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#beneath a scarlet sky
aurorawest · 2 years
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Reading update:
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YA graphic novel about werewolves. I was kind of meh on it. The artists switched off each chapter and I preferred the style of one of the a lot more.
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Military fake dating romance. I like Annabeth Albert a lot so I enjoyed this, though it’s not my favorite thing I’ve read of hers. I was rooting for the two dumbasses to just admit they love each other. My major problem with this one was that I didn’t feel the barrier to them being together was...a thing. Like, once they realized they both had feelings for each other, which they did basically immediately, there was no reason for them to not just...get together for real.
I have the sequel to this one in my TBR pile as well, but it focuses on a character I found extremely annoying in this one. Then again I also didn’t like the side characters in Conventionally Yours, but I ended up enjoying Out of Character more.
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I really wanted to like this one, and it was fine. But I didn’t love it? Maybe I just don’t really care for the rich businessman trope. Or the grumpy/sunshine trope? I also have the second book in this series in my TBR pile so we’ll see if I like that one better.
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I was also pretty meh on this. idk? I liked the main character but I didn’t really care about the love interest. And it kind of felt like they only got together because the MC got his heart broken by the guy he spent most of the book pining for.
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I loved this one! I love KJ Charles, and I seem to be a sucker for post WWI and post WWII mlm romances. Also I loved the fact that the love interest is shady and double-crossing but genuinely cares about the MC. *chef’s kiss* I had to order the other two in the series after I finished this one.
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It’s weird to read basically all queer books and then to read a book that...isn’t queer. I picked this one up because it’s sci-fi, set in Minnesota, and by a Minnesotan author. It was pretty good, and I think the first in a series? It’s about how a small town in the Boundary Waters experiences a huge boom because meteorites containing this crazy metal hit there. Features Superpowers From Space (Stan Lee is thanked in the acknowledgements), an idealistic woman cop, and military experimentation.
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Very good book that’s inspired by the HH Holmes murders during the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair (The Devil in the White City is a nonfiction book about the subject, if you’re familiar with that). The story centers on a Jewish teen who more or less gets possessed by the spirit of the young man he loves, who is murdered by a serial killer who appears to be targeting young Jewish men. I love World’s Fair settings, and I haven’t read many books with a Jewish cast of characters, particularly not queer Jewish characters, so that was very cool. I recommend this one.
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This has been sitting in my TBR pile for like 5 years, and I finally read it. It was a WWII book? idk. I know people love it but it was a solid 3 stars for me. Easy read, though, so despite its length, I got through it fast.
And currently reading:
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Why have my last three reads had red covers? I didn’t do that on purpose. Anyway I’m almost halfway through this one and it’s good...but idk if I’ll continue with the series because I read a review that mentioned the endgame romance is a polyship, and I find polyships very squicky (no shade if you like them, they’re just not for me). The world is interesting and I like the main character, and the character who presumably will be his love interest down the line. I’ll have to see how I feel once I finish it.
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normavasquez · 6 months
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"People are dying and you're playing music?" Several people came into the hallway behind his mother, including his aunt, uncle, and fater. Michele said, "Music is how we survive such times, Pino." - Mark T. Sullivan Beneath a Scarlet Sky
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astraystayyh · 3 months
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red lollipop.
f2l. tension and mutual pining under the stars.
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a red lollipop.
that is the most recurring vision in felix’s dreams, the scarlet candy swirling around his mind in abstract shapes, draping his sleep-state with saccharine thoughts.
felix realized that he liked you because of one singular red lollipop.
he had known you for as long as his memory allowed him to recall. years of friendship where you had laughed until your stomach ached, but also dried his tears and held his hand until his darkest nights passed. wherever you were, so was he. his one platonic pilar in life.
so, when felix watched you indulge in a red lollipop on a random summer afternoon, he felt distraught, to say the least.
the candy swirled around your tongue absentmindedly, its vivid hue imprinting itself onto your glossy lips. your eyes were cast on the open book before you, and the lollipop seemed to liquefy and drip on felix’s cheeks, for they were blooming with a blush he had never sported before.
felix wanted to kiss you, suddenly, without a previous warning. he imagined pressing his mouth onto yours and letting the sweetness of your being run through his, over and over again, till all he remembered was the chant of your name and the taste of strawberries melting on your mouth.
it is weeks later and you are sucking on another lollipop right now. only this time you are looking up at the sky, stars scattered like gems reflected in your eyes— a mirror crafted solely to capture the beauty surrounding you.
you love stargazing with felix, dragging him with you each time the weather forecast predicts a clear sky. the blanket you laid out feels soft beneath your bodies, but it pales before the softness of your hands as they brush against his own, each time you point out a star that twinkles a bit more than the rest.
he’s awfully quiet tonight, afraid if he opens his mouth then the only words that would spill out would be “you’re so pretty” and “please, please kiss me till i can’t breathe.” so, he chooses silence, his gaze subtly lingering on your form, his eyes fixated on that damned lollipop.
“you know, i think astronauts missed the prettiest constellations,” you muse and he hums, intrigued, tilting his head to look at you.
you prop yourself up on one arm, your hair cascading like a blanket over the contours of his face, its ends brushing against his cheeks akin to soft feathers. you nudge the lollipop to the right side of your cheek, a gentle smile playing on your lips as you gaze down at him.
felix’s gulp is awfully audible in the quietude of the night.
“they missed this one,” you trace with your finger over his freckles, as if they are coffee-stained stars forming constellations of their own. you then follow the trail over the bridge of his nose, your finger lingering just above the slate of his cheekbones, gliding slowly over the freckles beneath his eyelids.
his heart hammers in his throat, pulsates in his knee and stomach— you are bringing each one of his pulse points to life with your touch.
you are flirting with him, right? friends don't gaze at each other like this, with pupils fully dilated and a hand delicately grazing their cheeks as if tending to a fragile china vase.
he’s too far gone in you to back out. he yearns to find out, now.
so, he boldly plucks the lollipop from your mouth, guiding it teasingly over your lips, leaving them coated with the sticky sweetness of red. His breath catches as you tilt your head, a silent dare in your gaze, and the stars above fade into oblivion as he gazes at you – you, whose essence is crafted from moon dust itself.
“can i kiss you?” he whispers quietly.
“i thought you’d never ask,” you smile softly, before leaning down to press your lips on his own. they remain there for a few seconds, unmoving, but felix grows greedy as his hand untangles in your hair, moving you even closer to him.
your lips move in a steady rhythm and felix feels drunk on the softness of your lips, on the way your mouths meet only to part once more, on the dulcet way you bite his lower lip, on your saccharin taste tinted with strawberries and summer fields.
“i… i like you so much it’s driving me insane,” he confesses, chest heaving. “can i be yours? please?”
felix dreams of the lollipop yet again that night, red like the blush that sprouted on his cheeks as you kissed him again before you freed him from his longing, ‘yes,’ you said, ‘i’ve only ever been yours’. red like the blood coursing through his veins carrying your name to the chambers of his heart. red like the marks you left on his neck, collarbones and chest, anywhere your lips could reach, everywhere your love would be felt in.
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starstruck-if · 2 months
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You weren't supposed to be here. Why were you here? You know full and damn well that you setting foot on this planet could spell catastrophe for any unfortunate form of life that lived there if you were ever to be found.
But it's not as though you had a choice. Where else would you go? So, you did what any other terrified being did. You fled. That fate-sealing choice was what brought you here.
What brought you to her.
You had fallen from the sky and into some poor, unsuspecting woman's territory. She had been holding a glowing box-shaped object in her hand, staring at you with those mesmerizing scarlet red eyes of hers. She didn't seem bothered at all, albeit a little shocked.
Crouching down to your trembling form, she tucked a strand of her black hair behind her ear, quirking a brow at you. A strange, playful grin stretched across her pretty face.
"Who the hell are you?"
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ST☆RSTRUCK is a (probably) upcoming 18+ dark fiction interactive novel where you play as a runaway alien from a different galaxy, find refuge on a planet called Earth, and befriend a worldwide famous girl while also trying to fit into society and avoid getting caught by the cosmic gods.
DEMO: TBA
Play as an otherwordly being! Choose between male, female, and anything in between. You'll be able to change pronouns whenever you see fit.
Romance from a choice of characters. I see characters as having their own identity as a human would, so some RO's are gender-specific.
Try to blend into human society! You'll be able to shape the Star's (MC) personality through choices.
Customize your Star's alien appearance and human form!
Choose a special ability: telekinesis, empath, mind reading, super strength, teleportation, mind control, necromancy, light manipulation, and more!
Make allies if you choose to tell others about being an eldtrich monster! Watch your back, though. It would be wise to not be too trusting.
Uncover dark secrets about characters, the universe, and yourself as you go. Some things aren't as they seem.
Decide whether or not you belong on Earth, or if your place is within the universe.
Save humanity! Or destroy it. You do you.
...Fight a space kitten?
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ROMANCE OPTIONS
Embry Harrison (F) || The Popst☆r
The young human that found you — probably because you literally crashed into her backyard. She's the only person who knows what you are. Embry is fun, not to mention she's drop-dead gorgeous. Playful, free spirited, mischevious, she's also your best friend who happens to be a worldwide famous popstar, actress, and model. She's just the person you need when it comes to knowing how to hide yourself under a facade...or perhaps she's the worst if you'd like to keep a low profile, due to her constantly being stalked and bombarded with crazed fans.
Could she be hiding something beneath that smile?
"Ah, I keep forgetting you're from a different planet or whatever. Okay, check it out! This is what we mortals call a phone..."
Special: Poly Option with Shade or Love Triangle
Trope: Best Friends to Lovers or Unrequited Love/Idolization
Shade "Prince" James (M) || The Prince
A childhood close friend of Embry's. He's the eldest son of a billionare CEO and the heir to the company. He also seems to hate your guts, for some reason. You've never been able to work out why. Standing at 6 foot 3 with an attractive face and more money than he knows to do with, Shade could get anything he wanted and any woman he asked for. However, that sour attitude and introverted nature drew everyone away, much to his appreciation. The only people he seems to truly care about are his siblings and the very few true friends that he has.
"What do you want?"
Gender-Locked: Female/Male MC's
Special: Poly Option with Embry or Love Triangle
Trope: Enemies/Frenemies to Lovers
Axel James (M) || The Eclipse
Axel was used to being ignored, it was expected. His older brother was made to take over in their father's place eventually; he was just a backup. Always coming second, desperately wanting his parent's attention. He never held it against Shade, though. He loved his brother. He was used to finding out his friends weren't actually his friends, or his crushes were merely there to get closer to Shade. He felt pathetic, being in the spotlight but having no one you could truly rely on. Did anyone truly care? If he just disappeared, would anyone bother to look for him? Those thoughts plagued his mind for years and years, and every passing moment, he started to believe they were true.
...Well. Until he met you.
"...Hey. Uh, I'm — shit, okay — sorry. Thanks for...well, being here, I guess."
Trope: Friends to Lovers or Unrequited Love
Epiphany "Pip" James (F) || The Sun
Could she even be counted as a true 'James'? She was the result of an affair an unfaithful Mr. James had. Once Mrs. James had found out of this, she forbid her from speaking to her half-brothers.
Did she let that stop her? Hell no.
In secret, the trio of siblings texted and called and met up. They were close, all three of them. It was amazing, really; how someone who had been shunned by society and harassed daily managed to stay so positive, bringing energy wherever she went. She was the personification of sunshine and rainbows.
Or so you think.
"Oh, hey! Listen, listen! I found this SUPER cute café yesterday and - huh? Oh, it's okay. I don't care what everyone else thinks as long as you like me."
Gender-Locked: Female/NB MC's
Trope: Friends to Lovers
Astro (Selectable Gender) || The Supern☆va
You remember this person vaguely. They have the same name, the same voice, the same mannerisms as someone you knew long ago.
But that couldn't be possible.
They were dead.
"I missed you."
Trope: ??? to Lovers
"Khaos" (M) || ???
No...no. He couldn't have found you. You hid so well. You're just imagining things. Yeah, that's it. There's no way you just saw [REDACTED]'s haunting gaze boring into your mind — you were overthinking this; playing tricks on yourself because you were stressed.
...That had to be it. He's not here.
He'snotherehe'snotherehe'snotherehe'snotherehe'snot—
"Found you."
Trope: ??? to Lovers
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sarahscribbles · 3 months
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saz i am the FIRMEST of believers that loki’s into cock warming, especially when he comes home from a long mission or gruesome battle literally all he wants is to be nestled inside you for hours 😌
𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐇𝐢𝐦 𝐇𝐨𝐦𝐞
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𝐒𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲: 𝐋𝐨𝐤𝐢 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐚 𝐬𝐢𝐱 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤 𝐛𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞
𝐏𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐋𝐨𝐤𝐢 𝐱 𝐟!𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫
𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞: 𝐅𝐥𝐮𝐟𝐟, 𝐒𝐦𝐮𝐭
𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 𝟐.𝟔𝐤
𝐋𝐨𝐤𝐢 𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭
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The endless sky stretching beyond the Allmother’s library is a vibrant swirl of scarlet and amber when you hear the clatter of a dozen hooves in the courtyard below. Over the excited braying of horses you hear the calls of Einherjar for stable hands and body servants, and the book in your lap quickly tumbles to the floor with a thump as you rush towards the window in a flurry of skirts. 
The sudden disturbance in the quiet of the evening can only mean that the campaign is over and the princes are home.
Loki is home.
You reach the window just as he swings a long leg over his horse and drops elegantly to the ground, looking every inch the warrior in leather and metal. The last dying rays of sun catch the small golden band around his finger and the breeze tousles his perfectly styled hair, but he barely appears to notice because his attention is already fully focused on something else. 
You, standing at the library window. 
He found you within five minutes of arriving back home. Always, your husband will find you, as though some invisible string connects his heart to yours. 
The smile that curls across his lips when he catches your eye is both devilish and devastating, as is the wink he offers you as his horse is taken away.
A kaleidoscope of butterflies takes flight in your stomach and your fingers curl tighter around the pillar they rest on. Six weeks he’s been gone - one of the longest campaigns of your marriage - and it’s taking everything in you not to run through the palace and have him right there in the courtyard.
Perhaps more than once. 
His bright eyes linger longingly on you until he disappears beneath the window ledge and into the Palace. From the floor below, you hear the gentle buzz of conversation and revelry as the warriors recount their journey to victory for anyone who will listen. You hear the distinct sound of Thor’s war cry; the hearty cheers of The Warriors Three; the joyous clanging of swords in celebration…
You hear the familiar deep roll of laughter that you would recognise anywhere.
The sound of your husband’s mirth, his uncontained joy, makes you giddy with excitement, the likes of which you haven’t experienced since you first started courting him or the first time you got to taste his kiss. You’ve missed him - missed the warmth of his embraces, the softness of his lips, the easy way he can make you laugh without even trying.
You’ve missed your best friend.
Forgetting all about the book you’ve left lying, pages akimbo, on the floor, you rush from the library on quick, quiet feet to race your husband to your chambers. You know it will be his first port of call, as it always is after any length of time you spend apart, and the thought alone is enough to make you fizzle wildly with anticipation. 
Will he take his time worshiping your body? Will those large, gentle hands spend hours refamiliarising themselves with every dip and curve? Will his lips lavish attention on you until not an inch of you has been left unkissed? 
Or, will he back you against the chamber wall and hoist your skirts around your hips? Will he rip your bodice from your body and roughly have his way with you? Will he make you orgasm again and again until you go limp in his arms? 
Perhaps both if you’re lucky. 
Perhaps this reunion will be similar to the last when neither of you were seen outside your chambers for three days; one day of pleasure for each battle the Asgardians had won, so your husband had promised. 
And delivered on. 
The late evening air tingles with his magic as you pass along the Palace hallways. He’s closer than you had initially believed, but when you finally approach the ornate double doors of your chambers, only the two Einhenjar stand outside. 
You breeze quickly past them with a brief nod, stepping straight into the empty living area of your chambers. There’s nothing to suggest that Loki is anywhere within or lurking in the rooms beyond, so you haltingly let your guard down. 
Beyond the walls of your chamber, you hear the merry sounds of the warriors making their way to Odin in the heart of the Palace to boast of their victory. They pass by in a raucous cacophony of cheers and shouts - still loudly retelling the events of each battle to their eager audience of courtiers - and you prepare for your husband to come striding through the doors energised by victory.
But they remain firmly closed.
Your brow furrows at the same time a knot of disappointment twists in your stomach. Loki’s letters from the battlefield had been dripping with innuendo and filthy promises of how he planned to ravish you upon his return - some so salacious that you’d had to lock the doors to your bedchamber early in the afternoon. 
Surely, after so many promises of debauchery, he wouldn’t choose an audience with Odin over you. 
The sounds of Thor and his fellow warriors become increasingly more faint and still there’s no sign of Loki. You wait another minute and then start towards the doors, but you’ve barely taken three steps when a familiar pair of arms wrap around your middle so suddenly that you yelp in surprise. 
“I caught you, my little mouse.” Loki’s soft voice purrs in your ear, and you feel his warm lips press a lingering kiss to your cheek. 
You pretend to huff, but it’s impossible to stop the smile that spreads across your face at being back in your husband’s embrace. “How do you always manage to do that?”
His answering laughter makes your heart swell. How had you survived six whole weeks without him? 
Loki places one last kiss to your temple and twirls you around in his arms. You’re flush against his chest and the familiar feeling of safety washes warmly over you. “Do you forget to whom you are married, dove?” he teases, eyes twinkling as he gazes at you. 
“As if such a thing is even possible!” you reply, teasing him just as easily.
“Little vixen,” he murmurs, and pulls you tighter against his chest. “Did you miss me?” 
Briefly, you consider teasing him a little more, but something in his eyes makes you reconsider. Reflected in them clear as day is how deeply he missed you and how desperately he needs to hear you say that you noticed his absence. 
“Like one would miss a limb,” you say softly and twist your arms around his shoulders.
Loki smiles and dips his head to kiss you gently. It’s sweet and innocent yet it still awakens six weeks of need within you. Your fingers curl greedily into his hair as you pull him to you, silently begging him for more, but you only feel him bite your lower lip and pull back. 
“Don’t you wish to go and congratulate Thor and the others? I’m sure they would relish the praise of their Princess,” he says, his pretty green eyes dancing with mischief at your pout. 
“The only thing I wish to do is spend the next few hours welcoming my husband home,” you reply.
The very thought has a throbbing ache begin between your thighs. You picture tousled bed sheets and your husband's firm body writhing and flexing beneath your hungry fingers. You want to spend hours losing yourself to the feel of him and clutch him to you like a life raft as he makes Valhalla dance behind your eyes.
You want to enjoy your husband. 
Loki squeezes your hips. “You know there’s nothing in the Nine that I can deny you, darling.”
Before you can draw breath to reply, he’s easily tossing you over one shoulder and carrying you towards your bedroom. Your shrieks of laughter ring through the chamber. After six weeks, your heart is full again, swelling with love for the man who’s rushed straight home to you and is kicking the doors to your room closed with a satisfying bang. You wait for the inevitable feeling of soaring through air as he tosses you onto the bed, but seconds pass and you’re still draped over his shoulder. 
“Are we feeling sentimental this evening?” you question, only half teasing. 
By now, you had expected to be stripped and possibly restrained to the bed, but your husband appears to be in no rush to have his way with you. 
“Possibly,” Loki answers, lightly tapping your ass. 
He sets you down gently on your feet, then takes both your hands in his to raise them to his lips. They’re warm as they kiss the backs of your knuckles and his sparkling green eyes never once leave yours. 
“Undress me, darling,” he whispers softly and releases your hands.
He’s already stepped out of his heavy outer armour, likely as soon as he stepped inside the palace, leaving him in the casual, soft leather that you know all too well. Your practiced hands reach out easily to push the long overcoat off his broad shoulders, and it falls to the stone floor with a quiet thump.
The rest of his clothing is quick to follow. It’s beautifully intimate, undressing him - revealing him piece by piece so you can marvel at this beautiful man who wears your ring on his finger. You reach out to lightly trace the scars on his abdomen that weren’t there last time, scars that you’ll kiss over and over while he falls asleep in your arms later. 
“I’m fine,” Loki whispers, reading your thoughts while your fingers continue to dance over his skin. 
Your eyes dart to his, searching for any tiny flick of untruth. The god of lies he may be, but he can hide nothing from you. 
“I promise, dove.” He continues, letting his hands fall to rest on your hips. “I’ll recount the story of every new scar for you if I must.” 
Your own hands find his on your hips to pull them to the fastenings of your gown. “I insist on it, my prince,” you say with a smirk. 
Loki rolls his eyes, but the smile he gives you is nothing short of adoring. “As you wish,” he says, and begins to trail a single finger along the bodice of your gown. 
In a pale shimmer of green the fabric disappears before you, melting to nothing until you’re finally bare before him. His eyes drink you in - heavy with six weeks of pent up desire - and you can’t fight the shiver when he reaches in to suck a bruise to the juncture of your neck and shoulder. 
