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fantasies-fairytales-n-fics · 1 year

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Thranduil and Josie Pt. 127- Three Kings

Summary: Josie shares another dream memory. She awakes in Narcisse's bed. Josie is still angry with him but the persuasive warlock soon wins her over. Legolas receives three visitors. A long awaited secret is revealed, with a price. Catherine's evil reign continues. She tries to break a curse but it is too late. Stephane is injured. Catherine pays. Thranduil arises and demands answers. The Elvenking soon finds himself in a self induced predicament.

*Warnings* Angst, language, violence, poisoning, mentions of death,

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"Thranduil....Thranduil where are you my King...please, take me away from this awful place, I beg of you." you weakly cried out in your dream as you lied upon the forest floor, your head throbbing in pain and bleeding. Someone knelt beside you with an overpowering floral scent but you couldn't force your eyes to open. Something cool and soothing softly touched your forehead and then you began to float.

Muffled voices echoed about you, sounding of a man and a woman. The woman's was so beautiful and angelic.

"My lord, she is human. Are you sure this is the right thing to do?"

The man's was deep and decorative, yet so heavenly and protective.

"Do not question my authority. She is injured and needs my help, and I am going to offer it."

"Yes my lord."

You then realized you were not floating, but that he was carrying you.

"Thranduil!" you shrieked in panic as you awoke, forgetting where you were for a brief moment until Narcisse came running to you.

"Jo..it's alright, you're safe." he assured as he placed his hand on your cheek, in which you quickly threw your arms around him, remembering what happened with Asher. After a few moments, you then also remembered what Narcisse had done and how he treated you. Shoving him back, you swiftly stood up to realize you were now in a robe and not your bloodied dress.

You looked at him in panic. "How did I get into this?? Did you undress me??!!"

"Calm down Jo, of course I did not do such a thing. I had a female servant tend to you while I left the room. I know you think the worst of me, but I would never violate you like that."

You burst out laughing. "You mean like when you drew me naked and left it for all of Dorwinion to see?! I should never have came here. I need to get to my daughter, my god where is she??"

"Relax, relax Jo, she is safe with Lola in her chambers. I made sure to go find her when you collapsed at my door...and I also had my guard remove Asher and the soiled rug from your room. Everything is alright."

"Oh...." you softly said as your anxiety eased a bit. "Well, I still should never have come here."

Stephane arrogantly smiled in disbelief. "That's it? No...thank you?"

"I did not ask for your help nor do I want it."

"Oh but you did by coming to me and no one else. Not Haldir, not Garrett....me."

"Yeah well, Haldir is upset with me as if you didn't know that because of what you did and Garrett...well...." You thought quickly on that and made up an excuse. "I...I had blood all over me. He wouldn't have been able to handle that."

Honestly, you really weren't sure why you did not call for Garrett. He could have handled the blood. For being a vampire, he had self control like no other which you believed was the human that still resided within him, considering he would only seek out evil people to exist off of..... There was so much involved with what you felt for him. You told yourself it was about Raven...but deep down you knew it was guilt about Legolas and Thranduil.

"You can tell yourself that all you want Jo but you weren't thinking clearly at the time to worry about all that, and yet here you are. Your instincts brought you to me because I make you feel safe." Narcisse said with confidence.

"HA! Don't flatter yourself! You are the last person I feel safe with. You intentionally hurt me and it didn't even phase you in the least...you sat there and gloated over my humiliation! I am so over this and I am going to go get my daughter now and..."

"And what Jo? Where are you going to go? Back to the room where you just killed a man? You can't even get into your bath over a simple rat!"

He was right. Where were you going to go now? You definitely could not stay in that room ever again after that, for you knew you would see that horrible man laying there in every waking moment.

"Then I guess I will have to swallow my pride and go to Haldir. He may be perturbed right now, but he would not turn me and Leean away. I will just go to Lorien with him as planned and be free of this awful place!"

"First of all, he is not here right now. Lola said he went into the city...and secondly, you're going to go to him looking as you do, in a robe with dried blood underneath all over your skin that soaked through from your dress? I can see it on your neck Jo."

You gasped and placed your hand over your throat, which made you flinch as it was still tender from Asher's death grip.

"Are you alright??" Narcisse asked in concern as he came to you, pushing your hair back away from your neck. "Are you hurt? Show me."

You slowly removed your hand and pointed to a spot on your throat.

"Here...he grabbed me."

Narcisse tenderly glided his fingertips over your neck, noticing the newly peaking bruising underneath the flaky blood. His lips pursed in anger as his hand dropped.

"I wish I would have ended him myself and much sooner, back on the boat. I should have fed him to the sharks, but no, I wanted to make him suffer instead. This is all my fault."

He rubbed his hand over his mouth in frustration and turned away from you.

You stood quietly for a moment, taking in the fact that he was genuinely remorseful for what happened.

"Stephane....this. This is not your fault. You...you took care of him and he shouldn't have even been able to even walk but....somehow he escaped."

"Not once, but twice!" he reeled as he spun around. "It is my fault Jo because I am certain of how he escaped this time and she will pay ohhhh so dearly."

"You mean...Catherine? You think she set him free?"

"Oh I do not think it, I know it." he snarled. "I..I should have listened to you and done what you said by handling her, and yet I did nothing out of avoiding her wrath and what she holds...."

He quickly ceased his words which insanely perked your curiosity.

"What she holds? Stephane....what is going on? Has she done something to you or have something on you? or threatened you...or me? Is that why you did what you did to me??"

His eyes fell as he walked to the window. You followed him and made him turn to you.

"That's it isn't it? I felt something was off because I knew you were not acting yourself and that you wouldn't be so cruel to me like you were. Don't bother denying it because I saw it Stephane...in your eyes. It hurt you in doing what you did....and I see it now too. Please, tell me the truth."

The turmoil he was in had now greatly multiplied for he knew he could not tell you the truth, not all of it anyways so he offered half of it.

"You are right. It is Catherine. I believe she has placed some kind of dark magic upon me with your spell book that went missing, for I have not felt myself in days, and it all occurred shortly after you informed me of the missing book....She also had threatened you if I did not make you leave, but...I..I could not bring myself to do it, for I did not want you to go, so I cowardly tried to make you want to leave by doing what I did to you. Jo...I took no joy in hurting you like you believed...or still believe I did...I will make this right. I swear it to you."

You wanted to believe him, in fact, you did believe him but you were still scared to trust him, especially if he was right about a spell being cast upon him.

Your silence and your eyes told him that you were still wary of him.

"I can see you still do not trust my words."

"Can you blame me? You have been far from honest about all this...and now...you believe you are under some black magic curse. I mean...what if I made you angry..."

"I would never hurt you and you know that." he defensively replied as he stared directly into your eyes.

"If you were mine, I would protect you with my life and much more. I will even do so regardless of how you feel about me."

"S..Stephane...I...I do not know what to say to that."

"You do not have to say anything. You may have this room. I will relocate to my private home across the lands."

"How is that protecting me with your life if you are not here with me?!"

He gazed at you for a moment, not sure of what to say.

"You will have Haldir and Garrett and the guard... I will not be far. I'm a warlock, remember? I can be here in a matter of minutes and of course I would still remain here most of the time. I fear that you fear me and you have lived in fear long enough."

"Stephane, this is stupid. I..I don't feel you would hurt me and I don't want...."

You paused and walked away.

"You...don't want me to go?"

You slowly turned to face him. "No..."

"Well now...was that so hard? You know...you could always bring Leeanduil and reside with me at my place. Of course, you would have your own chambers. The only others that stay there are the help and guard. It would be much quieter, smaller....and private. The offer will remain open no matter what you decide. In the meantime, why don't you entertain another bath and I will go and check on Leean for you while you think over your options."

"Or....you could just remain here....with...me. I...I mean of course, I would sleep here on the sofa and Leean has her crib."

"Nonsense. You will not sleep on such discomfort. If...I were to agree to this, you may have my bed and I will sleep on the lounge. You can let me know what you decide when I return or later if you wish. Please, go enjoy another bath and relax. I will be back in one hour....and I will also see if Haldir has returned. The door will be secured behind me and I have a guard out there as well....Mayyyybe we could enjoy a peaceful dinner and drinks later this evening?"

He didn't give you time to respond and abruptly left.

"My lord Legolas, Bard the Bowman has arrived, wishing to have word with you...and Moose, he has been somewhat unruly since his return here with you. The beast attempted to bite me and kicked the stableman." Feren relayed in frustration to the new King of Mirkwood.

Legolas was lost in thoughts of you in his father's chambers as he sat at his desk trying to organize the piled up mess of duties since his father's absence....but he was getting nowhere as his mind kept wandering to the kiss you both shared. It played over and over in his mind and then so did the one you and Garrett displayed right before his very eyes. He saw you crying, and heard your words echo of begging him not to leave you.

"My lord??"

"What? Oh...Feren, my apologies. Yes, I will be right there." Legolas replied, still seemingly lost in a daze.

Feren huffed under his breath and left. Legolas sighed as he closed his eyes, fondling a bottle of your perfume that he must have smelled a thousand times since he had returned, then forced himself to put you out of his mind for the time being.

"King Legolas, it is good to see you my friend."

"Bard, it has been a long time. Please, you can just call me Legolas as you always have."

"I am very sorry to hear about King Thranduil. I wanted to come and offer my condolences to you and the Queen when I received word that you had returned from Dorwinion...and also congratulate her on the birth of the magical princess."

"Josie and Leean did not come with me." Legolas replied with a sorrowful tone.

"Where did she go?"

"Narcisse's castle. It was too painful for her to come. She and my sister will be going to Lorien with Haldir."

"Lorien? I am sure you are aware of the dragon fire upon the goblin kingdom. The realms are not far apart. Forgive me for asking but is that really the safest option? I have heard of Jareth's destruction atop Lestat's mountain and now a dragon attack upon goblin town. I do not feel that was a coincidence, but the wrath of Lestat and Lothlorien lies dead in the center. Why else would the serpents of the North come all this way and attack his kingdom? Lestat is the only other besides Thranduil that would dare summon them."

"She has all the protection she needs. Narcisse, Haldir and....Garrett. I was not needed."

"Garrett? It is none of my business, but of course you are needed. The Queen adores you and would be safest with you, especially here in the magical protection of Thranduil's halls."

"She does not feel that way about.....it does not matter now. She has made her decision and I was needed here."

"I see." the bowman skeptically stated.

Bard could see alright, that the former prince was deeply in love with you and running away from his feelings.

"Does she know?" Bard presumptuously asked.

"Know?"

"How you feel about her?"

Legolas was taken aback by the bowman's assumption...a very correct assumption.

"It is irrelevant. The Queen and I share only friendship. I do not know how you have come to such a conclusion."

"We both know that is not true Legolas Greenleaf." Tauriel called him out from the edge of the forest.

"What are you doing here?" Legolas growled as he glared at her.

'I am sorry my lord, she followed me from Laketown. I told her not to come but she would not listen. I was about to inform you." Bard explained.

"You are not welcome here or was my banishing of you not clear enough? I suggest you get back on your horse and leave before I have you escorted out of the woodland realm."

"Legolas, I come in peace. I too had heard of your return and wanted to offer my condolences about King Thranduil...."

"Do not say my father's name...and your sympathy is not wanted nor needed after what you have done. In fact, I would prefer it if I never had to see your face again."

"Surely you will not make me travel back alone with night falling soon after I came all this way? I do not know if you are aware, but since you have been gone, the spiders are becoming an enormous menace and their abundance of new nests have hatched, not to mention, Shelob has been spotted in the vicinity. She has been here for quite some time and I have reason to believe she has relocated here from Mordor out of spite towards all of us for destroying her nest and injuring her."

"There is no us and I have been aware of her presence for a long time now. Tauriel, you are a warrior of great skill and stealth. Do not expect me to believe you cannot handle her and a few arachnids."

"I think you missed the part where I said their were multiple new nests that hatched. Legolas, you have a serious problem and if you had been here instead of dealing with issues that were not your problem, you would know that. Even your elven guard cannot keep up with all of them."

"What I do is none of your concern! and neither is this realm, for you are no longer a part of it! I am very much aware of the issues at hand here but I had to deal with other threats that put my family at risk, so yes, it was very much indeed my problem."

"Then why is Josie not here with you? Instead, she is in a warlock realm. No risk there. Why is it really Legolas, that Josie would not come back with you?"

"Again, none of your concern...but if you must know, what I speak is the truth. The memories here are too much for her to face right now and... maybe part of it is that she couldn't face the fact that you slept with my father right here in his halls."

Bard was flabbergasted by Legolas's comment as he was unloading barrels and couldn't help the "wow" look that formed on his face.

"You...you told her?"

"I did, and I bet that makes you quite happy to know the pain you have caused someone that you once called your best friend."

"I do not take pleasure in that. What I do take pleasure in is that you got exactly what you deserved after pining for her while I was your wife."

"Oh, you mean like you did for Kili....and my father both while you were my wife??" Legolas swiftly retorted.

"I am sorry to interrupt this happy reunion, but I must be going now Legolas. As Tauriel said, darkness will soon fall. I will be back in a few days."

"Very well. it was good to see you Bard. I hope your son Baine is well. Bring him with you sometime so he and I can catch up on our archery tournaments."

"Indeed. He is becoming quite the archer as it is. After all, he did assist in taking down Smaug."

