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foreverisntenough · 29 days

Text

- YOU’RE MINE -

Summary: While you daydreamed about his face an ocean apart, he had no idea what yours was about to do to him. With a twist of fate and the heat of summer, a new relationship would completely ransack his heart - Everyday heavy with the thought of one another, neither of you were going to let the unexpected love of your life go. You were going to be his, you were his, and you were going to stay his.

Warnings: This series will contain fluff, suggestions, smut love bombing, occasionally sad, and kind of angst- not sure what else really… if i miss anything please lmk!

Note: I hope you like it! There will definitely be more parts (don’t know how many just yet though.)

INDEX

Chapter 19 - ‘You’re Mine’

You were not as hopeless as your inner dialogue made you sound. You missed Trent so much your little heart hurt but you could live. You were busy with an array of things, you had gotten really active in local charities in Liverpool and initiatives especially Trent’s latest project launch. You had a degree from university that you didn’t really share with a lot of people around you but Trent obviously knew about it so your skill set came in handy. With the spare time you had you reached out to some contacts from your previous jobs you had put on hold back in New York. At the time you met Trent you were taking a little hiatus to just decompress. You were privileged enough to do that and well aware that is not something everyone could have the luxury of doing so once you got settled in England you started to connect with brands you worked with in the US that had UK offices. You got back into work freelance writing and styling. Your career before was in Fashion Editorial so it was an easy transition to get back into the swing of things. It made you feel better you were able to have a life outside of being Trent’s number one fan, even though that often was your favorite thing to be occupied with. Thankfully the two, Trent and work, were kept separated for the moment.

Before the tournament actually began you found that the little T- Bear Trent left for you just seemed to be with you 24/7. Tucked in bed with you every night, snuggled up on the couch watching television and as wonderful as that was, there was a certain part that this ‘T’ wasn’t able to… how do you put this… fulfill.

You were just about to whine down from the day but your hair and makeup were still done so you decided to take a few cheeky photos. A client, Agent Provocateur, a brand you adored, from an editorial piece you had worked on recently with them had gifted you some pieces of gorgeous lingerie. So you put on a little pink satin trimmed lace bra with a matching thong. The goal was to entice Trent obviously, but aside from that this set was making you feel confident which you seemed to be struggling with lately. You took some photos with the whole set on, some taking it off, some with it barely serving any purpose all while holding your new little bear. It was an incredibly sweet concept but far from innocent. You picked your favorites, ones you knew showed off things he’d enjoy so you sent them in a text unsolicited and unprovoked as you tucked into bed for the night. The little ‘delivered’ popped up under the sent photos and it quickly turned to ‘read.’ You knew he’d be excited to see them but there was always a little part of you that worried about how you actually looked in them, if he’d like them, and then of course about the potential consequences of sending such explicit photos when he’s at ‘work’ so you held your breath. He started to type and the three dots in the bubble appeared but stopped, started again only to disappear once again. The brief moment of confidence you had built started to waver. While you laid in your bed, a little disheartened, you put your phone far away from you to try to forget the situation until you heard the familiar ring of an incoming FaceTime.

“You’re such a tease, baby.” Trent rolled his perfect plump lips into a pout shaking his head but couldn’t really hold back the lustful grin he was really expressing. “I have training early tomorrow and you got me so fucking hard I can’t possibly get to sleep now.” He groaned. You sighed in relief that he did in fact really like your pictures.

“I’m sorry, T. I didn’t mean to bother you. I was just trying some things on and I thought you’d want to see. I didn’t mean to disrupt your night.” You feigned an apology playing coy.

“Nah, nah, nah you got me all worked up, miles away, sending me something I can’t have right now. You’re staying on the phone right now, helping me with this.” He sounded so commanding and it turned you on instantly.

“What can I help with, baby? To help, do you need me to keep this on or take it off?” You pulled the bra strap off your body to let it snap back against your skin.

“I wanna see more of you, beautiful. Take that off…Save that for when I can rip it off you myself and put your phone somewhere. I need to see all of you.” He instructed you so you leaned back against your headboard in front of your now propped up phone.

“This okay?” You asked craving his approval.

“Yeah, baby, just like that. You wanna spread your legs for me? Show me how wet you are.” He confirmed that was what he wanted to see. He began to stroke his cock from the tip to the base. His command had you stifling a moan.

“Fuck, you’re so hot. I miss you so much, T” you whimpered waiting for instructions till he asked for you to touch your clit, and then slowly slide your fingers into yourself. Just watching his cock get harder, hearing him pant on the other side of your phone had you inching closer to your release.

“Keep fucking that pussy,” he groaned. “Yeah, just like that, little faster, baby. Use your other hand and rub that clit again. Tell me how much you miss my cock.” His words had you crumbling. It was a cross between complete desperation, lust, and absence.

“I mi-miss it. I want your cock to fuck me, please. Ple..please I need your cock, T.” You whined. The tension and pressure released all at once causing you to whimper louder as waves of pleasure rippled through you. Your fingers coated in your slick. You couldn’t take your eyes off the screen, Trent repeatedly moaning your name as ropes of his cum spurted from his cock covering his abs. When you both came to, you smiled and wiggled in your bed giggling with him happy to feel the release but also to have achieved making him feel good from miles away.

“Fuck, that was so hot, you’re so beautiful, baby.” Trent said, laughing a little more while he cleaned himself up.

“I love you. Miss having you here with me so much.” You pouted. “Going to be able to sleep now?”

“Yeah, I think I’ll be okay now, thank you.” He chuckled. “I’ll be saving those pictures though, I might need them till I get you back.”

“Yeah, yeah but I think a call may be a little more mutually beneficial.” You giggled. “Goodnight, baby.”

“Love you, pretty girl. Miss you so much. Night.” Pushing his lips out for a virtual kiss before he hung up the phone.

A week later and many similar FaceTimes, you and Dianne were going to the Euro’s. You were traveling for the first match of the tournament. You and Dianne had a great relationship. You had essentially become like a daughter. She spoiled you, she always defended you against the boys teasing, you spent a lot of time shopping together or sitting pitch side. You appreciated her so much for all she did for you since you arrived in Liverpool and loved the idea of a little trip together. You checked into a lovely hotel and settled into your separate rooms but planned to meet up for a breakfast in the morning before you headed off for the stadium tomorrow.

It was the opening match of the group stage and the place was buzzing. You hadn’t seen England play in a big tournament like this yet as Trent’s girlfriend so you didn’t really know what to expect. You hoped you had adapted to life as a ‘wag’ at Liverpool but this was a whole new lot. You had made friends with a few girls you’d met at international friendly matches, the boys you knew on the team, and were excited to be able to see some girls from Liverpool whose partners were playing for other countries. That said as much as you had watched the Euros countless times before, to be there felt so strange. Thank god Dianne was with you. You both had opted to match in Alexander-Arnold white England kit shirts. You kept your outfit pretty casual not wanting to draw too much attention given the mayhem that seemed to be ensuing lately with your every move relatively near a football pitch. ‘Casual’ is all relative though when you are a little bit of a fashion girly so; you paired T’s jersey with R13 Crossover denim shorts, white and gray Prada ‘Downtown’ sneakers, a Mui Mui gray fleece hoodie in case you got cold, your new, very sweetly gifted, navy Dior saddle bag and what felt like just about every piece of gold jewelry you owned; you’d be remiss to not be wearing your prized possession; the white gold diamond Van Clef necklace Trent gave you when he asked you to be his girlfriend. That was always going to be on and the myriad of other little bits and bobs of jewelry he'd given you over time. You liked the look, it felt authentically you: low key but if you looked close enough the finer details told another story and you liked that.

You promised Dianne you’d help up her ‘MaG’ match day fits. You two had started an inside joke considering you were Mum and Girlfriend for Trent in the stands. It was cute and you were elated to help. Outside the stadium, you stopped a girl around your age to take a photo for you with Dianne to keep for a memory and you got that special photo but it also transgressed into plenty of questions because the girl was a fan which was sweet but in turn the exchange was shared to your least favorite part of the internet lately… social football gossip pages.

‘Okay, ICL, Trent Alexander-Arnold’s mum and his presumed girlfriend holding hands walking into the stadium was precious. The mystery girl is definitely no mystery to the fam’

The girl who kindly took a photo for you outside the stadium had also shared with a fan page another photo she had taken unsolicited as you walked away with Dianne.

Dianne held onto your hand still as you walked through the corridors of the stadium while masses of people swirled around you. It was insane. Complete chaos. A familiar chaos, but chaos nonetheless. England had a strong team this year and people were excited to say the least. You made it to your seats and your heart filled with relief seeing the tan skinned pretty pretty boy, smiling beaming, warming up ahead of the match. You leaned onto Diane’s shoulder in repose.

“It’s the best feeling in the world seeing him happy doing what he loves.” Leaning her head on top of yours.

“I know, I feel lucky I get to witness it. Even just to be a small part of the whole experience.”

“Hun, you’re a big part. Things changed when you came to England for him. He’s emotionally never been in a better place.” She cooed.

“I hope so, I just want to be there for him as much as I can. I try not to let my emotions ever sway his, like when I miss him. I don’t know how you’ve done this for so long.” You joked a little because you referring to ‘so long’ was really in reference to from birth to this very moment and having to share her son globally.

“One thing I always know, he does miss us when he’s away. He doesn’t need to tell us but you know he will always, even as focused as he is for work. More specifically, he misses you sweetheart…so much.” She placed a kiss on head. “You make that boy's life outside of all this so much better for him. Easier, happier, calmer, healthier, I could go on… so thank you hun.” Her words had your heart bursting. You always had an open relationship but to get such a verbal confirmation felt really nice.

When a Trent fan account finally published the photo of you and Dianne walking into the stadium together the response was different to the usual wrath of hate you’d receive from the public on the likes of gossip news sites. Instead these fans were enthused by the sighting. Commenting…

‘I feel like she’s probably super sweet if she’s that close with his mum’

‘Seeing her with his family makes me feel like she’s actually a serious girlfriend’

‘Okay, ngl, she actually looks too cool for him lol’

‘Matching with his mum is so precious’

‘Imagine Trent being your boyfriend 😭’

‘She’s with his mum 🥺’

You couldn’t have asked for a better opening match. England dominated and Trent got a decent amount of minutes and during his time on the pitch he managed to assist Bukaya for an unbelievable goal. It was just icing on the cake to see him after a couple weeks, have the result go their way, and to have him play well. When the final whistle blew it was such a special feeling being surrounded by people who all felt just the same as you. It was a big family just supporting boys that had worked so tirelessly to get here, to represent their country. When the team had wrapped up some post match duties they were able to come over to the stands to meet up with their families after the stadium had cleared out. Trent walked over with a smile that made your heart melt. You leaned over the railing to give him the biggest kiss. His arms reached up to grab your face, yours falling around his neck. You both hummed at the satisfaction of being back together. The kiss felt like fireworks for you, your whole body ignited feeling his lips on yours. Trent’s body on the other hand fell into complete comfort and relaxation soothed by your touch.

“Missed you so much, baby.” He whispered his lips ghosting over yours.

“My T” you giggled, pressing one more peck before pulling apart.

“Lemme climb on up, pretty girl.” He needed to get off the pitch over into the stands so he did haphazardly because his body was exhausted.

“You were amazing, sweetie. So proud of you Trenty.” Dianne cooed, giving him a big tight hug. Diane stayed standing but Trent collapsed onto a seat in the stands burnt out.

“T, honestly so good. You were incredible.” Leaning over to give him another kiss. You sat next to him and he wrapped his arms around your waist and laid his head onto your shoulder. He pressed light kisses to it and you did the same to his temple. Dianne stood there talking to you both about the match before going over to talk to Jude Bellingham’s mum, Denise, after spotting her now the match had finished. With the idea of being alone with you, despite being surrounded by friends, family and teammates, Trent sprawled out across a row of seats and laid his head in your lap. You caressed his face and played with his hair while you two gushed about how much you missed each other. He was practically stuck to you. He couldn’t pull his hands or lips off your skin if he tried. Kissing your wrists as they moved over his face, pulling your face down for proper kisses every once in a while, purring as your nails scratched his scalp.

“Trent, come here quick.” Dianne yelled for him evoking a disgruntled face on the boy who had gotten quite comfortable back under your touch. So he stood up and made his way over to talk to the two mums. Despite telling him you’d stay put, he dragged you with him, pushing you in front of him while his hands wrapped around your waist. He kept his chin on your shoulder listening to his mum while his idle fingers played with the belt loops of your shorts. You introduced yourself to Denise who was as kind as her sons were. You’d met and spent a lot of time with both her boys since you moved to England, knowing how polite they were, it made sense she’d be that way as well.

“Going to do a lunch after the group stage with them, five of us, yeah?” Dianne was informing you and Trent about a plan she and Denise had made to go out before the England Team were hosting a little party for all the families.

“That sounds lovely!” You cheerfully smiled liking the idea of getting time together away from other than just seeing the boys from a distance on the pitch. Trent didn’t say anything, he just smiled seeing you smile. He missed the way your cheeks warmed when you did. Jude waddled his way up the stairs of the seats sore from the game coming up to you all, first giving a hug and kiss to his mum, then to Diane and then looked at you, smiled, and then rolled his eyes at Trent who was lost still gazing at you.

“Gonna let go for a minute so we can all say hello?” Jude joked removing Trent’s hands stuck to your body.

“Hi Judey” you giggled giving him a big hug. Lately he and Trent were together most of the time when league play was suspended for breaks and he found himself back in England so you had gotten close. He was coming on your holiday after the tournament. The holiday had funnily become a little bit of a boys trip that included you and your best friend, but moreover Trent obviously, Marcel was coming, Jude, and Jobe, his brother, had decided to tag along, and then a few other boys. You didn’t mind but it was a little comical now. Jude could sense the humor in it and knew your relationship well enough that you just were dying to be laying on the beach with Trent, alone, unbothered, but that more than likely wouldn’t be the case now.

“All good? Ready for this to be over?” You pulled out of his hug rolling your eyes at his comment as he sat down in front of you leaning on the back of a seat a row below you.

“What do you mean! Very excited to be here for the next two weeks” you beamed sarcastically.

“It worries me how good you are at lying. It’s unsettling for my brother” he shoved at your shoulder while glancing at Trent.

“No, seriously! I am actually really excited. This is amazing though. You played so well, lucky to be supporting England.” You clarified.

“Yeah, just don’t open your mouth too much and you might pass as one of us.” Jude teased about your accent but was quickly reprimanded by Denise. She scolded Jude telling him to be nicer and you just smiled relishing in the mum's protection over you.

The boys had to go back to the dressing room after getting to say hello which was bittersweet and came all too quickly. Luckily in a few days time they’d be out of the group stages and would have a few days off so you could see Trent then but right now you had to say bye.

“Call me tonight?” You cooed, draping your arms around Trent’s neck, his arms coming to drop low on your waist pulling his jersey you had on up to caress your skin, dipping his hands into your shorts slyly.

“Course, baby. I’m just so glad you’re here.” He whispered, pulling your body a little closer to his pushing his hips into you.

“Wouldn’t be anywhere else, T.” You quietly said back pressing your nose against his.

“Love you, beautiful” he said with a little peck to your lips.

“I love you.” You sealed with another kiss. Your focus only on each other.

“Honestly, enough. I’m going without you.” Jude dramatically but in, hitting Trent’s arm before proceeding to stand up. Trent said goodbye to the mums, and you again with another swift but sweet kiss and a sneaky squeeze to your ass cheek before hurrying after Jude. He turned and winked at you before disappearing down the tunnel.