“Beautiful,” he murmurs, placing a kiss over your bruising skin. “Ethereal.” He adds, sliding his hands around your waist and letting them run along your lower back to squeeze your ass. 
“Mine,” he says more forcefully, placing a firm kiss to your lips at the same time his hands lock around your knees. 
You squeal against his lips as he hoists you into his arms, but easily lock your legs around his hips and your arms around his neck. You feel the shift of his body as he climbs onto the bed, but instead of being laid back amongst the generous piles of pillows as you expected, Loki positions himself back against the intricate headboard with you still straddling his lap. 
“How I missed you, my darling wife,” he says quietly when his lips leave yours, and then he’s coaxing you onto your knees before him. 
Loki takes your hand in his and guides it towards his cock, wrapping your fingers around it with a contented sigh. You know what he’s asking without him having to say a word. 
Slowly, you begin to stroke him, watching his eyes flicker closed when you increase the pressure. “Did you miss me? Or did you miss this?” you tease him. 
“How unfair of you to make me choose,” he replies instantly. 
You squeeze his cock with a smirk, not missing the quiet groan that floats from him or the slight curl of his upper lip. 
“Oh, that might cost you later, dove,” he says. It’s meant to be a warning, you know, but it only makes your core burn for him. 
“Perhaps that’s what I’m counting on,” you quip back quickly, which makes the god in your bed chuckle softly. 
His cock grows beneath your touch, which only makes a surge of power shoot straight to your head. You begin to stroke him faster and apply just the barest hint of pressure, but a large hand quickly reaches out to still yours. 
“Am I…,” you begin, but trail off when you glance towards him. 
Loki’s eyes are alight and dancing with the promise of mischief. Without a word, he edges you forward on the bed until your aching cunt is directly above his cock. You clench desperately at what you know is coming and it feels like an eternity until Loki is coaxing you down and the head of his cock is brushing teasingly against you. 
He maddingly drags himself through your soaked cunt again and again, pulling groan after groan from deep in your chest. Your nails dig into the pale skin of his shoulder, leaving a pattern of tiny half moons in their wake as you fix him with pleading eyes. 
“Fuck, Loki. Please, put it in,” you beg, needing to feel your husband fill you after six long weeks apart. 
Loki grins back mischievously. “As my love commands.” 
Slowly, he eases his cock inside you, making you take him inch by inch until you can take no more of him. He hisses at the feel of your cunt clenching wildly around him, and you’re rewarded with a stream of moans and curses until you’re fully seated on him. 
A hand closes quickly around the base of your skull to pull you in for another blistering kiss that’s lazy and wondrously sloppy. “I missed this tight little cunt,” he rasps into your ear with a roll of his hips. 
“Fuck,” you curse softly and let your head fall to his shoulder. 
He feels so blindingly good inside you that all you want to do is ride him until he can’t remember his own name, but when your hips begin to rock against his, Loki plants two strong hands on them to hold you still. 
“Ah, ah, darling. This is more than enough for now,” he says lightly. 
Not fully believing what you heard, you pull back to peer at him. “What? Loki, it’s been six -.” 
“Shhh, dove. I thought you insisted on hearing all about our time away?” he replies. 
“Yes, but not now! There will be plenty of time for you to tell me after!” You try not to whine. There had been three battles in all, and Loki had promised to tell you about all of them in detail. 
Your husband shifts beneath you, making you whimper when his cock does the same. “Perhaps, but, for now, I wish to have my darling wife warm my cock as I tell her about our victories. Would you deny me that?”
He knows that he has you. You can’t deny this man anything, even if it means spending a tortuous evening with his cock inside you. 
“No,” you reply, fighting to keep from pouting. 
Loki pulls you in for another quick kiss. “Good girl,” he says and gives another teasing roll of his hips. “If you can continue being good and not try to pleasure yourself all evening, then I will personally see to it that you don’t walk properly for the next week.”
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theinnerunderrain · 4 months
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Love Me Dead [Yan!Boyfriend x Fem!Reader]
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Warnings: Yandere themes, manipulative behaviors, heavily dialogue bc it's just mostly talking and gaslighting, college life, may be somewhat confusing but it's that story that is up to your interpretation!
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"[First Name]."
A sizable and gentle hand enfolds your wrist, eliciting a startled leap at the unexpected touch. Casting a curious glance over your shoulder, you discern the hand's owner—a figure with a tousle of rich brown locks. The air on campus carries a lingering blend of pumpkin spice and damp rain, while vibrant leaves in hues of red, yellow, and orange blanket the cement walkway, creating a tapestry beneath your feet.
It was none other than your boyfriend, Asuka.
"Why do you keep ignoring me?"
In a hushed plea, etched with concern and confusion, he inquires, his pallid complexion a canvas for the anxious query. A delicate flush graces his cheeks and ears, a subtle scarlet trace, suggesting an earlier pursuit in an attempt to bridge the distance between you.
"Did I do something wrong..? If I did, then just tell me..."
A dance of confusion painted upon your countenance, a pirouette of bewilderment as you gracefully turned, aligning yourself to face him fully. Brows knitted in contemplation, coral lips drawn into a slender seam, your expression spoke the eloquence of perplexity.
"I'm not ignoring you though..?"
"You are..! You barely text me anymore and avoid me around the campus like I'm some sort of infectious disease.."
He spoke anew, his voice ascending to a higher pitch, an accusatory gaze fixated upon you as though your uttered words were mere echoes of deceit. His other hand delicately enveloped your wrist, creating a symmetrical hold that left you suspended in a still, unsettling equilibrium.
"No I'm not..? Asuka, we both have been busy and I can't spend all day messaging you."
In the chill of the season, you grapple with an awkward attempt at reasoning, noticing the warmth and clamminess of his hands. The contrast, his heated touch against your soft skin, sends an uncomfortable shiver down your spine. Asuka, momentarily lost in contemplation, lets his lips curve into a frown. In that moment, he resembles a kicked puppy, the weight of his next words settling heavily in the air.
"..Are you mad at me..?"
In a suspended breath, he momentarily halted, drawing nearer to you. Amidst the bustling backdrop of students hurrying to their classes, you couldn't help but wonder if curious gazes were directed your way, recognizing the peculiarity of your shared moment beneath the open sky.
"Are you still hung up about last time..? If that's the issue then I'm really sorry, and I've already apologized before...!"
As Asuka continued to speak, words flowed incessantly from his lips, a torrent of increasing urgency evident in the rapid cadence of his cherry-toned voice. A palpable hysteria seeped through his every syllable, mirroring the rising heat radiating from his fervent body. It was as though he embodied a ticking bomb, gradually approaching the brink of overheating, poised to unleash an explosive torrent of emotions.
"Hung up on what?"
Inquiring, you sought release, gently weaving your fingers to disentangle from his grasp, a delicate dance to temper the heat that enveloped. Yet, his clasp remained unyielding, an unspoken embrace refusing to relent.
"Hung up on that time when I was being unreasonable and it made both of us late to our classes."
"No..? Why would I be mad about something like that?"
In the labyrinth of his spoken thoughts, you weave a delicate tapestry, attempting to decipher the cryptic echoes of his mention of unreasonableness. Despite the elusive nature of clarity, you gracefully surrender to the intrigue, deciding to waltz within the enigmatic dance of his words, a willing participant in the artful play of understanding.
"No, there's something wrong but you just won't say it...."
Persistently, Asuka insists, and a subtle irritation blooms within you, despite your inner plea for calm. Yet, his next words delicately wound your heart with a touch of sorrow.
"Do you not love me anymore..?"
"What..?"
In incredulity, you queried, gazing at the young man whose eyes teetered on the brink of cascading tears. The threat lingered in the wells of his eyes, poised to spill over and trace the contours of his fevered cheeks. Yet he continues to rambled.
"Ha! Everything makes sense now. All that cold attitude, and you avoiding me everyday. You lost feelings for me, didn't you?"
His voice crescendoed, rising in both volume and pitch as he advanced, closing the distance until his face hovered mere inches from yours. In this intimate proximity, you couldn't help but sense the burgeoning awareness among fellow students, as they subtly turned their attention toward his unfolding, hysterical unraveling.
"Asuka, how can you say something like that?"
You try to calm him down, speaking in a much softer and calmer tone compared to the man, as if you were a mother trying to calm down a crying child.In the hushed cadence of your voice, a gentle river of reassurance flows, seeking to temper the tempest within him. Your words, soft and serene, weave through the tumult like a mother's lullaby, an attempt to pacify a sobbing child.
"You know...If you had just told me normally that you didn't like me anymore then I would have just accepted that as it is."
Yet, like whispers through the air, your words glide past him. Though a subtle calm embraces him, his voice, now a gentle breeze, unveils a softer cadence, a stark departure from the turbulent tone that had echoed before.
"But why'd you have to go ahead and treat me like that?"
He inquires, guiding your hand to caress the contours of his cheek, gently pressing it against the tender warmth of your palm as if seeking solace in its soft embrace.
"Asuka...I understand you're frustrated but I do love you, and I haven't stopped loving you.."
In hushed tones, your words tenderly caressed the air, coaxing him to nestle against your palm. With a gentle touch, you traced the padded side of your fingers across his cheeks, a soothing rhythm to quell the tempest within him. A graceful guidance led you both to a tranquil refuge, where a brown bench cradled the quietude. There were no other students in sight.
"It's just that, everything has been so stressful with finals and stuff....I swear, I'm not trying to ignore you."
You painted on a smile, and Asuka, with an intent ear, absorbed your words, as though orchestrating a delicate symphony of comprehension within the corridors of his mind.
"But how can I be so sure?"
Once you convince yourself of soothing the man's agitation, his voice resurfaces, posing a question that resonates within your chest, setting a subtle cadence to the rhythm of your heartbeat.
"That you're not just saying that, and that you actually mean it? That you still love me?"
In the quiet expanse of a moment, you pondered his words, delicately crafting a response to safeguard the delicate balance of his emotions. At last, your voice returned, accompanied by the gentle caress of your other hand, tracing a tender path beneath the canvas of his eyes.
"I do love you and you should already know that, Asuka."
Your words, like a subtle elixir, lingered momentarily before gracefully permeating his being. He surrendered to your touch, a gentle immersion into the warmth of your embrace, his grasp on your essence unwittingly tightening. Closer he drew, until the shared touch of both your knees wove a delicate closeness, an unspoken harmony.
"I do...?"
"Yes, you do."
In a graceful motion, you extended your arm, inviting the young man into an embrace willingly embraced. He leaned into your touch, his hand delicately finding its place on the small of your back, creating a tender connection. His body emanated warmth, reminiscent of an oven preheated for hours, yearning for the moment when it could be tenderly turned off. In that intimate embrace, moments stretched like delicate strands of time. His hands held firm against your waist, and his chin found solace upon your shoulders, a subtle dance of closeness. The air bore the comforting aroma of cinnamon and coffee, a fragrant reminder of his presence. As the embrace gently loosened, you parted, a reassuring smile gracing your lips.
"Then, it's settled? I promise to make more time for you, so don't go around thinking I don't love you anymore, alright?"
His countenance eased, a gentle nod painting the canvas of his expression. Where tears once traced delicate paths on his visage, they now evaporated, leaving behind a softened countenance. His lips, once adorned with the weight of sorrow, now curved into a tender smile.
"You promise?"
Once more, you inquire, drawing him into a tender embrace. Your hands cradle the back of his head, granting him the sanctuary to bury his face in the crook of your neck. Unmindful of the ticklish dance of his warm breath upon your skin, you remain oblivious to the subtle curvature of his lips into a contented grin. Nor do you discern the palpable brightening of his eyes, responding softly to your words.
"I promise."
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hisui-dreamer · 3 months
Text
where the light is dim
Pairing: Malleus Draconia x gn!reader
Synopsis: everyone's wandered off in the festival, and you can't even find a familiar face
Tags: poetic themes, fluff, diasomnia shenanigans
Word count: 436
Notes: happy chinese new year everyone🧧🏮🎆!! this was heavily inspired by a chinese poem that takes place on new years (which i attempted a translation of below hehe), and plus it's the year of the dragon, so now we have mal mal festival time (⁠ ⁠╹⁠▽⁠╹⁠ ⁠)
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The east wind blows breezes a thousand blossoming trees,
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The stars, like rain, descend like a gentle breeze.
Bejewelled carriages and fine horses leave a fragrant trail on the road,
Phoenix flutes resound in the wind, the jade lantern’s light flows,
All night, the fish and dragon lanterns dance.
Maidens adorned with gold, extravagant pins in their hair,
Smiling shyly, fragrance lingering in the air.
In the crowd, searching countless times,
Suddenly, turning my head,
There stands the one, where the light is dim.
―青玉案・元夕 辛棄疾
The street pulses with energy, vibrant and bustling beneath a canopy of scarlet lanterns that sway gently in the evening breeze. Each lantern, adorned with intricate designs and tassels, casts a warm, inviting glow that bathes the cobblestone pavement below in a rich crimson hue.
The air is alive with the hum of chatter and laughter, as locals and visitors alike meander through the thoroughfare, their footsteps echoing against the ancient brick walls that line the street. Vendors peddle their wares from colourful stalls, their voices competing with the lively strains of traditional music that drift from nearby taverns and teahouses.
'Where is he?' you thought to yourself, tired from the heavy ornaments painstakingly styled into your hair as you turned and turned your head to catch even a glimpse of him amidst the bustling crowd.
Malleus had invited you to a short trip to the Far East, prompted by Silver's longing to explore the lands of his childhood hero, and swiftly organized by Lilia's enthusiastic urging. You're not sure whether Lilia was aware of it or not, your travels happened to coincide with a grand local festival.
The street offers a multitude of intrigue, from mouth-watering scents from the food skewers to the delicate souvenirs hand-crafted by merchants, and it's not long before you find yourselves gradually becoming separated from the group amidst the bustling crowd. The allure of the vibrant surroundings pulls each person in a different direction, until eventually, you can no longer spot any familiar faces amidst the sea of glamorous outfits adorning the local ladies.
A whirring noise catches your attention, and you turn to the direction of the sound. Your gaze is met with the spectacle of fireworks illuminating the night sky, their explosions of brilliance painting the heavens with vibrant hues, scattering glittering sparks like diamonds. Brilliant reds, dazzling blues, and alluring golds intertwine and collide, creating a breathtaking tapestry of colour that captivates all who gaze upon it.
It's a view you want to share with him.
You weave through the crowd once again, deftly sidestepping opulent carriages and elegant ladies. Their alluring perfume mingles with the joyous melodies of the flutes, enveloping you in a whirlwind of sensation that leaves you momentarily dizzy.
A glance down a narrow alley catches your attention, and in the distance, a lone lantern flickers. Squinting to sharpen your focus, you realise you've found the very person you're looking for.
Malleus, tucked away in the shadowy corner, his focus fixed solely upon a weathered lion stone statue.
You can't help the exasperated smile that graces your lips.
Maybe you should've expected that.
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Text
1968 [Chapter 1: Ares, God Of War]
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Series Summary: Aemond is embroiled in a fierce battle to secure the Democratic Party nomination and defeat his archnemesis, Richard Nixon, in the presidential election. You are his wife of two years and wholeheartedly indoctrinated into the Targaryen political dynasty. But you have an archnemesis of your own: Aemond’s chronically delinquent brother Aegon.
Series Warnings: Language, sexual content (18+ readers only), violence, bodily injury, character deaths, New Jersey, age-gap relationships, drinking, smoking, drugs, pregnancy and childbirth, kids with weird Greek names, historical topics including war and discrimination, math.
Word Count: 5.7k
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💜 All of my writing can be found HERE! 💜
Let’s begin with a definition.
Disaster is a noun derived from Ancient Greek: dus, a prefix meaning “bad,” and aster, or “star.” In the time when humans worshipped Zeus and Hera, Hephaestus and Aphrodite, it was believed that tragedies resulted from the inauspicious positioning of celestial bodies: a volcano erupts because of Jupiter, a returning comet brings with it a flood. There is a certain helplessness inherent in this mythology. There is predestined suffering that lies in wait until all the jewels of the sky have malignantly aligned.
Have you ever met someone who made you ache to change the stars?
~~~~~~~~~~
Gunshots explode through the lobby of the Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach, Florida; you feel the wind of the bullets as they clip by, fragmented metallic rage. Aemond is on the marble floor, blood pouring down his face, blood all over the white shirt beneath his navy blue suit jacket when you rip it open, tearing a button loose. He’s reaching for you through the jostling and the screams, leaving crimson handprints on your mint green dress. And you think: He just won the Florida primary. He’s not supposed to die. He’s supposed to be the president.
“What happened?” Aemond murmurs, his right eye dazed and only half-open; the left has vanished beneath a cloudburst of gore. Perhaps ten yards away, people have caught the assailant and pinned him against one of the vast Venetian windows until the police arrive. They’re roaring at him in red-faced fury, their closed fists strike his ribs and his cheekbones, their knuckles paint him scarlet and indigo.
“You’re alright, you’re alright.” You brace both palms over the maroon stain spreading rapidly across Aemond��s chest and press down as hard as you can. Your fingers are drenched in seconds, warm fading life. He’s bleeding to death. You shriek through the turmoil: “Criston?!”
“Is he okay?” Aemond asks faintly. He means the baby; you’re six months pregnant with his first child, his greatest treasure, his Atlantis, his Holy Grail. Aemond has already decided that it’s a boy. Sometimes you fear what will happen if he’s wrong.
“Yes, honey, the baby’s fine, don’t worry. Criston!”
Aegon is here instead, sweating out rum and ruin like he always is, hair too long, veins full of pills, colliding with you and pawing at his dying brother with untrustworthy hands. “Aemond?!”
You shove Aegon away, splattering him with blood. “Get back, he needs air!”
“Where’s he shot?! Let me see—”
“I told you to get back!”
“Goddammit, you don’t own him! He’s mine too!”
Criston has fought his way through the maelstrom and is dragging Aegon away by the collar of his frayed olive green army jacket, stolen from Daeron when he visited home after basic training, a uniform of embittered revolution worn by a man who’s never fought for anything. “Aegon, make sure someone’s called for an ambulance, then meet the paramedics at the door and help them find us.”
“But—”
“Go!” Criston roars, and Aegon scrambles to his feet and is lost within the crowd. You can hear Otto bellowing at journalists and hotel employees to make space for the fallen senator; there are flashes of cameras and prayers shouted aloud. Above your head are crystal chandeliers and a vaulted ceiling hand-painted by 75 Italian artists in the 1920s; swimming in your skull are visions of Jackie Kennedy in the pink suit filthy with her husband’s brains. It’s just before midnight on Tuesday, May 28th. Upstairs in their oceanfront Imperial Suites, nannies will be shaking awake the absent adults of the Targaryen dynasty, who retired with the children before Aemond made his victory speech in the hotel ballroom: Alicent, Helaena, Fosco, Mimi.
Criston’s hands—larger, stronger—replace yours over the gushing wound in Aemond’s chest. What did the bullet hit? His lung, his heart? He’s not speaking anymore, his right eye is closed. His bloodied hands rest open and empty on the floor. “Criston, he’s dying,” you sob.
“No he’s not. We’re not going to let him.”
“What’s the closest hospital?”
“Good Samaritan is just across the bridge on the mainland.” It’s Criston’s job to know these things, though he had been thinking of you when he plotted his meticulous notes in his day planner: in case you eat a bad cheeseburger, or trip on the stairs, or catch the flu and start burning up with fever. Aemond worries about the baby. Aegon has five children, Helaena has three, and Aemond will feel that he has been robbed of something if he does not swiftly procure a family of his own. He needs you on the campaign trail, but still, he worries.
Across the lobby, the police have arrived to arrest the aspiring assassin. He puts up a fight when they try to handcuff him and earns a nightstick to the gut, an elbow to the nose. He is choking on his own blood. Perhaps he is drowning in it. Good, you think.
“Don’t kill him!” Otto booms at the officers. “I want him alive for trial! I want him to ride the lighting up in Raiford, you keep that son of a bitch alive!”
“Aemond?” You thread your fingers through his soaked hair. What happened to his left eye? Is it somewhere underneath all that carnage, or is it gone? “Please wake up. Please stay with me. We need you. The baby and I need you.”
“He’s going to live,” Criston promises, both hands still clamped over the bullet wound to slow the hemorrhaging.
“Aemond, please…” How can he be the president with only one eye?
An old woman in a yellow striped skirt suit is lumbering close with a homemade prayer rope clenched in her fist. “A komboskini for the senator!” For his last rites. For his soul.
“He doesn’t need it!” Criston says. “He’s not dying! No one is dying tonight!”
Still, you take the komboskini from the lady, each of the 100 knots a prayer unspoken. She is a devotee of Aemond, and you must show her gratitude. “Efcharistó, aderfí. O Theós na se evlogeí.” They are some of the few Greek words you’ve mastered; you’ve used them often since Aemond announced that he was running for president. Thank you, sister. God bless you.