"Yes he did. A brave warrior he will be like his father.....Tauriel, glenn hi!" (leave now)

"Do you hate me that much that you would let me die?"

"Do you really want me to answer that? Then go with Bard."

"And what of my horse?? Legolas, it is only for this one night. I will leave in the morning at first light when the spiders are less active."

"You will not stay within my halls, nor even enter them. Make use of the guest hall and then be gone as you said...and do not return."

Legolas then whipped around and marched back to his business. He was soon stopped by none other than the Seelie Queen whom awaited him at the back entrance, her appearance yet again changed to an older version close to that of Legolas's physical age.

"Amara? Why have you come here?"

"I have stumbled upon some news that I think you will greatly desire and even pay a hefty price for."

Legolas tilted his head at the faerie who now strikingly resembled you with her big blue eyes, copper red hair and similar moonstone necklace she wore about her neck. She even dressed like you. In her twisted mind, she thought she may have a better chance with her dream prince turned King, if she appeared like the one thing Legolas loved more than anything, you.

"I am listening."

"Well as you know, I hear things from the birds, bugs and trees as they're all in my service. I can give you back someone you love dearly that you have believed lost forever. Someone you thought was dead dead dead, but in fact is not. In return for this information, you will give me what I have so long desired."

Just then, your crow cawed and circled about high in the sky. Legolas glanced up at him and then back at Amara in utter confusion.

"Amara, respectfully, I can offer you nothing until I know what it is that you think you know."

"Oh I do not think it, I know it. I cannot lie, remember?"

"That may be true, but you can always be mistaken, believing what you have heard to be true."

"It is true. There is a witness and he chose to tell me because I am the only one who can understand him."

"Amara, please. What do you know? If you do not tell me, I cannot help you."

"Very well. The King of Mirkwood, your father, is very much alive....but I will tell you no more without an agreement."

Legolas forgot to breathe for a moment as he gawked at her in disbelief.

"Now I know you must be mistaken. I saw his lifeless body before me with my own eyes, so did his Queen."

"Illusions my dear King Legolas. True witchcraft was at play."

"Who told you this??!!!" Legolas now raged as he felt it to be some sick game of hers like she displayed with you and Garrett.

Amara glanced up at the crow who now sat in a high tree, peering down at the two of them.

"I think you know he will not lie as well, for he is in the Queen of Mirkwood's service."

"This cannot be...." Legolas whispered and staring wide, feeling like the wind had been knocked out of him. "If this is true...where...where is he?!"

"As I said, there is a price for such information. A contract per se, that can never be broken or there would be consequences."

Legolas was losing his patience with the faerie Queen.

"What is it that you want! I agree to nothing until I see me father standing before me with my own two eyes."

"That can be arranged and we can have the ceremony once you have found him, but you still must agree to my terms or no deal."

Legolas was now fuming just like his father would do when backed into a corner.

"Ceremony?? What ceremony???"

"It's simple really. You and I will become husband and wife, in every way."

"Have you lost your mind?? or do you just enjoy being cruel?? Using my father against me to get what you want. I think you need to leave here at once and take your mind games with you."

"Oh it is no game Legolas, but suit yourself. I guess you will never know then."

Amara began to walk away, knowing she was about to get everything she's always wanted.

"Wait!! Alright....I will give you what you ask, but ONLY if I find him very much alive and well."

She grinned from ear to ear as she held her hand out to shake on it, which would seal the deal. Legolas reluctantly took her hand and shook.

"Now tell me."

"Remember, Legolas. Do not cross me. If you think I am cruel, you know nothing of what I am capable of....but you knew that already."

Legolas slightly gulped and nodded...and so the Seelie Queen began her tale.

Catherine was in the kitchen, still up tp her evil ways as she mashed up a poisonous concoction and placed a heaping teaspoon full of Oleander into a bowl of hot soup.

"This is going to hurt a little bit Josephine. Maybe this time you take me seriously and leave."

Catherine then began to chant as she stirred. ..."Haldir of Lorien sat on a wall. Haldir of Lorien had a great fall. All the marchwarden's horses and all the marchwarden's men, couldn't put poor Haldir of Lorien back together again."

The servant that had been preparing the evening's appetizers returned to the kitchen after Catherine had stirred in the deadly poison that she picked up in the city, an idea she got out of the spell book she stole from you.

"Ahhh William. Have you brought me what I have requested."

"Y...yes my lady." he stuttered.

The servant reluctantly handed her a small phial filled with a red substance, appearing to be blood.

"Perfect. Did anyone see you with the body?"

"No my lady. Asher was left in the dungeon, rolled inside of a rug."

"Good...Now...make sure this steaming hot soup gets to our guest, the elven marchwarden....and you will be rewarded generously."

The nervous servant did as he was told, for he too, feared the notorious Catherine de Medici after hearing Narcisse's horse was made into steaks.

"Mother, did you hear what happened to Asher??" Claude anxiously announced as she came rushing in.

"I did. Pity that he was not able to finish the simple task I gave him. I guess I will have to handle Cinderella myself. If only Narcisse would have cooperated, his precious Jo would be long gone from here and the attack would not have had to happen, but the stubborn bastard insists on turning me away and that simply will not do. If I cannot have him, neither will she. But first, I have decided to make her suffer more than she already is."

"Well, be warned. I saw Narcisse earlier and he was looking for you and...he had a vicious look in his eye, one like I have never seen. He has seemed so off lately, and honestly, a real dick, pun intended as I still cannot get over what he did to Asher."

"Where is he now?" Catherine asked in concern.

"I saw him speaking with Haldir just a bit ago and their conversation was not pleasant. The quite handsome elf seems to blame Narcisse for what happened with Asher, from what I overheard."

"Oh really? hmmm....this could actually be a bonus soon enough. Time will tell, but first, I must take care of something."

Catherine raced off as if her life depended on it. Out of curiosity and worry, Claude secretly followed her to see what her devious mother was up to now.

Upon entering her mother's quarters, she saw Catherine take something out of a box and rush to the fireplace, tossing it in.

"What are you doing sneaking into my chambers?" Catherine snapped when she saw her.

"Mother, what was that?! What have you done?"

"Don't you worry your curious little head about that. I am just hopefully undoing something before Narcisse winds up out of control."

"My god, did you...cast some spell on him or something? because that looked to be like...like a voodoo doll. Mother what have you done to him?? And don't tell me nothing after seeing this, because you look seriously worried."

"Claude, it was nothing but a silly spell that I didn't even think would work, but now it's handled and he will go back to his delightful self." she sarcastically said.

"And what if he doesn't? After his actions lately, I fear you have created a monster, and even if you have reversed this sick and twisted thing you have done, it will not stop him from taking his vengeance upon you for what you have done....and black magic does not just go away, it comes back three fold. What were you thinking??"

"I can handle Stephane...now go. I do not want you involved in this."

"I think it's a little too late for that considering what I know now."

"And you will keep that knowledge to yourself, understood!? If anyone, including Narcisse, asks you if you have seen me tonight, you tell them no, that I am still in the city. Now go Claude!"

Claude reluctantly left and Catherine quickly put on her overcoat, then headed out to hide away for the time being until she knew if the spell had been broken, for there was no said way of reversing it in the book, but she knew her daughter was right. Narcisse would still come after her for the Asher incident, and if that happened, she would the use her knowledge of the whereabouts of one certain letter to coerce him into sparing her life.

Just as she opened the door, there stood a ruthless and raging Narcisse.

"Going somewhere, my....love?" he snarled as his nostrils flared.

"S...Stephane...I...I...."

"Shut your mouth!" he snapped and and slowly approached her. For every step he took, she took one backwards, watching his hand like a hawk as it rested upon his sheathed sword.

"Did you really think you could try to kill Josephine by setting Asher free, and get away with it??? Did you think I would not know who was responsible?? I have lost all patience with you. This was the last straw! She has a child for christ's sake!! All so I would love you?? Anything I ever felt for you is long gone, has been for a very long time, and it certainly was never love. You are as wicked as they come and I should have rid of you long ago."

"Stephane stop! You, you do not know what you are saying."

"Oh Catherine, I know of every word I speak, even under the evil spell you have cast upon me. Did you think I would not figure that out?? You take me for a fool and act as if I am your property. Well no more, for you have crossed a very thin line."

"And what line would that be? Josephine?? You ARE a fool! She will never love you warlock King! Once she knows that her true King is..."

"She will never know!!"

He wielded his sword towards her, placing it at her neck as she fell to the ground in panic. It was clear to her that her efforts in breaking the spell had failed and he was going to kill her.

"If..if you k..kill me, you will never know where the letter is! I can guarantee you, Josephine will find it and you will lose her forever!"

Narcisse knew this was true, so for the time being, he had other plans for Catherine to try and force the information out of her.

"Get up!"

Catherine wobbled her way up as he lowered his word. She then stood in his face.

"You act so innocent, spell or no spell. We both know you planted that rat and then blamed me so that you could scare that silly girl into your arms."

"Guard!"

"Take her away!" Narcisse ordered to Bash, his new deputy.

Catherine gave one last effort to save herself from being thrown in Narcisse's desolate dungeons and picked up stone candle holder, smacking him in the head.

Narcisse wailed in pain and fell onto Bash, giving her the chance to run. She made it outside but did not get far as Bash came out of nowhere and reprimanded her.

"Unhand me!"

"Not today Catherine! Let's go!"

"Why am I here and where is my elk and my swords? I demand to leave here this night." Thranduil dictated as he appeared from nowhere, circling about Jareth, Julian, Raven and Harker in both an appetent and mistrustful manner.

Raven's eyes bulged at the arresting vision of him as the elf lord had physically transformed back into his Elvenking mien. She had taken multiple baths to dissolve his scent in order to keep Jareth from knowing of her once again infidelity but her nerves intensely took over her in worry that Thranduil would reveal what had happened between them. Instead, Thranduil offered her not one glance or word, as if she were not even in his presence.

"Ahhh, King Thranduil. Glad to see you are feeling up to rejoining the land of the living and seemingly back to your oh so delightful personality." Harker jested.

Thranduil was in no mood for small talk. "Answer my questions warlock." he blatantly replied with an expressionless face.

"You do not recall? Your elk left with your son Legolas after the fire that we rescued you from, which is why you are here. You have had a long road of recovery from your injuries, specifically head trauma from a terrible shock you took during my lightning storm atop the vampire mountain." Julian now added in an all out lie.

"Your swords are in safe keeping for you, no need to worry about that. It would seem your memory is still a bit hazy. You should not be traveling in such a condition at the moment." Jareth chimed in.

"My memory is well enough to remember that neither of you before me is in my circle of trust, which is quite far and few between, but in fact, you are viewed as natural sworn enemies, so again, why am I here and why would you rescue me if that is even of any truth...and more importantly, why would my son leave me on that mountain?"

The four of them all glanced at each other, leaving Thranduil to glare at them through slitted lids.

Harker stepped before the skeptical Elvenking.

"Legolas, and everyone else believes you to be dead. In fact, you were for a brief time until Jareth revived you with his ring of power. He and Josephine had saw you with their own eyes, and then just left you there, for the prince was more concerned about your wife and getting her to safety."

"Do not speak that wretched woman's name or refer to her as my wife! and if my son believes me to be dead, then do explain why he has not been informed that it is not of truth??" Thranduil barked.

Harker was very pleased to hear Thranduil speak of you in that manner, now more sure than ever that the conditioning had worked.

"We wanted to make sure you would recover before notifying him, in case our efforts to heal you did not work. Certainly you would not have wanted him to go through the pain of your loss all over again?"

Thranduil's stance stiffened as he leered at Harker, seemingly agreeing to the warlock's reasoning.

"I am quite capable now of returning to my Kingdom and reclaiming my throne. But you still have not offered me a logical explanation as to why any of you would aid in my recovery."

"Because we are allies, with similar interests and enemies. Together, we can rule all of middle earth in the way it was intended to be, full of death and destruction. Is that...not...what you desire...Elven...king?"

Harker was once again testing him, for his obedience and loyalty was still in question.

"It is everything that I desire and more, but I will continue to rule my realm in solitude as I always have with no assistance from your kind."

Now Harker was extremely displeased with the arrogant elf lord.

"You will remain King of your realm, but you will in fact rule alongside of us in all that surrounds it."

"I take orders from no one, especially that of witches!"

"Have you forgotten who's realm you are in now sprite??! You are no King here, for that title belongs to me! Unless you would rather return to the afterlife, as I can arrange that!" Jareth reeled and hurled one of his crystals in anger.

"You dare threaten me goblin King?! I am no ally to filth and I rule under or with no one! Now return my swords to me."

Harker was now conflicted with the elven adversary, for Thranduil was doing everything he was expected to do, yet still non compliant in joining forces with them.

"It seems you are still not ready to leave here. You make no commands here elf nor are you in any position to attempt to, for you will not make it out of here alive, but if you think you have the power to do so, by all means, give it a try and see how far you get. This can all be so much easier for you if you swallow your pride and obey, or it can get ugly. Certainly, you do not want your realm to fall under our wrath? Which would you prefer? It would seem your at quite a disadvantage for making an irrational decision."

"I would prefer your head on a stake and to shoot arrows at it while enjoying many glasses of wine." Thranduil snarled.

"Those are your emotions acting without the benefit of intellect." Harker raged.

"Think of Legolas and Leeanduil. Do not fail them."

Raven stupidly intervened. "Thranduil, just do as they tell you and you will soon be on your way home to your children."

