urge to cry is strong. They are aggressive and demanding, your body is heavy, sluggish, but you surrender to their demands because now you completely and utterly belong to them.

You think you black out for a moment as the next thing you know you are laying on your bed with Gladio kneeling between your thighs his hand wrapped firmly around his cock, murmuring at you as he strokes himself. “I’m going to fuck you all night long, omega, gonna fill you till you give me a whole fucking litter” He grunts, stroking himself faster and you can’t bring yourself to look away “I’m going to make you scream for me” Ignis’ touch to your jaw makes you jump and you tear your gaze away from Gladio. “Open your mouth for me darling” You feel Gladio’s cum splattering hot against your pussy as Ignis thrusts deep into your throat. The first swipe of Gladio’s tongue against your clit as he cleans his cum off you has you mewling weakly around Ignis cock and with a quiet hiss he cums too. He pulls out of your mouth and strokes his cock as thick ropes of white spatter across your face and lips, head rolled back as he slowly fucks his fist. “Good girl” His gentle fingers trail down your face, gathering his cum before pushing against your lips. You open willingly, sucking and cleaning his fingers of his seed. They both moan as you swallow, and you feel a pang of pride at their obvious enjoyment. You’re exhausted, your pleas for them to stop had long been ignored and with Gladio just watching as you clean Ignis’ fingers the moment of respite from stimulation is heavenly. It doesn’t last long, Gladio manhandling you, ignoring your weak protests, to sit on his lap again. Your protests becoming louder as he presses the tip of his thick cock against the tight ring of your ass. He shushes you, one hand resting on your hip to guide you down, the other pressing thumb and forefinger into your mouth to grasp your tongue. “You’re mine now omega,” He pushes until you stretch around him, “you’ll take what I give you.” The mixed fluids from the three of you that covers your thighs and between your legs gives more than enough lubrication for the head of his cock to slowly slide smoothly into your ass. Your moans are garbled as he presses his fingers deeper into your throat. He pulls out of your ass gently and eases in again, an inch at a time, deeper with each slow thrust until he’s buried to the hilt. He lets go of your hip, pulling on your hair and jerking your head back, the wounds on your neck burning in complaint. With nothing to hold you steady you sit precariously on his thighs, his cock resting deep in your ass. “So good.” He moans as drool runs down your chin as he fucks your throat with his fingers “such a good messy girl for me” You’re dimly aware of Ignis moving between your spread legs again and as Gladio stills and grips your hips in both hands you feel Ignis slide his cock between the folds of your over-stimulated pussy. Your panic surges and you try to push him away but Gladio is quick to grab your hands, pinning them under his as he holds your hips. “I can’t, you won’t fit” tears slide down your cheeks and Ignis pauses to lick them from your face, his thumb rubbing your clit in slow gentle circles. “Relax love, you can take it” he purrs softly “I know you can.” Each brush of his thumb sends jolts of pleasure through you and brings soft grunts from Gladio every time you tighten around him, forcing your body toward another climax. Just as you hit your peak he stops and grips your waist, pushing his entire length into you in one smooth glide, denying you of your pleasure. Your orgasm ruined, your thighs tremble and shake as they fuck you, but it doesn’t take long before you feel another starting to build. Gladio lays back and pulls him with you until you are lying on top of him, back flush to his chest and Ignis follows, curling his body over yours to suck at your nipple. His delighted moan as milk starts to trickle into his mouth makes you purr in response. It’s overwhelming, both of them surrounding you inside and out and you feel delirious as you let them fuck you, unable to do anything more than lay back against Gladio’s chest and take it. Your orgasm overcomes you within seconds, it feels all the more

intense from its denial and they both moan loudly as you cum hard, pressing themselves as deep as they can as you clench and gush around their cocks. You can feel their chests rumble as they mutter praise at you. Ignis continues to suckle at your chest, and you arch your back up into him as much as you can as he drinks before he presses you down, completely pinning you flat between them, powerless to move as they grind and thrust into you chasing their own high. It doesn’t take long before they cum together, forcing their swollen knots deep inside your protesting walls, pushing your body to its limits as you scream. Your body convulses as you cum again around their knots, it’s a short, sharp orgasm that hurts more than it feels good, both of them holding you firmly in place as you shudder and they both grunt and moan, continuing to fill you as you milk them for all they’re worth. You feel besieged with sensation, whimpering painfully as Gladio grinds weakly into your ass, to sore, weak and exhausted to hear what Ignis murmurs to him.

You wake up naked, head resting on Gladio’s chest and Ignis’ arm draped across your middle. You didn’t remember falling asleep, but from the way your head throbs you think it’s more likely you passed out. You’re sore and in pain from being knotted so many times, your neck throbs agonizingly and your right nipple aches. Slick and sticky between your thighs, you feel bloated; every minute movement makes another trickle of cum ooze from your abused holes.

You move slightly, every inch of your protesting at the movement, and let your gaze sweep over your exposed body. Hickies, bruises and bite marks cover your skin but letting your eyes flit over Gladio’s sleeping form you feel no small amount of satisfaction to see numerous red scratches and teeth marks across his own skin, and one painful looking bite on his neck that you don’t remember doing.

‘Family that don’t care about you and you didn’t even have any friends’ His harsh words from earlier come back to you with a fresh wave of hurt and you shrink back away from him. You whine quietly with pain as something twinges low inside you at the movement and sit up to try and shift into a more comfortable position. “You need to sleep, my love” Ignis voice is rough with sleep as he locks his arm tight around your waist, dragging you back down so he can bury his face into the back of your neck with a contented rumble.

“I’m sore.” It’s a poor descriptor to the almost agony you feel but it’s all you can manage to say. “Sleep, love,” a lick of his tongue over the bite on your neck has you wincing. “I’ll clean you up in the morning.” You can feel his happiness as he continues to sooth his tongue over the freshly oozing bloody wound, like there’s a part of him connected to you. It makes you think of the tin can telephones that you used to make and play with when you were little. A taut string connecting his heart to yours. Why can I sense your emotions? You almost ask the question but he interrupts you. “Sleep, my love.” It’s a gentle command, but a command nonetheless and there is nothing left in you to try and argue so you obey him, shifting away from Gladio as much as you can to snuggle back into Ignis. His contented purr as you lie back down, despite your pain, is enough to sooth you into an uneasy slumber.

#final fantasy xv #a/b/o universe #female reader #ffxv gladio #ffxv ignis #ffxv prompto #nsft #fanfic #omega reader #yandere

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fluffi · 3 years

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SARCOLINE SUNSET I: WELCOME HOME, OUTSIDER :: SOOBIN

pairing: soobin x gn!reader, platonic!ot5 x gn!reader genre: fluff, some subjective angst, bits of humor, enemies-to-lovers, childhood friends word count: 4002 event: #summerscape for @kpopscape credit: @enha-woodzies for making the gfx for this series! show her some love <3 author’s note: i accidentally deleted this post so here is a rushed reupload. it might not be as good as the original because it isnt proof read as well but i still hope the algorithm picks it up, maybe this’ll be good for the post. Also, the second part will be coming out in 15 days. warnings: people disappearing, mentions of burning and fire (further warnings will be released in the next parts as the story gets darker)

THIS STORY IS PURELY A WORK OF FICTION AND DOES NOT DICTATE JAY OR NI-KI’S PERSONAL LIVES AND/OR FAMILY.

part two ->

The blonde stared up at an intricately designed structure in awe, walking forward to touch the sides of it and running his calloused hands up and down its rusted carved wedges. It seemed oddly cliche and unrealistic, but he could feel its story. Every touch of the ceramic pillar provided him with emotion that he couldn’t bring himself to explain.

The sun hadn’t set yet, but he could make out the faint reflection of it settling in the background. The huge pine trees around him were making conversation with each other; their faint whispers and rustles providing peace to his veins.

So entranced in the scenery of such a mystical place, he forgot to watch out for his younger peer. Kicking back into his senses, he nervously called out, “Riki! You there?” His voice, usually strong and boisterous, laced fear today.

“Don’t worry about me Jay, I’m right behind you. Just climbing this fence..and..there!” Riki let out a grunt as he jumped onto the soft grass, looking at his older friend with an innocent grin.

At the sight of his buddy, Jay visibly loosened. It was clear that he didn’t feel safe in this environment, yet felt entranced to it in some way. Riki caught up to him in a quick jog before standing next to Jay, in awe at the magnificent view that they were spectating for the first and possibly last time.

“Is this…the place you were talking about?” Riki was out of breath from running after his peer. He pats the grassy patch below him before slumping onto it, crossing his legs afterward.

Jay took a seat next to him, setting his canvas satchel and leather jacket next to him. “According to the maps and books, this is the right spot. I just want to see if the myth is true.”

Riki clapped his hands in excitement and turned to face Jay. “We’re staying till the sun sets right? I want to see what the carousel looks like at night! This structure is so fascinating. It must be beautiful out here at night.”

“No, we’re walking back as soon as the sun goes down. I do not want to risk being out here at night. People have disappeared from staying too long and I wouldn’t want to worry your mother.”

Riki visibly slumped and turned back in time to see the last drop of orange dip. It was quiet for a while. The singing birds stopped humming their soulful tunes, yet the whispering trees grew louder, their inaudible gossip echoing in the ears of the two boys.

At nine at night, Riki’s mother would call Jay, heeding no response. She would do the same for his parents and his friends. The only piece of information they could provide was that Jay had brought Riki, in his words, to “a magical place”. With no other vital details they could draw from their son’s peers, Jay and Riki’s family agree to call the local police, reporting two missing people: two minors, one last seen in a brown leather jacket, and a taller one tailing alongside him. Both their hairs were dyed in a striking shade of blonde.

Summer’s heat-blasted onto your skin as soon as you stepped out of your sleek white Toyota. It was good to be back, you supposed. Although it was something that not many people would fawn over, you were ecstatic to be home in town.

Leaving at the mere age of sixteen wasn’t easy. After your parents decided that you were too good for a mediocre high school where people cared more about their body count than grade count, they immediately sent you off to a prestigious boarding school in the big city. You were given three days to pack and say goodbye to your friends, the rest of your family, your world. As excited as you were to study in the evolutionary epicenter of technology, you didn’t like how you had almost no say in this decision.

You didn’t return home from high school even after four years of studying at that mentally draining institution. It wasn’t like you didn’t want to come back, you were just so accustomed to life in the big city that it seemed pointless to return to square one. With the rest of the world finally in your grip (or so you thought), you enrolled in a highly expensive university and received a full-ride scholarship.

Perhaps that was your breaking point. Piles of work that could never be cleared must’ve got to your head. No one out there seemed to care about your mental health and well-being. The only reason you were allowed to take a break from the university and return was because of your constant breakdowns that your lecturers called “distracting” and “unethical”. You were hoping that this drop-by in town would give you a physical and mental cleanse.

There was no place as hot as home, from where you had been. The blazing sun scorched onto the road. Carrying baggage by itself was already hard enough, but this heat was immensely torturing. You struggled to carry your belongings while trying to close the car boot at the same time. Oh, a pity. You had just returned home and you were slowly turning into a bundle of disorganization, unlike your previous methodical attitude.

“Need a hand?” A familiar suede voice behind your shoulder sounded like music to your ears as you dropped all of your luggage and turned back to see…

“Taehyun!” Child best friend number one. You were looking at a once-innocent boy with doe eyes who had matured into a fine young man. His hair was dyed platinum blonde and, although younger than you, possessed a flair that was completely unlike his past self. His facial features were more prominent than ever and you wondered if all of your friends had developed as well as he had.

You locked your arms around his neck and embraced him as he took your baggage from you.

“You’re so tall now!” You gasped in awe and looked him up and down.

“Of course I am! A boy has to grow, doesn’t he?”

Speak of the devil(s), four people tagged behind Taehyun, waiting for you to notice their presence. All of them were just as tall (if not taller) than your blonde friend and stood out like a sore thumb. It wasn’t just the height, their hair was also in very...exciting colors.

“Can’t believe you forgot about us just for Taehyun.” Ah, that nasal voice was so recognizable. Choi Yeonjun, second-best friend. You cherished him like he was your secret weapon, a power waiting to be unleashed into your industrial world. Although older than Taehyun, they seemed to be the same height now. You couldn’t tell because his new neon pink hair was waxed slick and puffy which made him look a teensy bit taller than his younger friend. You had seen him around on social media and he was a hair-changing chameleon.

Alongside Yeonjun was Hueningkai, better known as Kai in the friend group. He was the youngest one, constantly babied and spoiled, you could say. He was probably influenced by the rest of his friends too, his hair now in a mossy shade of blonde.

Poor Yeonjun, you completely disregarded his existence and dashed over to Kai instead, eagerly standing next to him to compare heights. The kid had grown so much, you couldn’t tell if you were contented that he was now taller than you or dejected that you had missed so much when you weren’t around.

“Hey, wait up!” Someone from behind called. With Hueningkai and Yeonjun blocking your view you couldn’t see who that one person walking next to Choi Beomgyu was.

Beomgyu, the last friend who joined the friend group. He was always a comedian and never failed to make your day. Although, he didn’t seem so smiley anymore. You figured that it was school stress and adulting getting the best of him. We all had those days; you regrettably knew them like you knew the back of your hand . Unlike the rest of his friends, Beomgyu’s hair was kept in a natural shade of ivory brown. He had never been swayed by the rest of the crowd.

There were so many things to do, so many people to see. You had missed out on most of your growing: having fun with friends, staying up late at night just to watch the stars, dancing on your balcony. You had missed the people too. The town felt different from when you had left it.

“Soobin! Don’t just stand behind, meet our friend! They just returned from the city, right?” Beomgyu ran over to you before giving you a little squeeze.

Who’s Soobin?

“Hey, I’m Choi Soobin. Twenty-one this year. I moved here a few years ago. You must have left before I showed up.” A simple and concise introduction from the blue-haired man. Maybe he was the root of this hair-dyeing trend in town (pun very much intended), as well as the height trend since he was just as tall, if not taller than the rest of the boys.

You briefly introduced yourself but that was about it. You didn’t know how to create small talk, nonetheless with someone completely unfamiliar to you.

Later that day, you wondered if he had replaced you, become another guardian in the friend group. As one of the oldest, you and Yeonjun were always known as the parents of your three “kids”, but Soobin seemed to take care of them equally well. Throughout the day, you watched his every action, how he helped Beomgyu with homework, how he styled Kai’s hair, how he treated Taehyun to his favorite meal, exactly like what you did when you were still around. For once, you felt like the outsider.

Marshmallow Night had always been a tradition here. It was a five-of-you kind of thing, well, the six-of-you now. It had always been the go-to celebration whenever one of you hit a milestone, or was just held for fun. The days of joy where the only thing you had to worry about was whether your smores were burnt.

It had changed a lot over the years, you guys would add some new events to it and remove the ones you guys outgrew, like hopscotch.

You had missed most of its evolution.

Instead of being the main catalyst for today’s event, you resorted to sitting at the side as Soobin took the lead, carrying tables back and forth as well as setting up the fire in a method that the five of you had never used.

Oh, how much you loathed him. You hated his innocent-looking face that spurred out words of authority and boastfulness. You couldn’t stand how he looked so obnoxious with his bright blue hair, his dark brown eyes that held an impeccable gleam. He looked so cheeky, so mean, and worst of all, he had made all of your friends convert to mini spawns of him. Even Yeonjun, the oldest member, no longer felt like the Choi Yeonjun you once knew.

If you could, you would throw him out of your hometown, except that you seemed to be the outsider here. Anyone who walked past would see five people sitting on a huge log, helping each other light marshmallows and biscuits. They would barely notice the one person hunched over on the other side, sitting on the ground, eyes dazed and uninterested.

Occasionally one of the boys would call out to you, either hand you a s’more or ask if you were alright, to which you responded, “I’m alright! Don’t worry about me, I’m having fun.”

Anyone could also see that you weren’t in the zone, but you didn’t want to ruin the moment and be a party pooper. You ended up spending most of the time scrolling on your phone, checking school emails, and such. It didn’t feel like you were back home, it felt like you were on a vacation, on your own.

The commotion had died down, for the most part. Everyone else was either discussing school gossip in hushed voices or making the most of use of their electronic device. You were tempted to join the little heated conversation that Soobin and Beomgyu were having, but you didn’t know who this ‘Chaeyeon’ girl was and either way, you wouldn’t want to voluntarily speak to Choi Soobin.

It wasn’t long before both of them went to do something else, the only sound prevalent being the wood crackling from the bonfire and the occasional chirp of evening birds.

It was a loud, sucked-in breath that drew the attention of everyone, eyes pinned onto the instigator.

Choi Soobin, once again disrupting the peace of this curated environment. He ducked his head in apology and you were about to return to your world when Kai’s curiosity got the best of him.

“Why did you just do that?” His booming voice resounded over everyone else.

You weren’t going to lie, you were curious too. It wasn’t every day you heard a gasp like that.

Soobin looked back up, eyes wide and awake. He was excited about something but seemed to be masking it for the sake of..suspense?

“Okay. You guys know Yongsam Park right?” He put his phone down and tapped his hands on his thighs in a state of urgency.

Now that statement got everyone’s attention. “It’s the flower place outside our town, everyone passes it when they enter. Of course we would know where the place is. Why are you so adamant about it?” Taehyun inquired.

“Well, have any of you gone inside the park? Or near the landmark in general?”

“No. Why would we? There’s nothing to do there than to take pictures of boring flower statues.” You stated.

“See. You guys don’t know anything about the place.” He smirked tilting his head upwards and proudly crossing his arms.

“Could you cut to the chase and tell us what it is already?” Thank Yeonjun for his smart, impatient mouth.

Soobin didn’t answer and merely flipped his phone so you could see whatever was on it. The only words you could make out were “Yongsam...missing...carnival” and something related to the park before he turned it back, away from your view.

“You can’t just say that we don’t know anything about this place then proceed to give us nothing about it.” You rolled your eyes, disinterested in the conversation once again.

“Fine. I’ll send it to you.” Soobin rolled his eyes back as four of the other boys snickered. They loved seeing the two of you bicker.

In courtesy of Beomgyu who gave Soobin your number (without your consent), you received a news article and skimmed through it with eager eyes:

[WHAT’S THE HYBE?]

YONGSAM PARK CURRENTLY UNDER INVESTIGATION, AUTHORITIES SAY 3 days ago

What’s the deal with Yongsam Park? Insiders say that, although bland and boring, Yongsam Park is currently under high-level investigation for the disappearance of a few citizens. The flower-decorated park is the perfect place to take Instagram-worthy pictures and is quite harmless in itself, so visitors were shocked to arrive at the park only to find it surrounded by heaps of yellow tape.

Yongsam Park was developed by Kim Yongsam, director of My Flowers, a multi-million florist franchise that has now spread to Japan and Taiwan. In a 2015 Interview with the millionaire, he mentioned that he had created the park in the inspiration of the rising ootd picture trend, also known as the outfit-of-the-day trend, which he had initially discovered from his teen daughter.

“I wanted to create a welcoming park for people of all ages, but I couldn’t find a suitable place to do it without the budget being drastically high. In the end, my team and I found an abandoned site and decided to build a simple structure with lower costs up there. Props to my team for the discovery of this landmark. The scenery there, especially in the evening, is stunning .” He stated in the 2015 interview with Soup Magazine.

What’s the abandoned site? With the evidence that is still standing, Yongsam Park is rumored to have previously been a carnival. Said evidence is a worn-down carousel in the back of the park, along with piles of other burnt carnival decoration and equipment. With research, Yongsam Park’s site may have once been an abandoned carnival that perished from an unknown wildfire. This may have been the primary cause of the drought that ensued in the 80s, leaving only a carousel and ashes behind. When questioned, Mr. Kim said that he had decided to leave the carousel standing behind the park due because he felt ‘drawn by its alluring glow’, as quoted.

Investigators and the local police have only enclosed the flower section of Yongsam Park because that was where the victims were spotted. They believe that disappearances took place there and are currently trying to find evidence to back up their stance. Most of this new information is not known to the public, however, Kim and his team are trying to keep it that way. The current disappearance count is seven people, the most recent case being two high-schoolers.

The carousel is still open and does not require a visitor ticket, but visitors are advised to take precautions and leave before the sun sets.

TWO MORE BOYS HAVE DISAPPEARED AT THE NOW INFAMOUS YONGSAM PARK 5 days ago

FAMILY OF TOURISTS DISAPPEAR AT YONGSAM PARK, INSIDERS SAY THIS IS THE SECOND CASE OF DISAPPEARANCE HERE 2 weeks ago

JAPANESE COUPLE DISAPPEAR AT FLOWER PARK, NETIZENS CALL THE NEWS A POLITICAL DISTRACTION 3 weeks ago

“Are you seriously...telling us...that we should visit a place where people have been kidnapped?” Yeonjun gawked. “Dude, that’s so stupid. What if we die or something?”

“Don’t say that! I was just curious if you guys wanted to go since it’s so near and since your old friend is back home.”

“It’s a dumb move. I’m not risking my life just so I can celebrate the return of my friend. Not worth it.” Beomgyu huffed.

“Hey! You’re worth it, right?” Soobin glanced at you, waiting for a response.

He was...defending you? His ulterior motives were questionable and you weren’t sure if he was protecting you because he cared about you (cue the puking) or solely because he wanted to go to Yongsam Park that bad.

You didn’t reply and chose to drown out the wailing and chaos that ensued with your friends. You clicked on a related article below, curious to learn more about this lesser-known part of the park.

[WHAT’S THE HYBE?]

TWO MORE BOYS HAVE DISAPPEARED AT THE NOW INFAMOUS YONGSAM PARK 5 days ago

Park Jongseong (20) and Nishimura Riki (15) mentioned to their friends that they would be heading to ‘a magical place’, before disappearing for around a week. They were last spotted walking through Yongsam Park, according to anonymous witnesses. This is the third case of disappearances at the park and both teens are the sixth and seventh people to go missing.

Both families reported their children missing just two days after their disappearance. With this case being the last straw, local authorities forcibly shut down Yongsam Park despite protests from staff and management.

Parents of the two minors refused to respond when called for an interview and HYBE reporters resorted to interviewing the victims’ friends instead.

“Jay’s never been a bad kid. Yeah, he might be late here and there, but he wouldn’t skip class or fly across the country for vacation during school. I just don’t understand why he’s not here with us. He wouldn’t voluntarily disappear.” Park Sunghoon (19), a friend and classmate of Jongseong (who is better known as Jay among his friends) said.

“Although I’m not close with Jay, I know Riki personally and I know for a fact that both of them wouldn’t run away like that. Why, Riki was gearing up for a dance competition that he’s been excited about all year, and now he’s just gone? Like that? Riki has always been like my little brother, and he’ll always be. I just want him back at my side.” A teary-eyed Lee Heeseung (20) says.

Netizens have been complaining about the lack of coverage on this issue.

“Maybe Mr. Kim spent all his money on covering this story up from the mainstream public. That’s why he had to build the stupid park on an abandoned sketchy site.” An anonymous netizen commented.

Regardless, we’ll be keeping our prayers for Jongseong and Riki, as well as the five other victims, to return home soon.

“...you guys are such wimps.” That was the first thing you heard Soobin say when you tuned in to the conversation again.

How dare he say that? How dare he have the courage to call you, someone who moved out on your own at 16 to live in the big, scary world, a..wimp?

“Look, Choi Soobin. I may be a lot of things, but I’m not a wimp. I didn’t say that I wasn’t interested on this trip.” You stand up and blurt out without thinking twice.

The rest of the boys are gawking at you, their mouths open wide in awe and shock. Yes, you weren’t a wimp, that was for sure, but they had known you all their life as someone who could not stand going out into the wilderness. Maybe the big city had really changed you.

“At least someone wants to go! Perfect. We can leave tomorrow at noon, bring your camping stuff!” Soobin grabbed his things and began walking away.

“Camping?” The five of you exclaimed in unison.

Taehyun, the rational member, gasped. “I, personally, wouldn’t mind going to the carousel thing..or whatever it is, but I am not staying the night. Dude, are you nuts?” The rest of you nodded your heads in agreement.

“It says in the article that we are advised to leave before the sun sets.” You point out, trying to keep your voice as steady as possible in fear of breaking this mask of false confidence, when in reality, you were terrified of this place.

Soobin turned back and eyed you down disinterestedly. “Conclusion is that we’ll bring a small backpack, or whatever you guys want to pack, and we’ll stay there until eight. Deal?”

“Seven.” Hueningkai timidly said.

“Whatever you guys want.”

You hadn’t been able to sleep last night. It wasn’t due to fear of the place you were going, rather, you weren’t too excited about having to spend half of your day around Soobin.

What were you going to say to him? You were definitely overthinking at this point.

You know, they always say that the person one hates the most is the one that they also love most. And when Soobin flipped his blue hair back or cheekily smiled, showing his endearing dimples, you couldn’t help but…

No! You loathe Choi Soobin. You couldn’t stand his smile, or his hair, or his height. That evil moonwitch.

“Hey, you ready to go?” Speak of the devil (or moonwitch), you spotted a fluff of blue hair in your peripheral vision.

You couldn’t even muster up the courage to look back at him, merely nodding your head while staring at the white wall.

“Why aren’t you looking at me? Are you...scared?” You could see him wiggle his eyebrows as he made that statement.

That was it. You turned back at him. “Yes I am. I’m absolute terrified. I can’t stand the fact that I have to forcibly spend my precious time around you. It’s like I’m about to voluntarily live a nightmare.”