The paramedics arrive, splitting the crowd like a laceration, white uniforms and a stretcher to ferry Aemond away. People are wailing, cursing, swearing vengeance. Aegon has returned and is peering down at Aemond with those large, glassy, muddled eyes, afraid to ask. “Is he…is he still…?”
“He has a pulse,” Criston replies. He helps the paramedics drag Aemond onto the stretcher and strap him to it. Your husband’s shirt is now drenched in red like garnet, like cinnabar, like the poppies that commemorate the boys butchered in World War I, like the wasted blood being spilled in Vietnam, men reduced to memory. “Good Samaritan?” Criston confirms with the paramedics.
“Yes sir,” the most senior one agrees. And then to you, with great deference, with compassion that transcends what somebody can harbor for strangers: “Ma’am, there’s a place for you if you want it.”
“I do,” you say, tear-streaked face, hands bathed in blood. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”
The ambulance is idling outside the main entranceway of the hotel. Criston grasps your hand to steady you as you step up into the back, and you take a seat on the red leather bench beside the stretcher. The paramedics are placing IVs, holding an oxygen mask to Aemond’s face, muttering urgently into their radio, abbreviations and code words you can’t understand, a secret language of organic calamities. High above the stars are crystalline and radiant in a clear sky. In your own chest—unshredded by metal, unpierced by rage—your intact heart is pounding.
The lead paramedic turns to you again and says: “We can fit one more person.”
It’s your decision. You are the senator’s wife; you were supposed to be the next first lady of the United States. You look through the ambulance’s open doors. Aegon stares back expectantly, his hair falling in his face, his arms thrown wide, petulant, combative, useless, drunk. “Criston.”
“Bitch!” Aegon hisses at you as Criston climbs into the vehicle. The doors slam shut, the engine rumbles, the siren squeals as the ambulance races westbound on Breakers Row towards County Road, which connects with Flagler Memorial Bridge and the mainland.
Through the rear window you watch Aegon as he stands in the white-gold hotel luminescence, becoming smaller and smaller until he vanishes, and all you can see are streetlights, and all you can smell is blood.
~~~~~~~~~~
Every story needs its cast of characters. Here are the major players in the summer of 1968.
President Lyndon Baines Johnson is in the White House watching the clocks tick towards November 5th, when his successor will be ordained. He has chosen not to seek reelection. Since his ascension upon Kennedy’s assassination in 1963, Johnson’s domestic focus has been unprecedented civil rights legislation and his War On Poverty, yet what has infected the media like blood poisoning is the war in Vietnam. On the television are napalm bombs incinerating Vietnamese peasants, caskets draped with American flags, riots being beaten down by police, college students torching draft cards and chanting “Hey, hey, LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?” Now the president is sick in body, in spirit, in heart, and this is not a metaphor: he suffered a near-fatal cardiac arrest in 1955 and another shortly after John F. Kennedy was murdered in Dallas, Texas. He will die almost exactly four years after leaving office. Had he sought another term, he would have been unlikely to survive it. The public eye is something like a snake bite; it sinks its fangs in and you hope the venom burns clean before it can curse you with clots or hemorrhages or paralysis, before it can drown you in the dark waters of infamy.
In the void left by President Johnson’s surrender, four factions have emerged within the Democratic Party. The old guard—the same labor unions, congressmen, and local political machines who have steered the platform since the days of Franklin D. Roosvelt’s New Deal—has flocked to current Vice President Hubert Humphrey. Humphrey is competent yet uninspiring, a mid-fifties Midwesterner who flinches at the unpolished fury of antiwar protests and sedately lectures Black Power activists on the dangers of “reverse racism.” He is not a threat. He is a sheep in sheep’s clothing, and this is the time for wolves.
Senator Eugene McCarthy of Minnesota is unapologetically opposed to the Vietnam War, a moral crusader, a reluctant warrior, a man who wears his lack of taste for the presidency like a badge of honor. He feels compelled to run, but he does not crave it. He thinks this makes him a saint; but Joan of Arc was burned at the stake and Saint Lawrence was roasted alive. Like Halloween candy plunked into a child’s neon orange plastic pumpkin, McCarthy has collected his own coalition, college students and posh urbanites who believe themselves to be the future of the Democratic Party. In 2016, people will conjure McCarthy’s ghost when drawing comparisons to a controversial left-wing senator from Vermont named Bernie Sanders.
If McCarthy is the future and Humphrey is the past, then former governor of Alabama George Wallace is downright archaic. He is the candidate of choice for Southern white supremacists, averse to Republicans since Lincoln and still reverent of Depression-era New Deal programs that kept them from starving to death. Wallace is best known for his promise of “segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever,” and pledges to end the chaos that has besieged America through strict law and order. Provided he loses the Democratic primary, Wallace plans to run in the general election as an Independent, hoping to peel away enough support from the major party candidates to force the House of Representatives to declare the winner and then leverage his votes to negotiate an end to federal desegregation efforts in the South. His devoted wife Lurleen just died of uterine cancer, a diagnosis which Wallace kept hidden from her for years; doctors are in the habit of informing husbands of their wives’ ailments and giving them carte blanche control over the treatment plan, which unfortunately in Lurleen’s case was nothing. She was 41 years old.
In his short-lived castle of red corridors like the marrow rivers of bones, President Johnson hides from the hippies who jeer and spit; Humphrey frowns at them, McCarthy tries to appease them, Wallace says the only four-letter words they don’t know are “w-o-r-k” and “s-o-a-p.” But Aemond climbs down from podiums to meet them like old friends. He is young, only 36. He has a brother serving in the swamps of Vietnam. He is focused, determined, insatiable; he devours every scrap of news that is printed about him and writes his speeches by hand. As the self-admitted runt of the Targaryen family, Aemond knows what it is like to be underestimated. He wants a better America, and he wants to be the president, and he wants these things in equal, relentless measure, each fueling the other until these ambitions become inseparable. He has grown up hearing slurs against Greeks and consequently has no tolerance for discrimination, which he contends is antithetical to the American Dream. He attends civil rights marches in labyrinthian cities, antiwar protests on college campuses, union meetings in coal mining towns of West Virginia and Kentucky and Wyoming, music festivals crowded with long unwashed hair and braless women, fundraisers flush with the deep pockets of the Northeastern elite. Aemond’s coalition grows each day, bleeding away strength from his rivals like a Medieval surgeon. Their flesh turns cold and anemic, while Aemond’s heart pumps scalding torrents of blood.
If Aemond wins the Democratic primary at the convention in August, his opponent will almost certainly be the Republican frontrunner Richard Nixon of California. Nixon wants the White House just as badly, and he’s much smarter than he looks. He was Eisenhower’s vice president for eight years in the 1950s and lost to the ill-fated John F. Kennedy in 1960 by a whisker; some say he did not lose at all, but instead was cheated out of 100,000 votes by Kennedy’s mafia connections in Chicago. But with the Democrats divided and their incumbent president floundering, Nixon’s timing has never been better. He was once a poor boy with two dead brothers who earned a scholarship to Duke Law. Now he will become whoever he needs to be to win the presidency of the United States.
1968 is the year of wolves. The fangs are sharp, and the bellies ache with hunger.
~~~~~~~~~~
A local deli has opened early and sent sandwiches to Good Samaritan Medical Center for the family and friends of the senator from New Jersey: ham and Swiss, cucumber and cream cheese, tuna salad, egg salad, pimento cheese, BLTs, Cubans. The lobby is filling up with bouquets of flowers and handwritten notes. You pace and count the knots of the komboskini over and over again as you wait; Aemond has been in surgery for hours. The nurses periodically bring you Styrofoam cups of hot chocolate, scalding watered-down sweetness to distract you from the fact that some surgeon is currently rooting around inside your husband’s ribcage.
Alicent—a convert to the Greek Orthodox faith just as you are, though far more zealous, far more sincere if you dared to admit it—is pleading for God to save her son as she clasps her own prayer rope. Helaena is seated beside her, eerily calm. Helaena’s husband Fosco is wandering around boredly and inflicting small talk upon the nurses, ogling out the third-story windows, playing with his red Duncan yo-yo. Otto is making a series of calls using one of the phones at the nurses’ station. Criston is there too, leaning over the countertop and speaking with Otto in low conspiratorial whispers.
Aegon is sitting alone and glaring at you. He takes a rattling bottle of pills—prescriptions that doctors are too afraid not to write for him when he asks—out of a pocket on the front of his green army jacket, spotted like a leopard with your bloody handprints. He opens the amber-colored, cylindrical container and pours two, no, three tiny white tablets into his palm. He tosses them into his mouth and washes them down with a swallow of his own mediocre hot chocolate, still glaring. You ignore him.
“How could this have happened?” Mimi says again from where she’s slumped in her chair. Aegon’s wife has a Snow White sort of beauty, but with a perpetual ruddiness in her nose and cheeks from the gin she sips constantly. You suppose it would make anyone a drunk, being married to a man like that. Her maiden name was Marina Marceline Leroux, but everyone has always called her Mimi, even the press on the rare occasions when she makes an appearance. Her children—Orion, Spiro, Violeta, Thaddeus, and little Cosmo, only five years old—are all back at the Breakers Hotel with the nannies, the same as Helaena’s. Mimi blubbers to nobody in particular: “How…? Who…? Who would want to hurt Aemond…?”
Someone needs to sober her up. You fetch a BLT off the platter of sandwiches and offer it to her. “Here. Eat.”
“I’m not hungry. Who on earth could be hungry at a time like this? I’m absolutely nauseated, I’ll never want food again—”
“Mimi, eat the sandwich.”
“Fine, fine,” she slurs morosely, then takes an unenthusiastic bite. She listens to you, all the women do. They listen to you, and you listen to Aemond, and the circle is closed and complete.
Criston is walking over now. You turn to him, needing good news, bad news, any news. “It was a Wallace supporter,” Criston says. From his seat, Aegon is watching Criston with his slow drugged gaze, listening intently. “Some bell pepper farmer from up by Jacksonville.”
“He’s been taken to the local jail for holding?” you ask, and then add: “Alive?”
“Yeah, and he already has a record. Assault and battery. His brother-in-law is apparently a Grand Dragon in the Klan.”
“What the hell is a Grand Dragon?”
“Well, it’s higher than a Goblin, but not as illustrious as an Imperial Wizard, does that answer your question?”
“Perfectly.” You smile at Criston, a pained, wry smile. He returns it and places a palm over your belly. You are still wearing the mint green dress Aemond picked out for you this morning, before he won the Florida primary, before he was shot twice by the disciple of a political adversary and laid at death’s doorstep. You are still covered in your husband’s blood.
“You’re feeling alright?” Then Criston smirks, knowing how ridiculous he must sound. “You know. All things considered.”
“We’re both fine. The baby’s moving around, I can feel it.”
“You can feel him, you mean,” Criston teases, knowing Aemond’s preoccupation with his unborn son; but you can’t bring yourself to appreciate the joke.
Aegon says to you suddenly: “How the fuck did you let this happen?”
“What?” you answer, stunned.
Aegon stands and approaches, lurching, raging. “You always have to be right beside him, in the photographs, in the headlines, in the soundbites, but you let some psychopath run up and shoot him? Twice?!”
“I thought he just wanted to shake Aemond’s hand, or maybe get a quote for an article—”
“You didn’t notice the gun?!”
“Aegon, sit down,” Criston orders.
“It happened in seconds,” you say. “You think you would have done better? You and your Valium, and your Librium, and your Percodan? You think your reaction time would have been so superior to mine?”
“Please,” Alicent moans, mopping tears from her pink cheeks with a handkerchief. “Please, don’t fight, not now…”
“We are all friends here,” Fosco adds in his thick Italian accent, yo-yoing by a window.
“You want to be the first lady so bad but you can’t handle it!” Aegon shouts, his voice echoing through the lobby. “You’re not some prodigy, you don’t have all the answers, you’re just a girl who stitched yourself to Aemond and then you let him get shot, he’s being operated on right now, maybe he’s even dying, and you still act like you’re so fucking perfect—”
“You’re mad because you know that everybody here is thinking the same thing,” you tell Aegon, cold and cruel. “That if someone had to get killed tonight it should have been you.”
Aegon’s mouth drops open; he stares at you with that slippery, opaque, stoned woundedness, pathetic, infuriating, illogically childish. Everyone else pretends they haven’t heard you. Alicent sniffles into her handkerchief. Fosco begins humming I Want To Hold Your Hand. Mimi chews sluggishly on her BLT. From the nurses’ station, Otto says, holding the phone to his chest: “It’s George Wallace. He’s calling for Aemond’s wife.” Then he waits to see if you’ll agree to take it.
Of course you will. You have to. You are acting in your husband’s stead. You go to the nurses’ station and grab the handset when Otto passes it to you. “This is Mrs. Targaryen.”
“Ma’am, I just wanted to offer you my sincerest condolences.” He has a pronounced drawl, born and raised in what he has praised as the Great Anglo-Saxon Southland. You animal, you think. You braindead bigot. “I do hope the senator makes a hasty recovery. I sure would like to beat him at the ballot box, but I have no stomach for anarchy. An act like this is repugnant to me, as it should be to any red-blooded American.”
“It was one of yours, do you know that?” you say, dripping venom. “One of your hateful ghouls.”
“I have no such knowledge. But if the shooter does turn out to be a supporter of my campaign, I disavow him utterly. He deserves a nice long sit in Old Sparky and then to meet his maker.”
“You inspire men to commit violence, and then you renounce them when they spill blood. I’m still wearing my husband’s. It’s on my hands, it’s on my dress, and I will not absolve you of blame. You are a gardener of discord. You grow it like roses or wheat. You tend to it until it blooms.” Otto is studying you, bushy eyebrows raised. “If you’d truly like to repent, perhaps dropping out of the Democratic primary would be a good start. And then you could find something useful to do, like drowning yourself.”
From whatever office he’s currently lounging comfortably in, his shoes kicked up on the desk, Wallace chuckles. “Aemond is very fortunate to have as ardent a defender as you, my dear.”
“Yes, a devoted wife is such a treasure. It’s a shame you killed yours.”
“Ma’am, once again, I just wanted to express how terribly sorry I am for your family’s hardship. I would never wish for an incident like this—”
“Maybe you shouldn’t be emboldening white supremacists then!” You slam the phone as you hang up.
Otto looks at you. He says: “Did it go well?”
The heavy double doors leading to the operating theater swing open, and a surgeon steps through them, still drying his hands with a dark blue towel. He has changed his scrubs and washed his skin, but you notice a spot he missed: a fleck of half-dried blood up by his temple. That’s Aemond, you think. That’s a piece of him.
Everyone rushes to gather around the doctor, even Mimi; she lists like a ship taking on water as she walks, gnawing at all that remains of her BLT, just a sliver of white toast crust.
“The senator is alive,” the doctor says, and Alicent cries out in relief. Criston rests a palm on her shoulder. “But we could not save the eye.”
“He’s half-blind?” you ask. There’s never been a half-blind president. There’s never been a Greek one either. And the only reason this is stuck in your mind is because you know it will consume Aemond’s.
The doctor nods. “We had to remove it. The bullet that struck Senator Targaryen in the head, fortunately, was more of a graze. It ricocheted off his skull and didn’t cause any trauma to the brain, but his eye was…” He hesitates, trying to find a more polite word than shredded, macerated, pulverized. “Destroyed.”
“You stopped the bleeding?” Aegon says, astonished. “He’s okay? He’s really okay?”
“The second bullet pierced the thoracic cavity and was lodged less than an inch from his heart. He was very lucky. We repaired the damage to the best of our ability, and I am optimistic that the senator will make a full recovery. He’s resting comfortably now, but he should be awake soon.”
“Oh, thank God,” Alicent says, glistening dark eyes raised to heaven. The salient points gathered, Fosco wanders off again, his yo-yo dangling from its string.
Otto asks: “When can he resume campaigning?”
The doctor is caught off-guard; it takes him a moment to answer. “That will depend on the senator’s stamina as he regains his strength. If he chooses to stay in the race at all.”
Otto scoffs. “Of course he’ll stay in. This is what he lives for. You really can’t give me a ballpark figure?”
The doctor is determinately impassive. “I would estimate a month or two before he can withstand the rigors of the campaign trail again.”
“California is June 4th,” Otto recalls, counting off dates on his fingers. “Illinois is the 11th, New York is the 18th…”
“Look, there are people outside!” Fosco announces excitedly as he peers through one of the windows. “Hello! Hello everybody!”
“Fosco, you idiot, stop waving,” Otto snaps. “Go sit down.”
“But they are cheering.”
“Not for you.”
Fosco, somewhat deflated, grabs an egg salad sandwich off the platter and plops into a chair to eat it. He’s dressed in a green plaid sport coat and tight white trousers, very chic, very European. You’ve never been able to imagine Fosco and Helaena being passionately romantic with each other. They’re both a bit too doll-like for that, closer to Barbie and Ken than flesh and blood, blank stares and vague ambitions.
“Someone should talk to them,” Alicent says softly. She means the crowd that is forming in front of the hospital: journalists, cops, local politicians, mutilated veterans, college kids, farmers, fishermen, women and children, the future and the past. Everyone turns to look at you.
“I’ll do it,” you volunteer. You will, you must. Aemond could have chosen a hundred similarly suited women to be his wife, but he chose you, and when he did your vows became a blood oath.
Criston accompanies you downstairs to where the crowd has gathered just outside the front entrance of Good Samaritan Medical Center. The night air is warm and humid, the stars bright. You had thought of so many things to tell these people as you’d stood in the elevator as it descended, but now your mind is empty, fearful. There are photographers with blinding camera flashes and apostles waiting with famished eyes. From the depths of injustice and poverty and war, they have come to pay their respects to the man they believe is destined to save not just themselves but their world. What should I say? What would Aemond want me to say?
“I am very pleased to share with you all that Senator Targaryen is out of surgery and regaining his strength.”
There are cheers and applause and prayers; you are still clutching the komboskini that the old woman gave you in the lobby of the Breakers Hotel. You see more prayer ropes in this flock, and rosaries too, Bibles and dog tags, copies of The Autobiography of Malcolm X and Joanne Didion’s Slouching Towards Bethlehem.
“We would like to thank you for your heartfelt support. Aemond and I are so very grateful, and he is looking forward to being back on the campaign trail soon.”
More clapping and whistling, and then the crowd waits. You aren’t sure what they want to hear as you stand in the glow of the hospital luminance; your hands are trembling wildly, so you clasp them together as you hold the komboskini. Criston glances over at you, concerned. You settle on the truth.
“The man who tried to kill my husband tonight is a supporter of former Alabama governor George Wallace and an avowed white supremacist. Any ideology that advocates for violence and prejudice is a threat to our bodies, our nation, and our souls. We will not surrender to it, not even when our lives are in jeopardy. We will not concede that hope for a better world is lost. We will press ever onward with the knowledge that God is on our side, and that the future of this country is worth fighting for.”
You are bathed in flashbulb lightning; your ears ring with the thunder of the applause. You are shaking hands now, nodding, beaming, Criston following you like a shadow as you move through the congregation. You stop to listen to a middle-aged woman in a floral dress who wants to give you marriage advice: never get bossy, don’t become selfish, remember that you are his safe harbor in the storms of life. It is your job to gift her your momentary veneration. You have beauty, but she has wisdom; or at least, that is the bargain that has been struck, that is the presumption everyone agrees upon. She must have some advantage over you, otherwise the decades she has spent in service of her parents and husband and children have been wasted, she has carved away pieces of herself to feed hungry mouths until she vanished like the doomed nymph Echo. In return, she tries not to envy you too much, not to dismiss you as foolish or frivolous or lustful. Sometimes you think that women are filled with such vicious, relentless self-loathing that it feels good to direct it at someone else for a while, to pick apart another body, to tally up the deficits of her spirit.
“Aemond is so lucky to have you,” the woman says. You can barely hear her over the roar of the crowd.
And you smile as you dutifully reply: “I think it’s the other way around.”
~~~~~~~~~~
There is a television mounted on the wall in Aemond’s room. The news coverage, the volume turned way down low, oscillates between his own near-assassination and the stalled peace talks in Paris. Representatives of the United States and North Vietnam cannot agree, and so each day more body bags are flown home to return the bones of the nation’s sons and fathers to Missouri, Alabama, Idaho, Maine, Wisconsin, Maryland, Arizona, California, New Jersey, everywhere else. Someone has to end it. Aemond will end it.
“I dreamed I won Florida,” your husband mumbles, and that’s how you know he’s awake, here in a hospital bed and wearing IVs like strings of Christmas lights around a pine tree.
“You did,” you tell him, gently smoothing back his hair from his forehead. His left eye—where his left eye used to be—is bandaged; his words are soft and labored. “Humphrey was second. Wallace got third. But you won. And you’re going to be okay.”
“McCarthy?”
“It seems you’re devouring his coalition.”
Aemond’s lips slowly curl into a grin, triumphant. “It is God’s will.” And this is what he always says. It is God’s will that he survives, it is God’s will that he wins the presidency, it is God’s will that you give him sons.