Later that evening, the England Instagram account posted a carousel of families reuniting after the first win of the tournament. None directly featured you, Diane or Trent but behind a photo posted of the Bellingham family were you and Trent having a cuddle while sharing a sweet kiss. There definitely was a fair share of comments who caught the affectionate interaction. In turn, cropped images of the photo, zooming in on you two, blew up all over socials again,

‘They’re not even trying anymore lol’

‘I’m happy for them 🥹’

‘Trent, I don’t need to see you cheating on me like this’

‘To kiss that sweaty man, I’d die’

‘Still just avoiding cameras, like fam, we know your together lol’

You and Diane continued going to the remaining group stage matches with England performing well. Trent even bagging a goal so the brief moments seeing him after the games were just so special. Being so close but unable to properly be alone and cuddle or kiss was slightly driving you both insane. So you spent the nights apart FaceTiming only mere hotels, short distances apart. Trent would vent about the games and you listened intently trying your best to not add unnecessary additions to the already noisy commentary he was surrounded by, you’d joke around, if there wasn’t a game directly the following day, things would get a little steamier on the call but overall you just repeated how much you missed being back at home together. More often than not you two just stayed on the phone till you both fell asleep making one of you wake up hours later and having to end the call that had been ongoing for hours of just your sleeping faces lit by phone screens.

As expected the England team finished top of their group so they were to have a few days off before the knockout stage began which meant you got to spend some time with your T. He did have to go to a short morning training session after last night's game but he was coming to meet you and his mum at your hotel to see you both after. You always grappled with sharing Trent but his mom was an exception, she deserved all his time and attention so you were hoping for a little sliver. He met you later in the day after the training session in a tea room of the hotel you and Dianne were staying at and joined you for brunch. Somehow if it was even possible, Trent walked in and looked even more beautiful than he ever did. He seemed to have that effect on you. It didn’t matter if it had been 5 minutes when he’d walk to the kitchen and back or days since you last saw him but when he’d return he somehow looked even more handsome than before. His mum stayed seated and she gave him a little side hug. You opted to stand up to give him a tight hug, you missed his warm embrace. He wrapped his arms around you and his familiar amber smell engulfed you. You could’ve stayed there forever. You kissed his neck gently, subtly, and quietly to keep it hidden from his mum but Trent wasn’t having that.

“Erm…I’d like a proper kiss, beautiful.” He beamed with a big smile, his lips pushing out waiting for you. His hands slid up from around your waist to hold both your cheeks. He placed a heart stopping kiss on your lips and you felt your legs almost give out. He was like a dream all the time. You finally sat and had a nice little meal filled with conversation more so about what was happening back at home than football, he wanted the break from the intensity. When Dianne excused herself to run to the restroom, Trent pulled your chair a little closer to his. He placed another kiss on your cheek.

“What’d you doing, pretty boy?” You cooed, unable to hide the smile he was pulling from you and the flush rising in your cheeks smitten by his flirty move.

“Wanna be closer to my girl” his hand came and wrapped around the back of your neck stroking his thumb over your exposed skin. In your Trents true fashion he had shown up with a little gift for you. “Got you a little something, baby.”

“T!! You don’t always have to do this!” You quipped in feigned annoyance. You gestured to the Dior Saddle bag you were using today again but it still always was a little exciting “I don’t need anything. I just need this.” You said, moving your hand over his resting on his leg, playing with each of his fingers slowly. It was true, just being close to him was enough for you but nevertheless he pulled out a little box.

“Just so you don’t forget where you’re loyaly lies on match days, yeah?” You opened the little jewelry box that had a Monica Rich Kosann locket that opened with two little pictures; one of you and T hugging in the tunnel at Anfield in his Liverpool kit, the other of you and him sharing a cute kiss in his England uniform. It just made you melt. He was so thoughtful and cute. “I know you're technically only half American but don’t you forget whose you are, beautiful. You’re all mine.”

“I’m pretty sure I know who I’ll be rooting for always. Always yours.” You said giggling, “but thank you, baby. I love it and I love you” leaning your head on his shoulder nuzzling into that familiar smell as his arm wrapped around you. He pressed light kisses on your head while you whispered little mushy things back and forth. When Dianne returned she smiled entering the main room seeing that her departure caused your chairs to move inexplicably closer. She liked to see that her very reserved boy found someone to be so comfortable, protective, confident and unequivocally in love with. She sat back down but it wasn’t long until she excused herself again.

“I need a little rest, a shower, and some time to get ready for tonight to keep up my ‘MaG’ looks so I’m going to head up.” She stood up from the table, placing her napkin down, pushing her chair in and placing her hand gently on yours briefly.

“MaG?” Trent questioned, looking between you and his mum for some context on the inside joke he was clearly left out of.

“Don’t worry about it” you laughed in Dianne’s direction telling her if she needed you to text you but she just wanted to let you and Trent to spend some time alone together.

“Thank you hun!” She kissed Trent’s head and squeezed your arm. “I’ll see you both a little later on before we meet with Denise and her boys.” You said your goodbyes but you stayed a little longer cuddled up as close as you can be in a restaurant setting picking at little sandwiches and sweets. Eventually, Trent and you finally left and went up to your room where he dramatically crashed on the bed, rushing to get under the covers like a little boy because he was ‘so tired.’

“T! T! Shoes! Gross!” You squealed, pulling at his arms to get him out and off your freshly cleaned hotel bedding.

“Wowwwww already asking me to take my clothes off. Eager much, baby?” He teased starting to get out of the bed begrudgingly.

“No…no, well” you blushed at his words. “I wouldn’t complain but I just meant if you could not get my bed all dirty I would appreciate it” you gave a genuine smile and a sweet giggle that made his heart falter.

“So you don’t want to be dirty in bed?” he sat up on the bed with a cheeky and devious smile, his legs hung off the side and he held his arms out for you. You moved over and stood between his legs, his hands caressed up your back pulling your shirt up with them, “With me? Not even me baby?” He gave you a look that made you cave immediately. You let him pull your shirt off over your head and after he did your hands reached out to pull his off.

“I missed this body. You’re so fucking beautiful. Been dreaming of this.” He said, dragging the strap of your bra down off your shoulder.

“Dreaming of what, T? What do you need?” You cooed with a sly smirk as your hands played with the waistband of the skirt you still had on.

“I need all of this…” sliding the mini skirt down your legs. “off right now.” He said gently, his words dripping like honey, his hands moving in slow motion. Making your skin burn.

You were standing in front of him completely naked now. He sat back resting on his arms behind him on the bed. The hotel room light cast over you illuminating the dips of your collarbones, highlighting the rise of your tits, the smoothness of your skin. Trent stared in awe just about drooling over his girl.

“Baby, I’m gonna need you here right now.” He said pulling your waist towards him. You sat with your legs on both sides of his and straddled him, feeling his prominent bulge growing harder and harder beneath your wet core.

“And I’m going to need these off, T.” You said pulling off his trousers. In quick motions all clothing was removed, Trent had flipped you over to be on top of you making out passionately, whispers and gasps of ‘I love you’ and ‘missed this so much’ muddled in between messy, sloppy, yearning kisses. You spit a little on your hand and gently gilded it up and down the length of his cock. His fingers slid between your folds gathering your wetness to play with your clit while he dipped two in to help stretch you out.

“Shit, that feels so good, sh-shit, I’m not gonna last very long, it's been a while without you. You’re so fucking tight” Trent was panting, losing focus at just the feeling of you.

“Baby, I need you so bad, can we just ju-just. Please I miss you so much T.” You were moaning as his languid fingers circled your clit begging for him to fuck you. His mouth nipped down your neck before his tongue circled and licked around your hard nipples eliciting a whimper of pleasure from you.

“Yeah, yeah, sweet girl. I’m gonna give you whatever you need.” He groaned. In swift motions he slowly aligned his cock with your core and slid into you. You both gasped at the contact. He moved slowly inch by inch but he just wanted to get as deep as possible. He missed this feeling like nothing else. His thick cock hit your g spot almost immediately once he was in. He felt so deep and the stretch of him being back inside you had your mind turn to complete mush. You lost any control you had when he was fully inside. The force and pace of his thrusts increased and so did the volume of both your moans. “You’re such a good girl, so fucking wet for me.” He said hearing the sounds of your slick as he dragged his cock slowly out of you and watched himself push all the way back thrusting harder. Your legs wrapped around him. You were whining in pleasure. Your lips parted gasping at the sensation of him. You both were moaning inexplicable phrases of praise, love, and adoration. You were completely obsessed with each other and how good the sex was only amplified it.

“Oh my fu-fucking god, T, you feel so good.” You felt tears fill your lash line. His cock rammed deep inside you again and again, hitting a spot only he knew, while his finger pressed rough circles around your clit. He dipped his head a little and played with your nipples more, pulling at them and biting. You could barely handle the sensory overload so you bit harshly onto his shoulder to try to quiet your moans.

“Fuck, baby, your pussy’s so perfect for me. Taking me so well.” He growled moving to nibble at your ear, his hot breath on your skin had your orgasm approaching faster and faster. He pulled back nearly all the way out and hammered back in. Tears started to roll down your cheek. Your arms wrapped around his body so tight your nails were digging into his skin leaving deep crescent marks while Trent continued to fuck you at an inhuman pace.

“I missed you, I missed this. You feel so fucking good. I want this forever.” You babled as your legs started to tremble. Your orgasm was getting closer and closer. Your eyes rolled back as you heard him moan your name again, again, and again.

You were getting lost in the pleasure that your T was giving to you while he was just as infatuated by your body and the sounds you were making had him fighting to not cum without you getting to orgasm first.

“You have me forever.” He whispered barely getting the words out softly in your ear. In a split second you felt your pussy spasm at the tenderness of his words and his rough strokes. You soaked his cock completely when you felt his release fill you up so much, it began to seep out while he was still inside. He laid on top of you for a while before he spoke again.

“I’m so addicted to you, beautiful. Can’t be away from you like this.” He murmured laying on your chest completely exhausted

“I guess we’re both addicts then” you giggled tracing your fingers up his spine. He continued laying there just holding you. You kissed him slowly. You were both so tired in the hotel room. “My sleepy, sleepy, needy boy.” You cooed, pressing your lips on his warm skin. You were so authentic with each other. Being back together felt like a saccharine summertime daydream. Feeling your New York daydream turned into your reality. Your love was undiluted, nothing felt better than being physically connected like this .

“We have to go soon, baby.” Trent finally picked his head up to nuzzle into your neck placing kisses all over your skin. If you could bottle this feeling forever you would, it was worth more than its weight in gold.

“I just want another cuddle, pleaseee” you whined childishly and in turned caused Trent to just let all his body weigh on top of you and wrap his arms so tight around you thought you couldn't breathe but the sound of his joyful laugh had you able to completely disregard the bone crushing pressure and just relish in the moment. You wanted to hear him happy, you wanted to see that beautiful smile pull across his face, the smile lines wrinkle, his little dimples appear so you let it ensue. Eventually you both got up and started to get dressed to meet with the Bellinghams; Denise, Jude, and Jobe at the restaurant and to meet Dianne downstairs at the hotel.

Trent needed to shower but you opted not to because your hair would take too long to do if you did which disappointed Trent because he claimed he needed your ‘help’ but in reality he just wanted another round of messing about to his disappointment you held your ground. Instead you began your skincare and makeup at the vanity in the hotel bathroom before moving back to the bedroom and sitting with a pout looking at your suitcase confused.

“What do you think I should wear? I don’t know Denise that well and I don’t know what people have said about me so I don’t want to like… I don’t know, mess up.” You nervously babbled rummaging through your suitcase on the floor.

“You look beautiful in anything.” Trent picked you up off the ground to give you a hug still wet from his shower.

“That’s incredibly unhelpful, T, seriously.” He placed a kiss on your forehead to try to calm your nerves. “Erm… I’m wearing this,” said showing you the outfit he had layed out of the bed. “If that helps at all.”

“Baby… I picked that out though” so you both started laughing.

Because you were going to the England team’s event after you wanted to be a little ‘on theme’ but not exactly sporting Saint George’s cross. You picked a pair of white linen trousers from Cult Gaia, a navy and white striped knit tank from Kule, paired with a Bottega Veneta mini sunrise bag in red, you also opted to bring a Jacquemus denim jacket in case you got cold. Oh! And of course shoes so red Manolo Blahniks were the choice. Your boobs were on display a little bit from not wearing a bra with the top but having a jacket would be a good cover. The pants fit your waist perfectly and when standing showed off your incredible figure. You wanted to be casual so your shoe choice was flats. Once you were dressed you walked over to help fix the collar of Trent’s shirt. He wore tailored khaki cargo style pants, a white t-shirt, a Rhude button up open overtop and a pair of Louis Vuitton trainer sneakers.

“You’re so so so handsome. It’s a little unfair.” You said as he stood in front of a full length mirror inspecting his outfit and you went and wrapped your hands around his biceps and leaned your head on his shoulder.

“I have to keep up with you don’t I?” He cheekily said, squeezing his hands around your waist and pulling you in for a kiss.

You went to the lobby and Dianne asked if you wanted a photo, well she wanted one of you two, you obliged not particularly upset about capturing memories. Trent and you took a few and Dianne gushed over how beautiful she thought you both were. You had Dianne send them to you and Trent but neither of you posted the photo. Your camera rolls were filled with photos like this that never saw the light of day only when they were printed and hung in the house or a rare occasion where you’d post a more subtle pic of you holding hands walking down the street in your fits like you did tonight.

You held hands as you walked down cobble streets till you saw the Brummie Bellingham family waiting outside the restaurant for dinner. The group of the three boys, two mums, and yourself filed into the restaurant and per usual heads began to turn. Trent was one thing but Jude out in public was another animal… the two of them together; Pandora’s box. You sat at a table nestled in the back of a nice restaurant, you were relieved your outfit of choice was appropriate. To no one’s surprise, you sat close to Trent. One part of the table had a booth for seating and you took his lead so Trent helped you slid in before he followed. Your thighs were touching immediately, one hand wrapped around your waist low with his thumb in between the fabric of your trousers and your skin. The other gripped high on your leg till he needed to use it to look at a menu. Trent, Jude, Jobe honed in on some conversation regarding a referee error that happened in another countries group match. You nodded your head following along, you had seen the story, and Trent had explained it at length. Trent pulled on your waist to get you to be a little closer to him so you gave into his wishes and placed your head on his shoulder. He placed a kiss onto your hair in between sentences. Dianne and Denise were talking about something you couldn’t really hear but they were engrossed in their own back and forth until Dianne tapped at your hand that was resting on the table top.

“Hmm?” You picked up your head with a smile turning towards her. Trent unphased with his hand still gripping you tight.

“Come talk with us sweetheart.” She cooed, gesturing her head towards the other side of the table. You didn’t need his permission but you looked at Trent peeling his fingers off your waist to slide over to talk to the mums before whispering in his ear.

“Okay?” You asked with no real expectation for an answer you just wanted to note what you were doing.

“You can only listen to so much hun.” Denise spoke with a smile you hadn’t really seen her crack yet. Another mum of only boys made you nervous.

“It’s fine, I think when I hit the 15th time discussing the same call, I start to check out a little.” You giggled picking up a glass of wine, bringing it slowly to your lips holding it there a little longer after your sip.

“I understand that, imagine over 20 years of football chaos all day every day. It’ll never end.” Dianne and Denise laughed reminiscing about going from grassroots teams to the biggest stadiums in the world with their little boys.

“I don’t mind. I do actually love football…” you paused and giggled a little before your gaze drifted away from them to Trent. “Maybe not to the same extent of course but it’s nice when people are passionate about something, really love, devote, and care about it.” Your eyes fell back towards them but more so to the table where you played with the rings on your fingers. Trent felt your gaze but missed the connection so he reached over a little and linked his pinky with your hand that was on the seat of the booth before giving you a soft smile. Denise and Dianne watched the exchange and the way your words softened talking about being passionate and what it meant to really love something catching that it wasn’t maybe only about football but about someone sitting at the table who was playing football.

“I heard you followed football before you moved here, is that right?” Denise asked, giving you a sweet smile.