Woah there, calm down. You had smoke spurting out of your ears at this point.

Soobin’s once excited face fell into one of disappointment. “Yeah, it’s a nightmare having to be around you too. Gosh, the immaturity.” He left the room in haste as your eyes shot lasers through his well-toned back.

Maybe you had gone too far with the insult. He hadn’t been mean to you at all, really.

Then again, he had been mean. He took your place when you weren’t around. Suddenly, you were determined to get it back.

“Hop on the magic school bus!”

“Shut up, Yeonjun.” You deadpanned before leaning your head on his shoulder. The two of you were finally falling back into routine and you couldn’t help but bask in this nostalgia.

You also couldn’t help but notice how Soobin kept on looking through the rearview mirror at the both of you, pupils darting away once you locked eyes with him.

Man, this was going to be a long ride.

2021 © fluffi

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the-str33tz · 3 years

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I’m doing just fine

Jotaro Kujo x AFAB Reader

This fic was written while listening to the Boyz II Men song “Doin’ Just Fine”

Summary: Years after leaving you to raise your daughter by yourself, Jotaro Kujo comes back with one thing in mind; wanting to be a father and husband.

Content warnings: Angst, pregnancy, arguing around children.

Your grip on the flimsy pregnancy test tightened as you glanced over the results. Positive. Maybe looking it over again will give you a different result. Positive. Blink a couple times. Positive, positive, positive. Your world came to a halt as you shiver while sitting on the toilet. What were you going to do? You weren’t ready for a child at your age. What would you tell him?

Thoughts of your boyfriend wave and crash in your mind. Jotaro Kujo, the silent and cold man from Japan who you had fallen in love with. In just a bit over year you both had become each others rock. He had walked into your life when you thought everything was lost, and it seemed like it was the same for him too. He didn’t talk too much about it but you could piece it together. He had gone through a traumatic experience as a teenager that left people that he knew dead. You didn’t question him too much, letting him come to you when he was ready.

This was going to crush him as much as it was going to crush you. Jotaro had brought up how eventually he’d like to have a family; have a successful career in marine biology and have multiple sons. But right now you were both in college, living off whatever you can get your hands on. He’s definitely had an easier ride than you but he always helped you without expecting anything in return.

You start to think back to a couple weeks ago when you had sex, an activity you both partook in regularly. There was something different that night, he was out of condoms but you both agreed that he’d be able to pull out in time. It seems that he pulled out a bit late. Embarrassment heats up your neck and up your face. A headache begins to take over when you hear a knock at your apartment door. It has to be Jotaro you think. He was clued in to your scare earlier today so he must be here to see the results.

You quickly clean and dress yourself hearing harsher and faster knocks. He was never the most patient. Running over to the door and greeting him, he lets himself in to walk to the bathroom. You try to catch up to him trying to talk but fumbling your words. You walk into the bathroom where he’s leaning over the counter, hands in fists. He looks over at you with a look in his eyes that you had never seen before. Fear.

You stay where you are, keeping your distance. You never liked too much physical attention and were grateful that he was the same. You can feel your forehead crease with your eyebrows, your eyes beginning to sting from keeping your eyes open at him. “What are we going to do?” You cough up while shaking. He loosens his fists, “We now have a responsibility as parents, but I can’t do this.” And with that he pushed you aside and started to head out the door. You lean against the door frame finally letting loose all the tears that refused to come out moments ago.

Seven years later you live in a small home with your daughter who you named Jolyne. She is the apple of your eye, your sunshine that motivates you everyday. She has green eyes that she got from her fathers side of the family but she looked like you in every other way. You had given up your education all those years ago but seeing your daughter run to you everyday after school made you think that you’d do it all over again if you had to. You make your way up the walkway of the tiny primary school, strain in your ankles from a long day of work. Thoughts of dinner swirling your mind before you stop in your tracks. Jolyne hugging her teachers leg looking away while a tall man with a ripped cap talking to the teacher knocks you into reality. There’s no possibility right? He wouldn’t have the balls to try to sidestep you to see your daughter. But you were proved wrong after you jog up to the teacher.

“Jolynes mother should be here soon I do not know of Jolyne having a father.”

“I’ll wait here to talk with her.”

You catch the end of their conversation, going in to pat your hand on Jolynes back. She turns to you and immediately grips your leg yelling, “Mommy this man says that he’s my dad, is that true?” You look up at the man and you’re immediately taken aback. Turquoise blue eyes are staring you down with the old frown that you used to love. “You really suck you know that?” You scoffed, kneeling down to take Jolyne in for a hug. Her black hair tickling your chin as she nuzzles into your neck. “Yes baby that’s your father like in the pictures remember?” You coo into her ear.

“I came to see you.” He states in his familiar deep voice. You stand up, taking a light grip on Jolynes tiny hand. You give him the strongest glare that you’re able to muster up, snapping, “You probably already know where we live so why did you come here? Forget it, just follow me. We live about a block away.” He grunts and nods at you, allowing you to walk in front of him with your daughter in hand. You thank the teacher for taking care of your daughter before you begin to stomp off.

Jotaro lets his eyes wander down your figure, watching how you walk. He can’t help but feel his chest tighten looking at you hand in hand with his child. This was a sight he had always wanted but he never let himself indulge in it until today. He lets you lead him into your tiny home; two bedrooms with a shared bathroom, a small living area, and a kitchen with little to no counter space. You kneel down again to talk to Jolyne, telling her to go do her homework and to let the grownups speak. She gives Jotaro a small glance before running in her room.

“Where have you been? Why are you here now?”

“I just got back from a trip in Japan for work. I wanted to come back to see how you were doing. I also need to apologize, I made a big mistake. I shouldn’t have walked away from you all those years ago.” Jotaro takes off his white hat letting his hair dark hair fall out of place. You can feel yourself tensing up, you really didn’t want to have this sort of conversation with Jolyne in the house. She doesn’t know everything that happened with Jotaro and you didn’t want her to hear any arguing or yelling. You sigh, “Why did you think showing up at my daughters school was appropriate? You could have called me and we could have spoken in private. I know Jolyne is also your daughter but you haven’t been around as a father, not even when I took that test when we were both twenty one.” You motion for him to sit on the old couch in your living room. One that was on clearance at a rent center years ago when Jolyne was only a year old.

He sits down causing a big dip and creaking. His face goes solemn, looking down at his black and white boots. “I never meant to take your love away like that. I wasn’t ready to be a father and I wanted both of you to be safe.” He looks up at you with disappointment dripping off his features. You sit down next to him, smoothing out your work clothes and relaxing your ankles. “I know you weren’t ready to be a father but you know what Jotaro? I wasn’t ready to be a mother either. You left me alone, I had to leave university so I could raise my baby the way she deserves. You got to finish your education and seem to be doing well, I don’t know why you think making a tired apology will do you any better.” You whispered close to him. His eyes hadn’t left yours, listening intently to what you had to say. He leaned close to you acknowledging, “I am aware of the sacrifices you made for our daughter, I didn’t allow myself to be the proper father I should be. Please allow me to be a part of her life. I know you’ve most likely moved on from our love but I’ve thought about you everyday since then. I sat in my dorm, refusing to leave because I didn’t want to have to go out. I didn’t want to see you walk by and breakdown. Please understand that I’ve wanted to be the father and husband that you both deserve but I thought that I’d bring you nothing but danger. I need to be here for both of you, I want to give you a better home and a better life. Let me take care of you.”

You could feel tears wanting to spill out, why did he think he would be too dangerous to be around both of you? Could it have something to do with what happened to him when he was a teenager? “It may seem hard to believe but I’m doing just fine. We’ve been getting along very well without you. Time has made me stronger and you’re not longer on my mind.” That bit at the end was a lie, you thought about him everyday like he had about you. You had a picture of him in your wallet and in one of the drawers in your bedroom. He placed a hand over yours, covering it completely and squeezing lightly.

“You are my earth, my number one priority. You were the last woman I gave my love to, and I plan for it to only be you. You could ask me to do anything and it’d be as good as done.” Jotaro moves his other hand up to lay over your shoulder, wrapping it around your back. You sink into his white coat letting your tears waterfall down your face. He soothes your back warmly while wrapping his arms around you, squeezing you into his chest. “I really needed you Jotaro I really did. You let our love fall apart and I really want to say that you no longer have my heart and that I’m doing just fine. I haven’t had too much time to worry about myself because I’m everywhere doing everything.” He lets you ramble on against him.

You pull back after a while, looking back into his turquoise eyes, “I’ll only allow you back if Jolyne is okay to have you around. I want her to have the choice to get to know you but if she doesn’t want to, I won’t force her.” He nods, squeezing your hand again before letting his thumb rub across the back of your hand.

#jjba x reader #jotaro imagine #jotaro x reader #kujo jotaro #jotaro kujo #kujo jotaro x reader #jjba imagine #angst #jjba angst #jjba part 4 #jojos bizarre adventure #cw: pregnancy #cw: arguing around children

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anagentinwriting · 3 years

Text

Lifeline - Part 1

Summary: (First Responders!AU) Moving to Los Angeles and living with your brother, Thor, was never part of your plan nor was being a 9-1-1 dispatcher, but plans change when you are faced with your own emergencies. In your case, it was leaving behind a relationship that wasn’t as perfect as it seemed. Will this be the fresh start you were hoping for or will your past find a way to catch up with you?

Pairing: Steve Rogers x Odinson!Sister Reader

Word Count: ~1800

Warnings: Car accident, angst

Lifeline Masterlist / Main Masterlist

A line ringing over your headset notifies you another emergency call is coming in. You cleared your head, preparing for anything, and clicked the spacebar, answering it, “911, what’s your emergency?”

“Bro, that was insane,” the male voice said over the phone. “You’re gonna be famous on YouTube.”

“Excuse me, sir? What seems to be the problem?” you asked, letting out a sigh.

“My friend is having trouble breathing, and his throat feels like it’s on fire.”

“What’s the address?”

“576 Rose Lane in Westwood.”

You typed the address into your computer, signaling the nearest available unit to the caller's location. “First responders are on their way. Can you tell me what he was doing before this happened?”

“We were doing the cinnamon challenge.” You rolled your eyes. “I thought it was harmless. Then, he was gagging, and then he coughed, and a puff of cinnamon came out of his nose. It was awesome; he looked like a dragon.” It's been a while since you got a call about an internet challenge gone wrong, but it's been forever since you got a cinnamon challenge one. You didn't even know that challenge was still around. “Oh fuck!”

“Is everything okay? What happened?”

“He collapsed. He’s not moving. Should I shake him awake?”

“He probably passed out, but paramedics are only a few minutes away. Is he still breathing?”

“I don’t think so,” he panicked.

“Remember to stay calm, I’ll help you through this the best I can, okay? Okay, now I am going to have to ask you to administer CPR. Do you know what to do?”

“Sort of. I learned it in health class a few years ago.”

“Perfect. It's 30 chest compressions followed by two breaths going to the rhythm of the song Staying Alive. You can do this.”

“Ok---okay. Yeah. Right, right,” he mumbled. Hearing him set the phone down on the ground, he started counting and doing chest compressions.

The responding unit was about a block away, and once they arrived, you could hear the sirens coming through the phone call.

“Odinson, take over compressions,” a lady’s voice commanded. “Kid, come with me.”

“Is he going to be...” the line went dead as he hung up his phone.

You leaned back in your chair, rubbing your eyes. This wasn’t anything new; when help arrives, people hang up, and you don’t get to know how it ends, but maybe it was for the best. You sit back up, seeing your reflection in one of the many screens in front of you. At least, you knew most of the firefighters from Station 107 at the scene, including your brother Thor, if you ever wanted to know how it ended.

It's tough, taking call after call, emergency after emergency with little to no recovery time in between. It’s a stressful job that is emotionally and physically taxing. It requires extreme focus, patience, and puts you under a certain kind of pressure. The pressure of wanting to help and do everything you possibly can when this person you never met puts their life in your hands. You never know what the outcome will be, but you try to help them get through what might be the scariest moment in their life. It’s those calls, the ones you were able to save, that keep you coming back to work.

You stepped away from your command center and headed towards the kitchenette, spotting Luis rummaging through the fridge. It wasn’t unusual, but it did always bring a smile to your face. It was hard to believe he was one of the dispatchers who showed you the ropes after relocating to Los Angeles three months ago.

“Hey, Luis.” He turned around with a doughnut in his mouth, quickly removing it and shooting you a carefree smile.

“Hey, Chica, get any weird calls yet? You know I love hearing about those weird ones, right.”

“Nothing out of the ordinary, but a guy called earlier saying his whole body hurt everywhere he poked. I told him to drive to the emergency room and get his finger looked at because it’s probably broken. Oh, and there was another cinnamon challenge victim.”

“Another one, I thought that craze was over.” He shook his head. “But I did hear about this crazy call that came in last night, right. It wasn’t so much crazy, but one of those nuisance calls, you know what I’m saying, the kind where you’re like, ‘why are you calling, this isn’t an emergency type of situation?’ Anyways, Cameron Klein took the call; you know the dude with the great hair, the kind you just want to run your hands through. It has the perfect fluff to curl ratio. I mean, I touched it once, and it was like a cloud. I asked him what products he used in his hair, and he was like…”

“Luis, how does this relate to the call?”

“Oh, right. Sorry, sorry, sorry, so there was this lady caller, right. She was telling Great Hair how she couldn't leave her car because there was a hostile raccoon outside her door. So then, Great Hair was like why don’t you go out a different door. And this caller says ‘yo I tried, but it’s like this trash panda can read my mind, right. He follows me when I move to the other side, and he’s like crazy, stupid fast like a rocket.’ And here comes the best part, Great Hair was like, ‘Hey girl, you better run fast then,’ and hung up,” he beamed with a slight chuckle.

“Oh my god, people really need to learn what an emergency is,” you chuckled, shaking your head.

“You know that’s right, but duty calls.” He tilted his head towards the door, carrying two doughnuts and a huge mug full of coffee.

“Later, Luis.”

Years ago, you never would have imagined you would be working as a dispatcher in Los Angeles. You preferred helping people hands-on, which is why you became an ER nurse. It was the feeling of never knowing what was going to come charging through those doors next that excited you. But being a dispatcher gave you a whole different kind of thrill because you could only use your voice to help.

The rest of your shift flew by until you were on hour eight of your ten-hour shift. A pileup involving a semi jackknifing on the highway forced a huge collision of cars. All the units in the area along with a few on the outskirts came in to assist. It was the same call coming in multiple times, and all you could say was help was already on the way.

“911, what’s your emergency?”

“Send help,” the woman cried, telling you her address.

“Ma’am, I am going to need you to tell me what is going on?”

“A power line…a power line fell into our pool, and my daughter is trapped on her unicorn floaty in the water. I don’t…I don’t know what to do.”

“Stay calm, ma’am. My name is YN, and I’m dispatching a unit to your home now.” You switched lines to the highway accident, getting on a line with Captain Danvers from Station 107, who was sending three individuals to the scene right away. You switched back to the caller. “Okay, I will need you to stay calm. What is your daughter’s name?”

“Morgan, she’s five years old.”

“Please, whatever you do, make sure Morgan stays on the floaty because it is protecting her from the water. There is a good chance the power line is sending more than 5000 volts through the water.”

“Okay, okay, I can do that, “ the mother breathed. “Honey, please stay on the tube.”

“I'm going to try to get in contact with the power company to turn it off.” You looked up the power company in the area, and someone slid next to you. You glance over, seeing Bruce get to work on calling the power company. You nodded at him, staying on the line with the mom. “Ma’am, has help arrived yet?”

“No, but I can hear the sirens.” You peeked at Bruce, but he shook his head, still trying to get a hold of the power company. “They are coming through the back gate now.”

“Ma’am, can you hand the phone to one of the firemen?” You bit your lip, studying the layout of their home on one of your monitors. There were flowers all over their backyard, and you got an idea.

“Hello, this is Fireman Rogers.”

“Hi, Fireman Rogers. This is 9-1-1 dispatcher, YN, how is it looking there?”

“Well, on the drive-in, we saw that a truck hit the power line pole, which caused the pole to fall into the pool. The driver isn’t in any serious condition, but one of our EMT’s is looking him over,” he informed in a deep voice. “Then, we have a pool vibrating with energy, but I assume you already know that part.”

“Do you have a plan in place? We are still trying to get a hold of the power company.”

“There are a few more floaties by the pool. I could ride one over to Morgan and pull her to safety?”

“Really? Where did you get that from the macho man handbook?”

“I don’t think that book exists, YN,” he added, making you scoff.

“I may have an idea.” You narrowed your eyes, playing out the idea in your head.

“What did you have in mind?”

“I can view the whole home on one of my monitors, and there are a ton of flowers. So, I can only assume a garden hose must be nearby.”

“Yup, I see it.”

“Okay, perfect. Grab the hose and cut off the metal ends; it's rubber, so it won't conduct electricity. Then, have you and another fireman take the hose and walk along the opposite sides of the pool. Have Morgan grab ahold of it and carefully pull her back to the edge."

“That’s genius, YN. Thanks for your help,” he acknowledged, making you crack a side smile. Few people said thank you in this job, but when they did, you appreciated it. “Here’s your phone back, ma’am.”

Morgan’s mother's breath was shaky and staggered through the phone. She was scared and had every right to be. If you were in that situation, you would be, too. “Oh my god, it’s working. It’s working,” the mother shouted into your ear. “Are you okay, honey? Are you hurt?”

“I am okay, Mommy,” Morgan replied before the phone line went dead.

You smiled at yourself in one of the now blank screens. It was these moments why you loved what you were doing; a happy ending. Some calls never get a happy ending, but when they do, those are the ones you try to remember when a stressful call comes in.

________

AN: I hope you enjoyed the first chapter. There is a long way to go and I promise things will definitely get more interesting. This was just a quick intro to some of the many characters that will make an appearance/cameo. Comments always welcome! Thanks for reading and I hope you’ll stick with me!

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vannyvancan · 3 years

Text

"mr assassin" Roommate!Shinsou Hitoshi X F!Reader Part 2

Part 2 of your Roommate/Assassin!Shinsou is here! First of all I wanna thank y'all for liking the first part so much! In this part we go deeper in darker theme of it, so just a fair warning.

my masterlist. Hope you have a great day and happy reading!

Tw for : Assassin!Shinsou theme, female reader, gun usage, slight insecurity, NSFW for the most part on the later chapters, drug usage, corrupt government talk, harrasment

Day five of living with your new roommate. He hadn't shown much of an interest in harming you...

That was swell.

You huffed out a breath of relaxation when the realization hit, but not also that, things weren't as bad as you expected! The thought you'd get a nasty roommate who would leave much more bigger mess than you was on the mind... but he seems to be the one who cleans as well? A welcome surprise indeed.

Shinsou was an enigma, waking up early at five am, neatly sorting his clothing and coming back late at 11 pm, he didn't seem restless, which could only mean he probably has a second accommodation where he rests and eats as well. It also explains why he only had one bag with him which you had decency and never saw what was inside. Besides...

He had given you a glare yesterday when you stared at it for long with those white pupils of his.

Even though he was soft spoken, he always managed to find a way to poke fun at you before he left. Granted, you were quiet surprised when he made you a french toast every morning! He barely knows you, but you were grateful to have found a roommate that in one way or another showed his gratitude. Afterwards, you felt obligation to one up him and return the favour. Now dragging your dear friend out, you giggled at the phone text from Uraraka as she immediately started spewing jokes about your potential 'future' with him.

„What an idiot.“ You grinned to yourself, walking down the street to the meeting place, you were about to go shopping with her, you still had to supply yourself with comfortable winter clothing.

„Y/N!“ Uraraka's voice reached your ears.

„Hey! Long time no see!“

„Very long time indeed!“

Uraraka rushed her step to give you the biggest hug there was. She was the sweetest friend and was always there for you no matter the circumstances. Now both of you dragging yourselves in the clothing store

„You just got off from work right? How was it?“ She asked, looking at time, it was now 5 pm.

„Tiring, its even worse because they fired colleagues before summer so now all of us have extra hour of work.“

„Oh no. But at least you will be rewarded more no? More hours equal more pay.“

„Nope, it's the same job in the end, they just extended work time.“ Frowning at the work contract on the mind, it was a very high chance it will drastically change soon as well.

„It's very... bad.“ You nervously laughed as you walked together.

„One time they fired someone from storage, only to replace them with boss's relative. By law its forbidden, but they made up a name for the new position that does the same job in storage. So it seems valid, but its not.“

„Ah... it happened here as well, but uhm.“ Uraraka started

„Hmm?“

„There's been some disappearances from our parent company, we are having a bit of a rescheduling on our own as well.“ Uraraka nervously chuckled and scratched the back of her head, it was quiet obvious there's been some action going on on her end as well.

„But enough about that, how's Shinsou~?“ She teasingly leaned in and poked her pink cheek.

Your mind shifted to the now roommate, the intimidating figure had you stuttering for a second. Obviously, Uraraka shouldn't of hung out with Mina so often back in college days, because it was so obvious she wanted to pull out some flustering on your end as well. Her curiosity especially hit the peak since she heard your voice hit higher notes when talking about him.

„I-I.. U-um. Okay, fuck! I can't!“ Both of the palms now covered your face to hide the embarrassment.

„Ahah! Is he that hot? You didn't react like that for so long!“

„Shut up!“ You huff out „It's enough that he made a toast for me yesterday, now I don't know how to return the favor. I want to get close to him, but he's unapproachable.“

The brunette put a finger on her lower lip in deep thought.

„Maybe if he's so busy, you can make him little lunches in a box, since he's so busy.“

„Uraraka, that's so childish.“

„It's not! You have to show him your soft side! Poke around, maybe he likes it.“

„My soft side?“

Grimacing as she advised, you were afraid of getting your feelings hurt. Now hesitantly picking up shirts and pants from the shopping stand, you managed to pick decent clothing for the upcoming winter before the prices skyrocket, it was expensive already but you managed to find something cheap. Your eyes trailed to find a plain white scarf, it was really nice quality, and rather cheap, but the sudden thoughts redirected to Shinsou as fingers tried out the material.

Maybe its not a bad idea to try and open up, you'll try but there should be equal effort on his end as well. Now snatching the scarf from the stand, you both bought your things and left the store, suddenly being nudged on the shoulder by the pink cheeked individual, you let out a relieved laughter while walking home for today.

...

„No, no! Please, Spare me!“

„I'm afraid job's a job.“

„No, please! My wife-!“

-SNAP-

„... Operation successful, returning to the main area. Prepare for body disposal.“

„Roger that Mindjack.“

On the broad daylight, Shinsou had eliminated yet another target for today, this time it was a business man whose life spiraled down in gambling addiction, the man who had hired him said he owned too much and knew too much to be kept alive.

Drugs and gambling went hand in hand, it was no different that the client probably had some shady stuff going on on their end as well. Shinsou had to keep his eye open on this one as well.

„Dispatched him quickly?“ Shoto came by side to Shinsou while adjusting dark gloves on.

„Yeah.“

„Good. Let me help you up.“

Several moments later, a truck came by to pick the dead body up, Kirishima's disguise as a trash driver made both of them cringe for a moment, but quickly brushed it off as Shoto and Shinsou threw it away. The cleanup crew should get rid of their traces now, all he has to do is get away as fast as possible from here. Shoto and Shinsou entered in the truck and drove in silence.

„You blocked the spot quiet nicely Shoto! Made a nice clearing for Shinsou to execute.“ Kirishima praised

„I merely blocked the parking lot. I don't see it being worth a mention.“

„Man, but missions like these always for newbies rely on stalking and timing. And this was perfect.“

„Nothing is perfect in this line of business.“ Shinsou ripped off his gloves and cracked his own neck to relieve tension. „Karma will hit you back hard if you don't know what you are doing.“

„Yeah yeah, it isn't very manly if you're in it just for cash, I mean... I'm rooting for justice and y'all, don't go thinking I am blind to what you guys are doing.“

Shoto and Shinsou fell silent. It was hard to swallow the truth, the car ride to the safe house wasn't long, soon Kirishima hit the brakes and came to a stop to the small abandoned storage house on the outskirts of the city. Shoto jumped out to take care of the body while Shinsou assisted with it, after they were done, Kirishima checked the contract for the job well done and handed the payment. A block of dollar bills now in their hands, the digital transfer of money would raise eyebrows in eyes of banks, so the money transfer was best if it was physical.

„Here you go boys! Boss says that the next contract is gonna be handed out tomorrow, you are free for the rest of the evening.“

„Tomorrow already?“ Shinsou asks.

„Yeah, what did you mean with that question?“

„I was thinking of looking into the client of the previous contract. Do some research and possibly eliminating him.“

Kirishima clicked with his tongue while Shoto huffed out and fiddled with the block of money in his hands.

„Sorry man. Solo contracts wont get you money, and gateways like us wont help you since we put too much at stake. You are on your own if you are gonna kill someone who is off the list.“ Kirishima explained

„Why would you even do it?“ Shoto asked, „Its not like the guy did you anything bad.“

Before Shinsou could answer Kirishima pat his back two times before turning on his heel to store his equipment away and head home himself for today.