“Yes,” you agree, lifting his right hand to kiss his knuckles. Then you press the komboskini you’re still carrying into his weak grasp. It means more to Aemond than it does to you. “Yes it is.”
Aemond sinks into unconsciousness again, morphine and dreams that blur with reality. There will be pain soon, and plenty of it, but he is free from that impending truth for now. You rise from your chair to tell the rest of the family that Aemond is beginning to wake up. Alicent and Criston will want to speak with him.
When you open the door, Aegon is standing there: an eavesdropper, a trespasser. He glares at you with his large wet ocean-blue eyes, hazy with pills, glinting with resentment. Reluctantly, you step aside to let him in. Aegon wobbles as he passes you and has to grab onto the doorframe to steady himself, scrabbling like a trapped animal.
“You’re a disaster,” you say, caustic like acid, biting, repulsed.
Aegon whirls and jabs his index finger against your chest, bloodstained mint green wool bouclé by Chanel. “You’re a vessel. You’re a cow. And one day he’ll be done with you.”
You feel something hitting you like a bullet, cracking ribs, piercing lungs, tearing muscles and ligaments. Your lips have parted, but you can’t fathom words. Aegon has said many things to you—bitter things, belittling things, things in mixed company, things when you’re alone—but never this. For the first time since you met him two years ago, he has won one of your sparring matches. He has the upper hand. He has wounded you.
Aegon can see this, certainly. But he doesn’t seem pleased with himself. He looks a little shellshocked, like he can’t quite believe he said the words, like maybe if given the chance again he wouldn’t take it. But the moment is over now, and you can’t get time back, it is a thread that unspools until every inch is gone, spent, tangled in a thousand webs.
Aegon staggers into the hospital room. You flee from it. Out in the lobby the phone at the nurses’ station is ringing again. They’ll all be calling now to give their requisite sympathies. Humphrey counsels prudence, McCarthy prays for peace, LBJ offers the empathy of someone who has felt the cold gaze of Death in his own doorway, Nixon praises Aemond’s resilience and quotes the ancient philosopher Seneca: “There is no easy way from the earth to the stars.”
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nataliasquote · 1 month
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Mustang | cowgirl nat au
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Summary: The mayor’s daughter. A bounty hunter. One has freedom, the other does not. But will one fleeting night be enough to convince Natasha to leave everything she’s ever known behind?
Warnings: Natasha is a hot cowgirl, cowboy slang
wc: 4.3k
note: this is for all the cowgirl Nat simps out there (yes you know who you are @katyaromanoffpetrova ). And also for @milfs69420 who drew the inspiration for cowgirl Nat in this scene (i’m obsessed with that drawing no joke). I hope this lives up to expectations!
-⧗-
A loud yell echoed across the grassy plain, rising above the sound of thundering hooves and the distant shriek of a stream train whistle. One lone rider, racing across fields she knew like the back of her hand. Strong thighs squeezed the flanks of the midnight horse beneath her as she raised her arms above her head and tilted her face up to the sky, letting the golden rays of the sun soak into her skin. Not once did her balance falter, years of riding making her feel like an extension of the steed beneath her. Her cheeks started to burn with how hard she was smiling, so she placed both hands back on the reins and kicked her horse to speed up.
There really was nothing that Natasha loved more than riding. It was her escape, her outlet, her way of breaking away from her usual daily duties. Was she out on her horse a bit too often? Her father would say yes. But if there was one thing Natasha Romanoff hated, it was being told what to do.
She’d caught up with the train rolling steadily along the tracks and Natasha leaned forwards, scarlet hair, tied in a single braid, flying behind her from under her hat as she raced beside it, trying to keep up. She could feel the muscles of her horse flexing with every stride they took and the rusted green walls of the carriage were almost in reach of her fingertips if she stretched out towards it. The smoke puffing out of the chimney tainted the air that she breathed in, but she barely noticed it through her euphoria. She knew where this train was headed, towards the larger cities, so she broke away and turned back to her hometown, slowing up as they trotted under the town’s welcome sign.
Most walked their horses through the streets on foot, but Natasha stayed seated, guiding her horse through the swarms of townspeople and down to the large house at the end of the main street. She hopped down and tied him to the fence temporarily, making sure he had enough hay and water before she strolled into the house.
Not even bothering to take her boots off, Natasha waltzed into the kitchen and flopped down on a chair. She tossed her hat onto the table and let out a sigh, staring at the small red symbol on the front of her hat.
“Natasha,” a gruff voice called after her. She rolled her eyes. “Where the hell were you?”
“Out,” was all she replied. She didn’t turn around but could feel her father’s eyes boring into the back of her skull. And his disapproving tone was nothing she wasn’t familiar with.
“You were supposed to be home two hours ago, for the opening ceremony.” Without looking at him, she knew how he was standing. Arms folded across his chest as he took up almost the entire doorway. “Yelena was upset you weren’t there.”
Natasha scoffed. ��No she wasn’t, she couldn’t care less.”
“I felt betrayed, actually.” Great, now her sister had joined in. “You’re always choosing Liho over me, don’t you feel my pain?”
“I’m sure you’ll live,” Natasha deadpanned, wanting nothing more than some peace and quiet.
But that was a rarity as the mayor’s daughter. Her whole life was scrutinized, and many people disapproved of her non-traditional ways. “Is there anything else required of me? Or can I leave now?”
Yelena appeared in the corner of her vision, leaning against the kitchen countertop. “Well, I was going to ask if you would come by the range, seeing as you-“
“Ok, so that’s a no.”
“Natasha, be nice to her please. It’s Yelena’s big day!” Alexei’s voice seemed to be in constant ‘public speaker’ mode, which was fine for pretty much everything except quiet conversations in the kitchen. He was too close, and Natasha scraped her chair back and reached for a glass to fill up from the pitcher of sweet tea on the table. Reluctantly, she offered one to Yelena, who accepted with a soft smile. Alexei took their ignorance of his statement to disappear back to his office, and Natasha breathed a small sigh of relief.
“I knew you liked me really.” Natasha deadpanned her comment but Yelena only stifled her giggle behind a sip, the sweet beverage coating her tastebuds deliciously. “I’m not mad, it’s fine. But promise me you’ll shoot this week?”
“I was planning to anyway,” Natasha admitted. “Do you have riding targets too?”
Yelena let out a ‘ha’ and leaned back in her chair, chin tilted towards the window. “What do you take me for, an amateur? That’s like asking if Barton sells beer.”
“Speaking of, fancy a drink?” Yelena gestured to her half full glass with an eyebrow raised. “I was going to go down to Barton’s if you want to join me?”
Yelena thought for a moment, watching a lone ice cube float around her glass. “I would, but I promised Kate I’d meet her at the stables and you know what she’s like if I cancel on her.”
“Suit yourself,” said Natasha. Ok, so maybe she did feel a little remorse over missing the ceremony, but never would she admit that out loud. “I’ll see you later. Oh, and tell Ma to not wait up for me at dinner. I’ll sort myself out.”
“Roger that,” Yelena gave a mock salute and Natasha just rolled her eyes in jest. She grabbed her hat, slipped it on her head and wandered back out of the door, but not before she slipped a few snacks for her horse. Liho was still waiting patiently for her and he swished his tail as he approached, rather fed up of just standing around in the sun.
As Natasha brushed him down and gave the stable a quick tidy, her mind wandered back to the open grassland. What she’d give to never return home, just riding to her heart's content and staying in whatever town she came across. Or just sleeping under the stars, listening to the howls of the coyotes and the thundering hooves of wild horses echoing behind the mountains on the horizon. She craved the freedom that the cowboys had and the small taste she could get would never suffice; she lusted for more.
With a small threat to Peter, the stablehand, to not hurt Liho, Natasha wandered back into the town centre, stopping off at the ammunition store on her way for a magazine refill. She shot the test targets to pieces purely for the fun of it, knowing her aim was impeccable. The owner just rolled his eyes but let her continue; this behaviour was expected. After all, Alexei was a well respected and slightly feared man, which rubbed off onto his daughters too. And Natasha’s fiery temperament was almost as famous as her father was. No one with any brains would ever challenge her to a duel if they wanted to keep their life.
The redhead’s eyes cast over the centre-most building, the brim of her hat concealing the sign on the front. But she didn’t need words to tell her what it was- she knew her second favourite place like the back of her hand. The heels of her boots clicked against the tiled floor as she pushed the wooden saloon doors to swing open, hitting the walls beside them with a crack.
With her hat still dipped low, she paused, surveying the entirety of the room in one fast sweep. Partially content with what she saw, Natasha tipped her hat from her head and tucked it under her arm, feeling strands from her messy braid to fall and frame her face. Green eyes darted across every familiar face, occasionally leading to the subtle tug of a smile to play on her lips if she felt particularly fond of someone, but not many had that blessing. She didn’t pay two minds to the rest of the townspeople once she’d locked on the one person who didn’t think she was completely crazy.
Wild yet utterly desirable, Natasha somehow held every single person captive within her presence. The general chattering subsided as she moved between the tables, even the men who spent their days airing their lungs over bottles of brandy and rum paused their drinking to take a good look at her. If Natasha even cared, she’d be repulsed, but noticing the way the men of the town looked at her had become a thing of the past. She would never settle down so why bother?
The red velvet-topped bar stools were smooth under her jeans as Natasha slid onto one, her hat coming to rest atop the wooden bar. She unbuttoned the cuffs of her green plaid shirt and rolled her sleeves up to her elbows, exposing her forearms with a sigh.
“Didn’t see you at Yelena’s gun range opening today,” the bartender commented as he slid an open bottle of beer in Natasha’s direction. He knew her well, and he should, as her childhood best friend. And Natasha may be unpredictable but her beer choices never wavered.
“Oh don’t tell me you were there too. I swear, if one more person asks me about that I’m going to put a bullet in someone’s head.” Her hand fell to her holster for effect, making the bartender step back, hands raised in surrender. Natasha rolled her eyes and smirked before taking a sip of her beer. “My Pa gave me an earful when I was barely through the door. I don’t see why it matters, Barton, it’s just an opening.”
Clint threw the tea towel he was holding into the sink over his shoulder. “I’m just talking, but she’s your sister, so isn’t it in your duties to go to that kind of thing?”
Natasha shot him an unimpressed look, her brow bone casting a shadow across her eyes in the dim light. “You mean that as her sister, or as the mayor’s daughter? I plan on using the range anyway, so why do I need to show my face now? It’s not even about me.” She puffed out her cheeks and rested her chin on the hand that was placed on the beer bottle rim. “If I was Lena, I’d be happy my sister didn’t show up. She can have the spotlight for a change.”
“Where did you go, exactly?” Clint was the only one who would listen to Natasha’s tales, so he just let her talk whilst he worked. Gave him something refreshing to think about instead of his unruly customers.
“I caught wind of a new group riding out by the Ridge yesterday, so I wanted to check it out. Saw nothing but Ol’ Joe moving his cattle. Swear that man digs for his cannon ev’ry chance he gets.”
“Well, he’s not the best with people,” said Clint, only realising afterwards that he’d just stated the obvious. “Is that what you want though? A group like that?”
Natasha pursed her lips. She hadn’t thought through the logistics of what her future looked like, she knew it involved a lot more open space and a lot less… people. “Not a group, I couldn’t handle that.”
“Nat, you know it’s not safe out there on your own. You need your home, a family.” Clint was family orientated to the core, but the same couldn’t be said for Natasha. “You know it’s even worse for women.”
“I can handle myself,” Natasha scoffed, feeling rather put out by his insinuation. “I don’t need a bunch of asshat guys telling me what to do!
“I know, but-“
“If I wanted an argument, I would have stayed at home,” she pointed out. Clint’s mouth opened before he closed it with a huff, thinking better than to protest again. Natasha’s hands tugged her hair out of her braid, reveling in the feeling of it falling loose around her shoulders.
She chewed on her lip, trying to suppress the anxious feeling bubbling low in her stomach. With each passing day, the small town life rattled her and the walls of the village seemed to close in. It had taken root in her chest since she was a child, that feeling of longing never quite subsiding.
Clint moved off to serve customers further down the bar, leaving the redhead lost in her own mind. Slender fingers tapped rhythmically on the glass bottle.
What did she want? Natasha knew how her dreams played out, but Clint was right; where was her stability? The thought of being alone was heavenly, but that was coming from someone who had never truly experienced it. She’d been surrounded by people since the day she was born, and those fleeting moments of freedom with just Liho for company were the best she’d felt.
But what did a future full of that entail? She’d idealised it to the point where she was biased, getting defensive whenever anyone tried to make her see sense. She may not see eye to eye with her father anymore, but the stubbornness she inherited from him was a clear determiner of her roots and more importantly, her home.
A cacophony of whistles erupted from the tables behind her, snapping her out of her spiral and Natasha turned on her stool to take a look at the source of the commotion. A woman stood in the doorway, dressed similarly to Natasha, which was rather uncommon in this town. Most of the women wore skirts, so seeing another in jeans that wasn’t Natasha, Yelena or Kate had heads turning.
Natasha watched the way the stranger’s hand instinctively flew to her holster as her eyes adjusted to the darkened room, a bitter contrast to the sun blazed street just outside. The saloon was always kept dark, just the way Natasha liked it, but it did look a bit intimidating from an outsider’s perspective.
Ignoring the outstretched hands of drunk men that grabbed at her from their seats at the closest tables, the woman picked her way through the crowd, her hips swaying in her jeans and brown fringed chaps as she rounded the final table and slumped down onto a stool. Natasha peered at Clint out of the corner of her eye and tried to hide her smile, taking a long sip of her beer bottle as the stranger sat four seats over.
“What’s the strongest stuff you’ve got?” The stranger asked Clint, her hat still sat squarely on her head. A strange move in Natasha’s eyes, but it added to the air of mystery around her and the redhead couldn’t help but watch her reflection in the glass opposite.
“I’ve got a couple bottles of whiskey if that’s what you’re after?”
“I’ll get a glass of that, thanks.”
Natasha pulled a face, impressed. “Going for the hard stuff, I see.”
The stranger didn’t turn her head, keeping her eyes down and focussed on her hands that rested atop the bar. “Something like that.”
There was something different about her, something refreshing. Natasha stood up, grabbed her beer bottle and wandered down the bar, now appearing on the seat beside the stranger. She leaned on the bar, one leg crossed over the other, accentuating the curve of her hips in her jeans. The stranger’s head moved slightly, trying to get the best view of Natasha that she could.
Clint read his friend’s body language like he was fluent, and quickly swapped her bottles so she was presented with a fresh drink. Natasha waited a couple of seconds before striking up conversation again, not put out by the stranger’s lack of enthusiasm.
“Is this seat taken?”
The stranger shook her head and scooted over, nursing her glass of whiskey with both hands. She was nervous and guarded and Natasha saw the twitch of her fingers that seemed uncontrollable.
“I’ve not seen you before. You not from around here?” Her southern drawl was laid on thick, emphasising the rasp in her voice that came out when she spoke properly. Natasha’s skill set didn’t stop at shooting. She was incredibly proficient at flirting and Clint loved to just stand back and watch her pick her next target that wandered into his bar.
The stranger finally turned to Natasha and lifted her hat from her head, revealing her face and piercing eyes that bore into Natasha’s. “Is it that obvious I’m not from around here?”
Natasha laughed around the rim of her bottle and readjusted her stance, using her movement as a way to take in the woman with a quick flick up and down. “I know my people,” she replied, gesturing to the full tables behind them. Her eyes fell to the stranger’s lips. “And I’d remember a face like yours, darlin’.”
The mysterious woman’s cheeks flushed red and she took a swig of whiskey, welcoming the burn that flooded her chest. The hot feeling racing through her body was purely alcohol induced… wasn’t it?
The brunette ducked her head down, embarrassed. “I’m only passing through. Had to stop off at the stables to get my horse’s hooves checked. Ran across a thorn patch, she did.”
“Well, Bishops’ will take good care of her. And in the meantime, does the gorgeous woman have a pretty name to match?”
Whiskey was by far the best choice she could have made- it could account for the now permanent flush that took residence in her cheeks. The woman turned on her stool and let her knees fall open loosely, her body language much less guarded.
“I’m Y/n. And you are..?”
“Natasha Romanoff, at your service.” The redhead quickly put her hat on and tipped it forwards, eliciting a laugh from the woman opposite. Clint eyed their interaction as he dried some glasses, grinning to himself at how effective Natasha’s charm truly was. She turned it on with the tip of her hat and a flash of her smile, making men and women alike stop dread in their tracks.
“You’re the mayor’s daughter?” Something flashed across Y/n’s eyes but it was gone as quickly as it came and Natasha couldn’t decipher it.
“Yeah,” she trailed off, frowning slightly. “Is that a bad thing?”
“Not at all,” Y/n gave her a smile, nodding to the stool beside her. Natasha sat far too quickly, like an obedient dog. One glance from a gorgeous woman had turned her to mush- what was happening?
A couple of loud thuds resonated from the back of the room and Natasha rolled her eyes, knowing exactly who sat there regularly. “Hey, Romanoff, give us a dance, will ya?” A leering voice echoed above the general hum of conversation and Y/n watched as Natasha rolled her eyes and adjusted her gun that sat in a holster on her hip.
“Give it up, Stark, you’re barking at a knot.” The man in question jeered at her and banged his beer bottle on the barrel table, several men around him doing the same. “If you wanna watch me dance, you better pay me for it.” This only gained her more nonsensical yelling and a man on Stark’s table threw a dollar bill in her direction.
But Natasha just stood up, squared her shoulders and fired her handgun in their direction, the bullet slamming into the wall mere inches above Stark’s head. She blew the smoke off her gun with a cocky smirk and shoved it back in the holster. The entire saloon fell silent, aside from Clint’s mutterings about yet another hole to fix thanks to his fiery friend.
Natasha waited a second longer, almost daring Stark and his guys to test her again. But they didn’t, now only watching her warily as she turned back to her new woman who was watching with a slack jaw. Natasha felt a burst of pride surge through her chest and she puffed it out slightly, sinking down into her seat with one foot up on the footrest, her legs manspreading.
“I’m sorry about that, that was no way to treat a new lady.”
Y/n snickered, shaking her head. “Oh please, I ain’t a lady. I’ve seen worse men than that in towns over, they really never change.”
Natasha’s gaze had drifted to the way the brunette’s hair fell over her shoulder, and how soft it looked despite being so exposed to the elements. But at the mention of different towns she snapped, eyes wide.
“You’ve visited other towns?” She tried to keep her cool, but there was truly no hiding her excitement. This woman had everything Natasha wanted and more.
“I’m a bounty hunter,” she admitted, watching Natasha’s face change. “But I ain’t got much work at the moment. There’s not many people that trust a woman to do what a man can do.”
“So you’re just… floating between towns?”
Y/n nodded, taking a sip of her whiskey. “Yup, it’s just me and my girl. And the occasional over-friendly landlord who tries to get up in my business.”
Natasha’s mind was racing like a mustang. She felt almost childish, wanting to hear stories of her travels and what the world was really like. Y/n could see her curiosity, it was too apparent to mask, and it was like a breath of fresh air. All too often she was met with disapproving glances and was often the butt of circulating gossip, housewives and prostitutes judging her uncommon way of life. But she was happy, and no one was about to take that away from her.
“Where are you from?”
Y/n’s smile faltered and she traced the rim of her now empty whisky glass. “I don’t think about that. Doesn’t matter where I’m from, I’m never going back. There’s nothing for me there. My life is out here now.”
“I wish,” Natasha muttered, more to herself than anyone else. Y/n heard it but didn’t comment. After all, they were just two strangers in a bar, nothing more.
“So, if you’re the mayor’s girl, you must know what there is to do around here.” Her words had an element of teasing to them, which didn’t go unnoticed by Natasha.
Natasha shook her head with a laugh. Ten minutes in and already poking fun at who she was. Why was that so attractive? “There’s a barn dance later if you want to come?” Natasha suggested. “That is, if you’re sticking around for that long.”
“I’ve got a compelling reason to now,” Y/n teased, toying with the hints Natasha had been sending her way.
Natasha quirked her brow and raised an arm behind her head, her bicep flexing slightly under her scrunched up shirt sleeves. “Well, I never turn down the chance to take a pretty girl to a dance.”
“Sounds like you have experience.”
Natasha narrowed her eyes in playful accusation “Is that a problem to you?”
“Not at all. I like a woman who knows what she’s doing.” Her words were heavy and even Clint raised his eyebrows, having been listening in to their conversation whilst he polished glasses.
“Then you’re in for a real treat, darlin’.” Natasha held eye contact and took a swig of her beer, licking her lip as a drop escaped. Y/n stared back at her and then coughed, using that as her excuse to look away. Anyone could feel the air shift and Clint walked away, shaking his head with a smile. God, Natasha certainly knew how to play this game.
“Where did you say you were staying?” Natasha continued, probing yet more information out of the poor woman.
“Here, actually,” Y/n answered, gesturing towards the door that led to the small assortment of lodgings that the saloon housed “ ‘S the only place willing to take someone like me.”
