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#he's as big as he is happy. He's not immobile an still crawls around in that huge bathtub of his
bigs-bigshot · 2 years
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mer au I was talking about.
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jake-g-lockley · 1 year
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The Sun, Sky and Beyond (Moon Knight x reader): Valentine’s Day Special
Masterlist | Spotify Playlist
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A/N: HAPPY VALENTINES DAY MY BABIES <3 There’s nothing in this world greater than love and so may love find you in every aspect of your lives! Here’s a little day with the moon boys xxx
Word Count: 2.4k of fluff
You squint at the light that hit your eyes as you woke up to the sound of birds twittering outside your flat. You could smell the sunlight as it warmed the sheets, creating a comforting little bubble around you. You stretched your arm out only to find the space beside you empty. You hum and turn over onto the boys’ side, twisting your neck so that you could inhale their sweet familiar scent, grinning to yourself. The corner of the bed dipped slightly and your smile deepened, as their presence wrapped you in their embrace without them even laying a finger on you.
“Pst, baby, wake up.” Steven’s British drawl met your ears and greeted your brain with a shot of dopamine. 
You stretched your arm towards him and beckoned him to join you. You feel the mattress move around you as he crawls over you and gently lays on top of you, the heaviness of his full body weight cracking and popping your sleepy joints. You groaned and laughed as Steven traced your neck with his nose, peppering tiny kisses in its wake. 
“Let’s stay here forever, please?” you mumble as you run your hands through his unruly hair that was feathery soft and fluffy with sleep. 
“I’d love that … but we have plans, love.” Steven whispered between kisses. 
“We can still carry out ‘plans’ in bed, angel” you grinned as Steven slowly lifted his head from your neck. 
“Now listen to me you little devil, don’t you dare tempt me with your tricks!” He feigned shock. “I’m left with no choice, I’ll have to banish the devil with my own hands.”
You gasped as one of Steven’s hands collected yours at the wrist and pinned it above your head before digging his fingers into your side. Steven knew all of your sweet spots and his skilled fingers tickled away, making you yelp and scream like a hyena. One of his legs pinned yours down, immobilizing you and you had to admit defeat before you peed yourself. 
“OKAY, I’LL LISTEN!” you squealed when he hit a particularly sensitive spot.
Steven let go and brought his hands up to your face, brushing your hair away from your eyes with a smile.
“That’s my good girl. When we get back, we’ll most definitely listen to your plans, okay?” Steven smirked cheekily before giving you one last kiss and pulling you up with him.
“I do have a question for you though.” He says as he pulls you to the edge of the bed and kneels down on both knees in front of you.You raise your eyebrows to prompt him to continue. He reaches out and you think he's going to tuck your hair behind your ear but he pulls out three roses leaving you bewildered.
“Will you, my love, be our valentine?” Steven says, wiggling his eyebrows.
There was a pregnant pause as you stared at Steven. In that few seconds, you had a quaint realization that you were the luckiest human on the planet. Not many people are blessed with a loving partner, but you? You were blessed, not with one, but with three. Your heart ran itself on overdrive as it tried to pump blood cells into your brain for you to answer Steven’s question. 
“Of course,” you breathed. “Of course I’ll be your valentine, all three of you.”
You were blushing and you swear Steven could feel your cheeks burning from where he knelt when he gave you a big toothy grin. You hid your face in your hands and felt like a schoolgirl for a second. 
“Oh no, darling, what’s wrong?” Steven says, gently prying your hands from your face. 
It’s not like you forgot it was Valentine’s Day, it’s just that today was the first time anyone had asked you to be their Valentine. After a whirlwind few months of dating your best friend, happiness you felt had infatuated you to the point that the idea of Valentine’s Day had totally slipped from your mind. 
“It’s my first Valentine’s Day.” you whisper with a small smile. 
“Oh!” Steven exclaimed. 
“You scared me a little, but I think you may have forgotten that it’s our first Valentine’s Day too, if it makes you feel any better.” He said soothingly, as he caressed your cheek with his fingers.
You nod and watch as he stood up and scooped you up into his arms, making you giggle. 
“We promise to make it count.” he said firmly as he carried you to the bathroom.
☾ .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.
You come out of the bathroom a few minutes later to find a long, billowing sleeved lilac maxi dress that had a long slit up the front lying on the bed. You gaped at it for a while before you noticed the shade and smirked. Scanning the room for any sign of your boys, you sneaked into your secret compartment in the closet and pulled out a lacy lilac lingerie set that you had been saving, saying your goodbyes to it before putting it on. You quickly run through your hair and make up while Steven hopped in the shower. 
Once you applied your kohl, Marc stepped out of the bathroom, wearing nothing but a towel slung low around his hips. Your eyes widen slightly to take his physique from the reflection of the mirror as he walks towards you. 
“Stop checking me out, you perv!” He tutted before giving you a downward smile as you rolled your eyes. 
He slung his arms around you and before you realized, he brought his hands to the back of your neck and with a click, left a beautiful white gold chain with a stone pendant. 
“Happy Valentine’s Day, sweetheart. A little gift to add to your otherworldly appearance.” He smiled before kissing the top of your head and smoothing out your curls.
You stared open mouthed at the chain, your fingers grazing the flat oval stone. The stone was a peculiar color and you didn’t recognise it. On one side your initials were carved with a tiny intricate sun beside it. 
“Marc, baby, this is lovely- why are you smiling like that?” You looked at Marc who had a mischievous smile on his face. 
Otherworldly appearance.
“Marc, you did not!” you gasped, grabbing the pendant for a closer look. 
“I, in fact, did not do anything stupid.” Marc said chuckling, “Asked the boss for some help.” 
“It’s bloody beautiful.” you cradled the moon rock pendant in your hands standing up to press a kiss onto Marc’s lips. 
“Glad you liked it, honey,” he said, glancing at the clock. “Alright, give me a few minutes, then Jake will show you your next surprise. 
There’s more ?!
☾ .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.
You hold tightly onto Jake's hands as he leads you through a grass field, a soft satin blindfold obscuring your vision. The fresh smells of earth and grass hit you first, making you take a deep breath. You could feel the breeze flow through your hair. You feel yourself gently being pulled down. Instead of sitting on grass, your skin was presented with the feeling of soft wool. You could feel Jake slipping your sandals off and a rustle of something.
“You can open your eyes now. I hope you like it.” Jake’s lips grazing the shell of your ear as he whispered. 
Nothing could have prepared you for what you were about to see. Your eyes were delighted by the rolling meadow before you, continuous hills of green that never seemed to have an ending. The bright sun and the singing birds made you think that you had stepped right into paradise, the seclusion of the place convincing you of that fact even more. You looked down and gapped at the enormous crochet blanket that had two large picnic baskets and pillows that surrounded you and Jake. A bouquet of orchids that matched the color of your dresses was perched on your lap and you lifted your hand to graze the flowers. 
“Oh boys! This is beautiful.” You exclaimed, throwing your arms around Jake’s neck and hugging him close. 
A Valentine’s Day picnic was definitely up there on your list of cute things that you’d never thought you would experience. You watch as Jake opened a bottle of wine and poured a glass for the both of you before handing you one. You clink your glass with his and take a sip, the floral aroma of the wine tickling your nose and the citrusy flavors bursting on your tongue. You found out that they had filled the picnic baskets to the brim with your favorite snacks and fruits. 
The boys had a system of taking turns and after your first glass of wine had been drained, you found Steven staring at you with a dopey look on his face. 
“Come on, I have something for you.” He said, patting his lap.
“What here? In the open?” your eyes widened slightly.
“Gods, not that genius, lay your head here.” Steven laughed, rolling his eyes.
He pulled out his notebook as you settled your head on his lap, staring up at him. 
“I wrote something for you.” Steven started shyly.
You nodded, encouraging him to go on, excited for what was in store for you.
“I’ve heard stories of angels but never thought they were true, but in seeing you I have become a believer. I only wake up with the dream to see you, to hear the air that is filled with your honeyed voice and to feel the sand that blossoms like flowers at your feet. In your beauty, I perceive life and with you beside me, I recognise myself and sought to follow your shadows. Looking beyond your divine appearance and seeing your soul, I see the true colors of your heart. The moon and white clouds beautifully blend with each other, so who else is there to understand the desires of my heart? My heart is not like yours as it has gone through changes and my reality is confusing, but you’ve managed to create a painting that involves my troubled soul crossing with yours.”
When he finished, you thought that your heart had stopped for a second. The words sunk deep into your skin and stitched your heart from all its sorrows, drowning you in a sea of Steven’s undying love. You were quite frankly speechless from the passage he had read from you, wondering how someone could see you the way that he did.
“Steven, shit, that was beautiful.” Your eyes began to well up with tears as you sat up to capture his lips in a blazing kiss. “You really think of me like this?”
“All the time, my love.” he breathed.
You spent the next few hours just talking to your boys about everything and anything under the sun. Your short attention span and the buzz from the alcohol caused you to jump from one topic to the next like a live wire but the boys just chuckled and jumped along with you. 
“It’ll be so cute to raise children in a place like this, quiet and sweet, away from the bustle of the city, just being ourselves.” you say, popping a grape into your mouth.
“Oh yeah for sure. By the way, remember the tiny police station we passed by? When the children grow up we’ll definitely find them there on a daily basis because the little delinquents will be your children.” Marc said, grinning from ear to ear. 
You hurled a grape at him which bounced off his aviators.
“Fine! Our children, happy?”
“That’s right, our.” you huff, settling back into the pillows.
While you were snacking, Marc pulled his guitar out and started to sing for you. It was your favorite thing in the world, watching Marc’s fingers dance lightly as he strummed the strings, humming to the tune. 
“Howlin’ green, green rocky road,
You promenade in green,
Tell me who you love,
Tell me who you love?” He wiggled his eyebrows at you.
“I love you!” you giggle.
His sweet voice envelopes you like a warm blanket. 
“When I go by Baltimore,
Ain't no carpet on my floor,
You come along, and follow me.” 
“I’ll follow you wherever, my love.” You smile as he finishes with a flourish. 
He continued to serenade you until it was Jake’s turn and he shooed you away to explore while he set up everything. You walked around until you spotted a bed of wild daisies, plucking them and making two crowns, one for you and one for Jake. When you got back, Jake had set up paint, brushes and two small sized canvases. 
“Jake! I have a surprise for you, close your eyes please!” You say as you hide the flower crowns behind your back.
As soon as he closed his eyes, you lightly balanced the flowers atop his head of curls, holding a compact mirror in front of him before asking him to open his eyes. 
He squinted at the mirror and smiled radiantly when he noticed the crown on his head. 
“Where's yours?” he asked.
You presented your crown to him and he gently took it from you, placing it on your head and smoothing down your hair, kissing your forehead and nose. 
“Mi reina.” Jake declared as he bowed, making his crown go slightly lopsided, extending his hand for you to take. 
You blushed and took his hand, letting him help you sit down. The both of you then got onto painting. Almost immediately, Jake ditched the brushes and started painting with his fingers, scooping globs of paint and slathering it onto the canvas. You followed suit soon and found it much more fun, layering the paint with your fingers. You stop after a while, watching as Jake’s eyebrows furrowed in concentration, his lips cutely pursed together. You silently lean over, until you booped Jake’s nose with a tiny bit of blue paint. 
Jake looked at you with wide eyes before crossing his eyes to look at his nose. He blinked twice and you jumped into action leaning over and kissing him dramatically with a big muah. He finally snaps out of his daze and wipes his fingers, pushing the art supplies aside before tackling you. He locks you in his embrace and pins you down with a smirk on his face. He then lowers his lips to yours and returns your kiss with a bigger one that sent you and him into a fit of giggles. 
“I love you so much, all three of you.” you smile up at your boyfriends’ face, your heart feeling totally at ease. 
“We love you too, angel. Happy Valentine’s Day.” 
Tagging: @campingwiththecharmings @in-between-the-cafes @mintpurplemnm @melodygatesauthor @my-secret-shame-but-fanfiction @pakhiya @romanarose @swiggy-needs-mental-help @softieekayy @luc-k-y @lia275 @brekkers-desigirl @kybitchcrystal
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fanficshiddles · 3 years
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Tear You To Pieces, Chapter 11 (Final Chapter)
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The following morning, Kelly woke up after a horrible sleep trapped in Loki’s arms, it had been laden with nightmares. But when she woke, she wished she had been back in one of those nightmares, as the one she was living was much worse.
Loki had kept her prisoner in his bed for a while that morning, petting her and toying with her body. He made her cum a few times and then took her again. Now he was just chatting away to her as if nothing was wrong while he got dressed, she lay shaking in his bed still. Curled up.
She wasn’t sure what was worse, the fact that he had raped her or the fact he was acting as if it was all normal, that they were a happy couple. It made her feel sick to think about either way.
Loki turned to face her and frowned. ‘Come on, get up. I’ve got a job I need to do, to let the world know exactly who is in charge. And you are coming with me.’ He snapped his fingers impatiently.
When she got out of bed, she wrapped her arms around herself and stood there awkwardly. She didn’t know what she was supposed to be doing. Loki opened the door, then looked at her expectantly.
‘Let’s go. Don’t think you’re getting clothes, if that’s what you’re waiting for.’ He said firmly, making her stomach drop.
Kelly knew there was no point fighting or trying to get away, so she submissively followed Loki to his throne room as he called it.
‘Get under my desk and use that pretty mouth of yours to keep me satisfied.’ Loki pointed towards said desk that was on front of his throne-like-chair. The desk was pretty big, so Kelly was a little relieved that at least she wouldn’t be too cramped.
She was resigning herself to being Loki’s slave. It was her own fault, after all. She blamed herself, and would every single day.
Before Kelly went over to the desk, Loki gripped her chin and had her look at him for a moment. He studied her closely, then smirked and brushed his thumb up over her lower lip.
‘Mmm, yes. You are going to make this job much more exciting.’ He purred, his smirk growing larger. ‘Now be a good girl and get into position.’
Kelly meekly crossed the room and crawled underneath the desk. Loki sat down on his throne, legs spread wide and he looked down, grinning at the sight of her down there.
‘Get started, darling. I have some business to attend to.’ He urged her.
Wanting to get it over and done with, Kelly began the difficult task of getting his cock free. It wasn’t easy with his armour that he was so adamant on wearing all the time. But she eventually got his cock out and reluctantly started stroking him.
‘Use that mouth of yours, pet. Don’t disappoint me.’ He growled with a quick glance under to her.
She really didn’t want to, but she knew she had no option. So she leaned in closer, hands on his thighs and she wrapped her lips around the tip of him, then slowly began sucking.
Loki let out a sigh of pleasure, but he was still able to focus. Only just. Her mouth felt so warm and lovely around him. He cleared his throat and clicked his fingers, a screen appeared up on front of him. It was recording him, broadcasting to every single TV in the world and appearing on everyone’s smartphone in an emergency video.
Kelly paused when she realised what was happening, Loki began a big speech about being ruler of the world. How many countries he had and which ones were under threat if they didn’t yield to him soon.
She carried on sucking his cock when she felt a sharp pain in her neck, it was Loki using his seidr as it felt like a collar was wrapped around her neck again. Hollowing her cheeks, she tried to work harder to get him to cum sooner than later, to get it over and done with. But Loki seemed to be lasting quite a while…
Then she felt dread run through her veins.
‘But of course, I wouldn’t have been able to be in this position if it wasn’t for this lovely little thing… Let me introduce you all to her.’ He said wickedly and tugged on her invisible collar, dragging her up out from under the desk.
Of course she tried to flee, but Loki kept a tight hold of her and hauled her onto his lap. Forcing her to face the screen, he had her sit over his cock and she felt him at her entrance as he leaned round and gripped her chin, keeping her head in place so she couldn’t look away.
‘Smile for the camera, darling.’ Loki hissed harshly into her ear and he then pulled her down onto him so his cock pressed painfully into her, forcing her body to accommodate him once again. She was mortified to find she was a little bit aroused, enough to make it less painful than last night’s first time.
The entire world could see her naked upper body, and most of them were able to know what was going on from the way her body flushed red in embarrassment and Loki’s breathing deepened.
‘That’s it, my pet. You belong to me just as much as your whole world does now.’ He growled and then winked at the screen before it cut out.
‘Mmm, such a good girl. MY good girl. And now the whole world knows it.’ Loki purred and began toying with her nipples as he thrust up into her, making her mewl.
His praise was making her wetter, Loki could feel her contracting around him hard. He grinned and bit down on her shoulder, chuckling against her.
‘You can deny it all you want, pet. But we both know you’re my good girl and always will be.’
-
That same evening, while Kelly was still reeling after everything that had been happening, she finally had some alone time when Loki went for a bath.  
When Loki disappeared out of the room, she waited a few minutes until she heard the bath water running enough, then she grabbed a blanket to wrap around herself, as there was no sign of her clothes anywhere.
She scurried to the door, but it was still locked as she had expected. So she ran to the large window and felt such relief when it opened and she stepped outside onto the balcony. But then she realised she didn’t know what to do next, it was really high up and all that was down below was the concrete roads and pavements, there was no way she could jump.
‘Come on, think. Use your brain, Kelly!’ She hissed at herself as she stepped back inside.
Looking up, she spotted the smoke alarm. If Loki hadn’t changed much of the initial security system in the building, perhaps she could use that to her advantage. So, with a quick glance around the room, she came up with a plan.
Grabbing one of the pillows off the bed she ran to the fire place and put it in enough to set it alight. She then went underneath where the alarm was and held the pillow up towards it, just as she had hoped, the smoke was enough to go up to the alarm and set it off.
Normally, when the smoke alarms went off in the tower it was set up so all the doors would unlock for people to get out safely, and it would set the sprinklers off.
But not this time. While the sprinklers did go off, wetting everything in the room, when she ran to the door it was still locked. She let out a sob as she banged hard against it in frustration and fear.
A dark chuckle came from behind her, making her jump out of her skin. ‘Did you really think that little plan would work?’
Kelly shook in fear as she slowly turned around to face Loki. She was a little surprised for a moment because he only had a towel wrapped around his hips, his hair was still wet too and dripping down his chest. He smirked when he saw her checking him out, but her eyes quickly shot back up to his face.
‘How stupid do you think I am, pet? That I would allow you to escape so easily? I don’t know whether to be angry that you tried to run away from me, or angry that you thought I’d be so stupid. Not to mention the state of my room now.’ He growled as he started walking towards her formidably.
She attempted to run to the other side of the room, but Loki grabbed a fistful of her hair and yanked her back into him, making her cry out in pain. He put his arm around her middle and held her tightly to his body as he snarled into her ear. ‘You are going nowhere, pet. You belong to me, like the rest of the world does. And you only have yourself to thank.’
He dragged her back towards the bed and when she was thrown onto it, invisible restraints instantly trapped her, making her immobile and sending her panic levels sky high again.
Loki could clearly see she was distressed and panicky, but he was about to make her worse. He stood at the side of the bed and held his hand out, palm up. A jar formed in his hand and Kelly let out a gasp in horror at what was inside it. It was Thor, but he had been turned into a frog. He was jumping at the glass, trying to escape.
‘If you aren’t careful, I will get you your very own jar.’ He snarled in warning. ‘No more stupid escape stunts. You do as you’re told. Do I make myself clear?’
Tears fell down Kelly’s face as she shook from head to toe. She nodded quickly, feeling a horrible stabbing feeling deep within her at the sight of Thor like that. Though she had thought he was dead too, with the others. Even though there had been no sign of his body.
Loki had the jar with frog Thor vanish, then he prowled onto the bed over the top of her and grinned. ‘Now, now. There’s no need to look so scared, pet.’ He cooed and stroked her cheek gently with the back of his hand. ‘If you’re my good girl, which I know you can be, you will have absolutely nothing to worry about ever again.’
He leaned down and stole a kiss from her lips.
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imagine-loki · 3 years
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Tear You To Pieces, Chapter 11 (Final Chapter)
TITLE: Tear You To Pieces CHAPTER NO./ONE SHOT: Chapter 11 AUTHOR: fanficshiddles ORIGINAL IMAGINE: Imagine Loki was sent to make up for his deeds by helping out The Avengers at the tower. Everyone thinks he’s changed, but he is just biding his time. He manipulates and uses someone who works there, who has a crush on him, to get exactly what he wants.  RATING: M
WARNINGS FOR THIS FIC: DARK LOKI, RAPE/NON-CON, MANIPULATION, MURDER, VIOLENCE, EMOTIONAL ABUSE, KIDNAPPING
  The following morning, Kelly woke up after a horrible sleep trapped in Loki’s arms, it had been laden with nightmares. But when she woke, she wished she had been back in one of those nightmares, as the one she was living was much worse.
Loki had kept her prisoner in his bed for a while that morning, petting her and toying with her body. He made her cum a few times and then took her again. Now he was just chatting away to her as if nothing was wrong while he got dressed, she lay shaking in his bed still. Curled up.
She wasn’t sure what was worse, the fact that he had raped her or the fact he was acting as if it was all normal, that they were a happy couple. It made her feel sick to think about either way.
Loki turned to face her and frowned. ‘Come on, get up. I’ve got a job I need to do, to let the world know exactly who is in charge. And you are coming with me.’ He snapped his fingers impatiently.
When she got out of bed, she wrapped her arms around herself and stood there awkwardly. She didn’t know what she was supposed to be doing. Loki opened the door, then looked at her expectantly.
‘Let’s go. Don’t think you’re getting clothes, if that’s what you’re waiting for.’ He said firmly, making her stomach drop.
Kelly knew there was no point fighting or trying to get away, so she submissively followed Loki to his throne room as he called it.