„Mindjack has always been like that, even before you started working with. He sorta goes off on his own at times, seeking who needs killin' and who doesn't. That's why we hired you Shoto.“

„Can't blame me for doing what I think its right.“ Shinsou lowered his head, „All I need is time, That's why I was taken aback when a new contract was announced for tomorrow.“

„Alright alright, Mr. Assassin. You'll get your time. Someday. For now, this handsome manly man is going to go home for tonight! I'm going to get myself some hot bath.“

„See you Red. I'll be going too, Goodnight Mindjack.“

The departure was short, Shinsou took his bag and changed clothes before heading back, the bad smell could of easily rub off on him and he didn't want you to start speculating things. Even though he mostly ends his victim's lives in a way where no blood can be shed, it was a close call when she started eyeing the bag yesterday. He hated it, but he had already planned out way's to kill the roommate he was living with for any situation if she found out his true work.

'I don't need any of you to help me in my solo hunt.' He thought to himself, putting his black leather jacket on and helmet, he checked out his surroundings before revving up his bike and driving away.

The evening was busy as people were going back from work, it was 6 pm after all and he was stressing out on the fact that he will have to see his roommate. Maybe he could take a spin? Or start investigating on his own, but he didn't have time, he needed it. Rumbling of the bike eased tension he had from the committed crime, but only barely. As he came to a red light he slowed down and realized he was shaking badly, he knew it was not only from the setting sun and chilling air slowly creeping in, but also of stress. The realization that he might get caught always hit him harder after it settled in his mind. He inhaled deeply and eyed the nearby passengers. His eyes land on a woman in distance he never thought he would run into.

It was you, and you have been on your way to the flat with things you've gotten. The fact you saved up on the flat made you relax and indulge in the little shopping spree with Uraraka and groceries. You smiled from ear to ear nevertheless the tiredness creeping on you from the day.

„Mm...“ You sighed and rolled your shoulders.

„Maybe I'll make the thing she told me.“

You honestly looked like a happy child after realizing now that you have a roommate who pays for half of the expenses, you have extra cash to buy for things and make food at home. It wasn't a big deal to go out and buy something since it was cheap to buy a box of instant meal, but you wanted to cook your own food for a long time now. As you looked in the grocery bag and already beginning to think of the recipe you'd think for it, you suddenly bumped onto a stranger who didn't quiet follow his surroundings either. The harsh impact almost made you fall behind flat on your backside, but you managed to find balance. 'How rude-!' you thought.

„Ah-! S-sorry! I didn't mean to bump into you sir-„

„Watch where you are stepping wench-! I swear, women like you need to fucking know their place and stay at home.“

Excuse me?

Since when did this idiot have any right to find you to get his frustrations out?

You frowned at his sentence, knowing better not to engage with a random incel on the streets at evening hours, whose breath reeked of beer and bad hygiene, you decided to clutch your bags and pass by him hurriedly.

„Don't fucking ignore me!“

„Hey! Let me go!“

The man captures your wrist harshly and doesn't let go, now pulling you towards himself, he makes your belongings and your body stumble forward. His other hand wrap around your waist and starts dragging you along with him. Trying to shake yourself away only resulted in him recapturing you. He started laughing and you only now realize he quiet probably meant to bump into you.

He was trying to kidnap you-

„I said you are a bitch! Now you'll know your place-!“

„Let me go!“

Closing your eyes, the strong grip bruised your wrist and you yelped in pain, Your eyes veiled with tears as his disgusting sweaty hands found their way on your thighs to try and attempt to carry you, but the hold that was on you was suddenly broken free and a strong impact of a punch made the man fall flat on the ground. You were quiet sure you heard something broke as well.

„Agh! Son of a-!“

The adrenaline spiked in your veins and you immediately snapped out of it to see what was going on. Another hand rested on you almost protectively, you raised head to see a dark dressed figure that was very familiar. You were quiet shocked to find Shinsou held you close to his chest, wasn't he supposed to work until very late? You hear his quickened heartbeat and deep breathing as he gazed into the eyes of an attacker. Clutching onto him, you immediately felt more sorry for the drunken individual that had attacked you. Hooded eyes with dark eye bags were visible with blood rush, he stared down at his victim like a prey.

„I honestly can't believe how uncool you are, attacking a woman.“ He tilted his head on the side „Piss off before I do anything worse.“

The drunkard scrambled to his feet, he held onto his nose, groaning in pain inflicted by just his one punch.

„You fucker-! You broke my fucking nose!“

He charged again at Shinsou and you. This time, Shinsou quickly dispatched him by a high kick in his stomach, stealing all the air from his lungs. He hunched over and fell flat face forward, deeming him now unconscious. Your mouth went agape at his form, even though there were no visible passerby's, the drivers could certainly call police and at any moment and both of you would get caught.

„Shinsou!“ You panicked, finally reacting at the scene.

„Come on, lets get the hell out from here. He's bad news.“ He pat your shoulders and helped you scramble the bags that were on the ground.

He led you to climb on his bike that you were quiet hesitant to get on at first, he didn't let you get acquainted as the time was limited and you let out a noise of protest at first.

„We have no time, grab onto me.“ He revved up his bike and it rumbled.

„You just gonna escape like that!?“ You asked „What gives he's not gonna blame it on us? The police-“

„Police is not going to do shit.“ He glared at you „Unless you want to call them right now and deal with this sort of mess on Thursday evening, be my guest.“

You whined again, thinking thoroughly on his words you knew he was right so you followed his orders. If anything Shinsou was a witness if both of you ever end up getting caught. Holding onto the bags in your hand, you decided it was a better option to leave. Now climbing on you adjusted yourself in back of seat, the view in front of you were of his back, now starting to get illuminated by the street lights. He smelled nice, despite it being closed off by the leather jacket, his vibrant purple hair was flattened by the helmet, and you couldn't shake off the thought that you were about to hold him. You let your left hand slip around his stomach while your right one grips his shoulder.

Fuck, he was solid.

The gas made you back up a bit and grip on him tighter as he violently sped forwards to escape the scene. You hid your face in his back and held onto dear life. You weren't acquainted with bike's, most of your life was spent driving in cars and public transport, but you were quiet thankful to have him tell you when to lean on sides as you took turns.

„Just like riding a bicycle“ He claimed.

You relaxed after he talked more about it, there was something about him being calm in this situation made you very thankful. If he hadn't shown up...

Well, you wouldn't like to think about it.

He slowed down and stopped as the lights turned orange, then red, he took this opportunity to check on you. Shinsou leaned back and turned to you.

„You okay?“

„Y-yeah, still a bit shaken up about it. I... think I'll be fine. What about you?“

„I'm good.“ He replied shortly, his curt expression not giving anything else away.

In his mind, there wasn't anything he could do to help, the thought of comforting a victim was very alien to him. He could manage dispatching the person quickly, but he would rather much leave a therapy session to others. There was something about how he emotionally closed off himself that helped him do what he was working for, but it was never in favor when someone needed emotional support, like you right now.

His thought process was interrupted by a white scarf now gently falling around his neck.

„Your facial expression doesn't quiet match your body language Mr. Shinsou. Here, have this, your body is shaking.“

„What is this?“ He asked, tenderly reaching for the soft white fabric and letting the warmth of it settle around his neck.

„Its a scarf... I was planning on giving it to you. You are a good roommate to me.“

His eyes lit up at the realization, his knee was thumping up and down in nervousness from what he had been overthinking about, whats wrong with this woman? Is she going to be the one giving him the therapy session? He better not go soft now. The light turned green and you took a last turn to your place and he parked nearby. Both of you got off and he helped you by giving you a hand and with the bags.

„You didn't have to.“

„That's not true, I had to! I know work's probably putting a lot of strain on you just like mine is, and I know you mean only well, hell, you've been cooking an extra toast just for me.. and now you saved me.“

Both of you came to a stop as you entered the building. You sighed a little bit as words of gratitude escaped you

„And I just want to say.. Thank you."

Wide eyed like a kitten, he seemed so innocent if he didn't act so suspicions all the time. But this time you were so happy on seeing your roommate warming up to you. He was speechless for a solid second, he raised the scarf just a little bit to hide his mouth and nose.

Was he blushing?

"You really think that huh?" He asks, it was a simple question, but it got you stuttering madly and you looked onward, taking big steps as suddenly your flat was the lifeline of a place to be in right now. Shinsou himself didn't want to admit it but looking at you being cheerful after the events set his mind at ease.

"O-of course! A-and don't think that that you are ever a bad person, whoever is telling you bad things at work... They are wrong, because you are actually a really nice person... I think." You said without looking back.

„Now you are just sprouting nonsense.“ He chuckled and followed closely behind.

„Come on! I'm gonna cook us dinner. We are gonna feast.“

#bnha shinsou #bnha shinso hitoshi #shinso hitoshi x reader #shinso hitoshi #shinsou hitoshi #mha shinso x reader #mha shinsou #shinso #shinso x reader #shinsou hitoshi x reader #shinsou #bnha reader insert

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americasass81 · 3 years

Text

Make Her Mine - Chapter Six

Warnings:- 18+, Dark theme, Smut, Dubious Consent, Non-Consensual Sex, Thigh-Riding, Swearing, Implied Breeding, Oral (female receiving). Do not read if any of these warnings are upsetting. Feedback is welcomed.

This contains adult themes and by proceeding you are acknowledging that you are over 18 and are consenting to the content below the cut.

Word Count:- 2,893

Having survived Tony fucking your face as well as the humiliating experience of him washing you afterwards, the shocks just kept on coming when you exited the bathroom to see what he expected you to wear. While he returned from the closet in a t-shirt and sweatpants, you quickly discovered your predicament was much worse than you ever thought. Walking towards the double doors when Tony appeared empty handed, he quickly blocked your way and raised an eyebrow at you before speaking. "Need something darling?"

"Yeah, how about clothes douchebag?"

"You'll get clothes when you need them and when I decide you've earned them. Though I might be persuaded to fetch you something if you'd adjust your attitude." he smirked, as he reached out to run a hand along your cheek. Pulling back and walking to the bed, you dropped onto it and wondered how you had come to be reduced to Tony Stark's pet. Sighing deeply at your dejected form, Tony dropped to his knees in front of you and held you in place when you once again tried to free yourself before looking up at you. "Y/N, surely you must find this constant struggle exhausting. Give in to me and I promise your life will be so much easier. You won't even have any further use for that getaway bag. Kudos on that by the way."

At the mention of your getaway bag, your eyes widened and your hands clenched into fists. "Ah yes, that." Tony smirked, shaking his head at your reaction. "You didn't think I'd just leave it on the New York sidewalk, did you? Don't worry it's safe, though I'm fascinated why you have it. Maybe it's something we can discuss over dinner. Shall we?" he asked, standing back up and reaching out his hand to you. Suddenly realizing that you had spent too much time trying to physically overpower Iron-Man when you should have tried out thinking him, you decided instead to see what information you could wrangle out of him.

"Okay Tony," you said, unclenching your fists and rising from the bed. "I'll agree to dinner and I'll try to adjust my attitude, but may I please have something to wear? It doesn't have to be anything fancy." As if to emphasize your sincerity, you stepped forward and walked into his waiting arms.

Shocked by this sudden change, it seemed Tony did have a weakness for you however and you soon found his arms wrapped around you while his chin came to rest atop your head. Listening to the steady beat of his heart, you failed to notice him checking the data from your nanoparticles and whatever he read seemed to cement this sudden adjustment he'd hoped to see. Releasing you, he quickly disappeared into the closet only to return with a grey t-shirt and blue panties. "Will these do darling?"

"Thank you Tony. They'll do fine." you said, taking them from him while reminding yourself to give him a quick kiss on the cheek. Putting on the clothes before he could catch you out or change his mind, you then looked up at him before placing your hand in his and flashing him your best smile. "So maybe while we eat you can tell me a bit about this place, I didn't really take much of it in when I was trying to escape." Wrapping his arm around you, Tony led you out to the kitchen where he planned on introducing you to his culinary skills.

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

Upon entering the kitchen area and seating you at the island unit, Tony told V.I.R.G.I.L. to release level one lockdown protocols which you discovered opened all the cabinet doors and drawers. Working away on the food as he talked and you listened, you discovered that the house was not only situated at a secluded location but the windows in the ceiling were a result of most of the property being underground. Tony also disclosed that the only two doors off the kitchen led to the garage and his lab. The garage you also learned was the only exit out of the house.

"Mr. . . . sorry Tony, does that not seem like a rather monumental fire hazard?" you inquired, genuinely curious now.

Looking over at you while handing you a glass of wine, he couldn't help the smirk that seemed to light up his face. "Y/N really, think about who you're talking to? If a fire did break out here, the state of the art fire suppression system I designed will kick in and have it out in seconds. Besides, I am Iron-Man. Don't worry darling, you're perfectly safe here."

Choking on his last words, the wine you were drinking hit you wrong and it took him tapping your back to get your breathing back under control. "Thank you, don't quite know what happened there."

"You're welcome. I hope you're okay with chicken and mushroom pasta by the way?" he said, smiling over at you as if he had forgotten that it was in an Italian restaurant you had first refused his company. Now that you had time to really concentrate on the wine, you realized with sickening clarity that it was the same one you drank that night. Placing the glass back on the counter, a shudder ripped through you as you realized there seemed to be nothing he didn't know about you.

Picking up the glass and leading you to the table, he helped you sit before returning with the food and the bottle of wine. Filling your glass while taking a seat on your right side, he placed his hand on yours before speaking. "I'd enjoy the wine if I were you darling. It's the last you'll be drinking going forward. Now let's eat before the food gets cold.”

Thinking through the implications of his statement, you did your best to enjoy the meal while you tried to figure out how to get safely out of his clutches before he could knock you up, provided he hadn't done so already. Deciding to play to his vanity, you complimented him on the meal before asking some of the questions you hoped to get an answer to. "So Tony, you mentioned my getaway bag earlier, may I ask where it is?"

"It's in my safe, not that you'll be needing it. Why does someone your age even have it anyway?"

"Being prepared for anything usually means I'm not surprised by something. Though I guess you're the exception." you laughed, and Tony surprised you yet again when he took your hand and kissed it tenderly. What shocked you most however was the slight tingle that ran through your body at this most romantic gesture. When he released your hand again it seemed it was Tony's turn to ask you a question.

"So would you mind telling me what your plan was? I'm fascinated to know."

"It's not all that exciting to be honest. I had planned to stay at the Waldorf for a week in the hopes your infatuation would dissipate. If it didn't, then my getaway bag, bank account and friends would hopefully get me far enough away from you. Guess that didn't work out too well." you answered while eating more of your meal.

"Like I said, you're wasted where you are and by the way this is not infatuation. I find you amazingly self-reliant for someone your age and I'd like to build a life with you. As I told Happy, you're ingenious." He smiled as if you should be flattered by the compliment, but all you saw was everything he had put you through. Having finished your food, you drank the rest of your wine while you contemplated how best to continue the conversation.

"Tony let's assume for a moment that I'm okay with us, in plain english, what's your endgame? Will I see the outside world again? Will I ever see my friends again?" you asked, noting the irritated look on his face.

Sighing deeply, he took the wine from your hand and gazed into your eyes before speaking. "My endgame as you put it darling, is to get you back to my place where you will be treated like a queen while our little ones grow up safe and loved. If you'll agree, I'd also like to marry you and who knows, hopefully your friends can remain a part of your life."

Hating every word he uttered, but needing to know all the same, your hands left the table and inadvertently rested over your stomach as you stared off into space, thinking. It was only when Tony cleaned up dinner and helped you stand to walk you to the living room, that you regained your focus. "What about my job, my life? Tony, what about the nanoparticles in my system?" you asked quickly, as he sat both of you on the couch and tucked you into his body as if you fit there all along.

"The nanoparticles stay, I'm afraid. Like I said, they have good features and bad. Hopefully with time and trust the unsavory features can be disabled. As for your job and life . . . I won't interfere with your job if you wish to remain where you are. Your life however . . . I would hope you'd be willing to make room in it for our new family." Trying not to tick him off, it was your turn to reign in your temper however once Tony uttered his next words. "Hey perhaps you could tell me about some of the hobbies my money has allowed you to pursue."

"What, you mean there are things the nanoparticles and your Annoying Inquisitor failed to find out about me?"

"Y/N, you know some of the things I've done to get you, as well as what I'm willing to do to keep you. So please make life easier on yourself, park the attitude and tell me some of the things I don't know."

Thinking through what he told you, you sadly realized that at the present time Tony did indeed have the upper hand in all aspects of your survival. Swallowing any retort that would more than likely result in some form of retaliation, you gently freed yourself from his grasp and pulled your feet up onto the couch before answering. "Shooting, Kayaking, Tennis, Hiking, Rock climbing, Restoring Classic Cars and Riding." you quickly rattled off. Seeing the grin that appeared on his face and relating it to the last activity you named, you cringed as you reached forward and slapped him on the upper arm. “Ugh, it's Horseback riding you ass. God is everything with you sexual in nature."

You got your answer however, when he grabbed hold of your arm, pulled you towards him and pressed his lips securely against yours. Finally letting you up for air, he positioned you on his lap with your back resting against his chest and his arms around your waist. "Only where you're concerned darling and by the way I'd never have taken you for someone who was into classic cars."

"I'll have you know your money, as you like to remind me, has enabled me to purchase and restore quite a few classics." you replied, while trying to maneuver away from his roaming hands and lips.

"So how come you didn't just drive off in one of them when you left me three days ago? Would have given you quite the head start."

Feeling your frustration growing you couldn't keep the venom out of your reply. "Ugh I already told you, this infatuation of yours was supposed to blow over which meant I wouldn't have to leave my life, my friends or my car collection behind." With that you struggled once more against his hold but unfortunately it held fast.

Moving you slightly so you now sat solely on his left thigh, Tony pressed down on your hips while simultaneously sliding you back and forth. The friction this created against your clit didn't take long for the now usual sensation to begin building in your core. Added to this the kisses he placed on your neck and down to your shoulders, along with the degrading things he whispered in your ear and the next thing you knew you were reaching for the edge as every muscle in your lower regions pulled tighter and tighter.

"Oh fuck, Tony, stop please. I'm gonna . . . ahh." Now nibbling on your pulse point, all words left you as your release hit you and you felt the moisture leak from you and stain both your panties and Tony's sweatpants.

"Well look at what my dirty girl did. Now it's my turn." And before you could protest or do anything to stop him, Tony threw you down on the couch, ripped your panties clean off and buried his head between your spread legs. Lapping and sucking your now slick folds while shoving two fingers inside you, you couldn't stop the sinful moans that left your lips or the way your hands found themselves entangled in his hair. Smirking against your folds as you gave yourself over to the pleasure building again from his skillful ministrations, it didn't take him long to get you hovering over the edge once more.

And hover you did . . . just as you were about to come for a second time, Tony pulled back and smiled a most devious smile when you looked up at him and whined. "Tony please make me come. Please, please, please." you begged, tears all but falling from your eyes.

Leaning forward to kiss the lips you had previously been chewing on, Tony quickly removed his pants and lining himself up with your entrance, bottomed out as his mouth swallowed the gasp that escaped your lips. "Oh darling, you're absolutely perfect as always. Just imagine how beautiful you will look spread out before me all round with our child."

If you had any retort planned, it was completely lost when Tony shifted your legs and hit that glorious spot inside you that had you seeing stars. Thrusting harder and faster, his hand moved to circle your clit and you felt yourself reaching for the edge once again. This time however you felt the familiar power building inside you and the possible outcome that awaited you. "Tony please . . . slow down . . . ahh, it's too much. I'm gonna . . . Oh god."

"It's okay Y/N, trust me. You're safe darling, just let go. I'll be here with you the whole time." With that, he continued his relentless pounding of your pussy and all rational thought left you as you finally listened to both him and your body and allowed all your cares to melt away. Crying out as Tony pulled almost all the way out and thrust back in while pinching your clit, you once again weren't conscious when your walls clamped his shaft like a vice as rope after rope of warm cum shot out and painted your walls.

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

True to his word, you woke shortly after nestled on the couch with Tony gently stroking your hair. "Hey gorgeous girl, how are you feeling?"

"Okay I guess, even though I've now passed out twice in the past few hours. Perhaps you should consider taking me to a doctor." you suggested, even though you knew nothing would come of it.

"Darling I don't mean to brag, but you and I both know passing out from a powerful orgasm is not something that requires a doctor. Now would you rather a bath or a shower before bed baby?"

"I think a bath might be nice. Wait, am I to assume there's a bath here big enough to enable you to join me?"

"Of course silly girl." he grinned at you as he jumped off the couch and held out his hand to help you up. "I'm surprised and offended you even have to ask."

Taking his hand, you had to grab onto his shoulder instead to steady yourself as you still felt a bit shaky on your feet. Sensing this, Tony quickly and easily picked you up and next thing you know he placed you in the bathroom attached to what was originally your bedroom. "Please tell me you'll behave yourself if I get in there with you." you questioned as Tony filled the bath while you made use of the toilet, not caring that he was right there with you.

"Of course I will darling, scout's honor." he smiled, holding up his hand in a salute.

"Seriously, do you honestly expect me to believe you were ever a boy scout?" you scoff as he lowered himself into the bath before reaching out to help you in.

"No, I don't really expect you to believe anything I tell you. But that doesn't mean I won't spend the rest of our lives together trying to convince you." With that he nudged you forward until your feet hit the other end of the bath and then leaned you back to rest against his chest before wrapping his arms around you. Sinking into both his embrace and the warm water, you slowly relaxed for what felt like the first time since this whole ordeal had started. Eventually washing each other and retiring to bed, you closed your eyes and let your cares slip away as sleep easily claimed you.

Tagging:- @nsfwsebbie @hoseokchild @gotnofucks @ironlady1993 @floatingdaisy7 @taintedgenre @buttercandy16 @kind-of-crazy-butthatsokay , sorry if I missed anyone.

#dark!tony stark x reader

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ikingsley · 3 years

Text

Ina x MC: You’re It

Summary: Ina and Luna celebrate their dating anniversary.

Warnings: Fluff! Sorta?

Tag: @samanthadalton @domakir @kulaykape @hellyeah90sbaby @dopeyouth @kwaj05 @thedaft1 @swimmingshoebakerydreamer @kaitlynliaofanxx @barnibumblr

Author’s Notes: Another installment of Ina and Luna’s future series.

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

“Inaaaaaa,” Luna whined.

“Yes?” Ina replied to Luna after quietly whispering into the taxi driver’s ear.

“Where are we going?”

“You’ll see. I promise you’ll like it.”

“So for our dating anniversary, you get to decide on the place without even consulting me? Talk about a power imbalance,” Luna said playfully.

This goddamn woman. Sometimes Ina thought Luna liked teasing her more than she loved her.

“Fine,” Ina huffed. “Do you want to know where we’re going?”

“No! I like the surprise.”

Maddening. Infuriating. Yet after everything, she was still wrapped around her finger.

“You’re something else, aren’t you Lu?”

“I pride myself in being ‘something else.’ You still love me.”

“That, I do.”

A semblance of silence took over the taxi, a first after a whole car ride of playful banter between the women. Instead, the busy outside cacophony took over...a truck horn here, a driver cursing out a pedestrian there...

“We’re here,” the taxi driver announced.

Ina quickly thanked him and left a generous tip on the app. No one deliberately signed up for meddling in the business of a couple in love. Luna reached for the cab door, but was promptly stopped by Ina.

“Nuh-uh. Wait a second.”

Ina hopped out of the car and rushed to the other side of the cab to open Luna’s door. Despite being cursed at by drivers behind her as she held up traffic, she maintained her calm. There were bigger, more important things than a little traffic holdup, especially today.

“You know, you don’t need to be all formal and chivalrous and whatnot,” Luna said as she took Ina’s hand to get out of the car.

“Believe it or not, that was not my intention. I actually am here to cover your eyes before you see your destination.”

Ina felt Luna roll her eyes.

“Always with the ulterior motives, huh?” Luna jested.

This time, it was Ina’s turn to play coy. “Maybe, but you love me regardless.”

“I do.”

The two walked a few hundred feet, Ina behind Luna to shield the world from her. There was nothing she wouldn’t do for that woman. Ina vowed to protect her at all costs, cherish her, appreciate her, love her endlessly...It’d only been a year since Ina finally had asked her officially to be with her, but somehow, Ina knew. Ina knew that this was the woman of her dreams, someone she would happily spend the rest of her life with. However, they hadn’t had the marriage conversation yet. Hell, they hadn’t even moved in together yet. She knew Luna wanted to get married, but that would be one day. Sometime in the distant future. Luna was considerably younger than Ina, and Ina accepted the fact that she may have to wait several years to pop the question. She’d figured that she’d wait decades to tie the knot if it had come to that.

“Okay. We’re here,” Ina said, uncovering Luna’s eyes.

“Ina, you did not.”

“I did.”

“I’ve been wanting to do laser tag forever!”

“Well, I had run out of excuses. I figured it was time for me to try it by now.”

Ina took Luna’s hand and led her into the laser tag arena. God, this was so childish, she thought.

“What exactly is that face?” Luna said slyly, smirking up at Ina.

“What? This gorgeous face you fell in love with?” Ina countered.

“It’s a ‘wow Luna, I can’t believe I’m doing this’ face.”

“Well, I wouldn’t say I would’ve come here on my own will.”

“Just keep an open mind. Maybe you’ll like it, who knows?”

“I will. I promise.”

Soon, the two were placed into a larger group. They decided to be on opposite teams just so one could have bragging rights. After a few minutes of Luna’s trash-talking, they were separated into their respective teams. Luna smirked over at Ina as the doors opened to the terrain. Game on.

The siren blared over the speakers system, indicating the start of the battle. Ina was situated near the back of the arena, her back crouched against the wall. She knew Luna - she would definitely come looking for her. Luna was too competitive for her own good and she’d be lured to find Ina quickly.