“Barton!” The man in question looked around guiltily. “Keeping things from me now, are we?”
“You were out! When was I gonna tell ya?”
Natasha grunted and jutted her chin out at him, furious that he’d watched their interaction knowing exactly who this woman was. And Y/n found the whole ordeal rather funny, having made the connection that they knew each other a little while ago.
“Well, if you’re stayin’ here, I know where to pick you up later.”
“Inviting me to a dance and picking me up? Do all foreign girls get this treatment from you?”
Natasha winked coyly, sliding her hat along the bar where she’d left it. “Only the special ones.”
“Oh you’re flannel-mouthed!” Y/n exclaimed, to which Natasha only shrugged cockily. “I’ll be waitin’. Right here, so don’t be late.”
“Roger that,” Natasha responded, mimicking Yelena from earlier. She stood up with a flourish, placed her hat on her head and took Y/n’s hand to place a kiss on the back of it, treating her like a proper lady. Clint wolf whistled her, receiving an insult thrown his way before Natasha had disappeared back through the doors she’d come through, leaving them swinging back and forth with the momentum.
“She’s a wild one, watch out.” Clint nodded after the redhead, silently laughing to himself at her dramatics. Always one for the exits, she was.
But Y/n didn’t even notice his amusement. She was gazing at the gunshot hole left in the wall across the room, and more specifically, thinking about the woman that put it there.
“The wilder the better, I always say,” was all she replied, her mind now miles away. Sure, she said that about horses, but Y/n was starting to think that applied to the women she surrounded herself with too.
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marigoldenblooms · 2 months
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Unica Semper Avis - Chapter 1
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Pairing: Cleric!Wanda x Fem!AvianShifter!Reader x MonsterHunter!Natasha
Prompt: Ever since you’ve come of age, you’ve never been able to stop yourself from transforming into a monster. Whenever the sky would dim with a New Moon, you’d ravage the world with a fury unknown by many. Such is the bane existence of your species. This time, however - something was different. Now, you need help. On the feeble doorstep of the so-called ‘Spirit Healer,’ you found yourself both at the mercy of a cleric, and of a monster hunter’s blade. Previous Chapter - Next Chapter
MINORS DNI - 18+
TW/General Tags: No mention of Y/N, slow burn, stranger to lovers (Wanda), enemies to lovers (Natasha), eventual smut (lord have mercy), Swearing, Fantasy violence, occasional descriptions of light body horror during transformation, slight self harm, slight restraint, angst, fluff, will add tags as they appear!
Chapter Warnings: Angst, canon-level violence, use of medieval weapons, body horror description in transformation, magic use, slight dissociation/self harm, restraint, fluff (for five seconds), R is a simp, so is W, N is not here to play, etc.
A/N: I’ve been working on this next chapter ever since the previous. Chapter two is coming along quickly as well! I want to keep a bit of a backlog for my longer fics, so updates will be as frequent as I can manage. The name established in this chapter for R will be used sparingly, but I loved what Missmonsters2 did with Between the Lines when I read it months ago, and thought it’d be pertinent until nicknames/pet names are established (and for as long as I can avoid conversation where names are necessary). 
R’s monster form brought to you by bearded vulture inspiration! Feel free to imagine your own version of avian horror to your heart’s content. Enjoy, y’all!
Word Count: 3.1k - Read Length: 11 minutes, 18 seconds. Pictures aren't mine, credit to their owners!
~~~  The healer’s home was nothing short of overwhelming. 
Multi-colored knick-knacks were strewn on every surface, perched below gatherings of drying, braided flowers which hung from the rafters. Beneath your feet, woven rugs of alternating sizes dotted the cabin’s cool wooden floors, like islands between a chilled sea of timber. The front door lead further into a sitting room, offering glimpses into a small, quaint looking kitchen, adorned with a single well-worn table and chair. Within that same place, a large pot was held still on the counter by wisps of scarlet magic, another more opaque plume coaxing a wooden spoon to stir whatever was inside. 
Paintings hung along every wall, although you could never get a full glance at one, as though they’d subtly shift and change muses whenever you’d look away. The sound of a shutting door would heighten your senses enough to break from the scenery, turning on your heels to face the home’s owner once again. She’d pry at you with a half-smile, and you’d solidify your gaze at the floor before her eyes could have the chance to meet yours. 
“What brings you to my home?” She’d question evenly, her words a pleasing rasp- smooth molasses which could easily cloud your senses if you allowed her to. You’d see her form move to the side of you in your peripheral, yet you’d remain still, your stare continuing to bore a hole into her carpet. 
Wordlessly, you’d tug at your shawled sleeve to show the back of your arm. Running along the skin’s expanse were thin ridges, pin feathers prickling beneath taut flesh. A light down speckled your skin in odd patches, consolidated mostly on your neck and shoulders for now. Your hair had begun to fleck and grow waxy and silkish, akin to dense ostrich feathers, tousled from your trek to her abode. You’d watch the ground as her shadow would shift around you, a curious tsk showcasing her intrigue.
You wouldn’t see her raised expression, eyebrows furrowed as she’d take your wrist without warning, raising it up so she could see the indentation better in the light. She’d drop your arm as soon as she’d grabbed it, falling limply to your side, and her smooth voice would threaten to carry you off again. “Fascinating..your affliction isn’t something I’ve seen recently.”
“Can you help?” You’d mumble, the few phrases coming to you sounding choked from lack of use, and you could hear the healer’s grunt at your lackluster response. You’d swallow thickly, trying to find the words to explain all that you were, but none arrived. She’d circle around you once more, and before you could flinch away, would capture your chin between her thumb and forefinger, wrenching it to make you look at her- green irises narrowing as you’d shut yours, unwilling to look her in the eye. You’d half expect her grip to be cold like the Matron’s, but her touch’s pleasant warmth was something you almost missed as she’d let go of you, the shuffle of her arms crossing heightened behind your closed eyelids. 
“I can’t help a patient I can’t trust,” She’d muse with a teasing lilt, rolling her r’s in a way that made your chest flutter. Was this another symptom of your molt? It had been a long time since you’d been with another and the thought made your heart ache, albeit not more than your bones. “Why won’t you look at me?”
The scoff that came in response to her was almost too easy, opening your eyes after directing your head to the floor again, “Because I am no threat to you.” “And why would I assume that?” She’d retort immediately, and you’d glare into the ground. Why was talking so easy for her? Why couldn’t she understand that you weren’t like her? You’d raise your arm aloft again, the skin burning now as you’d twist the plumage under your flesh for her view. The rage that had been festering in you for days unlocked a torrent of your words, finally finding purchase in your mouth- frustration evident in how each phrase was ripped from your throat. Your larynx would be useless beyond a breathing tool soon, so you better use it now. Your nails clawed at your arms, doubling into yourself, “Because you are human and I am not, healer- is that not something you’re able to understand-?!” 
“Relax for me-” she’d grit, and you’d feel your stomach plummet at her words. Something in them begged obedience, and for a second you felt as though you were back in your nightmare. You’d twitch, glance immediately circling the ceiling as something would restrain you- thin tendrils of crimson magic, keeping your arms from flaring out at your sides. As if seeing your frustration, your panic, the healer’s sorcery would calm, soothing both your body and your mind into an unnatural lull. “You’re…using-” you’d begin, yet words would evade you once again, no longer fueled by anger. There was only a different feeling- regret, and uncomfortable stone in your stomach that you shied away from, wanting to cower from its weight. You didn’t like yelling at this woman, even as she cradled you with her witchcraft. 
You’d feel her heat again, warm hands placing tentative touches to your shoulders, slowly coaxing your glance to hers. “I’m sorry,” she’d breathe, shallow as you’d feel her palms shake against you, “I didn’t want you… to hurt yourself-” Her irises, blooming with clouds of red, would drain into green as you’d feel her magic loosen around your body like unraveling ropes. You wouldn’t shy away from her this time, panting as her gaze would share her soul with you. She, too, held that stone in her gut. Perhaps she didn’t fear you. 
You’d part as her back would stiffen, adding a few feet between the two of you. “What is your name?” She’d ask, and you saw the way her head tilted since you looked at her face. Your words came easier now that you were less tense, muscles losing their rigidity, and yet you didn’t have an answer for her.  You still pried into her windows, eyes flicking across the expanse of her garden from the view you could get from her living room, but it was a start. “I met your gaze, healer..I’ve done my part, you first.”
You’d see the way her nose crinkled at your response, flecks of mirth illuminating her expression, a grin finding its place there, “Talking now, are we? I’m Wanda.” “I’m..Margo.” In truth, you hadn’t had a name in years, the few decades you’d been alive focused more on survival than memory, especially when your molts made it difficult to discern who you really were- humanoid or avian. You’d forgotten your birth name ages ago, and it was a blessing that your words left your mouth as cleanly as they did. She’d tut at your response, taking it in as satisfactory, “Sure…Margo. Would you like to sit down?” 
Wanda would guide you to her kitchen table without much fanfare, settling you on her single chair. With a focused look and a wave of her hand, however- a duplicate would reveal itself from a cloud of scarlet mist. “Your magic is red?” You’d inquire, tilting your head as you’d seen her do, “It’s a violent color. Why is that?”
“Do you really want to toe that line?” Her phrase were humorous, yet you swear a flash of indignation peppered her visage. You were not going to mess with that line, whatever she meant by that. “No, Wanda.” She smiled at that, her name seemingly pleasing in your mouth. You felt the flutter in your chest again, heart drumming a little faster against your shifting ribcage. If this was a sign of your incoming succession, then you had to finish this fast- to return before you transformed in Wanda’s house. And yet, why was the feeling almost pleasant? 
“You said you haven’t seen my ‘affliction’ in a while,” You’d recount, finding her term for your molt unremarkable. You’d offer her a glimpse of your arm again, hesitating to touch the quills beneath. It was always tender before a lunation, and you didn’t want to aggravate the transformation further, “It doesn’t normally happen so soon. In hours before the new moon, maybe- not over days.” 
“And what happens after those hours?” She’d coax your arm down with a gentle wave, seeing how your movements grew stiff as your skeleton hollowed out. You shrug, “I transform.” Wanda’s expression would sour, yet curiosity prickled underneath. Why did she look at you like that? “Can you help me? You said you're familiar with my kind.” 
“..In truth, I’ve never met someone like you,” She’d murmur, expression bashful, and if the circumstances were different you would’ve taken it as a compliment. Instead, spiked embers of dread seared in your stomach, heart beginning to thrum in your ears. She didn’t know. Could she even help you? Her voice would raise a little louder, “However, if you tell me about yourself, perhaps I could figure it out.” With a twirl of her fingers, two cups of..something floated towards the table. Her gaze was an offer, “Thirsty?”
You’d nod, your throat suddenly dry. The drink was smooth and warm, with a bite of something fresh and crisp. It was much better than your rainwater. Gulping more of it down, you notice how she’d smile at your eagerness, careful not to spill as you’d raise the cup from its saucer. “Cider,” she’d mention, motioning to her mug, “Where are you from?” “My cavern is far from here. About half a day’s walk.” Wanda’s eyebrows would raise. “Cavern? You live in a cave?” Her interest was a delight, and you wanted to keep it for as long as you could. You didn’t answer her question, instead throwing one back at her, “Why do you live far from your town?”
“Bellmoor?” Amusement would blanket Wanda’s expression, snorting as she’d shake her head, twisting in her chair so she could lean forward towards you, “Because I like my peace and quiet. I assume the same for you, Птичка?” 
“What does that mean?” You’d ask, and she’d tut again. “Now now, that can be your next question, but it’s my turn.” She’d scrunch her nose at your grumbling acquiesce, and you couldn’t help but smile with her. You liked this game. Wanda rested her hands on her table, and your eyes were caught on the shimmer of her rings as she’d speak, “Can you control your transformation?” That one was easy. “Fuckin’ wish I could...” Wanda’s brows would reach her hairline at your curse, but you wouldn’t give her time to comment as yours would stream from your maw, though it’d stop early, “No Aegypius can. What does..”
“‘Птичка’ mean?” She’d grin, rasping her knuckles on the wooden grain at each syllable, “Little bird, birdie, you have feathers underneath your skin, yes?” You’d send her a taunting look, one that she met in equal measure. You’d smile back at her, “Is that your question?” 
Wanda would balk, gotten so caught up in teasing you that her words just tumbled out with no direction. You’d see her cheeks grow pink, clearing her throat with a stuttered breath, and you swear she felt like you did when you felt that flutter. “No, it isn’t-” She’d respond smoothly, but you caught how her eyes shimmered, and you took another sip of cider. You knew why when her words made your mind double-take, “Would you like to stay with me tonight?”
You almost spit out your drink, coughing on it as you’d sputter, blush alighting your face. You felt it warm and you tried to hide it away, your flustered reaction seemingly pleasing Wanda. She certainly didn’t know what that meant to you, “I..you want me to stay with you- I’m going to molt tonight, Wanda.” 
“And if I am to help your transformation, then I must see it in person,” She’d respond, never losing her smile. It soothed you, that richness in her tone and that calm in her expression, and you’d feel a new pull in your heart. One you hated.
Your instincts wanted you to ruin her. Wanted her vulnerable as she was, to splinter her bones into shards you didn’t even have to chew. 
To take advantage of her weakness, your hunger eating you alive unless you picked her clean, consumed-
You’d swallow, a shaky breath leaving you. Wanda had blinked, and your voice acted quicker than your mind would comprehend, “I don’t want it helped, Wanda. I want it gone.” You’d feel your skin itch at that, and a cold dread filled your gut, like the Matron’s chill held you once again. Your words were a whisper. “But I don’t think my body will let me.” 
“All the more reason for you to stay. Do you have anything that helps you calm down?” She’d ask, leaning forward with a gentle lilt. Her hand would’ve come across the table, offering her palm to yours. It was calloused, warm skin juxtaposed with smooth metal, and you took it in yours gratefully. You were starting to really like her company. 
------------------------------------------
The hours would’ve floated by you, a subtle bliss filling you as you and Wanda would’ve enjoyed the rest of your evening together. You could feel your body shift by the hour, and yet a part of you didn’t care if you were with her. You’d show her your chains, mentioning their unknown inscription and how they’d keep your form….distracted. You would be kept in the barn once the moonless night had begun, the sky within a period of tranquil dusk. She ghosted her hand across the rim of your shackles, and you were surprised they didn’t burn her like they did you. An Aegypius trait, you supposed. 
Wanda had made you stew using that pot from earlier, while you hovered in the vicinity, chopping up carrot and onion into more manageable pieces. The meal was finished after it had boiled for a long time, and it was only when you sat down to enjoy it with her that a blink of movement would catch your eye. The bay windows curved in a beautiful shape that let the last vestiges of light in, and you’d register the sight of silver metal piercing into the glass before you heard it smash. 
A figure leapt through its shattered remains, thick cloak blanketing their form to protect them from the glass. Their armor and longsword was polished beautifully, and they would be regal if it wasn’t for their war shout and barred teeth. You could see their face beneath their hood, just before the glint of their weapon as it’d slice down towards your chest. 
You’d dodge, rushing backwards until your back hit the other end of the wall. As the longsword would finish its downward arc, Wanda’s magic would cradle its blade, her hands outstretched and bent as if trying to push it up. Her voice was strangled and thin, heard between the thudding of your heartbeat in your ears, “run, Margo- go!” 
Turning to bolt, you’d hear the clatter of boots against wood as a rougher hand would grab you by the scruff of your neck. Writhing in their hold, you’d shove your elbow into the ribs of your attacker, before grabbing their hand from your nape to sink your teeth into it. “Fuck, you гриф-” The knight’s heavy breath was audible from behind your back. You’d bite harder, feeling their skin break beneath your jaw as you’d thrash, trying to cleave flesh off. They’d tear their hand from you, kicking your legs with a force that sent you barreling down. 
Your head would hit the hardwood floor, and you could hear the ringing in your ears as you’d look up, vision swimming as everything looked double. Your hooded attacker brandished their longsword with two hands above you, although it looked like they had four. Before they could stab the blade downward, Wanda’s hand would lurch out to their neck- pressing the kitchen knife into their throat as her other palm would scratch towards the knight’s eyes, the pair barreling backwards which left you an outside view that made your pupils retract into pinpricks. 
The sky was dark, illuminated with bright swaths of stars. Tears pricked at your eyes. The few treetops you saw couldn’t even reach its height, blanketing the world in an awaiting gloom. You knew the moon was out there, but you couldn’t see it. Your mind reeled, thoughts growing famished as you’d stare into its expanse. You licked your lips. The sky offered you reprieve, and who were you to deny its feast?
The wheezing pop of bone into stronger sockets would startle Wanda and her assailant into a tense standoff, your witch pinning the stranger to the floorboards while the knight tried in vain to grasp at their longsword that had been kicked many feet away. Your breath heaved with strength you hadn’t felt before, seizing as the voice that came from you was no more than a guttural hiss. Your skull would reshape, mouth widening into a curved beak, hooking into serrated edges, while your skull would become angular, bird like. Anything but human, you were no longer recognizable. Feathers would blanket the creature’s shifting musculature, tearing from roughened skin as they’d fan into shape. Its arms and legs grow as its fingers would lengthen, bat-like wings creaking before they’d be covered in plumage; ivory white on it’s neck and shoulders, cascading into darker blacks and blues elsewhere. The monster’s feathers wouldn’t remain unpigmented for long, as they’d begin to warm on its skin- sparks flying from where they touched, growing into a burnt umber. The beast would groan as its wings crashed to the floor- bipedalism was no longer an option, the force cracking the wooden boards. Horns would thunder from shaking its monstrous head, the beast’s eyes blinking into pale gold with a crimson ring surrounding them. A black line of feathers ran down the side of its face and to its gaping maw, tufted at its chin. Its feathers had heated into shades of orange, flecked with flame- while cyan speckled where its temperature had reached an apex.
Silence would still the room, the shaky inhale of breath marking the presence of living beings in it’s fray. The demon would blink again, a gnashing sound emanating from inside its cavernous beak. It’d then raise itself on its haunches, spread its twelve meter wingspan (shattering the walls in its wake), and echo a deafening, reverberating call into the night. 
The hunt had truly begun. Previous Chapter - Next Chapter
~~~
193 notes · View notes
stellariah · 29 days
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foolish heart, common tongue — Mammon x reader
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⊹ word count: 1.8k ⊹ content: sfw, slightly suggestive, fluff to angst to fluff again, light marking (love bites), Mammon is a little possessive but not in a creepy way, Mammon calls you "sunshine", reader/MC is referred to as you/your. ⊹ warnings: none. ⊹ a/n: hi. I love Mammon. Sorry for making him sad here.
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Mammon thought he was in love with the sun. He has been trying to convince himself that is why his heart feels so hollow.
It was the way that its rays shimmered and danced along your sleeping frame in the early morning.
Your little snores and sighs had stirred him awake. He woke up disoriented, still not entirely believing that you were really there—that he was really there. But there you both were, tangled in your soft sheets and the warmth of each others’ embraces in your bed in the Human World.
He spent a long time just watching you sleep, the sunbeams shifting from a gentle orange to pale amber to a vibrant yellow as the minutes slipped by. They paint your skin and hair like a canvas. A living, breathing work of art.
It was the way that its rays sparkled in your irises, making them glisten like tiny pools of molten gold, as you blinked away the sleep. You shined brighter than a pile of a million Grimm—more than any gem or jewel or coin he’s ever seen.
It was the way that its warmth made your skin feel beneath his lips as he made a trail from your chest to your neck, to your cheeks to your lips, to fully wake you up. He loved the way your heated skin tingled his lips.
You giggled at first, still in a sleepy stupor. But as his lips travelled higher and higher, your laughter faded to soft whimpers. When you moaned his name and thread your fingers in his hair, he thought his heart would beat out of his chest. He craved you. He was greedy for you.
“Good morning, Mamms,” you sighed, your eyes fully opened.
“Mornin’, my sunshine.”
You pulled him into a searing kiss, lips to lips, and your sun-warmed hands traced along the marks on his chest. He was so lost in your touch that he didn’t feel you flip him over. You were stunning wrapped up in your sheets, but somehow you're even more so with your smiley face above him, illuminated by the sun.
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It was the way the faint pinky-reds and oranges and purples of the sunset sky illuminated the love bite he made on your neck as you made dinner that evening.
The mark itself was faint on your skin, but the sunset streaming through the kitchen window streaked the tender punctures with its inky plum, lush coral, and soft scarlet. He glided his fingers along the expanse of your neck, narrowly avoiding a swat from the spoon in your hand, feeling the tiny indents and watching the colours shift as he disturbed the rays. He lowered his head to trace it with his lips and tongue as he tugged the fabric of your shirt down to reveal more of your skin—of his marks on his human—to his greedy fingers and mouth.
“Mammon, I’m trying to cook,” you chided, trying and failing to wiggle your way out of his grasp.
“I can’t help it. I need ya.”
“You always need me.”