“Yeah, yeah. It’s always been something my dad and I bonded over, had a connection with, I actually played till I was around 16 or so but didn’t really want to play at university so it faded out but when I got older following a team with my dad really kept us close and that’s important to me. We’ve created some of the best memories together at matches.” You rambled a bit, maybe it was the wine, or just panic trying to speak to Denise but you felt a little on edge.

“You did not play footie! That’s bullshit.” Jude’s head turned towards you.

“Jude…” Denise gave a stare that if it was directed at you, you’d probably cry but he just shrugged.

“Sentiment still stands, I don’t believe that.” Jude scoffed.

“Nah, she did! Kept the little secret in her back pocket for a while.” Trent confirmed it was in fact true with a little chuckle.

“Okay, well I wasn’t going to walk up to you people who do it professionally and be like ‘oh I played too!’ That’s embarrassing.” You sarcastically swayed your head back and forth making fun of how ridiculous it would’ve been.

“It still would’ve been interesting to know.” Jobe piped up and it made you smile. You just wanted to pinch his cheeks but he was older than that, definitely not as naive as he played but truly was adorable.

“Thanks, Jobe” you gave him a heartfelt smile. “Jude, you just listening in on our conversation?” You teased picking up your fork and pointing it at him.

“Nah, nah, you’re not all that interesting.” Jude pointed his fork at you emphasizing ‘you’ while he rolled his eyes.

“I’d say otherwise but each their own.” You imitated the same shrug he did earlier.

“You’ve had quite a whirlwind couple of years though sweetheart, at least from what I’ve heard. What did you do before you moved to the UK?” Denise, now interested in how you ended up at this dinner table and that there were things her boys were even still learning about.

“Oh, um, I went to university for a degree and then worked in fashion for a little and in what felt like a blink of an eye I ended up here.” You smiled, oversimplifying your backstory.

“Wow, Hun! Pretty, smart, funny, pushes back against my Jude. Trenty, you’ve got a good one.” Denise cooed looking at Trent whose eyes were still fixed on you from when you were speaking.

“Yeah, absolutely perfect. Worth getting her to move countries innit” Trent gushed eyes still stuck on you before sliding your body back over to him to wrap his arms around your frame placing a little peck on your neck.

“Done well” Dianne cooed, smiling at Trent’s clear obsession while taking a sip from her glass.

“Well then you’ve suddenly become my default to keep all the boys in line on this Greece holiday.” Denise joked a little but it was laced with a bit of seriousness.

“I always do, she’s been looking after mine for a bit now.” Dianne creased, the two mums were having a laugh themselves so you let it play out. The bulk of dinner wrapped up and Denise and Dianne decided they’d let the four of you get up to some nonsense without them so they said their goodbyes, hugs and kisses, and started to walk away from the table.

“Di, he is in love with that girl.” Denise quietly spoke to Dianne as they walked.

“Oh, I’m aware. It’s mutual too, think she’s more shy about the affection because he’s in his element or spaces he’s already familiar with but it’s totally infatuation all the time”

“Think they want to get married?” Denise asked the blatant question.

“I know Trent would, he’s slyly mentioned looking at rings but I keep my mouth shut.” Diane smiled just keeping her eyes forward as Denise glanced back at the table.

“It’s the only way we get any information now, just being quiet I swear” Denise laughed at the reality of their situations.

“She’s so good for him and he’s good to her. They make each other so happy, their house is gorgeous and so warm. It makes my heart full that they built this all from some whirlwind interaction.” She paused having a think. “Oh, god, you know what, yeah I’d really want that for them. Whole family loves that girl to bits.” Dianne babbled getting caught in the idea of what the future had in store for you and Trent.

You and the three boys decided to grab the check but go to the bar, you didn’t really need to sneak Jobe in with you like you normally would with a younger boy just being with Jude and Trent was like going anywhere with a free pass so it was no problem.

On cue, a few girls approached asking for photos with the boys so you happily helped take some for them. They wanted individual photos with Jude and then Trent. When one girl was posing for her photo with Trent she was a little bit more handsy than you cared for but it was only a photo so you bit your tongue. She wrapped her arm around his waist and placed her palm over his chest like a couple may pose. Jobe gripped your shoulder with his hand sensing the tension as you tapped away taking the photos on her phone. Even he knew it was probably a step too far on the girls' part. The other girl waiting for her turn for photos with Jude and Trent squealed a little.

“Literally you look like a couple! You’d be so cute together.” The fan said with a cheeky wink to her friend. Jude was quick to cut the encounter, none of you wanted to make a big deal but it still didn’t make you feel great.

“Alright darling, you want your picture with me too or just Trentski, C’mere” Jude cooed with false flirtation. The girl detached and Jobe said he’d take the remaining photos. You were polite and smiled to the girls and let them know if they needed you to take more you would but Trent walked up to you and draped his arms over your shoulder, his hands caressing the back of your head before you could really do anything else.

“Getting jealous, pretty girl?” Pressing his nose against yours. “Hmm, baby?” His lips pulled into a sly smile. You leaned in and rested your head on his chest before you started pressing light kisses over his shirt up to his collarbone and then his neck, all the way to his ear.

“Don’t like seeing you with someone else,” you quietly admitted. “You’re mine, baby.” You pouted your lips, he couldn’t see but could probably feel them roll against his skin. He grabbed both your cheeks and held your face out in front of his. You innocently looked up at him through your lashes. He teased you a little bit pressing small kisses to your neck now the same way you did to him but his were heavy with a more sensual motive. He heard you purr a little at the sensation so he took it a step further and began whispering against your sensitive skin about what he was going to do to you back in your hotel room; his words interspersed by kisses. You tried to hold back a moan before pulling him in for a proper kiss needing one to hold you over knowing you were in for a long night of cheeky hand placements and sultry kisses until you made it back to the promised land i.e your hotel room.

•

Thank you for continuing reading! Comment or message what you think of the chapter / series … 🤍

Next Part - Chapter 20 xx

#trent alexander arnold x reader #trent alexander arnold #trent alexander arnold imagines #you’re mine fic #taa x reader

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deaddovedec · 6 months

Text

𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐃𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟑

𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐭 𝐋𝐢𝐬𝐭

Hello and welcome to Dead Dove December 2023! We are a dark holiday-themed Bucky Barnes event. Below, you will find the prompts for each day of December, along with alternate options. This is a no-pressure, for-fun event that offers over 40 prompts to fulfill your dark needs during the holiday season. Please be aware that the prompts on this list contain dark and potentially disturbing themes and may not be suitable for all audiences.

Ao3 Collection

𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐭 𝐋𝐢𝐬𝐭

Day 1: "Stocking" Stalking / Trapped

Day 2: Heartwarming / Hidden

Day 3: Ice Skating (Screaming) / Nutcracker / Home

Day 4: Curse / Captivity

Day 5: Jolly / Jugular

Day 6: Blood in The Snow / No Strings Attached

Day 7: Giving Back / First Night / Tis The Season

Day 8: Mistletoe Madness / Stree Free ( Stress Position)

Day 9: Naughty or Nice (Knot or Nice) / Merry

Day 10: Cold as Ice / Secret Surprise

Day 11: Unexpected Gift (Alt: Best/Worst) / Lost

Day 12: Candy Cane / Candlelight / "The Light Goes Out."

Day 13: Tortured / Yule Ritual / The Shadow of the Menorah / FREE DAY

Day 14: Chopping / Silent Night, Lonely Night

Day 15: Wonderland / Snowflakes

Day 16: Tinsel Bondage (Tied) / Strangulation

Day 17: Christmas Lights / Pretty as bulb, aren’t you? My own special little ornament (Christmas Angel).”

Day 18: Forced Celebration / Feast / Fever

Day 19: Twisted Traditions / Train Tracks/ Hanging From the Tree

Day 20: Krumpus / Monster Fucking

Day 21: A Broken Ornament / Winter Solstice / FREE DAY

Day 22: Buried in Bows / Tangled Ribbons

Day 23: What Fun It Is / Holiday Haunting / Horse Drawn

Day 24: The Nightmare Before Christmas / Last Wish

Day 25: All I Want is You / Unwrapping / Presents “Presence”

Day 26: Chains / Cheers / Cannibalism

Day 27: Dark Encounter / Stitches

Day 28: Something Red / Tears

Day 29: Robbed (of senses) / Stockholm Syndrome

Day 30: Masked / Masquerade / Spiked / FREE DAY

Day 31: It’s a New Year, (Again)- Memory Loss / Forgotten

𝐀𝐥𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐋𝐢𝐬𝐭

Deprived

Search & Rescue

Building a (snow) man

Aches & Angels

"Stay with me."

The gift of gunpoint

Chimney

"He sees you when you're sleeping; he knows when you're awake."

Ao3 Collection ❆ Event Information ❆

Don’t forget to tag us for reblog or add your work to the Ao3 collection! Tag properly and destroy those doves 🕊️

Divider credit ❆ @rookthornesartistry

#deaddovedecember2023 #ddd2023

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vanillelace · 1 year

Text

⟡ warnings ; profanity, mentions of blood (this is a vampire au), some NON DETAILED mentions of violence, food mentioned, death.

⟡ pairings ; yang jungwon x fem. reader

⟡ genre ; vampire au, fake dating and attempted slowburn, slight royalty? PLOT TWIST BUT NOT THAT WELL WRITTEN

⟡ wordcount ; 12652 words

⟡ summary ; You are the most wanted half-blood. Your mother, however against her will, was smitten by a mere mortal, condemning herself and your future. And she conveniently forgot to mention that she is a vampire. Yang Jungwon, son of one of the most famous vampire royals, has to date you in order to see a brighter future. An unexpected journey full of twists and turns.

⟡ note ; hi guys. i have not uploaded a single work of mine because motivation is going 📉📉 rn 💀 so uh yeah this will probably be my last work. i may upload, but of my own will ^^ also I had to rush this really bad so im sorry if it doesn’t seem too good. I may release a sequel!! Not right now though. SONG MADE BY ME. DON'T STEAL.

THIS IS A PART OF THE RED MOON COLLAB WITH @liliansun AND @twilightau ‼️

“It’s a beautiful day, nonetheless,” your best friend, Danielle Marsh, comments.

“Doesn’t mean I have to be all shimmy-shimmy-aah, Dani.” You reply, laughing. Danielle giggles, punching you playfully.

You and Danielle have been the best of friends since even before you could speak. At that age, of course, it was mainly slapping each other and pulling one another’s hair, but you still considered it a holy friendship at the time. Your mum, Aurelia, and Danielle’s mother, Mrs. Marsh, were the best of friends. They had their own secrets, some of them they did not (and still don’t) trust the two of you with, and those secrets brought them together.

Today is the day before your birthday, and the day after Danielle’s. It’s currently the 30th of March, 11 AM, and the two of you are attempting to pass the time.

“Should we just have a picnic?” You ask Dani, to which she nods enthusiastically. “Totally! Let’s go make some food.”

“Dibs on making lemon crinkle cookies!” You shout, running into the kitchen. You accidentally bump into your cat, Mitch. She’s the most beautiful calico cat you’ve ever seen, and you’ve always found it extremely hard to believe that someone would let Mitch out of their sight and allow her to be lost. You adopted her off the street.

She purrs, rubbing her neck against your leg. You smile and kiss her head, exactly the place where she hates being kissed, and run off into the kitchen, Danielle following suit. She stopped on her way to lift your cat and give her a hug, and grabbed her car keys. “I’m gonna go get stuff for the cookies, and let’s make some nachos. I’ll buy stuff for pink lemonade too. Text me if you need anything, get started with the nachos. Home baked, right?”

“Yeah, always. You’re getting the salsa ingredients too, right? We don’t have ketchup.”

“Yep. I’ll send you a list of what I’m buying before I check out. Reply fast or I will not give a flying shit, I tell you.”

You roll your eyes, laughing. “Yeah, mom, bye!”

“I’M A DAY OLDER THAN YOU!” Dani yelled, slamming the door behind her.

You and Dani live together, just down the lane from both your family homes. Dani is 19 as of yesterday, and you turn 19 in a few hours. Funny how Mum thought I’d barely be old enough to drive, but now I have my driver’s license too, you think to yourself.

Your mother isn’t one for the history books in your opinion. She’s your average mother. She always tells you that she’s from Canada, and your father’s from South Korea. You’ve never met your father. He died when your mother was 7 months along. She does have a picture of him though.

You’re constantly surprised by how similar you and your father look. Same eyes, but not eye color, same nose, same smile. Same figure, and same accent, allegedly. Your mother is an extremely kind person, and was heartbroken when your father passed away.

Your grandmother, who you’ve not been able to meet, always writes to you on a monthly basis. She’s the sweetest person you’ve ever known, aside from your mother. Dani is on very good terms with your family too, so it’s all one huge party. She’s not really close to your younger sister, Lily, who's adopted, but they do talk often.

After Danielle returns, you and Danielle get started on making a mess. The doorbell rings, and you run to answer it, a water-stained apron arming you from whoever is on the other side of the door.

“Hello, are you Y/N?” A masculine voice asks, and you find a face to the voice when you look up from the ground.

“…who are you?”

“Oh, I should probably introduce myself. I’m Park Sunghoon, ambassador to the Maledictus ruler.”

“I’m sorry, what?” You snicker, trying to cover it up, taking off the apron and dumping it on the couch nearby, “Is this some elaborate scheme? Because you’re failing miserably at trying to convince me.”

“Um, lady, no. Are you Y/N?”

“And if I am?”

The Sunghoon in question sighs and presses a finger to his temple, as if this conversation is giving him a headache. “Y/N, who is it?” Danielle shouts, and you facepalm.

You just HAD to shout my name, didn’t you?

“Alright then. Please come with me with no resistance, unless you particularly wish to be unconscious.”

“Danielle!” You yell, but your voice is muffled by your cat jumping on you, smacking you right in the mouth. “Oh, for fuck's sake.” Sunghoon sighs, dragging you and Mitch into a limousine.

Limousine? Okay, rich.

“DANIELLE!” You yell. Deciding self-defense is your only resort, you bite him on the wrist, Mitch just purring in approval.

“JEEZ, LADY, I CAN'T RESIST EVERYTHING?” Sunghoon half-yells, half-asks, groaning in pain but still reluctant to let go.

Mom, I'm sorry but I may go to prison for this.

Anyone watching would think you're showing a sudden display of affection to your alleged kidnapper. You aggressively hug him, his face turning red.

“WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?” Sunghoon manages, extremely confused and amused.

Danielle runs, a bowl of salsa in one hand. Seeing you strangle (or attempt to) him, she lets out a war cry, the neighbor staring.

“AYYY!” She yells, the bowl rising in her hand.

You immediately know what she's going to do, and you both are so going to regret it.

She whacks him face-on with the salsa!

Mitch shrieks happily and jumps in the limousine.

“I don't fucking get paid enough for this. Get. In. Please.” Sunghoon positively begs at this point, looking close to tears.

Out of the kindness of your hearts, you both take a seat.

Only when Sunghoon climbs in and mumbles, “Salsa was very good, if I do say so myself,” do you realize that you have a terrible sense of danger and security.

“Aww! Why, thank you!” Danielle smiles, and Mitch purrs.

“Danielle, sweetie, no big deal, but we're probably going to get killed.”

“As long as it's with you. We lived a long life.”

“You guys talk too much.” Sunghoon says, as the car gets darker and darker by the second. You look down to see a syringe in your arm.

“Oh, nooooooo…” a distorted voice says.

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

“Y/N, you snore. Did you know that? And so does your friend here. Even your cat snores.”

You wake up to Sunghoon looking exhausted, his hand massaging his temple. Does he always do that?

“Sorry.” You say, just as Danielle and Mitch snore and purr. You offer a smile that comes out more like a grimace, and Sunghoon, if possible, looks wearier.