Sure enough, two minutes into the round, Luna lurked near the back where Ina was hiding. She thought she was being discrete, silently searching for partner. Just as she reached the back wall, her vest lit up and an alarm went off.

Crap!

She slowly turned around, only to find Ina smirking at her.

“Gotcha. See you later,” Ina winked at Luna as she slipped back into the darkness.

I’m gonna get her, Luna vowed.

The game progressed with both teams neck and neck in score. A minute flashed on the countdown. Ina then spotted Luna. Just as she was raising her laser gun, Luna put her finger on the trigger.

“Wait!”

And somehow, despite the room full of people, Luna and Ina felt like the only people in the world.

“Truce?” Luna called out.

“Truce.” The countdown slowly approached the thirty second mark and Luna made her way to Ina. She wrapped an arm around Luna, gently kissing her temple.

“Good game,” Ina began to whisper softly into her ear. “I totally got you at the beginning though.”

5...4...3...

Luna wrapped Ina in her arms placing a small kiss in her forehead.

2...1....

Suddenly, she pulled away. At once, Ina’s vest lit up. She looked around, expecting some stranger to have hit her, but was met by Luna’s gaze.

“You...” she grumbled.

“And I totally got you at the end. Oh look who won!” Luna smirked and pointed at the scoreboard. Luna’s sly shot had boosted her own team 100 points higher than Ina’s.

Ina grumbled again in response. “I suppose, but I think it’s rather symbolic.”

And symbolic it was. They were situated in a room full of obstacles, yet somehow fate, destiny, the universe or some higher, inexplicable being had brought them together. It represented that they’d always find each other somehow, and in the end, it would always be them against the world.

Luna quietly reflected on Ina’s words, understanding how their relationship had come to fruition. They slipped out of the laser tag arena and Luna looped her slender arm around Ina’s.

“It’s my turn to give you your anniversary present,” Luna said.

She dragged Ina across New York City, walking past their favorite places...Times Square, the Natural History Museum, Central Park...Ina lingered at each site, remembering dates they had gone on. All of those small, but wonderful moments had led up to this.

“Okay so we’ve only talked about this a little bit but I think we’re ready for it,” Luna turned back to Ina as she walked backwards. She promptly stopped in front of a small building and held her hands out in presentation.

“Here we are!”

“Your apartment?”

“Yeah! Hold out your hands.”

Ina put her hands out as if she were accepting something when she saw Luna go frozen.

Physically Luna was frozen, but her thoughts moved a mile a minute. Yes, she loved Ina. Yes, she had been the one that took her back to her apartment. Yes, she’d stop at nothing until she was happy. But oh god. Commitment was staring her point blank in the face. Moving in together was a huge milestone.

Their relationship was good - the best Luna had ever been in. But her past relationships kept coming to mind. All the fights, all the deceptions, all the mistrust. Luna was unafraid of most things, but she did fear commitment.

“I-” she began.

Ina’s intuition kicked in and redirected her away from the entrance, leaning against the building.

“Hey. We don’t have to if you don’t want to. I’m ready for the next step in this relationship, but it’s our relationship and we need to both agree on its pace. I’m okay with waiting.”

“Thank you. It’s just all this stuff is new to me. I’ve never been in a relationship this serious and I’ve never gotten this far. I was just a hormonal kid in my past relationships - all I cared about was having fun,” she admitted. “And Ina...I’m scared. I trust and love you with all of my heart, but I’m still scared. I’m scared you’ll find a part of me you don’t like and you’ll want out. I’m scared you fell in love with someone who you think is me, but isn’t truly me.”

Luna looked up with tears in her eyes. These were the kind of conversations the two held curled up together in bed, admitting things they’d never even attempted to say aloud before. They built their relationship on love, but also on trust. They’d taken everything with caution. It was these intimate moments that carved their relationship into the one it was today.

“Do you understand what-”

“I know exactly what you mean,” Ina said as she wiped tears away from Luna’s eyes. “For a long time I only focused on my career. My love life always came second. I always wanted to be that youngster at a convention full of well-seasoned anthropologists. At least, that’s what I told myself. I blocked out the very possibility that the true reason I didn’t want a love life may be because of my parents. People who are supposed to love you unconditionally didn’t love Lilian and I like they should’ve. I was so afraid of yet another betrayal. But then I found you. And everything’s just clicked. I don’t have to pretend to be anyone I’m not with you. And I love you for many reasons, but that may be the most prominent.”

And after hearing a sweet and soft declaration of love from Luna, Ina met her girlfriend’s lips. It was then and there that Luna truly understood how much Ina cared for her. That Ina was different from the young, immature men and women from her past. That she’d finally found someone good. Someone who appreciated her. Someone who comforted her. Someone who protected her at all costs.

“I’m ready.”

“Are you sure? Seriously Luna, this is a big deal. I understand if you want to wait more.”

“I’m sure. For a while now, I’ve dreaded having to come back to my own apartment alone after spending the day at yours. I want this with you. I admit I’m a bit afraid, but that feeling is no where near the feeling that I want to live with you.”

Luna dropped a pair of keys in Ina’s hands as the two rode the elevator up to Luna’s apartment.

“I’m worried, Luna.”

“What’s on your mind?”

“You don’t expect me to live in this shack, right?”

“It is NOT a shack. It is my lovely one-bedroom apartment which is what I could afford in this ungodly costly city after my Belvoire graduation.” Luna giggled as she perched her chin on Ina’s shoulder. “No, silly. It was symbolic. We’re definitely moving into your place.”

“Good. Let’s start packing this place up.”

#ina kingsley #ina x mc #queen b #luna garcia

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hermette-historian · 3 years

Text

The Scientist Behind the Historian

It is another lovely evening, dear friends, and why is this one so wonderful?

Well, simply because this evening four hundred of you have decided to join me on this little journey through the dust-laden history of everyone's favorite SMP. Our hermits of old might be a bit shocked at how many young people just popped into existence in the middle of their spawn jail.

I think perhaps it is time that I reintroduce myself to you, explain a bit about why I've decided to undertake this project, and talk about how I intend to keep it moving forward.

And then in return you all can tell me why it is four hundred of you found my work so interesting, gee whiz.

First,

Who is the Hermette Historian?

A pleasure to meet you all! My name is Wynett Lapour, and contrary to popular belief that is not, ah, by any means my real name or anything close to it. I've received some concerned messages about that, and rest assured it's completely fake (just catchy).

I am a second-year University student studying Physics and Chemistry, with minors in Music and Asian Studies. As you can imagine, that is....a lot of work. I may or may not be putting off quantum physics homework dangerously close to the deadline in order to write this post. Such is my life. COVID-19 sent me home to my parents' house for the past two and a half semesters, though I've had my vaccine and have set up my housing for the fall semester to go back to campus...here's hoping with all my might.

When I'm not writing schoolwork, doing Hermitcraft-related things, or working weekends as a grocery delivery driver for some pocket money, I'm off riding my horse, loving on the dog, or pissing off the aforementioned dog with the sound of a violin or piano or guitar or just my very annoying singing.

This is the dog (big dog):

And this is the really big dog horse (feat. me, hi me!):

The not-so-big dog likes to lay across my lap when I'm watching Hermitcraft, and has developed a particular affinity for Keralis' voice.

So How Does Hermitcraft Fit In?

Believe me, I ask the same question every single day. I've been watching Hermitcraft since my senior year of high school, got obsessed with it because of COVID-induced boredom and lack of social interaction (life sucks when all of the friends you just made at University are now out of state) Oh yes, I should probably mention that I'm American by the way as that seems to be a popular point of confusion for god-only-knows what reason. Why do you all seem to think I'm British? I started this journey out of curiosity four months ago and continued it out of sheer stubbornness, and it's not going anywhere anytime soon. The pattern of taking on all of the things because what is time? Time is fake and I am above that nonsense should be pretty apparent by now, but why deal with that on an introspective level when funny block man and funnier block woman go brrr?

That should pretty much sum up what's going on here. My daily routine consists of Is a Hermit or hermit-adjacent person streaming? If yes, keep stream in background and do school work. Phone off, no food, remain focused until stream ends. When stream ends, walk the dog, eat a thing, get some water, and find another stream. Repeat until no streams, then in this liminal period watch as many historical episodes as you can possibly squeeze in. Watch time may vary, and make posts as inspired.

Of course, this is relatively flexible depending on all of the above factors plus I do have friends that I call and speak to regularly I promise. It's only possible because of COVID restrictions, however, so once my life resumes as normal things are gonna be a little (lottle) bit upended. But we'll figure that out when we get there!

I do plan to get as far through the history of Hermitcraft as I possibly can, and not to end when I finish S1. However at the end of season 1, I'm planning to put out a fair few special things and documents that I've been keeping track of since the beginning! This includes the extremely long, detailed, roundabout server tour that I've been hinting at coming to a YouTube channel near you, Hermit Superlatives! As what will likely be my next long form post, and a document for your viewing and writing pleasure of all of every single on-screen death that I had the pleasure of encountering.

We've got a long way to go, dear friends, so I hope you brought your walking shoes! or movement equipment of the like. I welcome all of your feedback (remember, I'm still very new to this platform!) and I wish each one of you the most pleasant of Saturday evenings.

To many more!

-Wynnie

#tw covid mention

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fuckthesworld · 4 years

Text

CLINGY 《 STILES STILINSKI x READER 》 PART THREE

Warning: Jealousy, angst and fluff.

Summary: She goes on a ride with Dean. Stiles keeps a distance from her but his eyes were burning with fire. Jealousy takes over him leading to a fight between them.

It would be a lie to say that Y/n didn’t enjoy the ride. It was peaceful and Dean didn’t miss a chance to make her laugh. Well ofcourse she almost fell two darn times for speeding up her cycle, trying to beat Dean. But, overall she seemed happy and the nature did keep her happy.

It reminded her of the Woods…all the animals and the breeze and..Stiles. Well.um..she didn’t quite forget about him. At the back of her mind, it continued to pinch her. But she decided to concentrate on her surroundings rather than someone who didn’t appreciate her company. There were trees around, breeze making her hair flow back, the birds chirping around, a shiny golden quiet afternoon and a laughing crazy Dean.

Things were going nice. She felt happy.

“Woooohoooooooo!!” She yelled.

Try and beat me Y/n!!!“ Dean shouted.

“IS that a challenge?!!” She shouted from the back.

“YES!!!” He said speeding up his cycle.

Dean sped up and was before her, and they heard a honk from the behind. She looked behind and saw a car..Roscoe. She moved aside as her thoughts began to move all over the place, and that’s when she realized. Dean decided to come cycling this way and this is where the Pack are gonna have their picnic. She quickly tried to hide her face when she heard a yell.

“Y/N!!”

Ofcourse. I AM LATE AS ALWAYS GODDAMMIT. She looked beside her, trying hard to smile but ending up with a weird face.

“H-Hey Lydia!” She said.

“Are you going this way?!” Lydia yelled.

Y/n stuttered but was interrupted when Dean yelled, “You are losing Y/n! If I win I want a kiss!!!”

She felt the color of her cheeks rising when she realized that not only the Pack heard that BUT Mr Stilinski and Mrs McCall HEARD IT TOO. Ugh Dean can be reaallly annoying at times.

“Oh.” Allison giggled “It will be nice if you lose this race.”

Y/n smiled and took a peek inside, hoping to see Stiles, but he was turned around towards the right side of the window.

Wow, he didn’t even look at me. I mean atleast a hi would have been nice after his conversation with them. Sigh, looks like he is right. I am the one who is missing him. “Well um, you guys need to speed up. Hey Dean!! Move aside!!”

“Enjoy Y/n!” Scott shouted before they sped their car and were almost out of sight.

She stopped when Dean smirked and came beside her.

“Tell me this wasn’t the reason you planned the cycling for.”

“Not at all. If you remember then I asked you about the cycling before all those things happened.” He laughed when you glared at him “Okay, maybe the destination changed.”

“And?”

“And the competition…so that we can reach there faster.” Y/n gave him the cold look.

“Ugh, I am not going there.” Y/n said turning her bicycle around. Dean held her hand and said, “YOU said you are up for a challenge, so I just leveled it up darling.”

“Leveled it up?! I didn’t even pass the beginner’s level and you decided to surprise me with the EXPERT LEVEL!! Dean what is wrong with you?! You are supposed to help me!”

“Oh I freaking am. See, the more you are around him, the more you will get used to him and then eventually all the hard feelings will be vanished just like ‘poof!’” He said.

She sighed, “It’s too much for the first day. You don’t understand how I feel.”

“I do. You…you are the one who supported me when she left me. Turned me into a fuckboy .”

Y/n smiled and said, “Yeah, I suppose. But wait, are you trying to turn me like a slut?”

“You? A slut? Oh trust me, you can’t do that even if I tried.” He laughed.

There was a moment of silence. “So..you feel good enough to turn around and continue cycling?” She just nodded her head.

“But please tell me we will be out of their sight.” Y/n said starting to cycle back to the park.

“Whatever is comfortable for you darling.” Dean said.

*Time Skip*

The Pack were all a giggling mess. They were whispering and occasionally looking at Stiles

“Will you guys stop that?” Stiles snapped, irritated of everything.

“Will YOU stop that? What is that behavior? We are going for a picnic STILES, we are supposed to be like this. Laughing and happy and not grumpy like you.” Issac said.

“Enough kids. No fighting. We are here.” Noah parked the car nearby while the others took out the food and mats.

Stiles wasn’t sure why was he upset. He was confused. Yes, he kind of expected Y/n to arrive and be with them in this picnic. Maybe he is upset because of this. She could be arriving here in this spot with that nosy Dean, then that would mean they will be together in the picnic right? Then why wasn’t he okay by now? I mean everyone will be there along with Y/n…and why was he upset with all the giggling and how Dean shouted about the kiss?

“Hey.” Scott nudged him.

“Oh. What were you saying?”

He laughed and said, “I didn’t say anything!”

“Oh..I was just..”

“Thinking about Y/n?”

“Ye–uh no no.”

“Come on bro you know you can tell me.”

“I don’t know..It’s just that..I don’t know why I am feeling angry. I mean, Y/n is gonna be here I guess and then I can apologise for everything but still something feels wrong.”

“Oh..don’t worry, you’ll figure it out. But if you ask me, then I will say you are just jealous to see them together.”He mischievously smiled and said.

“What?”Stiles looked at him.

“Coming!!!” And ran away to Allison who was standing with a volleyball, preparing herself to play.

Stiles sighed and ran towards them, hoping his mood will be fine at the end of the day.

*Time Skip*

*Tring Tring*

Stiles looked back. And there she was. Smiling and laughing. And her hair perfectly flo– His thoughts got interrupted.

“HEY LOOK OUT!! There’s a bird pooping above you!” Y/n looked up and Dean took the opportunity to overtake her and he turned back. “I win.”

“HEY! That’s cheating!” She laughed.

Oh she definitely wanted this. Ofcourse she wants to kiss him. She is not even looking at me! We are clearly loud enough for her to hear! Stiles looked at how they both perfectly parked their bicycles next to each other like..like darn couples.

And he suddenly felt a sharp pain on his shoulder. “Ow!!” He yelled.

“You need to be present in the game physically AND mentally Stiles!” Issac smirked.

“I-I am!!” He blushed. Y/n now looked at him. His face was red.

She walked over the green soft grass and finally settled down under a tree, a little away from them. She looked at Mr Stilinski , who was present there and pouring some tea and drinking it.

“Watching your father-in-law?” Dean laughed sitting beside her, their shoulders touching.

She kicked his legs lightly and smiled “It’s not funny.”

“It made you laugh. Kinda is then.”

“Make Stiles laugh and I’ll agree with you.”

“Naaaah. Atleast I can peacefully flirt with you now. Although he is literally trying to burn me to ashes right now.” He chuckled.

Yes, Stiles was playing, but his complete attention was towards Y/n. His jaw locked, eyes frequently moving back and forth from her to Dean, how dangerously close those two were sitting.

“What? Really?” She said turning her head to look at him but then Dean cupped his hands on her face trying to block her view. “Wha–”

“Don’t look. The method is working.”

“What??”

“WHy can’t you just shut up for a second?”

“WHy can’t you just answer my questions?”

“This is the time. Kiss me.”

“Wait what? Woah Dea–” As she went on to remove his hands, the ball came rolling near Dean’s feet.

“Don’t wanna interrupt you two but can you pass the ball?” Allison giggled.

“Hey Y/n!! Join us!” Lydia yelled.

“Uh..s-sure! Sometime later! I promise! I have a company you see!” She said pointing at Dean.

Stiles chest tightened and he huffed, “Yeah!! You can enjoy with him!” He furiously walked to them, picked up the ball and said, “We are absolutely happy over here! Please don’t ruin our mood!”

Y/n now snapped. Enough is enough. She stood up while Dean quietly sat and watched the drama, a grin on his lips. “What is wrong with you! Why are you acting like this?! Have I done something now to irritate you? No right? Then why don’t you go back to your business!”

The Pack went to sit with the elders giving a little privacy to the both.

“What is wrong with me? What is wrong with you! All these days you are with me and-and spend your time with me and suddenly today you show up with some damn neighbour!”

“Well Miecyzslaw the world doesn’t revolve around you! I prefer spending my time with people who actually loves my clinginess and not lie about how they are enjoying with me, when they are actually not!”

Stiles went quiet for a while. “But I thought you only did this with me.”

“What?”

“I am really sorry. I didn’t mean those at all. I said those to make Scott and Allison shut up. Those just came out of anger. I missed you. I thought you sat like that only with me. I thought you laughed like that only with me. I thought you hugged like that…only with me. I never thought that..that you will…I always thought those moments belonged to me.” He said eyes locked with hers.

“But Sti you said you didn’t like that.” Her voice softened.

“I do, your every little gesture makes me happy. I love spending time with you. You are the only one who can make me smile and who truly understand me when.the Pack fails to do that.”

Y/n smiled and blushed. “I love you Sti. I did for a long time. You never..never really made any move to make me understand anything. I know that you may not love me like the way I do but…I need to let these out. I can still be your friend but, there will be changes in our friendship then.”

Stiles was quiet for her sudden confession. “I understand.” She smiled. Fighting back the tears, she turned around. Why did I do that?!

She suddenly felt a strong pull and they were kissing. It took a moment for her to realize what just happened. She smiled and kissed him back immediately, her hands going on the back of his neck, tugging his brown hair lightly, finally letting out the tears forming on her eyes. His hands went down to her waist pulling her closer to him. The kiss was full of love and force–needy, strong and passionate. All the emotions suppressed between them starting pouring out.

“Uhh…I appreciate your lovely moment of sucking each others faces but being her best friend, it really looks gross.” Dean interrupted.

They pulled from each other with a red face and smile on their lips. They looked back and saw the Pack smiling and giving him a thumbs up .

“Oh no.” She blushed and hid her face on his chest, while he hugged her, “I really am clingy.”

MASTERLIST

#stiles stilinksi x reader #void stiles #stiles stilinski #dylan o'brian imagine #dylan obrien imagine #dylan obrien fluff #mieczyslaw stilinski #teen wolf pack #teen wolf pack imagine #teen wolf #teen wolf imagine #stiles stilinksi imagine #stiles stilinski fluff #dylan obrien #dylan o'brien smut #stiles stilinski smut

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hyrule-kingdom-updates · 3 years

Text

Astor just sighed to himself as he walked down the castle’s long hallways.

The windows on this level of the castle spanned from the floor to ceiling, with natural sunlight dripping in through the gold trim. His eyes squinted at the light, and he let his hair fall closer to his face. I should get a hood one of these days.

His footsteps were mostly quiet and unnoticable, which unfortunately for him, led to a less than ideal collision with someone as he turned the corner.

“SON OF A—”

The man ran straight into Astor, his papers scattering across the floor. He shook a fist at the prophet, angrily—he was some old soul with blond hair with bits of grey, and a weathered round face with a set of furious blue eyes.

“Watch where you’re going, you clod!” Ligero yelled. “I have half a mind to report you for interfering with sensitive documents!”

Astor leaned down, picking up the papers—seemingly just full of various recorded tax benefits—and rolled his eyes, mumbling. “Yes...and we wouldn’t want you to stress yourself working on only half a brain…”

“What was that?”

“Mm...nothing…”

“You youths...I hate mumbling…”

Astor fitted the papers into a neat stack before handing them back to Ligero, which he snatched up, flipping through them carefully. The prophet gave a shallow, shallow bow.

“My deepest apologies...Lord Ligero.”

Ligero suddenly stopped reading, raising an eyebrow and looking him up and down for a moment. “Do I...know you?”

He narrowed his eyes. “If the stars had aligned correctly, this would be our first and last meeting.”

The Lord wagged a finger at him as his eyes lit up. “Ahhh...you’re that crazy star seer. The one aways snuggled up in the queen’s shadow…”

“Gh…...I’m not—”

“Yeah…” Ligero rubbed his chin. “You’re that sickly twig that’s been whining about our deaths and such...always making a fuss since Elane died.” He chuckled to himself, while Astor scowled.

“Her Majesty’s...passing, puts the future of Hyrule on a path of certain doom. I believe I’ve made my predictions of past clear, that the princess will not awaken her power in—”

“Ayap-yap-yap-yap-yap-yap…” Ligero opened and closed his hand like a mouth in mockery. “Listen boy, you won’t win any favours by spewing your miserable thoughts at every meeting.”

“Maybe I don’t desire your favour.”

“Well then who are you looking to please? Cause I’m afraid it’s a little late to cuck His Majesty any further.”

“Excuse me?” Astor took a step forward, but the Lord stood his ground with a smile, cocking his head to the side.

“I mean, that’s the only reason some nobody like you is here in the first place, isn’t it? Royal connections? Lovely pity on a scrawny useless orph—”

“I’m here to do my job.”

“Aw, don’t live in denial, boy. I have an eye for this sort of thing. And I’m always partial to helping a lad in need…”

Astor was already turning to move past Ligero, but suddenly stopped. He smirked to himself in amusement. “Is that so…?”

“Oh sure. My own son I’ve raised to be the peak of perfection. Striking young man, dashing blond—like me—and skilled. Rising up the knight’s ranks faster than an octo balloon! That’s all me, all my parenting right th—”

“And which son is that?”

“My oldest, my…...one, son.” He glared at him with a frown.

“Hmm…” Astor could barely hold back from snickering. “And what do you think of this oldest son then?”

“Oh, too much of his mother’s child, if you ask me. But much better than I in some regards, though of course, not all of them. Ohoho…”

“Yes…” Astor smiled to himself. “You’re a funny man, Ligero Hartell…”

Ligero finally stopped laughing to himself. “But you see, perfection like that isn’t born. It’s made and nurtured, you have to coax it out of them.” He poked Astor’s chest, and he flinched away in disgust. “Quit your mumbling, your babbling, your little grief stricken dreams, it’s all useless. No one cares for it.”

The Lord went to pat his head, like a puppy, but Astor dodged out of the movement with a verbal “nope” as he whipped behind him. Ligero just shrugged. “If you can’t churn yourself to be a better man, then you’ll have to settle for the next best thing. You want to be something more? Something of actual merit? Taken more seriously than some child that was dragged up these polished steps out of a late woman’s mercy?” He flicked his wrist, adjusting the cuff of his pristine white sleeve. “Stop chasing the dead. Don’t be blinded by replaceable things like compassion and the sort. Find a wealthy friend or something, get rich, get power.”

Ligero turned to continue walking down the hall. “Besides, even if it is like you say—then all the more to ride the sayings of, ‘You only live once.’”

Astor glowered, watching Ligero walk away. He scoffed, and started to turn back towards his own destination, before the Lord called out once more—

“And cut your hair or something! You’re no Rito, quit with the braids. It’ll get all greasy and frizzy...Trust me, I knew someone with hair like that, once.”

Astor’s expression softened just a bit—nearly undetectable—before immediately being replaced with a darker scowl.

He kept walking, his deep purple robes dancing just a finger-widths above the stone polished steps. He opened and closed his hand to himself, miming Ligero’s speaking.

“Always partial to helping a lad in need...gods, seems childhood memory has still captured him to perfection.” Astor came up on the wooden door, and walked inside.

The ceiling was a stone dome, littered with old parchment maps, and Sheikah charts, along with chalk that outlined ancient constellations and designs. There was an old chalkboard—stolen, from the Sheikah department—with further sketches and notes, torn out pages from old journals and texts pinned to the board and walls. Even the window was covered by hanging gyrospheres and astrolabes, twirling in infinite suspension. Since they blocked the window’s hinges, they were probably the reason why the room smelled so musty.

Astor closed the door, and flopped down on an old velvet bench, staring at the ceiling in silence.

“BOO!”

“GAAaaAAAh!” Astor shot up, whipping his head at the dangerous intruder, only to find a giggling, blonde girl.

She was doing her best to muffle her laughter by holding her hands to her mouth. “Gotchu again, Mr. Astor!”

He sighed. “What are you doing here?”

The princess shuffled towards his desk, hands already bored and ready to play with the nearest pointy object. “You took so long to get heeeeree….why was that old guy even talking to you?”

He fixed his hair behind his ears, not really paying attention. “Oh? You heard all that, then?”

“Yeaaah, the halls are—” she cupped her hands over her mouth, “—ECHOEY, Echoey, echoey...echoey….” Her voice grew fainter at each repetition.