“Never,” he whispered, pressing another kiss to your skin between your newly exposed shoulder blades. “Enough.”
“You’re insatiable, you know that?” you laughed as you spun around in his hold, flicking the stove off as you went.
“Maybe you should stop making it so easy to love ya.”
“Mammon,” you said, as you cupped his face in your hands. He leaned into your touch, nuzzling his nose along your palm. “I want you to love me.”
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It was the way that the sun was gone when his heart was ripped from his chest.
He knew that he and his brothers could not stay in the Human World forever. But, when the night of their departure came, he didn’t expect that you would be staying.
You told him it was to continue studying with Solomon and developing your magical abilities. He thought that was bullshit. You could keep studying in the Devildom. You argued. He yelled. You cried. He cried, too, because there was no way he could change your mind.
The moon shone across your face as he stepped towards the portal that would take him home. He hates the moon for making him see you so sad.
He watched as you hugged each of his brothers, exchanging whispered promises to stay in touch and make it home safely as they stepped one by one through the portal. He watched as your face crumpled when you stepped towards him. He still couldn’t believe that you were not coming with him. How was he supposed to leave you here?
“Mammon, I love you,” you cried as you wrapped him in your arms.
And like the coward he is, he pulled himself from your embrace and stepped into the portal without a word. He watched you fall to your knees, sobs wracking your body, before you disappeared.
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He’s awake with a jolt—his head colliding with his textbook—and you’re not there. There’s no sun either.
He had fallen asleep in class again. It’s been months of this recurring nightmare. As he rubs his eyes, he smears fallen tears across his cheekbones. The pages he has fallen asleep on are wet and warped.
He doesn’t miss the sun. He doesn’t love the sun. It’s always been you. He loves you, but he’s ruined everything.
“Is it the same dream again?” Satan asks quietly from the desk beside him.
He just nods refusing to raise his head. He didn’t need to explain his tears anymore. His brothers all knew. Asmodeus casts a knowing look from across the classroom and Leviathan pats his shoulder as he exits. Mammon wants the ground to swallow him whole.
He manages to gather his books and exit the classroom, but his feet just won’t work the way they should. He stumbles several times as he tries to get down the hallway to his next class. After tripping again and slamming into a set of lockers, he resigns, weary frame and broken heart finally crushing him to the ground. Mammon curls himself into a ball and sobs until sleep finally takes him.
The next time he wakes, Mammon is in his room in the House of Lamentation. He doesn’t know how he got there. Honestly, he really doesn’t care. His bed is comforting and your sweater he has wrapped around his pillow still smells faintly of you.
He opens a bleary eye to quickly check his D.D.D. There’s a text from Beel letting him know that he and Lucifer found him and carried him back to his room and that Belphie was coming to check on him. He stamps out a quick “thanks” and then tucks his nose among the threads of your sweater. He tries to fall asleep again, but an incessant banging on his door disrupts him as soon as his eyes get heavy.
“Who's banging on my door?! Get lost!”
“Mammon, it’s me,” Belphie calls from the other side, the wood panel muffling him. “I think you are gonna want to come out here.”
“Oi, I said fuck off! I’m tryna sleep!”
The door splitters against the wall with the force Belphegor uses to fling it open. The sound of the wood cracking and the flood of hallway light make Mammon dizzy.
“Belphie, I ain’t telling ya again. Get out,” he warns, but his youngest brother persists, yanking him from his bed. Mammon hisses, but it does nothing to dissuade Belphegor.
“You’re coming with me. Stop being a baby,” he scolds as he carries Mammon out of his room.
“Oi, I’m not a-”
His retort dies in his throat at the sight of you down the corridor. Your hair has gotten longer and your eyes are blown wide, but it's you. His human.
He’s dreaming still—he has to be. There is no way that you’re here. Mammon pinches his arm and rubs his eyes as Belphegor sets him on his feet.
“It’s not a dream, Mammon,” Lucifer says from somewhere behind him.
There is no sun in the Devildom, but he has never felt warmer or brighter than he does right now, watching his soulmate run to reach his waiting arms. As soon as you are within reach, he grabs you, pulling you tight against his chest and nuzzling his face along your neck.
“Sunshine,” he sobs, voice broken but so full. “You’re here. You’re really here.”
“I’m sorry for being away for so long.”
“When do ya have to go back?”
“Mammon, I’m not going back.”
“What?”
“I’m not going back. At least not for any extended period of time. Being away for that long was torture.”
“You’re telling me,” he chuckles as you swat his chest playfully.
By the next breath, he has you up off your feet and in his room, slamming the fractured door behind him to muffle the cries of protest from his brothers.
“What happened to the-”
“Ah, Belphie got angry 'cause I wasn’t coming out and broke it,” he replies before dropping you unceremoniously on the bed. With a brief incantation and a swish of your wrist, the door is as good as new and the sounds from the corridor cease entirely.
“What did ya do?”
“Magic,” you laugh as you wag your fingers in the air. “So we can have some time alone, if that’s okay?”
“I love you,” Mammon blurts out, as your expression morphs from giddiness to pensiveness as you wait for him to continue. “Sunshine, I was a coward. I can’t believe I didn’t say it to ya back before I left. I’m so sorry. I love you. I’ll love ya forever.”
“Mammon, you’re not a coward. We should have talked more about my stay. It was my fault.” Mammon shakes his head and you sigh. You’re just as stubborn as he is.
“Now get your ass over here. We have months of cuddles to make up.”
He is in your embrace again in an instant. He missed the feeling of your body wrapped around him—the smell of your shampoo as he lays kiss after kiss on your forehead, along your cheeks, and down your neck. When he finally reaches your lips, you’re crying and he wipes at your tears with the pads of his thumbs.
“I love you, Mammon. More than anything. And I’m not going anywhere without you again.”
Though the Devildom was dark and sunless, he has existed here for millennia without some burning star. He has his sunshine in his arms, and this time, he is never letting you go.
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©stellariah 2024 | do not copy, repost, translate, or feed my work to AI
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deanbrainrotwritings · 9 months
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— GIANTS IN THE OCEAN
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SUMMARY : when jensen dresses as dean for halloween, he tried to prove that he can fuck like him when he’s told he doesn’t.
PAIRING : jensen ackles x latina!reader
CHARACTERS : misha collins, jared padalecki, genevieve padalecki
WARNINGS : nsfw (18+), smut, angst, fingering, defending wanda maximoff bc I’m whipped for her, switch!jensen & switch!reader
WORD COUNT : 3.4k
A/N : title from sky eats aeroplane’s song. procrastination, laziness, gah. anyway, it’s the destiny showcase so I’m doing nothing and I’m posting now LOL X
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Jensen cleared his throat loudly from where he stood at the closet, trying to get his girlfriend's attention who was applying makeup as a part of her costume. She blinked the blurriness from her eyes and looked at him first from the mirror, then turned around with a raised brow at his costume of choice.
“Dean Winchester? Really? You’re not even trying,” she laughed softly, then returned to quickly finish up with her look. He deflated slightly, pouting as he made his way to her, he got down on his knees and sat back on his legs to admire her.
“Wanda isn't a hero, but Dean is,” he argued after giving some thought to how to respond to her comment. She squinted her eyes, giving him the side-eye, just then she finished up and then turned to face him. He blinked up at her innocently, green eyes wide and pretty, his lashes fluttering like a princess against his freckled cheeks.
She grasped his chin with her black-stained fingers, leaning forward so her red-tinted lips brushed against his, “as a mother, I have to disagree.” He blushed, but excitedly tried to lean forward to claim her lips only for her to pull away with a little tsk. “You’re so pretty like this, baby, on your knees for me like a good boy,” she murmured seductively, swiping her thumb across his pillowy lip.
“Don’t do this to me now,” he moaned, leaning forward to nuzzle his nose against hers. His hands clung tightly to her leather covered thighs and she turned her face slightly to kiss him with a playful smile on her lips. He slid his hands up her legs, grasping her hips to tug her forward, off the chair, and into his lap to deepen the kiss. “You’re so hot,” he mumbled when he pulled away just a bit to breathe. Then, he returned her mouth, hunger hidden beneath each quick peck he gave her.
“So are you, Jay,” she replied softly, pulling away and placing her finger on his lips when he chased her mouth for more kisses. “Especially when you’re dressed as Dean Winchester.” She smirked down at him and his pretty, puckered, pink lips. He gazed at her curiously, a little surprised by her admission. He didn’t have time to respond or to even let that information sink in because he instinctively shut his eyes when she leaned forward quickly to place open-mouthed kisses along his neck.
“Fuck,” he whispered, his breathe catching in his throat when she reached down and started to rub his semi-hard cock over his jeans. “Baby, I don’t wanna get to Jared’s party with my dick hard,” he groaned, his voice deep with lust, breathy and hot. She felt her pussy tingle, a wave of heat and arousal starting to build up between her legs.
“Then, let’s get going before I fuck you here on the floor, yeah? Dean?” She looked down at him innocently, mimicking what he’d done earlier. He shook his head at her, his cock stirring in the tight confines of his jeans at being called Dean. However, with the Scarlet Witch costume she was wearing, it was a little scary but in a hot way. “Now, get your dick soft, my mom’s downstairs with the kids.”
Y/N stood up from Jensen’s lap, getting a matching crossbody bag that was small and didn’t get in the way of her costume. Jensen stayed on the floor for a while, trying to get his mind out of the gutter and get his excitement under control before he got up. Embarrassingly so, she was leaning against the doorway with a smug smile just watching him try to recollect himself.
“Please, Y/N, don’t judge me,” he said playfully, holding his palm up to stop her from looking at him. She chuckled, pushing her body off the doorframe to start walking away, Jensen following right behind.
“I’m pretty sure she calls me names in Spanish,” he blurted out, scratching the back of his neck.
“Pftt, no she doesn’t,” Y/N said unconvincingly, “besides, there’s a difference between my kids and my husband,” she added, shrugging nonchalantly, a grin fighting it’s way onto her lips despite how hard she bit it.
Okay, maybe she did call him names, but they were meant affectionately. And mostly it was names relating to his freckles or his green eyes that were too hilarious or accurate for her to stop her mom from calling him even when he was right there. Like a codename girls use for their crushes or people they dislike.
“You said she liked me!” He exclaimed quietly, grabbing her arm to twirl her around and pull her into his chest.
“She does! I’m messing with you, baby,” she promised, leaning up to kiss the worry from his face. “You’re perfect and she knows that,” Y/N said earnestly, cupping his face in her hands, “she knows you’re an amazing husband and an even better father. I love you so much. I swear, no, I promise you, she likes you too. She told me you were a keeper, Jay.” She looked up at him with the widest, in-love-with-you eyes he just couldn’t help the way it immediately made him relax.
“She did?” He asked softly, wrapping his arms around her waist.
Y/N nodded, her own arms circling around his neck. “I was in love with you from the start and she knew it. She saw everything that you were and she convinced me to go for it before someone else whisked you away. Thanks to her, you’re mine.” Y/N leaned up to kiss him again, softly, tenderly.
“Thanks to her, you’re mine,” Jensen corrected quietly. “Sorry, didn’t mean to get so insecure,” he chuckled, brushing her cheek with his fingers lovingly.
“I shouldn’t have said that as a joke, I’m sorry too.” She grabbed his hand and kissed it softly, “let's get out of here.” He kissed her forehead and nodded in agreement, letting her lead all the way downstairs to greet her mother and say goodbye to their children.
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“Dean and Wanda?” Misha asked, taking a large sip of his beer. “What a strange couple, but the two of them are crazy about family so…” he smiled broadly, hugging them both. Y/N laughed, squeezing Misha’s side as Jensen patted his back.
“And you’re.. the Mandalorian, but without your helmet on…” Jensen chuckled, pulling away first to ruffle Misha’s already messy hair.
“How else am I supposed to drink beer and eat candy?” He shouted over the music, then dragged the two of them inside to allow people an easier way in. Misha led them into the kitchen, talking about how he’d somehow lost his Grogu toy somewhere in Jared’s house. “Anyway, go crazy you two.. but not as crazy as the people you’re dressed up as,” Misha teased, patting them both on their heads before making his way somewhere else to have fun.
“Well..” Jensen chuckled as he watched Misha leave.
“I love him,” she said happily, then started to put together Jensen’s drink.
“Same,” Jensen smiled, watching her with a loving look. “So… about what you were saying earlier… about me dressing up as Dean? Did you mean that?” He asked, leaning against the counter, attempting to be completely cool about his question, trying not to give away that it's something he’d considered for a while: role playing as Dean during sex.
“Yes?” She confirmed hesitantly, handing him the Old Fashion she’d prepared then started to make her own drink. “Why? Got something naughty in mind?” She asked, glancing up at him every now and then, seeing the blush on his face either from the heat of the house filled with mostly strangers or from whatever was going on in his mind.
“Always,” he grinned bravely, taking a large gulp of the whiskey for his sudden bashfulness. She raised a brow at him, her interest piqued, placing a few gummy worms into her already sweet drink.
“You gonna tell me or show me?” She asked, stepping forward as he took another sip. He choked on it a little, glanced around for anybody who could be watching or listening. At that time, she took a gummy worm and dangled it in front of him playfully. He obediently opened his mouth and let her push the gummy worm inside, the sweet and sour taste making him hum softly in satisfaction.
“Well, I-I was just gonna make a suggestion,” he stuttered, his mouth slightly full with the chewed up candy. He swallowed quickly when she licked her fingers lasciviously, just as he reached behind her to steal a bag of gummy bears.
“I think…” she murmured, hooking her fingers onto his belt loops and tugging him forward. “I think you should honour your costume and show me. Here.” He blinked down at her, his eyes wide and completely astounded at her bold words.
“Shit,” he muttered, his face a bright red colour. “Are you ovulating?”
“Shut up,” she laughed, the spell of wantonness suddenly broken. She took the bag of gummy worms she opened and started to walk away from him, carefully weaving through the dancing and sweaty bodies with her drink.
He downed the rest of the whiskey, knowing he’d definitely need it if she was going to keep it up with the hot flirting. He carefully dumped his cup into the sink then tried to follow her, only to lose her in the literal sea of bodies, salty and heavy. He easily found Jared even in his Green Arrow costume, standing high above most of the people. He was dancing and laughing with Gen, who was dressed as Wonder Woman, the two of them were talking to someone Jensen didn’t know.
“Hey, sorry to interrupt,” Jensen said politely, turning to Jared. The man was kind and smiled at Jensen, standing off to the side to let Jensen have a quick chat with Jared and Gen. “Have you guys seen Y/N? I sorta lost her. Great costumes by the way,” Jensen rushed out, anxiously trying to get them to respond.
“Hey, Jensen!” Jared’s voice boomed, pulling him into a tight hug, drawing a wheeze from Jensen, which made Genevieve smack him. Jared pulled away and pouted at her, rubbing his arm dramatically but then became serious to focus on Jensen’s question.
“Yeah, she went upstairs with Misha, said it was a bit loud for her,” Gen replied, then made a little ‘oomph’ sound when Jensen hugged her quickly and said a quick thanks to them. Jared and Genevieve looked at each other curiously then got distracted by that same man who joined back in to continue their conversation.
Jensen knew that wasn’t actually the case, but he went upstairs anyway. Couples were kissing loudly and groping each other along the staircase, but upstairs must have been off limits because there was basically no one, just Misha waiting outside one of the doors while holding Y/N’s drink.
“Jensen! She’s using the restroom. Also, this is really sweet,” Misha laughed, handing Jensen the drink so he could try it. Jensen smiled and took the glass, lovingly looking at the colourful drink and the sugar rimmed edge, gummy worms swimming around inside. He shook his head as he thought of Y/N and tried the drink, which set his senses alight, his mouth overwhelmed by the sweetness and the barley-there flavour of vodka.
“Fuck, that’s…” Jensen licked his lips and Misha laughed, stepping aside when Y/N stepped out of the restroom. “Hey, honey. You okay?” She smiled and nodded at them, about to take her drink back, but Jensen pulled it back. She frowned, about to argue, but then he handed it to Misha. “Get rid of it, it’s just gonna give her a headache.” It was the truth, but he’d mostly tasked Misha with it so he could be alone with Y/N.
“Hey!” She whined, trying to walk past Jensen, which only excited Misha. Jensen wrapped his arms around her, stopping her from chasing their beloved friend, holding her close so she instantly started to melt into him.
“No, he’s right,” Misha chuckled, making a break for it. “You eat too much candy and you always get headaches!” Misha had already made it downstairs and he’d definitely be dumping that drink for the monstrosity that it was.
“Were you making me flustered on purpose?” He asked, getting straight to the point. She moved her face from where it was lazily pressed against his arm and gazed up at him, once again, still somehow being able to portray innocence with the dark eyeshadow around her eyes. “Why?”
She huffed softly, a little grin on her face, “because you’re not like Dean when it comes to sex and I think it’s funny to tease you.” She kissed him softly, quickly with her sticky lips, not giving him a chance to kiss her back properly. He just licked his lip from the sugar her lips smeared onto his.
“You think I’m… boring?” He asked, sounding a little confused. He wondered if maybe this was her way of telling him things were a little too vanilla and she needed more, more excitement, more spice, more than he could offer.
“No! God, no, Jay! Why does your mind always go there?” She wondered, holding his face. He grabbed her wrists, pushing her gently into the wall with his body.
“I love you…” he murmured, kissing her forehead. “I just want to make you happy.” He moved her hands away from his face and pinned them together holding them both above her head in one hand.
“I love you.. and you always make me happy,” she replied softly. Her eyes widened slightly when he started to tug her leather pants down her legs. “I’m not wearing any underwear,” she blurted out, biting her lip with a blush heating up her face. He stopped for a moment, a smirk growing on his lips before he continued pulling them down.
“If I touch you in this hallway…” he whispered, kissing her lips swiftly. “Will I be more like Dean?” He stared into her eyes, saw her surprise and the thrill that made her chest rise and fall faster. His eyes flickered down between her legs, where she was indeed lacking underwear, and he let the pants hang low around her thighs.
“I want you. Not Dean,” she mumbled with a little pout, spreading her legs impatiently when he slowly trailed his fingers up the inside of her thighs. He squeezed her thigh, chuckling against her mouth when he leaned in to kiss her, gently pushing his teeth into her pillowy lip.
“But you also want Dean, you said so. I can give you that, it sounds hot.” He tapped the apex of her thigh teasingly, his dick getting harder with the way she squirmed against the wall. The walls vibrated from the loud music, the pictures and paintings on the wall shaking to the bass of the music. “So.. Do you want Dean, just for tonight? Then, we can see if we should do it more often…”
“Jensen, please,” she pleaded, twisting her hands impatiently, half-heartedly trying to get out of his grip.
“Mm-mm,” he shook his head, quickly swiping two fingers through her wet folds. “It’s Dean, sweetheart.” His voice dropped slightly and his accent suddenly went away. She stared up at him, flustered and hot.
“D-Dean?” She stuttered shyly, grinding down on his fingers.
“Just.. a little more confident,” he smirked, moving his fingers to circle her clit torturously. She gasped, letting her head fall back against the wall with a quiet thud. The leather tightened around her thighs, preventing her from spreading her legs and she whined.
“Please,” she begged again, jutting her hips out so he’d stop teasing her.
“Not until you say my name, baby,” he murmured, then tapped her clit with his fingers a few times. She groaned in annoyance, her toes curling inside the boots she wore, her newly-dyed copper hair sticking to her face, from sweat that built up among the dancing people and now with Jensen’s teasing.
He pulled his hand away, but she didn’t stop squirming. Her eyes fluttered shut, thinking he’d stop teasing her by touching her and instead tease her by not touching her, but she gasped when he slapped her pussy. Her eyes snapped open and she looked up at him in surprise, a smug smile on his pink face.
She liked it and he knew it.
“Be a good girl and beg for it,” he mumbled, his voice deep and vibrating. When he rubbed his fingers against her heat, she knew it was just to prepare her for another slap. And as she’d expected, when she took too long to respond, he slapped her wet cunt again. The rough slap sent jolts of pleasure through her clit, causing her to moan.
“Please… Dean,” she whispered.
“That wasn’t so hard,” he praised mockingly, bringing two fingers to her entrance, “was it?” He slowly pushed them into her, but his lip to stop a moan when he felt her pussy clench around his fingers.
“No.. Dean,” she panted, lowering her hips to sink down his fingers faster. He laughed quietly at her eagerness and started to pump his fingers in and out of her, her slick already coating most of his fist.
“Jesus, baby, you’re so fucking wet.” He sounded breathless, his fingers tightened around her wrists and he plunged his fingers into her faster, flattening his palm onto her clit so it would grind onto it every time his fingers were buried deep inside her. His fingers curled against her walls, brushing over and over against the spongy surface inside that made her legs shake. A loud moan tore from her throat and he pressed his hips against her to grind his cock against her. “Who made you this wet, huh, sweetheart?”
“You…” she moaned, whining when he bit her jawline. “You, Dean,” she cried softly. He kissed her jaw lovingly and found her lips again to silence her moans as best as he could, even if no one could hear them over the loud music downstairs.