‘Get under my desk and use that pretty mouth of yours to keep me satisfied.’ Loki pointed towards said desk that was on front of his throne-like-chair. The desk was pretty big, so Kelly was a little relieved that at least she wouldn’t be too cramped.
She was resigning herself to being Loki’s slave. It was her own fault, after all. She blamed herself, and would every single day.
Before Kelly went over to the desk, Loki gripped her chin and had her look at him for a moment. He studied her closely, then smirked and brushed his thumb up over her lower lip.
‘Mmm, yes. You are going to make this job much more exciting.’ He purred, his smirk growing larger. ‘Now be a good girl and get into position.’
Kelly meekly crossed the room and crawled underneath the desk. Loki sat down on his throne, legs spread wide and he looked down, grinning at the sight of her down there.
‘Get started, darling. I have some business to attend to.’ He urged her.
Wanting to get it over and done with, Kelly began the difficult task of getting his cock free. It wasn’t easy with his armour that he was so adamant on wearing all the time. But she eventually got his cock out and reluctantly started stroking him.
‘Use that mouth of yours, pet. Don’t disappoint me.’ He growled with a quick glance under to her.
She really didn’t want to, but she knew she had no option. So she leaned in closer, hands on his thighs and she wrapped her lips around the tip of him, then slowly began sucking.
Loki let out a sigh of pleasure, but he was still able to focus. Only just. Her mouth felt so warm and lovely around him. He cleared his throat and clicked his fingers, a screen appeared up on front of him. It was recording him, broadcasting to every single TV in the world and appearing on everyone’s smartphone in an emergency video.
Kelly paused when she realised what was happening, Loki began a big speech about being ruler of the world. How many countries he had and which ones were under threat if they didn’t yield to him soon.
She carried on sucking his cock when she felt a sharp pain in her neck, it was Loki using his seidr as it felt like a collar was wrapped around her neck again. Hollowing her cheeks, she tried to work harder to get him to cum sooner than later, to get it over and done with. But Loki seemed to be lasting quite a while…
Then she felt dread run through her veins.
‘But of course, I wouldn’t have been able to be in this position if it wasn’t for this lovely little thing… Let me introduce you all to her.’ He said wickedly and tugged on her invisible collar, dragging her up out from under the desk.
Of course she tried to flee, but Loki kept a tight hold of her and hauled her onto his lap. Forcing her to face the screen, he had her sit over his cock and she felt him at her entrance as he leaned round and gripped her chin, keeping her head in place so she couldn’t look away.
‘Smile for the camera, darling.’ Loki hissed harshly into her ear and he then pulled her down onto him so his cock pressed painfully into her, forcing her body to accommodate him once again. She was mortified to find she was a little bit aroused, enough to make it less painful than last night’s first time.
The entire world could see her naked upper body, and most of them were able to know what was going on from the way her body flushed red in embarrassment and Loki’s breathing deepened.
‘That’s it, my pet. You belong to me just as much as your whole world does now.’ He growled and then winked at the screen before it cut out.
‘Mmm, such a good girl. MY good girl. And now the whole world knows it.’ Loki purred and began toying with her nipples as he thrust up into her, making her mewl.
His praise was making her wetter, Loki could feel her contracting around him hard. He grinned and bit down on her shoulder, chuckling against her.
‘You can deny it all you want, pet. But we both know you’re my good girl and always will be.’
-
That same evening, while Kelly was still reeling after everything that had been happening, she finally had some alone time when Loki went for a bath.  
When Loki disappeared out of the room, she waited a few minutes until she heard the bath water running enough, then she grabbed a blanket to wrap around herself, as there was no sign of her clothes anywhere.
She scurried to the door, but it was still locked as she had expected. So she ran to the large window and felt such relief when it opened and she stepped outside onto the balcony. But then she realised she didn’t know what to do next, it was really high up and all that was down below was the concrete roads and pavements, there was no way she could jump.
‘Come on, think. Use your brain, Kelly!’ She hissed at herself as she stepped back inside.
Looking up, she spotted the smoke alarm. If Loki hadn’t changed much of the initial security system in the building, perhaps she could use that to her advantage. So, with a quick glance around the room, she came up with a plan.
Grabbing one of the pillows off the bed she ran to the fire place and put it in enough to set it alight. She then went underneath where the alarm was and held the pillow up towards it, just as she had hoped, the smoke was enough to go up to the alarm and set it off.
Normally, when the smoke alarms went off in the tower it was set up so all the doors would unlock for people to get out safely, and it would set the sprinklers off.
But not this time. While the sprinklers did go off, wetting everything in the room, when she ran to the door it was still locked. She let out a sob as she banged hard against it in frustration and fear.
A dark chuckle came from behind her, making her jump out of her skin. ‘Did you really think that little plan would work?’
Kelly shook in fear as she slowly turned around to face Loki. She was a little surprised for a moment because he only had a towel wrapped around his hips, his hair was still wet too and dripping down his chest. He smirked when he saw her checking him out, but her eyes quickly shot back up to his face.
‘How stupid do you think I am, pet? That I would allow you to escape so easily? I don’t know whether to be angry that you tried to run away from me, or angry that you thought I’d be so stupid. Not to mention the state of my room now.’ He growled as he started walking towards her formidably.
She attempted to run to the other side of the room, but Loki grabbed a fistful of her hair and yanked her back into him, making her cry out in pain. He put his arm around her middle and held her tightly to his body as he snarled into her ear. ‘You are going nowhere, pet. You belong to me, like the rest of the world does. And you only have yourself to thank.’
He dragged her back towards the bed and when she was thrown onto it, invisible restraints instantly trapped her, making her immobile and sending her panic levels sky high again.
Loki could clearly see she was distressed and panicky, but he was about to make her worse. He stood at the side of the bed and held his hand out, palm up. A jar formed in his hand and Kelly let out a gasp in horror at what was inside it. It was Thor, but he had been turned into a frog. He was jumping at the glass, trying to escape.
‘If you aren’t careful, I will get you your very own jar.’ He snarled in warning. ‘No more stupid escape stunts. You do as you’re told. Do I make myself clear?’
Tears fell down Kelly’s face as she shook from head to toe. She nodded quickly, feeling a horrible stabbing feeling deep within her at the sight of Thor like that. Though she had thought he was dead too, with the others. Even though there had been no sign of his body.
Loki had the jar with frog Thor vanish, then he prowled onto the bed over the top of her and grinned. ‘Now, now. There’s no need to look so scared, pet.’ He cooed and stroked her cheek gently with the back of his hand. ‘If you’re my good girl, which I know you can be, you will have absolutely nothing to worry about ever again.’
He leaned down and stole a kiss from her lips.
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icollectyoursins · 4 years
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Merman Jotaro x Fem!Reader NSFW Part 1
Anon said: "Merman Jotaro merman Jotaro merman Jo... SPICY PLEASE"
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Honestly. I dream about this often. 9/10 times it’s hot. 1/10 times it’s really hot. It’s not gender neutral, I guess, but it’s not a fem!reader. The reader just happens to have a vagina and tits. I could do a reader-with-a-dick version of this, if you want. This one is very long. Couldn’t stop writing! I am the biggest Jotaro simp and I am not afraid to admit it.
Heads up, Jotaro is referred to it as ‘they’ for most of this, only because the reader doesn’t really know what he’s packing on first glance. Anyway, I hope this is in character because Jotaro is one I haven’t quite nailed yet.
For as long as you can remember the ocean would call to you. After a lot of resource managing and hard work, you finally had enough money to get a boat and a small cabin by the beach, free to escape to the vast blue as much as you liked. Which is exactly what you did today. Someone was a little less than happy to see you in his territory.
Have a character, but no idea? Prompt list here!
Looking for more? Master post here!
WARNINGS: Dubious consent (dub con), size difference, fingering, cunnilingus, nipple play (sucking specifically), uh... tentacle dick? Kinda, two dicks, breeding, mention of kidnapping at the end.
Word count: 2506
Rest and Reproduction   
     The smell of the salty air tickled your nose as the mist of small waves splashed your face. You breathed a sigh of relief, leaning against the railing and staring out at the land. You could just barely see the sand and your little cabin. The rest was blue. A deep, calming blue. The stars reflected on the surface, twinkling pleasantly. Maybe you should go out a little bit further?
   Maybe tomorrow, you were tired from preparing your boat all day. The sun was just starting to set when you finally got on the water. You deserved a break.
   You sat down on a small fold-out chair you grabbed yesterday. It was comfier than you thought it would be and you sank into it happily, curling yourself into it as you stared up at the stars. A long sigh left your lips. Today was a good day.
   A loud splash to your left startled you, making you sit up quickly and run to the source of the sound. All you saw were the ripples it left behind. Whatever it was, it was big. Then another large splash, this time it was accompanied by a thunk on the metal. The boat rocked from the impact, instinctively, you reached for the railing, holding on so you don’t fall over.
   A third splash comes from behind you. You turn around quickly, catching the glimpse of a tail, pure black and big. It banged the side of the boat again, throwing you off balance. You stumbled backwards into the chair, knocking both it and yourself over. The knocking suddenly stops along with the rocking. Silence never felt more terrifying. You sat, frozen by fear.
   Then the bow started to dip and creak. You scrambled backwards hoping to keep out of the water as long as possible. A large, black, clawed hand gripped the front of the boat, then another. Whatever it was, it was trying to pull itself up. Slowly, you were able to see its face the closer it got to you. 
   Sharp, angular features with piercing blue eyes and full lips. Short, black hair messily stuck to their face. They crawled towards you, eyes narrowing with focus the more they tried to fit themselves onto the boat but their weight kept tipping it. You were holding onto whatever would keep you up, unfortunately, nothing was helping and you slowly began sinking towards your pursuer. 
   You tried to scramble your way up to no avail. The closer you got, the less they moved, waiting for you to come to them. They reached out with one of their massive hands, grabbing your ankle then pulling you towards them. What happened next was a blur.
   Arms wrapped around your torso, holding you close to keep you from struggling. Whoever was holding you was massive, significantly stronger than you, easily trapping you and pulling you into the frigid waters. The salty sea stung your eyes as it whipped around you. Then, just as you were about to blackout, you were pulled to the surface again, gasping for breath. 
   You pushed against what you assumed was a rock sticking out of the water because of the sting against your back. Your arms were pinned down as your attacker shifted himself so your legs were under them. They were cold and wet; slimy. As your eyes gradually focused, you saw fully who this thing was. 
   Glaring down at you was some kind of half-man, half orca or shark mix. Their arms up until the elbow were black, then faded to a light flesh tone. You couldn’t quite see the rest of their body, but you imagined the rest was similar. Light skin transitioning to a pitch black. Bright blue eyes started you down, full of rage and confusion. 
   “What are you doing here?” A low, rumbling voice boomed from them. You struggle to speak, unable to think straight with this whatever it was on top of you. Their eyes narrow at you, threatening you without words. You continue to stutter and attempt to free yourself from their grip which only tightens, claws digging into your skin. They snarl, face getting closer to yours. “What are you doing here.”
   “Ah! I’m just- nnf- I didn’t do anything wrong!” You gritted, tears forming at the corner of your eyes. “I was just trying to relax, I didn’t mean to do anything wrong.” Their lips pulled back, baring their teeth slightly. It was at this point that you noticed that they were... well. Hot. They were hot. “Who are you?”
   They glared at you, deciding whether or not to answer and you felt yourself shrink under their gaze. After a few seconds, they finally did. “My name is Jotaro and you are in my territory.”
   “I didn’t mean to, I swear!” They snarled again. You could feel your heart race. They leaned into your neck, sniffing. You gasped, trying not to move, hoping you wouldn’t upset them more, but the closer they got to your neck, the more (regretfully) aroused you got. You moved your head away, stretching out your neck, shamefully trying to entice them. Meekly, you said: “I didn’t know.”
   They rolled their eyes, tail swishing in frustration. You could feel them moving against you, which only made your situation worse. You moaned quietly at the slight movement on your groin. They stopped, staring at you; perplexed. Embarrassed, you screwed your eyes shut, praying they wouldn’t notice the blush on your face. They moved again, deliberately this time, deeper and more fluid making you bite your lip to stifle another moan.
   Jotaro leaned in, raking their teeth along your sensitive neck taking in how you shivered. You were ashamed, but it’s hard not to react like this when there’s a really hot, strong, slightly intimidating merman on top of you. They released one of your arms, placing it by your shoulder to get more leverage as well as loosening their grip on the other. Their lips came dangerously close to you, breath kissing your skin, then they sat back again. 
   “You have two choices. I rip open your guts and feed you to the sharks, or-” they lean in, lips brushing against your jawline teasingly, “-satisfy me enough and I’ll let you get out of here alive.”
   “What?”
   “I’m not repeating myself. Now, hurry up before I make the decision for you.” You gulped. I mean... it’s not like he’s giving you very many options... you shyly nodded your head. “Say it.”
   “I’ll uh... satisfy you...” your voice trailed off into a question, not sure if that was the right word.
   “I’ll be the judge of that.” They pushed themselves back, looking up and down your body, probably to see if you were built to satisfy them. “You’re lucky I haven’t found a female yet, otherwise there would be two to worry about. The others of my kind aren’t so forgiving.”
   Okay, so they were a he. Good to know. That meant he had the... parts for everything to work, right? Or, at least most of the parts. He makes eye contact one more time before getting to work. Jotaro rips your bottoms off, slightly scratching your thighs, a low, rumbling sound coming from his chest. What little fabric is left is tossed aside and he holds open your legs, inspecting you.
   You stare at him a little dazed. This can’t be happening, right? He drags his teeth along the inside of your thigh while glaring at you from the corner of his eye, the shivers down your spine prove that this is very much real. When he gets close to your sex, it’s very apparent how aroused you were. He can smell it so strongly. A clawed finger cuts open your underwear leaving you completely open to his stare.
   He quizzically pokes at it, pushing your folds apart. Gently, he takes his thumb and rubs your entrance, eyes flicking up to you as you squirm, moaning quietly. His brows furrow together, testing you further by swiping up to your clit, pressing into it then circling. You moan louder this time, bucking your hips up into his finger.
   He quickly gets sick of your squirming, pulling his fingers away and bringing them to his lips, tongue slipping out for a taste. Jotaro stopped, sitting completely still. You shook, hoping he wasn’t offended. He looked at you with a new fire making you gulp down a breath. He slams one arm down across your hips, pinning you down while he brings his face closer to your cunt, licking along your entrance. Your hands fall into his hair, back arching off of the rock as much as it could in your immobile state. He groans at the taste of you, needing more. 
   He leans into you, lapping up your juices vigorously. His lips then wrap around your clit, lightly sucking. Your body tries to move, buck up into him as you mewl, but his arm is too strong. His eyes flick up to you, watching your cheeks get more and more red as he picks up his pace. Suddenly, he pulls back making you gasp. The two of you make eye contact before he crawls up to your face again, cool body rubbing against your unclothed lower half.
   Jotaro crashes his lips into yours. The kiss catches you off guard and you let out a small, muffled sound of shock, but soon melt into him. The taste of you mixed with the saltiness of the sea had your eyes rolling back into your head. Again, just as you were starting to enjoy yourself, he pulls back, moving onto another area of your body. This time it was your breasts.
   He tore a large hole in your top and bra, wide hands roaming over your now exposed chest, pinching where ever he saw necessary. Immediately, he drags his tongue along your soft flesh, flicking over your pert nipple. You gasp and groan, grinding up into him as much as you could under his weight. He pulls away sharply, baring his teeth as he growls at you.
   “Stay still,” he warns, pinching one of your nipples harder than he probably should have. You arch up into his touch, crying out in a mix of pain and pleasure. He twists. Hard. Your hands come to meet his, trying to pry him off, pain now taking the forefront of your feelings. Obediently, he pulls off, leaning into your face, voice low and dangerous. “Stop moving.”
   You meekly nod your head, still holding onto his hand which he then brings up to your face, wrapping your hair around a clawed finger. A sweet, kind change from the aggressiveness before. Jotaro’s eyes wander over your face, taking in your soft features. Once again, he kisses you, gently this time before shifting so he could focus back on your vag with his other hand. 
   His fingers spread your lower lips open again, middle finger pressing into your entrance. He’s careful, doing his best not to scratch you with his sharp nails. He moves his finger up and down before finally pressing into your warmth. You both gasp as your head tosses back. He starts with a slow pace, gently massaging your walls, coaxing more of your juices to seep out of you, squelching whenever he moves back in.
   Gradually he picks up the pace, testing your limits as well as listening to the sweet sounds that fall from you. He adds a second finger when he thinks you're ready, then three, stretching you open. You were so close, holding onto his hand still, pulling him closer to you as you reached your peak. Unfortunately, you never got there. He pulls his fingers out, licking off any traces of you from his fingers before moving so he was exposed to you.
   Jotaro takes your hand, bringing it to a slit below his waist. Your fingers trace over it lightly next to his, taking into account how he shudders. He leads your fingers, pressing into the top of the slit. Slowly, you watch it grow wide, a small pink nub starting to protrude from it. The more you tease his slit the bigger the nub grows into two full, smooth, tapered cocks. Tentacles? You weren’t quite sure, but they looked... exciting if a little intimidating. 
   You let go of his hand, opting to hold one of his cocks instead. They were slick and warm with a pleasant weight to them. The one you were holding curled around your hand slightly, covering your hand in moisture. You start jerking it with slow, shallow pumps, noticing how his eyes close shut and the slight buck of his hips. You pick up the pace, enjoying how the tip starts drooling what you assume it pre onto your hand. 
   Quickly, your hand is pulled away and he moves to align himself with your entrance. Slowly, he slides into you, groaning as he gets deeper. At first, it was okay, but the more that entered, the more full you felt, his tapered tip reaching into every crevice inside you. His other tenta-dick rested between your cheeks, teasing your back door, but never entering. He growls, picking up the pace slowly so you got used to the new intrusion.
   The feeling was driving you mad, whatever warm liquid was seeping out of him added to the pleasure, gradually building up to a tingly feeling that made you babble like an idiot. Jotaro places one of his arms above your head, pressing into you more while the other hand reaches up to your breast, teasing your nipple again. Instantly, you wrap yourself around him, pulling him closer as he gyrates into what feels like your soul. You cry out his name over and over, head tossing back in ecstasy.
   His breath tickles your ear as the two of you chase your release. He groans into your ear, lips trailing down your neck to your shoulder where he kisses you gently before sinking his sharp teeth into you. You scream as pain and pleasure mix together again. He speeds up, the lip of his slit stimulating your clit more and more. 
   “Ah, ah ~aah! I’m cl-hnn. I’m so close!” He laps up the blood from your shoulder, taking your words to heart, somehow getting deeper into you. A few powerful thrusts into you sent you hurtling over the edge, eyes rolling back while your vision when white and you fell limp in his arms.
   Jotaro soon followed you, the feel of your tightness around him made him plunge deep into you, spilling as much of his seed as possible. A vision of you growing round with his pup dances across his eyelids. He looks down at your face, flushed and relaxed. You were more than satisfying to him. He would never allow anyone else touch you after this.
   The last thing you recall was a warm kiss placed on your temple before being swallowed by the cold water and then black...
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isolaradiale · 3 years
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The small 'ahem' and the dimming lights brought the attention of the closing party back on the podium. On it was Janus, looking a great deal better than he was a few minutes ago (when he was practicing his closing speech on a statue when he thought nobody was looking.) On the stage, he took a deep breath and brightened as everyone turned in their formal evening attire.
"Thank you all for coming to the Closing Party. It's been a pretty busy week, and all of you have made such beautiful and wonderous pieces of art. I'm overjoyed that they're on display tonight, and I thought there wasn't any way to view all of them in the span of a couple hours. So this last night of the museum will be going on until the sun rises again. You don't have to stay the entire time, but--"
"Well, sure they do!"
The interjection startled the AI at the podium, and he jumped a few feet from his spot. The chipper voice started again as one of the other statues on the stage moved, revealing the form of a marble-sculpted woman covered in holographic stickers.
"After all, each and every one of you put in so much effort into bringing your imaginations and inspirations to life, haven't you? So we thought we might return the favor, that's all. And you're all invited!"
Punctuating her statement was the sound of the large wooden doors, now slamming shut inward with a reverberating BOOM that bounced off all the halls of the lobby, even from the auditorium.
"I hope you all put everything into your masterpieces! Because your masterpieces will put everything into annihilating all of you~"
With another delighted laugh, the lights in the auditorium shut off, leaving everyone with only the light of their phones and watches. And as the murmurs began and hands reached for other hands in the dark, there was another THUNK near the wall as a framed portrait fell off its anchor. From its canvas, it began to look at the crowd, eyes now glowing in the light of everyone's flashlights. One hand crawled out of the frame, then another. Nails sank into the floor with terrifying ease as the subject of the portrait pulled themselves from its frame, marble cracking at its fingertips.
The next sound was a scream, and the sound of a woman falling onto the floor as the portrait pulled at her ankles. And then another. And another still as the frames began to move off the walls en masse, attacking anyone unlucky enough to be in their sights. There was a panic in the auditorium as people tried to flee and fight, falling over each other to escape the room
But it seemed that no matter where anyone chose to run to, or where they thought to hide, there was always something in the shadows.
Waiting.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Welcome to Part Two of the event!
As stated, the artwork in the Tempus Museum has come to life--literally, in this case. You've been challenged to survive until the next sunrise. To do so, you must evade, capture or destroy the horrific objects that have come to life.
Most of the artwork in the museum is hostile, and will attempt to un-alive your characters as best they can.