“Stop shouting in my study. You’ll attract the rats…”

“I like rats!” She ran back up to Astor, sitting on the other end of the bench. “They’re like dogs! But small!”

“They’re rodents. Think more possums and mice.”

“Like that old guy, right?” She played with a loose thread on her dress. “Last week you called him a gross...virgin? Vermin… Velvet…? I forgot the word—”

Astor suddenly scooped the young Zelda up under her arms, holding her out in front of him like she was a disease. “Don’t tell anyone I said that, alright? That’s our secret.”

“Put me doooooooown!!”

“No. Get out. I’m working.”

The princess struggled in his grip so much that by the time he reached the door with her, she was nearly upside down. He opened the door and she craned her neck up, pleading at him with an upside down frown.

“Pleeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaase let me stay??? Dad never bothers to look for me here….and your room is so cool! Even mom hung out here a lot…” Astor physically flinched, and Zelda took that as an opportunity to let loose some puppy eyes. “Pweaaaaaaase????”

Astor was so ready, so ready to shake her off his arm and let her possibly break a bone tumbling down the steps. “Oh! It was an accident, Your Majesty. She was so busy talking and talking and bouncing off the walls she forgot how stairs worked! I tried to stop her but she used her superglue prank again! Oh what a shame!” It would have been so easy…

Instead, the prophet just sighed, turned around, and let her topple onto the room’s floor. She yelled a “Yay!” before scuttling towards the windowsill, adorned with sparkly objects. Astor made his way to his desk, muttering.

“You can stay for five minutes. But don’t touch anything.”

Zelda immediately started touching and spinning the gyrospheres around in her hand.

The princess pranced and sat and played and pondered around the room—five minutes, ten, fifteen, and twenty. Finally she hobbled up to Astor, her arms full of shiny orbs and trinkets. She peered at his desk.

“So whatcha working on?” Zelda asked, looking at the weird sketches. “You seeing the future and stuff?”

“Something like that,” he replied stiffly. Silence resumed in the room.

Zelda set down her arm full of collectables, before standing on her toes to catch a better glimpse. “So what’s gonna happen? What’s gonna happen in the future?”

The prophet rolled his eyes, still trying to focus on his work. “Oh, you know. Death, doom, destruction. You’ll fail to awaken your powers, everyone perishes...the usual sort.”

Zelda crossed her arms and sat on the ground with a huff. “You don’t know that.”

“I do know that.”

“Oh yeah? Well if you can see the future, then WHAT am I gonna do next? Betcha can’t tell!”

“You’re going to attempt a backflip.”

“I’m going to do a b—” Zelda had jumped up, her arms already in the air, before she let them drop and sputtered angrily. “H-Hey! How’d you know that?!”

“Because that’s what you always do to try and disprove me.” He nodded towards the broken chair beside the door, along with a broken shelf, and a broken footstool.

“Hmph!”

“But that’s not how telling the future works anyways.”

“Oh yeah, well how am I supposed to know if you never TELL ME!” She suddenly scrambled into Astor’s lap, trying to steal his papers.

“H-Hey! Get off you insolent—”

“Tell me what your jooooooob issssss you never doooooooooo anything despite having the coolest room…” Zelda palmed her face on his papers, refusing to move.”

Astor was just about pulling his hair out, before taking a deep breath. “If I tell you, will you get off me?”

“Maaaybe.”

“Ugh. You’re insufferable…” Astor leaned his head back, staring at the ceiling.

“Well it’s like this. Every choice and possibility exists. Every universe and timeline with every outcome and conclusion you could imagine exists in the grand unknown. There’s a universe where you’re a boy, there’s a universe where you don’t exist, there’s a universe where you’re quiet and don’t bother me all the time—”

“Is there one where my mom’s alive?” Zelda leaned her head back and looked up at him.

He was silent for a moment, pondering his words. “...Yes. There is.”

He finally raised an arm, gesturing to the decorated ceiling. “See now, predicting the future is all a matter of trying to identify exactly what kind of universe you’re in. You look to the stars—gifts from the spirits, who roam as a constant in all timelines. You look to dreams, and magic, and visions...your surroundings, the people...there’s a pattern and predictability that I can use to identify what universe we’re in, and how the future will play out.”

“So you think we’re in the one where the Calamity wins?” Zelda raised an eyebrow.

“From what I’ve seen, I’m almost certain. Yes.”

“That sucks.”

“It does...suck.”

Zelda jumped up and went back to playing with the gold and silver trinkets. “Why don’t we just go to a universe where we don’t lose?”

Astor turned back to his work. “Because that’s not possible.”

“Really? You sure?”

Astor stopped, pondering for just a moment, before shrugging and continuing to work.

“Probably anyways. I imagine millions of people have tried before, millenia ago. And from the looks of things, nothing’s worked.”

Zelda fiddled with an Ancient Core.

#???#Assivus Hartell #long ago and long away #hku spoilers #Ligero Hartell #Didymos Astor #Princess Zelda Mallory Hyrule

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prettywordsyouleft · 4 years

Text

MonX Hospital | Jooheon

Pairing: Lee Jooheon x reader

Genre: paeditrician – hospital au / romance / friends with benefits to lovers au

Warnings: medical and challenging behaviour terms, and whilst they’re fwb it’s only talked about, there are no sex scenes.

Word count: 3994

Tuning out the conversation at the front desk he had been listening to, Jooheon shifted his attention to the busy waiting room. A mother, looking rather frustrated, was standing beside a small child and holding out her hand. She visibly swallowed back her urgency and smiled. “Come on Maddox, the nurse is waiting for us.”

The young boy ignored her request, continuing to push a car on a table, hurtling it around with a bit more force.

“Maddox! Let’s go,” she tried again, reaching out for his hand, in which the boy immediately recoiled away from and screamed. His mother, trying not to catch the sympathetic looks from the other waiting parents, readjusted her bag upon her shoulder. “Come on now, the nurse just needs to see how big you’re getting! It’s not scary, I swear.”

Pushing away from the counter he had been resting upon, Jooheon entered the space, giving the mother a comforting smile before sitting down on the floor next to the child. Maddox glanced in his direction cautiously, now pushing the car around with less force. Jooheon grinned. “Woah, that’s some good driving you’re doing there! Can I join?”

The child didn’t verbally answer, but he did hand Jooheon a car. Starting up some revving noises, he then propelled it around the track the child had made out of various wooden blocks and toys from the container in the corner. Jooheon purposely knocked down a bridge and then gasped noisily.

The small boy giggled. “You caused an accident!”

“I really did, didn’t I. Was I going too fast?” Maddox nodded. “What do you recommend I do?”

“You’ll need to go see a doctor! Your driver is injured!”

“Oh no!” Jooheon exclaimed and several of the other kids in the waiting room edged closer. “Isn’t it a good thing I’m in a hospital right now?”

“Are you a doctor?” another child asked and Jooheon nodded guiltily.

“I am. I should have known better and gone slower, right?”

All the kids agreed with this.

“Maybe since we’re in a hospital, Maddox here could take me and my broken driver to see the nurse right now. He needs to get checked out.”

The little boy hesitated before nodding and holding out his hand. Jooheon hid his smile as best as he could, and the rest was wiped off his face when Maddox dragged him across the foyer and into the room he had been avoiding all this time. For a little guy, he sure was strong. His mother darted along with them, smiling appreciatively at Jooheon who Maddox insisted had to sit down with him.

“Nurse Tina, I drove too fast and now Maddox and I need to get checked out.”

“Well,” she said solemnly, looking at Maddox and nodding her head. “We best check you both out for any injuries, huh?! First, let’s take your temperature, shall we?”

“Thank you,” the mother said once Maddox’s basic stats were charted. “He gets a little overwhelmed in places like these.”

“It’s common so don’t feel it’s something you’re doing wrong. Kids don’t naturally like coming to the hospital,” Jooheon replied before crouching down to ruffle Maddox’s hair. “Thanks for looking out for me! Now you go down that hallway and let Doctor Y/N look out for your driver, okay?”

“You better heal well, Doctor…” Maddox leaned in to attempt to read his badge. Before he could tell him his name, Maddox looked at the honey pot clay pin attached to his lanyard and grinned. “Doctor Honey!”

“That’s me,” he chuckled. “I’m Doctor Honey.”

“Doctor Honey, huh?” you mentioned when Jooheon walked into the shared office space for junior consultants, shooting him a smirk. “I heard all about how reckless you drove from a little boy and three others today. I think I’m going to take the bus home tonight instead of catching a ride with you.”

“I guess I have my first nickname here,” Jooheon breathed dramatically before sitting down. “Here I was hoping for “Doctor McHottie. Guess being a paediatrician makes that one a bit of a stretch.”

“That and this isn’t Grey’s Anatomy,” you replied with another smile before throwing down your pen with a heavy sigh.

Jooheon peered over at your case notes and then scrunched up his nose. “Hard day?”

“I have one patient who I saw today in Doctor Clifford’s clinic hours and I’m at a loss of what to present to him in our meeting tomorrow morning.”

“Can I read your case notes more closely?” he asked and you slid the file over. Reaching for your tablet to look up the history of previous visits for the young girl, Jooheon sighed as well. “Poor thing has enough going on in her life, huh?”

“She’s retracting away from society at a rapid pace. When she did answer my questions, she was very angry in doing so. There’s a lot of tension pent up in her body and mind right now.”

“And the caregivers state the change came from puberty? Nothing else?”

“Her biological parents have recently left the scene for good, which initially eased some of her aggressive behaviour. However, the return of the new school year has put a lot of strain on the situation. Some of these symptoms do support her diagnosis on the ASD spectrum, but I’m also concerned we’re not doing enough. I’ve increased the dosages for two medications she’s taking and given the caregiver some advice on how to address the lack of school attendance from a professional’s perspective but she didn’t seem all that relieved it would do much to help things at home and I can’t stop thinking about their situation. She’s such a sweet kid but she’s not getting the right assistance to help her overcome this.”

“And her diagnosis of Autism is much newer than most of these other labels that some of the services out there to support kiddos like her would have given them a stand-down period of six weeks before even adding them to the waiting list so who knows when they will get seen by them to continue support at home,” Jooheon added on, tapping a finger on his chin trying to find a solution.

The past year that he had worked as a junior consultant in the Paediatrics department had definitely come with some highs. Working with children and helping them overcome obstacles both physically and mentally to reach closer to their potential was always rewarding. But more often than not, he felt restricted by the amount of help he could give to kids like this one. A meeting during one of these clinics was only a moment in time for that family. The parents and caregivers of children exhibiting these challenging behaviours truly deserved all the respect in the world for what they must face day in and out.

Jooheon knew that your frustrations matched his own, wishing there was more you could do to support that family. He smiled determinedly at you over the table. “Let’s brainstorm what else you could suggest for her ongoing support and reach out to the agencies we know that might provide assistance to the family with her needs as well.”

“You know, you really suit that nickname of yours, Doctor Honey,” you replied with a watery smile, nodding as you reached to take the file back. “You sure are a sweetheart.”

“Sweet enough to have dinner with?” Jooheon shot back playfully and he grinned when you rolled your eyes right as he expected you to.

“I like things to be more sour than just sweet.”

“Chinese it is,” he announced and you laughed whilst shaking your head.

“Sometimes, I wonder how to get through to you that only being your friend and colleague is where it belongs for us.”

“Friends can have dinner together.”

“I remember our last dinner,” you stated with a hushed tone as Jooheon’s smile grew again. “Don’t smile!”

“I remember it too. It was really delicious.”

“I don’t recall signing up for dessert afterwards,” you continued, trying to sound unaffected as you scrolled through your tablet.

“I don’t recall you saying no to it either,” he pointed out, trying not to smile too much at your reproachful look. “We can enjoy the perks of being consenting adults when we want to, Y/N.”

“I swear you’ve watched way too many doctors TV shows.”

Jooheon smirked. “Never seen one, actually. You’re just trying to pass it off for whatever happens in those dramas so you don’t have to admit that being friends with me is fun.”

“It’s trouble. Honey gets sticky and is hard to remove.”

“You don’t have to remove it,” he offered. Glancing over at you earnestly, he hoped you would notice that whilst having bouts of pleasure with you over the past year had been well reciprocated, Jooheon hoped it could become more between you.

You deflated his approach quickly. “Sorry, I have plans for dinner. Maybe next time, Doctor Honey.”

“Did you ever follow up with that family with the puberty issue?” Jooheon asked a couple of weeks later when he crossed paths with you in the hallway leading to a seminar you were both attending.

You nodded, shooting him a smile. “Clifford was thrilled with the added suggestions I had for the case. Thanks for your help.”

“Hey, whatever gives these kids the best chance to thrive, huh?”

“I hope this seminar is worth it.”

Jooheon smirked. “Don’t snore too loudly this time round.”

“I did not!” Yanking on his arm as you looked around at the fellow health professionals entering the space, you then huffed indignantly. “I had worked two shifts back to back and ended up helping on an urgent case before the last one!”

“Sure,” he replied simply, his dimples deepening as he threw you another playful smile. “If that’s what helps you cover up-”

“Are you fishing for a thank you since you made sure no one found me sleeping through the last one?!” you enquired as you both stepped into the large boardroom, aiming for the seats concealed in the back row. Once seated, you gave Jooheon a pointed look. “I won’t fall asleep.”

“What will you do this time if you do?”

“I’m not going to!”

“I’m going to hold it over your head if you do. I know! Dinner tonight if you fall asleep.”

“I hope you enjoy eating alone, Lee Jooheon.”

Hours later, you grumbled as you took a seat adjacent from Jooheon in a sushi bar, pointing your index finger at him warningly. “Don’t!”

“Sure looks like I have the best company for eating alone tonight, Y/N.”

“We’re only eating,” you announced firmly, before reaching out for a plate from the conveyor belt that ran along the inner edge of the table. You then let out another groan. “If only her voice hadn’t been so dreary!”

“Face it, unless you’re being stimulated, you fall asleep too easily. I don’t know how you even got through med school.”

“Lots of coffee and determination.”

“Guess now that you have the job it’s easy to slacken off huh?”

“Jooheon!”

He grinned. “Don’t worry. I took enough notes for the pair of us.”

“You’re a lifesaver,” you told him and gestured to the food. “It’s on me tonight.”

The conversation flowed easily over a range of topics during dinner, as it usually did. Jooheon hadn’t met someone who he could tease in one moment and then discuss serious topics in the next until you, and it always made him yearn for more of your attention. However, when you reached for your second shot glass of sake, Jooheon took it from you and downed it instead.

“Hey! That was mine.”

“You’re a lightweight. Don’t drink anymore.”

“Why not?”

“Because you’ll end up wanting dessert if you do,” he told you bluntly, and you stared at him, cheeks flushed.

“Who says I don’t already?”

“Are you feeling the effects of the alcohol so soon?”

Leaning over and kissing him impulsively, Jooheon was stunned when you pulled away. You cocked your head to the side and took the shot glass back before pouring more of the rice wine. You knocked it back. “I can’t have you having dessert alone as well, huh?”

“Let’s pay the check then. It’s a work night and we don’t need to drink any more with early morning clinics tomorrow.”

“You’re right,” you agreed with a seductive trail of your finger down his chest. “I’m sure you’ll make me feel more than drunk on what you have in store for me tonight.”

“Doctor Honey!” the children exclaimed as he entered the hospital schoolroom, waving to all the attendees of the class. A couple of the physically-abled children hopped up from their seats and dashed over to hug him.

“How’s school today?”

“We’re colouring!” Ingrid told him and he gasped noisily, allowing the girl to take him over to her place at the table. She was colouring in a fairy with a pretty flower crown.

“Colouring!” he repeated, crouching down to look at Minseok’s alligator he was carefully remaining within the lines of. “You’re all future artists!”

“Will you colour with us?!”

“Me? Oh, I don’t know, I’m just a doctor.”

“You could draw a picture of Doctor Y/N!” Jake suggested and Jooheon lost his balance, falling to the floor with an embarrassing thud.

The children all giggled.

Recovering, Jooheon narrowed his gaze on Jake. “Why would I draw her?”

“Because last time she came to visit our class, she drew you!” Melissa told him as she pointed to the wall where a picture of a honey pot and spoon had been hung up.

Jooheon laughed. “That’s a honey pot.”

“It’s you! She told us so.”

“Really?” he asked, looking at the picture again. He grinned. “Did she tell you why she chose to draw that?”

“We asked her to draw her favourite thing.”

“Well I’ll be damned,” he breathed out quietly, thinking back to your indifferent behaviour this morning when you woke up at his place.

Coming back to the present, Jooheon smiled weakly. “I wish I could colour with you all but I’m actually here for Luna.”

Luna lowered her head and shook it adamantly. “I don’t want to go!”

“Doctor Honey will be with you, don’t be scared, Luna,” the teacher, Mrs Potts, gently encouraged and the other children moved to hug her and tell her it would be okay.

Once Luna was free from her friends, Jooheon held out his hand for her. “I’ve even got the coolest orderly on his way to help you travel to your therapy session in style.”

“You’ll still come too, right?”

“Of course!” he assured, her sweaty palm gripping onto his more tightly.

As he walked Luna back to her wardroom, she kept looking up at Jooheon inconspicuously, and he smiled after catching her once more in the reflection of the window they passed by. “What is it, Luna?”

“Is Doctor Y/N your girlfriend?”

Jooheon shook his head sadly in answer. “She just wants to be my special friend.”

“I had a boyfriend once,” she whispered when back in her room and Jooheon leaned down to help her up onto her bed. He then gasped and Luna giggled behind her hand.

“You’re too young for a boyfriend!”

“And you’re too old! Shouldn’t you be married by now?!”

“I’m not old at all!”

“Then I’m not young!” she refuted and Jooheon gave her a fist pump in a truce. Her humour eased. “I wish I had kept him as my special friend though.”

“Why?”

“When he left the hospital after getting better, he never contacted me again. If I hadn’t of given him my heart, it wouldn’t have hurt so much.” Blinking at the vulnerable truth the twelve year old had spoken of, Jooheon sighed. She was too young for such a painful experience on top of her health condition.

Luna took Jooheon’s hand and squeezed it again. “Maybe Doctor Y/N doesn’t want you to ever leave her so she chooses to keep you as her special friend instead.”

Before he could respond, Minhyuk, the cheerful orderly, arrived and took away his chance. Jooheon smiled at Luna thoughtfully.

It was amazing how insightful kids could be.

“It feels like it’s been forever since I worked in the same place as you,” you mentioned when you entered the office space the following week and Jooheon grinned.

“It’s only been two days. Are you not getting enough done in your shifts to feel like time is dragging or something?”

“You’re not funny.” Sitting down heavily, you placed your hands up under your chin to rest your head upon them. “It’s just weird.”

“Weird how?”

“Even when we’re busy, you always seem to appear during my day.”

Jooheon swallowed slowly. “I guess friends are not always visible when busy.”

“You are though,” you persisted, narrowing your gaze on his face. “Are you okay?”

“Sure.”

“Really?” Peering at Jooheon more closely, he diverted his gaze from your scrutiny. “Are you hiding something from me?”

“What’s there to hide? We’re just friends, Y/N.”

“Hm,” you hummed, shaking your head. “You’re being weird.”

“I’m just being your friend.”

“Say the word friend one more time, I beg of you,” you said darkly, opening your file with a huff.

He chose to look at you then, chewing on his bottom lip.

Luna’s words had played around in his mind. Jooheon didn’t realise that his advances could have been felt as pressure to you, and whilst he knew being friends who slept together worked to some extent, he hadn’t realised it could mean something to you to not go any further.

And so he had decided to just be the friend you needed. Although, Jooheon wondered if he had taken the step back a little too far if you were aware of how little he was trying to bombard you each day. To be fair, he wasn’t very good at reeling back his own feelings or level of friendship to make you feel more comfortable.

After a few minutes of working in silence, you cleared your throat. “Are you busy tonight?”

“No.”

“Good, want to Netflix and Chill?” you suggested, not lifting your gaze from your tablet. Jooheon didn’t answer immediately and you flicked your eyes upwards. You then frowned, waving a hand in front of his face. “Earth to Doctor Honey, did you hear me?”

“Uh, maybe not tonight. I’m not feeling well.”

“Really? But that one time when you were ill and told me nothing could stop you from-”

“Guess I had more energy back then,” he lied, collecting up his things hastily. He was growing confused and it was bothering him.

You seemed bothered as well. “Where are you off to? We have two hours to write up our findings from our clinical hours today.”

“I need to go look up something in the library. I’ll catch you later.”

Jooheon slapped the side of his head a couple of times once he was out of the office, groaning with how awkward he was acting towards you.

He realised he couldn’t just be friends with you anymore.

Your working environment continued to grow tense until you found Jooheon in an empty wardroom, patting the bed in which Luna had once resided in.

For a moment, you comforted him. “It’s a good thing she’s going home. Why are you sitting here looking so lost?”

“I’ve grown attached to her.”

“She was a spunky little thing. Gave me lots of advice.”

Jooheon nodded softly. “Me too.”

“Did she give you the advice to avoid me?” you wondered and Jooheon glanced up at you in confusion. You shrugged, taking a seat on the bed beside him. “Or did she say something to make you back off from me?”

“No, well-”

“I knew it!” you exclaimed, standing back up and waving your hands around. “See, she told me that there was someone really special in my world and that I should see him as more than a friend and then you kept saying the words just friends over and over and I cannot believe you took the advice of a twelve year old so literally!”

“Hang on a moment,” he simply replied, narrowing his eyes on your face. “Regardless of age, some people say insightful things. I was just giving you the space you need since I have made it clear that I want to be more than just friends who sleep together. I want the whole deal with you but you always give excuses. So yeah, I listened to Luna and thought maybe you had a reason that you didn’t want to be more than friends with me over. I was being respectful of your needs.”

“Disappearing from my world is respectful?” you asked, shaking your head. “You made me lonely. I half wondered if I had offended you or you’d grown bored of me. I kept making advances at you that you’ve deflected. How is that being a friend?”

“Do you like me?”

“Of course I do.”

“I mean more than a friend,” he reiterated and you opened your mouth, only to close it again. Jooheon sighed. “See, this is where we differ. I’m pretty sure I’m falling in love with you and want to-”

“My last partner manipulated me,” you blurted out. Cringing, you started to pace the floor. “I gave him so much of myself that when I realised what he was doing to me, I vowed I wouldn’t date again. I wanted to hold full control over my feelings. I figured if all you and I did was eat and sleep together that I wouldn’t get too attached. I could have a good friend and have some fun with you too.”

You stopped pacing and looked at him. “But you’ve become more than a friend; even I have to admit it. I want to do more than what we have. I just don’t want to lose what we have either.”

“I’m not going to hurt you like that,” Jooheon answered, standing up and stepping closer to you. Reaching for your shoulders, he smiled gently. “I’m not like him.”

“I know, you’re so much better in all areas,” you breathed and Jooheon grinned. “That’s why I get scared. You’re too good of a human to mess things up with.”

“What if things only get better, not messed up?” he offered and you slipped your arms around his waist, placing your head against him. “What if we’re better at being more than just friends?”

“Is it worth risking what we have?” you murmured, lifting your head to look at him. After staring at one another for an intense moment, you nodded. “Of course it is.”

Jooheon kissed you then, softly. It felt like it had been so long since he had last caressed your lips properly. You pressed into him firmly, deepening the embrace.

And then jumped apart when you both heard fevered giggling. “It’s just like what my Mummy watches on TV! Doctors do kiss each other in secret!”

“Ew, are you both worried about catching cooties?!”

“Why would they be worried? They’re doctors! They can cure anything!”

“How about you guys head off and pretend you saw nothing and I’ll be down to the schoolroom with candy in twenty minutes,” Jooheon stated and with another set of giggles, they darted out, leaving you both laughing at being caught.

“They’re right though,” you mentioned, stretching up to peck his lips again. “We can cure anything.”

Jooheon grinned, resting his forehead on yours. “So how about dinner tonight?”

“With Doctor Honey?” you asked, pretending to think about it. “I don’t know, what’s on the menu?”

“Anything you fancy.”

“Even you?”

“I thought I was too sticky,” he teased, reminding you of a past conversation.

Trailing your index finger up until you flicked his chin gently; you gave him a smirk. “Maybe I don’t mind if I can’t get you off of me now.”

_________________

Next: Changkyun

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wiypt-writes · 3 years

Text

Riding On

Ch5. Chilli Fries And Appletize

Summary: Fliss hormones are raging so Frank decides she need something a little special

Warnings: Bad Language words. SMUT (NSFW NO UNDER 18s!!)

Pairing: Frank Adler x Fliss Gallagher

A/N: FLUFF FLUFF FLUFF ALERT!!

Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction and classified as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. I do not own any characters in this series bar Fliss Gallagher and the other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.

Riding On Masterlist // Main Masterlist

Chapter 4

Who can take you higher, than twin deep mountain blue, oh well I’ve built this thing for you, and I love you true…

“Fuck!”

Frank heard Fliss’ shout from the living room where he was sprawled on the sofa. She’d gone to take a bath, Mary was at Roberta’s so the pair of them were simply taking a bit of time to relax after what had been a fairly draining week, both physically and mentally.

“Fliss?” he called back as Thor stood up from where he had been curled on the rug, Fred leaning against him using him as a pillow as the feline always seemed to do. He watched the dog pad to the door and then stood up following him down the hallway. He entered the bedroom and found Fliss was stood in a pale blue dress, tears in her eyes.

“Honey, what’s wrong?” He frowned.