Thranduil's head jerked to face her. "Whom are you to speak to me? You are no better, if not worse, than the damned and miserable beings before me, for you are two of a treacherous kind all rolled into one revolting vision."

Raven gasped at his words for he certainly did not find her that way the night prior when he fucked her madly. She suddenly saw it in his loathing eyes....he did not remember it.

"You dare speak to my queen in such a way before me?!" Jareth fumed as he walked up to him.

"Queen? I was under the impression she was your whore since your true queen, Ravenna is away, also being a whore." Thranduil antagonized Jareth without a care.

Even Harker's eyes slightly widened at the bravery and boldness the Elvenking displayed, almost enjoying the foreseen response, for this side of Thranduil could not be blamed on his conditioning. He was just being what he had always been. Ruthless.

Jareth was just as ruthless and charged his hand out, zapping the Elvenking with his ring once more. Thranduil fell to his knees and weakly but domineeringly peered up at Jareth with a wicked grin as a group of goblins were ordered to take him away.

"Well that was productive." Harker snarked in annoyance. "We have broken every part of him except his obdurate will, which has only seemed to have intensified. Any more bright ideas brother?"

"Indeed I do. Administer an entire new round of therapy. It seems the King has not learned his place."

"He is a liability and cannot be trusted. Why not just kill him?" Julian asked.

"Where's the fun in that?" Jareth chuckled. "Harker...go get me my book and moonstone since our incompetent brother here failed." Jareth then glanced at Julian in disappointment as he wrapped his arm around Raven's shoulders and walked away.

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soclonely · 2 years

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Star Wars Seas the Day Exchange:

My gift was for @yubsie and this was so fun ! I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing! Also the normal shoutout to hawk and @starwarsfandomfeststs and your weekly reminder that I love you and all that you do for this event!

Pairing/Group: The Organa family Theme: Forgetting someone at a fuel stop (this happened to me in Iowa smdh) Word Count: 847