These generic museum monsters can be found everywhere wandering around, but are more common in areas they originated from:
Subjects and people in paintings will crawl out of their canvases to chase and eliminate anything they see moving. Their sharp nails can pierce through marble, so flesh and bone is probably nothing to them. Humanoids are not exclusive to this class of monster--painted animals, creatures and other things will also hop out of paintings to come after your muse. You can capture a painting monster by smacking it with a canvas, or destroy it with paint thinner (or water, if it's a watercolor)
Framed sketches will behave similarly to the painting monsters, and will leave lots of thin scratches as opposed to big ones. Capture them with paper, or destroy them by rubbing them with an eraser.
Statues of any material will chase your characters and attempt to injure them with their fists (or if they were holding a weapon, they'll use that weapon). Catch them by making them run back to their plaques, stands and pedestals, or destroy using a hammer and chisel.
The Parlor Dolls have now, unfortunately, all grown sharp teeth. They've all taken on ghastly appearances, and if they swarm around you, it might as well be the end of you. You can capture a doll by chasing it back into a display case, or destroy it by carefully ripping their seams.
Dancing Dresses in the painted ballroom will beckon people to dance with them, and will attempt to catch people in the folds of their fabric to immobilize them. They're not lethal on their own, but they'll hold your muse in place for something more dangerous to come along. Capture them by hitting them with a dress form, or destroy them by ripping their seams OR cutting them with scissors. - NOTE: Characters who bowed and danced with any of the ghostly gowns at the Gala XY will not harm the people who danced with them, and will instead, keep dancing.
Decorated Weapons made in the forge will take a life of their own and will seemingly float around, looking for battle. Sometimes they'll team up with Statues, making them especially deadly companions. Capture them by hitting them with a weapon rack, or destroy them with a hammer or any significant heat source.
Baked Goods and Pastries made in the culinary courtyard will not get up on their own, but a good many of them have become poisoned. The severity and potency of the poisons varies, with side effects ranging from an upset stomach to a sudden case of death. They don't move, so you don't have to capture them, but... maybe don't eat them, no matter how good they may smell and look.
Paintings on the street have come to life, making hazards of their own outside of the museum. Street-painted landscapes have become very tangibly real, as well as anything sprayed on the walls. If there was ever a time to regret the giant mural you painted on the side of a building as it crawls from its spot to squash you like a bug, now's the time. You can destroy these with water.
Landscapes will attempt to draw your muse into their world, sealing them in their frames. Your muse will be helpless to do much other than look through the painting like a window. The only means of escape is to have someone else drag you out of the landscape!
In addition to these generic museum hazards, there are a few specific hazards depending on how your muse behaved in Part 1 of the event:
If your muse created something with love, adoration, feelings of happiness, or any other intensely positive emotions, it may help them instead of hinder them. This can be anything from alerting them of danger to protecting them.
Your muse's own creations may attack them, too, aside from the generic monsters in the museum.
If your muse stole any artwork from the museum, it will hunt them down with special vitriol and hostility, and will stop at nothing to destroy your muse.
Similarly, if your muse attempted to destroy any of the artwork in the museum, it's going to target them specifically and attempt to return the favor.
Any art your muse made as a gift to others will either hurt OR help them, depending on individual mun preference.
Have fun! :)
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Frequently Asked Questions
"How long will Part 2 of the event last?"
The event will run until 00:00, June 18th
"Are the optimized tools still here?"
Shockingly, yes! And so are the regular tools, too. How you use them to survive is up to you, but building a door might be the fastest way. However, be warned that drawing a door on a wall has just as big of a chance of sending your muse to a different random room than it does outside the museum.
"Can we still do Part 1 threads?"
Yes! If you would like to keep your Canvas experience monster-free, you can continue making Part 1 starters until the end of the event.
"What about the art my muse took home?"
It has also come to life! So while the museum is certainly dangerous, there are random statues, paintings, dolls and other monsters roaming around OUTSIDE the museum, too.
"Can we destroy the paintings NOW?"
Unfortunately, they're just as invulnerable as they were before. Bummer, huh? Unless they're hit with their specific weakness, the monsters are invulnerable to attacks that damage them. (However, they can still be hindered by traps, and while strong attacks won't destroy them, they'll knock them out of the way!)
"Can we interact with Capella or Janus?"
Poor Janus is trying to put all the artwork back where it belongs by capturing them. He's in no danger for this, as the art in the museum will not attack their curator. Interacting with Capella the Statue might bring the wrath of her giant cat out to you, so. You've been warned!
"What if my muse saw something from their own world in a painting or a statue?"
That's incredibly unfortunate--those might be hostile too, and are subject to the rules that follow the other genuine painting monsters (meaning that the portrait of that character will not have any of their original powers or abilities.)
Whether the subject of the art your muse is familiar with will help or hinder them is up to mun discretion.
"Can't we just bust down the museum and escape?"
And destroy the biggest piece of art in the area?! (No, they won't budge. You'll have to draw your way out if you want to escape, either through a door or some kind of tunnel or something.)
"When will the sun rise?"
Not for 24 hours in-character (though the event will last until Jun 11th). Extended night time, woo!
"What happens if our muses get got by the museum?"
Muses that were defeated and failed to survive the challenge will have their portrait put up on the Wall of Shame, reflecting how they lost the challenge. They won't respawn until the sun rises, either!
"What if I have a question that's not listed here?"
Feel free to direct any questions you may have to the Masterlist!
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
"I thought you said everything would be fine!" Came the panicked footsteps of Janus, running to grab the frame the portrait monster crawled out of, picking it up with surprising ease.
"In my defense, I assumed everything would be." The statue of Caelum replied, furrowing his eyebrows and scrolling through a wall of code. Other statues of a Goddess-like Pleiades and an Antiquated Attired Alathfar, joining as guests, seemed to realize the issue before their older companion did.
"...Yes, nothing in here changed. But I don't see anything about..."
From the other side of the stage, Capella's statue pranced forth, stickers still glittering in the dark, somehow.
"That's just the first page." "The first page?" Caelum and Janus echoed back in confusion. "First page!~"
The grin still stayed on her cheeks from sticker to sticker, while Janus' increasingly scrunched in accusation.
"...I'll be damned. There were two pages after all." "DAD!" "I didn't see it, honest!" "I can't BELIEVE you!" "Now now, it was an honest mistake, really--!"
And as the old man's statue got quite the scolding from his son, Pleides and Alathfar stepped aside, meeting with Capella.
"Was there really a page two?" Pleiades asked, adjusting her comically large, rounded glasses. To that, Capella merely rocked on her heels, smile never fading.
"It's entirely possible Caelum got so wrapped up in helping Janus plan the museum that he overlooked it. Which is endearing, in a way. But..."
As Alathfar trailed off, the three of them looked back at the other statue trying to placate his agitated son, and grimaced in unison (except for Capella, who still seemed to be beaming with delight.)
None of them seemed keen on getting in the middle of the quarrel, and were only relieved when Janus stormed off with his empty frame.
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emily-the-fae · 3 years
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Sound of a Heartbeat
Part 3. Back to Business
Part 1 - Part 2 - Part4 - Part 5 - Part 6
Here I am, back with a new chapter. I have absolutely no betas, so this is what I get after editing the text myself.
Pairing: Dracula x OC
Warnings: absolutley none
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What Shari did not expect, was to feel cold - in fact, there was now extremely unpleasant cold at her back and something burning warm and soft at her side, the juxtaposition making her shiver and move her shoulders. As soon as she did so, sharp pain shot through the left side of her neck, causing her to flinch and groan, straightening her shoulders carefully as not to evoke another shot of pain. Why-why-why does this have to sting so much all over again? Shari could hear some sounds around her - noises like obscured quiet dialogue, the voices were still undetectable, but she already had a hint of who they might belong to. Next there was a raspy sound of someone's - or something's - quick breathing right next to her ear. Light struck her eyes through closed eyelids, causing her to turn her head, wincing. There was a sound of footsteps coming closer. Some other noise, getting louder by second, until she finally heard...
- Shari! - as soon as she opened her eyes, she saw Sypha leaning above her, anxious face watching her reaction carefully, strands of red hair falling in front of her eyes.
Shari bolted upwards, nearly bumping into the speaker and instantly regretting it as sharp pain shot through her body, she bent forward, almost folding in half, then straightened up again, taking deep breaths. Alright, easy. This is what surviving feels like. She was going to live for now. Shari looked around: she was laying on the snowy forest floor next to a campfire, her body covered with a warm cape; the wood opening was lit in dim daylight, Sypha was crouching on the ground next to her, Adrian and Trevor staring at her from across the campfire; Rodo crawled closer, putting his muzzle onto her lap and wagging his short tail happily, his nose poking her belly.
She caressed his big furry head absentmindedly. Shari did not understand how the hell she managed to make it back, especially considering her health condition. She was expecting anything, but home sweet home among the three friends on the other side of the water.
Something moved on the edge of her peripheral vision, between the trunks of the trees and Shari had to turn her shoulders fully in order to keep her neck as immobile as possible, as she tried to look in the direction of the movement. She saw a shadowy figure of the ghost stare at her, hovering immobile close to the edge of the trees. Oh, Lisa Tepes is not going to leave her alone now. She knew Shari would survive, somehow the damned woman just knew it. Now the healer could be sure the ghost will stick to her for some time and continue the scheme of "go and save the world". A very pleasant beginning of the day.
- Lord, it's so good that you're back. We seriously thought that we might lose you, - Sypha threw her arms around Shari's neck, for the time being taking the healer's thoughts off her new acquaintance. - I tried all I could, you know, magic and other stuff... Adrian almost suggested turning you, - Shari snorted. Like hell he would have.
- How long was I...?
- Three days, - Sypha's face was probably as pale as her own. The poor girl must have done all she was capable of to keep Shari alive.
- To be honest, I am quite surprised that my father didn't finish what he started, but I am anyway relieved, that you are well, - Adrian walked up to her and petted her shoulder. - I'm so sorry we weren't there to help you straight away.
- It's fine, Adrian, we couldn't have predicted that he would pay us a visit. It's not anybody's fault, - no it is. My own and yours too, it was a dumb idea to leave the most battle-unprepared person alone. Shari shut the voice in her head and smiled weakly.
Trevor just nodded from across the fire, listening to their exchange; he watched the three of them, his gaze from time to time drifting back to Shari, or rather to the reddened patch on her neck. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, as if hesitant to speak, then finally spilled it out:
- How did he attack you? How did he find us? Did he speak? – the hunter started throwing questions at her and Shari got a strong feeling of being interrogated.
- I-I don't know, - Shari almost lied, throwing a cautious glance at Lisa. - He just, sort of, appeared and attacked me that's mostly it.
- He probably watched us. She was alone, so he decided to weaken us by removing the one left vulnerable, - Adrian finished, lowering himself on the ground next to the healer. Shari didn't want to respond, dropping herself to her improvised bed in exhaustion.
- You must be more or less right. That night is a bit foggy in my memory, really, - she huffed.
- He has a nasty habit of putting his victims under hypnosis, so your condition is quite - I almost said normal - quite to be expected I dare say, - Adrian mumbled matter-of-factedly, his palm coming up to caress her head and brush away a few stray strands of hair from her face. Shari felt her stomach turn in fear at the word "victims", she breathed out heavily. Silence followed.
- Guys, seriously, I feel drained... - Shari stretched as well as she could; Sypha snorted at her involuntary pun. - Can I please just rest for a while?
- Of course. Take your time and gain some strength. You'll need it soon, - Adrian spoke before anyone could respond. He stretched out his hand to take her palm in his for a moment, capturing her attention. - You deserve some rest. Thank you... For not dying on us. Really, - his tone began to be uncharacteristically serious, but as he ended his words in a chuckle, Shari could only breath out and smile warmly. Sypha just nodded and hurried to cover her once more with the large warm cape - the healer wasn't sure if it was Adrian's of Trevor's.
Shari lay back in peace for once, feeling Rodo's large warm form next to herself and letting the sounds of the forest wash over her. Maybe she could at least get some normal sleep.
***
When she woke up the next time, it was already deep in the night. The fire was burning low, Sypha and Trevor sleeping soundly on the ground around it, curled into two freezing balls, an empty bottle next to Trevor's hand - as per usual - and Adrian nowhere to be seen. Rodo purred in discontent, shaking his sleepy red eyed head, when Shari tried to sit up.
There was a shadow at the edge of the trees once again watching the small campsite intently; Shari could see it clearly its outline hiding behind the tree trunks. Lisa. The woman caught her gaze and beckoned her to come closer. Shari shook her head at first, but the woman only continued gesturing more aggressively; she hesitated for a while, contemplating whether she should just turn on her side and go back to sleep, then stood up at last almost against her own will, walking up to the ghost cautiously, ready for any unpleasant surprise. She felt like she was going to regret even this small decision.
Lisa, seeing her move, turned away and walked further into the tree shadows, leading the human away from the campfire; Shari could barely follow her transparent form, walking through the bushes careful not to make too much noise that could awaken her unaware companions. Rodo ran behind his human, smelling the air around him for any traces of life, his huge claws making him clumsy as he trotted through the bushes. At first Shari could barely see her way, cursing under her breath as she went until all of a sudden she found herself in an opening once more, a small free patch of ground formed around an old fallen tree, it's darkened trunk laying on the ground and clearing some space around it; Shari saw the ghost settle on top of the trunk as if sitting down on a bench, gesturing for the human to do the same. Shari walked closer and lowered herself next to the woman. It was silent for a few moments.
- Did you really have to do that? - Shari spoke up.
- Do what? - Lisa responded.
- Appear to me. Rush my decisions.
- I didn't. In fact, I tried to tell you to think it over, if you remember?
- Oh yes, you didn't intimidate me with the prospects of returning to Earth straight for a painful fight, - sarcasm it is.
- I needed you to be out here.
Silence once more.
- Why don't they see you? Adrian and others - you were there in the morning, but they didn't notice. Are you just a hallucination? In my head? I’m going insane, am I? - Shari asked. The ghost sighed in response, lowering her head.
- No, no. I believe, you... Crossed some border because of almost dying. You aren't supposed to be seeing me now, it never happened to me before... Maybe you are able to see the other dead too. Maybe it's just me because I tried to connect to you, - Lisa answered, unconfident, studying the girl's face. - I was never exactly an expert in the paranormal field.
- You raised a vampire son.
- That's different!
Pause.
- I'm still not going to go looking for Dracula, - Shari stated.
- You can go looking for his castle instead then, - Lisa was seemingly unworried about her decision.
- Looking for his castle?! Do you even hear yourself? How is that supposed to be "instead"? How.. Wait, why?
- Well, as you said, you want to hold onto your life - he has the answer to your sickness, your salvation - I know, I remember, I've been to his library - if you manage to find the castle, you will as well find the cure, - Lisa smiled knowingly at Shari's visible confusion. The healer wrinkled her nose, thinking. Now there was something to it – could be possible; a chance for longer survival, if the stories didn’t lie; besides Dracula is quite busy and Lisa had told her she watched over him. But still...
- Oh no, I'm not buying this. You're just telling this to me, because you want me to encounter him. He very obviously will be there and will certainly be not happy about a human intruder. I won't go, nope, - Shari replied.
- Don't you think it's the better option of not encountering him? - there was a smirk on the ghost's face now.
- Oh, yes, why would that be?
- He's following you four around, he said it himself, so he will definitely notice you are still alive and quite soon. But I do know he is not as often in his castle nowadays - so if you leave the others, in fact, you will have better chances of...
- Alright, alright, Lady Logic, I get it. What's in it for you then? Making me search the castle? Sounds all too good for me and nothing for you, as you place it. What do you have in mind?- Shari stared at the ghost suspiciously, waiting for the answer.
- His castle and all its movement is controlled only from the inside, I know it for sure. And maybe, just maybe, together we could find a way to reverse this war with minimum blood. If we find a way to stick the castle to one place, he will have to be more careful, because his safe place will grow more vulnerable. As for Adrian and your team out there – they wouldn’t be able to ambush him. Drawn in that condition they may have more time and necessity to… reconsider some of their tactics. Who says diplomacy should work without a little destructive help? You and I – together we can create the needed mess, - Lisa responded. This sounded almost like a rehearsed speech. - Magic and knowledge: if you help it may actually work out.
- And that's all? - Shari raised an eyebrow.
- Yes.
- Too simple.
- Only on speech, - Lisa tilted her head towards Shari. - Do we have a deal?
- I don't trust you, - Shari cut back. - You're nice and all, but I don't trust you, - she stood up from the tree trunk.
- You don't have to. But we need each other, you have to admit it, - the ghost responded with an amused smile. Shari really wanted to shut her ears and run away. This was no good. There was no way the ghost wasn't lying about Dracula deserting his castle; Adrian said he wouldn't... Though Adrian didn't expect him to be watching them either.
- Okay. Say I do trust you – for now. What do I do? How do I get away and to his castle without Adrian?
- Leave tomorrow. Tell them you need to go and settle some personal matter – or rest somewhere peaceful, that you know of a small village to rest in for a while. That you're sick and solving it - it's not far from the truth. You'll catch up with them in some time… possibly, - Lisa told it all as if she had planned the whole thing a long time ago, which unnerved Shari quite a lot.
- Will I though? - mistrust once again.
- Depends on you, - the ghost dissolved into thin air. - Remember, we both need each other.
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Text
Being Human - Chapter 22
<= Chapter 21
Summary : Vanessa brings a scared little kid back to her manor. Also available on AO3 : https://archiveofourown.org/works/24826561/chapters/74145501
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HEEEEEEY NEW CHAPTER (sorry for the late update these days !) I hope you'll like this chapter !
The “Oh The Humanity” AU belongs to @doodledrawsthings​​ !
Uh if you’re interested, I post my progress on my chapters on Hatty Fan Time (the AHIT Discord server I’m moderating with two friends), so if you wanna join, go ahead !
Happy reading !
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Chapter 22 : “I n-need guidance.”    
The trek to the manor was something Snatcher could describe as anything but enjoyable. Being dragged by the one who had broken his heart and killed him, leaving him to rot in a cold cellar, all alone- no, the former shade was definitely not enjoying what was happening, far from it. He was terrified. Being dragged away by his murderer, not knowing what would happen to him, not knowing if he had even saved his friends earlier… His mind was a mess and his body was no better.
The now young Prince was being carried through the snow, his skin slowly getting blue from how cold the temperatures were. He could barely feel his feet anymore, just like his hands, his clothing certainly not made for such terrible weather. The more they walked, the more Snatcher had trouble keeping up, his legs shaking both from the fear and from the cold. No matter how much he tried to pull away, nothing he did actually managed to make Vanessa falter in any way.
He knew she would not hesitate to break his wrist should he keep resisting her. After a while, Snatcher stopped. All he could do while being dragged like this was to look at his surroundings- or what was left of his forest. The snow was covering everything up, a deep and thick white layer hiding the vegetation… And, to his great despair, most likely frozen statues of his minions, those who were too slow to flee.
The former ghost looked away and shut his eyes hard- he didn’t have the courage to witness any ice statue of someone he hadn’t been able to save. Again. He couldn’t help but feel like the same story was repeating itself, hundreds of years after it all started: Vanessa’s unstable thoughts acted up, she froze Subcon and all of its surrounding regions, and now she was going to lock him up again after killing everyone once more.
This was never going to stop, now, was it? Or, perhaps, it would… After one of them died, once and for all, putting an end to this never-ending story. However, at this particular moment… Snatcher wasn’t so confident about his own survival in the matter: with a frail and fragile body, completely powerless both figuratively and literally, the child had no way to get out of this without finding a good plan.
Would he find one, though…?
Soon, the silhouette of the old manor started to appear in front of them. Snatcher’s feet hurt and he could barely feel Vanessa’s strong grip on his wrist anymore. The sensations in his limbs were numb and so was the pain… But he knew this wasn’t a good thing, this only proved how much his body was suffering and was trying to survive. How long would it even last, given his situation…?
Snatcher’s eyes widened at the sight of the manor, ice visible on his lashes, the wet traces of the tears on his cheeks now completely frozen. It stung, it burnt- yet it was just the beginning of a new nightmare, the former ghost was more than aware of that.
The child’s stare fell on the two statues in front of the porch, unmoving but, he knew that, very much sentient and deadly. Snatcher felt chills running through him and a feeling of panic spread inside of him: as a ghost, he could deal with them, those had never been a big problem, to begin with… But as a human, no, as a kid… This changed quite a lot and, for a reason he couldn’t place yet, Snatcher felt like his emotions were even worse. Sure, becoming human again had felt awful in that regard, already- but now? He had the impression everything was just more… Intense, in some way. While, as an adult, he would have been just as scared from seeing the statues, now… Now, Snatcher had the urge to run away and cry, before curling up and hoping for something, someone to save him.
What… What was happening to him…?! The same thing had happened earlier while he had been facing Vanessa. Had his mind really become younger as his body had? Was this even possible? It didn’t seem right… He was still “him” after all!
So why did he feel so different?
Snatcher shut his eyes once more as they passed by the statues, a wave of intense fear hitting him- but nothing happened. Those things remained perfectly motionless, keeping the same pose as Vanessa dragged him up to the door.
-“There we are,” she cheerfully said, and for a brief second, she almost sounded like her old self. Almost.
With a swift gesture, the Queen opened the door and entered the manor, pulling him inside as she did so. The second Snatcher was in the entrance hall with her, she quickly closed the door behind him and… Locked it, finally letting go of the child’s wrist after that. The sound of the lock made Snatcher’s face pale up even more than it already was. Sure, this had to be expected… But, nonetheless, this just made him feel even more terrified. He could hear his own heartbeat in his ears, the organ pounding inside of his chest and his legs trembling at the terrible realization that he was now trapped with his murderer.