“Are you gonna cum on my fingers?” He teased, his warm breath fanning over her face. She bit her lip and nodded, her pussy tightening around his fingers. “You’re gonna moan my name when you cum,” he ordered, his nose tracing down the side of her face, nuzzling her neck to suck gently at her pulse point. “Say yes,” he murmured, gently nibbling on her earlobe.
“Yes, Dean,” she panted, shuddering when his warm breath made her sweat feel cool. He pulled away when he noticed her becoming tense, stared at her face and watched her eyes flutter open on cue.
“Cum for me, baby,” he whispered, admiring the way her swollen lips parted to moan—squeal—‘Dean’, her brows furrowed in pleasure as her orgasm moved through her body. Her eyes were pretty and wide, glossed over with a haze of lust and whiny unshed tears.
He let go of her wrists but she only wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and brought him down for a passionate kiss that made him breathless. Behind his eyelids, he could still see that beautiful look on her face and he ground his hips against her thigh, wrapping his arm around her with his fingers now slowly moving in and out of her, gently palming her clit as her walls fluttered around his fingers.
When she came down from her orgasm, he gently continued to palm her clit, in a comforting manner now. He dropped kisses over her face and moved her hair out of her face lovingly, before withdrawing both from her cunt and from her body to admire her postorgasmic glow.
“You’re so beautiful, sweetheart,” he said softly, his eyes flickering down to watch her lift her pants up her weak and shaky legs. “I’m not done with you yet, angel,” he reminded her with a little chuckle, looking down at his cum covered fingers, he rubbed them together curiously.
“We both know Dean is a sub,” she grabbed him by his flannel and pulled him into the closest room. He smirked at her words and let her lead as she shut the door and locked it blindly, focused on the searing kiss she distracted him with. With one hand he grabbed her waist and with the other he started to undo his belt eagerly.
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@lanassmarty @murdockscumsock @candy-coated-misery0731 @kellynickelss @spnfamily-j2 @deansbbyx
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florencemtrash · 7 months
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Flame, Shadow, Beast : Flame
Azriel x Reader x Eris
Summary: Years after Eris frees you from his father’s prison, you’ve managed to find a new love, new friends, and build a life for yourself in Autumn. But when a certain Shadowsinger stumbles upon your home, dragging in painful memories of betrayal and longing, you’ll have to face the things you left in the past and make choices about the future you want.
Warnings: Fluffy Eris x Reader and our favorite monster, Bryaxis, makes an appearance.
Flame, Shadow, Beast: Masterlist
Masterlist of Masterlists
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It was a cruel irony that winning a war was the easiest part of ruling. Eris thought about it often, doubts invading his rare moments of quiet; Maybe he’d made a mistake. Maybe the lives of thousands of Autumn Court members - both those loyal to him and to his father - hadn’t been worth the weight of the crown now sitting on his head.
The wood and gold had been harvested from the body of one of the Old Gods to whom some of the rural folk still owed their ultimate allegiance; the rubies had come from a land beyond the western seas as a declaration of war back when they’d been ruled by a more ancient race of beings - the predecessors to the Blood Rubies the Summer Court was so fond of doling out. Eris wondered if he’d ever get used to carrying so much history on his body. 
The sun had barely crested over the treetops, blanketing the forest floor with streams of liquid gold, when he came across your village. The first fae he saw - a female with short elk horns extending gracefully from her temples - nearly dropped her basket at the sight of him. Eris gently bowed his head in greeting and her face flushed as crimson as the red garment dye that stained her hands. 
“My High Lord,” She breathed out, dropping to her knees despite the prickling straw that perpetually littered the roads.
Heads of varying shades of chestnut and scarlet appeared behind closed windows like candlights. During the harvest months everyone woke and slept with the sun. 
One by one fae streamed out of their homes, each of them carrying tribute in the form of freshly baked bread, baskets of apples and peaches, sheepskin cloaks, and barrels of mead. 
“Stand.” Eris gently commanded them as they fell to their knees, “We’re just passing through.” He could see the hesitation in their eyes. They feared disrespecting him. 
Eight years of being High Lord and he had yet to perfect the delicate balance between distance and familiarity with his people. 
Halvor coughed from beside him, eyes raised from beneath the shadow of his bronze helm.
Get off your horse and talk to them. His eyes said, repeating the mantra that you liked to say around the royal pair.
Eris understood and dismounted with grace and power. With his scarlet and gold riding cloak, flaming hair, and ruby crown he looked like the spirit of Autumn come to life - all sharp edges and burning stoicism. He was a living fire.
But fire could give warmth as much as pain - nurture and grow as much as it could raze the world to the ground. So Eris took his time to speak with the people. He sampled their mead and ale, complimented the pixies who wove threads of warm oranges, yellows, and reds with their nimble fingers, and visited the rolling fields of corn, barley, and wheat that waved in the brisk breeze. The gray-tinged sky above tasted of power and freedom. 
Under Beron’s reign, the fruits of the fields would have fallen entirely under the purview of the High Lord with little remaining for the people who tended the long grasses. Now that they were allowed to own their own land and keep what was due to them, the air was lighter here, happier. It was the first harvest in a long time where they’d feel comfortable enough to celebrate properly.
The mask ebbed away, leaving him feeling lighter than he had in ages as he walked through a town.
A familiar face stared out from behind the small crowd that had gathered by the wheat fields. Talk of this year’s harvest festival rose in the air until everyone could taste the spiced rum, roasted pistachios, caramelized apples, and pumpkin with fresh cream on their tongues. It was still months away, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t get excited now. 
Eris broke away - an easy task when they parted ways for him like a hot knife through butter - and approached your smiling figure.
“I was wondering what was taking you so long.” You said, clasping your hands behind your back and smiling at Eris.
“So you came all this way just to investigate?” Eris arched his brow. You were no stranger to these people (and much beloved), but you preferred to keep to your little cottage beyond the town.
“Surprisingly, yes. For you, I would come all this way. And,” You shook the small parcel in your arm, “For Aliona’s candles.”
He grinned and offered you his arm, which you accepted, and quietly began to walk back to where Halvor had been dutifully waiting with the horses… and taking more than a few samples of drinks from beside his stead. 
“I also wanted to make sure he hadn’t killed you in your sleep yet.” You said, tilting your head towards his brother. 
“Careful, Y/n.”
Halvor was the youngest of Autumn’s trueborn sons, and had grown to become Eris’s second over the course of the war and the years that followed. Cruelty was still hammered into his bones - a disfiguring mark left by their father - but disloyalty was not one of his many negative traits. He’d been the only one to come to Eris’s aid in the war, and subsequently the last of Eris’s brothers to survive. That counted for something in your book.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it seriously, but I could’ve poked fun in a better way.” You said softly, gently leaning into his side. He forgave you quickly. He could never stay angry at you - he wasn’t even sure it was possible.
Halvor tipped his head towards you, eyes the color of freshly brewed coffee staring at you with mischief.
“My Lady.” He said half-mockingly, sweeping out his arm into a shallow bow. 
You rolled your eyes. “How many times have I told you not to call me that?”
“Why not? Is my brother not a good enough romp for you? If you want better company I could-” 
Eris cut off his words with a growl of warning. Halvor only tipped his head back and laughed - a grating sound that eight years of peace under Eris’s rule still hadn’t managed to file away.
“We’ll be walking to her home from here.” Eris said, slipping into his High Lord voice, “Try and keep your distance and be on the lookout.” Halvor nodded, turning serious at the shift in his brother’s voice. There were countless enemies who would be happy to snatch the crown away from a new, as of yet untested, High Lord.
He followed obediently, keeping his distance as you and Eris both bade farewell to the townspeople. 
You lived on a patch of land too far to even be considered the outskirts of town, but you were a familiar face to everyone. A healer by trade and Eris’s most trusted advisor and friend, you were the one they called upon in the dead of night when evil whispered nearby or sickness fell upon them. 
Evaldre, they called you in one of the Old Tongues. The exact meaning had been lost to time, but it spoke of someone cherished and highly regarded. Some of the bold ones even went so far as to call you “Our High Lady.” 
Ten years ago uttering those words would have meant the swift swing of a sword on one’s neck. If High Lord Eris knew of it, he never seemed to mind.
Bryaxis waited for you on your doorstep, pleasantly lounging in a patch of light and watching the gentle fall of crisp leaves from the trees above. Both Eris and Halvor’s horses groaned low in their throats, hooves pressing into the soil to stop before the clearing. Halvor whistled at them to move forward, but they refused.
“It’s that devil dog of yours,” Halvor said, dismounting and tying off the pair on a low hanging elm branch, “Makes them anxious.”
He whispered words of comfort to them, sliding his hands along their thick necks until they stopped bucking against the reins. Eris had his dogs and Halvor had his horses.
“He’ll stay inside then. Wouldn’t want you to have to walk back to the Forest House with your tail between your legs because you lost the horses.”
Eris smirked when Halvor threw an obscene gesture your way. 
The dog in question, black as night with shining silver-blue eyes, stretched and nuzzled into your outstretched hand as you reached your front door, Eris following closely behind. 
“Will you be long?” Halvor called out to Eris, raising his eyebrows suggestively with his hyena grin. 
“Go home if you’re so impatient. I can make it back on my own.”
“I’ll wait til noon.” If Eris was finished by then, it would mean they took care of business… if Eris wasn’t finished by then, it would mean they were taking care of other business, business Halvor would do no good sticking around for. He snorted at the thought, then lost himself in imagining the other females he might be able to seduce back at the Forest House.
You both passed through the enchantments woven into the wood of your home, feeling a rush of power pour over you like water over stone. 
Eris snapped his fingers and the candles you’d placed on your dining table and mantle burst to life, fluttering about like dancers. The fireplace followed suit, sending a wave of warmth throughout the house. Firelight bounced off the rich velvet and creams that adorned your home - a cleaner mimic of the Autumn lands that existed behind the walls and flooded in through the open windows.
The Forest House was a place of luxury, massive enough that it would take you an entire morning just to walk from one end to another, and filled to the brim with treasures of gold, bronze, and enough precious jewels to sink a ship. It was a palace fit for a High Lord. But this was a home, so he took off his crown and hung up his cloak.
“What happened to him?” Eris said, kneeling on the ground and giving Bryaxis a well-deserved scratch behind the ears. The millennia-old creature closed his eyes in satisfaction. “The last time I saw him he was a cat.”
You chuckled, bustling about in the kitchen for a tea set that would match and piling pastries on a plate. The smell of browned butter and strawberry rhubarb jam waltzed in the air.
“He’s been experimenting with new forms.” You said, smugness and pride warming your chest. Not so long after Eris had freed you from the mountain and given you a new home, Bryaxis had found you, drawn to your power. Twin bargain tattoos snaked up from the bridges of your feet to your ankles like vines up a trellis - the first promised that you would do no harm to one another in exchange for dual protection, the second allowed you to take a portion of his power, giving him to opportunity to mold his being into a form that could experience the world in a more physical sense. 
Gone was the shapeless creature of shadow and nightmares. Enter Bryaxis the wolf-dog (and occasional housecat) who still radiated enough power to scare away any creature (wicked or otherwise) that dared to disturb the peace of their home. But he could curl up by the windows and watch the night sky uninhibited, and in his heart he was a creature of violence and simplicity in equal measure.
“I like this one better than the cat.” Eris said with a grin, for the monster had copied the shape of one of his prized hunting dogs. Bryaxis seemed to growl in appreciation when Eris straightened up.
He sighed in contentment, feeling the stress of his crown melt away when you wrapped your arms around his middle, burying your face in the crook of his neck and breathing in the scent of cedar, smoke, and cinnamon.
“Hello.” He murmured softly, turning in your arms and pressing his lips against your forehead.
“Hello.” You whispered, brushing your lips against his with a sigh, “I missed you. Where have you been all this time?” The finished reports on your desk, much like your empty bed, had been waiting patiently for Eris’s next visit.
He hesitated, pulling away to look at you. He brushed aside a few stray strands of hair that had fallen out of your braid. “The Night Court.”
You stiffened, “Keir?” 
He shook his head, frowning, “Rhysand.” 
You blinked, and he saw darkness pass through your eyes. 
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I wasn’t sure how you’d take it.” 
Twelve years. 
You’d been Beron’s prisoner for decades before. Then you’d escaped and managed a couple of years of peace. You’d found a home and a family… or so you thought. And then twelve years ago you’d been betrayed - handed back to the now deceased High Lord on a silver platter and trapped beneath the mountain for four years. It made your blood boil to think about the people who helped put you there. 
“You’ve been dealing with them for years now,” You forced out in a diplomatic tone, “It’s good for you to have allies, especially strong ones like them.”
“Y/n-”
“You should've told me. I don’t want you to worry about my feelings when it comes to these things. Autumn comes first and-”
“I’ll always worry about you.” Eris said, tilting your chin up and catching the moisture gathering in your eyes that you’d furiously tried to blink away, “And there’s no choice between you and my Court. You belong here. To protect Autumn - to protect you - are the same thing, my love.” 
Your cheeks burned at the careful way he spoke, the sincerity in his voice he reserved solely for you in moments like this.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you, Y/n. I promise it won't happen again."
Fury burned in his stomach, a continuation of the anger that had steadily been eating away at his patience during his visit to the Night Court. To see the Inner Circle look so safe and happy in the bubble they’d carved for themselves in Velaris, naive to the pain and suffering they’d caused you, had made him want to burn The House of Wind to the ground. Alliance be damned. 
He hated them nearly as much as he had hated his own father. 
“I don’t want to think about them.” You declared, setting your jaw and smoothing away the lines of anger that had formed on Eris’s forehead, “To hell with them.” 
Eris smirked, loving the determination that settled in your eyes as you dragged him over to the living room and finished setting up the tea that had started to whistle on the stovetop. You would carve out a space for yourself in this world and be happy, even if it killed you.
“To hell with them.” He repeated.
Business and pleasure. The two were impossible for him to separate, which is why he cherished time spent with you. The pair of you spoke easily together, seamlessly transitioning from discussions of grain reports, treaties, and trade deals to banter about the Harvest Festival and the latest court gossip. Halvor was long gone, and Bryaxis off hunting, when the talking ceased and Eris found himself comfortably spread out on your velvet couch, shirt unbuttoned, and head resting in your lap as you wove your fingers through his hair.
He opened his eyes, lazy and slow, and quietly took in your features - the slope of your nose, the gentle curves of your cheeks and lips as you smiled at him, the contentment in your eyes that shifted into deep thought. 
He waited for you to share them with him.
“I’ve been thinking about your proposal.” You said carefully and he froze beneath your hands.
“You-you have?” Eris swallowed and sat up, keeping his distance even as he dared to hope. You’d both been keeping your relationship secret, visiting each other under the guise of court business and court business only. It had certainly started out that way, but things had quickly shifted into something far more intimate and worthy of secrecy… Then Eris had asked if it could stop being so secret.
You nodded, searching his face for something more than the neutral mask every High Lord learned to master. 
You moved onto his lap, laying your hands on the sides of his face as his eyes widened ever so slightly, “My answer is yes.” 
“Yes?” He asked in disbelief. 
Yes to living with him. Yes to going to court with him. Yes to showing the world that he was not alone in his duty. Yes to being by his side wherever either of you went.
No more hiding in this house on the outskirts. No more being afraid of what had happened in the past. No more loneliness.
“Yes.” 
He shuddered under your touch and suddenly he was everywhere. His hands roamed the expanse of your back, pulling at the fabric of your bodice. Red locks as vivid as flame got knotted beneath your fingers, and his body pressed flush against yours, desperate for any contact as his chest continued to shake with laughter. 
You stayed with him on that couch, neither of you wanting to bother with the effort of walking the extra twenty steps to your bedroom, as articles of clothing were hastily torn off and allowed to float onto the floor in crumples of fabric.
A growl from just outside your front door, low and gravelly enough to shake the ground, woke the two of you up. The sun was kissing the horizon on its way down, lateral rays of light streaming through the window and splashing onto the bookshelves and walls like gold paint. Eris groaned with displeasure, pulling you flush against his chest when you dared to draw yourself up on your arms to look at the door. 
You giggled against him, pulling a rare smile from his lips when he felt your laughter. 
He was all warmth and color beneath you as you shouted at Bryaxis to give you more time alone. He could practically hear the rolling of eyes with the huff that Bryaxis gave out. But he eventually trotted away to find a patch of soft grass from which to watch the sun set.
“It’s good to know a murderous beast like him still has a sense of humor.” Eris quipped, practically humming with pleasure when you melted into him. “You would know. You can be funny sometimes.” 
“Sometimes?!”
“Sometimes!” 
“You must give me more credit than that.”
“I will not.”
“You must. Your High Lord demands it.” Eris said, puffing out his chest and deepening his voice.
“Your High Lord demands it.” You parroted in a silly voice that made Eris chuckle and kiss you again.
You laid in the silence for as long as you could, until the sun was once again buried in the ground and the calls of the Forest House could not be ignored. With every piece of clothing Eris pulled back on his body, the vulnerable joy that came from being with you seemed to dim. 
Was he a lovesick fool for asking you to come to court and be with him? Was the protection of a High Lord worth the dangers that came with it? Lucien had been the first of their brothers to fall in love and he had paid for it dearly. Sometimes Eris had nightmares that you would suffer the same fate.
Eris watched you as you laced up your bodice with quick fingers, fixed your hair, and smoothed your skirts. You looked heavenly in the light of the fire. You were everything he could have dreamed of and more… because you were real… and you loved him as fiercely as he loved you. Which meant he could lose you.
“Y/n.” He whispered your name like a prayer, drawing your attention. You drew close to him, pressing your forehead against his as he took a deep breath, “What you’re agreeing to… you know what it will mean, don’t you?”
You closed your eyes and nodded. This was no light decision and it was why you’d taken three months to come up with an answer for him. 
“It will mean people will come for me, and never stop coming for me, just to hurt you and to hurt this Court.” Eris flinched, but you wouldn’t let him open his mouth to dissuade you. You’d given this much thought, and your decision was made.
“It will mean constant scrutiny from the other Lords and Ladies. A life spent in a house known for its history of cruelty and disloyalty. A life that will never fully be my own.”
Eris was beginning to think he’d truly made a terrible mistake in asking you to be with him. But before that cold mask of his could fall over his features, you grasped his face in yours hands and forced him to look at you.
“But it will also mean a chance to be with you. A chance to lead alongside the first person to give me a real home - a real family. A chance to continue to build and protect what I love. I love you, Eris, and I love Autumn, and I’ll be damned if I don’t protect what I love.”
Eris clenched his teeth, holding back the emotion that threatened to spill out like a ruptured damn.
“I won’t be like this at the Forest House.” He said, hating the truth of the words that fell off his tongue, “I won’t be able to show who I truly am when I’m around others, at least not for now. They’ll call you foolish, or cruel, or wicked for being with me. I can’t promise you an established and worthy court. I-”
“Then we’ll build it ourselves.” You said fiercely, pouring your power into the words, “We’ll build a new court, a new life for ourselves and everyone here. I know you’ll do everything you can to fix things, even if it breaks you.” You whispered the next words reverently against his lips, “Let me help you. Let me do it with you.” 
Eris let the tears run rivers down his cheeks, even as he set his jaw, and stared resolutely into your eyes.
“Let’s do it then. Together.”
<- Previous Chapter Next Chapter ->
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Author's note:
*shouts from the mountaintops* I just want Eris to be happy! And I want him to have someone he trusts that can rule alongside him!
That's it. That's the note. Oh and let me know if you'd like to be tagged in future chapters.
Love,
Florence B.
Taglist: @nightless @mmb-09 @thesnugglingduck @cleverzonkwombatsludge @kemillyfreitas @logankemaek @the-sweet-psycho @a-frog-with-a-laptop @flameandshadowx @applerubyy
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Text
By His Command 1
Summary: you arrive at your new household to serve. (Handmaid AU)
Warning: this series will contain violence, dystopian aspects, rape and noncon, blood, coercion, possible pregnancy and other dark elements. Please read these warnings and beware.
Character: Lloyd Hansen
Note: you're screaming at me, why are you starting another AU and I got my fingers in my ears like na nana boo noo.
Oh and there may be more commanders to come...
Anyway, thoughts and prayers welcome for my lost soul. Also feedback and comments if you dont mind. Maybe a reblog. 💕💕💕💕
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You watch the cloud of your breath in the cold air. The grey sky stretches endlessly on, as flat as anything else in this pallid world. A white blur trims the edge of your vision, that every present brim, a facsimile of a halo. You are not a fallen angel but a disgraced sinner, sentenced to penance, fated to serve another's salvation.
You clasp your hands together, red gloves chafing roughly, wool scratching your raw skin. You look down at the scarlet ripples, the endless crimson that marks you for exactly what you are. You pull at a stray thread and let it fall away.