"Every Which Way"

~~~~~~~~~

Bail laughs nervously, slipping back into the passenger seat of the speeder. “See? Leia was just fine! Weren’t you sweetie?” He turns to look at the unamused little girl in the back seat, her arms crossed in the same graceful yet intimidating way as her mother. “No harm done! She was only left there for a few minutes and is perfectly safe.” He turns to his wife, her glare burning into him. “We can now continue our vacation in peace!” He quickly shuffles in his seat, clicking his seatbelt across his lap. “Let's get this show on the road!”

“I can’t believe you left our daughter at a fuel station, Bail.” Breha replies through gritted teeth.”I take a small nap, just one little nap and leave you in charge of the rest stop, And you forget my precious little girl.” She slams her foot on the gas pedal, causing Bail to grip the dashboard as they steer out of the fuelstop lot and onto the interstate. “I don’t know what I am going to do with you!. She sighs dramatically, trying to hide her smile. “Leia sweetie, are you okay?” Breha glances in the rearview mirror at the little girl humming happily in the backseat.

“Yes mother!” She hums. “I am fine. And besides, I was only there for a few minutes.” She looks over to her father, feigning her best pout. “Alone, cold, and lost in a place I have never been!” She sighs sadly. “What is a little girl to do?”

“What do you mean by being alone and cold?” Bail sputters. “It's 86 degrees and the fuel attendant sat with you the entire time and gave you ice cream while you waited!” He turns his attention to Breha. “And if you keep driving like a podracer young lady, I will have to take the wheel myself!”

“Oh so we can arrive at the lake house a week after vacation ends, grandpa driver.”

"Well with how many wrong turns you have taken, we won't be there until next year!"

"The two of you stop it right now!" Leia interrupts. "Lola says if we don't get along, they will take over the driving and turn this speeder right back around and bring us right back home!" She looks between her two parents sternly. "So behave yourselves!"

After a moment of silence, all three of the Organa's burst into laughter, the tension in the speeder dispersing. Bail wipes away a tear from the corner of his eyes and sighs. "Sorry for leaving you behind, Leia." He looks back at his daughter, his hand reaching hers momentarily. "I never would have left you on purpose."

Leia takes his hand and smiles. "I know daddy. Road trips can be pretty hectic and I did wander off. All that matters is that you came back for me."

"And I always will." He smiles, squeezing her hand lightly. He turns back to Breha. "And I apologize to you for causing you to worry. This is supposed to be a fun vacation for the family." Bail sincerely. "Will you forgive me, dear?"

"Of course, love." Breha smiles nervously, looking out the window of the speeder. "So long as you forgive me for this." She states, clicking on the turn signal to the nearest exit.

"Wrong way again, mother?" Leia asks, suppressing a giggle. She looks over at her father, a twinkle in his eye.

Breha blushes, turning to look at Bail. "I'm sorry." She repeats, smiling. "Must have missed our turn a few miles back." She explains, pulling into a parking lot. She hands him the map and sighs. "Would you mind being my navigator?"

Bail thinks for a moment and shakes his head. He hands Leia the map and smiles. "How about you lead the way?" He asks her. "I think it's time you get a chance to prove you have what it takes!"

The little girl eagerly takes the map and opens it up, examining their route carefully. "I see where you marked our flight path! I can tell you how to get there easy. But," she stops, looking at the unmarked road ahead. "If we keep going the way we were going, there's another turn up ahead that leads to the same place! I say we go the new route! " She looks up at her mom and dad, smiling. "Either way, we will end up exactly where we need to be!"

"You heard our little navigator, sweetheart." Bail beams, looking to his wife. "Onward to new roads!"

Breha smiles and nods, pulling the speeder back onto the road. "You only gave her that map to navigate so you could nap, didn't you?" She asks him quietly, eying him in amusement.

"Of course I didn't!" Bail tries his best to look offended, a small smile forming on his lips. He leans back in his seat and sighs, closing his eyes. "But now that you mention it, a nap would be delightful!" His hand reaches to the center console to hold Breha's and he smiles. "Don't you just love vacation?"

#bail organa #breha organa #bail x breha #the organas #star wars #princess leia #princess leia organa #star wars fan fic #star wars fandom fest #sw seas the day 2022

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grammarrrrrr · 2 years

Text

Reversed rolls.

Summary; We all saw how Camilo calmed his mother in the movie, now imagine that being normal, imagine Camilo telling Pepa that all would be okay. But, one natural rainy day, Pepa enters her son's room and catches him crying. Then, for once, the rolls are reversed.

The rain smashed against the windows.

Pepa did not like the rain, but this time, it wasn't because of her, it was natural. And Pepa couldn't control that, only her own weather, but even that controlled her sometimes.

”Woah, that's a lot of rain. I wonder if we can even go out tomorrow.” said Julieta, she took a sip of her coffee. ”At this rate it might start thundering.”

She sat down next to her sister, and pushed over a plate of arepas.

”Yeah, usually watching rain that's not caused by me is relaxing. But this time it's really violent. Ay, let's keep our hopes up,” said Pepa. ”And this time it's not even my fault.”

Pepa took an arepa and ate it.

”It's very loud..." mumbled Dolores, she covered her ears and winced.

She put her hand on her daughter's shoulder, and kissed her lovingly on the cheek.

”Lo siento, mi amor.”

Félix was sitting next to Dolores on the other side, and was helping her cover her ears, being gentle with her.

”Hey, it's fine, I'll manage,” mumbled Dolores. ”Focus on something else, like Camilo, I haven't seen him in a while. Sadly I don't know where he is, but he might be in his room.”

”You can't hear?” asked Pepa worriedly.

”No, the rain's too loud... I can't hear anything else...” explained Dolores quietly. ”But I'm fine... Worry about Camilo instead...”

Pepa drank up her coffee, and took another arepa, before grabbing the plate and standing.

”I'll go see where he is, and get him some arepas. Then I'll help you up to your room, so you can rest, okay, Lola?”

She kissed her daughter on the forehead before leaving.

She walked up the stairs, and went over to her son's room, opening the door.

”Hijo-”

What she saw shocked her.

Camilo was there- Crying, crouching, small sobs leaving his trembling lips- He was shaking, and mercilessly pulling his strands- And then he noticed her, he wiped his tears.

”Mami-”, he let go off his hair. ”I'm fine- Lo siento. Just... Forget about it- I-is something wrong?”

She walked over to Camilo and sat down next to him on the floor, and put down the plate.

”I'm fine- But your clearly not, what's wrong, Milo?” asked Pepa worriedly. ”I wanna help you- Like you've always helped me. It's only fair. And you deserve it.”

He did.

Her Hijo had always been so kind to her- Calming her and reassuring her. He had always been so gentle with her, being there when she needed him.

God, how she got lucky.

”¿Cómo estás, corazon?” asked Pepa. ”Solo por favor se honesto, Milito. Por favor.”

She kissed him on the forehead.

”¡Estoy mal, Mami!” cried Camilo. ”Sometimes, when I look in the mirror- I just don't recognize myself, and... I-I wanna shift, I just can't stop... I can't stop working, I just can't... I need a distraction...”

Oh, how his tears broke her heart.

”I'm sorry...” mumbled Camilo. ”I know I should be worrying about you, and your feelings... But I just can't stop mine from dripping over and I'm sorry, I know that's not an excuse, but...”

”I'm sorry!”

God, her heart cracked at that.

”Don't apologize, Camilo,” said Pepa. ”You shouldn't stop yourself from expressing your emotions just because of me.”

She blamed herself, she was always so focused on her own emotions, not her children's. And she should be.

He started to cry more.

”Mi amor, I'm here for you. I promise, okay?” comforted Pepa softly. ”It'll be okay, maybe you don't believe me right now, but it will. I know it will, trust me.”

She wrapped her arms around him tightly and reassured him.

(Later)

His head laid down on her shoulder, they were holding hands- And talking, and eating the arepas.

”I don't wanna wait that long... I wanna be okay. Actually okay.” said Camilo.

”I know, mi sol, but just be patient. It will take time, but I'll be there. The familia too.” reassured Pepa.

”I know...” mumbled Camilo sadly.

”Will you tell them? For me?”

”Sure, cariñito.” answered Pepa.

He smiled, it was small, but it was genuine.

”This is new...” mumbled Camilo suddenly

”What do you mean?” asked Pepa.

”Usually I'm the one comforting you.” explained Camilo. ”Now your the one comforting me. Weird, isn't it?”

”Your right.”

He was, for once, the rolls were reversed.

#Comfort #Camilo Angst #Pepa is a great mother #Felt it #Reversed #Encanto #Go check my Wattpad out #Would have published it there but didn't have time

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jupitersrising · 3 months

Text

Survival of the Fittest Character Guide

Hi lovelies! This is a character guide for everyone mentioned in the Survival of the Fittest Universe. I've talked about the fact that there are a lot of OCs as family member since we literally have no idea who most of them are. I'll be linking this post on the ao3 series when the next chapter comes out as well. This will be updated as I add more side characters, but is made to make it easier in case anyone forgets who is who and how they're related because I know that can be difficult.

(Everything here is from my notes and is subject to change if necessary. A short description will be included with each character that may be subject to minor spoilers in the SotF universe. Some characters not yet mentioned will be included in the list, though they will not get descriptions. Any ages listed will be how old they were at the start of Camp [June 2015] OR how old they were when they passed away.)

Ben Pincus (16):

Family Relations:

Mother: Ann Pincus nee Moore (34)

Father: Colton Pincus (34/35)

Grandmother: Tracy Pincus (deceased)

Other:

Holly: Bluebird and previous "pet" (nearly a year) (deceased)

Greyson: Childhood bully (16)

(Dr) Sarah Martinez: Therapist before the start of the series (31)

Mikael Porter: Not yet mentioned (34)

(REDACTED): The girl in the car (assumed less than 10)

(REDACTED): Father of girl in the car (early thirties)

(REDACTED): Mother of girl in the car (early thirties)

The Man in the Hotel: Body found in one of the hotel's along with the note "I'm sorry, Julia" and a gun

Julia: A presumed woman the suicide note was left to.

Bessie: "Dino-daughter"

Darius Bowman (15):

Family Relations:

Brother: Brandon "Brand" Bowman (19)

Mother: Jennifer Bowman (mid forties)

Father: Fredrick Bowman (deceased) (early forties)

Other:

The San Francisco Wolves: Brand's high school swim team

Reese: Not yet mentioned

Chelsey: Not yet mentioned

Gerry: Not yet mentioned

Kenji Kon (17):

Family Relations:

Father: "Daniel" Kon

Mother: Ichika “Naomi” Kon (deceased)

Step-Mother: Candy

Other:

Kye Alabaster: "Friend" approx. 2 years older (status unknown)

Randy: "Friend" gave Kenji and Kye edibles on that day

Sydney Eston: slept with Kye

Yasmina "Yaz" Fadoula (17):

Family Relations:

Mother: Inaya Fadoula (56)

Brother: Hadi Fadoula (approx. 31)

Sister: Nima (11 almost 12)

Father: I don't have a name for him yet

Other:

N/A

Brooklynn Torres-Williams-King-Santiago (15):

Family Relations:

Father (Dad): Alexander "Ali or Alex" Williams

Father: (Nial or Pops): Nial Torres

"Mother" (Mom or Aunt): Kestley King

"Mother" (Mia or Aunt): Mia Santiago

(Yes the last name thing is something you can do, to my knowledge, its just not common to have more than 3 last names)

Other:

Brooklanders: YouTube/vlogging audience

Samanta "Sammy" Gutierrez (16): (this is a long one)

Family Relations (Gutierrez + Hernandez sides [also Wilson]):

Father: N/A Gutierrez

Mother: Rosa II Gutierrez nee Hernandez

Sister: Valentina "Val" Gutierrez (13ish)

Sister: Carmen Gutierrez (deceased) (early twenties)

Cousin: Angelina "Angie" Hernandez (20)

Cousin: Fidel Hernandez (21)

Cousin: Filipe Gutierrez (18)

Aunt: Lola Gutierrez

Uncle: Emilio Gutierrez

Aunt: Yadra Wilson nee Gutierrez

Uncle: Nelson Wilson

Uncle: Javier Hernandez (Fidel + Angie's Dad) (47)

Grandmother: Rosa Hernandez (83)

Cousin: Antonio Gutierrez (mid 20s)

Cousin: Pedro Gutierrez (late 20s)

Other:

Father John: Pastor

Alice: first "girlfriend" (16)

Bessie: emotional support cow

Daisy: Bessie's mother (deceased)

Tomás "Tommy" Cruz: Made fun of Carmen, Fidel beat him up in church services (17-18)

Daniel Nickleson: Scientist Sammy shot and killed (deceased) (27)

Patricia "Patty" Nickleson: Wife of Dan (28)

Elizabeth "Eliza" Nickleson: Daughter of Dan + Patty (Infant)

Carol Nickleson: Daughter of Dan + Patty (5)

Other Characters:

Mitch and Tiff: Antagonists (deceased) (mid-30s)

Hap: Ally (deceased) (early 40s/late 30s)

Dave: Counselor (26)

Roxie: Counselor (26)

Doctor Wu: Antagonist, not yet introduced

Torvo: (deceased) Attacked Ben

Toro: (deceased) Ben attacked her

Allosaurus: Tried to attack Ben near Toro's field

Pteranodon: Dragged Ben off monorail

Baby Pteranodon: (deceased) claws + bones turned into knives

Like a dozen other dinosaurs to add (mostly irreverent)

#survival of the fittest fanfic #jupitersrising on ao3 #ao3 fanfic #sotf updates #soft universe #jwcc

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thera-daydreams · 3 years

Text

PLUS ONE

》 A TRESE TWOSHOT 《

[Maliksi x Reader]

📝 Summary: In which your beloved best friend snatches you from your apartment at dawn asking you to be his plus one for his cousin's wedding. Unbeknownst to the clueless you, everything is just going according to Maliksi's ultimate masterplan. With the help of friends and family, the Prince of the Tikbalang finally gets the girl he's been longing for. And oh, Señor Armanaz gets his dream daughter-in-law and the promise of grandchildren within the year.

📌 Warning: May contain some slight NSFW for spicy suggestiveness and cussing. No smut or anything super SPG—this girl can't write that for her life—but just be prepared. It's Maliksi we're talking about. We've got friends-to-lovers, obliviousness, pining, fluff, and a tikbalang simp. Figure it out. 😃

(word count: 7,454) ♥︎ Part Two: ?

》 AUTHOR'S NOTE 《

Not an Inday spinoff, but a lengthy oneshot in celebration of this blog getting 90 followers. Just ten more to 100, yay! Thank you so much for the love and support, everyone. I also promised that I'll be making this brainrot that @binibiningbabaylan and I have fangirled over a few days ago (find the original post here) when I finished the latest chapter of Inday. Here it is! 🥰

Before I forget, I was also inspired by the cute fic made by @crispybasil titled "Sunshowers" and the "Trese Boys As Things My Guy Friends Do" made by the amazing @smolla-than-a-bug (I bow down to your wonderful works in the Trese fandom). I definitely see Maliksi to be the type to go on spontaneous roadtrips and be the boyfriend to drive you around eveeeerywhere (while also driving you crazy). 🚘

There are also some songs mentioned throughout this work. You should probably listen to them while reading for the full experience. Ending was somewhat rushed but eh, I'm too exhausted and I've rewritten it too many times. Also, if someone makes some actual tikbalang smut, tag me please. Anyways, enjoy! 💕

The way it all started was hilarious. Absolutely fucking hilarious. It happened like a blur. Literally. One second, you were snoozing in your bed. The next? You had a seatbelt on in the shotgun seat of a sophisticated-looking car. Your brain didn't even get to process it yet.

"... So let me get this straight," you grumbled, still half-asleep from your sleep marathon. You just finished a hugely successful project at work yesterday, got promoted, and wanted to make up for the restless nights you spent overtime in the office. Of course you were irritated from being disturbed. You were on vacation leave for two entire weeks, originally planning to go into temporary isolation by deactivating your social media accounts and reserving a beach cabana for yourself in Batangas.

Well, turns out, you weren't going to Batangas anytime soon. All because your unreasonably spontaneous bestfriend of ten hectic years stole you from your apartment at 2AM. Was this considered kidnapping? Was this him just being more in touch with his tikbalang side, taking unsuspecting women in their sleep and leading them to their inevitable death? (He was going over the speed limit, so it was a valid thought.) Will wearing your shirt inside-out save you today? Lord, masyado ka pang pagod para mag-isip ngayon.

"Go on."

"You abducted picked me up in the middle of the night because you want me to be your plus one at your cousin's wedding in Tagaytay?"

"Yup. And technically, the venue is right on the outskirts of Cavite going to Tagaytay," he corrected you as a matter-of-factly.

"Same thing, whatever," you huffed tiredly. "Your cousin's wedding is at 6AM today. In a few hours. In four hours."