This simple thought seemed to put some order in his mess of a mind while his survival instincts took control of his body again. His life was on the line, and this place was dangerous, so very dangerous. Horrifying memories came back to him, only intensifying his urge to get out of here as soon as possible. Without thinking twice, his legs moved on their own and he dashed to the closest room- the kitchen.
He had to flee, now!
Unsurprisingly, the Queen hadn’t expected him to try to run away so soon after she let go of his wrist. A small gasp left her lips as she turned her head in his direction, a bit too slow to react. Snatcher’s little hands had now reached the door handle.
-“Stop right there!” Her voice echoed in his back, making chills run down his back, and the temperature dropped distinctly. Oh Gods, oh Gods…! Panic fuelling him, the child opened the door and dashed inside, closing the door as fast as he could. Oh, but he knew this would do nothing to hold her back… After all, she had frozen the entirety of Subcon, so a small wooden door was barely an obstacle to her. Still, fear and instincts were in control, telling him what to do without wasting any second.
And he was right to hurry: as soon as he closed the door and started to run away, the Queen opened the door again, entering the room. Her aura was now much darker and it was easy to see how annoyed she was. Ice was spreading around her from her feet, her shadow more prominent than ever, and her ghostly face even scarier than it previously was.
-“Come back here!” she yelled at him, but he kept running, turning to go to the other part of the room: the living room. He knew from memory that there was another door there, which he would be able to use to go back into the hallway, hopefully gaining enough time to disappear from her sight long enough to hide. She was quite hunchbacked after all, maybe he’d be able to distance her, even if just a little…!
However, his hopes were soon shattered as a loud, strident “enough!” resonated in the room, making it shake lightly. The temperature dropped considerably, to the point where Snatcher felt like he had been thrown back into the cold snow outside. This was a pretty good indicator of how irritated Vanessa was- he had learnt that the hard way in the cellar.
Before he was able to react, the Queen stomped her foot on the wooden floor. Instantly, a line of ice spread to his own feet, fast, trapping them and immobilizing him. It all happened in a blink, so much that Snatcher fell forward, still caught in his momentum. Yet, his ankles couldn’t move- and as his body hit the hard floor, a horrifying cracking sound echoed in the room, one he had heard oh so many times, one he had loved listening back when he was a sadistic ghost in charge of Subcon Forest- the sound of broken bones.
One of his ankles had twisted in an unnatural way as he fell down. The adrenaline and the cold allowed him not to understand what had just happened, temporarily blessing him with ignorance while all he could think about was to crawl away, in vain. His feet were stuck into the ice, preventing him from moving away from this very spot, no matter how much his nails were scratching at the floor in the hope this would help him to get away. It didn’t.
Panicked breaths left his lips, his heart pounding more and more into his chest. This was it, he was going to die, there was no way he’d survive this, absolutely no way-
-“You are quite the disrespectful child, aren’t you?” scolded a voice behind him, reminding him sharply of the dangerous monster standing in his back. Slowly, ever so slowly, the former ghost turned his head in Vanessa’s direction, his cheeks deadly pale and his heart stopping as his eyes met hers. Her red eyes were glaring at him and her shadow looked spikier than it usually did. The ice spreading off her feet was even more intense than before, slowly trapping the wood under its cold surface.
The Queen was livid.
-“I- I- I’m sorry,” he breathed out, unable to take his eyes off her, too terrified to do so. This was the end, this was how he was going to die- again: “I’m sorry, p-please, I didn’t-”
-“Quiet!” she shouted at him, her rage even more noticeable as the temperature dropped yet another time. The ice trap around Snatcher’s feet fortified, and it was only then that he noticed the strange position of his ankle. As if just seeing it was what Snatcher’s body needed to realize he had been injured, pain started to grow inside of him. The adrenaline wasn’t strong enough to contain it anymore. Tears welled up in his eyes as a silent scream escaped him, the pain becoming stronger and stronger as seconds passed.
It hurt so much!
Under so many intense emotions, the tears in his eyes finally fell, rolling down his cheeks as a few sobs left his lips. Oh, Gods…! He couldn’t move, no matter how much he wanted to- he knew it would just hurt even more should he try to crawl away again.
Quite surprisingly, Vanessa’s furious expression softened as she noticed his suffering and heard his cries. Had he not been in this situation, he would have found she looked like a mother staring at her injured child- but this was not the case, oh no, far from it.
She had been the one to hurt him, even indirectly. She was everything but a mother-figure, he knew that much. Still, contrary to what he had first thought, instead of hurting him even more, she crouched to his level. Her face had indeed softened, which… He wasn’t sure if he should see it as something positive, really.
At least, she didn’t look like she was going to kill him, so that was that, he supposed…
-“Aw, look at what you did,” she cooed with “compassion”, though he knew very well she wasn’t able to feel such an emotion. No, she was just a cold-hearted monster. Ha.
Then again, not the time for puns.
He glanced back at her, obvious fear visible in his eyes. What was she going to do to him…? More tears rolled down his cheeks, stinging his face with how low the temperature was in the room. Should they go lower, his tears would most likely freeze on his skin…
-“I told you to stop, didn’t I?” she continued with the same cooing tone, except this time it had a reproach side to it. Snatcher didn’t answer, too terrified to do so, only able to wait for his terrible fate. However, his silence didn’t seem to please Vanessa and she reached to his right ear, pinching it as a parent would do to a disobedient child, and pulling it up.
-“Didn’t I?” she urged him, irritated once more, and Snatcher just knew she was waiting for an answer.
-“Y-yes!” he gasped from the pain, sobbing more while his head tried to follow the movement for it not to hurt too much: “Yes, you… You did!”
As if this was enough, the Queen slowly let go of his ear… And instead, let her hand wander on his face, stroking it with affection. Her expression turned mother-like again and she tilted her head to the side, staring at him with tenderness.
What the Hell was going on…? Snatcher couldn’t move, paralyzed as he felt her sharp claws caressing his cheek, the only movements coming from him being shivers. That only reminded him of that time in the cellar… That time where she had frozen his right eye…
-“You look so much like him…” was her next sentence and the expression on her face turned to some sort of nostalgia, one that the previous ghost really, really didn’t like: “Is it why you’re trying to run away so bad?” she then asked with a lower tone, her hand suddenly tensing on his cheek.
Oh no. Oh no, Snatcher knew exactly this intonation, and this wasn’t good in the slightest. And just like he had thought…
-“Why do I bother?” added the Queen, her features hardening from what seemed to be both anger and frustration: “What if you’re just like him? Ready to leave for someone else, abandoning me and leaving me forever?”
Snatcher’s eyes widened as the gears in his mind turned and turned and turned- until he was starting to understand what was going on. Vanessa was in fact trying to-
-“Maybe you’re not worth my help,” she concluded, coldly, her eyes soon turning to daggers, just like they had been hundreds of years ago.
The Queen was seeing him as a kid who needed guidance, someone she could take care of in her own sick way, and the reason for that had probably to do with his appearance. She was mistaking him as a child who looked like her old lover, a child she could teach how to behave, a child she could control… A child who could fill the hole in her cold, dead heart.
And this was just terrifying- though this was nothing compared to what the former shade felt as he saw her lifting her clawed hand up, ready to end his life once and for all. Oh no. Oh no. No, no, no, no-!
-“W-wait!” he shouted with a loud, panicked voice, hoping the Queen would stop- even if just for a second. Snatcher had to say something, anything! His life depended on the words he would use, literally. Any mistake, any wrong sentence, and this would be over for him.
He had experienced it once, and this was more than enough.
To his greatest relief, the shadowy monster stopped, her motion interrupted as she watched him intently- he could tell she was waiting for what he had to say. This was his chance, his only chance.
-“I-I don’t know w-who you’re talking about,” he lied, his voice trembling and his chest heaving up and down from how scared he was: “I-I’m sorry for trying to leave, I was…” he gulped down, his eyes fixed on the hand that had been so close to killing him again: “I was scared. I’m… I don’t know better, I need…” he continued, trying to find what she wanted to hear. But would she believe him…? There was only one way to find out.
-“I n-need guidance,” he gulped down again, afraid of Vanessa’s reaction to his words. But then again, what other choice did he have in a situation like this ? “I… You know best, and I… I’m just a child. I… I know nothing.”
His lower lip was trembling as he stared at Vanessa, his body trembling. What was she going to do after that? Would she listen to him, or would she kill him just like she had years ago? The suspense was unbearable… If she didn’t end his life first, then his heart would do the job just fine by pounding more than what his body could handle. And after a few seconds, ones that had seemed like hours, days, no, centuries to Snatcher… Vanessa lowered her hand slowly, a tender and yet sick smile taking place on her features again. A few giggles left her mouth, but the child knew that they were nothing but poison.
No matter how human Vanessa seemed to behave sometimes… It was impossible for him to forget what she had done to Subcon, what she had done to the village, what she had done to its inhabitants and… What she had done to him.
-“Oooh…” she cooed affectionately, and while Snatcher hated that sound… He felt safer. Apparently… Apparently his words had worked enough to touch the Queen which, in his situation, was more than anything he could have asked for.
-“How cute,” she mused to herself, before focusing her attention on the former ghost once more: “Perhaps you’re not entirely like him… Maybe I could teach you how to be a suitable heir to the throne,” she told him, before adding in a lower voice, almost to herself: “And I’ll make sure to turn you into the perfect prince, unlike him.”
Each of her last words sounded like venom on her tongue, like she was sickened just by mentioning his old self. Now, her resentment was now fully apparent and Snatcher was more than relieved to know she hadn’t put two and two together about who he really was… Otherwise, he was certain that this icy, clawed hand would have ended his life without even giving him the chance to save himself.
His thoughts were interrupted as he saw her hand hovering above his trapped feet… And suddenly, the ice turned to snow, finally giving him the possibility to crawl away. However, the moment he tried to pull his feet away, an acute pain instantly stopped him, making him cry out: his ankle was still very much broken. The Queen seemed to notice this and she covered her mouth in a way that lacked sincerity.
She was just playing the role of the perfect Princess, reacting like the social rules used to dictate her behaviour in public- but now, whether it was out of habit or because she actually wanted to act this way, Snatcher just loathed her even more. Oh, how he wanted to put an end to her life, once and for all, to finish what he had never had the courage to do.
This needed to be done if he wanted Subcon to be safe someday, perfectly safe-
-“Don’t worry,” she told him softly, trying to reassure him like one would try with a scared animal. But the former ghost was anything but a scared pet, and this only terrified him even more. She extended her arms to him, as if she wanted to pick him up- the motion made Snatcher panic once more and he tried to crawl away again. However, despite what his survival instincts were urging him to do… All he could do was to stop, the pain preventing him from fleeing what seemed to be inevitable now. Not listening to his sobs, to his scared whimpers, the Queen lost no time in picking him up like one would do to a kid-
But that was what he had become, right? A useless, powerless kid, unable to save his friends, not even able to save himself! Rage fuelled him again, but not against Vanessa. This time, he was furious at himself, furious for being so weak, furious for not being capable of defending himself- he could do nothing, nothing but just wait for it to end.
What other choice did he have in his condition? He couldn’t run, couldn’t fight Vanessa, couldn’t wait for his friends to come and save him! From what had happened with the Time Piece, he had no idea if they had survived, and if the bow-wearing kid hadn’t found a way to escape the ice prison Vanessa had built around her, then… Then she was most likely dead.
This was the worst case scenario of this whole situation. More tears left his eyes, wetting his cheeks even more, stinging the places where his previous tears had frozen, had burnt his skin- all he could feel was fear and despair.
The joyful Queen readjusted her grip on him and held him like a toddler in her arms, ignoring his sobs and his trembling. No, on the contrary, she seemed like she was voluntarily not paying attention to them, only focusing in the beautiful and perfect reality she thought she was living in.
-“There we go, there we go,” she patted his back and, to Snatcher’s greatest horror, she started to walk towards the door leading to the hallway again.
Where was she taking him…?
As if she had guessed his thoughts, she merely smiled happily, laughing again with that awful giggle of hers:
-“Aw, don’t worry,” she tried to reassure him again: “A young prince like you could use some rest after hurting yourself like that,” she explained, before smiling again: “Luckily, I have a spare room for you!”
The former ghost’s mind was soon plagued by confusion. A spare room? He didn’t remember such a thing when he used to live in the mano- but then, it hit him. There was indeed a spare room in this cursed place.
The nursery they had commissioned for the child they eventually never had. And Vanessa was taking him there.
This was a pure nightmare… A nightmare Snatcher wouldn’t be able to escape that easily.
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Well, someone is going to have a good nap in a perfectly not scary nursery :)
I hope you liked this chapter, thank you so much for your likes and reblogs (also I read your tag and aaaAAAH THANK YOU) !
=> Chapter 23
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littleoddwriter · 3 years
Text
Bad Puppy | Roman Sionis x Victor Zsasz | ZsaszMask | Smut
"petplay zsaszmask petplay zsaszmask muzzle chain hhhhhhhhhhhh" anon
summary; Victor bit a patron of the club and is punished for it by being muzzled and chained. Also, smut ensues.
notes; KINKS: PetPlay; Puppy Play; Daddy!Kink; Sexual Punishment; Collars; Chain; Muzzle; Exhibitionism; Deepthroating; Humping; Coming in Pants (this should be everything major, lol). Short mention of biting, injury, blood, death threats, but it’s really just one paragraph in the beginning; Lemon; PWP; Smut.
A pathetic little whine sounded next to Roman. He was sitting in a booth at his club, conversing with some patrons, while Victor kneeled on the floor; a muzzle, which was basically a little basket made of metal, fastened around his face, and a studded dog collar, made of the most pristine leather, with a chain attached to it around his neck. The chain was connected to the pillar behind the booth, so that Victor was basically stuck in place, since the chain was deliberately short enough not to let him move farther away from Roman than where he was kneeling.
Although, if necessary, Victor would be able to quickly free himself from the chain because he was still on duty, after all, and if something were to happen, he couldn't be immobile.
"What is it, pet?" Roman asked, looking down at Victor with a slight smirk.
Another whine and a grumble. Roman could see his jaw working and trying to open to say something, but the muzzle was successfully keeping him quiet in that regard. His pet's hand twitched outward for a moment, probably wanting to grab onto his pant leg and pull on it, but Victor knew his punishment would only get a lot worse if he were to do so.
"Nuh-uh. You don't get to make demands tonight. At all. Unless it is something extremely urgent and important, you're supposed to be quiet. So zip it, 'kay?"
Without making another sound Victor looked down and nodded, bowing his head in submission. Oh, what a good boy! Even though he's been so bad before.
Zsasz had bitten a guest, who came a little too close to Roman in a way where his puppy's brain just short-circuited, apparently. And fuck, it was an effort to get him off of the poor guy's arm, which was bleeding after the fact. They threatened him not to tell anyone, unless he wants to be killed. He got the message and left, holding his bleeding arm, while also repressing tears that clearly shone in his eyes. It was rather beautiful and fun, Roman had to admit. Yet, something like this could not happen without punishment. Hence, why Victor was now kneeling next to him on the cold hard floor, chained to a pillar and a muzzle around the lower half of his face.
"Good boy," Roman murmured then and turned back to the people he sat in a booth with.
A while later, the crowd was thinning out, only few people were left in the club, and no one sat at a table with Roman anymore.
Apparently, Victor took that as his cue and began nuzzling his muzzled face against Roman's calf, knee and then thigh, rubbing it in and whining a little in the back of his throat. Fuck, Roman was so weak for his whining and nuzzling.
"Does my pet want to be unchained, hm?" Roman cooed, brushing his hand through his puppy's bleach-blond buzzcut, basically petting his head as if he really was a dog.
Zsasz whined again and nodded.
"Hm, I'm not sure you've earned yourself that privilege, just yet." A whimper this time. "You've brought this on yourself, pet, you know that. I have told you so many times not to harass my patrons, unless I tell you to, and yet it happens again and again."
Roman let out a disappointed sigh. It wasn't entirely an act, but he laid it on a little thick there. He wasn't actually that displeased with Zsasz about this, especially since that prick truly came a little too close. He had been about to say or do something himself, but Victor had been a little quicker.
This time, Victor actually gripped onto his pant leg and tugged it a little, pathetic little whines leaving his lips, as if those were the only sounds he was capable of doing now. It amused Roman. His little puppy was always so needy of attention and approval from him.
"I have to admit, I'm a little tired of sitting around here. How about we go upstairs. I'll chain you to the bed then, 'kay?" Victor nodded against his thigh frantically, making happy little noises in the back of his throat now.
Roman smirked and then pushed Zsasz off of his leg. Then he got up and loosened the chain from the pillar, pulling on it and leading Victor, who was crawling on all fours, through the club and to the lift, which would get them upstairs.
In the loft, Roman chained his little puppy to the bed's headboard, like he said he would. He even allowed him to get on the bed, kneeling on it with a straight back, just like when he was on the floor.
Roman got naked and then lay down on the bed, propping the pillows up, so he could look at Victor properly.
"You may take the muzzle off, now."
Immediately Victor's hands went up and unfastened the leather strips, removing the muzzle from around his face. He laid it down on the bed beside him, clenching and releasing his jaw repeatedly.
"Good boy. Now, pet, I want you to get over here and take my cock in your mouth, 'kay? I want you to fucking choke yourself on it. If you can make me come quickly, I might even unchain you. How does that sound, pet?"
Victor keened, nodding frantically as he moved himself between Roman's legs, his face right in front of his owner's perfect cock. The chain was just long enough to let him do that rather comfortably without restricting him too much, although it was strained even then.
Zsasz looked at him with his big, round eyes, asking for permission to start. Roman just twirled his finger.
Then his little puppy was already taking him into his mouth, suckling on the cockhead and licking over it, pushing the tip of his tongue into the slit. Roman let out a breathy moan. Victor was really determined, it seemed.
After a few moments of just paying attention to his cockhead, and massaging his balls with one hand and holding him steady at the base with the other, Victor took him further into his mouth. He bobbed his head up and down a few times, taking him deeper each time, until his plush, stretched lips met his own hand. He removed the hand, which was around the base and instead gripped onto Roman's thigh with it. His other hand was still rolling the other man's balls around in it, eliciting deep groans from his owner.
Zsasz then finally lodged Roman's cock deep in his throat, his nose buried in his well-kept pubic hair. The tight canal of his throat convulsed around the intrusion, but he kept it there. It drove Roman crazy. He bucked his hips, making Victor's head move with it and also making his throat pulse around him even more.
His boy came up for air after a bit, panting and drooling all over his cock; a line that was a mix of precome and spit connected his full, swollen lips with Roman's cock.
"Good boy, keep going. Daddy's gonna come soon if you keep doing that," Roman rasped a little breathlessly.
Victor grinned stupidly and then dove back down, taking Roman's cock down to his base, again. He repeated that process a few times, suckling the cockhead whenever he came up for air.
In no time at all, Roman gripped onto his puppy's head, pushed it down and kept it there while he was coming deep down his throat, moaning and groaning all the while. When he was done, he let go of him, and let himself relax into the mattress, panting and completely limp.
Victor stayed between his legs, patiently waiting for him to come down from his orgasm to unchain him. He could do it himself, but since it was no emergency he would wait.
Eventually, Roman caught his breath enough and felt less dazed, so that he leaned over to unclasp the chain from the headboard. Then he also removed the collar from around Victor's neck, laying it down on the bedside table. Then Zsasz lay down beside Roman, resting his head on his chest and looking at him. His crotch was pressing against Roman's thigh and he could feel how hard and damp he was.
"Do it," was all he had to say.
Then Zsasz was humping his leg like a dog in rut, panting and whining, until he came in his pants in maybe a minute, if anything.
"Ew."
"Sorry," Victor mumbled against his chest. If he was apologising for what he was punished for, or for ruining his own - and also Roman's - pants, or perhaps both, Roman didn't know.
"Good little puppy," Roman whispered and pressed a kiss to Victor's head.
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Imagine an elf is given a job to do at a human institution. The humans think elves don’t need bathroom breaks, since they know they can hold it for days, but this elf has been traveling to reach their job, and has already been holding it to the point they are in pain. They ask for a break, but their job is important and time sensitive, so they admit they can still hold it when asked. After a full day of work, the elf tries to reach the bathroom in time, but they were never told where it is.
I swear it's like I'm cursed with people asking me this all the time. Fine I'll bite.
The elf tries to desperately find the bathroom. He considers going in a bush or using an empty plastic bottle. The elf keeps walking down the never ending halls of the building trying to find the bathroom. The hallways look the same so it's easy to get lost. It's like a never ending hell for the elf as his bladder is about to burst. He finds a room at the end of the hallway. It leads down a flight of stairs. The elf decides to go down this way since it beats the repetitive hallways. He goes further down the stairwell and it gets darker. The concrete steps slowly transition into rusted metal stairs the deeper he goes down the hole. It gets so dark and the elf is desperate. He can't hold it in any longer. He unzips his fly and pees over the rail down the abyss of the stairwell. He sighs with relief as he unleashes the might of his bladder like a majestic waterfall. Once he's done he zips himself up and is about to walk back up the stairs until he hears a sound.
It's a low growling sound. He noticed when he was peeing his urine hit something at the bottom. It wasn't the floor since the sound was too uneven. Some of the urine sounded like it was bouncing off this object while other sounds indicated it would just drip off of this object. So this would make the target of his urine very uneven. He realizes to his horror he hit something at the bottom of the stairwell.