“No worries.” He offers a smile. “Could you wake them up, if you don't mind? We're almost here.”

You nod, not-so-eagerly, because you know Danielle is going to be pissed. She's the sort of person that hates being woken up by someone else.

You poke her warily. She responds with a snore, louder than ever, and turns over to her side. Oh, great.

You slap Danielle lightly on her cheek, to which she wakes up, gasping. “Y/N! Have you not learnt–” she begins, but stops when she realizes who she's with.

“Good morning, Ms. Danielle.” Sunghoon nods respectfully. Dani smiles.

“Wait. Wait. Why are we HERE?” You yell, everything coming back to you.

Crap, crap, crap, the lemon crinkle cookies are probably burning NOOOOO…

Priorities, man.

You come back to the limo, seeing Danielle holding Mitch out in front of her. “I'm a good girl please don't kill me I'm too young–”

“Half an hour ago, you were telling us how you and Y/N have lived a long life. Here you are, telling me you're too young to die. Make up your mind, lady.”

“Ooh, lady. Damn. I'm Danielle!” Danielle says, reaching Mitch out for a handshake.

“DANIELLE, HE'S A STRANGER. DID NO ONE TEACH YOU ABOUT STRANGER DANGER?”

“Y/N makes a valid point, Ms. Danielle. Did no one teach you anything?” Sunghoon laughs.

“Y/N, can we beat him up?”

You smile. “Thought you'd never ask.”

She grabs a rolling pan from her apron and starts whacking him. You pinch him wherever possible.

“This– Is– For– My– Fucking– Lemon– Fucking– Crinkle– Fucking– Cookies!” you say with each pinch.

“NO! THE TRAUMA! PLEASE STOP!” Sunghoon screams, and the driver from ahead says, “Please don't kill him. I have a family to feed, and I depend on him. Please.”

Both of you stop. “He pays you?”

“Yeah, he's pretty rich.”

You and Dani smirk at each other.

“You thinking what I'm thinking?”

“Definitely.” You reply.

“Maybe if you give us money–”

“Maybe if you give us info–”

“DANI NO–”

“Y/N NO–”

A pause.

“Give us a minute to reconvene and get back to you!” Danielle says.

Sunghoon nods in agreement, a tear falling from his eye.

“Danielle, what are you going to reconvene over? WE DON'T NEED MONEY, WE NEED INFORMATION?”

“But when you can get money, why not take it?”

Pause.

“Valid point. We'll ask for both.”

“Okay,” Danielle nods, and says loudly, “Sunghoon, we've reached a compromise.”

“I didn't know you were on first-name basis with your victim but okay! What do you want? Anything to make you guys shut up. Please.”

“Money,” Danielle says, “and info.” you add.

“How much? Of both?” He asks, pulling out his wallet.

“100$ for each of us. And all the info we want.”

“Good deal. Here you go. Ask away.”

“Thanks! Why are we here?”

“You'll see. Don't worry, you'll see at least two familiar faces, if not three.”

“Oh. Will we be safe?”

“You're in a limousine, I paid you to stop abusing me, and I didn't even hit your cat, not that I would, of course. What do you think?”

“Oh. Sorry,” Danielle apologizes.

“It's alright! By the way, we've reached Maledictus. Please have a look-over of your appearance.” Sunghoon announces, clambering out of the limousine.

Danielle looks down to see a flour-covered apron, which she bashfully pulls off. You give yourself a brush-off, and deem yourself neat. You ruffle Mitch, at which she shrieks and scampers over to Danielle. Dani winks at you and gathers her apron and Mitch.

“Lead the way, Sunghoon.” You say, as Dani gets out of the car.

A winding path leads to a gate, putting you in mind of Draco Malfoy's mansion from Harry Potter. The black gate does not cool your senses, and when Sunghoon identifies himself using his biometrics, a deep voice booms.

“Identify the visitors you have with you, Mr. Park.”

“Uhm, a cat, a friend, and her.”

There's an empty silence, after which the voice booms, “Biometric identity of 'her', please.”

Sunghoon gestures to you, and you walk awkwardly. He takes your hand and presses the thumb to the identifier.

“Approved. You may enter.”

Sunghoon grins lightly. “Ladies first. And cats.”

Danielle walks ahead, dropping Mitch down to follow. You walk with Sunghoon, curious to know why you are here.

“Sunghoon, am I in trouble? Will Mitch and Danielle be alright?”

“Don't worry. They're fine. Nothing's going to happen to you as long as you don't 'resist', per se.”

You nod, not entirely convinced. “No matter what you do, Ms. Danielle and your cat will be safe. I'll give you my word.”

You nod slightly, feeling better about this whole mess. “Thanks, Sunghoon.”

Sunghoon smiles, the first real smile you've seen. “I'm sorry for the hostility you encountered when you first met us by the way. And the salsa. We were trying to protect ourselves.”

“It's cool, you don't need to worry. I understand. Besides, the salsa was delicious, although it could've taken away my eyesight forever.” He laughs at that, and you take it as a sign that it really is fine. You join in.

“Ah, welcome back, Mr. Sunghoon. I see you brought her. But who is the person with her? And what is–”

An old, balding woman sees her worst nightmare rubbing her foot and purring. “IS THIS–” she begins, but stops to sneeze noisily.

“I'm sorry, miss. Didn't know you were allergic.” Danielle scoops Mitch up and walks a small distance away.

“It's alright,” the woman sniffles haughtily, “but I thought you might know, Sunghoon.”

“My bad, Mrs. Ahn, I wasn't aware you would be here to welcome us. I thought it'd be Mr. Ahn.”

To give you slight context, Sunghoon whispers, “Mr. Ahn loves animals, but his wife is allergic to almost all of them. That's why he's been unable to have a pet, and jumps at the opportunity to take care of one.”

“Yes, I am only alright with bats. Good reason for that, too. However, my husband has been working a lot and is having his midday snack, so I thought to cover up for him. He'll meet you in the Hub.” Mrs. Ahn says, smiling tenderly.

It has always amazed you how people change with just a smile. But no one shares that amazement, so you can't really say anything about it, for fear of being laughed at and, or, killed!

“Thank you, Mrs. Ahn. If you'll excuse us, I'll take them to meet him now.”

Mrs. Ahn nods, moving out of the way, waving as you pass, sneezing as Mitch scampers forward to meet you. Picking her up, you peck her and squish her.

“You really love your cat, huh?” Sunghoon laughs, poking Mitch playfully. You swear you see Mitch roll her eyes, and you nod eagerly.

“I mean, who wouldn't? Want to know the story behind how she became my pet?”

“Totally, after this meeting though. Sort of important. For me and you. So. Yeah.”

Oh, right.

“No worries.”

You hum, as Danielle catches up with you guys. “This is why I hate quick paced walkers.” She mumbles, out of breath. You and Sunghoon laugh.

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

After what seems like eternal walking, and around five flights of stairs, Sunghoon finally says, “We're here!”

“How are you still so loud?” You and Danielle groan, and Mitch purrs. “You too, Mitch. You literally rode my back.” Danielle sighs.

“Y/N, you are one untrained half-blood.” Sunghoon mumbles, just enough for you to catch it.

“One untrained WHAT?” You shout, the breath returning to your lungs and voice regifted to your throat.

“Fuck. You'll see!” Sunghoon runs, gesturing to the two of you to follow.

“Danielle, DID YOU FUCKING HEAR THAT?”

Danielle nods. “Unfortunately, if we're being realistic, we can't exactly find out. But because I'm your best friend, I'll panic with you. AN UNTRAINED WHAT? IS THIS HARRY POTTER?”

“You know, my mother never talks about her family. Kind of suspicious if you ask me. I haven't even seen my grandmother. I know that they're from Canada, but I don't know any more.”

“Well, I guess we're about to find out.” Danielle says, looking at the magnificent doors swinging open.

“MRAWW!” Mitch shrieks through the utter silence as she spots a familiar face. She scurries across the room to where a woman is standing, looking extremely anxious. A crown rests on her face solemnly, sparkling in the golden light exuded by the chandelier.

“MOM?”

This is when everything keeping you sane shrivels up and dies.

“MS. CAMPBELL??” Danielle yells, and the two of you run to meet her, not realizing that there's a throne next to where she's standing. “Mother dearest, would you care to explain?” You confront her, extremely concerned.

“Hi, darling. I'm sorry it had to be this way. But it did. So. Hi. Uhm. Your grandmother's here! And so is –”

Before you can hear who else you were supposed to know, your grandmother squeezes you into a tight hug. “My darling Y/N!”

“Gran! I've never met you, have I?”

Wow, what a greeting. Way to go. So proud. Such etiquette.

“Now, that's no way to greet your grandmother, is it? But yes, you've only seen me when you were an itty-bitty baby. How adorable you were and still are.”

“Thanks, Gran. Would you at least be so kind as to tell me what's going on?”

“You'll see soon enough. Take a place. Dani! I've heard a lot about you. Stand next to Y/N. Grab Mitch too.”

You two obey, and Mitch settles in Danielle's arms.

“The accused may step forward.” A deep voice booms, not unlike the one you heard at the gate earlier.

HUH? ACCUSED?????

Your mother and grandmother step forward.

“You have been summoned to The Court of Maledictus to present your defense as to why the vampire world has not been made aware of the presence of one of the most powerful and popular half-blood in existence,” an extremely bald man began (why is everyone bald?), pausing to hear Sunghoon whisper in his ear. “I am also made to learn that there's a mortal present amongst us?”

“Yes, Slav, but she can be trusted.” Your mother insists, and Slav sighs.

“So be it. May the half-blood be made to stand in front of the Court?”

You walk after receiving a nudge from your Gran. Sunghoon inclines his head to where you are supposed to stand, and you walk, your head looking straight ahead.

“Ms. Y/N Jae-hyun Campbell, daughter of the late Mr. Lee Jae-hyun and Mrs. Adrina Cassius, are you aware that Adrina Cassius, known in the mortal world as Amber Cassius, is a vampire?”

One beat.

Two beats.

“You are absolutely, positively, most DEFINITELY joking.”

Adrina grimly smiles at Slav, who rolls his eyes.

“Adrina, you are telling the Court that you're own child, the most powerful half-blood in all of history, doesn't know her own family?” A man, looking no older than 50, looks down at you scrutinizingly. He wears a magnificent crown worthy of a king atop his head, where locks of grayish-brown hair flow down till where his shoulders meet his neck. Dressed in robes of elegant black, he looks ready to perform wizarding nonsense.

“Unfortunately, Yang Jae-hwan, she doesn't. You don't hold any rights over that decision either.” Your mother says, evidently annoyed.

“Anyways,” Slav clears his throat, “Adrina Cassius married a mortal, Lee Jae-hyun, for the reasons she prefers to call love. She gave birth to Y/N Jae-hyun Campbell, whose real name is Y/N Jae-hyun Cassius.

“We are here for the 'grand reveal' of Ms. Y/N, and His Majesty Yang Jae-hwan's verdict on how best to train the half-blood, and how to protect her. We are also here to listen to the defense of the Cassius family.”

“Hello all, I am Wilhelmina Cassius, wife of Athan Cassius,” – a collective gasp rings throughout the Court – “and I will present the defense.

“We have none. Why do we defend our choices? Yes, the choices in question may threaten the very existence of mortality, but they didn't! She's of age in a few hours, and we were going to present a diary written by all the reigning royalty of our family, including how to adjust to being a half-blood by our ancestor, Lilith Cassius.

“However, due to… present circumstances, we are unable to. I find this to be a valid enough defense. I am the reigning queen due to my daughter stepping down, which I fully support, by the way, and I have been handling things just fine. I don't seem to find a valid reason for this whole fiasco.”

“The Queen of Colonia, present day Canada, has made the defense. What does the King reply to this?”

“You're right, Wilhelmina, you do make a valid point. But what if her powers got out before she came of age? What then? What if mortals were harmed? This is the first half-blood I've seen that's not out of control. Precautions have to be taken, Wilhelmina.”

“Jae-hwan, you wanted Y/N's power for yourself and under control, didn't you? We can be honest, this is a safe space!”

“Wilhelmina, let's stay civil. I do care about power, but I would not take Y/N's power. Ever. My son is equally powerful. In fact, I'm surprised Y/N didn't–”

“Enough. Can we get the verdict?”

“Yes, Slav, if you please.”

“By the Court's discretion, the verdict remains not against, but with the Cassius family. However, a few conditions will be discussed, and now that Yang Jung-won, son of Yang Jae-hwan, succeeded in getting Ms. Cassius here, he has succeeded in placing his claim to the throne and will be the next emperor.”

Yang Jungwon? Didn't Sunghoon drag us here?

“The Court is dismissed. The Cassius family and their acquanitance have been requested to stay back for a meal. Thank you.”

How was that a proper court verdict? This is the weirdest day of my life. Couldn't get weirder.

“Y/N, WHAT THE FU- HECK WAS THAT?” Danielle screams in your ears, Mitch shrieking as usual with equal passion.

“Danielle, I wish I knew. I'm as confused as you are, honey.”

“Kids, we need to go to the official dining hall. Follow me.” Your mother says, flying away as a bat.

Wait, flying? The day got weirder.

Danielle gapes, but follows. You follow suit. What is happening?

All around, life seems to be going on as usual in the Palace of Maledictus. You feel like you're the only ones out of order. Mitch bounds after your bat-mom and Dani and you walk slowly behind.

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

After what seems like a lot of walking and exercise again, you and Danielle finally reach the hall.

It's not a hall. It's a huge ballroom. A very long dining table stretches from one end of the room to the other, a regal tablecloth spread out on it. The chairs look like thrones themselves, and there are at least 32 chairs in total. Approximately. The hall has a lot of chandeliers looking down at the people vainly.

“Please, ma'am, have a seat,” a waiter gestures to a chair next to your mother, while another waiter takes charge of Danielle's seating. The two of you sit together, your mother to your left and your Gran on Danielle's right.

A delicious-looking feast has been set out, and you see your mother wolfing down chicken. Taking 'inspiration', the whole table begins digging in happily.

“I propose our kids to date, Adrina.”

The table goes crazy. Wilhelmina chokes on wine, Danielle spits chicken on her plate, Adrina has a coughing fit, and your jaw drops. The king's heir, Yang Jung-won, blinks rapidly, and Sunghoon falls out of his seat.

“I – (cough) – beg your – (cough) – pardon?” Adrina says, trying to pull herself together. “They can fake date. Beneifical for both families, and we can have an alliance if all goes well. If it doesn't, we'll see. If they don't – what is the term? – fall in love with each other, then there's no alliance and we go back to our lives. If there's no alliance, maybe Jungwon can take over your territory once the inevitable happens.”

Inevitable being your grandmother dying, you know. The horrible tradition in your family states that the ruler who marries a mortal will be removed from the line of ruling, and only their child – a half-blood – after they come of age will be allowed to rule. So, after your Gran, only you can rule.

“Is that a threat, Jaehwan?”

“No, merely a caution, my dear Adrina.”

“Mom,” you whisper. “Mom, it's fine. We can try it. Don't worry. Ask him if we can think and discuss about this for five minutes.”

“Jaehwan, we'll discuss this for five minutes. We can't take such a rash decision instantly. Give us time and we'll tell you after discussing it after the meal.”

Jaehwan agrees, and so the meal goes on, and afterwards, the hall goes silent.

Gran and your mother whisper quietly, you and Danielle not the only ones trying to catch snippets of their conversation. Jaehwan and Sunghoon crane their necks to eavesdrop, while Jungwon seems to be the only calm one.

“Y/N, are you really alright with this?” Adrina asks, and Wilhelmina whisper-shouts, “How is that even an option? Adrina!” “Mother, I'm trying to secure my daughter's future, and her sister's. Her sister is a mortal and isn't of age yet. She can't be told. I'm sorry, mother.”

“Gran, I'll be fine. He won't torture me. Mom, I'm prepared.”