"Uh-huh."

You groaned exasperatedly, "Mal naman, eh! You didn't even let me bring anything. Could've at least given me a heads-up a few hours ago. I'm practically emptyhanded right now save for my phone! Sinungaling ka, you said this was just a normal midnight drive—not a freaking wedding!"

The Prinsipe ng Mga Tikbalang, son of the Great Stallion, heir to the Armanaz herd, and the Top Drag Racer of C-5 Expressway—if that was even one of his Game of Thrones-like titles—grinned as he continued driving beside you. He let you continue ranting in the passenger seat while he mulled over his ultimate masterplan that would change his entire life later on. He was a spur-of-the-moment kind of guy, so all this wasn't his thing. But for you? He'll make plans, alright.

"Wala man lang akong dinalang masusuot o kahit konting makeup para maging presentable sa harapan ng buong pamilya mo," you exclaimed, in absolute despair. "Do you know how out of my league you are? Your rich-ass family might judge me—hell, your dad might see me as a hampaslupa if I show up there in my pambahay and tsinelas!"

"Psh, I'm not out of your league," Maliksi waved it off, smoothly turning a corner. "And calm down. We've known each other for a decade! My dad practically loves you as his own daughter. Heck, the entire family knows you and keeps telling me they want you adopted in already. Lolo Andres and Lola Perlita said they'd have the paperwork settled. You just need to sign them."

It would be even better (and easier) if you married into the family. To him, specifically (as if he'd let anyone else have you). God, he was already being so obvious in his advances, but you were just so damn oblivious whenever it came to romance. None of this needed to happen if you just got it through your thick skull that he was madly in love with you.

"That's not the point, idiot!" you slumped back into your seat, hopeless. "Do you think the bride and the groom will get offended? Shit, baka masumpaan ako kung magagalit sila, Mal. Mukha akong patay galing sa South Cemetery."

The long-haired tikbalang rolled his eyes, "Huwag kang mag-alala. Nothing's going to go wrong. Chill ka lang diyan. I've got everything under control, babe."

Babe. Yes, he even called you babe but you thought it was him being a himbo and a massive flirt. Now, it was his common term of endearment for you, but you still assumed it was him just being irksome to you and that you couldn't stop the man from saying it anymore. Thus, you let it be (the most obvious hint of his attraction to you, bestie).

"... Ugh, why didn't you ask Hannah or Amie to go with you?"

He just smiled knowingly, shrugging and making up an excuse, "Nagmamadali ako, eh. Hannah and Amie are also coming, but they already have the other tikbalang as dates."

"'Luh, ako pala ang backup choice mo?"

"Heh. Whatever you want to think."

Little did you know that you were always his first choice. Always. Even when he pursued Alexandra Trese many years ago, trying to convince himself you were just his best friend, it was always you. How did he come to that realization? Well, an international band he was a fan of released a song a couple years ago and he heard it being played in a club in BGC. The song title?

It Was Always You by Maroon 5.

Needless to say, after hearing the song and being unable to get it—get you—out of his mind at night, he stopped courting Alexandra. Unfortunately for him, that time, you'd started dating other men. Therefore, he was left on the sidelines... until your latest and most painful breakup, at least. That was five years ago. You still hadn't dated anyone since then, kind of traumatized from getting into another failed relationship like that.

In the present day, as if the fates were playing on you two, one of your favorite artists played on the radio. A very ironic song given the situation you two were in.

Best Friend by Rex Orange County.

Maliksi knew it was a favorite of yours. He knew it by the way your eyes lit up like a star brightening the twinkling night sky. Like the sun first rising in the morning at Apolaki's command. Like the moon extending its gentle rays from the magic of Mayari herself. If there was anything he wanted to ask of the old gods, it was you—everything else be damned.

"I wanna be the one that makes your day, the one you think about as you lie awake," you half-sang and half-screamed happily, somewhat out-of-tune. "I can't wait to be your number oooooone! I'll be your biggest fan and you'll be mine—"

Maliksi glanced at you, not minding that his eardrums were probably getting microscopic ruptures from your aggressive singing. As much as he wanted to stare at you all day, he had to keep his eyes on the road. But the lyrics you were singing were wrong; the Prince of the Tikbalang was already yours from day one.

"Babe, McDo drive-through tayo for breakfast. Let me make it up to you. Gusto mo ng caramel sundae for your promotion gift? Sige. Ako bahala. Chicken nuggets din? Mabubusog ka ba niyan? I don't think they serve those this early..."

》》》

"Sandali lang!" you shouted out from inside an empty room. You'd just arrived at the venue—the Alta Veranda de Tibig in Silang, Cavite (practically the gateway to Tagaytay)—an hour or so ago. The hired makeup artist just left so that you could privately change into the outfit that had been bought specifically for you. Curse Mal and his ability to buy anything (perhaps anyone) he wanted. "Bwiset, Mal, you didn't tell me we'd be part of the damn entourage. We have to be walking the aisle in thirty minutes, simbako! You just love rushing me, don't you!?"

If only you were the one walking down the aisle today towards him.

When you exited the room, Maliksi couldn't help but let his jaw drop as he skimmed your figure, clad in the luxurious, silky satin blush midi dress he bought in one of those fancy stores in Makati yesterday. He imagined that it would look great on you, but now, seeing it on you in person... you looked divine (and frankly, he wanted to see it off your body to see what was underneath—but don't get too ahead of yourself, Mal). It was a whole 'nother level from his imagination. The deep cowl neckline and thin spaghetti straps showed your lovely collarbones... as well as a peek of your cleavage. His favorite and the best part of it all? It was backless, allowing him to gaze at the tempting curve of your spine.

He hadn't realized he had grown silent until you smiled and closed his mouth, tapping his chin.

"Lalangawin ang bibig mo, Mal," you laughed softly. Never had you seen him so speechless. You then flicked your hair back, ridiculously posing for him like you were on the cover of Vogue magazine (haba ng hair mo, gurl!). "Do I look that good? Char lang."

"... You look absolutely ravishing—I mean, uh, stunning. Hot. Yeah." That was all he could say. He mentally punched himself for not showering you with more suave compliments.

Still, your face brightened up, not knowing that the man in front of you just fell for you a thousand times harder, "Wow! Really? Damn. Ang galing talaga ng MUA na kinuha mo, ginawa akong artista. Give me their contact number later! May work event pa naman ako in two months. I'm shocked, it's like they made me rise from the dead! Even my eyebags are gone, Mal! How'd they do that?" Heck yeah, your confidence was boosted. He offered his arm to you like a gentleman, making you half-heartedly roll your eyes (you took it anyway). From holding it alone, you could tell that your best friend was a sinewy man (well, you knew that already after seeing his tikbalang form before—the little shit didn't even wear a loincloth like all his clanmates; your poor eyes were eternally scarred).

You looked him up and down. You wouldn't lie—Maliksi is and always has been an attractive man. Now? With his hair in a ponytail (pun not intended), definitely one of the hunkiest men you've ever known. "You're not looking too bad yourself, horsey."

"Ako pa!" He puffed his chest out in pride. You chuckled at his reaction.

"By the way, how do you even know my dress size and my shoe size?"

"Babe, I've known you too long. You know almost everything about me, I know everything about you."

You snorted at his confident tone, "'Di nga? You don't know every single thing about me, Mal. Assuming ka masyado."

"Alam ko nga anong cup size mo. Wala lang 'yang shoe and dress size."

You slapped his shoulder, cheeks quickly flushing red, "Huy, umayos ka! Walang hiyang tikbalang na 'to." With this guy as your best friend? You heard dirty jokes at least once a day. "Don't be inappropriate here!"

"What? It's only fair I know!" He looked down on you suggestively, wiggling his eyebrows. "You already know I always go commando, so of course I know that your bra is a size—"

"Shhh! Baka marinig ka, 'nyeta."

"So? Let them hear. My best friend has a nice set of melons!" he shouted. You were grateful there was no one around. Hopefully.

"Oh my God..."

Your best friend chortled at how flustered you'd become. He led you to where some of his family was waiting, with a couple of his relatives already greeting you. You instantly and quite easily mingled with them, your worries of them not accepting you far from even true (they all knew how much their prince loved the innocent you).

"Kayo na talaga, pare?" one of his older tikbalang clanmates asked while you went away to be fawned over by his aunts.

Maliksi chuckled, crossing his arms as he watched you from afar, "Heh. Hindi pa."

Another one of his clanmates—a younger one—laughed, wrapping an arm around his shoulder, "Talaga? That's cap, bro. You two are like a married couple already and you guys still aren't a thing?"

"Ilang taon na ba kayong magkakaibigan?" the older one asked him.

"Almost ten years," Maliksi responded, a smile unconsciously pulling his lips up as he remembered your moments together. He watched you converse with his female relatives (who adored you the moment Maliksi brought you to a family event many moons ago).

The two tikbalang snickered as they saw the look on the Great Stallion's heir.

"You're down bad," the younger one said, snapping a photo of his lovestruck kuya. "You've got it so bad for her, dudeparechong!"

"Balak mong ligawan anytime soon?" the older tikbalang inquired.

"Heh. Balak ko na ngang pakasalan. Kung pwede, ngayon."

They looked at Maliksi as if he was crazy. He was very much serious, though, even if there was a huge, lopsided smile on his face. The Prince of the Tikbalang raised a brow at them.

"What? Don't give me that look. Our ten years of being best friends is practically the courting and the dating stage already."

"Eh... you're right. Don't waste anymore time. Go and marry her today, dude. Suporta kami sa'yo, basta groomsmen kami sa kasal niyo, ha!"

"Ge. Without question."

Meanwhile, on your end with the ladies of the family, they started pestering you on your love life (like all typical Filipino aunties). Chismis everywhere.

"O, iha, single ka pa ba?"

"Kailan ka magpapakasal? Malapit ka nang pumasok sa thirties mo."

"Do you want kids? How many?"

"Are you and Maliksi a couple? You look good together! Kayo na, 'di ba?"

"Will you be getting married next? Are you engaged? When's the wedding? Invite niyo kami!"

Before you could get overwhelmed by their questions, Maliksi swept you off your feet to lead you to the entourage that was lining up outside the chapel area. Again, it happened like a blur. He laughed at the partially nauseated look on your face.

"You okay there?" he asked, grinning.

"Your family thinks we're together," you muttered quietly, not meeting his eyes. You weren't sure why you felt... tingly about their statements.

He tilted his head at you curiously, gently setting you down on your feet and helping you stand.

"Do you hate the idea?" It hurt him to ask you the question, but he wanted your thoughts on it. Perhaps doing this was a bad idea. Maliksi was competitive in many things, including wanting you to be his, but if you were so opposed to it, he would never force you into something you didn't want. He let go of your hand; you didn't even notice he'd been holding it until he let go. "Am I making you uncomfortable?"

Your wide-eyed gaze snapped back to look up at him, "No! No, it's not that! And... it's not bad." Your hand felt strangely empty now that his was gone. Biting your lip, you disclosed, "You're not making me uncomfortable, Mal. Don't ever think that."

With that, you shyly interlocked your arm with his, tearing your eyes from his to mask the growing warmth you felt spreading in your veins. You two didn't say anything else when the ushers let you walk down the beautiful, petal-covered aisle together.

The man beside you was starstruck. Hopeful. Maybe both of you did have a chance. Maybe somewhere in the depths of your soul, his feelings for you were being reciprocated. For the rest of the sacred ceremony in the gorgeous main pavilion, both of you relished in short, comfortable, and low conversations. He even cracked jokes every once in a while—really funny ones that made it challenging for you to you stifle your laughter.

"I now pronounce you husband and wife! You may kiss the bride."

Maliksi fervently prayed to Bathala that he'd experience the same opportunity he was seeing with you someday. One day.

Even while the sun was brightly out, the sky began showering down light rain onto the land. You were in awe as you looked out the window.

"Hala, totoo nga pala! Tignan mo!" you laughed, tugging Maliksi's suit sleeve, pointing at the window.

"Na ano?" he curiously inquired, not understanding what you were referring to.

"Na kapag may tikbalang na kinakasal, umuulan habang may araw pa," you replied, eyes filled with childlike mirth and wonder. A rainbow had even begun to form by the clouds. "Look, it's magical! Ang ganda pala ng view dito kasama ang old Spanish architecture. Timeless na timeless. It's so pretty, 'no? Picture tayo 'maya, Mal."

Unlike you, it wasn't the sky outside that the prince was looking at. Amidst the loud cheers for the newlywed couple and the bubbles the guests were blowing, his vision could only focus on how magnificent you looked while being amazed. You were his best view. (Ed from 90-Day Fiancé, kabahan ka na, may katapat ka sa pickup line mo.)

》》》

"Smile for the picture!"

You giggled as Maliksi was dragged into a photo-op with the bridesmaids and the important older wedding sponsors a few feet away (funnily, he looked a little constipated around them). All of a sudden, when he was heading back to your direction, you were roughly pushed into the said man's arms. When you turned around, there was nothing (except maybe a gust of wind that came out of nowhere).

"Ooh, gotcha. Careful," the tikbalang steadied you, strong hands holding your biceps. "Natapilok ka?"

"... Huh, hindi naman," you wondered suspiciously, looking around. "I think someone pushed me? Parang tinulak ako... but wala namang tao."

"Weird. Maybe it was just the wind."

It actually was. Really. Maliksi knew for a fact that it was those two taong hangin who were spying on you from the corner, trying to pair you up. He gave them a thumbs-up while your back was turned in the opposite direction. Hannah and Amie returned the thumbs-up before vanishing. Suddenly, the two wedding photographers had moved on from the bridesmaids and were right beside you.

"What a lovely couple you two are!" she praised. Before you could correct her, she held up the black contraption she held towards you two. "Pose for the camera, lovelies!"

And so you did, the photographer guiding you two on what to do. Maliksi wrapped his arm around your waist and you leaned on his side, looking sidewards to the camera with one leg cocked in front of the other. Her assistant, who was holding a polaroid camera, printed out two photos for you.

"Thank you," you told him, taking the photos from his hands then flicking them rapidly to make the images develop. You and Mal were about to walk to the reception area when the photographer stopped you, handing the male beside you a business card.

"If you two need a photographer or a videographer for your wedding, call me," she signaled to both of you before running to another guest, bringing her assistant with her.

You gawked, "Mal, did you just hear what she said?"

"Loud and clear." A grin was on his face. He seemed very pleased at what he heard.

"... How can she even tell if someone is married or not?"

Maliksi's free hand took your left hand, tapping the ring finger, "Nothing here."

"Ooooooh. I get it now." Your brows creased. "Huh. This is like the fifth time today the people here have mistaken us for a couple."

Maliksi shrugged, teasing you, "Who knows? Baka may potential tayo, babe."

Before you could ask him what he meant, he was hurriedly towing you to the reception venue. While he was doing that, you stared at the now-developed polaroid photos you were holding. Huh. Maybe you two did look like a couple.

"Come on, they're serving some snacks at the welcome reception area. Peach pie and mango float-flavored. Paborito mo, babe."

》》》

The rest of the night went by without a hitch. You were actually enjoying the event—the host was great, the food was great, the music was great. Everything was great... that was, until the games.

"Alright! Now that the bride's garter has been removed, let's have the bouquet and garter toss... starting with the females!" the host announced. "Dear bride, please stay here in front. And all single ladies—and by single I mean ready to mingle and are not married—please rise and stand here on the dance floor. Let's play matchmaker tonight, everyone!"