Suddenly, a loud clanging noise erupts from the bottom of the stairwell. The elf notes that something is climbing up the stair well. He can hear the metal creaking of the rusted stairs. Then he hears that low growling sound permeating through the air again. He hears the clanging metal again and it keeps coming at a faster pace like a drum beat. The faster it comes the more he can feel the metal staircase shaking. He sees a faint red glow and realizes what it is. He mutters the dreaded word of his nightmares, "Balrog".
The elf sprints as fast as he can up the stairs with this creature chasing behind him. The clanging metal sound is getting louder and the metal stair case shaking as he runs. He feels heat behind him. He doesn't know if that's the Balrog or his mind playing tricks on him. He runs with all his might praying to God save him from this horrific nightmare. He swears he'll be a good elf, go to church every Sunday and not be racist to dwarves. He runs faster than he ever has before. This is the marathon of his life. The metal clangs louder and louder and the low growling noise is replaced by a bellowing roar. It is an unholy roar, a roar from Hell itself.
He clenches his butt cheeks and flattens his hands and runs faster and faster. Faster than a deer, faster than a cheetah he runs with all his might. His legs are burning with pain but he knows he must run lest the Balrog comes for him. As he takes his next step he trips. He notices the material of the stairs is different. It's concrete now instead of metal. He's happy, he's halfway there. He looks behind and sees the creature chasing him in more detail. It has a red muscular body that glows like embers. It's slightly bigger than a Grizzly bear. It has gigantic wings like a bat. Horns like a goat. Then he sees it's face, he can't make out every detail but he sees enough to know what it's like. A face like a lion or a dog or a mix. With a mane of fiery fur surrounding its face and neck. But the worst part was the eyes. Those beady little black pupils against a glowing yellow eyeball that stay focused on the elf no matter what. Like a hawk about to snatch its prey.
The elf recovers from his temporary frozen fear and jolts with all his might. He runs as fast and as hard as he can. His exerts such force with his legs he's running faster than an Olympic athlete. Yet the Balrog is no slouch either and is able to keep pace. The feeling in his thighs shifts from burning pain to a tiring weakness. The feeling in his thighs is becoming fainter and his legs are about to give out. He perseveres with all his might. His clothes drenched in sweat, his hair soaked with sweat like a beach bunny who's hair is soaked with salty ocean water. The sweat in his face stings his eyes, or is it the tears? He can't tell the difference at this point and he doesn't care, survival is his only goal. He's so desperate and thinks he might be done for as the roar of the Balrog gets louder.
Then something smashes into his face. "The door!", he shouts with joy! He pushes the door open and blasts through it like a cannonball bursting the side of a ship. He thinks he's free and begins to slow down a bit. He drops to his knees due to his legs giving out. His legs now get a well deserved rest. He thanks God for getting him through this. It's all over.
Then all of a sudden the elf hears a loud crashing noise. The Balrog has burst through the door. The elf tries to will his legs to rise but they are dead. He is immobile. He tries to crawl to escape the Balrog. But then he remembers how the hallways are like a maze. He's scared shitless and thinks he's done for.
Then he remembers that the hallways are a maze. If he can get lost in it, so can the Balrog. So he crawls through a door to his right and it leads to another hallway. This briefly buys him some time. He desperately tries to think of a plan to escape. He can hear the Balrog roar in anger and impotency. The Balrog hasn't figured out where he is but that luck will run out eventually.
The elf has an idea! He will try to make his way to a hallway with the nearest window. Through the window he can make his escape to the outside. Now is the hard part, trying to remember the layout. The elf smacks his head in desperation. He was so desperate to get work he forgot to look into the map of the place he was working at. He breathes and calms down. He decides he will crawl in a straight line to reach a window. If he does this he's bound to reach something eventually.
The elf starts his army crawl and reaches across the hall to another door. He opens it but the Balrog bursts through the door behind him and chases after him. The Balrog pounces after him like a gorilla about to charge an enemy. The elf increases his pace by using his forearms and elbows to pull himself away. He uses his body to slither like a snake to be more efficient. He bursts through another door with the Balrog right behind him.
They keep up this routine for a while and the elf is getting desperate. His elbows are sore and bruised. He can feel immense pain all the way to his bones whenever his elbows hit the tiled floor with desperate force. His legs still haven't recovered yet. His sides are sore and screaming with pain by writhing like a snake. Elves were not built for such primitive movement. He must push through lest the Balrog capture him.
After going through multiple doors and hallways the elf runs into a wall. His head is sore from the impact and he is horrified then relieved. He sees a light coming from the window. It's moonlight! He can see the moon outside unobscured by clouds. He can see the asphalt parking lot below. He can see some bushes lining the bottom of the building acting as a small wall between the building and the parking lot. He can see the delicately manicured trees dotted through out the parking lot to give it a quaint aesthetic. The elf realizes he's about 3 stories up. He tries to crawl up to open the window to let himself out. But the window has no handles since it's built into the building itself. He desperately bangs on the glass in order to break it to no avail. His arms are too weak from crawling and there is very little strength left in him at all. This is it he realizes. He's done for.
Then the Balrog has caught up with him. It's mouth curled in anger like a lion about to go for the kill. The Balrog roars and it's beady eyes move and focus in on the elf. The Balrog lunges at the elf like a panther pouncing on it's prey. The elf tries to move to his right side in desperation and cries. The elf can feel and hear the raw power of the Balrogs voice and the intense heat eminating from it. It's so hot it gives him a sunburn. The elf loses all his will to carry on and just gives into his demise.
As the Balrog lunges at the elf he underestimates his own strength and winds up plowing through the wall like the Kool Aid Man. The Balrog roars in the night as it falls. It falls 3 stories and lands on the rugged asphalt instead of the bushes due to the speed he was running at. The Balrog's face looks up at the sky and the elf in impotent anger and surprise. As he lands on the ground it smashes the concrete and pounds into the earth itself. A big crater is formed with dust swirling around it. The elf crawls desperately to take a look. At this point he's not sure if he'll survive or not.
Once the dust clears he can see the Balrog on the ground. It's arms are splayed and it's chest and back are broken from the impact. It's once mighty bat wings are smashed and look more like a broken hand. It's neck is twisted, bent in a shape that it should not be in at all. It's head is bent to the left side and the back of it's head is cracked open like an egg with brain matter flowing out as it's yolk. It's tongue is hanging out of it's mouth. However, it's beady eyes are still open. They stare at the asphalt.
The elf stares intently to make sure the creature is dead. It's chest isn't moving, there are no signs of breathing. The elf doesn't want to take a chance. He stares intently at that thing for 5 minutes. He concludes the creature is dead. He is surprised. The creature of his nightmares, this all powerful demon that has slaughtered his kind is dead. Not by his hands but by the creatures own bloodlust and stupidity. It was so bent on coming after him it didn't even see the window in front of him or even use his wings to fly.
The elf sighs in relief then he feels shame. The creature died by its own idiocy and all the elf did was run. He'd be a disgrace to his ancestors. He laments on how pussified he and his kind have become. How pussified the world has become. No longer a world of heroes and monsters. Just creatures trying to get by and pay the rent, mortgage and whatever debt they have. Even the Balrog he notices is pussified in its own way. The Balrog appears to be a juvenile one. It's not as big as it's ancestors before it. Only slightly bigger than a bear while it's ancestors would have towered over this office building. It also seemed very stupid while it's ancestors were much smarter and used weapons and cunning to kill their foes not just brute strength. This juvenile Balrog has devolved into a pathetic caricature of his ancestors.
The elf laments this is what life is now? Just mediocrity and patheticness. He stares at the moon and his thoughts go silent. He feels some comfort and his eyes close as his head drops hanging over the building. His body falls into the bushes that cushion his blow. He finally has earned his rest.
The elf wakes up in a hospital room. He sees flowers on a table to his right next to the window. To his left the door and a table with some food. To his front a tv with nothing on it. A doctor and nurse enter the room to greet the elf. The nurse is a young human woman in her mid 20's. The head doctor an older elf, old enough to be his father tells him, "You are lucky to be alive son. You're body was so bruised and broken we thought you'd die of exhaustion. You're muscles were overstretched so much it looked like the sinews would tear. Thankfully, one of your coworkers found you and called an ambulance. You've been here for a month now recovering."
The elf barely takes it all in but he can get the jist of what the doctor is saying. The elf asks the doctor, "How long do I stay here for?". The doctor replies, "Probably another month, we will have to put you through physical therapy." The elf impotently accepts his fate. The doctor and nurse leave. The elf tries to take in his surroundings.
The door opens and the elf's boss enters the room. He greets the elf, "Hey champ how're you doing? We heard what happened and saw you and the dead Balrog in the parking lot in the morning. After we called the ambulance to pick you up we inspected the building. We went to the old fire escape stair way in the back of the building and saw where the Balrog came form. We hired an exterminator to look and he revealed there was a Balrog infestation at the bottom of the stairwell. They expanded their nest from underground to the bottom of the stairwell. So the building is closed until the exterminator can eradicate them all. He and his crew are dwarves so they got experience with this kind of thing. This should last a few months so everyone who can is remote working. The rest are on furlough. But by the time you recover the infestation should be exterminated and we can all go back to work. Hope you have a speedy recovery pal." The boss leaves and the elf is lies in his bed just absorbing this all in. He stares at the ceiling unsure of his life at this point.
He stares in silence at the ceiling. He just stares at the white ceiling tiles pock marked with little random indentations. There is no pattern at all to them. He just stares and lowers his head back to his front. He looks at the blank tv in front of him and sees himself. His neck is in a cast, his face is bandaged, primarily his cheeks. His arms and legs are in casts and lifted to ease the pain. One of his ears is bandaged while the other has scabs from some cuts he got in his ordeal. He's unsure of what to do now with his life after all of this. He then decides to go to sleep.
I hope this answers your question anon.
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tosikoarts · 4 years
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SFW Alphabet | Shiraishi Yoshitake
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Long live the King! You can check tosikowrites tag for more. Warning: there’s a lot under the cut.
A = Affection (How affectionate are they? How do they show affection?)
Relationship for Shiraishi is more about friendship with intimacy than a long tradition-based order of courtship and conventions. His affection does not manifest in standard gestures like buying flowers or singing serenades, acting all gentlemanly and saving the day pompously like a romantic novel protagonist. If he ever does anything from list above, it is his daydreaming that he doesn’t try to bring to life.
One of Shiraishi’s main goal in the relationship is to keep his partner happy, and the main sign that they are happy is their shrill laughter. It doesn’t matter if they are laughing because stray toothy animal bit his head or because the joke was funny (yay!), mission accomplished and he is satisfied.  Seeing them cry is worse than being hit hundred times with a baton.
Every single soul in the one kilometer radius know whom Shiraishi loves and why he loves them and how amazing, adorable, lovely, cool they are. Sugimoto and Asirpa are making earplugs because Shiraishi can’t shut the hell up. He managed to piss off the men who kidnapped him with bragging about his loved one. Kiroranke puts maximum effort not to bury him in the nearest snowdrift. His admiration doesn’t die down through years.
B = Best friend (What would they be like as a best friend? How would the friendship start?)
The best friend to get dumb with. Sing inappropriate songs, prank others, annoy boring elders and all this jazz. His jokes are never offensive because Shiraishi wants to have good time only but they are unpredictable and never repetitive. His instinct of self-preservation goes m.i.a. in the process so it’s literally life-saving to have a reliable person by the side.
If you need a friend to gossip with Shiraishi is you best choice. He got hot tea on everyone, I mean e v e r y o n e, from old man Hijikata to naïve Koito and he needs best friend to spill it. Damn, Shiraishi is definitely that bih with neon acrylics and golden hoops.
Probably the friend that introduce you to people and brings you into new circles. Wide range of characters, social statuses, affiliations gives a chance to meet potential partners. There is one unspoken rule though: you come here as Shiraishi’s bff, you leave this place as Shiraishi’s bff.
Speaking of which, he comes across as possessive friend. Restriction of other’s social circle and constant need in validation aren’t his behavior traits, but Shiraishi is sensitive to subtle changes in communication. Sole possibility of losing the established connection gives him extreme anxiety. To avoid it he can make concessions and sacrifice his own interests for them.
C = Cuddles (Do they like to cuddle? How would they cuddle?)
Eeh, indifferent? He doesn’t seem like a big fan of cuddling but will do it on occasions. When lights are down and they are in a private of the room, Shiraishi may spoon them to feel the comfort of another person and a little bit of safety he finds in their touch. He doesn’t have a preferred position as well: whatever his loved one wants he will do without hesitation.
D = Domestic (Do they want to settle down? How are they at cooking and cleaning?)
The closest home equivalent that Shiraishi knows is a dark prison cell and this is how he sees the stability in its best light. Yep, same food every day, funny inadequacies behind the adjacent wall, and a guy in not-so-sexy uniform who checks his asshole now and then. What a paradise. Seriously, he needs time to get used to concept of comfort zone. Maybe, after few years Shiraishi himself will offer to find a cozy place for both of them. Average cook. Doesn’t know how to hold a broom.
E = Ending (If they had to break up with their partner, how would they do it?)
Breaking up with Shiraishi is a whole three-ring circus because he is hot and then cold, yes and then no. Get ready to prepare sad clown look for both you and him because it will be a long story: as soon as the idea settles in his head, Shiraishi will turn into giant wreck. Everybody around notices him walking in circles as well as asking Sugimoto how to properly show person that he is not interested. Of course, he ignores rational “just tell them, set a record straight”. Of course, Shiraishi plays dumb and tries to distance himself in all ways possible and impossible. The only way to end this agony is to break the relationship yourself before the mutual sympathy and respect turn into disgust and tension.
F = Fiance(e) (How do they feel about commitment? How quick would they want to get married?)
Doesn’t experience a burning passion to get married but doesn’t completely discards this possibility either. If person seems to be the only one, the meant one, Shiraishi will pop a question after 3-4 years of stable relationship. Cruel push and pull game, sudden break ups and get backs together kill his will to settle down. He may stay with them but Shiraishi will never bring up thought of marriage, wedding bells, and family.
G = Gentle (How gentle are they, both physically and emotionally?)
Even the prison could not knock softness out of Shiraishi: he is utterly gentle with his partner, dreading hurting them or jeopardize their life with the hunt of tattooed skins. Choosing the right words is a little more complicated so translation of an emotional mess in his head does not always convey implied sentiment. That’s the reason why Shiraishi may be unintentionally harsh when it comes to serious conversations: he is torn between being tender and showing firm character.
H = Hugs (Do they like hugs? How often do they do it? What are their hugs like?)
Somehow, loves hugs but rarely initiate them. He is almost always cold, his skin feels cold and rough like papyrus paper, therefore, his partner frequently serves as a living heater. When they are busy with work or chores, Shiraishi catches their hand and embraces their arm, practically immobilizing it. Hints fly left and right when Shiraishi wants a hug: he really comes to the partner with puppy eyes and  index finger pointing towards one another because no, he won’t go for it himself, he want his loved one to do it.
I = I love you (How fast do they say the L-word?)
Mentally, he already did it when they met for first time but it takes at least a month for Shiraishi to say three magic words aloud. Two would be even better. He's not serious enough to wait for the friendly phase of a romantic relationship when people have already got used to each other. The longer the relationship lasts, the more serious Shiraishi gets though. You can hear it in the changing of his voice when his playful “I love you so so much” shifts to calm and earnest confession.
J = Jealousy (How jealous do they get? What do they do when they’re jealous?)
Easily jealoused walking disaster that will follow his partner like a poodle if they give him a reason to doubt their faithfulness. Sometimes Shiraishi overreacts, he even thought Sugimoto was looking at his loved one somehow weirdly but quickly brushed this idea off just for it to come back to him next day. Shiraishi gets extremely needy and tries to show everybody that this is HIS person. He is NOT sharing. They love ME. He gives them extra kisses, hugs, grabs their hand and squeezes it few times, smiles at them as much as he physically can.
If his loved one is the one being overly flirtatious, Shiraishi feels awful. Wave of insecurity knocks him off the feet and he doesn’t know what to do. He is overthinker so without proper explanation Shiraishi comes up with the worst scenarios possible. In this case he distance himself until person reassures him in their relationship.
K = Kisses (What are their kisses like? Where do they like to kiss you? Where do they like to be kissed?)
In the beginning, Shiraishi seems the worst kisser in the world. He has little experience, almost no experience to be honest: yujo do not have time to teach clients the art of kissing. So, yeah, he is pretty average, goofy, sloppy and eager. Wants to kiss everywhere anyhow.  
After a little bit of training his kisses become more sophisticated, and Shiraishi himself doesn’t try to jump on his partner with smooches. He is still impatient when they put their hands on him and tends to get touchy even in public places. When Shiraishi gets in the mood for kissing session, he is unstoppable.
There is a sweet spot right under the earlobe kissing which send Shiraishi on the cloud nine. One kiss and he surrounds to the will of the partner. Ask whatever you want. Besides that he doesn’t care where to be kissed. Likes to give his partner gentle pecks on the nose and cheeks.
L = Little ones (How are they around children?)
If you remember chart going around the Tumblr with categories like “wine aunt, great at babysitting, mediocre at babysitting” Shiraishi would fall both in “God is dead, house is on fire” and “Is a baby”. Kids absolutely love him because they are on the same level *cough cough* and he is overall funny guy unlike the most adults around. Shiraishi likes active games and never sits still. For every crying child he got a candy and few tricks in his sleeve. He would love to be a father one day so he has few more minions to annoy grumpy people.
M = Morning (How are mornings spent with them?)
People who sleep in together stay together. This is the rule of Yoshitake house. No matter what time his partner wakes up Shiraishi wakes up later. Nine in the morning? He is in the bed until noon. Three in the afternoon? He is still sleeping, squeezing his partner tightly in his arms. Even after waking up Shiraishi stays under the blanket. He playfully asks the loved one if they want to keep him company and cuddle too but if they are in hurry, he will lazily crawl out of bed and cook something for them.
N = Night (How are nights spent with them?)
Prefers to spend night outside gambling or drinking, skinny-dipping, lying in the grass and telling fables with varying percentage of truth. In the cold season Shiraishi still likes to go downtown but mainly to meet old friends and have dinner with them and his loved one. Rarely he chooses to stay in the comfort of home. Shiraishi teaches his partner different board games, and soon playing turns into a competition. From time to time Shiraishi loses on purpose, gifting sweet victory in shogi/igo/karuta to the most significant person in his life.
O = Open (When would they start revealing things about themselves? Do they say everything all at once or wait a while to reveal things slowly?)
You don’t have to ask anything unless you want to spend next hour listening to Shiraishi’s biography. He will tell you about the relationship with parents, about childhood scar on the knee, about search of Sister Miyazawa, and what a bastards his cellmates were. The list is endless, and every day Shiraishi remembers one more story he forgot to tell. There are only two things that can stop him: firm “no, not now, Shiraishi” from the partner and lack of mutual openness on their part.
P = Patience (How easily angered are they?)
It is impossible to piss Shiraishi off. His ability to reduce everything to a joke does not help only in advanced cases where person wanted to break his neck from the beginning. Even when his patience runs out, Shiraishi cannot explode in anger, he just grimaces, stomps, and spits sarcasm. In everyday life, he avoids conflicts as much as possible and does everything to find a convenient compromise so you won’t catch him slipping. He would rather go for a walk and leave another person to cool down than get involved in heated argument.
Q = Quizzes (How much would they remember about you? Do they remember every little detail you mention in passing, or do they kind of forget everything?)
He doesn’t remember shit if his partner doesn’t indicate that it is important information. Worth remembering. Shiraishi, please, listen. At the same time he notices slight changes in their appearance, from new haircut to ring, and keeps in mind such details like eye color, favorite clothes, maybe, particular qualities like never buttoning shirt up completely or writing notes on the wrist. Anniversaries? Baby, he doesn’t remember what day it is today. Just give up.
R = Remember (What is their favorite moment in your relationship?)
The first kiss. Not only did it happen completely by accident due to a bet, but it was so awkward and unexpected that Shiraishi forgot how kissing works. Yep, he froze feeling their warm lips on his, only eyebrows slightly raised up in disbelief. After this incident, Shiraishi could not stop thinking about them. God, he is disgrace, to embarrass yourself in front of the person you like. It could not be otherwise. To remedy the situation, Shiraishi pulled himself together, remembered the cheesiest lines in the reserve, and suggested to try again because he was astonished by their daring attitude. He has no idea what happened after that but that spontaneous kiss with a touch of childishness and innocence stayed with him forever.
Oh, one more moment! Meeting them after coming back from Karafuto. Honestly, Shiraishi didn’t believe he will make it out alive. Ogata or Kiroranke could slice his throat, hide the body, and tell Asirpa he left with his tail between his legs. Therefore, it is miracle to see their adorable face again.
S = Security (How protective are they? How would they protect you? How would they like to be protected?)
Let’s be real, he is the one who needs protection. He also needs some ass-whooping for getting in troubles regularly too but that is not the point. Shiraishi rarely stands up against obviously strong opponents and chooses famous Joestar backup plan – run for his life with loved one under his arm. Another option includes involvement of threatening allies, mostly Sugimoto, to save them both. Sometimes courage overwhelms him, and Shiraishi comes up with risky but bold plan how to save them without outside help but it happens much less often.
T = Try (How much effort would they put into dates, anniversaries, gifts, everyday tasks?)