Wilhelmina and Danielle, although very silent, don't look too happy. “Jaehwan, let it be written that Jungwon and Y/N have begun dating on the 31st of March. On the 30th of June, we will see how the relationship is going and decide whether to form an alliance or not.”

Jaehwan beams, clapping. “Jungwon, you'll be moving to Y/N's city, and your friends may move too, if you like. I hope to see a good alliance.”

Jungwon makes eye contact with you, smiles ever-so-slightly. “Alright, father.”

It isn’t possible to fall in love in just three months. This is not going to be really good.

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

Your grandmother is positively pissed about the arrangement, but she doesn't exactly have a say due to the fact that it will be beneficial to her rule. And her future generations. So she

has no option but to go with it.

Danielle has been forcing you to tell her everything he does for the past hour. The two of you are staying awake till midnight to celebrate your birthday.

“Y/N, if I find a single red flag, I will make you dump that son of a vampire.”

“Hey, don't call him that. I'm the daughter of a vampire.”

“Still can't get over that, but sure. He's a terrible person.”

“Breathe, Dan. Let's not judge a book by its cover.”

“Yeah.”

The two of you are staying at the palace, and all you can think about is:

My poor lemon crinkle cookies. They have done nothing to deserve this.

“Anyways, fifteen minutes left!” Danielle says, sensing the annoyance practically radiating from you. She rolls up a lettuce to make a makeshift mic, its edges tearing up slightly.

“What do you think, Ms. Cassius, the soon-to-be 19 year old?”

“Comment denied!” You smile, pushing the lettuce-mic away. Danielle pouts jokingly, eating the mic.

You guys have brought up a mini-picnic from the kitchen to enjoy by yourselves in your room. Your mother is sleeping in the room across, and your Gran is asleep in the next room, on your right.

Taking a bite of the lemon tart the two of you stole, you think about the day's events. Damn, that was a weird day. But the ending seems good!

The two of you pass your time, talking about the university you go to, Zephyr University. Gossiping about the most recent breakups in your friend group, you don't realize how fast the time flew until Danielle checks her phone.

“SHIT, IT'S 11:56!” Danielle shouts, making you jump. “Bro, breathe, we have four minutes,” you say, laughing at Dan's expression.

“How are you so calm? Dude. You're – what did they say? – ah, coming of age in the next… three minutes!”

“I wasn't born exactly at 12 AM on the 31st of March, you know?”

“Yeah, but we don't talk about that!”

You grin, helping yourself to a chocolate.

“OKAY, 30, 29, 28, 27, 26, 25, 24, 23, 22, 21, 19, 18, 17, 16, 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1! HAPPY BIRTHDAY Y/N!”

“THANK YOU DANIELLE!” You yell with equal energy, jumping up and down with Danielle.

The door creaks.

A hiss is heard.

You and Danielle stop celebrating.

The creaking stops.

“Danielle?”

“Y/N?”

The two of you look at each other, and scream.

And then, someone places what looks like blood next to you. What seems like a sinister voice says, “Happy birthday, Y/N. Hope you get along with good blood.”

That doesn't even make sense.

You shriek anyway. Getting up, both you and Danielle punch, kick and pinch whatever part of the person you two can.

“ARGH! WAIT! HEAR ME OUT! SWITCH ON THE FUCKING LIGHT!”

You continue without a care, but Danielle does so. The two of you have been sitting in the light of a single candle, so it is sort of understandable why you can't see who the creep is.

The light flicks on to reveal Yang Jungwon.

Oh, fuck.

“Dude, you have good self-defense, but like, why?”

“But why would you come here?” Danielle asks, in shock. “You see, Ms. Danielle, I believed that as her fake boyfriend, I should probably wish her a happy birthday. Did not expect this to happen, although Sunghoon told me what you guys did to him. He is apparently very scarred.”

You smirk at the memory, catching Danielle's eye. Jungwon narrows his eyes, still very curious and concerned, but shakes it off.

“Thanks for the thought of it, Jungwon. What flavor is the cake? It looks a lot like blood.”

“That's because it is!”

One beat. Two beats.

Danielle gags, getting as far away as possible from the cake. “Jungwon, what the fuck?”

You don't even know him but you're already worried.

“I'm joking… Ms. Danielle, don't worry. It's just red velvet with some extremely bright red frosting.”

“Oh,” Danielle murmurs, walking slowly. “Want me to test it out or something?”

“Nope, I'll do it myself, Jungwon.” You say, grabbing a wine glass and scooping the cake in it. Taking a spoon, you gingerly take a small bite, ready to vomit if necessary. To your surprise, it tastes delicious.

“... Maybe it isn't all that bad. It doesn't taste like blood, approved by me.”

Jungwon lets out a breath he didn't even know he was holding, and Danielle promptly eats the cake from your wine glass. “Ifs akshooli weawy goof,” she says, nodding in approval.

“It's actually really good,” you translate for Jungwon. “Thanks, I baked it myself!”

“WOAH, REALLY?” Danielle exclaims, eyes as wide as plates. Quietly, she whispers to you, “Y/N, maybe he isn't as bad as I thought,” and you smile.

“Anyways, I'll let you guys sleep. We're going to Zephyr Uni in the morning, around 10. I'm transferring universities, so I'll be taking finals at your university. Continuing classes there, too. See you at breakfast,” Jungwon salutes a goodbye and shuts the door behind him.

“Well, that was… interesting. He's nice though. He thought of you!”

“Yeah, more like he wants the alliance.” You say quietly, confused. Is what I'm saying true?

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

At breakfast, you, Dani, Sunghoon, Jungwon and his friends sit together. The five of Jungwon's friends know about the arrangement, so nothing's extremely awkward.

“Guys, this is Y/N Cassius, and her friend, Danielle Marsh, a mortal. And Mitch, their cat.” Sunghoon introduces while Jungwon goes to fetch juice for the table.

“Hey!” You and Dani chorus, taking a seat in between Sunghoon and Jungwon. “I'm Lee Heeseung, the oldest here. I'll let the others introduce themselves. It's nice to meet you!”

“I'm Park Jeongseong, but you can call me Jay!”

“I'm Sim Jaeyun, but you can call me Jake!”

“I'm Kim Sunoo!”

“And I'm Riki, Nishimura Riki.”

You and Dani nod to each of them respectfully, and smile. “We hope we all get along well, hopefully.” Dani says, grinning and lifting her fork.

Once Jungwon is back, he takes a seat next to you, smiling. He offers juice to everyone, taking care to not spill even a bit. He's sort of cute. Maybe he's nice after all.

Your thoughts are immediately proven wrong.

“Oops!”

Jungwon smirks evilly as a stain of orange juice spreads on your white shirt, and you gasp as you feel the chill of the juice.

“JUNGWON!” Heeseung scolds, running to get baking soda from the kitchen. Sunghoon presses his temple, sighing with fury. You just sit there, mouth ajar. “Y/N, just stay here, I'll get you another shirt. Heeseung can remove the stain when you change shirts.” Danielle says, and runs off to your mother, who hopefully has a change of clothes.

Sunghoon turns to Jungwon. “Jungwon. Apologize. You're supposed to be mature, especially to your fake girlfriend. Why did you do this?”

“It was an accident. Sorry, Y/N!” He apologizes happily, as if no one knows that he did it on purpose. “Totally, Jungwon! It's completely alright!” You say sarcastically, seeing Danielle return with a white button-up crop top.

Luckily your mother had packed up whatever clothes you and Dani left behind at her home, because you two had zero time to pack.

Mom, thanks.

Heeseung returns too, so you go to the ladies' room to change your shirt. You exit the restroom to see Jungwon standing outside, holding the baking soda. “You forgot this,” he says, picking his nails.

“Oh, thanks.” You say, taking it from him and re-entering the room to use the sink. From outside, he says as loud as possible, “I really am very sorry, I didn't mean to cause a change in the mood. Like, really. I'm not mean, I promise. I'll be thoughtful from now on when I think of jokes.”

You listen silently, scrubbing the shirt. Seeing the stain disappear, you exit, stopping in front of Jungwon. “Don't worry. I was just really upset because it's my birthday, you know. Wanted the day to go perfect.”

“Oh, I'm sorry.” “You don't need to apologize, it's fine! Let's forget it and look ahead!” You smile, and Jungwon returns it, his face cheering up.

The two of you walk back to the table, and on the way, you ask a member of staff for a bag to keep the wet shirt in. The lights suddenly dim, and your eyesight takes a bit to adjust. “Need help?” Jungwon offers, taking your hand gently. He leads you back to the table as you try to spot your mother, who was supposed to be here.

Your senses haven't fully developed due to the lack of training as a young child, and so you can't really make out much. “I'll help you train, by the way, whenever we're free. We'll discuss a set time later.” Jungwon says, reading your mind.

You thank him, and finally reach the table. Ignoring the slight tingles in your fingers, you let go of his hand, and the table brightens up.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY..”

You gasp as nineteen candles light up and the whole table sings for you. The staff clap as well, and you smile, the brightest in the room.

“Thank you all so much!” You exclaim in joy after the song is over. “Make a wish, Y/N,” Dani says, and you do so, blowing the candles.

“What'd you wish for?” Jungwon asks you curiously, as you cut the cake to give everyone.

“If I tell you, it would not come true. So no thanks.” You say, busy cutting the cake proportionately. He pouts, and cringes immediately after. “Shit, remind me to never do that again.” You laugh and nod.

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

On the journey back home, the University students sit in one vehicle, and your mother sits in another. Gran left for Canada immediately after breakfast, and Jungwon's father and the rest's parents stayed back in Maledictus.

You sit next to Dani and Sunghoon, and you tell Hoon the story of how Mitch became your pet as he listens attentively, with Dani adding her own comments in between.

“So yeah, Mitch decided to stay with us! We officially adopted her, like, 10 months ago.”

Sunghoon smiles, ruffling Mitch's fur, while she claws at his hand, irritated. The journey worth 90 minutes passes by quickly, and the driver pulls up to the driveway of your home. Your mother's car follows, and the drivers stop for a meal.

You quickly whip up some spaghetti and sandwiches, and Danielle attempts to repair the damage in your kitchen. Sunghoon makes some lemonade, and gives the drivers their meal. They wave and drive off to Maledictus.

“Shit, the kitchen is such a mess.” Danielle says, opening the oven door to find burnt cookies and an extremely nauseating smell.

“What happened here?” Your mother asks, entering the kitchen.

“Mother, we were trying to enjoy our last few days of break before school, but dear Sunghoon over here decided to drag us to Maledictus!”

Sunghoon winces, wiping the inside of the oven clean. The rest are sorting through the bags in the living room. Dani is currently sifting through the food in the fridge, trying to throw out the rotten food. Surprisingly, even after just one day of absence, at least a quarter of the food (healthy stuff) had gone bad.

You hate wasting food and Danielle knows it. So she does it herself. She dumps the food in the separate trash can, cringing.

After about half an hour of cleaning, the three of you manage to clean up the mess in the kitchen. The rest of Jungwon's friends successfully sort through their bags and make sure the right stuff is in the right bag. Your mother has already returned home, but you see a notification from your mother.

Mom ♡ : If you need anything, message me or call.

You : thanks mother!!

After sending a reply, you settle down on the rug in the living room, while Danielle gets chairs for the rest. “We're leaving for the dorms tomorrow, do you guys have everything set?” You ask the boys, who nod. “Only Riki is your age. He's majoring in dance. I'm majoring in journalism.” Sunghoon says, and Riki grins, saluting.

“What do you major in, guys?” Dani asks, sitting next to you. “I major in humanities, finishing my degree this year,” Heeseung says.

“I major in the visual arts,” Jay says. “I major in astrophysics.” Jake smiles.

“I major in the visual arts, like Jay.” Sunoo says, smiling brightly. “And I major in music, focusing on composition and therapy.” Jungwon says, and you gasp. “Same!”

“Oh, damn, nice. We'll see each other in class then!” Jungwon replies.

“What about you, Danielle?” Sunoo asks.

“Film studies!” Danielle says enthusiastically. “Thought so,” Jungwon says, nodding.

“What do you mean?” “You seem like the type to be really happy in the studies of media. Just the, uh, vibe with a capital V.”

Everyone agrees, and Danielle flushes. “Aw, thanks guys. Means a lot.”

You pat her on the back and Danielle holds your hand. I would never trade this for anything.

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

SHIT WE'RE LATE.

The first thought you have when you wake up. Delightful.

Why is everything shaking?

The second thought. How very wonderful. You then realize that your bed is shaking. “Y/N, WAKE UP.”

Jungwon's voice yells, and water splashes on your face. “Sorry, Y/N,” Sunghoon says. You blink rapidly and see Danielle assembling an outfit for you.

Only then does everything process.

SHIT I'M WEARING SHORTS AND A SHIRT?? I LOOK LIKE CRAP.

You jump into the shower, practically flying. Jungwon and Sunghoon catch each other's eyes and try not to laugh.

“Welcome to our household,” Danielle says, holding a pile of clothes and dumping them on your bed. Sunghoon offers to take Y/N's suitcases down, and Danielle gladly accepts.

“Jungwon, she'll ask for her clothes. Just hand that whole pile over, but DO NOT. I REPEAT. DO NOT. LOOK AT HER. YOU'LL FIND YOURSELF SIX FEET UNDER. YOU UNDERSTAND ME?” Dani says, shaking him aggressively by the shoulders. You sigh in the shower.

Dearest Danielle.

“BREATHE, DANIELLE, I THINK HE KNOWS,” you yell as loud as you can.

Immediately after the shower switches off, you bang the bathroom door and stretch a hand out for your clothes. Jungwon obediently hands them over.

Getting dressed in a hurry, you tie your hair up in a bun. “Let's go!” You exclaim, dragging Jungwon by the hand downstairs.

“Everyone finished their breakfasts, by the way.” He says casually, and you facepalm.

“Shit, I'm so sorry.” “It's okay, breathe. You can have it on the way there.”

“We're going on public transport, I'll just pack it and take it there. Are the groceries packed?”

He nods, and Danielle stops you on the landing. “Here's your breakfast. Eat it in the dorm. Let's go.”

The nine of you rush to the bus stop, just in time for the bus to arrive. “Zephyr Stop, please. Nine of us.” The conductor nods, and you pay.

Online payment for the win!

Upon reaching the bus stop, all of you get down, and you and Dani wave to the conductor. She waves and smiles.

“We'll show you to your dorms. All genders in one huge building, but different wings. Females on the left, males on the right, and non-binary people depends on their preferences or identification. Not really sure.” Danielle says.

The seven boys nod, lugging their bags with them. “The dormitories have a mini-kitchen, explaining the groceries we have. Depending on how many people you have in your room, you have bunk beds and one extra bed. One attached bathroom for everyone, and a study table for each person. There's a couch and a TV, and the Wi-Fi password will be shared to you by a residential counselor,” you explain, walking slowly.

“Since today's a Sunday, we can meet up freely. When actual classes begin, we'll have to stay in our own block. But we can meet at the shops on campus.

“We have a café, restaurant, medical store, a few medical staff, grocery stores, and thrift stores run by the marketing and fashion students. We have a few sports fields, a garden, recording studios, a huge library, swimming pools, and just an open field. We have an amphitheater and auditorium too. ”

The boys listen attentively, and Danielle sees the check-in machine. “Hand me your IDs, I'll check you guys in.” She offers, and everyone dumps their IDs in her hand.

Checking in everyone, she hands the IDs back to everyone.

“We'll meet at the café. Can we have a group chat? I'll share the location there.” You offer, and Sunghoon nods. “I'll take your numbers and make one. Guys, go ahead.”

The rest meet with the resident counselor as you give your number to Hoon. Grabbing as many bags as you can, you take yours and Danielle's belongings and unlock your room.

I'll unpack later.

Opening your phone, you see a message.