"Uy, single ladies daw," Maliksi nudged your side. "Sign mo na 'yan." You snorted like a pig.

"Nope, ayokong madamay sa bouquet toss," you whisper-yelled at your best friend. "Do you know how embarrassing that is?! Besides, they won't notice if I don't join! Special tactic ko 'yan sa weddings: pretending I'm not single. Katabi naman kita."

More women came to the front, making you feel assured that you didn't need to participate. The host was about to say something, when the bride interrupted to whisper something into his ear.

"Hala, halaaa! Sabi ko all single ladies, pero may isang single lady na nagtatago pa!" he announced, making you freeze. Please don't let it be you. "What's her name, beloved bride?"

"Y/N L/N." You nearly spat out your champagne. You? Did they just call out your name? How did they know?

"Oh fuck," you cursed quietly.

"'Di ka makakatakas dito, babe," Maliksi jabbed, making you stand up. "Tinatawag ka na."

"Baka may ibang Y/N L/N dito," you resisted, attempting to sit back down. "I can't do this, Mal."

"'Sus, ikaw pa. And it's just a symbolic ceremony!" he encouraged, as if he didn't have any underlying intentions. "I doubt the bouquet will go to you anyway."

Sheesh, what a big fat liar you are, tikbalang prince.

You expressed your dissatisfaction with the situation, "Bwiset, fine. I'll just... dodge it. Or evade it. God, I swear..." You calmed down, confident. "I'm not going to worry. I've never caught the bouquet at my own friends' weddings anyway."

When you were at the dance floor, Maliksi snickered, seeing the bride—his cousin—wink at him. After all, he had thoroughly bribed her earlier.

《《《

"It's about time you settled down with someone, Mal," the bride commented while he slipped her the newest Hermés designer bag filled with a bunch of jewelry (plus some bills) two hours ago, right before the reception began and while you were in the restroom freshening up. "Hehehe, this is why you're my favorite cousin."

"Do we have a deal?"

"Of course. I'll make sure she participates. I'll also try to throw it in her direction."

"Good. Thanks."

"You better invite me to your beach wedding. I can tell how much you love her."

"Not a problem. I'll even make you a sponsor."

The bride stared at her bouquet, already practicing how she was going to throw it, "Tito's going to thank me so much for ensuring that he's going to get grandkids soon, hihi."

》》》

Back to the present, on the other end of the room, Maliksi saw a familiar duo give him a sign that they were ready. Bingo. Time to execute the most important part of his plan.

《《《

"I don't care how you do it," he told the two wind elementals after he bribed the bride. "I've already instructed the bride on what she should do, pero siguraduhin niyo lang talagang lumipad sa kanya ang bouquet."

"Mmhmm," Amie flipped her hair, a hand on her cocked hip. "And what do we get in return, oh great Señorito Armanaz?"

"Sagot ko bar-hopping niyo for one month."

The two girls pretended to think about it, making Maliksi roll his eyes. He had to pull out the big guns, huh?

"Fine. Magbibigay ako ng cash deposit plus pwede niyong gamitin ang black card ko for a one-week shopping spree in Ortigas." There. Bullseye. That's what they liked.

"Deal!" they exclaimed excitedly.

Hannah let a cool gust of wind enter one of the nearby windows, testing out how they're going to do this. "Ano pa bang pinaplano mo for Y/N mamaya?"

Maliksi hummed, "Basta."

》》》

You tried your best to hide within the densest part of the group of women. The bride seemed to have her eyes on you, weirdly enough, and she looked almost feral wanting to throw her flowers into someone's face.

That someone being you. Most likely.

"Target locked on," you saw her mouth move. She positioned herself like she was about to throw a football at someone (ahem, you). Holy shit, was she talking to you? Miss ma'am, it was a bouquet toss not a bouquet throw. The bride seemed to notice this, and once more regained her elegant composure.

"3, 2, 1," the host counted down. "Go!"

Surprisingly, the bouquet flew very high into the air (it was a wonder it didn't get tangled in the ceiling decor), but quite a distance away from you. You grinned, knowing it was too far to even touch you. Squeezing through the crowd of women eagerly awaiting the bouquet, you went to return to your assigned table.

Ah, what a wonderful evening.

Sike!

Something painfully landed right into your face, leaves and flowers getting into your hair and mouth.

... Wait, leaves and flowers?

Before you could comprehend it, the bouquet dropped right into your arms. What kind of ungodly, inhuman force allowed this to even happen?

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have our lucky girl for the night!" Everyone clapped, with some—those guests you knew—even cheering your name unbelievably loud. The host approached you, a glint in his eye which you couldn't understand. "Miss Y/N, kindly sit here while we await the lucky guy who catches the garter from the groom."

What just happened?

"All single gentlemen, please proceed to the dance floor. Remember, the man who gets the garter gets to slip it onto the lucky lady's leg later!"

Oh, God. You pinched the bridge of your nose. What you'd give to be back at home or to be in that resort in Batangas you'd planned on going to for a solo vacation.

"To make this even more exciting," the host stated, handing you a black blindfold. "Our lucky lady has to keep her eyes closed until her lucky man for the night captures the bride's garter! When the music plays, only then can she uncover her eyes."

See? Humiliating, just as you expected. Still, you wrapped the blindfold around your head (albeit hesitantly). You attempted to guess who it might be, thinking of all the tikbalang friends Maliksi had introduced to you back then whenever he invited you to his clan reunions.

"Groom, are you ready?" the host asked, microphone loud and clear.

"Ready na ready!"

"Single gentlemen, are you ready?!"

"Ready na ready! Awoo, awoo!" they loudly chorused, exactly mimicking Spartans about to engage in battle. You sweatdropped in the seat you were in. This was actually kind of scary. Maybe you felt a bit objectified.

"3, 2, 1, go!"

There was a brief moment of silence, which made you concerned. Ba't ang tahimik? Then, everyone erupted into roars and bravoes much louder than when you caught the bouquet—perhaps even louder by tenfold. What the heck was happening?!

The music played. Very raunchy, spicy, babymaking music. You expected it to be the typical Careless Whisper by George Michael or Pony by Ginuwine (corny songs which you could probably laugh at, at least), but no. Nuh-uh, this was probably worse. The DJ must be pretty young, the song of their choosing being a slowed, bass-boosted, sexier remix of Earned It by the Weeknd.

Ano 'to, bold? Fifty Shades of Grey? The hell was this?

Alright. This was embarrassing. Thank the heavens there were no children at this party. From the music alone and its implications, this was strictly for adults.

You removed your blindfold (that was okay now, right?) as the guests whistled playfully. You peeked one eye open reluctantly, then inwardly groaned. Oh, no. You should've expected it to be him of all people from how loud the reactions were. And all those yells from the crowd were from his family.

Son of a—

"Well, this has proven to be a very interesting arrangement!" the host proclaimed. "Our lucky man for tonight is none other than our great clan leader's heir, Maliksi Armanaz! Congratulations, sir! You get to slip the lacey little garter on Miss Y/N!"

The said very smug tikbalang stood a few feet away from the chair you were sitting on, smirking at you. His hair was no longer in that mesmerizing ponytail—instead, he'd tied it into a more sinfully attractive man-bun, loose strands framing his face and accentuating that sharp, angled jaw of his (say yes and thank you to Manny Jacinto's jawline, besties).

"Let's cheer him on in his new mission, everybody!" the host pushed. Was this that glint in his eye earlier? And was that a one thousand peso bill sticking out of his pocket?

The groomsmen, Mal's cousins and uncles whom you've met before, hollered words of encouragement to the tall man (who was, oddly enough, not one bit fazed). In fact, Maliksi seemed like he was famished as he stared you down.

You swallowed, feeling like you were going to get eaten (heh, say that again). Maliksi had shrugged off his dark suit blazer to the beat of the song (holy fuck, he also unclasped the suspenders attached to his pants right before your eyes—asdfghjkl). Were you prepared for this? No. Will you ever be prepared? No!

"Mr. Armanaz, before you begin," the host interrupted. "We have an additional challenge for you in this mission. Kaya mo ba? It was a request of the newlywed couple."

"What is it?"

"Use your teeth!" the bride and the groom cheerfully shouted, clapping with the other guests. Whatdidtheysaaaaay???

The cocky bastard didn't even hesitate, his smirk at you growing wider; those pearly whites of his on full display. Was it just you or were his canines a little sharper than usual?

"Anything for the newlyweds. Challenge accepted," he dashingly replied, winking at you. You sputtered indignantly. Pisteng yawa. Putangina. Putek. Pakshet. You swore you thought of every swear word in the book at that moment. What did that YouTube parody song about Filipino mythological creatures say again? About the tikbalang? Ah, yes. Half-macho dancer and half-stallion. Maybe the joke was true, especially when you saw what Maliksi did next.

He bit the shred of lace, loosening his necktie (bestie, you good there?), unbuttoning some top buttons, and rolling up the sleeves of his collared white undershirt up to his elbows (consequently showing off his toned, veiny forearms—those lucky bridesmaids behind him nearly fainted). Honestly, you felt like you were about to lose your mind from embarrassment. With how tantalizing your guy best friend was being? Let our response be: San Pedro, kunin mo na ako. Was he doing all this to tease you? To rile you up?

Because damn it all, it was working. In your ten years of knowing Maliksi Armanaz, withstanding all his daily dirty jokes and flirtatious attempts, never had you seen him like this. So... wolfish. Ravenous. Like he was a man that hadn't been fed in years.

He stalked closer towards you, falling to his knees in front of your legs. Your gown had a long slit that extended up to an inch or two below where your left leg began—your best friend was eyeing his target already, knowing where to place the garter. Normally, you would never even wear something as revealing as this gown. It just wasn't your type, but Maliksi was the one who bought this for you for this specific occasion, so you had no choice. It was this or your pantulog he stole you in just hours ago. At first, you were confident in the gown. Now? You felt too... naked.

Somehow, in the heat of it all, you'd muted out the noise of the venue. Maliksi teasingly lifted your foot up, fingertips slyly grazing the thin shoe straps around your left foot—his calculated touch leaving fire in its trail. Once the garter had been successfuly inserted past your high-heeled stilettos, the man kneeling in front of you kept his hands to himself. Despite the fact that now there was absolutely zero skin-to-skin contact between you and this man, your body felt hotter than it ever was before as he expertly slid the lacy bit of cloth up your ankle at an agonizingly slow pace.

Maliksi's warm eyes had turned dark, his pupils blown, a tinge of red in them—of his true beast—while he maintained striking eye contact with you, pulling the garter up your calf with his teeth. Smoothly tugging... tugging... tugging. Tangina, it was like he was undressing you with his eyes alone; like he was telepathically telling you to keep your eyes open.

To keep your eyes on him, where he was knelt inbetween your legs, his hands intentionally locked on his back. Did you ever imagine this? Him between your legs? Maybe. Once or twice. But you never thought about it seriously; Maliksi dated girls left and right in the past.

His lips... his lips were so close... so close to your leg that you could feel the heat of his breath along with the lace. Were you about to die? Perhaps you already did. Maybe you were in heaven. Up... up... up... snap!

Suddenly, he stopped, grinning up at you mischievously and letting the elastic bounce back to the skin of your left knee.

"I'm not going any further, don't worry, babe," he whispered, noting that your eyes had become misty and glazed over. Internally, he grew worried. "That's enough." Did he think it was from discomfort? From you being uncomfortable? Bitch, no. It was the exact opposite. You had never been this turned on in your entire life.

You felt like your soul had left your body at that moment. Did you just have a heart attack? Was your blood pressure okay? Before you or Maliksi could stand, however, someone bellowed from the wedding sponsor tables.

"Higher! That's an order!"

Fucking hell, it was Maliksi's father who shouted. He wasn't in the huge tikbalang form you'd normally meet him in, but he was still very intimidating in his humanoid form, commanding attention and subservience wherever he went. You could tell where Maliksi got it from.

Instantly, the other guests—already half-drunk and wanting the spirit of partying to continue on—joined in.

"Higher! Higher!"

The host cheered, "You heard Señor Armanaz! Higher!"

Maliksi gave you a questioning look. Even if it was his father who spoke up, he still wouldn't do anything you didn't want. Well, you two made it this far; there was no point in getting embarrassed now. You bit the inside of your cheek, nodding. You probably couldn't erase the redness on your skin with how much you'd blushed from this night. It was as if the heat was tattooed onto your skin.

"Go on, Mal," you whispered to him, bending your torso down closer to his face, eyes half-lidded from want. "Finish what you started, babe."

With those sultry bedroom eyes he'd never once seen you show him before—plus you turning the tables with that familiar term of endearment, how could he refuse? Like a switch had been flipped inside him, he immediately complied, taking the frilly scrap of stretchy lace between his teeth once more, moving it further up to your thighs until where your high slit ended—centimeters below the warming juncture between your legs.

Your legs felt wobbly... boneless, as you stood up from the chair, the fabric of your gown cascading over where the lace sat securely on your upper left thigh. The party was still going strong even after you two finished the garter wearing tradition.

"'Atta boy! That's my son!" Señor Armanaz blazoned, standing up and raising his glass for a toast. "Cheers to the newlywed couple! May they last forever!"

You guys weren't the newlyweds, but it did sure feel like it. If the clan leader was hyped up, everyone was hyped up. Heck, the groom and the bride didn't mind one bit what had just transpired on their dance floor. In all the chaos, Maliksi took you out of the reception area and somewhere quieter. More private.

You would need to have a serious, urgent talk with your boy best friend.

》》》

You two silently sat on a stone bench in a gazebo somewhere in the reserved venue for the wedding, trying to cool down and get yourselves back together (at this point, you needed ice from that steamy, half-scandalous event you just went through). Here, there was no one else except for the chirping of crickets, the lush trees surrounding the area, and the golden fairy lights strewn all over the roof. Awkwardness was something you'd expected after what just happened, but somehow, you still felt comfort in this man's presence. For the past thirty minutes, both of you just stayed still, lost in your thoughts and reflecting.

"Mal?" you finally spoke up.

"... Hmm?"

"Ano tayo?"

"Whatever you want us to be."

Your fingers instinctively reached out for his, just like they always did when you were anxious. Sensing this, he grasped your hand and squeezed it reassuringly. Soothingly. He massaged the skin of your fingers, distracting you from your nervousness. It seemed like both nothing and everything changed between both of you. The gesture was the same, but so different at the same time.

"Mahal mo ako." It was not a question. It was a statement. A truth—one that you'd been too blind to see before. One that you only discovered while you stared into each other's eyes in that party not as best friends. You realized with a jolt in your heart what he really felt for you, and now, what you really felt for him. In those thirty minutes of silence, you knew. You just knew.

"Yes. I do."

"... Just as a best friend?" you probed.

"..."

Finally, you gazed into his eyes, previously so dark and full of hunger. Now? Just reluctant. Vulnerable. Open. Unsure of what to do next.

Seems like you had to be the one to take initiative tonight. Taking out your phone, you opened your music app and pressed play on a certain song. Ikaw at Ako by Johnoy Danao. You removed your heels (which were starting to blister your ankles and toes), then pulled him up to stand.

"Dance with me," you murmured, grabbing his arms to wrap them around your waist. He was stiff. Tense. What was he to do when the woman he's been pining after for so long let him hold her? All his gallantry and ability to romance disappeared out the window the moment you let him touch you so intimately.

You two weren't even waltzing. Just swaying. Slowly, you leaned your head on his broad chest, listening to the steady thump of his heart.