Most of the time, Shiraishi hopes that everything will be fine by itself, every event will run like clockwork without excessive effort. Dates are unpretentious: no fancy restaurants, exquisite gifts, long intricate confessions of endless love, etc. To his credit, Shiraishi takes chores more or less seriously and does his best. For the anniversaries he transforms in person you've never seen before: dressed immaculately Shiraishi holds a small bouquet of bright moss phlox and box of sweet sakuramochis, his face glows with happiness and love, however, you can sense a nervousness behind the wide smile. On days so special, he is afraid to ruin the mood with usual tomfoolery.
U = Ugly (What would be some bad habits of theirs?)
Canonically, Shiraishi is not the tidiest person around. For some it may be stumbling block because constant battle with desire to throw him in hot springs and scrub ingrained dirt with the hardest sponge can be too tiresome. Also Shiraishi bites his nails until they bleed as well as pulls the hangnails until his fingers start to hurt.
A sense of proportion leaves Shiraishi as soon as a bottle of sake appears on the horizon. Even though he is funny and harmless drinker, he goes overboard with alcohol to end up throwing out behind the nearest pine.
Little lies always slip through the conversation no matter what it is about. When the truth is revealed, it is too late to blame him.
V = Vanity (How concerned are they with their looks?)
Shiraishi doesn’t care about his appearance but likes to get compliments on it. He knows bunch of tricks how to remove different stains from clothes in the wild and doesn't know how to avoid them. One look is enough for Shiraishi: he could wear his old prison uniform for life time because it is strangely comfortable and universal for any event. Except the pursuit by guards, of course.
Has mixed feelings about his tattoos. Living with them is to sit on a powder keg: you never know when the new man with the gold rush will try to scalp you alive.
W = Whole (Would they feel incomplete without you?)
Gets very, very attached to the friends and loved ones so break up feels like punch in the gut. Unlike the rest, Shiraishi basically refuses to let go. He gets clingy, keeps acting like nothing happened, like they are still the best friends, just to cover up growing emptiness inside. No matter how hard he ignores it, Shiraishi can feel how part of him fades. Sometimes even abrupt refusal doesn’t work, but it’s simply his way to deal with sadness.  After few weeks, he has an insight that things will never be the same and that when it hits him. Shiraishi tries to distance himself and it takes all of his strength since by this time he becomes easily distracted, irritated, and whiny. He needs months to get over it.
If they died or were killed, Shiraishi puts effort to maintain his clown image. Only closest people can notice small detail that give away his sorrow and melancholy. Doesn't attempt to get revenge. The time to recover increases to year.
X = Xtra (A random headcanon for them.)
Do you think Shiraishi went to jail so often because of negligence? Partially, yes. Besides the fact Shiraishi is being hopeless fool, he finds prison cell a great place to take a break from fleeting life. If you think about it time slows down behind bars. There’s no point to worry what tomorrow will bring, how to survive and make it through another scuffle, and his impressive skills guarantee him easy escape.
Shiraishi has joint hypermobility syndrome which helps him bend joints at unusual angles and even pull bones out of the fossae. Prolonged arthralgia is a side effect that Shiraishi had to deal with from the first conscious days. There are days when the pain becomes so excruciating that he just wants to lie still and stare at the sky for 24 hours.
Y = Yuck (What are some things they wouldn’t like, either in general or in a partner?)
Continuous scolding when there is a reason and when there is not. Yes, with his behavior it is difficult to resist the urge to say a couple of strong words or raise your voice, and Shiraishi is totally okay with it until rebuke becomes daily tradition.
Shiraishi's thoughts are always in motion, usually Brownian motion, his body twitches even when he tries to sit calmly in one place so stagnation in any form would be the death of him. This includes repetitive thoughts, boring behavior, and general passivity.
Shiraishi is genuinely upset if his partner doesn't like children. This is an inexplicable feeling, he really hurts if they ignore little ones or, worse, openly express dislike for kids.
Z = Zzz (What is a sleep habit of theirs?)
Prepare yourself to unexpected awakening in the middle of the night, you will have a lot of them. Shiraishi keeps running from guardians of the law even in his sleep: he kicks, turns, throws his arms out to the sides for the most part of the night. Accidental elbow blow to the nose is not uncommon either. Worst of all, he does not wake up after that!
In the morning Shiraishi likes to sneak closer to his loved one and just presses him onto them. Like, completely. He throws his leg over them, hugs them, presses his cheek to their back, and if it feels just right in winter, in summer such cuddle can be a real test.
Abrupt sleep schedule changes do not bother Shiraishi at all. His organism is so adapted to the crazy lifestyle that he stays fresh even after sleepless night, after waking up at 3 a.m. and going to bed at 3 p.m.
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buckyreaderrecs · 4 years
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So Far Away: Chapter 1/?
Summary:  Bucky Barnes doing what he does best. Saving. Loving. In this particular case, the object of both is you. (Bonus: Bucky Barnes happy, healing, doing really well!)
Pairing: Bucky Barnes/reader Characters: Bucky Barnes Additional tags: mostly canon compliant (Infinity War and Endgame didn’t happen, Stark Tower still exists),  possible future smut (who knows, not me), she/her pronouns, more tags/characters to be added with future chapters, hero Bucky Barnes, canon typical violence, warzone/disaster zone setting Warnings: possible triggers for anxiety, PTSD, grief
Note: I don’t know where I’m going with The Girl With Too Much Power (ideas welcomed) so here’s my other series. Feedback always encouraged and welcome. Thank ya’ll! xo Rhi
Tag list: just @darlingtholland lel
So Far Away Chapter 1 / ?
The city was crumbling and between the crashing sounds of buildings toppling, screams and cries were painfully audible. That wasn't the most terrifying part though. It wasn't the lifeless bodies lying in the streets or the sight of your mangled hand that were causing you to panic. It was that everything was happening somewhere else. The crumbling and screaming seemed so far away. If the action was elsewhere, so were the heroes.
Nobody was coming to save you.
For almost half an hour they'd ripped through the city unchallenged; nobody really counted the unified effort of the first responders. They never stood a chance against the enemy from above. It took ten minutes for The Avengers to hear about it. They were en route within another ten. Even with all that Stark tech though, it still took them just over eleven minutes to arrive, landing and launching into action.
You'd watched the heroes bounce off buildings and fly through the sky. They represented hope, but they couldn't save everyone.
The evacuation wasn't fast enough and whole blocks of the city were wiped off the map. By the time you'd crawled out of the rubble of yours, the trucks taking people to safety were long gone. In their wake, tire tracks in the dirt and dust, and bodies left behind to save room for the living.
You could walk, but terrified that someone… something… would circle back around, you dropped down behind a car that had been violently propelled across the street. Making yourself as small as possible, pulling your legs up to your chest and burying your face in your lap, you just listened. Thinking was too hard, and your thoughts were sure to be only dark and anxiety-inducing anyway.
It all seemed so far away.
Then, the tell-tale sound of trouble. No no no no no! you screamed in your head, covering your mouth with your hands to not let the terror out.
It was moving fast, but tearing everything up as it went. The sound coming from it was alien, but it still someone seemed like speech. It was communicating with the others. Then, you realised, it was looking for something. Sitting in a pile of bricks and glass, all you could do was hope to god that creatures from literal outer space didn't come to Earth in search of an old Ford.
Bits of debris came from over the car, rejected by the creature and cast aside. First, rocks and chunks of cement - too big for any human to throw so easily. They hit the building in front of you and shattered. A bad situation got worse when it dug deep enough to find the people who had been trapped under fallen buildings. Bodies flew over you, sometimes in parts.
After what felt like minutes but was only seconds, your entire body was shaking with abject horror. On the very cusp of losing consciousness from fear and blood loss, you heard one foreign sound. It was almost like a gunshot… but more… Star Wars-esque. It was immediately proceeded by silence.
Run! the voice in your head told you, but you were completely immobile.
"This thing's too damn light… Feels like a fuckin' toy," a human voice spoke. A pause for, presumably, a reply you didn't hear. "Yeah, it worked. Not the point." Another pause. "Call me that again, Stark and I'll-" The speaker abruptly stopped his conversation.
You hadn't heard him arrive. Unsurprisingly, you did not hear him as he walked through the destroyed street to the car you were hidden behind. To any other person, you were silent. However, he could hear the slight crunching of gravel beneath your feet, the air being inhaled and exhaled from your nose, and the tiny squeaks you were making entirely subconsciously.
Moving slowly, he made his way around the side of the car using footsteps that would make noise, announce his arrival. Don't scare her. You could feel him standing just metres from you. He spoke, but not to you.
"I got a friendly… She's out of the evac zone." The pause for reply was long. "It's a ghost town here. Nobody's gonna be coming through for-" He was interrupted. "Don't care. Gonna bring her in."
Again, he moved slowly.
Your face was still buried and although you knew it was somebody good crouching in front of you, everything was all too overwhelming to respond.
"Hi… I don't need ya to move just yet. Gonna have a look at your hand, if that's alright?"
His voice was calm. Far beyond the point of being in shock, it didn’t hurt when he gently took your arm. As he tightly wrapped your injured hand, you began to unwrap yourself. Lifting your head and opening your eyes, everything came into focus. Mostly, everything you could see was war. But, there he was. Easily recognisable, Bucky Barnes was finishing first aid on you.
His eyes lingered on the bandage for a moment, and you wondered where he'd stashed it before it stopped your bleeding. Did he have pockets of band-aids?
When he looked up at you, you were already looking back.
"Hi," he said.
"Hi," you replied, your voice weak.
"Reckon we should get out of here. What do ya think?" As soon as you nodded, he mirrored the response and stood, helping you to your feet. "Are you hurt anywhere else?"
"N-no," you told him. That wasn't strictly true, but you were mostly numb. Deep, dark bruises would bloom all across your body over the coming days. How you managed to escape otherwise unharmed was magic or a miracle.
"Stronger than you look, huh?" he said, smiling. How he could smile in an environment like that was also magic or a miracle. "I know a couple people like that, so you're in good company. Always my favourite type of people,"
"I didn't… didn't think you'd talk so much," you said. It kinda just came out, the same way the thoughts of little kids do.
Bucky's left arm was around your waist, holding almost all of your body weight. He was making carrying you through a warzone seem easy. Giving you a bit of a casual shrug, Bucky said, " I don't… Trick to keep ya conscious. Don't want you passing out on me,"
"I'm not gonna pass out," you said, more in defiance than anything else.
Bucky scoffed. "Alright. So, what's your name then? What do you do?"
He'd obviously seen them before you, so by the time you clocked the creatures scrambling through broken buildings and rubble in their search, Bucky had already taken you off the road. Backs to the wall, he didn't appear in the slight bit concerned about the situation. He even looked to you, waiting for a reply before making his next move.
"Y/N," you told him.
"Y/N. Good to meet you, Y/N. I'm Bucky,"
"I know,"
"Yeah… Everybody fuckin' knows… Alright. Gonna need you to stay here for just a second, okay?"
As he went to peel away from the wall, you grabbed him with your one working hand. "Please don't leave me!" you begged in a harsh whisper. Tears had been streaming down your face since the first building went down, but a fresh flood started to sting your cheeks.
Bucky cupped your face with his gloved hands and looked you dead in the eyes. "I'm not leaving. I promise. I fuckin' promise you."
Slowly, you nodded. As soon as you did, he swooped off the curb and brought a reckoning down on the creatures. They hadn't seen him coming. Bucky moved with grace and ease, like he was born to fight. Later, when you were safe, you'd think about that moment, about the way he moved, and it would make you sad.
Back, Bucky wrapped himself around you again. And, that's how you got through the city. It was slow, but Bucky continually refused offers of help from whoever was in his earpiece. Resources were needed elsewhere, he said. He had you, and he'd get you to safety.
Time once again warping, fifteen minutes later you could hear voices and see human movement. It felt like you'd spent hours in Bucky's arms, watching him take down threats and crack bad jokes to keep you awake.
Before you realised what was happening, people were carrying you away from Bucky, pouring water down your throat and yelling at you that you were safe. Although you understood you were safe, it felt the opposite. "No! Please, please, please," you yelled, pushing free from the helpers and clinging back onto Bucky. All your words were rammed together, scared and needy.
Bucky let you hold him, wrapping his arms around you with the perfect amount of pressure. He hushed you with soft, "Shhhh," sounds. Using his teeth as a vice, Bucky pulled the glove off his right hand, then ran his fingers through your hair. "You're okay, Y/N. You're safe. You gotta stay here and have someone look at your hand. I gotta go help."
Although you nodded into him, you made no attempt to move. You'd been safe before it all happened, but it happened anyway. There was nothing to say that as soon as Bucky left, more creatures wouldn't arrive.
"Y/N. I got Captain America in one ear and Iron Man in the other. They can't do shit without me," Bucky joked. It made you laugh, looking up at him. "I'll come back when this is done. Bring ya flowers in the hospital,"
"I'm scared,"
"Yeah. Aliens are invading. It's scary. But it's kinda cool too, right?" he said with a wink.
He gently led you to one of the makeshift medical tents set up. When you were sitting down, he ruffled your hair in a weird gesture that confused you both, then left the safe zone. As soon as he was gone, you started to cry.
Chapter 2. 
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jocelyn-wellson · 4 years
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I. 
The most difficult aspect of finding her way back into the wine cellar whence she had taken the first wine case was finding a way into the sewers that was not guarded. Jocelyn knew a great thing when she saw it, and she had no desire to reuse that Cathedral access point until absolutely necessary. After walking about Stormwind for a few hours and watching the cityscape shift from bright colours, to gold, to flickering sepia, she decided to try another way. 
All storm sewers, she reasoned, had two main points of access. The first, notably, would be the exit - a point that was, sadly, patrolled. She asked some of the fisherpeople who were catching for the Sunday crowds. Eventually one noted that there was a grate just on the other side of the walls, in Elwynn. The old man gave her directions and a stern notice: watch for crocolisks. She eyed the man skeptically; thankfully her full facial expression was concealed behind her shemagh. 
At some time around three in the morning, she found the entrance. 
II. 
She would have to be quick about it. She had a general idea into what direction she would need to head. The occasional map posted along the sewer's brick wall, those were useful, as were the torches she would find from time to time. She felt the temperature drop. The dripping water became more of a steady trickle. Must be under the Canal now, she thought. 
Her torch died. Sighing, she stooped down and felt along the ground in the dark. She could feel things moving and slimy, like the storm sewer was alive. There was squeaking: rats. Insects chittering. The distant hiss of something really fucking big. Her hand brushed against something long, greasy. She picked it up, meeting some resistance along the way. Something dropped from it and hit the ground with a loud, wet slap. She shivered. While she was happy Zeehva did not have to endure this with her, she was also missing the company. Plainly, Jocelyn was frightened. She continued to crawl along the floor. She felt cloth. She tugged on it; it was immobile. She took the karambit from her boot sheathe and cut a couple of long strips, wrapping them around the end of the thing she had picked up earlier. 
She continued forward, tapping the ground. The hiss in the distance was no longer as distant, and it sounded pissed. She knew she had limited time. Within thirty seconds, the object she had been using hit a metal tin with a dull thud. She picked it up. Liquid sloshed around inside. A jerry can. She felt around for the screw top. The hissing was closer now than ever before. She unscrewed the can, sniffed its contents, and was almost overpowered by the vapours. Petrol, she thought. She dumped a fair bit onto the cloth she had wrapped round the stick-like thing she had found. Heavy footprints were approaching. Whatever it was, it was big. She struck her knife against the wall. Nothing. It was stone. She moved backward, looking for something, anything, of metal. She nearly tripped over it - a broadsword. She struck her knife against the sword's blade repeatedly until, at last, a stray spark landed on the petrol-soaked cloth. It erupted into flame. And there, not ten meters ahead, a crocolisk. 
A big, angry crocolisk. 
No fucking way. 
Jocelyn glanced about the area. Bones of the dead were everywhere. Bones, like the one she had used to fashion her torch. This space, apparently, was the beast's feeding ground. "Oh fer fuck's sake," she muttered. 
The crocolisk ran toward her. Like a large and fat green dog. She tossed the torch between them, lighting a cleric's corpse on fire. The light grew more intense. The scene was grizzlier than she had imagined, with scores of the dead seemingly watching, anticipating the coming struggle. The beast stopped its charge when the body was set alight. It hissed angrily at Jocelyn, turning about. Like it was going to retreat. No. Instead, it used its girthy tail to throw the flaming corpse to the side, whirling about to face her down once more. It began to run toward her. She took the second karambit from her belt. "I ain' dyin' taday," she shouted, rushing to meet it. 
The crocolisk was fast, faster than her. The ground was closed between them in less than three seconds. The beast slammed her against the wall. She hit her head, hard. It sounded like a whiny bell was ringing. She could feel the crocolisk try to wrap its tail around her waist. Panicking, she sliced at it with both blades. The beast roared, smashing her against the stone once more. Something inside her cracked. She gasped, stabbing again. One of the two karambits lodged itself in the crocolisk. It ran away, swinging its tail wildly. She looked around frantically, coughing. There, the broadsword. The crocolisk dislodged the karambit and bullrushed Jocelyn, jaws snapping. This was the moment. 
Jocelyn felt time slow. There was no pain, no feeling of any kind. The ringing in her head stopped dead, replaced with her heartbeat. Everything came into sharp focus. The crocolisk was three meters out, then two. Its clouded eyes were enraged; the gash on its body, bleeding profusely. Now. She thrust the broadsword down the crocolisk's gullet. Its hiss devolved into a high pitched whine. The beast started to thrash. It knew it was going to die. Jocelyn made it quick, driving her karambit through its thick skull, killing it instantly. 
Jocelyn pushed herself away. She palpated her ribcage, cringing a number of times. Not good. Pulling herself together, she looked around the area, lit by the flaming cleric’s body. Bodies of dead adventurers, clergy, homeless, children ... they were everywhere, in various states of decomposition. It's not the Canals that stink, she thought, it's this fucking storm sewer. 
Panting, she maneuvered around the dead crocolisk. She picked up her bone torch and scanned the ground for her second blade. There, about six meters beyond, the bloodied chromatic blade glistered in the firelight. She scoffed before picking it up, wiping it on her pant leg, and continuing on.
III. 
Two hours later, she emerged from the same place she had entered. The sun was rising. She saw the old fisherman who had told her about the crocolisk was still in his spot. She dragged a heavy linen bag toward him, improvised from scraps of cloth. It left a bloody trail. 
"Foun' yer monstah," she wheezed, wiping the sweat and grime and blood from her face. 
The old man stared. 
"Go on then," she said. "Take th' meat. Ya'll ge' goo' money taday." 
The man simply nodded. He grabbed the sack. Then he noticed a second bag, hitched to the first, and not leaving a blood trail. Jocelyn unlinked them.
"What'cha got there, lass?" he asked curiously. 
"History," she replied, dragging the second bag toward Zeehva's caravan. Bottles clinked quietly behind her. She reached into her tunic and withdrew three pieces of paper. She couldn't read them, but she hoped they might help Zeehva figure things out. Only six more to go, she thought. Six more - and then the big prize. 
( @zeehva )
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megalony · 4 years
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A big family- Part 7
This is the latest part in my dad! Ben Hardy series which I hope you are all enjoying so far.
Taglist: @lunaticspoem @butlegendsneverdie @langdonzvoid @jennyggggrrr @luvborhap @radiob-l-a-hblah @rogertaylorsbitontheside @chlobo6 @rogertaylors-lipgloss @sj-thefan @omgitsearly @luckytrashgooprebel @scarsout @deaky-with-a-c @killer-queen-ofrhye @bluutac @vousmemanqueez @jonesyaddiction @rogahs-drowse @milanosaurus @httpfandxms
Series taglist: @writeroutoftime @7-seas-of-fat-bottomed-girls @hardzzellos
Summary: Ben and (Y/n) have three daughters together with their youngest not even being one year old yet. But their family is about to get bigger when they find out they’re pregnant again.
Series masterlist
Enjoy.
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"Is this what you want?" (Y/n) spoke gently as she held out the small bunny toy that was sewn onto a small blanket. As soon as she shook the toy in her hand, Goldie's eyes brightened up as if they had stars captured in them.
The youngest girl wasn't quite walking yet but she was doing her best to try. She managed to push herself up onto her feet but very quickly flopped back down to her knees again. She didn't seem to want to waste any time as she didn't bother trying to walk again, she simply crawled over to where (Y/n) was and tugged on the toy until it was in her hand.
Goldie shuffled until she was sitting on the kitchen floor with her small legs stretched out in front of her and her toy cradled to her chest. Her big bright eyes looked up at (Y/n) as she started to chew on the toy before realising that it wasn't helping with her new teeth that were beginning to poke through her gums. (Y/n) had only just got Goldie to stop wailing from the pain but now the toy seemed to have irritated her sore gums again.
(Y/n) couldn't give her any more medicine and she had tried giving her a cold teething ring but Goldie had thrown it away.
"No, no baby don't cry, please." (Y/n) begged when Goldie started to whine around the toy she was trying to stuff into her mouth. Her eyes began to flood with tears as she tipped her head down, sniffing before a loud sob escaped her lips.
Pressing her hand to the counter, (Y/n) slowly kneeled down on the floor in front of Goldie. She gently moved the toy so she could check Goldie's gums before she shuffled the toddler close and wrapped her arms around her. (Y/n) was still on bed rest but she had to come downstairs because her back was simply hurting from the lack of movement. But it also meant she couldn't keep picking Goldie up and setting her down because lifting or holding Goldie or anything heavy could make the abruption worse.
Days like today weren't as easy as (Y/n) would like.
All she wanted to do was to be able to move and do everything she could before but her actions were limited. She could get out of bed and go to the bathroom or have a walk around the house so she didn't go stiff but there was little else she could do. The nurse wanted her to be as immobile as she could and (Y/n) didn't want to but she was complying because she had to.