Park Sunghoon has added you to a group chat.

Park Sunghoon has renamed the group chat to Vampires and a Mortal

Sunghoon :

hey guys. y/n will share the location here. we'll meet up there. btw, here's the room numbers and roommates.

– me and jungwon, room 112

– heeseung, jay, sunoo in room 116

– riki and jake in room 115

You :

here's the location : xtxtxtxttxxttxxt

me and danielle are in room 67

You close the chat, and help Danielle unpack her things.

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

“I'm too lazy to remember everyone's orders, so go order your food yourself guys. Please.” You say, and they roll their eyes. Zephyr Café is a really calm place, the classic romanticized café.

It has a beige color palette, and the smell of baking and happiness. Students come here on casual hangouts, study dates, solo dates, dates in general. Since not all students arrived on campus, and you all were here for lunch, the café was not very crowded.

“Hey Jaemin!” You wave to the boy behind the counter, Na Jaemin. “Hey Y/N! I see you have people with you. You seem to be making friends!” He laughs, and you punch him playfully.

“Shut up. Me and Danielle have the usual, the guys will order personally.”

“Alright. Enjoy, friendless bitch.”

“SHUT UP, JAE.”

You and Jaemin have known each other since your first year at Zephyr, the both of you in the same course. You're close with his friend group too.

You did nurse a small crush on him, and sometimes still do. But it's just a crush.

After everyone receives their orders, all of you talk about everything possible. Breaking the ice is really useful, because you and Jungwon will have to pull off a fake relationship and you need to make it realistic.

“Also, Y/N, we need to talk in private. Could you guys give us a minute or a few?”

Without waiting for an answer, he pulls you over to a corner of the café. “Can we use the field for training?” He asks, and you nod. “Yeah, just let me know the times. We probably have the same schedules so yeah.” He nods, and you return to your seats.

All nine of you chatter away like old friends, talking about Spider-Man to Angelina Jolie.

After the café lunch, you guys return to your rooms, and you take a small nap. In the evening, you and Danielle meet up with a few friends.

“Yunjin! Minji! Hi!” The two of you greet your two other friends. They're roommates and are in the room opposite to you.

“Hey guys!” Minji says, hugging the two of you. Behind her, Yunjin is dragging a sack full of snacks. “Here's food. Eat whenever. You're welcome.” She says, and you hug her. Yunjin is the oldest, the same age as Heeseung, and is finishing her degree in botany this year. Minji is majoring in literature.

You’re the youngest in the four of you guys, but you hate when they baby you, so they always baby you. Just for fun.

“And how’s our baby doing?” Yunjin says, pulling your cheeks. “Stop it!” You say, pulling out of her reach. Minji laughs, and Danielle opens your fridge to keep the groceries away. “I heard you made new friends? Around, like, seven boys?”

“Yeah, don’t make it weird, please.” You tell Minji, who already looks like she’s scheming. “Mhm, sure, I would never!” You sigh. Your friends are annoying, and also annoyingly sweet, so it’s a win-win.

“Aww, does my baby have a boyfwend?” Yunjin asks, putting on a pair of glasses and smirking at you knowingly. “Maybe, but you’ll never find out who!”

“So you confirmed that you have one. We’ll find him. And when we do, he will regret it.”

“Please don’t guys, she finally got a boyfriend. Let’s not scare him away.” Danielle says, coming to the couch with packed bottles of cold coffee for Yunjin and Minji. “Did you guys have lunch yet?” She asks, and they nod. “Did you guys?” Minji asks, accepting the coffee. You nod and plop on the sofa.

Small talk continues, and they leave to unpack. “Bye guys! We need to unpack too,” you say to Danielle, shutting the door after they leave. “Yeah, let’s do it. Anyways, how did you like the questions about your ‘boyfwend’, Y/N?” Danielle giggles.

“My vampire boyfriend?” You ask, grinning. “I don’t think I would describe him in that way, but sure. He’s fake anyway. As in, our relationship is fake.”

Danielle nods, putting her clothes on hangers and placing them in her side of the wardrobe. “Danielle, you don’t want to drink, do you?” You ask, the thought suddenly occurring to you.

“Never.”

“Oh, thank god.”

You have never found the alleged temptation of drugs, alcohol and cigarettes tempting, and you hope never to. The farthest you’ll ever go, you decide, is wine or champagne, and medicinal drugs.

Hopefully you avoid the latter too.

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

“Wake up, Y/N, it’s seven AM.” Danielle shouts in your ears, and you jump. “Okay, okay, breathe.” You say, gathering yourself and rubbing your eyes aggressively. “Need water?” Danielle asks, and you nod. She hands you a glass, and you dump it over your head.

“Better?”

“Yep. Are you ready?”

“As usual. We’ll leave by 7:45, so we have a lot of time for breakfast.”

You rush to get ready, and wrap a towel around your head after your shower. Pulling on a decent outfit, you stare in the mirror, satisfied. Deciding to go with a minimal makeup look, you finish it off with a brush of your brows. You’re wearing a black oversized shirt with graphics, and faded blue baggy jeans with blue Converse. Pinning your hair back, you use hair gel to make your hair less frizzy. Dabbing on some lip balm, you walk out of the door, grabbing your bags.

“Let’s go?” Danielle asks, and you nod.

Arriving at the main building, you look up to where your class is. The theory classes are in the first half of the day, and the second half goes to completing your assignments, and practical classes, if any.

You and Danielle usually drop off your bags, but you see Jungwon, Sunghoon, and the rest at the entrance, looking confused. “Oh, hey, I nearly forgot about you guys,” you say, rushing to help them out. “Media and sciences are at one place, so I’ll take Sunghoon and Jake. The arts are in another section of the building, so Y/N can take you guys there. We’re going to drop our bags off, have breakfast first, then go to class, so come with us.”

They nod, and you all run off to your classes. You drop off Riki at the dance studio in the basement, and tell him he can ask the professor if he needs anything. Waiting patiently for him to keep his bag, you check your phone. “Back, whose room are we going to next?” He pops out of the studio, and you say, “Visual arts.”

Going to the first floor after the ground floor, you take a right and go to the second classroom you see. “Here. It’s more of an art studio, not sure where they take their practicals. The professor is in, you can ask them.”

They walk out after ten minutes, and say, “They asked us to leave our bags right here, they’ll show us around later.”

You nod, and go to the next floor, allowing them to follow you. “Music composition, music therapy is the classroom on our left.” You drop your bag in the front, and Jungwon drops his bag beside you.

“Let’s go to the restaurant.”

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

The day has been exhausting. You still have training to look forward to. You open the texts between you and Jungwon again.

Jungwon : we’ll meet up on the ground, i’ll be waiting at 11.

You : pm????????????

Jungwon : yeah, what else? 🙄 we’ll do sensory training today. darkness. think about it, let ur brain process.

You : 🙄 im rolling my eyes but make it in bold, italic red underline.

Jungwon : nice reference. i see you’re a woman of culture as well.

You : obviously

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

“Training’s going to be interesting,” Jungwon says.

It is 11:15 PM, and you are extremely sleepy. You are in the field, near the forests that surround it. The trees block out the little light from the night sky. You grimace and say, “Sure. Can we get it over with, please?”

He shrugs, and begins. “Make out my movements. Stop me when you think you can.”

You see a blur of hands around you. Shit, he’s fast.

Finally, when you see him hesitate, you smack his hand. “Got you.”

“Good. Can be faster. Next, I want you to hold my hand with exactly my little finger. Doesn’t matter how. But little finger.”

Another blur of movements. Your eyes are adjusting, however slowly it may seem. Finally, when you think you can see his ring finger, you grab a finger.

“Good.” He says, turning on a torch. “You’re getting better. Stop me when I cross my fingers.”

And so it goes on, and on, and on, until around 11:55. “Stop me when I get too close,” he says.

Now, what is TOO CLOSE?

You stop him as soon as you feel his breath on your cheek. “This time, it seems you got me by my breath, not your eyes. Good strategy, but doesn’t work in all battles. We’ll stop here. I’ll walk you to your dorm. Is Danielle still up?”

“Nope, I asked her to sleep, not wait for me. She said she’d try, but I highly doubt she can. She falls asleep on a fixed schedule.”

Jungwon shakes his head, and you can barely make it out. The walk back is silent, only filled with the sounds of insects and animals making sounds, and the sound of your footsteps and breaths coordinating.

“See you Friday, Y/N.”

See you Friday.

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

Every Monday and Friday, the same time every time, he trains you. By the third Monday, you are successfully able to identify different movements.

It’s a Wednesday, and you enter class and sit next to Jungwon, who’s passed out. It’s 8:32 AM, and the class begins at 9 AM. All around you, you hear whispers. You turn to Jaemin, who sits behind you, and ask, “What’s happening?”

“Y/N, you haven’t heard? Rumor is that you and Jungwon sneak out at midnight.” Jaemin says, cutting straight to the point.

“What? There’s more, isn’t there?”

“Yeah…” he begins. “They think you do stuff in the woods. You know, inappropriate shit. I don’t believe them, but there you go.”

You stare. “You’re kidding. They can’t possibly be that immature.”

“Actually, they are. Plus, Jungwon’s asleep, so that makes things worse. You may want to talk to him.”

“Thanks, Jaemin.”

“Also, Y/N, do you want to hang out with me after school?”

“Definitely!”

“Alright, see you at the café at 5:30?”

“See you there.”

You turn to the front, and poke Jungwon. “Jungwon, we need to talk, dude.”

“Mmf. Let me sleep, Y/N.”

“It’s serious, you dickwad.”

“Chill with the language, Y/N.” He says, sitting up straight. “What is it?” “Uhm, basically, there are rumors that we do inappropriate stuff in the woods.”

“Isn’t that technically good? Because we’re supposed to be fake dating…”

“Oh. Right. I forgot about that.”

“Speaking of which, we should probably show off right now.”

“What do you mean?”

“I can kiss you on the cheek, you know.”

“Oh…” you flush, shrugging. “Sure,”

Before you even get out the word, Jungwon pecks your cheek softly, smiling ear-to-ear. You go positively pink at the kiss, although very childish. The whispers seem to grow even louder, and Jungwon says, “Ignore them. They’re going to manipulate anything we do, so why not give them a show?”

You nod, and the professor enters, signaling an end to the whole fiasco.

You subtly open your notebook and doodle hearts everywhere.

What is happening to me?

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

At lunch, when all of you meet up, Jungwon fills everyone in on what happened in class. They laugh, and Danielle and Sunghoon smirk at you. Surprisingly, you and Sunghoon are becoming fast friends, and you conveniently forget the fact that he was your attempted kidnapper.

“Anyways, how were your classes, guys?”

The chatter goes on till 2 PM, when the practicals begin. Today, you have a free class till 3 PM, after which you have a practical session in the studio to try and begin working on your final presentation. Finals begin from April 22nd, and end on May 2nd. University begins again on July 1st. It’s the 10th of April, and the frenzy is finally getting to a lot of students.

Each of you leave for your respective schedules. You hurry to the library to get started on your music therapy homework. “Hi, Y/N! Over here!” You hear Yunjin say, and the librarian aggressively shushes her. You wave excitedly and head over there, swinging your bag on the floor. “Hi Yunjin!”

“Hey kid. What’s up?”

And so you and Yunjin chat whilst doing your homework, a paper on how music is interpreted amongst teens as makeshift therapy. Yunjin is doing her botany work, a case study on different structures in various plants worth 25% of her grade. She frustratedly shakes her head, looking at her computer. “Google is so unreliable, man,” she sighs. “Need help? I probably can’t, but worth asking,” you offer. “Nope, it’s fine, thanks!” She replies, waving it off.

You narrow your eyes at her, and she grins widely. “It’s okay, don’t worry kiddo.”

You nod, still suspicious, and continue your work. Finally, at 2:50, you decide you’re satisfied with your work. You proofread it, and format it. “Yunjin, need any prints?” She shakes her head as a ‘no’, and you nod, heading over to the printer.

“Hi!” A familiar voice exclaims, and you look up from your paper to see Jaemin’s best friend, Lee Jeno. “Hi Jeno!” You reply cheerfully. He’s extremely similar to a Samoyed, with a really cute eye smile. You realize with a sudden jolt that Jungwon and Sunoo also have eye smiles.

“How’s life treating you?” He asks, stapling his papers. “Oh, interesting. What about you?”

“Fun. But since finals are near, I doubt the same spirit will last.” “Valid point.” You comment, as your prints get ready. Stapling them, you wave a goodbye. “Are you working at the café today?” You ask him, walking back to your table. “Yeah! My shift’s till 6 something.”

“I’ll see you at the café!” You smile and wave. “Bye Y/N!” “Bye Jeno!”

“Yunjin, I’ll go to the recording studio. Good luck with your assignment, okay?”

“Okay, child. Bye!”

“DON’T CALL ME THAT!”

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

At the recording studio, you greet the assistant professor, the teacher who helps with practicals. “Hello, Ms. Kent! Did you have your lunch?”

“Yep! Thanks for asking, Ms. Campbell.” You internally shudder, remembering the exposed feeling going through you at the Court when they revealed your last name to be Cassius.

“I feel like this time I want to go for a backing track before I try writing the words,” you say, placing your bag next to your chair. “New method? Whatever for?”

“I don’t know, I just feel like I don’t have inspiration for lyrics. Maybe by next week.”

“You mean the seventeenth? That’s a dangerously close date, but okay. Whatever’s fine by you. We have time till 5 today, so you will definitely be able to achieve a lot.”

You smile, looking at your melody list. It’s a sheet you prepared that lists your favorite backing tracks.

“What if I—“

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

After the recording studio session, you feel energized, music coursing through your veins. Ready to meet Jaemin, you go directly to the café, fifteen minutes away from the studio. Checking the time, you realize it’s 5:20 PM, ten minutes earlier than planned.

It’s fine, maybe I can get started on the lyrics. I need a melody though.

You begin pointlessly humming, trying to come up with a melody for your lyrics. “Hmm, HMM, HMMMM!”

“I’m sorry, but are you okay?” Jaemin asks, walking up to you. “The practical seems to be messing with your head, Y/N.”

“Yeah, yeah, shut up. Are you ready for it though?”

“If it’s me, you can’t really have expectations, Y/N.”

“You’re right. Point taken. How’s it going?”

“I have, like, the chorus all set, but not the backing track, the verses or the melody.”

“So basically you have nothing except some repetitive lines, or a refrain.”

“Pretty much, yeah.” He grins, ordering a coffee. “Hey Jeno.”

“Hey, Jae. Hi Y/N! I didn’t know this was what you meant by ‘see you there’. I don’t want it to be awkward or anything, but are you two on a date?”

“No!” You both chorus, panicking, and Jeno giggles. “Whatever you say.”

The two of you discuss everything about summer, waiting for your orders. “How was your birthday?” Jaemin asks, and you grin. “Oh, lovely!” You reply, recalling the weirdest day before.”

“I have a gift for you, but it’ll wait until after this hangout.”

“You LITERALLY DID NOT have to tell me, Jae. Why are you so mean?” You whine, your head in your hands. “I love annoying you, Y/N.”

“Sure you do. You are a bitch. An evil, mean, bitch.”

“Yeah, yeah, sure, kid.”

“SHUT UP!”

Conversations have always been easy with Jaemin, so you find it no surprise that you don’t get bored with him. At the end of it all, around 6:30, when you both get up to pay, he doesn’t allow you to pay. “My treat. If you pay, you won’t get your gift, and I’ll tease you till the end that you never got to see it.”

“You are manipulating me. But okay. Next time, I’m paying.”

“Sure, sure.”

After paying, the two of you leave, and he says,”Here’s your gift.”

Opening a blue velvet box, he takes out a locket. “Holy shit, Jaemin, it’s beautiful.”

“Open the locket.”

In it is a picture of you, Danielle, him, and Mitch. I miss Mitch. I wish she could stay at the dorms.