"... I love you," Maliksi admitted in the middle of it all, feeling like he was dreaming. Your head on his chest kept him grounded to reality, however. "More than anything in the universe. I fell for you ever since you patched me up when you were nineteen and I was a reckless drag racer who didn't have a purpose in life. 'Nung dinala mo ako pabalik sa Armanaz Tower on the verge of death. Simula noon, ikaw lang."

"I realized that," you smiled, reminiscing the old memory. You were just a broke college student that time, coming back to your dorm from making your group thesis at a classmate's house. Imagine your panic when you found a half-man, half-horse bleeding out by some bushes on the way home at night. Despite your fear and your little money (only enough to feed you for the week), you went out of your way to buy a first-aid kit at the nearest 7/11. It was scary, but you managed to mend the creature's wounds by the side of the road. When he was finally able to speak, turning fully human (which you admit, freaked you out initially), you arduously carried him back to his address—to his father and his clan, even if you had classes the very next morning. Because of your heroic deed of saving their precious heir, the tikbalang clan had become indebted to you: a teenage girl on the verge of a mental academic breakdown, just making her way through the cruel adult world. How old of a memory that was, you thought, yet you still recalled it in perfect detail. "Just a while ago."

"Ah." He swayed you gently.

"Lahat ng ito, plano mo?"

"... Yes," Maliksi fessed up. "Except for this part where we're here dancing in this belvedere. Wala sa plano ko. Gusto ko sanang magconfess doon sa may fountain para sweet, pero..."

You lifted your head off his chest, smiling at him with one brow raised, "You know, between both of us, you're supposed to be the spontaneous one. Planning isn't usually your thing."

"I know. It's a failure, huh?" Maliksi sighed.

"Nah." You shook your head, then suddenly locked lips with him. It was so fast and surprising he didn't even get the chance to return your first kiss. For once, you caught him off guard. You pecked him on the lips again. "It's not a failure."

"Wha—"

"I'm sorry for making you wait, Maliksi. Ten years. We're twenty-nine now, and only tonight do I realize how blind I've been. We've been going around in circles, wasting so much time. Ayoko nang mag-aksaya ng oras," you whispered guiltily against his lips. How could you have been so blind? Andaming nasayang na taon. Making up your mind, you told him, "Yes. Sige, I accept. I'll be your plus one."

The tikbalang was flustered and baffled from the kiss, as well as your revelation, "... But, you already are?"

"No, silly. I meant that I'll be your plus one for life. For as long as you'll have me," you laughed, now processing that you were currently dancing barefoot with your boy best friend and had just kissed him in a wedding you didn't even plan on going to. The universe had a mysterious way of doing things. "Guess I'm the spontaneous one now, huh?"

Maliksi was tongue-tied. "Seryoso ka ba? Is... Is this a marriage proposal?"

"Whatever you want it to be," you echoed his words back to him. "Best friend, plus one, girlfriend, wife—mmpf!"

He kissed you so hard your lips bruised. After an impromptu makeout session which was definitely more in character for Maliksi, you both pulled away, panting heavily in search for air, still desperate for passion. He cupped your cheeks, giving you a sweet, featherlight Eskimo kiss.

"You're missing one more title."

"Hm? What do you mean, Mal?"

"Love of my life." He kissed you again, this time lifting you off your feet and spinning you around (his sneaky right hand was resting on your bum, too, giving it a tight squeeze). You know in the Princess Diaries where the main character's foot just... pops whenever the prince charming kissed her? Yeah, that happened to you on that humid summer night. This was right. You two were meant to be together. Everything was falling into place.

The bungalow you reserved for your Batangas vacation leave ended up being the site of your very eventful honeymoon with the Prince of the Tikbalang (with his libido, it wasn't that difficult to continue where you'd left off in the garter toss; that scrap of lace came off your leg the same way it went on). Actually, nauna pa ang honeymoon sa actual wedding (it was definitely spontaneous). Right after your confession in that alcove, you two went to Maliksi's father to ask for his blessing (which he gladly gave, cackling and saying that it took you long enough) before you guys went driving off to Batangas that night. You and Mal indeed had lots and lots of fun in that resort (I'll let you imagine the rest). More beautiful memories were made from that point on—this time, not just as best friends.

All that and your small, intimate wedding occurred in early April. Just when you thought that it'd be impossible to fulfill Maliksi's life goal of having a baby within the year (nine months of pregnancy meant that the earliest you'd give birth would be January next year), the impossible happened.

Exactly thirty-two weeks later, on New Year's Eve, the Armanaz herd welcomed one prince and two new princesses into the world. Triplets who were instantly adored by everyone in the clan.

Señor Armanaz had never been happier, and so were you and your husband. Your best friend. The love of your life. Your forever plus one.

Maybe being spontaneous wasn't so bad after all.

Taglist: @belladaises @binibiningbabaylan @4kodzuk3n @sparklingmallow @severuslovebot @holyshxtangel @marinac15 @space-flamingo @pippethealien @kashasenpai @disappointmentpastry @hornehlittleweeblet2 @seijohoe @monimiin @ibelievein2dmensupremacy @tinybonksharkcop @methehipster @banisuoh @genshin-idiot @lemonnie-kimmie

#trese #trese 2021 #trese netflix #maliksi #maliksi x reader #tikbalang #trese fic #x reader #trese x reader #thera.writes

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wegog · 3 years

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Strangetown: You don't have to be like them!

We all love Strangetown for the opportunity to be part of a world full of secrets and mysteries. Strangetown is truly strange. And this always attracts and fascinates. But I, in turn, really like the depth of these families’ stories. You can endlessly analyze the characters, because they’re all in unusual conditions. But one of the most interesting to me seems to be the plot of parents/guardians and their children.

I. Ophelia Nigmos. After her parents’ death, the girl lives in a creepy house with her eccentric aunt. Does she understand where all these graves came from? Olive dies soon after. And Ophelia must face a lonely life in a house where some terrible things were happening. What if the girl finds out about her cousin Nervous Subject? Will she share money with him, take him into the family? Or would she prefer to become a black widow or something even worse just like her aunt?

II. Nervous Object. What kind of sim will become someone who is constantly feeling cruelty? Must be a cruel... Don't forget about this poor guy’s parents. Does he have a chance from an object to turn into a real sim?

III. Okay, we all know PT9 is a nice guy. But actually he isn’t... He abducted sims and forcibly impregnated them. Not everyone, like the Curious brothers, wanted this. For example their father Glarm who left his two alien daughters. They’re lucky to have a good stepmother who raised them. What about Johnny Smith? How will he accept the fact that Lola and Chloe are his mother's half-sisters and his father's biological children at the same time? How many lives did PT9 and other pollinating technicians destroy?

IV. Ripp Grunt is a symbol of this new generation in Strangetown. His father is xenophobic (alien racist) and clearly enjoys violence. Ripp has a friendship with the children of all General’s enemies. His aspiration is Love (you know, make love not war). Unlike his brother Tank he seems to have been able to defeat Buzz's influence. However, General Grunt is still his father, the man who raised him. How will this affect the independent Ripp’s personality in the future?

I love how the new generation in Strangetown contrasts so much with their parents. This’s a good reminder the world is changing and we shouldn’t be afraid to make it better, no matter what happened before. You don't have to be like them!

P.S. I know PT9’s hair color is genetically red, but this’s not actually an ordinary PT9, only imagine of him and his son at the same time, a symbol of Johnny’s fear to become someone bad. I didn’t forget that PT9 has a red hair, it’s absolutely a part of my idea.

#ts2 #strangetown #ts2 premades #the sims 2 #ophelia nigmos #olive specter #nervous subject #grim reaper #johnny smith #pt9 smith #ripp grunt #general buzz grunt #sims 2 strangetown #i love overanalyze everything #ts2 edit

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edogawa-division · 2 years

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Kanra's Thoughts on Saitama Division

Sayaka Miyuki

“Sayaka-san is a very nice person. I met her once when I saved her daughter Yoshiko who almost got struck by a car. I managed to stop the car before it struck Yoshiko luckily. She was so grateful when I saved her daughter that she invited me over for dinner. Had a great time. Also, her hugs are really nice.”

Lola Takahashi

“She’s really pretty! I see her all the time in magazines even if I don't buy them. She seems really fun. Ya know I saw her fight once and it was so cool. I didn't think a model like her could fight so good.”

Kureha Koizumi

‘Ah, my fellow amnesiac. I can't say I've really talked to her but her art is pretty cool looking. I wonder how she deals with her amnesia god knows it weighs on me some days. It leaves you kinda empty.”

Femme Fatale

“Saitama has a really good division team! I can't wait to take them on! I do hope they are ready to take us on! I’ll give them a fight they'll never forget.”

#hypnosis microphone #hypnosis mic #hypmic #hypmic oc #hypnosis mic oc #edogawa division #wicked requiem #akemi kanra #saitama division #femme fatale #sayaka miyuki #lola takahashi #kureha koizumi

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rebelwrites · 3 years

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OPERATION: Find The Kids!

Bravo Team x Reader

A/N okay so I saw a TikTok yesterday and this gave me the idea for the chaotic fic you are about to read. Seven tier one navy seals looking after four kids. What could go wrong? So I give you nearly 2k words of utter chaos. Trying to keep track of what 11 people are doing is stressful 😂

Join The Group Chat Here - If You Want Tagging Manually Let Me Know 🖤

SEAL Team Masterlist

This Months Writing

Sipping on your coffee, you ran your hand over your face as you try to finish off the paperwork from the last deployment. You tried to get this done in your home office but it was no good when your house was used as base when the boys were home. Or as Metal kept putting it “the home of Bravo” but it did make your life easier meaning you didn’t have to worry about finding a sitter at short notice as you had at least one of the boys crashing at yours for whatever reason.

And at the moment it was a godsend, especially as you were looking after your Brother’s triplets whilst he was going through the divorce. But having four kids under the age of 7 in the house was chaos, but you lived around big kids all the time so you could just about cope.

“Guys, someone has to take the boss some coffee,” Clay said, as he placed the plate of toast in the middle of the kitchen table. “And to swipe the walkies.”

Everyone fell silent. That silent you could hear a pin drop.

“Oh hell no,” Sonny said, breaking the silence. “You know how she gets when she’s doing the reports. And it was your idea Blondielocks, so you should do it.”

“No way,” Clay exclaimed, “I value my life thank you. “

“Guys let’s settle this like adults,” Metal said, with a serious look on his face. “Rock, paper, scissors. We go around the group and do it as a knock out style thing and whoever is left standing has to take the boss some coffee and swipe the walkies.”

So that's how it was decided that Sonny was the one to go into the lion's den, armed with coffee and breakfast to hopefully make things go smoothly.

“Quinn, I see you.” You said not looking away from your screen.

“How the fuck?” He muttered, “I swear you have eyes in the back of your head.”

“You have to when you look after children,” you laughed, “now I’m busy so what do you want?”

“We know you left without breakfast so I thought I’d bring you some,” he shrugged, placing the food and coffee on the table.

“I don’t buy it,” you said, raising your brow at him. “You are up to something.”

“Nope, just bringing the boss coffee.” He grinned, he had already swiped the walkies and needed to get out of here. “You have a good day, and don’t worry about anything, we have it all under control.”

“That’s what makes me worry Quinn,” you glared. “Just don’t burn my house down and don’t lose a child. That’s all I ask.”

“Hard copy, boss.” He nodded before leaving the room.

“Mission success boys,” Sonny shouted walking back into the house, “Oh and final words from the boss were don't set the house on fire and don’t lose a child but she had no idea I swiped the walkies.”

“Well then, time to gear up boys,” Jase said, slapping his legs as he stood up. “Kids have requested we wear our camo bottoms so hurry up we head out at 0900.”

Twenty minutes had passed and everyone was gathered in the living room.

“Right, let's just run through this one more time,” Clay said looking at the list on his phone.

“First aid kit”

“Check”

“Snacks”

“Check”

“Drinks”

“Check”

“Sun cream”

“Check”

“Kids dressed”

“Check”

“All walkies on the same station”

“Check”

“Well boys I think we are ready,” Trent nodded, “So Brock has Cerb and Pepper, I’ve got the bag, so the rest of you get to keep an eye on the kids.”

Your daughter, Riley instantly clung onto Clay like a koala bear, your nephew Joey gravitated to Metal, Sonny scooped up your niece, Amber and Ray took your other Niece, Lola.

“Let’s hit the park,” Jase nodded, leading everyone out the house.

“What could go wrong,” Sonny laughed. “It’s not like we are gonna lose any of them. There’s four of them and seven of us.”

“Don’t say that, you idiot,” Metal said, hitting Sonny around the back of the head. “Don't jinx things, now If things go south it’s your fault.”

“Anyone got have eyes on HVT one?” Jase asked down the walkie, as he scanned the park.

“HVT one is south moving toward the tyre swing,” Metal replied, “I’ve lost eyes on HVT two.”

“I’ve got eyes on HVT two, she is in need of refilling. Lure her back to base Three,” Clay said, as he squinted from the sun.

“Copy six,” Sonny called, as he calmly headed for Amber, who thought this was the best game in the world as her Uncle Sonny chased her. “HVT two inbound,”

“My eyes are peeled,” Jase laughed, as he spotted Amber running towards him.

“For the love of god don’t forget the suncream.” Ray responded.

“Copy that,” Jase said, routing around the bag for supplies. He literally only took his eyes off her for two seconds but by the time he looked up she was gone. “All call signs I have lost eyes on HVT two. I repeat I have lost eyes on HVT two.”

“I don’t have HVT three or four,” Brock sighed “They just vanished.”

“Is HVT one still at the tyre swing?” Ray asked.

“Fuck, she’s gone to.” Metal cursed.

“Guys we fucked up, boss is gonna kill us if we don’t come home with a full head count.” Ray breathed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Three you know this is your fault,” Metal growled.

“How is it my fault?” Sonny snapped. “You're the one meant to be watching HVT One.”

“You jinxed things, idiot,” Metal huffed, “Told you this would happen.”

“Guys, stop fighting,” Jase sighed, “Look just everyone reconvene at base and we put a plan together, they can’t have gone far.”

You couldn’t believe what you were hearing, you knew Sonny was up to something when he came in this morning but the big idiot forgot to pick up all the walkies meaning you could hear everything.

Pinching the bridge of your nose, you messed with the station trying to get a clearer sound. You wanted to see how this would play out, they all sounded pretty panicked but they should be. One of the rules was they could do whatever, go wherever but just don’t lose anyone.

“You okay Y/L/N?” Eric asked coming into the briefing room with some fresh coffee.

“Define okay when the boys are looking after the tribe today, Sonny managed to swipe the walkies and now somehow they have managed to lose all four kids at the park,” you sighed, pinching the bridge of your nose.

“Well at least they had the sense to get the walkies I suppose,” Eric laughed, “you know they will have a full head count by the end of the day, they won’t leave until they do.”

“I know,” you laughed, “but I’m gonna get them back.”

“How the fuck have we managed to lose four kids,” Clay said running his hand over his face. “I don’t get it,”

“Because children like to fucking run off,” Jase snapped. “Look, we don’t need to go into how it happened, it happened. Let’s just work the problem and get these kids back before we all get brutally killed. Operation find the kids is a go.”

“Riley likes water right?” Trent asked.

“Yeah, she’s a proper water baby, why do you ask?” Clay questioned.

“She might have gone towards the lake.” Trent nodded.