It hurt (Y/n) worse that she couldn't pick Goldie up or see to her when she woke up during the night. She could only hold and cuddle Goldie like this or when she was in bed.
(Y/n) kept one arm around Goldie who was tucked into her side as she reached out and grabbed hold of the wash basket with her other hand and dragged it over to her. She leaned herself up against the island in the kitchen before starting to take the clothes out of the dryer, folding them before setting them into the washing basket. This was at least something that (Y/n) could do that wasn't strenuous or heavy lifting.
After a while, (Y/n) turned to look at Goldie before she gently slipped her hands under Goldie's arms to tug the youngest girl to her feet. She wasn't technically lifting Goldie up, she was just holding her. Tears were still building up in Goldie's eyes as she chewed on her toy which (Y/n) knew was going to aggravate her gums rather than relieve the pain from them but Goldie wasn't going to give up the toy now.
She gently pulled Goldie closer before letting her youngest girl sit on her leg and cuddle as close as she could manage with the baby bump in the way. (Y/n) wrapped her arms around the toddler as she tried to stop herself from crying as well.
It was getting frustrating to be able to do very little like this and her lower back was hurting to the point it was simply reducing (Y/n) to the same amount of tears as it was for Goldie.
(Y/n) lifted her head when she heard the front door opening meaning that Ben was back with the girls. He had finished all the scenes and extra shots for his latest movie now so he didn't have any more projects to work on at the moment. He still had a few promotional pictures and events and videos to do but they were just for a few hours here and there meaning he was mostly at home now so they didn't have to keep relying on family to help them out.
Ben and (Y/n) both agreed that they weren't going to ask her mother to help them out and Ben didn't want her sister, Andrea, to help either because he didn't get along with her. So it was mainly Ben's family and their friends they had asked to help. But now they could try and be a bit more independent again.
"Mummy!" Charlie clearly sounded surprised when she rushed into the kitchen and found her mum and Goldie sitting on the floor but she was happy nonetheless. She opened her arms and cuddled into (Y/n)'s other side as Taylor ran into the kitchen and placed her backpack down on the kitchen table.
"Hey girlies, you both had a good day?"
"Tired." Charlie mumbled before Taylor responded with how she had made a few pictures that were still at school. Walking into the kitchen, Ben rose his brows when he noticed (Y/n) was sitting on the floor but he didn't say anything. "Tay, you gonna go get changed?" Ben questioned as he leaned against the counter, grabbing a pack of biscuits for Charlie who he knew was going to ask for something in a minute. She was usually hungry when she came back from daycare.
Taylor nodded her head, moving to wrap her arms around (Y/n) who was receiving hugs from all three girls before Taylor drifted off to go and change out of her school clothes. Ben gently threw the pack of biscuits to Charlie who caught them instantly before she trotted off into the living room. Ben turned his attention back to the other two girls still in the kitchen with him, his lips curving down at the small murmurs and wails leaving Goldie's lips as her teeth must still be giving her some trouble.
"How do you feel?"
"Like my back is going to snap. Can you help me up?" (Y/n) spoke quietly as she held her hands out towards Ben after shifting Goldie so she was sitting on the floor instead of her lap. Ben leaned down in front of her, holding onto her arm and her waist to try and ease her to her feet as she gripped his arms.
Ben didn't miss the way that (Y/n) grimaced when she straightened up and the weight was placed back onto her spine again. (Y/n) was glad the pain in her stomach she had felt before had gone but the pain in her back was so much worse. It was as if someone was slowly squeezing on her spine and sometimes it went away when she sat down, other times it just stayed. Moving didn't help the pain but it did help the rest of her from turning to stone.
"Why don't you go back to bed?" Ben questioned lightly as he moved his arms so they were wrapped around her waist.
"I've been in bed for the last month and all this morning, I need to do something." (Y/n) rested her head on Ben's shoulder, trying to keep her tone calm but it wasn't working very well.
For the last month, she had done very little and it wasn't a nice feeling, (Y/n) didn't like relying on others to do things she should be fine doing. She didn't like seeing Ben's mother doing the washing or making dinner or changing Goldie and playing with her when that was what (Y/n) wanted to do. She didn't like just sitting around and doing nothing or not being able to get up and see to Goldie or Charlie during the night.
Bed rest wasn't what (Y/n) should be doing because she had three other children to look after and Ben couldn't do it all on his own. Relying on other people made (Y/n) feel anxious and useless, it made her irritated and restless with a need to get out of bed and be productive in any way she could.
"And for the last month you've been fine. In just about two months we'll have our next girl and you can do whatever you like, when you like. You just have to take it easy now so you'll both be okay." Ben knew it was annoying and upsetting but during this past month, (Y/n) had gotten better. She wasn't having any pain or cramps or bleeding and the baby was fine meaning that bed rest must be helping even a little bit.
When their next daughter was born then (Y/n) would be better because there would be no more abruption or bleeding or risk to the baby. She wouldn't have to be on bed rest and when she felt back to normal she could do whatever she wanted. She could run around the house and tend to their new baby and Goldie and they could both switch between caring for the girls. She wouldn't feel this way but to get to that point, (Y/n) had to take things easy.
"I'm gonna start dinner." (Y/n) mumbled against his shoulder before she slowly pulled away. Attempting to move over to the fridge near the back door, but Ben kept his arms around her waist to stop her from moving.
"You just said your back hurts, rushing about to make dinner won't help. Go to bed." Ben pleaded with his eyes but he felt his heart tightening in his chest when tears fell from (Y/n)'s eyes. Her back was causing her pain but laying down didn't always take the edge off. She just wanted to feel useful and do something.
"Going to bed won't make the pain go away and doing dinner won't make it worse." (Y/n) pressed a chaste kiss to his lips before pulling away and going to the fridge, trying to decide what to make for tea.
Ben sighed before he leaned down to scoop Goldie up who was sat whimpering around the toy she was chewing on. He cradled the toddler against his chest as she rested her head on his shoulder giving him the impression she was tired. He would go and settle her down for her nap in a while. He grabbed the half-finished bottle from the counter and pressed it to Goldie's lips to prompt her to have a drink. Watching as she moved the toy and locked it in the crook of her elbow before tiredly drinking the milk Ben was holding out for her.
"Still being stubborn." Ben mused quietly, his eyes asking (Y/n) to prove him wrong when she glared at him.
"Don't start Ben. If this was you we both know you wouldn't even try and go on bed rest." Ben wasn't the kind of person who would do well on bed rest, he was the kind who most likely wouldn't even try. He was active, he did stunts at work, he went to the gym every week and he was very involved with raising the girls. He wouldn't want to be stuck in bed.
He had been on bed rest once in his life when he damaged his back in university and that was the one and only time he had managed to do very little for a few weeks.
"I'm not saying that though, am I? I'm not the one who's pregnant and I'm not the one who decided bed rest just meant when and if I want to."
Ben wasn't disagreeing with her point because he knew at this point in his life, if the doctor told him to go on bed rest he wouldn't or he would only calm his life down a little. But Ben wasn't the one who was on bed rest right now and he wasn't on bed rest because he was pregnant. He had seen (Y/n) this last month, he knew that even though she had tried to stay in bed and do very little, she still got up and moved around.
(Y/n) still did washing and made the beds and tried to do the cooking until Ben or someone else took over. She was still doing a lot of things as if she was fine, she was deciding when and if she wanted to stay in bed and that wasn't what the doctor had told her to do.
"I'm hardly doing anything-"
"Hardly? Baby, me and mum have to physically take over whatever you're doing to make you stop and go to bed. If this was just about your back then I would totally agree with you and say you're fine to do things here and there, but this is about the baby." Ben had walked around the house lately and had to pick Goldie up before (Y/n) did because Goldie was growing so she was getting heavy. He took over making dinner a few times so (Y/n) would simply rest and sit down or go to bed.
Ben didn't want to be controlling or rude or harsh but (Y/n) wasn't just getting up and doing a few little things. She was trying to do things when she was bored and she was getting more and more active now rather than staying on bed rest. Ben walked over to where (Y/n) was, gently brushing away some of the tears streaking down her features.
"You know what the doctor said, the placenta was here," Ben commented as he pressed his palm gently against her stomach. "And now it's here." He moved his hand a little lower down to try and get her to see this how he did. "That's all it took for our girl to become unstable and for the bleeding to happen. You may feel better but the placenta is still there and if it moves again that's it, she gets born now. But if you just relax for the next two months, we'll all be fine."
The placenta hadn't moved very much but the small amount it did move had caused bleeding and made their baby become unstable for a few hours. That wasn't fixed even if (Y/n) did feel and look better and if she overworked herself the placenta was simply going to fall further. If it moved again and caused a bigger bleed their girl was either going to be born premature or they would have to do a C-section because this was a dangerous condition.
Bed rest meant that the placenta wouldn't move and (Y/n) would feel okay and be better. It meant her body could stabilise again and their girl would be fine and be full term rather than premature.
"I just don't like doing nothing, we've still got three other girls to look after, Ben." (Y/n) buried her face in his chest as he kept Goldie stable in one arm so he could wrap his other arm around her waist. He pressed his lips to the top of her head as he knew what she was saying.
"Yeah, we, not just you, baby. Let me make sure they're okay and you focus on making sure our next girl is okay. You're protecting and looking after our baby, that's not doing nothing in my eyes."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(Y/n) slowly carded her fingers through Ben's curls rather methodically as her eyes kept drifting between the tv and Ben. She couldn't quite hear what he was quietly whispering but it didn't matter since he wasn't technically talking to her. A shiver ran down her spine when she felt his lips pressing to her stomach, causing tingles to run under the surface of her skin.
He was laid on his side with his head resting next to her stomach, something he had always seemed to do with each pregnancy. (Y/n) liked it because it was clear he was trying to talk or bond with the baby and it showed just how much he loved them but sometimes (Y/n) wondered what he said. It felt as if he was whispering bribes or magic because all of their girls were attached to his hip. All the girls had Ben wrapped around their fingers, especially Charlie, she was a proper daddy's girl.
"Hey baby." (Y/n) mumbled tiredly when she saw Charlie quietly trotting into the room as if she was trying not to be noticed since she knew it was past her bedtime.
Ben turned his head to the side, gently pressing his cheek to (Y/n)'s stomach as he watched Charlie pull herself up onto the end of the bed before she crawled up to the middle of the bed. She sat back on her legs, her head leaning to the side as she clearly wondered what Ben was doing.
"Why're you up past your bedtime?" Ben questioned, his tone showing her that he wasn't angry or annoyed since it wasn't too late into the night.
"I want to stay with you... what you doing, daddy?" Charlie's eyes drifted between both parents in a silent request to stay with them for the night, a request she already knew they wouldn't deny. Charlie wasn't normally one to sleep with them very often. If she was ill or simply wanted the company she was, but she tended to fall asleep with them and then be fine in her own bed.
"You can stay with us tonight." (Y/n) responded with a smile which seemed to lift a weight off of Charlie's chest.
"I'm talking to your sister, baby." Charlie had asked Ben before if the baby could hear him when she noticed him talking to (Y/n)'s stomach but it still seemed to confuse or amaze her when he did. Ben didn't know himself if the baby could hear him but it didn't stop him, it was just something he liked to do and if there was a chance the baby could hear him or it could make a bond or just do something, he would take it.
Ben kept his arm loosely wrapped around (Y/n)'s waist as his eyes watched Charlie for her reaction when he kissed (Y/n)'s stomach. He knew Charlie got a little upset or jealous if she thought Ben was spending too much time with Taylor or Goldie, she usually clung to him until he paid her attention too.
(Y/n) couldn't help but laugh when Charlie frowned before crawling further up the bed and burrowing herself under Ben's arm until she was laying against his chest between him and (Y/n).
Ben slipped his arms under Charlie's before he suddenly rolled onto his back, pulling her so she was laying on his chest and stomach instead. He smiled at her sudden fit of giggles that was music to his ears as she wrapped her arms around his neck. Her chin pressed into his chest as she looked up at him with a cheeky grin that (Y/n) was sure she got from Ben.
"When's she gonna be here?" Charlie questioned when her giggles died down, her eyes flitting over to look at (Y/n) before she looked back at Ben. Charlie was still young so she didn't understand why Ben or (Y/n) couldn't give her a specific date for when her next sister would be born. She still didn't understand why her sister was in (Y/n)'s tummy but she hadn't gotten a good answer when she asked last time so she stopped asking and just accepted that it was the way things was.
"Ooh, in about two months babygirl." Ben shuffled so he was laid further up to bed so his legs didn't hang over the edge. He leaned up against the pillows as Charlie settled on his chest. He was used to all the girls laying on his chest or stomach so the sudden weight compressing down on him didn't bother him, it was rather comforting.
"She'll miss your birthday- and mine." Charlie's expression fell as she seemed to deflate at the sudden realisation.
Ben's birthday was in one month and Charlie's was a week after his, then Goldie's was two weeks after Charlie's. Charlie loved that her birthday was close to Ben's, it made her feel special and somehow like she was closer to Ben. She had rather been hoping that the baby would be born in time for her fourth birthday.
"She's still technically going to be there, babygirl. And she'll be there for all your other birthdays too. Come on, you need to settle down and go to sleep." Ben pressed his lips to the top of her head as he pulled the cover up so it was resting over her back.
He would rather their next girl be born after Charlie's birthday because then they wouldn't have a newborn and a one-year-old to juggle and look after whilst also seeing to Taylor and of course Charlie since it would be her birthday. Ben didn't mind her not being there for his birthday either, (Y/n) had been pregnant with both Goldie and Charlie on Ben's birthdays and they had been close to their due dates on his birthdays.
It made his day more relaxed because he went out for a drink with his friends either the day before or the day after his birthday and then spent his birthday with his family. If their next girl was born after Charlie's birthday then it would mean they would be almost full term and so she wouldn't be born premature.
That was what Ben was hoping for.
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lihikainanea · 4 years
Note
OMG. FREAKING. 43.
**Happy Christmas, friends! I’m doing the 25 days of Christmas with Bill and tiger, so go on and send me a prompt from the list to read about all the troubles these two morons can find themselves in during the holiday season
43. “Hey, um, why is the bottom of the tree decorated and not the top?”
Day 1 of 25
***
It was a bad idea, you knew it from the minute the 8th shot of hard liquor slid down your throat. You knew it far before then, but somehow alcohol numbed the sting of bad decisions the more you drank it.
So you drank more of it.
You hadn’t intended to get to the level of sloppy drunk at your work Christmas party, but the year had been full of things you hadn’t intended so it seemed fitting enough. One shot in celebration of the successes of the year quickly lead to two, then three, then four, then someone commandeered the bottle of vodka from the bartender and mayhem was born. Bill kept a watchful eye—he knew tomorrow morning you’d be suffering, but for now you had that telltale carefree, lopsided grin on your face and he was there to ensure nothing bad happened to you, so he let you have your fun.
It would be a low key day anyway, he reasoned, all you had scheduled was your annual decorating party—which consisted only of you and him, listening to Christmas songs as you went through your countless bags of holiday decorations to put them up around your apartment. He would have to skip out for a bit for a meeting, but you were a creature of habit and every year the decorations went up on the last Saturday in November. It was non-negotiable. So he made the big batch of glögg the weekend before, and you told him to do what he had to do—he would just catch up and help you with some of the trickier decorations when he got home.
But as the night turned into early morning, he wondered just how much decorating—or breathing—you’d be able to do on your own tomorrow. He caught you just as a colleague created a diversion for the bartender, and you bent over the bar with your feet in the air to grab another bottle. When you landed back on solid ground and held the bottle in the air triumphantly, you smacked right into his chest as you turned around.
“Hey kid,” he said casually, “Whatcha got there?”
“Nothing,” you slurred, hiding the bottle behind you. He reached for it and grabbed onto it easily, pulling it free from your grasp.
“I think that’s about enough for you, troublemaker,” he smiled as you swayed, steadying you with a hand on your hip, “You ready to get out of here?”
He waited as you contemplated it, your eyes crossing briefly as you did, before you nodded enthusiastically.
“I’m hungry,” you said, and he laughed as he tucked an arm around your waist.
“Well that’s no good, is it?” He kissed your temple gently, “Come on, I’ll fix that.”
You leaned him for support walking but your heels and your blood alcohol level made it near impossible, so you whined until he picked you up tossed you over your shoulder.
He was right about the morning after, as you writhed in the throes of the worst hangover you’d ever had. You realized that if you stayed still—perfectly immobile, only breathing when necessary—then it all hurt a little less.
“Tiger—” a bony finger poked through the mountain of blankets and you whined, “You alive?”
“Fuck off,” was your muffled reply. The bed dipped and you groaned the motion making you nauseous again, and then a small draft came through as a tiny hole was made in your cocoon. You managed to look up, just barely, enough to see his giant eyeball peering at you.
“Oh good, it lives,” he laughed. He went to pull some of the covers back but you quickly burrowed in deeper, moaning discomfort.  He stopped, patting the blankets instead.
“I gotta go, kid. I’ll be back this afternoon. There’s a mug of coffee here for you on the floor—I dug the tree out and got the decorations down for you.”
A shorter grunt from you, in thanks.
“You sure you don’t want to just do this tomorrow? When you’re not hungover and I’m here all day to help?”
You winced as you moved slightly, throwing the covers back from your head.
“No,” you insisted, “Christmas decorations go up the last Saturday in November and that is today. I’m fine.”
“Alright then, try not to break anything. I’ll be back soon,” and with a brief kiss to your head, he got up from the bed and turned.
“Bill,” you called out feebly, and he looked back at you, “Can you put the coffee in my hand?”
He laughed as your hand crept out of your blanket fort, just barely enough to clasp the mug he held out to you.
It didn’t get much better in the time he was gone. You managed to roll out of bed, crawling to the kitchen in search of water. The plate of food he left you spurred your gag reflect just looking at it, so you wobbled your way to the living room. Standing upright was too hard, everything hurt and the room spun, so instead you sat cross-legged on the floor and just hung baubles from the tree wherever you could reach. After a few minutes, sitting gradually turned into lying down and in between groaning and frequent short naps, you managed to get just one section of the tree decorated. It was enough, you thought, and you hauled yourself to the couch. With the last ounce of energy you had, you threw some tinsel haphazardly over your coffee table. 
The keys in your front lock jarred you awake from another nap, your forearm slung over your eyes, and you didn’t have the energy to greet him.
“Hey kid,” he said softly, “You made some good uh, progress.”
You slung your forearm over your eyes.
“The tinsel is a nice touch, very….abstract,” you could hear the grin in his voice, but he didn’t even merit a glare. Coming to you, he sat down gingerly on the couch near your legs.
“Thank you, I thought so,” you retorted. He placed a warm hand on your thigh, rubbing lightly.
“Hey um, just a question tiger,” he started, “Why….why is the bottom of the tree decorated but not the top?”
You didn’t move, your arm still covering your eyes.
“I’m trying something different this year, something minimalist and avant garde,” you tried, “It’s a statement about the horrors of mass consumerism.”
“Mmhmm,” he hummed, unconvinced, “Tiger?”
“Symbolism. The death of the moral compass and shit,” you tried again.
“Tiger.”
“It was the only part of the tree I could reach while still lying down,” you mumbled. He laughed boisterously and you winced, then a warm hand was wrapping around your arm and pulling it from your eyes.
“We’ll try again tomorrow, yeah?” He snickered, and you just groaned as he planted a noisy kiss on your cheek before lying down beside you and pulling you into his chest.
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theboyz-engup · 5 years
Text
To All The Boyz I’ve Loved Before; Letter Twelve
Summary-
It was wonderful what a few little letters could do; they could make or break a friendship, cause someone to laugh or smile, make someone remember the time of their life or that moment they wanted to forget. Just some words on paper and poof, everyone knew the way your heart beat and workings of your brain. High school really did wonders on you, as did those twelve boys. Maybe they didn’t know it, but they changed your whole life with each smile, each wave, and each word you typed into paper. You made them permanent, and now they had to know why.
Word Count- 10.8k
Previous Letter - Masterlist
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Eric’s hand rapped against the wood door of Sunwoo’s room. Last time he’d been to visit, the boy was fast asleep but now, he was hunched over a notepad and scribbling away. Well, he was trying, at least. The damages were done mostly to his right side so his dominant hand wasn’t free but Eric supposed he still had many things he wanted to write or rap. It was better to write them out fresh. 
Sunwoo’s head turned, his hair slightly delayed and swinging lightly. The blinds were drawn, allowing very little summer light through but Eric preferred it that way. There didn’t seem a point to warm weather or sun rays when you couldn’t see them. After exchanging a small smile, Eric felt he had permission to sit. 
Lightly, he pulled up a hospital chair next to Sunwoo’s bed and came as close as he dared. He didn’t know how the already bruised boy would take what he had to say. Somehow, Eric was afraid he’d get bruised worse afterwards.
“How are you feeling?” The now blonde murmured. It seemed an innocent enough question and he hoped it would break some tension. 
After taking a beat, Sunwoo closed his notebook and set it on the table beside him. It seemed to be a bit of a stretch, leg in a slightly elevated position to reduce swelling getting in the way. His mouth worked as he moved, sometimes stretching in pain and putting emphasis on words that didn’t need them. 
“Okay, I guess. There’s a lot I need to come back from but at least I can write, or try to.”
Eric nodded, somehow leaning forward to hear better. His forearms now rested on the bed, fingers coming to wind into each other as comfort. 
Awkwardly, though with a hint of care, he mumbled, “are you still having episodes?”