Your eyes tear up. “Y/N! Don’t cry, is it that bad?”

“No. It’s beautiful.”

“Here, I’ll put it on for you.”

That’s when you realize that this is what love, platonic, feels like. He unclasps the hook of it and puts it around your neck gently, smiling. “It looks lovely on you.”

“Thank you so much, Jaemin.”

“You’re always welcome.”

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

Jungwon : why were you out with jaemin?

You : uh.. he’s my friend?

Jungwon : but IM UR FAKE BOYFRIEND?? 😭😭

You : THEN ASK ME OUT??

Ignore that. 😀😀

Jungwon : No. Meet me outside ur dorm RN

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

“Y/N. Will you go out with me on a date?”

The first thing you hear when you open your door is Jungwon’s voice, and he’s holding a bouquet of flowers.

“Where did you get the flowers from? We literally texted three minutes ago.”

“ANSWER THE QUESTION!” He cries, looking exhausted.

“I mean, obviously, I thought that was a given!”

“I could kiss you right now.”

You shrug. “Do you want me to?”

“To what?”

“Kiss you right now.”

“Yeah, that would be cool,” you say (not so) casually. “Don’t act so carefree.” He replies, kissing you on the lips.

It doesn’t seem right. There should be more of a PLOT before we kiss, man.

I’m looking into this too much. Chill, Y/N.

You kiss him back, and Danielle shrieks behind you. Crap, Dani.

The two of you break apart, the bouquet in your hand. “DID I MISS SOMETHING?”

“NO, BUT YOU RUINED IT, NINCOMPOOP.”

“SHIT. WHY ARE WE TALKING IN CAPS AGAIN?”

“BECAUSE I’M PISSED?”

“Guys, breathe,” Jungwon breaks in. “Y/N, it’s alright. Danielle, you didn’t miss anything. I just asked her out on a date.”

“Oh. Continue, pretend I’m not here.”

“Danielle, that’s just weird, dude.” You both say to her.

She raises her hands, as if accused. “Don’t blame me, love made me crazy.”

You throw a pillow at her face.

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

Jungwon : for the date, meet me at the restaurant, friday, at seven pm. no training, we’ll compensate for the training on saturday.

You : okayy ^_^ thank u 💗💗

Jungwon : ideally i should be thanking u but okay

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

You giggle as the two of you continue texting. “Y/N, it’s ten. Sleep. Please. Or let me. Or go over to his dorm. I would much rather sleep in the same room as Sunghoon than listen to you giggling annoyingly. Do vampires never sleep or something? That guy looks tired but doesn’t sleep.”

You shake off her rant. “Okay, okay, mom, I’ll sleep.”

You wish him a good night. You can’t help but feel like high school sweethearts, but make it older and more mature.

Mature? Says the girl giggling at texts. Bro. You’re not okay.

I know.

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

You wait for Friday night to arrive. When classes end, you rush to your dorm to get dressed. Two hours early. Danielle rushes after her classes too, to make sure you look perfect (you already do) for the date.

“Okay, what do you want to wear?” She asks, shutting the door behind her.

“Uh, maybe the black dress? Not yours, not the tight fitting one. The more airy, loose one.”

“Yeah, sounds good. Yours, right?”

“Yeah, but I don’t have good shoes to match.”

“I have black heels, I think. I’ll search. Clean makeup?”

“Yeah, obviously.”

You rush to get ready, and by 6:30, you look in the mirror. The black dress has pleats that reach your knees, and off the shoulder sleeves that extend to your elbow. You wear Danielle’s strapped heels, wedged, not pencil, and your hair is left loose, a scrunchie in your purse, in case you need it. Your makeup consists of concealer, some counter, tinted lip balm, highlighter and eyeshadow eyeliner.

“You look so pretty, I need a Polaroid.”

You pose for one, and take one with your best friend. “Man, if I were Jungwon, I would rather die than let you go. Juliet to your Romeo.”

“HOW I HEARD YOU SAY!” You and Danielle sing along, while you pack your purse.

“Bye! Have fun, Y/N,” she says, kissing your cheek. “Bye!”

You arrive at the restaurant, and you see Jungwon standing there with a bouquet of daisies, your favorite. “How’d you know?”

“Danielle.” He replies, hugging you. “Shit, Y/N, you look so gorgeous.” He compliments you, and you flush bright pink. “Thank you.” “Always.”

“I want to get to know you more, Y/N.” He announces grandly, kissing the back of your hand. “Aww, hopeless romantic,” you tease, and ask, “What are we going to do?”

“Oh, I don’t know, dance?” He jokes, smiling. You giggle — STOP WITH THE CREEPY GIGGLING, Y/N — and grin. “We’re going out of campus. I took permission, plus it’s the weekend, so they told me it’s allowed.”

“Ah, alright. Where though?”

“You’ll see.”

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

The drive there is not that long. After around twenty minutes of driving, he says, “We’re here, Y/N.”

You look around. Stars sparkle in the night, and the moon looks bright and happy. “I found this place last week, after training. It’s really beautiful, but I’ve never seen it during the day. Here’s the treehouse I built.”

“You built a TREEHOUSE?”

“Yeah, out of wood that had fallen. The walls are made with rotten wood. #Recycling!”

“Wow. You built a treehouse.”

“Not a big deal!”

“Totally.”

He leads you up the ladder, and grabs a chair for you. “I made dinner, it’s in the car.”

Jungwon runs to bring the food. He’s so cute, man. He returns with a picnic basket, and asks you to turn around. The room is brightened up. Is he lighting a candle?

“You can look now.”

You gasp, seeing candles lit, and wine glasses. “Jungwon, I don’t drink…”

“Who says we’re drinking wine?” He smirks, pulling out apple cider, your favorite. “Danielle?”

“Nope, me. I saw you drink it during class.”

You blush furiously, the thought of him looking at your preferences overwhelming you. “Thank you.”

The two of you spend all your time there, getting to know one another, drinking apple cider sophisticatedly, eating a vegetarian filet mignon (that’s what he called it), and laughing.

You admit that it’s been really fun with him. Is it a crush?

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

Finals. Crap.

It’s the sixteenth of March, and you have not prepared lyrics. You have a general melody, but you need lyrics. After class, you run to the library and grab a dictionary.

You frantically start scribbling down lyrics.

It began before my birthday

You and I, so forced,

Didn’t have words to say

The ice trying to defrost

Itself so fast

You wished me at midnight

Scared me out of my wits

You and I, against no light

Your goodbye felt like secret chits

Passed in class

And maybe I read into things too much

But we seem like too good of an opportunity to pass

Up, so I’ll try and take this and trust

That we both would last

So please don’t leave, don’t say goodbye

You know I’ll miss you, so don’t even try

No matter how fake we are, hope you feel the same

Way as I do, please just stay

And I could be romanticizing you a lot

You and I, as pretty as a forget-me-not

Following its name, I can’t ever forget you

I’ll be as blue as the flower if I do

And maybe I read into things too much

But we seem like too good of an opportunity to pass

Up, so I’ll try and take this and trust

That we both would last

So please don’t leave, don’t say goodbye

You know I’ll miss you, so don’t even try

No matter how fake we are, hope you feel the same

Way as I do, please just stay

I haven’t known you for long, a few weeks isn’t much

Time doesn’t matter, ‘cause you feel like a crutch

To my sanity, if I don’t have you near

So please just stay, dear

So please don’t leave, don’t say goodbye

You know I’ll miss you, so don’t even try

No matter how fake we are, hope you feel the same

Way as I do, please just stay

So please don’t leave, don’t say goodbye

You know I’ll miss you, so don’t even try

No matter how fake we are, hope you feel the same

Way as I do, i hope you stay

“Good enough.” You murmur, and fall asleep.

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

After homework class the next day, you rush to the recording studio. “Ms. Kent, I’m ready.”

“Jeez, Ms. Campbell, you scared me. But I’m happy. Let's begin.”

At the end of the session, Ms. Kent smiles with pride. “I am very proud of you. I hope it works out for whoever you have dedicated this song to.”

“Thank you, Ms. Kent.”

You exit, feeling very happy. This is guaranteed to get you a good grade.

You hear your phone ring, and you take a glance. It’s Sunghoon. “Hello?”

“Y/N, Jungwon is dead.”

Pause.

One beat.

Two beats.

“You’re joking. I’m coming to your dorm right now.”

“I’m not here, Y/N, please believe me.” You hear the pain in his voice. “Y/N, I’m at the campus hospital. I’ve called the King. Please come now. Everyone’s here.”

You run, tears falling, but you don’t realize it. Your only priority is getting to Jungwon.

“What happened?” You cry, seeing Danielle waiting outside.

“Y/N, he left a letter for you.”

“No, Danielle, this is a joke. Danielle, please. This is a joke.”

“I’m sorry, Y/N, it’s not. It really isn’t.”

She encloses an envelope in your palm. “None of us opened it. He died in the bathroom, Y/N. Allegedly because of a stab, possibly silver.”

“It’s a murder.” You declare between sobs. “We know, Y/N, please come see him. His father will be here in fifteen minutes.”

“When did this.. when was he found?”

She doesn’t say anything.

“DANIELLE, WHEN WAS HE FOUND?”

The one person I thought was like me. Would understand. Who helped me reach my potential and unlocked it in the first place. Lit a candlelight dinner for me. He’s my fucking muse. This is a joke.

“DANIELLE, HE’S GONE.”

Sunghoon screams, and on seeing you, hugs you immediately. The rest are sitting, tears soaking their shirts. When they see you, they run for a group hug. “Y/N…”

“He was found when I was in the recording session, right?”

“We tried calling you. None of us could come get you, we were too busy. It was 5 minutes before you picked up Sunghoon’s call.” Danielle murmurs, choking up with tears.

“And now he’s missing.” Heeseung says, staring blankly. The doctor arrives on the scene. “Hello, the patient has gone missing and I’m aware. For your information, I’m a vampire, too. There is a high possibility he turned to ashes, and we can’t rule it out. I'm not sure what happened, and the security cameras aren’t explaining anything either. We’re sorry for your loss. We are trying our best to figure it out. I am aware he is the young Prince of Maledictus, and the King is on his way. I assure you, this is not a mistake. It’s supernatural.

“A red moon incident is what we call it. When a vampire, a very powerful one at that, just disappears with no warning after his alleged death, it’s either they’re in ashes… or they’re alive.”

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

Dear Diary,

The king is furious. His only heir, gone into thin air? Impossible. He doesn’t blame me, though, surprisingly. I honestly don’t think he believes me to have the capacity to be able to scheme this well.

I don’t mind.

I know exactly what happened. His letter explained everything.

Here’s a word-to-word copy of it.

—————————————————————————————————————

Dear Y/N.

Do not show this to anyone else. Not even Danielle, not even Mitch. Mitch is a human, by the way. She’s been made a cat because of an age-old curse that runs in her family.

I am alive. For security purposes, I won’t tell you where. My father is planning something. He’s a terrible, cunning man. He wants to kill you, and make me do it. I’m sorry, but I love you.

You hear me?

I love you.

I’m alive. I asked Jaemin to place the silver next to a body I was working on. Jaemin’s really nice, by the way. He knows. But he’s with me. He’s applied for leave from the university under pretences of his grandmother being ill.

Lies.

He’s with me, and wants me to tell you that he’s safe. “Y/N, remember me in that locket of yours.”

Remember me too. I’ll come get you one day. When it’s safe. I promise.

By the way, love the song. I know for a fact it’s about us. Jaemin overheard everything before he came to the bathroom.

Don’t hate us,

Love, Jungwon.

P.S. : we both love you. Stay safe, and don’t worry. Don’t forget us, otherwise you’ll be as blue as a forget-me-not. ;)

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

THREE YEARS LATER.

“Y/N!” Danielle greets you.

The two of you don’t live together anymore. She moved away to LA for her career after graduation. You still stay in the same place, in hope of Jungwon being able to find you.

Right now, Danielle is with you, at your good old home. Your mother is in Canada, helping your Gran.

“Hi! How are you?”

Danielle and you still talk, and have video calls weekly twice. The boys are still in touch through the group chat.

“I’m fine, as I said yesterday,” you laugh. “Same!” She giggles.

The two of you spend hours together until it’s time for her flight. “I’ll see you next month. Call you when I reach!”

You hug her tightly. “I miss you a lot.”

“I miss you too, Y/N. I love you, okay? Take care!”

She kisses you on your cheek. “Love you too. Have a safe flight!”

After shutting the door, you plop down on your couch. Life’s been good.

“Y/N. How have you been?”

You turn around to see Jungwon and Jaemin, looking extremely weary.

“We need to go, right now.”

Ah, my vampire boyfriend.

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

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nobodysdaydreams · 4 months

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20 Questions for Writers

@myfairkatiecat Thanks for the tag, sorry this took so long. (@sophieswundergarten thanks for the reminder 💕)

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

8 so far. It's not a lot, but I make up for it in length.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

417,645 💀

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Exclusively tmbs so far, but I plan on doing some Wolf359 fics when I (finally) finish the podcast. Sadly all my ideas are long. I'm sorry.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Since I have so few fics I'll just give the list:

S.O.S., by a lot. I'd like to thank the show's cancellation for my unexpected success.

The Oldest Siblings , mainly due to it's association with SOS (it's the prequel in the series)

Treat Them With(out) Mercy

Who You Were Meant To Be

A Joy To Obey and It Should Have Been Us are tied

The Boys Who Waited

Sirens of the Sea and Sky: dead last with 3 modest kudos. This fic is the equivalent of having a kid in a school recital who screams the whole time and knocks down the set. He might be a disaster, but he's my kid and I'm proud. This fic is ridiculous, but it makes me laugh anyway. I don't know how burnt out finals Bods came up with this, but by golly...she did.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Of course! I think I've responded to every comment I've ever gotten (if not I'm so sorry please let me know). I appreciate every one of them, and I love talking about the ideas in my idea and the fics I write, so please know that every comment you leave totally brightens my day! 🥰

6. What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Hm. Right now "The Boys Who Waited" probably has the angstiest and most ominous ending, but we'll see what happens.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Probably "A Joy To Obey" since it's my main fluff fic with a nice ending. A great read if you like lighter stuff.

8. Do you get hate on your fic?

Not yet. If I did, I'm not even sure what I'd do. Depends on the hate. I might cry. I might laugh, honestly. I don't think I'm nearly important, good, or noticeable enough for that so I might be a little flattered ngl (unless it was something vulgar or hateful towards a certain group of people then I'd delete and block the person). I'm sure people have read my writing and not liked it, but I think they just click away.

9. Do you write smut?

No, that's not for me. Especially because I'm writing for a children's fandom, I just don't think that's appropriate.

10. Do you write crossovers?

No, but I've done some AU's on tumblr.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of. Also this is a small fandom so if a fic of mine DID get stolen, it would be pretty awkward and obvious. Don't plagiarize kids.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, but I'd be honored if anyone wanted to do that!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic?

No, but that could be fun!

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

Why the MV Shortcut, of course! /jk

I don't really have a lot of ships I get super invested in, I prefer platonic relationships. If I think of one I'll let you guys know.

15. What’s the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

You'll find out. (Don't worry about SOS. I promised I'd finish it and I intend to keep my word).

16. What are your writing strengths?

According to my readers, dialogue, characterization, themes, weaving multiple storylines together, and plot twists.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I can't write a short fic to save my life, and I can't edit to save my life. I also just publish my first drafts because I have no impulse control (sorry).

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

Funny enough I’ve done this, but only canon MBS dialogue where I've translated it directly from the show's subtitles. If I made an error, please let me know.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Mbs, and so far just mbs. Hoping to expand someday when I magically have more time (and finish Wolf359).

20. Favorite fic you’ve ever written?

SOS, just because of what a fun journey it's been.