“Right, Clay and Brock head to the lake and try to get Riley. We all know you are her favourite Uncle Clay so she might actually come back to you.” Ray said, making a call. “We divide and conquer boys.”

“Copy,” Brock and Clay nodded, before running off in the direction of the lake.

“What about Joey?” Trent asked.

“The woods definitely,” Jase nodded.

“I’m on it,” Metal nodded before disappearing.

“Okay so that leaves Amber and Lola.” Jase said.

“Fuck I have no idea,” Ray sighed. “They are both so quiet.”

“We are just gonna have to split up.” Sonny said, “we will find them.”

Two hours had passed and everyone apart from Brock and Clay were back at base. Three out of the four kids had been located and now sitting on the grass with Metal eatting some cookies.

“I’m gonna need a medic,” Clay said, his voice full of panic and cry’s could be heard in the background.

“How far out are you?” Jase replied.

“About 5 mikes,” Brock replied.

Clay looked down at Riley in his arms, she was screaming and the tears kept coming.

“Hey Riley-roo, it’s okay, Uncle Clay has got you. You are gonna be okay.” Clay cooed trying to calm down his god daughter.

“What’s the sitrep?” Trent asked.

“Not sure if it’s a broken wrist or just a sprain. She fell pretty hard on it whilst running.” Clay sighed down the walkie. “It’s official boys, we are dead meat when the boss gets home.”

The house was quiet when you got home, far too quiet. The only sound was the hum from the TV but even that was on low volume. Quickly glancing in the kitchen you rolled your eyes at the state of it. It looked like a bomb had gone off. There were plates and mugs everywhere along with McDonald’s discarded wrappers.

Quietly you walked into the living room to see all the kids awake and all the boys fast asleep on the sofas. Riley was tucked under Clay’s arms, Joey was laying across Metal and Brock, Amber was sat in between Jase’s legs and Lola was tucked under Ray’s arms.

“Mummy” Riley grinned as she saw you. “Look what I got,” she giggled, waving her casted wrist in the air.

“What happened baby?” You asked, crouching down to her level.

“I tripped and broke my wrist.” She pouted, “But Uncle Clay took me to the hospital.”

“Well it looks like you all wore your Uncles out today,” you laughed, “but just cover your ears for me kiddos.”

Once they all covered their ears with their hands, you pushed yourself to your feet.

“Wake up you lazy shits!” You shouted, startling them all awake. “Did we have a good day?” You asked playing dumb.

“Yeah it was amazing,” Jase nodded. “We went to the park.”

“So you did lose any of the kids?” You asked, placing your hand on your hip.

“Nope,” Clay said, with a sheepish smile on his face.

“Well can someone explain this?” You said, pressing play on the recording.

The whole room fell quiet as they heard the conversation playback from early.

“So wanna change your answer boys?” You glared. “I only have two rules and you fucking broke one of them. And my daughter has a bloody broken arm!”

“Sorry, boss.” Sonny mumbled, not making eye contact.

“You better be you idiots,” you laughed, “At least you came home with a full head count. Now Clay move, you are in my seat.”

Once Clay had moved, you settled down in your spot.

“Oh and another thing, I’ve had a long ass day typing up all the incident reports from J-Bad, I swear your band list gets longer each deployment,” you laughed, “but I’m not happy about the state of my kitchen so you can all get in there and sort it out.”

“Yes, boss.” They all said, making you smirk. Not many people could make Bravo team sulk off with their tail between their legs but you could and it always made you laugh.

“And someone make me a bloody coffee, because I am not moving off this sofa for the rest of the night”

@chibsytelford @mrsmarvelous1995 @supervalcsi @talicat713 @disasterfandoms @bravo-four-seal-team @jasonbabymama @jayhalsteadfan-2417 @lotsoflovefromlea @seik-o @velvetcardiganbucky @phoenixhalliwell @pancakeisreading @itsonautopilot @pinkrockstar19 @galaxysanduniversesinmymind @softi92 @abby-splace @theysayitscrazy @thelovelyleo23 @innerpaperexpertcloud

#seal team #seal team x reader #seal team imagine #seal team oneshot

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angrylizardjacket · 3 years

Text

it's in the blood // this is tradition

Summary: Children inherit all sorts of traits from their parents. Not all these traits are good.

"My reputation preceded me before I was born."

[ charlotte & lola au ]

A/N: 2292 words. Halsey's new album killed me on the spot. i talk a lot about the next gen being mirrors of their parents, but i'd like to go into detail about that not necessarily being a positive. @misscharlottelee this made me feel things. i love these kids.

Warnings: overdose mention, addiction discussion, mentions of drug abuse.

Penelope Dingley-Lee

Tommy can count the amount of times he'd seen Razzle truly angry on one hand, and here and now he can see it again, written all over his neice's face. He'd thought she would look like Charlie when she's angry, and occasionally she does, the way her lip curls derisively, dismissively, that's very reminiscent of his cousin, but here and now, her blue eyes are hazy, cloudy, and her lips twist with an irate arrogance that is worryingly familiar.

Angry and high and wearing clothes that don't quite match, in this moment she's exactly her father's daughter.

She's been in the papers again. Her tits have been in magazines again. Tommy bites down on his instinctual desire to repremand her; she'd call him a hypocrite, call him an old man, tell him to keep his opinions to himself while she could still buy his sex tape out of a shady car boot down the street.

Charlie was like that too, on occasion, wit too quick for him to keep up with. When she got into a mood like this, Tommy didn't have to worry so much; usually Razzle would egg her on, but knew when to pull her back.

"It's my god given, motherfucking right to go feral -" he'd heard Charlie back in the eighties holler at three in the morning, high on amphetamines and waving a gossip rag above her head. Razzle would be on the sofa, equally fucked up, but gazing at her like she hung the stars in the sky.

"Lola gets photographed at least once a month stark naked along the strip like it's a sport, why is my Playboy shoot a national crisis?! My tits are fantastic!"

"They are, my love," Razzle nods seriously, and Tommy pulls his pillow from beneath his head, trying to either block out their voices through the thin walls, or maybe smother himself. The girl beside him, the groupie whose name he doesn't know, asks blearily why there's so much yelling. Tommy doesn't answer.

A week later, Tommy is the one to bail out Charlie and Razzle for public indecency, and they're both beaming from ear to ear.

Here in the present, Penny is draped out on the sofa, laughing low and pleased as she watches TV.

"TMZ blurred out my tits," she snorts, "cowards."

"Penny..." he can't help the faintly disappointed notes in his voice when he says her name.

"Thomas, I've read The Dirt," Penny fires back venemously. Hypocrite he hears in her tone, you have no power over me.

There's something hollow in her eyes in the photos he sees of her in the papers. She wears her father's inflluence and her heart on her crushed velvet sleeve, on the arm of a shallow, pretty, band boy who plays badly and loudly. But she laughs louder, though tthe sound is low and unconvincing if anyone bothered to listen hard enough, and Tommy wonders if he has enough dark hair dye left for when that boy breaks her heart.

Jupiter Lee

Tommy is proud to watch Jupiter on stage, but he is afraid.

Their anger is something he remembers from Lola, the way they cling to the past with vitriol echoes their mother, but on stage, they drink up the attention, get high off the love the audience gives, and he sees himself in those moments.

A child of addicts, Jupiter had drawn lines in the sand for themselves that they refused to cross; no alcohol, no drugs, and they'd stayed loyal to that. But highs come in all forms; they simply picked a different kind of poison without realising.

On stage, halfway between the gutter and a god complex, Tommy knows the smile they wear all too well.

Rebellion from Jupiter didn't shock the world like it did when it was Penny's name in the papers. Jupiter's trajectory was spot on in the eyes of the public, but rebellion wouldn't be the thing that broke them.

Once, so long ago that it's a miracle the memory survived, Tommy remembers asking Lola what she would be doing if she wasn't with the band. Lola gave him an easy, bleary smile, laughing sweetly when she told him that one way or another, she'd be here. In the moment it overwhelms him with love. In hindsight it breaks his heart.

"Come on, I think this is inevitable," Jupiter smiles on television as an interviewer asks them the same question; if they weren't making music what they'd be doing, "as if I'd do anything other than this."

'Don't you know where I come from?' is left unspoken, but Tommy still hears it.

He tries to picture himself in a life without the world at his feet the way he has now. No image comes to mind. Nothing else makes sense. Even if he wanted to do something else, wanted to grow up to be something else, he couldn't even begin to picture it for himself, tragedy and all.

They play their parts. They let history repeat itself. Jupiter makes mistakes Tommy and Lola had already learned from. Penny plays Jupiter's conciousness until the role grates on her nerves, diving head first into chaos, taking Jupiter with her with little convincing.

Tommy remembers this too.

When the world looks at Penny and Jupiter, they like to remember how Lola was seen as a bad influence on Charlotte, but forget that Tommy would have followed Charlotte in to Hell without hesitation.

Leo "Seo" Sixx

Lola has google alerts set up for her son, Seo, because he disappears for months without warning. Tommy asks how he is, and Lola looks to her phone with a tight smile, telling him that he's competeing in a skateboarding competition in Prague. She learned that from Twitter.

Seo comes and goes without warning, and talks to his siblings more than his parents. He loves them, but he hasn't allowed himself to stop for years. He doesn't know how. Then again, neither did Lola or Nikki.

"Jupiter thinks a lot about legacy, don't they?" He's in Tommy's kitchen, eating a poptart, when Tommy returns home one friday evening. He's waiting for Penny and Jupiter to finish getting ready, the three of them going out.

"Do your parents know you're in town?" Tommy asks with faint amusement, though there's a twinge of guilt in his gut when Leo considers that he should probably let them know. Says he forgot. Tommy's not sure if he believes him; like his parents before him, he tends to leave a lot unsaid. It's part of his charm, the world seems to think, but Tommy knows all to well how deliberate of an act it can be.

"Jup's got all this stuff in their head about legacy and who they should be," he continues his earlier thought, "which I guess makes sense, they tie a lot of themselves up in their identity," he shrugs, then, "I don't know Leo."

Tommy's not sure if he's talking about the grandfather he's named after, or himself.

"You've given this a lot of thought," Tommy says quietly, humouring him.

"I think a lot," Seo responds, "I've been thinking about going back on my meds, its weird being off of them." Of course this concerns Tommy, who knows objectively that Seo isn't his kid, but he's close enough that Tommy feels like he's allowed to be concerned. "I'm worried a doctor's note isn't going to be enough to let me compete at the Olympics on speed," falls too casually from Seo's lips, alarming Tommy in an instant. Though it must clearly show on his face, as Seo breaks out into an apologetic grin, "dextroamphetamine, for my ADHD. I've been trying to wean off it for the Olympics, it's been hard -" but his next words, said so blithe, so casual, have Tommy's heart stopping in his chest as he's thrown back thirty years, "I've been on them since I was like eleven years old; it was great, I could think, like the right amount, but now I... I think everything. I feel everything. Its a lot." He shrugs, like he didn't just become an echo of his father.

Seo's parents both died twice from overdoses, and now their son feels like he can't function without amphetamines.

Objectively Tommy knows that they work for Seo, that he's not abusing them he simply uses them to help him function, but the irony is not lost on him. It's a lot to unpack. He doesn't think to ask about the Olympics; it slips his mind until he sees Seo and a silver medal on his Twitter feed.

Lola calls Tommy in tears. She's proud, but she wishes she'd known, wishes she'd been able to watch it live, or go over and support him in person.

No-one in Seo's life seems to fully know or understand his intentions or actions, no-one can predict his next move. He puts up a bright facade, but like his parents before him, he does not trust the world to know him.

They don't know where he goes in the few months after the Olympics, all they know is that he doesn't come home.

Cerie "CerieThree" Sixx

Since she'd turned sixteen, Tommy has never seen Cerie Sixx without a smile. That is a very deliberate choice that she's made.

She's made a choice to rise above the percieved grime of her origins. She's halfway across the country, smiling for a camera she can control, editing her image before she lets it out into the world. Cerie Three - even the name the world knows reflects this; she's picked apart the context she was born into, disecting it, deciding which was useful to show the world, disposing of the rest.

She speaks warmly to her family, from what Tommy can gather, but the people on the peripheries of their life seem more like associates in the coldest sense of the world. Her smile doesn't reach her eyes half the time when she sees Tommy, and she shakes his hand when her brothers will hug him. The internet is closer to her than he is.

Cerie looks the most like her mother of all her siblings; she's 21, the exact same age Lola was when she met Tommy, but half the time he can barely see the resemblence. Lola had let the world see a villain at that age; Cerie had learned from that, had rejected that, rejected the cold, hard humanity of her mother's fronting. Cerie wanted to be perfect. Cerie had to be perfect, hyper aware of her own image, like her siblings seem to be, but the way she'd so effectively shaped her public identity was kind of terrifying.

Perhaps this was what it was like for people who didn't know Lola, only allowed to know the image she put out into the world, or people who only knew Nikki for his stage presence.

But the more Tommy thinks about it, the more he remembers just how effectively Lola had wrapped the band around her little finger when she set her mind to it, how she talked her way around exectives despite being dressed like she'd woken up in the gutter and fucked up on any number of drugs. Lola understood people, and it seemed Cerie did too.

Cerie Sixx, twenty one, doesn't stop creating content, doesn't stop studying, and doesn't stop smiling. Two of those three things are inhereted traits, inhereted determination, and the third is a choice.

Cyrus Sixx

Though Cyrus had inhereted much of his parent's musical talent, the same way Jupiter had, Cyrus had also inhereted a love of the high life. Even so, he's so full of love, kissing his mother on both cheeks before he goes out to get shitfaced in the bars she was decades before he was even born.

He works hard, at his job, on his music, but his partying matches it just as well. He knows exactly how far he has to fall before he meets the depths his parents' had sunk to, and though he doesn't voice this, his arrogance comes across in his actions.

There'd always be someone to pull him away from swan diving to rock bottom. He takes that for granted, and keeps getting closer and closer.

The only one of Nikki and Lola's children who still lives at home, he's the only one like them in the way they'd feared.

"He's going to have more success than he will ever be able to comprehend," Nikki had told Tommy, the day after Cyrus had been admitted to hospital after staying up for four days while high and obsessing over a song he had been working on. Nikki had found him having a fit after having fallen from his desk chair. Now, sitting on Tommy's patio in the sunset, he looks tired, he looks afraid, "if he doesn't end up killing himself first."

A month ago, the fire department and the police had to pull him, kicking and screaming and bareass naked from a tree in the middle of town. His parents had bailed him out, had felt a familiar sting of guilt as they find themselves reminded of their own youthful exploits. They repremand him, of course, but they both know the only reason they stopped climbing trees was because there had been no-one to pick them up after.

Nikki sees himself in his sons mistakes, but he'd had to learn concequences the hard way.

Tommy loves his family and all it's strange branches, as well as their raucous youth, but his closest friends were some of the most volatile people he'd known, and somehow he'd forgotten that as time as taken people and memories from him.

But these children were made in their image.

#nikki sixx #tommy lee #razzle dingley #nikki sixx x oc #tommy lee x oc #razzle dingley x oc #the dirt #motley crue #the dirt imagine #motley crue imagine #charlotte&lola #lola & charlotte #the angry lizard writes #the pack

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