You raise your head and stare at the opaque screen that separates you from the man in black. The guardian drives on across the fields paled by an early frost, dried grasses wilted beneath the premature winter. You take another frigid breath and lean forward, hovering your hand before the small vent in the door. Nothing.
You sit back. You know better than to complain. There is no one for you to complain to. No one who cares. You are not a person with feelings and thoughts. You are a vessel, to be filled and emptied over and over. You repress a shudder and keep your welling eyes aimed out the tinted window.
You dip your head and hide beneath the broad brim of your white bonnet. You clutch your hands tight and wade through the mounting panic in your chest. The women who left the centre didn't often come back, and when they did, it was never pleasant. Still, you would give anything to go back. There you know what the worst and the best is.
You don't know much of what awaits you, only that it floods you with dread. A commander and his wife, but what else? Will he be cruel? Will she hate you? Will you be able to do what you were trained to?
You part your hands and bring them up your arms, hugging yourself. You can't remember the last time anyone held you. The last time anyone dared touch you. Even when you laid screaming before the other handmaids, hands bloody, back welted, no one dared come near you, no one thought to comfort you.
The SUV turns and you force your eyelids apart. You sniffle and wipe your nose with the coarse wool glove. There is a low stone fence that trails the long winding road towards a tall gate. The tires slow as your heart piques and you choke on terror.
At a halt, you hear the man's voice in the front seat, through the barrier that divides you. For order, for chasteness, for your debasement. You are not worthy. You are emblazoned as a blasphemer.
The car rolls on, jerking you back against the seat. A slow draw that brings into view shedding hedges, stone benches, a fountain, a lawn that expands before you. You watch the birds flutter, marveling at their peace, and a leaf drifts down in a calm path to the ground. A serenity that so starkly counterbalances the chaos blooming in your chest.
You veer around the curved arm of the driveway and once more stop. The engine rolls over and quiets. The front door opens and you flinch. Steps tramp and come around, a shadow awaiting you on the otherside as the locks slide back.
The guardian opens the door and you grab the red valise on your feet. You turn your legs over the side of the seat and step out, heels clacking off the hard stone. The man steps back, gripping the strap of his gun.
"Go," he nods his chin in the direction of the house.
You look over at the grand facades, stone and mortar in a centurion style, rooves high and looming, a balcony with a naked trellis below. You gulp and march forward, grasping the round handle of your bag with both hands. The man trails you, keeping you on course as his steps echo your own.
You get to the first step and raise your foot, setting in on the stope edge. The front door opens and steals your attention from the hem of your skirt. You look up as a Martha emerges in her green smock and apron. Her faces is blotchy and her grimace is deepset.
"Come, OfLloyd," she beckons you with a curt wave, "we must prepare for the Commander's return."
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treysimp · 2 years
Text
I don't know how else to say this, do you want to make out on my couch? (Explicit Remix)
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Side: Riddle Rosehearts/AFAB!Reader (Reader has a vagina)
Riddle/AMAB!Reader
As per our vote (thank you again for voting!) Riddle is the next spicy couch series conclusion. According to said vote, next in line is Azul. Do you all agree?
This is a partial continuation of the work “Do You Want to Make Out on My Couch (Part 6)”. Said fic is also included below if you want to re-read the beginning or this is your first time seeing this work.
Reader not described other than their junk, and pronouns are not used for them.
Warnings: Explicit sexual content, M/F sexual relations, handjobs, PIV sex, ask to tag for more.
Want more TWST? Here's my masterlist!
To skip straight to the action, scroll to the next picture of Riddle, thanks!
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“Really!” Riddle sputters, his brows knit in irritation “you should…. you really…” he trails off, his eyes frantically darting around your face as if a puzzle piece would magically fall into place if he just had the final hint.
“…You should ask in a more romantic way than that.” He finally finished, fingers drifting to your tie to straighten the lopsided knot.
Your eyebrows involuntarily raised to the sky.
“Is that a no, house warden?” You ask. You wanted to start hysterically laughing, oh my God how could he possibly be so cute? 
Waiting for his response, you placed your hands on top of his to still the fingers that had been fussing over your tie. 
You were going to get him to answer your question in a forthright manner if it killed you.
“It’s not-not a no!” Riddle sputtered, pretending to wipe his mouth with his sleeve to hide away his increasingly flustered face. You noted that he had kept his other hand in your grasp though, feeling him shake gently beneath you.
“Next time I expect flowers! Or chocolate!” He finally shouted, pulling both of his hands away to cross them over his chest haughtily. You couldn’t hide the grin splitting your face.
“Oh? You’re already planning on next time?” You said, smoothing your hand over his ruby hair. 
Riddle seemed to finally register his slip of the tongue as his face lit as scarlet as the rest of him. 
“No!” Riddle practically screamed. You were glad Grim wasn’t here tonight, as he definitely would have woken up upon hearing this exchange.
You raised an eyebrow, “No?” 
Riddle’s gaze was fixed on the floor, face knit in irritation. 
“Only if you play your cards right.” He finished, turning his head away with a huff. 
You couldn’t stop the giggling that bubbled from your chest, God he was the cutest. How did he do it? 
Not being able to help yourself, you wound your arms around his body, pulling him close to you as you buried your head in his neck. 
Unsurprisingly he smelled great, like sweets and roses and some other sort of soft musk that was no doubt from some sort of expensive atelier. It was so charming the things he did to take care of himself for the sake of appearances. 
You idly wondered if there was a rule about smelling good in Heartslabyul. There probably was, but you decided that asking would only mortify Riddle further, and you wanted to get him to do more than talk to you tonight. 
Riddle was stiff as a board, arms hovering around you awkwardly for a moment until he finally relaxed, pulling you snugly into his arms. 
“Do you really want to kiss me?” You could barely hear Riddle mumble, his voice muffled by your hair as he nuzzled it into your neck to mirror the way you had been holding him. 
You pulled away slowly and held him by the shoulders, eyes boring into his shy grey gaze. You took a moment to take in the loveliness of his face for just a moment, relishing in the closeness you had never been afforded before now. The red eyeliner around his lashes, the rosy sheen of his heart-shaped mouth, and a tiny mole you had never noticed on top of his eyelid. So lovely.
“Yes. I do.” You said softly. 
If you could believe it, Riddle got even redder. He cleared his throat and seemed to make an internal decision, twining his hands behind your neck as he pushed himself forward to meet your lips. 
His lips were stiff but very, very soft. You pressed gently against him, massaging your mouth against his in hopes of loosening him up. It seemed to work, as you heard the smallest of moans as Riddle tried to mirror your movements, lightly sucking on your lower lip. It was shy, but also heartbreakingly genuine and careful. 
You both separated slowly, you wished you could take a picture of the expression on his face. 
Gorgeous eyes half open, glossy lips slightly swollen from the contact, he pulled the bottom of said lips into his mouth to chew on it lightly as he snapped his gaze to the side. How was he even real? His beauty shines like a fairy tale prince, and yet this gorgeous boy thought himself a villain. How ironic. 
“Again.” He whispered, pushing his face back towards you with more aggressive energy, seemingly having gained confidence now that the spell of your first kiss was broken. 
His kisses sped up and gained in ferocity, each time you separated for breath being punctuated with another ‘again’. His affection grew more demanding, his chest grew tighter and each breath became more labored. 
“Let me inside.” Riddle finally demanded, his hands curled into the lapels of your jacket. “I want to come inside.” 
You swallowed audibly and nodded, pushing the door open while Riddle pulled you inside of Ramshackle.   
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Now that the dam of tension had broken, Riddle was adorably needy.
He ushered you to the couch, pushing you down and continuing to pepper kisses on your face as he whispered little compliments and appreciations to you, almost inaudible between the soft smacks. 
Pulling his face away from yours for a moment, you stroked his cheek with your thumb, taking in the soft flush of his face and the way that his wide grey eyes scanned your face frantically for an explanation as to why you stopped him. 
“What is it?” He questioned, putting one hand over yours as he worried over his lip anxiously. 
You shook your head and stifled a laugh. Where did all that confidence go? 
“You’re just beautiful, is all. I wanted to appreciate it.” You teased, happy to see how much your every move affected him. 
It was charming to see the faces he made when he was overthinking, though you would prefer that he relaxed a bit more sometimes.
Riddle inhaled through his nose loudly and steeled himself. A strange reaction to a compliment, you thought. 
Riddle grabbed you by the lapels and shook you lightly. Face pinched in a clearly frustrated frown.
“H-how can you-! How can you say stuff like that so easily! It’s infuriating!” He huffed, then sighed, then buried his head into the crook of your neck. 
His next words were quieted even further by your skin.
“How can you say something so romantic? So… like a fairy tale…” He murmured. “I’ve been in love with you all this time and you just… come out and say this? How am I supposed to act?” 
Riddle was lost, trapped between happiness and panic. He had convinced himself that he didn’t need affection, he just needed order. 
Much to his discomfort, his thoughts felt even more chaotic than ever when faced with one of his most secret desires coming true. He couldn’t decide if the tears threatening to spill from his eyes were ones of happiness or sorrow.
“Riddle…” You whispered, wrapping your arms around his shaking frame. “Do you really want this? It’s okay if you don’t.”
Riddle bolted up to attention and shook his head violently.
“No! Absolutely not! I-I want you! Desperately!” His proclamation was a bit over the top, but it made you smile. 
Everything about him was just a little over the top after all, why would love be any different? It was what drew you to him. 
“Okay then… what do you want to do?”
Riddle hesitated, clearly puzzled over this question. What did he want? 
You sat in the comfortable silence for a moment, but it seemed that he was pretty deep in his head. You decided to offer your own option instead.
“Riddle, I want to make you feel good. Will you let me?” You asked, propping yourself up on your elbows to get a better look at his face.
Riddle nodded stiffly and slowly crawled backwards as you rose to meet him. Eyes fixed on your lips while he tried to smooth out the wrinkles in his clothing. He was clearly doing this out of habit, considering the fact that his clothes being out of place was your fault anyway.
You approached him carefully, sliding your fingers under the collar of his shirt as you coaxed each closure undone, holding your breath as you got a peek at each additional inch of his perfect doll-like complexion. 
Riddle was visibly shivering, lightly gasping and leaning into your touch each time that cold fingers happened to make fleeting contact with his bare skin. Finally unbuttoning enough to push the shirt off his shoulders, his torso revealed bare. 
You started slowly, giving him unhurried and smooth kisses on his lips as you gently massaged his body with your hands. 
He was so unbelievably soft, but you could feel the slim muscles that lay under his skin as well, clearly having benefited from his riding practice. 
You took joy in watching the goosebumps form on his skin as you slowly trailed your mouth down his body, fluttering butterfly kisses punctuated by each little whimper and gasp that spilled out of his mouth. 
Riddle had clamped a hand over his mouth in embarrassment, and while you wanted to hear his sounds better, you let him have that one piece of comfort. 
It was cute, and unsurprisingly as someone who liked Riddle this much, you were easily swayed by cute things.
Finally trailing your kisses to his abdomen, you unbuckled his belt and started to make quick work of his pants, silently proud in how you could tell how aroused he was by the tightness of the fit. 
After getting his zipper down, you placed your fingers on the waistband of his underwear, patiently waiting to see if he would let you so forward or ask you to stop. You were willing to do whatever he asked of you. 
“Please…” He whined, a strand of ruby hair falling into his face and sticking to his cheek. You reached up and tucked the offending hair behind his ear.
“Anything for you.” You said, pulling his pants down teasingly slow. 
Finally springing out of the restriction of his underwear, Riddle let out a barely audible sigh of relief. 
You were surprised, quite frankly. 
He wasn’t hung, per se, but what he did have far exceeded what you would proportionally expect of his small and soft body. He was pale and smooth, petal pink at the tip, with a generous curve to the sky. You pushed back the thought of where that curve might be able to hit for later, you were taking care of him right now, after all. 
You gingerly ran your fingertips over the softness of his skin, keeping your eyes locked on Riddle’s face to see every change in expression and twitch that hinted at his quickly crumbling composure. He was harshly biting his lip, and you could see that his ever-present flush of red had crawled down from his face to his chest. 
You started stroking him gently, not too fast, just ghosting touches along him. You worried that too much too fast would overwhelm him, and you wanted Riddle to enjoy this for as long as possible. 
Gripping him loosely, you started at a slow tempo, watching the way his thighs would twitch when you ran your thumb softly over the bulb of his head. 
You had internally compared him to a doll, but perhaps he was actually an angel. 
Watching the way that Riddle’s back arched off of the couch in yearning as you began varying the pace of your pumps, you certainly felt like you were having a religious experience. 
The way his soft grey eyes rolled back in his head, the way his arms and body tensed and relaxed with each stroke, it was mesmerizing. 
You couldn’t take your eyes off of him.
You heard Riddle softly call your name, so you shifted your focus back to his face. Nibbling along his neck as your pace turned strong and slow, you started milking him in a way that made his hips harshly buck into your hand. 
“Yes, Riddle?” You cooed between barely-there kisses. “How can I help you?”
Riddle looked up at you with glassy lust-heavy eyes.  
“I’wanna…” He gasped, urging his length into your hand at a particularly harsh stroke, “I wanna make you feel good too.” 
His words were slightly slurred, and he looked almost drunk on the feeling of your touch on him, his gaze wandering from your hand to your face and back again. 
“Oh?” You tease, spitting onto your hand and adding the moisture to the steady build-up of pre-cum that Riddle had been supplying you with.  
Your effort was met by another heady moan and then a hand harshly catching your wrist, causing you to stop your motions in surprise. 
“Let me fuck you… please?” Riddle asked between pants, the hand that had grabbed yours clearly shaking.
You swallowed audibly with a gulp.  
Well.. you always were a sucker for cute things.
He made quicker work of your clothes than you had his, perhaps owing to all of the beautiful yet complicated outfits that we wore regularly. 
Riddle's face was knit into a frown of concentration. The process of him taking your clothes off was a little less than sexy, but his innocently-serious charm made up for it.
Upon spying the skin of your chest, he froze. Staring at the pertness of your nipples in the cold air and the softness of your skin, he couldn't resist reaching forward to cup your chest softly, massaging the area with tender care. 
“Ah.. that feels good Riddle.” You say in encouragement. 
If he really wanted to make you feel good, you were going to make an effort to tell him when he got it right. You moved your hands over his to knead your chest a bit more aggressively and to lightly pinch at your nipples. 
Riddle froze for a moment again at your demonstration, but quickly got the hang of the motions, causing your breath to come out in shaky puffs. 
Riddle had made his way to your bottoms, undoing your buttons and sliding them down from your waist. He observed the small wet spot that had been forming on your underwear with pride, knowing that he was the one making this mess of you made his heart swell. 
He hooked his fingers under the garment and pulled, revealing you wholly bare to him. His breath caught in his throat at the view.
“...Like an angel.” He murmured reverently, pulling you to him to passionately kiss you once more. 
How ironic for him to say that, you thought.
The hard heat of Riddle's length had begun grinding against your thigh, his moans matching the tempo of his length rutting into you. Hands returned to messily groping at your chest, open mouthed kisses spread across your face, neck and chest. 
Sitting back on his feet to catch his breath and the rapid beating of his heart, Riddle grabbed his length in his hand and stroked it softly, staring directly into your eyes.
“Can I feel you?” He asked, looking at you through his thick lashes. You nodded and opened your arms to invite him to you. You wanted to feel him more than anything. 
Riddle started slow, rubbing his tip up and down your slit to gather some of the moisture that you had been so kindly supplying for him.
Remembering what you had done a few moments prior, Riddle spit on his hand and ran it through your lips and across his length, letting out a slight gasp at how good the slick felt on his burning skin. 
Feeling as prepared as he was ever going to be, Riddle began pressing himself inside you slowly, pumping his hips slightly to allow him easier entry.  
Your breathing was heavy as you were using all of your self-restraint to not claw the shit out of Riddle’s back. 
After a few moments of heavy breathing, gentle thrusting and gasped praises, Riddle bottomed out with a loud groan. 
Hazarding a glance at your face, he was amazed by the bottom lip that was plumped from the friction of his kisses, eyes half-lidded in need and his cock completely buried in your body. 
He had to move. Right now.
Riddle knew that he had to start slow and gentle. While he would never admit to reading a smutty romance novel in his life, he certainly had tried to absorb all he could from the ones he did get his hands on. 
Riddle allowed himself to pick up a little bit of speed, electing to move from slow and shallow thrusts to deep and grinding ones instead, both of you groaning when he kept pushing just past the point of comfort. 
Your chest was rising and falling to the beat of his hips meeting your own, and he found himself varying this timing to see if he could make you move in different ways, delighting in how you might spring forward or arch your back depending on where and when he was hitting inside of you.  
“Riddle, faster…” You gasped, knitting one of his hands between your fingers in an intimate hold. Riddle nodded and began doing as you asked, slamming himself in and out of you, pistoning himself so hard that you could feel his balls slap against you with each thrust. 
Your sounds were unlike anything that Riddle had ever heard before, and he wondered if something as heavenly as this could be considered addicting. 
One more thing that he had recalled from a particularly steamy bodice-ripper was that there was a button above the lips that was supposed to feel even better than just his thrusts. 
Taking the hand that you weren’t holding off the back of the couch, Riddle placed two fingers on the top of your lower-lips, drawing messy circles with his fingers.
You held back a giggle (because after all, you were actually impressed) as you guided Riddle’s fingers to your clit and helped him swirl his fingers. The friction created a warm tingle in your toes, and you knew you were close. Based on how Riddle had lost all sense of consistent timing and rhythm, you suspected that he was too. 
“Riddle…” You shakily called out, willing him to look at you again, “p-please cum for me darling.” 
Your voice quivered between thrusts, but if someone could be described as literally having a fire behind their eyes, that was what it was like looking at Riddle.
Gaining to a violent speed, both of your moans and gasps and pleads building into a crescendo, Riddle held your hips one final, bruising time, as he finished and near collapsed over you. 
Not wanting to finish without you, Riddle frantically swirled his fingers over your clit until you released the loudest ‘ah!’ of your life. Riddle felt you clench around his overstimulated dick and almost felt like fainting, but he resisted the urge in order to watch your face as you came down. Both of you panting, sweating, shaking, an absolute mess.
It was the first time he could really say that he was happy having made one.
"...Prefect?" 
"Yeah, Riddle?" 
"Do you want some tea?" 
"What do the rules say about tea at night?" 
"I can't find it in me to care about the rules right now." Riddle said with a smile, snuggling up to your side sleepily. 
"Me either." You replied, pulling Riddle off of your couch for you both to clean up and hopefully get some sleep.
You were far too tired for tea, as cute as it was of him to ask.
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And there you have it! Did you like it? Do you want more of Riddle? Someone else? Let me know!
AMAB counterpart is coming soon and will be linked as soon as its posted.
Violent Delights Part 2 is also mostly written because I am out of control haha.
Love you reader!
Requested tags: @readinganas, @yandere-kou, @daeda21, @buckketboy, @kxhyuns, @aikochan4859, @prince-zukohere, @star-gods, @sarahyumiko2, @rosalie-in-twisted-wonderland, @chopid-lulu, @naniky, @kashasenpai, @the-mermaid-of-the-stars,
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fandomnerd9602 · 4 months
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Can i make a request for male reader x Carol x Natasha x Wanda?
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You woke up stirring, a contented sigh escaping your lips as you snuggled deeper into the embrace of two impossibly soft bodies. One arm, strong and calloused, snaked around your waist, while the other, slender and cool, held you close to a warmth that felt like sunshine.
Blinking open your eyes, you were met with the sight of three faces, each etched with adoration. Wanda's reddish-brown hair cascaded over your shoulder, her crimson gaze heavy with sleep. Carol, still in her Nine Inch Nails T-Shirt which hugs her just right, nuzzled you. Natasha, a phantom of black silk pajamas, smirked from beneath a tangle of orange red hair.
"Morning, my wingman," Carol murmured, her voice husky with sleep.
"Sleep well, detka?" Wanda added, her breath warm against your ear.
You smiled, feeling a happiness so immense it threatened to burst from your chest. "Never better," you whispered, relishing the feeling of their combined love swirling around you like a protective bubble.
Breakfast was a chaotic ballet of laughter and spilled coffee. Wanda whipped up pancakes with a flick of her wrist, while Carol told you tales of alien cuisine, punctuated by Natasha's dry wit. You couldn't help but grin, the love between all of you was palpable as the steam rising from the pancakes.
The day unfolded like a dream. You trained with Carol, her laughter echoing through the sky as you soared among the clouds. Wanda cuddled with you while watching one of her favorite TV shows, her scarlet magic swirling around you, filling your brain with images of a sitcom esque life with the women in your life. Natasha, ever the strategist, planned your next mission, her sharp mind a reassuring constant. Although that didn't stop her from pining you to the ground of the training floor.
But the true magic happened in the quiet moments. Stolen kisses in sun-drenched meadows, whispered secrets under a starlit sky, late-night talks that stretched until dawn. Each touch, each glance, spoke volumes more than words ever could. They were your anchors, your confidantes, your partners in crime-fighting and love.
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