“This fucking dress!” She practically exploded, her voice cracking. I only bought it a few weeks ago for Jake’s wedding and I just thought I’d try it on with my new shoes and it won’t do up at the back.”

Frank looked at her, feeling a pang of sympathy for his girl. She’d been really up and down in particular over the last two days with her hormones and she looked absolutely distraught, even if it was something so ridiculous as a dress that had set her off.

“Let me see.” he said, crossing the floor towards her. She turned and he gently reached for the zip, pulling the back of the dress together but it wasn’t going to fasten.

“See…” she sighed as he let go of the zip and rubbed the top of her arms. “I’m not even at the five month mark yet!” “You’re a week off.”

“And I feel huge! This is ridiculous!”

Frank slid his arms around her from behind, dropping a kiss to her shoulder. “Lissy, Bean has just sprouted all of a sudden that’s all. You got a proper bump now.” “I am aware of that, Frank.” She snapped.

Frank took a deep breath, not rising to her in the slightest. Instead his hands moved to either side of the offending swell in her abdomen and he turned her gently towards the full length mirror in the corner of the room.

“Look.” He said, fixing his eyes on hers in their reflection as his hand skated over her belly “You’re beautiful, and you’re cooking our baby in here…”

“That still doesn’t help that I have no dress!”

“Ok, well, let’s go shopping tomorrow. Mary’s at that party in the afternoon so we’ll drop her off, head into town and grab you something.”

Fliss paused as she looked at him in the mirror, her face slowly rearranging as she realised that actually the solution to the problem had been fairly simple all along.

“Sorry.” She mumbled. “I flipped again didn’t I?”

“Its fine.” Frank dropped a kiss to her cheek. “You didn’t throw a mug on the floor today so that’s an improvement.” “In my defence,” she turned to look at him, “you did ask me about five times if I was feeling ok in the space of ten minutes” “And clearly you weren’t as said mug is now in three pieces.” He shook his head and let out a long, dramatic sigh “You know I loved that mug too. It was a sad day.” Fliss snorted “You got it free from the Tack Store when we took Mary for her new hat.” “And it was a treasured memory. A reminder of how she stung me for another hundred bucks…” “Can’t put a price on safety Frankie.” She smiled and he chuckled.

“So, tomorrow afternoon then?” He asked and she nodded eagerly.

“Can we go to Tampa? The shopping is better there.”

“Sure.” And suddenly the bones of a plan began to form in his head. And it was a good plan…if he could pull it off… “Crisis averted?” he asked, looking down at her.

“Crisis averted” she nodded.

“Good.” he smiled, kissing her cheek before he turned to leave the room to allow her to change for bed.

“Frank?”

“Yeah?” He stopped to look at her.

“I really want fries.”

“McDonalds again?”

“No, I want Chilli Fries.” She said, her voice almost puzzled.

“Chilli fries?” He frowned “Really? That’s a new one.”

“I know.” She shrugged. “I just got a hankering, specifically for the ones we get from Tequila Mockingbird.”

Frank glanced at his watch “Sweetheart, it’s almost Eleven. The truck will have shut now, he only opens late on Saturday.”

“Oh, okay.” She said quietly, and he could see to his horror that her bottom lip was starting to wobble. Fuck, not another meltdown. Was this seriously how it was going to be for the next four damned months? Fucking hormones…

“Why don’t I nip to the store?” A sudden idea popped into Frank’s head. “I can whip up a batch of the dirty ones you showed me how to make?”

“Yeah, yeah that could work.” She nodded.

“Ok, well, I’ll be back as soon as I can.” He smiled, turning on his heels.

It worked out quite well actually, as he used the short drive to the store to put his plan into action. First off he messaged Jake who called him straight back.

“What’s up?” he asked.

“I need you to do me a favour.” Frank said, explaining his plan.

“Short notice pal.”

“Yeah but you owe me so pull some strings with the man you know.”

“I owe you?” Jake snorted “What for?”

“If you hadn’t been tagged on those damned photos no one would have seen them and I wouldn’t have been couched for a night nor would I be suffering with blue balls.” Frank said simply, turning right across a junction.

Jake snorted “Leave it with me Frankie boy…I’ll see what I can do.”

Satisfied he cut the call and once he arrived at the store he shot Verity a quick message asking her if she would mind helping him out as well. He felt a little guilty, as they’d only gotten back from Italy that morning but she replied almost instantly telling him that she thought it was a great idea and her and Bill would be happy to do what he needed them to do.

Smiling he put his phone back in his pocket, and headed to the frozen food aisle at the back of the 24 hour mini-mart. He stood there, unable to decide what fries to buy so in the end he grabbed a bag of every available frozen ones there were- thick cut, curly, southern fried and thin, along with a tin of ready-made chilli (yes, disgusting but on dirty fries it was the only thing Fliss told him worked) and a block of cheddar cheese. As he walked towards the till he stopped, grinning as he spotted they had the big bottles of Appletize too, so he shoved 4 in his basket and headed to the counter.

The woman at the counter looked at him as he began unloading and Frank realised that it was a pretty odd combination.

“You either got the munchies or your girl is pregnant.” She quipped and Frank laughed.

“It’s the latter.” He smiled, and the woman grinned at him as she scanned the items through the till.

Once he had paid he headed home to find Fliss was led on the sofa with a toasting waffle in one hand and a glass of apple juice in her other.

“Couldn’t wait huh?” He asked as he walked through to the kitchen.

“I know.” She looked at him over the back of the couch. “I had an apple and a waffle and I feel okay now.”

Frank stopped dead and turned to face her, the paper grocery bags clutched to his chest. “Seriously? You don’t want the fries?”

She wrinkled her nose. “Not anymore.”

Frank took a deep breath, his tongue poking the inside of his cheek in frustration as he walked into the kitchen, depositing the bags on the side.

“The kid ain’t even born yet and it’s already a pain in my ass…”

“I can hear you grumbling from here.” Fliss called back.

“Good.” He retorted as he shoved the bottles of drink in the fridge and crammed the four bags of frozen fries into the freezer. Grabbing a beer he walked back into living room and dropped heavily onto couch next to her.

“Don’t be so grouchy.” She teased, listing her feet into his lap. He shot her a glare and she dropped her hand to her belly. “Bean is sorry.” She flashed him her best puppy dog eyes, those fucking eyes that could get him to do whatever she wanted.

“Don’t pull that one.” He narrowed his own eyes at her and she cocked her head to one side.

“I’ll make it up to you.”

“How?” He asked as she looked at him, smirking.

“Bow job?”

Frank snorted, shifting slightly in his seat as that had really got his attention. But, not wanting to give himself away too much he simply arched an eyebrow at her. “You think you can win me over like that?”

“Sailor, I know I can.”

“I’m not that cheap.”

“No, but I know for a fact you haven’t had any since the night before you went to Vegas.” she grinned “What was it you said in New York after a mere three days? Frankie has needs.”

Okay, so she’d got him well and truly. Like he had said to Jake before, he really was feeling frustrated, but he hadn’t pushed anything on her at all since he’d come back from Vegas, deciding to let her make the decision as to when she wanted to get physically intimate with him again. As he looked at her she simply smiled and drained her glass of juice before setting it on the table.

“What?”

“Nothing.” Frank shook his head. “Was just trying to figure out if you were being serious or not.” She held his gaze for a moment before she looked back at the TV, teasing over. With a deep breath Frank shifted a little, getting himself comfortable, trying to push the dirty thoughts from his mind as he concentrated on the episode of ‘911’ which was playing. His hands gently began to massage at her feet, thumb gently pressing into the arch of one and Fliss gave a soft sigh of satisfaction as he continued, before she sat up and looked at him.

“Did you get any curly fries?” She bit her lip.

“Are you for fucking real?” He looked at her, blinking.

“Don’t blame me…”

“Yeah, yeah blame Bean.” He shook his head “I swear to God by the time you’ve actually given birth to the little crotch goblin I’ll have aged about twenty years…”

“Crotch goblin?” She scoffed, “I’ll remind you, pal, you put it there!”

“Not on purpose!” He looked at her.

“Are you calling our baby a mistake?” Fliss narrowed her eyes at him, mock horror on her face

“Mistake, no, that’s a little harsh.” Frank shook his head “Accident, most definitely.”

“Bastard.” Fliss grabbed a cushion from behind her and hit him with it as he laughed, grabbing it out of her hands.

“Our little Boston Bean is a very pleasant and welcome surprise.” Frank smiled, shifting her legs out of his lap. Grinning he leaned over her, caging her on the sofa with his arms “Although right now, as I’m about to start cooking dirty fries at fifteem to midnight, I’m debating the use of the pronoun pleasant.”

Fliss chuckled as he leaned over to give her a soft kiss. Instantly she felt a little flutter again and her hand dropped to her bump.

“Bean’s moving again.”

Frank smiled and shifted a little so he could press his hand to her side, but after a moment or so shook his head, feeling ever so slightly deflated.

“I can’t feel anything.”

“You will do soon enough.”

“Can’t wait.” Frank kissed her again and stood up, heading to the kitchen.

Fliss watched him go, before she turned back to the TV, but she wasn’t paying attention, she was too busy thinking to herself how quickly Frank had headed out to get her what she wanted before, even if she had then changed her mind, and then reverted it back to its original state. She hated comparing the two of them, and tried not to do it, but as she sat there she couldn’t help it. Frank was as far from John as could possibly be. Her ex-husband wouldn’t have ever done anything like that for her, whether she as carrying his kid or not. But Frank hadn’t even hesitated. And now he was actually about to cook it too. She wasn’t sure John had even known how to turn the damned oven on. When she’d met Frank, his cooking skills were also limited but he had wanted to learn. He helped her cook, listened and managed pretty much once she’d made something with him, to make a fairly decent version of it on his own. And he did this simply because he wanted to. He had openly admitted that he didn’t like the fact she felt like she had to cook every day, despite her protests she didn’t mind, and specifically on the evenings she got home a little later than normal, he wanted to be able to have something ready.

As she sat there, those thoughts whirring in her head, she felt a surge of affection for her Sailor. Since their talk on Monday, she’d let Frank back into their bed but there’d been no intimacy, although she’d let him cuddle her, she’d kissed him back, she hadn’t been unaffectionate per se, but in all honesty she hadn’t been in the mood for anything else, which was probably something down to hormones as well as her still being a little angry at him, but now…well, she’d seen it in his eyes before when she’d been teasing him, he was frustrated as hell. And if she was honest, she now found herself in the mood for giving him a little spontaneous pleasure…

With a smirk she stood up and walked into the kitchen, her arms snaking around his waist as she pressed herself to his back (well as much as she could thanks to the football she had in her stomach) and pressed a soft kiss to his back, just beneath his shoulder blades.

“You okay?” He asked, his voice vibrating through his back into her chest and she nodded as her hands rubbed at his stomach under his T-shirt. She felt him tense a little, and grinning to herself, she gently moved her hands upwards to rake down the line of hair that led from his chest all the way down his belly. She knew what that did to him and right on cue, Frank gave a grunt, jolting a little and her hand continued to move downwards, palming at his crotch through his sweats.

“Lissy.” His voice caught in his throat as she continued, her hand working him up over his clothing. “What I said before, you don’t need to-“ “I know, but I want to.” She stood on her tiptoes to whisper into his ear. He tilted his head downwards slightly, allowing her to nip at his jawline and as he spun round to face her, she pulled his head down to hers giving him a slow kiss, her tongue sliding against his before she leaned back, his bottom lip between her teeth.

By the time his brain had caught up with what was going on, Fliss had gotten to her knees and flipped the waist band of the sweats he was wearing down, taking his erection firmly in one hand, making him hiss slightly. She stroked him to full hardness, which didn’t take that long at all, before she looked up and locked eyes with him, giving him one final smirk before she took him in her mouth.

“God, Baby.” Frank groaned, his left hand gripped the edge of the kitchen counter, her eyes still locked on his. His right hand gently dropped to the back of her head, tangling in her long hair as her head bobbed back and forth. It was bliss, her mouth was warm, lips soft, but her tongue…God she knew just how to work him with that thing and as he felt it wrap around the base of his cock he gave a grunt, his hips bucking forward slightly. At that, Fliss pulled off of him to suck at the swollen tip of his dick and worked her hands over the rest of his length which sent shivers up his spine. Groaning, his head dropped back slightly, as she continued to lick, suck before she took him in, this time all the way, her cheeks hollowing and one of her hands reaching round from the back of his thigh to gently squeeze at his balls.

“Fucking hell!.” He hissed, his hand tightening in her hair and once more he looked at her. Her eyes locked back onto his and he felt that tell-tale warmth pooling in his groin and stomach.

"Lissy, sweetheart, shit." His voice was raspy from desire and pleasure and at the mere sound of how turned on his was Fliss felt the wetness beginning to pool in between her legs. He continued to babble curse words and her name, before he gasped again, letting out a loud moan. “Fuck, honey, "I'm gonna-" his words caught in his mouth as Fliss took him all the way to the back of her throat. At that, he was gone, his fingers gripped her hair tight the other clutched at the kitchen side, noises that sounded alien even to him tumbling from his mouth as he spilled himself down her throat and slumped back completely blissed out against the kitchen side.

Fliss grinned, her hands gently running up the outside of his thighs as she stood up, pulling his boxers and sweats with her, pressing herself to his chest. With a soft hum of contentment, he opened his eyes and looked down at her.

“Good?” She asked, but the look in her eyes told him she knew exactly what the answer was. Still, he gave it her anyway. “Damned right it was.” He grinned, leaning down and kissing her, his hands holding her face in position. She let out a soft moan into his mouth and he pulled back slightly, arching an eyebrow.

“You all worked up baby girl?”

“Don’t suppose you fancy helping me out…” She whispered, and Frank grinned.

“We got fifteen minutes till the fries cook so…” He smirked as he gently spun her round so her back was clutched to his chest. Fliss grinned to herself as his lips gently brushed on her neck, his beard scratching at her skin as he nipped his way down to her shoulder, his hand splaying over her bump before it worked beneath the waistband of her pyjama shorts. Her breath caught in her throat as his fingers skated her entrance.

“You are worked up.” he muttered, his fingers sliding through her slick, as her head fell back against his shoulder and she bit her lip.

“I told you…” she muttered as his fingers slipped further into her folds, finding that little bundle of nerves. His other hand slipped up her vest top and ran up her side to her breasts, which he knew would be tender, but the plus side to that was that they were goddamned sensitive, so heightened to his touch and it got her off like nothing he’d ever seen before. True to form, she let out a soft squeak as he rolled a nipple gently between his thumb and forefinger. Sliding his fingers inside her he curled them against the fleshy spot on her walls, both his hands working in synch, a coordinated attack on her senses and within minutes she was putty in his hands.

“Frankie…I’m…fuck!” she cursed, her head falling back further as her knees began to shake.

“I got you.” He said softly, his mouth caressing her neck again “Go on baby, give it to me.” With a desperate groan she shuddered, her hand wrapping around his wrists as he felt her pulsing and squeezing around his fingers as she came, the trembles wracking her entire body. Frank held her steady until she took a deep breath, giving a soft sigh as she leaning back into him. She tilted her head round to look at him, a smile on her face, her cheeks tinged with pink underneath those gorgeous freckles and he smiled at her, giving her a soft kiss. Setting her clothes right for her, his hands skated over her bump once more and he kissed her shoulder.

“You okay?” he asked.

“Yep.” she nodded, popping the P as she turned to face him, leaning up to kiss the underneath of his jaw. He looked down at her, before a wicked smirk crossed his face and he popped his two fingers in his mouth, sucking her taste off him.

“Francis!” She scoffed, slapping him round the back of the head and he let out a loud laugh.

“You don’t complain about me tasting you when I’m down there…” “You’re so vulgar!” she snorted.

“Says the woman who just blew me in the kitchen.” She cocked her head to one side, shrugging slightly “Touché….”

He smiled again before she turned to the fridge “Want another beer?”

“Sure, thanks.” he said.

She pulled open the fridge door and let out a little shriek of delight “Where did you get that?” she asked, her eyes widening as she pulled out a bottle of Appletize. “I couldn’t find any in the supermarket!”

“The Mini-Mart before.” he said, “Woman thought I was high when I bought 4 bags of fries and 4 big bottles of that”

“My hero!” she grinned

Frank grinned “if fetching you fries and Appetize means you get on your knees for me then hell, I’ll go every fucking night.”

“Don’t get used to it Sailor.” she looked at him, “Soon I'll be too big to kneel down.”

Frank chuckled, “Why don’t you go wait in the lounge?”

"I'm good.” Fliss shrugged “I'll help."

The two of them stood in the kitchen making their food. Frank warmed the chili through as Fliss grated the entire block of cheese and when Frank challenged her as to why exactly they needed that for 2 of them she simply replied “3 of us Frankie…” whilst patting her bump. Soon they were sat on the sofa, Fliss cross legged with a plate on her lap as she devoured her snack. Frank watched her as she eagerly ate, eyes fixed on the latest episode of Rick And Morty, every so often she would chuckle at something on the screen. Frank smiled to himself, it had felt like a long 5 days since Monday, but they seemed to be on an even keel. She was joking and laughing with him, had been reasonably affectionate and to be fair her affections certainly had upped a notch when she just sucked him off in the kitchen. Granted, all things considered, he’d rather have carried her to bed, taken his time over her, loved on her a little but…well, he certainly wasn’t complaining. It seemed like she’d finally decided he was completely out of the dog house, which suited him absolutely fine.

Fliss let out a happy sigh and placed her now empty plate on the coffee table on top of the one Frank had discarded a few minutes ago. She stretched out her limbs before she shifted and snuggled into Frank’s side.

"Love you." She said, her hand rubbing his tummy softly under his t-shirt. "So does Bean"

Her touch and words made him feel all warm inside. Not horny warm, just fuzzy warm. Smiling he dropped a kiss to her head “Love you too, both of you.”

****** “What do you think?” Fliss asked, giving him a twirl. Frank smiled, nodding approvingly. With the help of the assistant in the little independent Mother and Baby boutique shop they’d stumbled across, aptly called “Bump In The Road” she’d chosen a maxi dress with a pastel rainbow tulle style skirt. The top half was baby pink with spaghetti straps which hung on her toned shoulders and It had a V-neckline which plunged to the high waistband where it cinched in and then flared over her bump. It hung loosely and comfortably over her lower body whilst still being sexy enough on the top half, accentuating her cleavage.

“You look beautiful.” He said honestly and she flushed a little, twirling in the mirror.

“Do you think the colour is ok or should I go for the yellow one? I mean is it too much boob? The yellow is a halter neck so you don’t see any-” “Lissy!” He shook his head, chuckling “It looks fine, more than fine. I like it.” “It’s also elasticated at the back.” The assistant spoke. “So your worry about bump growing more over the next week won’t cause an issue. You’ll get a few months I expect out of this.” Fliss hummed, looked at her reflection again before she smiled “OK, yeah, great…I’ll take it.”

The assistant smiled and Fliss turned back to head into the changing cubicle. Once she was out of ear shot Frank looked at the woman.

“Can we take the yellow one too?” he asked, “Just ring it through before she comes back, I want it to be a surprise.”

The assistant nodded and smiled “Sure, I’ll get it ready and bagged now so she doesn’t see it.”

“Thanks.”

He headed to the till, producing his card and shortly after Fliss joined him and he let out a chuckle when he saw she’d also picked up another little baby-grow on the way. This one was white and bore an apple on the front, with the words “apple of our eye” arched over the top.

“I thought it was kinda fitting.” she grinned and Frank had to agree considering her craving. He handed it to the assistant who was smart enough not to announce the total to him, given the additional purchase as he handed his card over. Fliss pouted at him but one look and she stopped the fuss she was about to make over the fact he had paid. They’d already had that discussion on the way over, Frank insisting that he wanted to buy her the dress considering it was “his fault” as she had put it that she was in this position in the first place.

He took the bag from the assistant and thanking her once more they headed out and back down the street. Frank stole a glance at his watch, it was just after 3. He could do with killing another hour or so before he put into play his surprise plan so he suggested they grab a drink and an ice cream at the little parlour on the corner. Fliss eagerly agreed so that killed another 40 minutes as they sat and joked over a sundae each, before they headed back to the truck taking the long way round, checking out a few other shops as they went, Fliss suggesting the grabbed Mary a few new pieces of clothing as she was growing again. Picking a few t-shirts and a pair of shorts they knew she would like they then headed back to the car and Frank checked his phone, memorising the directions. They weren’t far away.

When he didn’t take the turn for the freeway, Fliss looked at him. “You missed the turn off.” “No I didn’t.”

“Yeah, you did, it was back there.”

“We’re not going home.” Frank replied simply and at that she frowned.

“Where are we going then?”

“You’ll see.”

Refusing to give her anything else, despite her questioning, he kept driving until he hit the coastal road and continued along the bay and their destination appeared in front of them. Hanging a right, he drove his truck down the little winding road which opened up into a circle drive way flanked by palm trees and bright flowerbeds just outside the reception of the Grand Hyatt.

“Frank.” Fliss looked at him, her eyes shining. “We’re staying for the night?”

“Yup.” He nodded turning to face her. “I packed us a bag this morning whilst you were at the yard, Mary’s staying with your parents as is Thor and I suspect Fred and we have a dinner reservation for dinner at the Oyster Catcher, which is on the bay at the back.”

“I don’t…how did you manage to pull this off at such short notice?”

“Jake.” Frank said simply “Come on.”

He hopped out of his truck and smiled to the bus boy who had approached him and nodded for them to collect their bags out of the boot. “Including the large paper one.” he said discreetly and he nodded before he turned to collect the slip of paper from the valet. He took Fliss’ hand and led her into the huge reception area to the hotel, the floor a gorgeous white marble as they walked over to the desk and he smiled at the woman who looked at him.

“Good afternoon Sir, Ma’am.” she smiled, and Fliss suddenly felt a little self-conscious. Everyone was milling around in various states of what she would term upper-class smart casual, in blazers and open necked dress shirts with jeans that probably cost more than her fucking jeep. Frank, however, in contrast didn’t give a shit. He wasn’t here to impress or blend in.

“Reservation for Adler.” he said smiling at the receptionist who tapped at a keyboard and nodded.

“Yes Mr Adler, you’re here for one night and have an executive double.” she scanned the booking “The room rate is already settled, but I can set up-…” “I’m sorry, did you say the room rate was covered?” Frank frowned. “Yes, Sir.” She nodded, “It’s already been paid.” “Take it that wasn’t expected.” Fliss looked at him and he shook his head, smiling.

“No, no it wasn’t. I’ll thank Jake later.” He smiled, before he turned to the lady at the desk “Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

“No problem. I was just saying if you want to give me your card I can set up a tab so you can charge items to your room…” “Sure.” He nodded, fishing for his wallet before handing her the small square of plastic. As she took a scan of it he turned to Fliss and dropped a kiss to her temple as she smiled, her arm looping around her waist.

“Is this where we’re staying for Jake’s wedding?” She asked and he nodded.

“Thought we could give it a test run beforehand.” He looked at her “You are okay we’re staying, right?” “Of course.” She smiled “It’s really sweet of you.” “Well, I try.” He winked before he turned back to the brunette behind the desk who asked him for his signature in a few places before she handed him the key.

“Ok so you’re on the 5th floor.” she said nodding, “Room 512. Take the elevator up, go right once you reach your floor and you’ll see it on the left. I’ll have your bags brought up for you Mr Adler.”

Frank thanked her and they both headed off following the directions. Frank led Fliss out of the elevator an down to the room over to it and picked up the note attached to it.

“This one’s on me pal, well, my Loyalty Scheme Free Stay points anyway. Sorry about the balls.” She read as she turned to him and Frank rubbed at his neck. “I’m not even gonna ask what that means.” “Yeah, probably best.” He grinned, and then there was a knock at the door. Frank opened it and in walked the concierge with their luggage, setting it down for them before Frank thanked him, slipped him a ten and he headed out.

Fliss looked at the overnight bag and then frowned. “What did you bring me to wear to dinner?” “Nothing” Frank said, before he grinned and picked up the bag from the boutique. “But I got you something before.” “That’s for the wedding.” She looked at him, “Although I could wear it twice. Not like anyone is here tonight to see it.” “Check in the bottom.” He instructed. She frowned a little, before she took the bag and set it down on the small table, before she let out a gasp as she pulled out the lemon yellow dress she’d tried on before.

“You bought me both of them?”

He nodded.

“Frankie, you didn’t have to do that. You didn’t have to do any of this.” She whispered, her eyes misting over.

“I know but I wanted to.” He stepped forwards his hands dropping to her hips. “I figured it would be nice for us to have some time together, just the two…well…three,” he grinned, nodding to her bump, “of us.” “Thank you.” She looked up at him as he dropped a kiss to her lips.

Once they’d unpacked their overnight thing, Fliss headed for a shower and emerged a little while later in a robe and Frank walked back in from where he’d been on the balcony with a beer, having fired a thank you message to Jake. He smiled at Fliss and headed to shower himself, coming back about five minutes later also wrapped in a robe. They sat out together on the balcony talking for a little while as Fliss pretty much drank the entire bottle of juice before she announced she was going to get ready.

“You look gorgeous.” Frank said as she stood in front of him, wearing her dress. Her hair was pulled back into a bun and her make-up was light, despite the fact that Frank had shoved pretty much every item in her vanity case into their bag not knowing what she would want and wouldn’t want.