Tags: @phtalogreenpoison @oflightningandstars @mvshortcut @sqenthusiast @itsgoghtime @amphibious-entity @mysteriouseggsbenedict and anyone who hasn't been tagged yet but wants to do it (sorry if I accidently double tagged)

#This was fun thanks for tagging me!#tmbs #tmbs fanfic #mbs fanfic #ask game #Bods Answers #Ao3 #ao3 author #ao3 writer

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margareth-lv · 1 year

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Hallucinations and hearing voices.

Yesterday’s (April 17, 2023) sudden twist of opinion of a certain American writer on a certain British author reminded me something that I wanted to share here a long time ago.

[Introduction: in an interview with The Sunday Times on Sunday, April 16, 2023, American writer Judy Blume said that she doesn't believe J.K. Rowling should be subjected to online harassment and threats because of her position on transgender issues. On Monday, April 17, after getting slammed for saying the above, Judy Blume clarified on Twitter that she “wholly supports the trans community” and her comments to the Sunday Times were 'taken out of context' 🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️.]

And it totally reminded me of something I wanted to share here a long time ago (but I’d stopped writing my blog for almost a year).

📢

Maybe (for an unknown reason) I experience some kind of false perception of events.

Maybe I hear voices (when nobody is speaking 🤪).

Maybe there’s nothing profound here and no one, except me, wants to waste their time looking for a deeper meaning.

… but I am a huge fan of Sam discussing on topics not relevant to his status of Solo-living Single, Childless Golden Boy 🤪. Here is another example of his "dad's" priorities. It never gets old for me: “Sam Heughan Spends a Day with His Unexpected New BFF (ft. Caitriona Balfe)"

[Josh Horowitz’s “Comedy Central” on November 19, 2021]

youtube

👀👀

I’m deliberately ignoring „Russian creepy dolls” (just thinking about Russian-Blonde-Dolls sends shivers down my spine and I don’t mean Matryoshka 🤪) and I’m heading straight for “Judy Blume novels”.

🙋🏻‍♀️

As I don't know much about American literature, I had to google „Judy Blume” at that time (I ask forgiveness from those who know her well):

🫣🫣🫣 So it is all about this kind of books:

Quite nice, what do you think?

Something quite suitable for a little girl 🤩

——————————

To sum it up, what are your thoughts?

Was Sam speaking about something that did not really match with his official status as a single man with no children or was it just a coincidence? (... and I am hearing voices)

❓

And as for “sandcastles”, well, let’s leave it open to a creative and personal interpretation. 🤪

🏖️

⛱️☀️

———————

About sudden twist of opinion of Judy Blume:

———————

PS. I stand with J.K. Rowling.

[April 18, 2023]

#Youtube

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beauty-and-passion · 6 months

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Attack on Titan: the eternal circle of life and war

It’s hard to talk about Attack on Titan. Not because there’s not much to say, but because there’s too much to say. And if you spend your free time watching videos about it (like I did in the past 3 days), you will hear all sorts of analyses, explanations and comments.

So, instead of talking about all the great things in this anime, I just want to give some of my thoughts on a story that accompanied me for 10 years. A story I never talked about here, not even when season 4 came and gave us some of the most wonderful episodes ever. Not even after Memories of the future, which has the most majestic plot twist in a series that has a ton of incredible plot twists already.

But If I want to talk about the finale, I have to talk about the series too and I will inevitably end up spoiling something.

So, if you never watched AOT before, just listen to this: if you want a story with fights, character growth and science-fiction/drama, trust this story. Trust the words these characters say. Trust their growth, because there will be one. Trust the plot, because it knows where it’s going. And even if seems like “urgh, that’s the typical structure of a shounen”... wait for it. This story is much more real than you think.

_________________________

Ten years together

I’ve always been an AOT anime watcher, not a manga reader. The only time I spoiled myself something from the manga, was between season 2 and 3, when I feared this story would never be fully animated and I wanted some goddamn answers, instead of waiting forever for something that would never come.

I made the mistake of not trusting the plot. And so, when I found out what was in the basement, I was a bit taken aback. Uh, that sounds forced, I thought.

Then season 3 came and, okay, maybe this plot point can go somewhere. Wait, if I look at the story in retrospect, maybe it goes somewhere. Maybe it explains Reiner’s character a lot more.

This is when I realized the story knew where it was going. There were no fillers. It was all connected.

And so, I trusted the story. I stopped looking for spoilers, I detached myself from all videos and explanations. The story had a direction, I wanted to see where it led to.

It was a… well, not completely unexpected finale. I mean, I knew Eren would die. But back then, when he took the Warhammer Titan, I thought he wanted to get all Titans inside him then kill himself - thus ending all Titans and Ymir’s curse at the same time.

Then, he started acting all alpha male gigachad I-don’t-care-about-my-friends I-want-to-destroy-the-world and I realized: oh, he will sacrifice himself. But he will play the Lelouch card and become the world’s enemy. That’s where it’s going.

And yes, this was where it was going. However, knowing where a story is going, doesn’t automatically mean the story is shit. It all depends on how you reach that ending.

And the way we reached it, was perfect.

_________________________

The inevitability of destiny and the power of friendship

The conversation between Eren and Armin is one of the most beautiful parts of this finale. I feel kinda sad for the manga readers, who got a weird conversation and Armin telling Eren stuff like “Thanks for becoming genocidal”, which sounds very questionable.

In the anime conversation, it’s very clear Eren is wrong and pathetic. He’s so pathetic, he himself says it.

And even if some people say this is the lowest point of Eren’s character, this is not. This is what Eren has always been. A child, because he is. He’s 19, not 30 or 40. He is a child.

But he’s not just a child: he’s a child soldier. He grew up surrounded by war, he fought and killed. When he looked at the sea for the first time in his life, he didn’t see a beautiful sight: he saw another barrier overcome, to reach the people on the other side and kill them. And he did all of this because Eren has always sought freedom and never reached it.

Just like he said, Eren is a slave. Of freedom, sure, but also of destiny. Eren cannot escape from the destiny he himself threaded for him. He put all the pieces in place, from the very first Attack Titan, so he would inherit that role and start the Rumbling. His destiny - and everyone else’s - is inevitable and inescapable, no matter how hard he tries to change it.

So when Eren breaks down with Armin and admits he doesn’t want to die and wants to spend his last years with Mikasa… that’s not Eren’s character assassination. This is Eren showing the most human parts of himself. The human who doesn’t want to die. The human who wants just some peace. The human who doesn’t want to follow the predetermined destiny, but has to.

I don’t really believe in the inevitability of destiny, but oh boy if it’s not fascinating in its tragedy. And in AOT is even more fascinating, because it’s Eren who wrote it for him. Because once he realizes what the future holds for him, he still keeps following it. He keeps putting pieces in place. He keeps up the façade. And only a few times, he lets that façade slip, to reveal the scared boy hidden underneath. The boy who doesn’t want to die.

And yet, he keeps going, because he wants this destiny. He wants to destroy the world. Because, just like when he saw the sea, he thought that if he killed everyone on the other side, his loved ones would finally be free.

That’s absolutely, terribly tragic. And I felt pity, by watching this young boy, who thinks everything could be accomplished only by killing, who knows he has to do that to ensure peace for his loved ones, who knows he has to die and doesn’t want to. He’s pathetic, he’s tragic, he’s caring, he’s human. He’s imperfect. And that makes him interesting.

But what’s even more beautiful about this part, is how friendship prevails. Because after admitting his fears and sins, Armin doesn’t leave Eren behind. He acknowledges his own sins and promises he will meet Eren in hell.

And that proves Armin is amazing. He doesn’t try to justify his actions because he’s on the right side of the story. He killed too. He took a lot of innocent lives. And if he won’t pay for them now, he will pay in the end.

And so, he reassures Eren: he is condemned, he will die, he will pay for his sins, but he won’t do it alone. Armin will be with him. Their friendship will overcome death itself and the inevitable destiny. As he said, they will be together, forever.

That’s what friendship truly is. Not to justify your friend, but to promise to be there. Not to say “but you’re good”, but to say “you’re bad, but I’m bad too. Let’s repent together”. For me, that’s way more powerful than a simple “let’s atone our sins” or “we’re besties”: it’s the sum of them both.

_________________________

Love as a chain and love as freedom

I’ve never been a fan of Eren and Mikasa as a couple. It reminded me too much of the Japanese trope of “step-parents being lovers” which is illegal and also urgh.

But the way Isayama handled this love is very clever. It’s not the typical “I love you baka” or Mikasa with heart eyes or other stuff. Sure, there are moments when she simps for him and that’s annoying. But in general, it’s very subtle and not thrown in your face.

So when we reach the end and Mikasa asks herself if she should kill Eren or not and cries and doesn’t know what to do… well, that’s realistic. That’s what every real person in love would think. That’s not Eren’s fangirl talking, that’s a real girl who is torn between doing the right thing and the guy she likes.

And in the end, Mikasa does the right thing, freeing the world, Eren and Ymir. And by doing that, she showed her that love doesn’t have to be a chain. You can love and still be your own person. You can still love and be free to do the right thing.

This is also why I like the credit scenes a lot: it wasn’t fair to let Mikasa spend her entire life sitting on Eren’s grave. It was fair to let her mourn him for as long as she wanted, then move on with her life. Again, that’s human. That’s realistic.

And that’s what Eren wanted too. Because along with the more childish idea of wanting her to think about him only forever and ever, there was also a more adult mentality - the mentality of a man who truly loves: to see Mikasa moving on with her life.

That’s true love. Not keeping someone with you, locking them with you forever because of your egoistical need. It’s letting them go. Because if they truly love and care about you, they will come back.

Like Mikasa does: she get married, has children and grandchildren, but still, she comes back to visit him. She moved on but didn’t forget. That’s one of the most beautiful, real representations of love and the reason why, in the end, I appreciate how their relationship was handled.

_________________________

The meaning of life

The conversation between Armin and Zeke is another masterpiece, especially because one of the characters involved is Zeke. You know, the man who always saw life as pain, mistakes and doing wrong things and the only happy moments he had were short and with his fatherly figure, while his real father didn’t care enough about what Zeke needed.

So when he realizes that oh, life doesn’t have to be just perpetration of life itself but also experiencing that life…that was great. Loved it. One of the few moments that almost made me shed a tear.

Personally, I also think that’s the true meaning of life. Sure, life is stubborn and loves to multiply and that’s what we keep doing from the very first bacteria that developed in the ocean. But we’re not just bacteria. We have a brain and memories and conscience. And we don’t see life just as “have more kids to pass your genes”: we search for something more.

And what could this “more” be, if not life itself? What the meaning of life could be, if not to live it?

This makes Zeke’s last scene even more beautiful because, for probably the first time in his life, he looks around, enjoys the world for what it is, takes a moment to appreciate everything. And then, he accepts to die and atone for his sins. Truly a great conclusion for his character.

Another scene that celebrates life and its importance, is the baby’s scene. A desaturated scene, where the only pop of color is the red of the baby’s cloth and the reddish pink of his face. Definitely wasn’t expecting an anime to refer to Schindler's List, but here we are.

But that’s what makes this scene even more impactful: because in both works, the red and the young child are a symbol of hope and desperation, of the strength of humankind and the importance of life.

The baby was condemned, just like all the people on the cliff. Moving the baby away from the edge of the cliff wouldn’t have saved them. The Titans were there, these people were destined to die.

And yet, the stubborn humanity pushed that child towards safety. Why?, Zeke would’ve asked. Why save a baby, when the end is there? What would be the point of fighting, if the final goal is to die?

Because that’s how we work. That’s how life works. Even if the end is there, even if the child will die, the goal is to keep the baby alive as long as possible. It doesn’t matter if it’s one minute or two seconds: the goal of life is living. Living for the sake of life itself. Because life encloses all the possibilities and the younger a human life is, the bigger the possibilities are. So ending one life is like ending endless possibilities. And life doesn’t like to waste anything.

_________________________

The neverending cycle of war

Isayama didn’t offer us a perfectly good ending. The “and they all lived happily ever after” ending. It gave us something real - which is, by comparison, worse than a tragic ending.

After the Rumbling, Paradis became a fascist state, while Armin and the gang turned into peace ambassadors. And, somehow, there was peace. And there was peace while Mikasa was growing old. And there was still peace for a long time after her death - 20.000 years, according to the ending song.

It’s very ironic that Eren’s genocide really managed to let his friends live in a peaceful world. But hey, I suppose that a massacre that led to the death of 80% of the world population is something humankind remembers for a very, very long time.

However, what do we see after all this time? World peace? People living all together and dancing in a circle? No, we see another war. After all this time, humanity fell for another goddamn war.

If this sounds realistic, it’s because it is. That’s the story of mankind. That’s what we are: imperfect beings who keep fighting and do horrible things, so we promise to remember, to not make the same mistake again - until enough time passes for us to forget our mistakes and repeat them all over again.

Just look at our current time period. Just look at how long peace lasts. In Europe, we managed to keep it for less than 80 years, before starting another war. And in other places all over the world, war never stopped.

AOT’s ending is darker than any tragic ending, because is real. Because it’s the real world within a fictional story. Because it’s a crude, realistic warning: war is easy to achieve, peace is hard to protect. And if enough time passes, humankind will give in to the easiness of war again.

_________________________

The neverending cycle of life

The ending of AOT tells us that this story is a neverending cycle: it starts, grows, dies and starts again, over and over.

However, the ending is open too, so it’s up to the viewers to decide how this next cycle is going to be: will it be the same? Will the boy and his dog get the power of Titans again, to start a new cycle of terror, fear and war? Or will something change this time?

This reminds me of something very specific, so please be warned: I will make a HUGE spoiler of The Dark Tower series by Stephen King. If you read it/don’t want to read it, you can keep going. Otherwise, skip the following paragraph.

In the last book of the series, once Roland enters the Dark Towers and climbs its steps, he finds out that everything is a cycle. He already climbed those steps. He already reached the end, only to start all over. And so it does: in the end, he’s back at the beginning of his journey, searching for the Tower again. But this time, he has his friend’s horn with him. This time, something is different. And maybe the outcome will be different too.

The last time, Ymir was scared, wounded, alone, chased by dogs, escaping her assailants, fearing for her life. This time, there is a young child, who is walking around, exploring the place accompanied by a dog. He doesn't look wounded, nor sad, nor scared: just a little tired.

Maybe that’s not enough to assure us everything will be fine, this time. But the elements are different. Something changed. And maybe, the different conditions will lead to a different outcome. Maybe the neverending cycle of war will keep going, but the neverending cycle of life will keep going too.

And if we think about it, between the two, in the end life always won. War destroyed, but life reclaimed everything. After the Rumbling, nature reclaimed the earth. After 20.000 years and another war, trees reclaimed the island and grew taller than ever. War may come and destroy but, in the end, the true winner is life.

And, again, this is real. This is what the world truly is. Just think about how easily nature reclaims what we made/still make. Once again, that’s our world in an anime series.

At the end of the day, this is probably what makes this story so impactful. AOT is real, despite taking place in a world of monsters and incredible powers. AOT shows us the good and the bad of our world and our nature and does it cleverly. I don’t think world peace or total annihilation would’ve been as good as this ending. This was just right. This is what it was supposed to be and, for once, I’m glad my expectations weren’t subverted with a resolution that could’ve been a lot worse.

So after ten years, all I have to say is that it was worth it. It was worth watching this anime and enjoying the fights, foolishly thinking that what was outside the walls was the biggest mystery. It was worth it for the plot twist, the characters' growth, the devastating deaths. It was worth it for the realism and the deep themes.

AOT changed a lot of things and I’m glad I was there to witness it until the end. So thank you Isayama and thank you to all the people who made this. It has been a long journey and it has been great. I will never forget it.

#attack on titan #eren jaeger #armin arlert #mikasa ackerman #zeke jaeger #aot #shingeki no kyojin #snk #aot end

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