“You look pretty dapper too, Sailor” she smiled, taking in his black button down and smart jeans. Dropping a kiss to her cheek he gestured to the door and they both left the room and made their way to the restaurant which was located through the back of the hotel. They were led through to the outside patio which had a spectacular panoramic view of Old Tampa Bay. Fliss ordered herself a mock-tail, whilst Frank asked for a beer, grinning when the waiter told them they had Stella on tap. Fliss busied herself with the menu, and Frank took a moment to watch her. She really was glowing. He’d thought that was such a shit cliché about pregnant women, but at that point in time he couldn’t think of any other way to describe her. Her face was slightly fuller now, but with it she carried a soft look, which just complimented her personality anymore. The changes her entire body was going through reminded him daily she was carrying his baby, and each day he woke up and was convinced he was slightly more in love with her than he had been when he’d fallen asleep, even though he knew that wasn’t actually possible.

“The mahi-mahi looks really good.” Fliss mused as she looked at the menu. “As does the lobster but not sure I can eat that.” “Well, actually…” Frank leaned forward and pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket. “I knew this was a seafood restaurant so Mary did her usual google and found this.”

He handed it to her and waited for her reaction. As she scanned the list of seafood that she could eat she shook her head and let out a little moan.

“So all this time I could have been eating prawns?!”

Frank shrugged “According to that.”

“Damned it!” She cursed “I’m going to kill my mum.” “Well I don’t doubt guidelines have changed a little over the years”

Before she could reply the waiter came back to take them to their table which was on the large veranda at bay level. He left them alone for another ten minutes before returning for their order. Frank raised his eyebrow as Fliss ordered the fishcakes to start and then the Lobster tail for main, not that he cared how much it cost, he wasn’t worrying about that tonight. With that in mind he went for the same starter but then the surf-and-turf option, with a fillet steak.

“I can’t remember the last time we did this.” Fliss said, reaching out over the table, her hand tangling in his. “Just had a meal out, the two of us.”

“Me neither.” He mused. “It was before Christmas I know that much.”

“Probably before Boston actually.”

“We should do it more often” He smiled, his thumb skating over her engagement ring.“I like spending time with you like this.”

“Me too. And don’t worry Sailor. Once Bean is here you’re taking me out for an evening of fine dining where I’m gonna eat my bodyweight in blue cheese and drink a swimming pool full of wine…or champagne…or maybe both.” He chuckled and nodded “Whatever you want honey.”

Their conversation turned to their house hunting, both agreeing that they really needed to step it up a notch. They hadn’t even made an appointment with a bank yet to find out what they biggest budget they had was, so that was first on the agenda, Frank saying he would call to make an apartment on Monday. And then when their starters arrived they switched to the biggest question of all at the moment, whether they were going to find out if Bean was pink or blue.

“I think I wanna know.” Fliss said, swallowing the last of her starter, giving Frank a smile

Frank looked at her, his head cocking to one side. “You wanna find out?”

Fliss smiled shyly and paused as the waiter came along to remove their now empty plates before she continued once he had left. “I wasn’t sure…but…yeah, I think I am now. It struck me before in that shop, that once we know how much easier it will be, buying blue or pink stuff instead of yellows or greys.”

“I dunno, I quite like the yellow item we bought.” He quipped, taking a mouthful of his beer as he nodded to her dress. She grinned.

“You know full well what I mean.”

He chuckled. “Yeah, I do.” He leaned forward a little, both arms resting on the table as he looked at her, “Ok, so that’s decided then…we find out?”

She nodded, holding his gaze for a moment and he blinked, a soft mile spreading across his face. “I can’t wait.” he admitted to her, almost bashfully and she smiled back.

“Me neither…” she whispered.

*****

“Frankie, that was such wonderful evening.” Fliss turned to look at him as she kicked off her sandals whilst he locked the hotel room door behind them. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, Sweetheart.” He said gently, pulling her to him as his hands wrapped around her back.

“It was really thoughtful” She whispered, as her hands slid up his chest. “You didn’t have to do it though you know, I mean as an apology, I’m not-“ “No no, it wasn’t that.” He shook his head, “I just wanted some time with you, that’s all. I do have my sentimental moments when I’m not being a complete jack ass.” he quipped and she looked at him, her face soft.

“You’re my jack ass.” She smiled as her arms looped around his neck.

“Always.” He returned her smile as he leaned down to kiss her.

“Can you help me out of this dress?” She whispered into his mouth, and fuck, he didn’t need asking twice.

Frank reached round to the zipper at the back and gently slid it down as Fliss moved back, allowing the lemon coloured fabric to pool at her feet. He followed the line of her body upwards, over her thighs, that neat little bump, up past her hips, her breasts before he finally met her eyes again. He looked at her for a second before his lips crashed to hers, noses bumping slightly as he flicked his tongue teasingly into her mouth, his hands cupping her face as hers fisted in the back of his shirt.

In a quick movement, Frank reached down and hooked his hands round the back of her thighs, easily picking her up, bump and all. She giggled, wrapping her legs round his waist, her nose brushing against his as he carried her over to the bed, setting her down gently on it. He shucked off his own shoes as he reached behind his head and grabbed a fist full of his shirt, yanking it over his head without even bothering with the buttons, before he dropped down on the bed, settling his hips in between her legs in the space she made for him as she ran her hands through his hair. He smiled softly at her before he pressed his lips back to hers, kissing her deeply, his large hands keeping him propped above her so as not to put any of his weight against that precious cargo she was carrying.

She pushed on his chest, sitting up slightly as she reached behind her to undo her bran and Frank leaned forward, placing a gentle kiss on each shoulder as he slid the straps down over her arms, removing it completely. As she lay back against the bed, Frank shifted so he was led on his side by her, his mouth hungrily covering hers as his hand trailed up the outside of her thigh, to her hip, up the side of her body and then onto her breasts teasing gently. She groaned, rolling her head back on the pillow at the sensation, her hips bucking upwards as he shifted, hovering over her. He buried his face in the side of her neck working at the pulse spot, the little noises of pleasure she was making were music in his ear. Her hips began to move, rolling against nothing, groans falling from her lips at the sensation as he nipped slightly at her neck and then moved his mouth to her chest, taking her right nipple in. Her groans were growing louder now and Frank couldn’t take it anymore. He wanted to be in her, surrounded by her, feel her. Moving back to shed the rest of his clothes, he stood up, undoing his jeans and kicking them off, all the time his eyes on Fliss’ as she watched him, her gaze travelling down his body to where his cock now stood angry and red against his abs. He leaned down, hooking his fingers in the lace of Fliss’ panties, pulling them down over her legs before he settled on the bed once more, Fliss moving so she could straddle him. As she did so, his hands tangled in her hair, pulling her face down to kiss him as she reached down between them, taking him in her hand. He groaned but didn’t release her mouth as she adjusted position to take him in, slowly sliding down onto him. A filthy moan flew from her mouth which he swallowed with his kiss as she stayed pressed against him, and she began to move, rolling her hips forward. She was quick to find a rhythm and her mouth fell open against his lips and she let out a shaky moan before sitting up fully.

The sight of her on top, illuminated by soft light streaming in through the slight gap in the curtains was almost enough to tip him right over there and then. He wanted to touch her, so he did, bringing her hands up to run them up her sides until his hands cupped her breasts, thumbs running over her nipples as she let out another moan. As she picked up the pace his hands went to her hips, pulling her down onto him harder, thrusting upwards to meet her for every move she made. She continued to move, quickening, her eyes never leaving his.

“Frankie…”she groaned, as he tilted his hips up harder and he let out a groan himself, increasingly determined to get her there again before he lost it. As he felt the coil in his own belly tightening, his hand moved from her hip to stroke at that spot between her legs and that did it. He felt her tense up and tighten around him, crying out loudly and unbridled as she shook. The sight of her coming undone on top of him, her cheeks flushed, lips pink, mouth open in a now silent scream, would always be the single most exquisite thing Frank had ever seen, no matter how many times he got to see it. All of that, coupled with the force of her heat tightening even, more made him lose himself.

“Fuck, Lissy…” the curse fell from his lips as he thrust upwards, before he spilled himself inside her again, the wave of pleasure washing over him as the world fell silent and he could hear nothing but ringing in his ears. Fliss collapsed forward onto his chest, her tremors subsided, both of them panting as they came back down, turning back into the world. Frank held her close, his fingers running up and down her spine as she let out a soft “hum” of contentment and he sat up, wanting to see her face to face. Still cradling her close he pushed the hair that had fallen over her face back behind her ears and she reached up, running her hands through his, causing him to close his eyes at the sensation of her nails on his scalp.

“God, I love you.” he whispered, pulled her closer, his nose rubbing up against hers.

"I love you too.”

Frank moved so that she could roll off him and to the side, before he pulled the covers back, allowing them both to shuffle under before he turned off the lamp at the side of the bed. Fliss moved so that her head lay on his chest, her arm resting over his stomach and he placed a soft kiss to the side of her temple, his hand moving to softly card through her hair. For the first time in a week, Frank felt like things were completely back to where they should be.

***** They had a lazy morning in the hotel, making the most of the breakfast before they headed back to collect Mary. The drive home was relaxed, the pair of them singing along to whatever came on Frank’s Spotify play-list, Fliss snorting with laughter when the Spice Girls Wannabe hit her ears.

“Hey, it’s a classic.” Frank defended himself as she looked at him, shaking her head.

“Sure it is.” She laughed, cranking the volume up.

When they reached Verity and Bills, Thor came bounding up the drive to greet the truck, running after it and almost sending Fliss flying as he barrelled into her legs. Frank caught her, steadying her as he shot the dog an exasperated look. Whilst he wasn’t growling at Frank anymore, the dog was ridiculously clingy to Fliss, more so than usual and had clearly been unhappy at being away from her. They headed round to the pool area, where Mary was busy wrestling with Steve in the pool, swinging on his arm, trying to pull him under the water. She hardly spared them a second glance as they greeted her, until Verity called her out for a drink and a slice of lemon cake.

“Sit down, sit down!” she ushered Fliss and Frank to the outside table on the decking, where Frank moved a chair back for Fliss, dropping a kiss to her shoulder. Steve and Mary padded over later, Mary wrapped herself in a towel whilst Steve moved over to give Fliss a hug, causing her to squeal as he was wet. Mary hopped onto Frank’s knee and gave his cheek a peck.

Bill appeared a little while later, smiling at them all as he took a seat at the table, an envelope in his hands. He paid it no attention though, simply setting it on the table. They talked for a little while, Fliss telling them all about their hotel and meal before the conversation turned to chatter of house hunting, at which point Verity and Bill shared a glance and Bill cleared his throat

“We wanted to talk to you about that.” Bill said, looking at Fliss.

“Okay.” Fliss frowned, glancing at Frank where he sat to her right. She turned back to her parents. “Is something wrong?”

“No, quite the opposite.” Verity smiled as she glanced at Bill. Both of them looked at Steve then who smiled as Mary looked around.

“Is this one of those adult conversations?” she rolled her eyes and Frank nudged her slightly. Bill chuckled.

“It is kiddo, but you can stay.” he said, before he took a deep breath and leaned forward a little “Ok, so you know I handed the business down to Steve when we left England.” “Yeah…” Fliss looked at him.

“Well, when I did that it was valued at just over 2 million pounds” he said and Frank felt his eyebrows shoot up into his head. He knew that Bill and Verity were affluent, but he hadn’t appreciated just how much.

“I know all this.” Fliss frowned. “I’m not following…” “Well, the deal was that I took a million out of the pot straight away, for me and your mum to retire on.” Bill said, “That didn’t leave a great deal of cash left in the accounts, just enough to keep the cash-flow straight, the rest was tied up in the assets. But the other part of the deal was that whilst I was giving it to Steve, half of it was yours…and as soon as he was able to…he had to give you your share of the remaining value.” Fliss felt her mouth drop open as she wheeled around to look at Frank. “What…I…” “I never told you any of this, because I didn’t want that bastard getting wind of it.” Bill shook his head. “And obviously, we gave you what we could to set up your business and everything when you moved here…but…” “Basically, Titch, the last year or so the profits have sky rocketed.” Steve said. “And…as a result.”

Bill slid the envelope he had brought towards Fliss and she reached out for it with a shaky hand. Opening it gently, she pulled out a cheque and glanced down at the amount. Just short of four hundred and fifty thousand dollars.

“Fuck me.” she mumbled, as she handed the paper to Frank who took a deep breath, gulping as he saw the amount.

“Holy shit…” Mary mumbled as she too read it, but no one payed her the slightest bit of attention, as Fliss broke the stunned silence that had fallen over her and Frank.

“Dad, Mum, I…” she looked up at him, tears in her eyes, “I can’t…” “So, you don’t need to fanny around with a mortgage or a bank loan when you find a house.” Bill smiled at her. “You’ve got enough to buy outright.”

“Bill, Verity, this…this is too much.” Frank looked at them both in turn, the tears stinging his eyes.

“Nonsense.” Verity scoffed “It’s Fliss’ inheritance.”

“I’ll sign a pre-nup.” He stuttered suddenly, “Anything, I…”

Fliss frowned as did Bill, and she turned her eyes to him “Why would I want you to do that?”

“That’s your money.” He protested. “Yeah, and I’m sharing my life with you. Hell, I’m having your baby Frank.” She said gently “I don’t need a pre-nup. You intending on leaving me?” “No of course not.” “Well then.” She shrugged, simply, as if that settled the matter. And in her eyes it did.

“You’ll also still retain your shares.” Steve said gently, “Which means you’ll get the dividends each year and if things keep going the way they are, you might want to consider buying a few more sharpish. They’ll be worth a lot if we land this contract.”

Fliss nodded, taking the information in before she stood up and headed over to her dad who rose from his chair.

“Thank you…thank you so much.” she said, her tears falling as he pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her back.

“You’re my little girl.” Bill said, his voice choked “I’ll always see you right, you know this.”

She stepped back and turned to her mum as Frank shook Bill’s hand before the man pulled him into a hug.

“Just look after her.” he whispered in Frank’s ear. “I know I don’t need to say it but…”

“You have my word.” Frank pulled back and looked his future father-in-law in the eyes. “I’ll die before I let anything happen to her.”

“Does this mean we can get a house with a pool?” Mary piped up, from where she was now situated in Steve’s arms.

Frank looked at Fliss before they both grinned and he turned to her.

“Not sure.” he said “Don’t want you getting all spoilt now do we?”

“Fine…” she shrugged “I’ll just move in here. That’s ok isn’t it?”

“Of course.” Verity grinned “Although you do know if you do, its bed at 8 every night, no treats before dinner, no…” “Who are you trying to kid?” Mary scoffed “Frank says you’re both a pair of right soft touches.”

Frank groaned as the room erupted into laughter and he shook his head at Mary who stuck her tongue out at him.

“You’re a pain in my ass, you know that?”

Mary simply shrugged and Fliss slid her arms round Frank’s waist and he pressed a kiss to her temple.

“So, house hunting starts tomorrow?” he asked, and she grinned nodding.

“You bet Sailor…”

“Ohhh we could buy a boat!” Mary said suddenly, and Frank paused.

“Actually, that would be kinda cool…”

“Yeah, I’ll buy you a remote control one to play with in the pool” Fliss grinned and Bill laughed as Mary let out a loud yell.

“See, Fliss want’s a pool…”

“Mary, for god’s sake…”

“Ok…Bean wants a pool” Mary grinned and everyone in the room let out a loud laugh, as Fliss looked up at Frank who simply snorted and shook his head.

**** Chapter 6

#riding on #frank adler #frank adler x ofc #frank adler x original female character #gifted #gifted fan fic #chris evans #chris evans characters

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crystalninjaphoenix · 3 years

Text

Wyvernlair

Fantasy Masks AU: Chapter Three

A JSE Fanfic

Ta-da! Another chapter! :D This is the one I was talking about, with a lot of worldbuilding and new characters. It’s also one of my longer stories, and I had to cut out a scene near the end, but don’t worry, you’ll see that next time. Now that Chase is officially part of the Masked Phantoms, it’s time for him to get to know the layout of Wyvernlair, meet new people, and learn new things. So get ready for a whole lot of all that. Hope you guys enjoy!

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

It was clear that Jackie was eager to have someone new to show around Wyvernlair. He led the way, pointing out important features of the camp. Most of the center area was taken up by tents for people to stay in. In addition, there was an area dedicated to cooking, with campfires and stacks of pots and dishes, a wide, clear area for people to practice sword fighting and other combat, and a large space for storage.

All this was fairly normal for any camp. Or at least, that’s what Chase figured, considering he’d never been in a camp of any kind. But he was pretty sure that the massive skeleton made Wyvernlair much different than any other camp. Every bit had been planned around the bones embedded in the ground. The tents were encircled by the dragon. The cooking fires were dotted around the leg bones. The combat field was spread out along the wings that extended out from the rest of the body. And the storage was inside the oversized ribcage, canvas stretched over the gaps to keep out the weather.

Inside the ribs was the most incredible place Chase had ever been. He kept his head craned upward, following the curve of the ivory bones, each one big enough that it would take three full grown men to encircle it. The storage inside the ribcage was much less impressive in comparison, though he did have to admit he’d never seen this amount of weapons, armor, parchment, and foodstuffs in one place. Not to mention all the miscellaneous items as well, like lanterns and chests for storage.

“Oh, you need a jacket!” Jackie suddenly said, bringing Chase back to the conversation. “You can take one of the communal ones, over here.” He grabbed Chase’s hand and pulled him to the side of the ribs, where the chests were full of various clothing, each labeled with types and sizes. “Unless you’re a cloak person?”

“Uh, no, I...jackets are good,” Chase said dazedly.

“Great! What are you, a five?” Jackie waited for Chase to nod, then headed over to the appropriate chest. “We don’t have that many fives left...a lot of people have measurements around there.” He flipped open the chest lid. “Um...yeah, there’s just one. Hope you like yellow.” After a bit of rummaging, he pulled out a dull flaxen jacket and tossed it in Chase’s direction.

Chase fumbled for a bit before catching it. It was a fairly normal jacket, and he quickly pulled it on. Autumn in the mountains was not a time to walk around without one. He’d been chilly all through their walk.

“Alright, all that’s left is the skull,” Jackie said. “I don’t know how often you’ll be in there, but it’s good to—”

“I’m sorry, I’m still caught up on the fact that I’m inside a dragon skeleton,” Chase interrupted.

Henrik, who’d been following the tour quietly and letting Jackie do all the talking, suddenly burst into laughter. “I told you. It is shocking, isn’t it?”

“Well...yes!” Chase looked back up at the curve of the ribs above him, slowly shaking his head. “I heard dragons were large, but I didn’t really...picture it, before this.”

“Technically, this is not the skeleton of a full-blooded great dragon,” Henrik said.

“What?”

“The dragon that most people think of, with four legs and two or more wings? That is a great dragon,” Henrik explained. “I’m sure you noticed this one only has two legs; it was likely a wyvern/great dragon crossbreed.”

“Hence the name ‘Wyvernlair,’” Jackie added.

“What’s the difference?” Chase asked.

“Wyverns only had two legs and larger wings. They walked a bit like birds do,” Henrik continued. “And they were usually much smaller. There are some accounts of humans riding them. So this was either an abnormally large wyvern, or it was a crossbreed with the great dragons. Which, yes, could grow as big as this, but that was not so common.”

“Elders,” Chase muttered. The fact that there were once creatures as large as this roaming the land, big enough to encircle half a town...it made him glad they weren’t around anymore.

“It was really lucky that we found this place,” Jackie said. “Not because of the skeleton, but because of its location. There are no trees growing near the bones, so we have room to spread out, and we have our backs to a rock wall, which makes it more defensible.” He paused. “Anyway, the last part on our tour is the skull, and then we can set you up with a tent. Oh, actually, the spare tents are kept here. Let’s grab that now.”

“I get my own?” Chase said, surprised.

“Of course, we have plenty to spare,” Jackie said casually. “We brought a whole bunch up, but recruitment has been slow.”

“Nonexistent,” Henrik muttered. He reached into one of his belt pouches and took out a small flask, taking a quick drink.

“Well...yes,” Jackie admitted. “But let’s go, we’re almost done!”

The skull was just as massive as the rest of the skeleton, with wicked sharp teeth as tall as Chase. He stared at them as Jackie and Henrik led him around to the back, where there was a slight gap where the skull met the spine. They passed through that gap and ended up inside. Much like the ribs, the skull had been converted into a room, with canvas blocking the eye sockets and nasal cavity to make a rough roof. This wasn’t as large as the storage, but it was still at least three times as large as Chase’s cottage. There were more chests in here, and a few rickety desks where people—masks always nearby—sat, reading and writing on parchment. They all glanced up as the three men entered the room, then looked away.

In the middle of the skull was a large circular table, made of solid, dark wood and surrounded by chairs. Various maps were spread out on the surface of the table, held down with weights.

Chase glanced at the largest map, and immediately recognized it as a map of the kingdom of Glasúil. A detailed one, too, covering almost all of the island. The Dragon’s Teeth mountains ran down the center, with the smaller Northaven range branching off to the east, along the northern shore. The Southern Moors were present, slowly merging into the sea. Rivers and forests he’d never heard of crossed the parchment, and each major town and city was represented by a labeled black dot. The only part of the map left blank was the area to the west of the Dragon’s Teeth, which simply had “Wyldwood” written across it.

“Oh hey, you like the maps?” Jackie asked, noticing Chase’s attention. “We use those for planning stuff. A lot of strategy and meetings happen here. This is also where we keep all our records and sort through all our messages with other Phantom locations. Since you’re part of the group now, you’ll eventually go on missions, and if that’s the case, you’ll have to write a report and deliver it here.”

“Missions?” Chase repeated. His head was starting to swim a bit with all the new information.

“Well, if you want to,” Jackie said awkwardly. “I mean, you could stay here and do medicine with Henrik, or be part of our administration—”

“Administration?” This time, Chase laughed a bit when he repeated the word.

“Organization is very important,” Schneep emphasized. “There are a lot of us, and we do a lot of things. If we have no organization then we do not know what we’re doing!”

“Yeah, and those things we do are...missions,” Jackie said.

“Alright, what kind of...missions?” Chase asked.

“Depends. We might need to investigate someplace, or something, or someone. We might need to go in and stop an act of injustice, or rescue people who’ve been hurt.” Jackie paused. “If...if we’d heard about the King’s plans for the mountain villages to burn, then we could have...shown up. In time.”

Chase felt his stomach twist at the mention of the burning villages. There was guilt in Jackie’s voice; he clearly felt awful that the Phantoms couldn’t do anything to prevent that. “Well.” Chase took a deep breath. “I guess we’ll have to make sure things like that don’t happen again.”

Jackie nodded. Henrik placed a hand on his shoulder, and that seemed to steady him. He drew himself to his full height and stiffened his posture. “Exactly. The King may think he can get away with any of this, just because of his position. But the people will not stand for it. We will not stand for it. As long as his actions cause death and damage, we will work to remove him.”

For a moment, Chase was in awe at the resolve Jackie showed. He wasn’t that physically intimidating, being almost a head shorter than Chase and a head and a half shorter than Henrik, but he had a commanding aura. Maybe the strength of his conviction was catching. “Exactly,” Chase said. “That’s—that’s what I want to do.” His simple statement sounded lame in comparison.

Jackie smiled. “And that’s why we’re so glad to have you.” He relaxed a bit, looking over at Henrik. “And if Schneep likes you, then I do, too.”

Chase couldn’t hold back a laugh. “I-I’m sorry? What did you call him?”

Henrik’s expression fell. He took his hand off Jackie’s shoulder and pushed him with his shoulder. “I told you, stop using that.”

“But it’s so fun to say,” Jackie said cheerfully. “Chase, did you know that Henrik’s surname is Schneeplestein?”

Chase fought to stifle his giggles. Now he remembered that particular fact from his first meeting with Henrik. “That’s—well, I’m sure that’s a usual surname in Alterde—”

“It is not,” Henrik said wearily. “It sounds just as ridiculous over there. Go ahead, laugh about it. Get it out of your mind now.”

“No no, I’m fine, I promise.” Chase coughed a bit, clearing his throat of laughter. “At least you have a surname.”

“Ah, it is common to have one where I am from,” Henrik waved away the comment. “I know here it is a nobility thing, but not in Alterde or its neighbors.”

“Really?” Chase said, interested.

“Really. And it is much easier than your family names,” Henrik said bluntly, turning to leave.

“Hey! Wait for us!” Jackie took Chase’s hand and the two of them followed Henrik out of the dragon’s skull.

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

“Chase? Are you awake?”

The first thing Chase heard when waking up was someone calling his voice. Instinctively, he rolled over and stretched his arm to the right. Only to be met with nothing but empty space. Oh. Right.

He opened his eyes to a canvas wall and ceiling. He’d gotten his tent yesterday, and Jackie had shown him how to set it up in a spot near the dragon spine. From there, the rest of the day had passed slowly. Awkwardly, too, as Chase didn’t feel up to approaching any of the masked people who were part of the Phantoms. It felt...strange. Like he was constantly intruding on something. So he just spent time in his tent, and when dinnertime rolled around, he showed up to get some stew from the cooking fires then went off to eat on his own. Eventually, the sun set, and he figured that was time to go to bed.

“Chase?” The voice called again.

“Henrik?” Chase asked, sitting up and wiggling out of the bedroll he’d been given.

“Oh, you are awake. Can I open the flap?”

“Go ahead.” It wasn’t like he was indecent or anything. He was actually still wearing his clothes from the day before. Maybe he should check out the storage, see if they had anything else he could use.

Henrik pushed open the flap of the tent and ducked inside, pushing his owl mask up onto his forehead. “Ah, good. I have something for you.” He held out a folded piece of parchment.

Puzzled, Chase took it. “What is this?” He asked as he unfolded it.

“Well, now that you are a Phantom, there are some things you need to be familiar with,” Henrik said. “Jackie put together a schedule for you for today.”

Chase silently looked at the words. He blinked. Then squinted. Then looked back up at Henrik. “Um...I’m sorry, but I...can’t read this.”

Henrik didn’t even have a response for that. “You...cannot read?”

“I can, but only a little,” Chase admitted. “I know the alphabet and numbers, but as for words, I can read what I’m familiar with. Food, animal names, archery gear. Things like that.” He trailed off into a mumble, somehow embarrassed. Reading had never been an issue before. Everyone in town knew enough to get by. But now, he wondered...was that not normal?

“That’s okay,” Henrik said, picking up on Chase’s tone. “Jackie was the same way. We had to teach him.” He chuckled a bit at the memory. “I will explain, then. After breakfast, you will meet with Nemet in the infirmary, she will give you a basic medicine check. To see what you know and fill you in on anything you need. Then you will head down to the tip of the tail, and meet a man there called Tripp. I understand you do not know that much about magic, so he will give you an overview. Then there will be lunch, and then you will head to the combat field to start training with Holly and Lukas.”

Chase started. “What was that last name?”

“Lukas,” Henrik repeated. “You will probably be working with him more, since you seem inclined with bows, and not closer combat.”

“Right.” Chase nodded. That name sounded familiar, like he’d heard it recently...

“Then come back for dinner, and I will check up on you,” Henrik continued. “And by then, hopefully you will know what you want to do most in the group. Medicine, organization, and such. And we will get you a temporary mask.”

“So, why masks?” Chase asked. “I like the idea, but...why? Who came up with it?”

“Oh, the mask concept was Jackie’s idea, but the animal part was added by—by someone else,” Henrik said. There was an odd pause there...was he going to say something else? A name, perhaps? “We wear masks so people will not recognize us. Many of us have friends and family who would be at risk if the King’s people knew we were working against him. Like, for me. You know I am a traveling doctor, yes? Well, when I met you last year, I was already working with the Phantoms. Can you imagine what would happen if someone recognized me as a rebel?”

Chase shivered. “Yea, I can.” If the King was willing to burn down the mountain villages for an unknown reason, what would he do to find one of the rebels? With that thought in mind, he slowly stood up. “So...I’ll get started, then. Meeting with all these strangers.”

“Do not be nervous, Chase,” Henrik said gently. “Everyone new we find has to go through something like this. And these are some of our best people.”

“Thanks,” Chase said. “That’s good to know.” Still, his stomach was slowly tying itself in knots as he headed towards the cooking fires, about to start the day.

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

After a quick breakfast of toasted bread—light, but with those stomach knots, still hard to get through—Chase headed up the gentle slope towards the infirmary cave in the rock wall. Slipping through the flap in the canvas, he found it unchanged from the day before, when he’d been discharged. Nobody was inside, except for...

“Ibis?” Chase asked.

“Hello, Chase.” Ibis smiled at him. Her mask was off, revealing her features and round, dark eyes for the first time. “It’s good to see you again. And please, my name is Nemet.”

“Oh! Oh, I’m supposed to meet with you.” That explained why she was standing near the entrance, she was waiting for him.

“Yes, yes.” Nemet nodded. “Henrik has told me to give you a basics in medicine.” She turned and headed towards the back, indicating he should follow. “Come, come. This shouldn’t take too long.”

Nemet had set three chests on top of each other, making a sort of rough chest-height table. On top of the flat surface of the chest-table were a series of bottles and bags, each one neatly labeled. “Here. These are some of our common tonics and medicines we use here. Tell me what you recognize.”

Chase considered the layout before him. There were probably about thirty in total, if he had to guess. “This is for colds, right? And fevers? And this one, too. And these dried leaves, they’re for nausea. Oh, and this will put you to sleep if you put it in water or stew. This is a salve, also for fevers. And this is a balm for sores. And this will stop infection on cuts and scrapes. And...that’s what I know.”

“Impressive,” Nemet nodded.

“Really? That’s only a fraction of the total,” Chase said doubtfully.

“Most people who join up only know redleaf, bainruish, and seedbane.” Nemet indicated each medicine as she listed them. “Fevers, cuts, and...well, I’m sure you know what seedbane is for, even if you said nothing. You are married, after all.” She laughed as Chase slowly turned red. “Ah, my apologies. The point is, you are ahead of most others.”

“Do we really need all of these?” Chase asked, quickly moving on.

“Oh, yes. You know that when people gather together that sicknesses spread easily. Many of these will help to cure a specific disease, while others are a general tonic, like redleaf.” Nemet paused, then picked up about ten of the medicines and put them on the floor. “Henrik says you are not so much caught up on magic, so we will leave these ones out of our discussion for now.”

Chase started at that. The concept of mixing medicine with magic made him...uneasy. He may not know that much about magic, but he knew it could be dangerous. “I was wondering, Nemet, what did you do before you joined the Phantoms? I know Henrik’s a traveling doctor, are you the same?”

“Not exactly.” Nemet shrugged. “I was a student of medicine back home.”

“And where was that?”

“A land called Kha’Nyphthis.” Nemet grinned a bit at Chase’s confused expression. “You would not have heard of it. It is to the south, on another continent, but not the same continent as Henrik’s Alterde. We have great schools and libraries there, the best in the world. I was learning to become a doctor, and had almost finished my schooling, but one of the final requirements was to learn the medicine of another land. I chose here, Glasúil, because you are well-known for your medicine. But then I arrived, and saw the state of things, and...ah, well.” Her expression fell for a moment.

“I’m...sorry,” Chase said awkwardly. “Do you...ever think about going back?”

Nemet nodded briefly. “Of course. I have family, friends. But I cannot just abandon things. It’s not in my nature to leave things unsettled.” She took a deep breath, and moved on. “But as for your basics in medicine, let me start by getting you familiar with the ones you didn’t know.”

It was a while later before Chase left the infirmary, his head feeling stuffed with all the new information Nemet had drilled into him. Already, some of it was starting to slip away. And he immediately knew that he could never be a doctor. If these were the basics, he couldn’t even begin to think about what would be required to complete the training to become one.

But he didn’t have time to let all that new knowledge sink in. Judging by the sun’s position, it was getting close to noon, and to lunch. He still had to meet up with someone else before it was time to eat. So he hurried onward, running along the curve of the dragon’s bones, following them as they got smaller and smaller, until they eventually merged into the packed ground. Chase slowed to a stop and looked around, confused. This was the end of the tail, wasn’t it? So...where was—

“Hey you’re the new one, right?”

Chase yelped and spun around. A man was sitting between the spine bones of the dragon, almost unnoticeable in the shadow between them. “Yeah, that’s me,” he said slowly. “Are you, uh...Tripp?”

The man nodded, hopped to his feet, and walked over to Chase. Standing up, he was short, even shorter than Jackie. He wore a dark brown cloak that reached his knees, and of course, a mask. This one was shaped like a ram’s head, complete with curved horns, and the black symbol on the forehead was actually four different symbols arranged in a diamond formation. After a moment of looking at them, Chase realized they were the suits often used on playing cards. How...odd. The man reached up and took off the mask, ruffling his golden brown hair and revealing dark eyes. “Tripp, son of Seamus,” he said shortly. “And you are...?”

“Chase. Son of Brody,” Chase said automatically. “Henrik told you I was—”

“You’re not up-and-up on magic and need a course, yea,” Tripp interrupted, swinging his mask around his finger. Chase took a step back despite already being far away. If that went flying, those plaster horns would do some damage. “And he asked me to do it ‘cause I’m our second best guy.”

“You’re the—?”

“What do you know already, Brodyson?” Tripp continued. “Ever met a magic-wielder?”

“There were a handful in town—”

“Sorcerer, wizard, enchanter, oracle, witch?”

“I...what?” Chase blinked. “I...think they were all sorcerers.”

“How many?”

“Only a handful, about six or seven?”

“For a village of four hundred or so people?” Tripp laughed. “Everyone must’ve been magically impotent.”

“Could you slow down?!” Chase snapped. “I thought you were supposed to teach me about magic, not make fun of me for not knowing anything!”

Tripp paused. Then grinned. “It’s just banter, Brodyson. I didn’t mean offense. But hey, you called me out. Good on you for that. My apologies.” His grin faded. “But I’m not jokin’ about that. There should’ve been at least four times that number of magic-wielders in a town that size. What happened? Were the seekers bein’ lazy for the past few years?”

“...Seekers?” Chase repeated, puzzled.

Tripp looked up at the sky. “Oh, elders. They haven’t been showin’ up at all, have they? If you don’t even know about them—alright, we’ll start from the beginning, then.” He sat down on the ground, folding his legs under him. Slowly, Chase sat down across from him. “You know of the five branches, right? I’m pretty sure everyone in the world’s at least heard their names.”

“Yes,” Chase said, nodding. Wizards, sorcerers, enchanters, oracles, and witches. He mostly heard about them in stories, and was especially fuzzy on the details about those last three.

“A common mistake people make is thinkin’ these are all different things.” Tripp started drawing in the dirt with his finger. “When really, all magic is the same. It’s like a tree—just because each branch might look different, doesn’t mean they don’t all come from the same trunk.” And, in keeping with that metaphor, he drew a rough outline of a tree with five different branches. “All magics can work with each other, and there’s a lot of similarities in between them. For example, do you know the difference between wizardry and sorcery? They’re the two most well-known of the branches.”

“Um...if I’m being honest, I’d always been under the impression that wizardry was more powerful,” Chase said tentatively.

Tripp snorted in disbelief. “Some wizards would like to think that. But no. More varied, yes. But not more powerful. Here, it’ll be easier if I go over them all one by one.” He started to draw symbols by each of the branches, starting with a crude stick figure. “Sorcery is the most common magic besides witchcraft. It crops up in people at random. If you got twenty-five people in a room together, one would probably be a sorcerer, even if they didn’t know it. Its source is inside the person themself. And what it does is manipulate the world. Like...this.”

He pressed a flat hand against the ground next to him. After a moment, the dirt started to move. Then suddenly, pillars of rock shot through the dirt, rising from underneath the surface. Chase gaped as the solid stone started to twist, winding around each other to form a braid of rock. Then Tripp removed his hand, and the rock froze, as if it had never been moving in the first place. For a moment, Chase was stunned, then he managed to ask, “S-so you’re a sorcerer, then?”

“Exactly,” Tripp grinned. “Why d’you look so surprised? You said you knew sorcerers before.”

“Well...yes, but I hadn’t...seen their magic too much,” Chase admitted. He remembered one time when Gwen, the weaver’s daughter, had pulled water out of the well. It just streamed out of the depths and sailed right into her bucket. But occasions like that were few and far between.

“Hmm.” Tripp scrunched his face up, thinking. “Well, besides that. Each branch of magic has its strengths and weaknesses. Sorcery’s strength is that it comes from within. As long as a sorcerer doesn’t drain too much energy, they can use their magic forever. And its weakness is that you need a material to manipulate. Like just now, I reached down and pulled rock up from underground. But there’s a limit to the range where your magic can affect things.”

Chase nodded. “What about wizardry, then?”

Tripp sketched a rough outline of a necklace next to another branch of the tree. “Its strength is its variety. Wizards aren’t limited by what things are present, they can conjure out of thin air. But its weakness is in this: the ‘focus.’” He tapped the necklace drawing. “Unlike sorcery, wizardry doesn’t come from within. Wizards are channelin’ it from outside, from the layer of magic that coats the world. But to do so, they need a specially-made thing called a focus. It’s usually a necklace, ‘cause that’s handy, but it can be any shape, as long as it’s made the right way. These dragon bones, for example. They’d be real good to make focuses with.” He knocked on the nearest bone. “About one in fifty people are able to channel wizardry.”

“And now we reach the end of my knowledge,” Chase mutters. “What’s the next most common?”

Tripp paused. “Enchantment.” The image he drew in the dirt now was a misshapen lump. “Damn. That’s supposed to be a brain.”

“Ah. Right. Because enchantment is the magic of the mind, isn’t it?” Chase recalled, casting his memories back to the stories he’d heard that included enchanters.

“Hmm. Yea.” Tripp pursed his lips. “How do I explain them...Well, strengths. They’re the only magic that can work with your mind. Illusions, talking in your head, things like that. But as for their weaknesses, enchanters can’t change the world for real.”

“Is it true that enchanters can control your actions?” Chase asked. “There’s a story, the Dark Damoen—”

“The crazy old man who made Erinthold worship him as a god? That’s a famous one.” Tripp nodded. “Well, it’s true. Some could change your thoughts and make you do things you wouldn’t. But that takes a lot of power, and besides, most enchanters are decent people, like all the rest of us. It’s just that we remember the bad ones because they shock us. And only about one in a hundred people are enchanters, anyway. Don’t worry about it. There are a few Masked Phantoms who are enchanters.”

Chase nodded slowly. The thought of the old story sent shivers down his back, but he should probably trust the magic-wielder. He clearly knew more “What about...the oracles?”

Tripp drew a symbol of an eye in the dirt. “Those are the rarest one. You only get an oracle one in a thousand, if you’re lucky, and they’re not usually that powerful. You’ve probably heard that they issue prophecies of what’s to come, or that they might even be able to manipulate time itself. Well that’s all bullshit.”

“Wh—” Chase was so surprised at the frankness that he choked on his own gasp. After a few moments of coughing, he continued in a hoarse voice. “What do you mean?”

“Oracles can’t manipulate time, that’s the most insane rumor goin’ round about magic there ever was,” Tripp stated. “They get visions of what’s most likely to happen. It’s not for sure, and really, most oracles are wrong. But huge strength there, knowing the most likely future. And it comes with a big weakness. A couple, actually. One, they have to speak their visions out loud while it’s happenin’. It’s a magic...what’s the word?” He snapped his fingers for a bit. “Compulsion. That’s it. They’re literally forced to do it, can’t stop that. And two, the visions are all they can do. They have no other magic. And because of that, some say that oracles are cursed, not gifted.”

Chase thought about that. If he had the choice, would he take knowing the future for being forced to share it? Maybe. Maybe if he knew what could happen next, he could stop terrible things. Like...his heart panged, and he shied away from the thought. No, that didn’t sound too bad. People would also know what the future held, what of it? He’d take that risk.

“And the last magic,” Tripp said, snapping Chase out of his thoughts. “Witchcraft. It’s actually the most common.”

“Really?” Chase said doubtfully.

“I bet you’re goin’ by the stories, where witches are old people that stay in shacks and give out potions,” Tripp said, drawing a bottle next to the final branch. “But really, the magic of witchcraft isn’t in people, like all the others. It’s in the land. It’s part of the world’s magic. Plants with strange properties, the parts of magical animals...these can be mixed together to create amazing effects. And anyone could learn how to do it. In fact, most of us here have.”

Chase suddenly remembered earlier, how Nemet had put away some of the medicines during their meeting. It was because he didn’t know much about magic...“Wait, you mean anyone could make potions? Become a witch?”

“Well, not anyone,” Tripp muttered. “If you have magic of your own, you can’t learn witchcraft. The knowledge just slips away, and if we try anyway, nothing works, even if it should. You can’t use more than one magic. It’d be like tryin’ to hold onto every single branch of a tree.”

“If the tree was small, though?” Chase joked.

“It’s not. The magic tree is big, and the branches are the type where you need to hold on with both hands,” Tripp said firmly.

“Oh. I...see.” Chase cleared his throat. Clearly, using more than one magic wasn’t something to make light of. It was too impossible. “And...what about those seekers you mentioned earlier?”

Tripp was eager to move on. “Seekers are wizards that can sense the presence of magic. What’s supposed to happen is that these seekers are supposed to stop by every town twice every year. In practice, that’s faded away. Most towns only see them once a year, and the farther away you get from Suilthair, the less often you’ll see them. My town where I grew up, they came by every three years. But if you don’t know what they are, then...have you ever seen them?”

At that, Chase had a vague memory of a group of strangers visiting Hilltown when he was a child. They were dressed finely, and the image of an elaborate brooch one of them was wearing flashed in his mind. The next day, Hanson, an old friend of his, announced to all the kids that he was going away for ‘special school.’ “Not in years. Long enough for me to forget what they are.”

Tripp huffed. “I bet it’s not worth the effort to come all the way up here. Bunch of nambies.” He rolled his eyes. “Seekers are employed by the royal family. They find young magic-wielders and offer to give them schoolin’, to learn how to use their magic. Schoolin’ that’s funded by the crowns. It’s not required—I never went—but it’s encouraged. Otherwise you might end up having magic shootin’ out of your—”

“Is that why most wizards side with the King?” Chase asked, remembering what Henrik said about the source of the village fire.

“Part of it. But wizards especially have a reason to keep on the King’s good side.” Tripp paused. “Those focuses I told you ‘bout, that wizards need to use their magic? The crowns fund the makin’ of those, too. And the sellin’. And everything about them.”

“Oh.” Chase’s eyes widened with realization. “So...if a wizard decided to oppose the King, then there’s a chance that...they wouldn’t have access to a focus anymore? And...their magic?”

Tripp nodded. “That’s why most of us magic-wielders in the Phantoms are sorcerers and a few enchanters.”

“No oracles?”

“Oh, elders, no. You heard how hard they are to find. Wish we had some, though. That’d be helpful.” Tripp stretched his arms, then stood up. “Anyway, that’s all I have to say. You got it all?”

“I think so, yes,” Chase said slowly. He looked up to the sky, mentally reviewing everything he’d heard. Sorcery, wizardry, enchantment, oraclulary, and witchcraft. All very different, all with things they could do and limitations that slowed them down. That made sense. He nodded to himself...and then noticed the position of the sun. “Shit!” Chase shot to his feet. “It’s noon! I have—after lunch, I—”

“More meetings, huh?” Tripp raised an eyebrow, then pulled his ram mask back on. “Let me guess...Lukas and Holly? Better hurry, Brodyson. Not good to be late for those two.”

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

Chase swung by the cooking fires to grab some food, then hurried over to the combat fields, along the dragon’s wings. Originally, he wondered if the wing bones would get it the way, but apparently the dragon had died with its wings spread out as far as they could be, leaving ample room in between the bones. The packed dirt was lined with targets, crude dummies made of sacks of hay tied to sticks, and racks of wooden training weapons. Occasionally there were random chests or tents set up to create obstacles to fight around. As he ran out onto the fields, he passed many people, some sparring in groups, others practicing on their own. None of them paid him any mind.

Now that he was here, he wasn’t sure where to go. The fields took up all of the space cleared by the wings, which was, as it turned out, quite a lot. Maybe he should have asked Henrik for descriptions of the people he’d be meeting with. Feeling his nerves eating away at his stomach, he turned to the nearest person, and asked, quietly, “Excuse me, I’m looking for Lukas and Holly?”

The person turned around, looked down at him, and smiled. “Oh, it’s you! You’re the new one!”

“Um...yes,” Chase said slowly. It was just now occurring to him how...big this person was—this woman was, actually, judging by her voice. She towered over him, and her sleeveless tunic showed off the muscles of her tattooed arms. Strange to be wearing no sleeves in the chill mountain air, but she probably wasn’t bothered.

“I’m Holly.” Her smile widened. “Daughter of Rose.”

“Oh!” Chase blinked. That name didn’t fit her at all. But alright, he wasn’t one to say anything. “Chase, son of Brody.”

“Lovely to meet you.” Holly grabbed his hand and vigorously shook it. She wasn’t wearing her mask, but it hung around her neck. A bear. And the symbol on its forehead was the same as the one on Jackie’s wolf mask: a circle with two dots inside. “Me and Lukas, we’re in charge of combat up in Wyvernlair. Speaking of which...” She turned around. “Luke! He’s here!”

Chase leaned around Holly to look at who she was addressing...and suddenly felt cold, despite his jacket. Now he remembered where he heard that name before. While he’d been sick with the shivering in the infirmary, he’d overheard a conversation between Jackie and a man in a fox mask. That man had wanted to throw him out of camp, but Jackie had refused...and now, Chase was staring at that very same man.

“I can see that,” Lukas said shortly. He was facing a series of targets, and didn’t turn to look at Holly and Chase. Instead he merely took another arrow from a quiver on his back, nocked it on his bow, and shot. The arrow flew straight into the center of the farthest target, which was barely the size of a hand spread wide.

“No you can’t, you didn’t even look!” Holly scowled, and turned back around. “Sorry about him, Chase. He’s been snippy.”

“Well I wouldn’t be snippy if I hadn’t been standing out here for an hour, waiting for someone who didn’t bother to show up on time,” Lukas snapped.

“I’m not an hour late,” Chase protested weakly. Even behind the fox mask, Lukas’s expression was twisted with frustration and annoyance.

“It’s a matter of principle,” Lukas said, finally turning to face Chase. When he did, Chase noticed the symbol on his mask for the first time: an X, with a dot to either side.

“Let’s just get into it,” Holly said, folding her arms. “Now, Chase. You’re a hunter, yes? So you have some experience with shortbows.”

“I can shoot, yes,” Chase agreed. “But I’ve never heard the term ‘shortbow’ before.” Lukas rolled his eyes, a motion that was partially hidden by the mask but still visible enough for Chase to catch.

“It means a smaller bow, in comparison to Lukas’s massive beast of a longbow over there.” Holly gestured towards Lukas’s bow; it was almost as tall as him. “Shortbows are better for mobility and closer range, while longbows are more suited for staying stationary and shooting long distances.”

“Ah.” Chase nodded. That made sense; bigger bows were more powerful, but also harder to draw back and move around. Amabel once tried to shoot Chase’s own bow when she was seven, and couldn’t pull the string even a little.

“I’m assuming you’re a fairly good shot,” Holly said, rubbing her chin. “So you’ll probably need to work with me more. I’m in charge of close-range combat, while Lukas handles the long range, with bows. So if we’re to—”

“Hold on a moment, Holly,” Lukas interrupted. “I want to see what he can do.”

Holly shot Lukas a dirty look. “There’s no need—”

“Of course there is. We should know what our starting point is.” Lukas turned and walked towards a nearby weapons rack, picking out a smaller shortbow and a quiver of matching arrows. He headed back to the others and thrust the tools at Chase. “Show me how well you hunt.”

“...alright. I will.” Chase took the bow and quiver slowly. He didn’t like being tested, especially not when the test was proposed by a man who clearly thought he was some sort of spy for the King and might be looking for an excuse to kick him out. Should he pretend to be worse than he actually was? No, that would just be complicated. He’d shoot normally.

He stepped up to the place Lukas had been standing, facing the targets, and strapped the quiver onto his back. For a moment, he examined the bow. Solidly built. Looked newer than the one he used back home. And had these odd curves...was this a recurve model? He’d heard of them, but never used one before.

“Soon, please!” Lukas called.

Holly promptly hit him on the back of the head. “Take your time, Chase! Don’t worry!”

Chase nodded. His mouth was suddenly very dry. But he swallowed his nerves, adjusted his stance, and nocked an arrow. He hit it against the back of his head in the process of taking it out of the quiver—not being used to wearing it on his back—and glanced back at the two watching to gauge their reactions. Holly looked supportive, but Lukas was unreadable. He looked away again.

There were ten arrows in the quiver and ten targets set up in front of him. He must need to hit all of them. So he drew back, aimed, and let loose the arrow.

Ten arrows.

Five of them hit the closest targets. Two of those hit their target’s center.

One hit the edge of one of the farther targets.

The remaining four missed.

Feeling a sinking feeling in his stomach, he turned back to Holly and Lukas.

“Wow. That was the most utterly average thing I’ve ever seen,” Lukas said bluntly.

“You hit more than I can!” Holly said positively, giving him a short round of applause. “That’s great!”

Chase nodded silently. “I...I’m not used to this bow.”

Lukas hummed. He went to collect the arrows, giving Chase a side-eyed look as he walked past. It seemed as though his suspicions hadn’t been assuaged. If anything, he looked even more wary.

Holly walked up to Chase and clapped a hand on his shoulder. Chase promptly lost his balance from the force of the contact, and Holly helped him right himself. “Sorry about that,” she said. “And sorry about Lukas. He’s just...he has a hard time trusting people. I’m sure you’ll win him over.”

“It’s fine,” Chase said distantly. “I mean, not everyone’s going to immediately welcome someone new into a group like this. You need to keep secret. There are risks.” Still, Lukas’s distrust, combined with his mediocre shooting skills, left him feeling a bit down. Like a cloud passing over the sun, everything just seemed...disappointing.

Lukas returned, arrows in hand. “Do it again,” he said.

“Elders and Sisters, Luke, we don’t have all day,” Holly protested.

“He needs to practice,” Lukas said, stone-faced.

“He needs to start with me! You can’t handle all your problems from a distance, especially in our situation. What’s he to do if a King’s man jumps him from behind and all he has are arrows?”

“It’s fine,” Chase repeated. He rubbed his arm; they hadn’t given him an arm guard, and despite the jacket fabric, his skin still stung from the bow string. “We have until dinner.”

Holly gave him a look, but sighed and stepped back. “One hour of shooting, then it’s my turn.”

Lukas nodded. “Deal.”

Chase sighed a bit, and took the arrows from Lukas. It was turning out to be a long day.

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