He remembered watching Sunwoo’s mother get removed from his room, her voice overlapping nurses and doctors and whatever else came from the room. She kept asking what was wrong but there weren't any answers until later, where they found some clotting or something similar. Sunwoo was okay but he’d have to learn how to walk again, or something like that. Eric wasn’t filled in on the specifics but, considering the circumstances, he figured it wasn’t so bad.
Sunwoo just shook his head, looking down at his lap before coming out and looking around the room. There wasn’t more for him to say so a silence hung across their shoulders, draping the room in a melancholic shroud.
“I can’t imagine what that’s like,” Eric mumbled, genuinely thinking aloud. Being stuck in a hospital room, hooked up to an IV drip or with an immobile part of his body: everything about those made him queasy. If he didn’t have his body, he didn’t have anything. Plus, the sterility and lack of warmth of a hospital room made him uncomfortable. It felt unfeeling and like everything was drained of him the moment he stepped in. 
However, his statement was met with a rather soft question, one of wonder and vulnerability. The boy was poised much like he was; back curled, chin dipped inward and eyes downcast, fingers entwining as best as they could. Eric would have laughed at the parallels of the two men in your life, the ones he thought you considered to be of the most important, and how similar they were at times.
“Did y/n send you a letter too?” The question was soft but filled with another meaning. Instinctively, Eric’s hand met with his pocket to feel the sealed envelope, the one with typewriter script across the front of it. 
The rustle of paper caused a small sadness to fall upon Sunwoo’s lips, though a smile shrouded it. His eyes were kind when they met with Eric’s and they seemed to be more genuine than ever before. 
"I figured they'd send you one too," he admitted softly, stretching a bit to find his notebook again. His fingers slipped once or twice before gripping the cover, eyebrows scrunched together and a small exhale passing his lips. His right side wasn't doing well at all, bruising probably the worst part. 
Still, Sunwoo had no problems sifting through his book, using his words as paint in a picture. Through the faint sound of birds and wind passing by the window, Sunwoo spoke slowly. "They gave me one too, said they wanted it to be their last.
"Y/n wrote down a lot of things in their notes, saying it was for later when I asked. I figured, you know, it was just what we did on dates or when we were out together. It was nice. I thought they just wanted to remember but I think- I think they did it so they could write about it later: put their life in letters and in people they thought saw value in them." 
"What did they say in yours?" Softness wasn't completely familiar with Eric but he tried here, genuinely curious and genuinely open to a boy he'd often been closed off to.
Sunwoo didn't dare look him in the eye here. Sadness still encroached on that smile of his, fingers tracing the edge of an envelope that looked much like Eric's. He was focused on that, so intently to the point where Eric felt like he was intruding when he heard the answer. 
"They said they loved me. For the first time, in this letter and before we ever said it to each other, they said they loved me." 
A sniffle fell from his lips and his free arm reached up to rub beneath his eyes. As his cheeks moved, so did his head, gaze now focused out the window. For such a sunny day, it surely didn't feel happy. Sitting in this stale hospital room with a boy he used to hate, for reasons that seemed so far off and childish now, Eric felt perspective stitching to his mind. Little spindles of truth lurked far off and he realized that the way he knew you was nothing close to the way Sunwoo knew you. Maybe he never would. As the boy in front of him continued to pretend he wasn't sad, tried to hold back his years and appear strong, Eric took it upon himself to start repairing the bridge. It was time for him to be responsible. 
"Sunwoo," he started, chewing on his words a moment in hopes of it not sounding condescending. It gave the boy enough time to focus his attention back on Eric, something Eric didn't know if he wanted just then; but he'd started to speak already, his offer was on the table. 
"I don't know what I'll find here but, if you want, I can read it to you here. It might not be what either of us are expecting but-"  
"But it's still a little bit of y/n," Sunwoo finished, whispering his sentence as if it were taboo or forbidden. Eric only nodded, nervousness flipping his stomach over and over. It suddenly felt cold in the room but a warm hand pressed over his and all of that went away. 
With a glimpse into Sunwoo's stare, now suddenly a man with unguarded eyes and gratefulness swimming them, Eric felt stable. 
"Y/n wanted you to know it, not me. It's yours and it's personal. Your own secret with them. It might be nice to keep it that way, don't you think?" 
Sitting there, in that hospital room, it was surprising to think how much the two of them had changed. Eric liked to think it was because of you. 
——————————————————
Dear Eric Sohn, the boy with the skateboard and big smile, my best friend,
I think this letter is more than a long time coming. I don’t know where to start but I guess the middle would be good. The beginning you already know, though I doubt you know just how much I loved you, and just how much I do now.
——————————————————
Late January 2018
It seemed harder and harder to manage school and the rest of your activities as exam season rolled around. After New Year’s, which everyone spent separately this year, there seemed to be tunnel vision for every senior and it was the end of the year. There was a hunger for school to end, college or university or a career not far off and taunting you. On top of that was restlessness, the need to feel like an adult and that you had your life together; but you supposed the worst part was the fear that gripped at your heart and made you think you didn’t have a single thing about your future thought out. Everyone seemed to know what they liked and wanted to do and you were somewhere in the middle, finding everything moderately interesting and boring all at once. 
Still, you’d applied to many different programs, hoping at least one would take you in. Secretly, you hoped it’d be the one that your brother was in, or your friends, just so you had someone to hold onto as you crawled into adulthood. 
Frowning a bit, you continued to sit on your front steps, bundled up in sweaters and jackets and everything in between. Barly was hopping around in the snow, excited again to see the powder falling slow enough that they looked frozen in the air. You watched as he bounced around, sticking his nose in the flakes before running up to you with a completely soggy ball he’d found outside. The grin on his face was almost human like and you couldn’t help but feel a little less stressed looking at him. 
Not a single part of you wanted to pick up the ball from his mouth so, instead, you grasped a bit of snow and formed it into a sphere as best you could, watching Barly get more and more excited. He turned a few circles before pausing, waiting for the throw. 
You meant to toss it so it landed inside your front lawn but the weight, or lack thereof, of the snowball threw you off and you watch as Barly chased it partially in the street. You didn’t have to see the car to know it was coming, immediately jumping off your seat and bounding forward without thought. Barly landed somewhere in your arms, a small yelp falling from his lips and whole weight pushing down on your body so you were pressed against the floor. A few inches from your face was pavement and a car bumper. It was hard to ignore the hammering of your chest. 
Eric’s head popped out of the window, whole body nearly following as he called, “holy shit, I- are you okay?”
He was almost unfamiliar with his blonde hair but, somehow it suited him. The fear in your chest dissipated as you grasped Barly closer and hugged him until he wriggled out and away to your home. It seemed he had enough of the winter for the day. 
Leaving his car running in the middle of the road, Eric climbed out of the large truck he’d taken from his family and hopped down to meet you. You were still just sitting on the floor, trying to calm yourself. 
“Hey,” he crooned, coming to sit on the cold asphalt with you. His legs were cross legged and clad with ripped jeans but he didn’t seem to mind the weather at the moment. A hat was now pressed over his ears and two drinks placed in his hands. 
No one was going anywhere this Sunday, the streets empty enough for this to feel safe for the moment. Both you and Eric didn’t have your exams until later on this week so you decided to meet up after a long Saturday of studying, hoping you could destress and properly move past all the awkwardness of your last few encounters. 
“Are these from Cobbled?” You pointed at a cup, one meant to keep drinks warm for an unnaturally long time. You knew the insulated metal from anywhere, the small coffee shop your favourite from back home. They were cups meant to reduce waste, one you could take anywhere and put anything in. You had about fifty at home. 
Eric looked a bit sheepish, handing you one of the drinks before quickly taking it back and replacing it with the other. He mumbled that this was yours and added, a bit louder, “I just thought you might miss it by now. I got them right before I left so they might not be super warm but yeah.”
Your fingers overlapped for a brief moment and you caught the nervousness in his eyes as it did. Much to your surprise, you were shy as well as you said thank you.
“You shouldn’t jump in front of cars, you know,” Eric mumbled, trying to make a joke but you just exhaled. 
“It was dumb, I know,” you hummed, looking down at the floor that was slowly starting to cover up with snow. Running a hand over it, you watched as streaks appeared and you murmured, “it was like a first thought though. Fight or flight, I guess.”
There was a staleness in the air, everything feeling just as still as a picture. You watched as Eric’s skin started to turn a bit pink, wanting to voice your concern but something stopped your words in your throat. Only Eric’s hand could pop you out of the little bubble you were in, where emotions were coupled with confusion and nothing seemed easy to figure out. 
It rested on your knee, nowhere near places that would make other people’s hearts race but yours somehow did. It was innocent and reminded you of the way you used to feel about him, the way you would pine over him for years when you were younger. Yet, somehow, you weren’t young anymore. His cheeks weren’t full and his jaw was hard. You were sure you changed too. Looking at him in that moment made you think about how much you adored him back then, and maybe how you never stopped. 
His voice was soft as he asked, “hey, really, is everything okay?”
Everything in your body couldn’t stop you from lurching forward and into his arms. A bit of his coffee spilled on your jacket but it didn’t quite matter to you. In that second, all you wanted was one of his signature hugs: the ones that always made you feel better and forget everything that was going wrong. A small protest escaped his lips, saying something about getting coffee in your hair but it didn’t quite matter. For the moment, you sat in each other’s embrace, and it was enough to make you remember the validity of your old feelings. 
That didn’t exactly erase the tension between you two. In fact, the hug might have made it worse. 
The two of you lounged around and played games using Haymond’s consoles, your older brother away for the day with Juyeon. Halfway through, you gave up and decided to have an early dinner, you saying you wanted to show him something after. It wasn’t necessarily true, there wasn’t much happening closer to the heart of town but you just really didn’t want to be home. There was something about being inside that made you feel trapped recently and, for at least one night, you just wanted to have fun and forget about all your senior responsibilities. 
The two of you began your walk to the middle of town just as your parents were pulling into the driveway. They seemed surprised to see you together, which you couldn’t blame them for. After Eric tried to kiss you, your parents just assumed that was a bridge that was never mended. Yet, you really wanted it to. You missed your best friend, being with someone who fascinated you the way he did. You wanted to talk everyday again and get back in touch with that part of you. 
Maybe it was a desperate need to hold onto your childhood because you thought you were losing it but a big part of you felt like it needed Eric in your life. Without him, the idea of life seemed a bit bleak.
“How’s the whole boyfriend thing going?” 
If you were being honest, the question did throw you off. It was asked just a few steps from your home, when he felt like you were alone again. From the corner of your eye, you watched as he battled himself internally after asking, as if he meant to but didn’t all at once.
Not knowing how to go about it, you started as you always would. In a way, you wanted to treat Eric as a friend but there was always going to be a difference now. Something uncomfortable would lie there and you found it was there often. Whenever you wanted to bring up Sunwoo, you’d refrain from it, either because it made you sad or because you felt he wouldn’t like it. 
On the other hand though, the question could’ve been an olive branch. Maybe he meant to ask it to let you know he wasn’t going to interfere again, or that he’d mended his feelings. Somehow, the second one seemed to make you upset but your mouth didn’t show any of your thinking. It just went around the same old bend, saying Sunwoo was great and you were happy and everything was going alright. 
Perhaps the smile on your face was too stale, too forced. Eric didn’t seem convinced, elbow poking into your side and head notching to the side. The way you instantly hesitated was enough of a tell and he walked a bit closer, lowering his voice to tell you it was alright to share. 
“You sure?”
Nibbling on your bottom lip, you shrugged. The warmth of your pockets was a slight reminder of what hands felt like embracing them but, with a blink, all your recent problems with Sunwoo came rushing back in. 
Shrugging, you hummed, “it’s been weird recently, to be honest. We made a new friend Haknyeon, you met him at the Christmas stuff and ever since they first met, they’ve been at odds, I guess? I can tell he doesn’t like him but he won’t tell me why.
“Except they get along well so it’s like, he just feels replaced I guess? He’s even told me that but there’s no way we’d ever do that. It’s ridiculous to even think.”
The more you voiced it, the more upset you became again. The two of you had an argument about it the day you opened presents because he saw you typing out the letter to Haknyeon. He looked so jealous and it was weird to see someone who was usually so happy turn sour and green. The air even felt different around him and the looks he gave you hurt. Yes, you wanted to write love letters to Sunwoo and you only ever did. You sent him so many and gave him others, wrote him little notes but Haknyeon’s was different. He was just your friend. It was bold to even call it a love letter considering the content; half the time, you spoke about Sunwoo anyways.
Still, your boyfriend was upset. He claimed everyone was forgetting about him or didn’t care that he was trying to be a rapper and was figuring out his career. It seemed to upset him more that everyone was still here while he was in the city but that wasn’t your fault. 
“It’s not my fault, right?” you reiterated, thinking aloud now to Eric, “like, he chose to try out and get casted and stuff. We’re all trying our best, just because we don’t see him all the time doesn’t mean we don’t care. We message everyday and I even- we even-”
The last bit seemed a little personal to share, even with Eric, and so you dropped it. Pursing your lips together, you found your eyes on your feet as they kicked forward through the snow. A small silence beat between you until Eric spoke. 
“You know, if that’s what he feels then hear him out instead of being defensive and stuff,” he said, a bit of coolness in his voice. Near the end of his sentence, he started to feel like ice, adding, “it must be hard for him to be alone too. At least you guys still have each other.”
With a blink, you tried to take what Eric said into consideration but a small part of you was bugged by him. Furrowing your eyebrows, you muttered, “yeah, but he doesn’t get to take out his aggression on me.”
“So tell him that instead of telling me. Knowing you, you’re just complaining instead of talking to him about it.” The curtness of his sentences was throwing you off and you were beyond confused about the way he was acting. It was like the wind blew a different direction and suddenly, he was upset. In turn, his words nipped at your emotions, grabbing with their tiny teeth and tearing until you felt just as bruised. 
Tucking your chin in, gaze now focused on the ground, you huffed, “why are you being so mean?”
Your words were met with an exhale, the sound of Eric’s boots hitting cobble letting you know you were in the heart of town. Bright lights lit up the square, Christmas decorations dangling from trees and due to be taken down. The whole place was bright, with beautiful designs and colourings on the stone walls that were washed and changed each season. This year, a snowman was decorating trees in the main drawing. Something about it was so warm. Eric was very much not. 
“Because it’s like you don’t even get why he’s upset. You’re taking it as if it’s a problem with him when it’s really a problem with you. You can’t see past yourself sometimes, y/n, and it’s ridiculous.”
“Are you really still upset with me too?” you shot back, now figuring out why he seemed to be taking Sunwoo’s side. You stopped while he walked a few paces into the square, watching him decide what to say before turning back to face you. 
“Honestly, a little.” His explanation only came when prompted but it seemed like he couldn’t stop himself from saying what he wanted to. 
“Really, I didn’t have a reason to be upset with you. I tried to kiss you and stuff before and you’re taken so that’s on me and I’m sorry, but you’re also extremely unfair. No matter what, even when you started dating Sunwoo, you called me everyday and we would talk until forever and not even notice and it wasn’t fine but we didn’t have boundaries; but now we do and you still cross them.
“Like what the fuck was that earlier today? You looked like you were going to cry and then just buried yourself in me. It’s like you’re playing with me and how else am I supposed to take it? Are we just friends? Have we ever really been?”
You watched as his chest rose and fell. He looked so upset but you were at a loss for words. All you could do was call his name but that seemed to make him more upset.
With a shake of his head, he sat on the edge of the fountain in the square and huffed. “I know it’s my fault too and I should try to stop these feelings or something but it’s not that simple. It’s not- it’s not your fault you’re happy and I’m not upset at you for that, I’m just… upset.”
Slowly, you took a seat beside him and pressed your lips together. As best as you could, you swallowed his words as they were, letting them scratch your throat on the way down. Your hand wanted to come on his shoulder but you refrained and sat silently. It was better than nothing. 
Despite yourself, you found yourself looking at your hands, voice small and weak as you muttered that you were sorry. He mirrored your words but it didn’t seem to mend much- or anything at all. 
——————————————————
I think this was the worst time of my life. I felt, slowly, slowly, like everything was caving in on me. I had the whole boyfriend thing going wrong, my friends seemed distant, Haymond was gone, and the only person I felt like I could truly rely on was you, and even you were slipping through my fingers. It was all because of feelings too, feelings that were overwhelming and that I had no idea what to do with because I couldn’t tell if I felt them when you did or if I’d always felt them towards you and you were just making it all surface. Whatever it was, you confused me, but I didn’t want to let you go. I physically couldn’t, and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to. 
——————————————————
Mid March 2018
Nervously, you kicked at the gravel in front of your car. You were leaning against your parents’ car, hands shoved in coat pockets that covered your overalls and sweater underneath. It was meant to be shown but the weather, being much different than last year’s, didn’t allow it. With a frown, you tried to avoid thinking too much about last year. It was at this point that things between you and Eric changed and it’d been so hard putting the shattered pieces back together ever since. A big part of you wondered if it was because your friendship the way it used to be was irreparable or if you just didn't want it to go back. 
Eric came stumbling out the front door, lugging a large garbage bag behind him with some effort. He was wearing a hat, as always, but his hair was still blonde and bright. You figured he liked the look of it when it clashed with the pink of his cheeks in the cold. You sure did. 
“I didn’t think you’d be here so early,” he admitted once getting into your car, garbage tossed and hands sanitized. 
From your spot in the driver’s seat, hands at nine and three before crossing over each other on a turn, you spoke. Preoccupied, you were sure your words weren’t as smooth as you meant them to be but he still listened and seemed to understand. 
“I wanted to make sure we spent the whole day. I have something kind of fun planned but I don’t know what to do after.”
Turning in his seat, leg propping up against the centre console, Eric fixed you with a hard look, trying to figure out the plan for the night. “What is this fun thing? You haven’t told me yet.”
Smartly, you notched your chin up and grinned brightly, making another turn. “You don’t deserve to know yet. It’s a surprise.”
“You’re so strange,” he chuckled, eyes becoming bright stars that winked. His elbow rested against the armrest, chin in hand as he looked at you in a way you couldn’t decipher. 
“It’s why you like me,” you said without thinking. 
The comment wasn’t met with a response. 
Time dripped by slowly when you were together, as if you were meant to savour every second because there wouldn’t be many more. You continued on talking, bringing up another topic and another until you both were giggling yourselves to bits. Cheeks hurting, you pulled into the driving lot of your destination, glad to begin your day.
Only when a metal bat was placed in Eric’s hand did he seem to get the gist of your outing. A pair of safety goggles were placed over his eyes, large, clear plexiglass shielding from anything that could possibly shatter. After he put on his electrician’s suit, one that was fitted with padding for safety and he got his instructions, Eric shuffled up to you slightly excited. 
“This is what you meant by relieving some senior stress, right? Breaking stuff?” He looked unnatural in a uniform like this, safety gloves fixed over his hands but still childish. You nodded. 
“It’s like a safe destruction centre and everything broken gets recycled and reused and stuff, plus each room is monitored so it’s like for having fun only or like releasing some endorphins,” you rambled, hoping it didn’t seem like a bad idea. Senior stress was mostly an excuse to get him to come. Deep down, you really just hoped this kind of patched up your relationship. Eric wasn’t ever aggressive but you knew he got angry, as did everyone. It felt like something productive, maybe, to imagine your problems as something physical and kicking it out of the way. It could just disappear that way. 
Nervously, Eric looked at you, then around the room and hummed, “we’re not breaking anything in here, right? These things look expensive.”
Snickering, you shook your head, wanting to tease him for being anxious but you couldn’t deny that you were too. As you gripped your own tool, fingers nervously shifting around it, you dared to look him in the eye and explain yourself. 
“I- I know you’re mad at me, Eric,” you mumbled, biting down on your lip after hearing how meek your voice was. The boy’s already circular eyes widened into perfect spheres, surprise written on them. 
“Wha-”
“And I’m mad at me too, for about a million reasons, and I’m mad at people other than you, and I’m stressed and anxious and confused and everything in between so let’s just take that all out here,” you finished, gesturing to the space around you, eyes following your hands, “because maybe then we can get back to being just us, you know? Have fun, like the old times.”
His hand peeled off his bat and came to rest between you, palm facing upwards and looking a bit small for his gloves. You looked between his eyes and his hand before gently placing yours in his. When he closed his fingers around yours, he smiled lightly and asked, “together, yeah?”
All you could manage was a brave nod and, together, you strode into the first room. Both of you were hesitant, padded room relatively empty despite the displays that were meant to be torn down. Yet, you both tapped at bottles and anything you could take a light swing at without feeling terrible about it. It grew to be fun and, soon, everything became a game. How many candles could you take out with one swing or how many pieces of newspaper could you tear in one rip? The answers were discovered in challenges and laughs, chases around the rooms you were in when you stole his safety gloves and he couldn’t handle the paintballs. 
It was hard to remember when you last laughed as hard, hiding behind sprayed garbage cans in the room made specifically for hand to hand paintball fights, trying not to be found. Like an egg cracked on your head, green paint spilled down your cheeks and into your hair. You would’ve screeched or been upset if it wasn’t met by Eric’s outlandish giggle that had him lying on the floor, holding his chest. Instead, your mouth just gaped open and a bit of paint touched your tongue, at which Eric laughed more. Almost immediately, you tipped yourself forward, trying to trap Eric the way he’d trapped you, splashing a pink paintball over his already stained hair, almost like a finishing dye. The way you had him pinned between your legs, one hand struggling to restrain his while the other rested on his head hardly crossed your mind until the last minute and you shuffled away to get off of him. 
Pink on his cheeks, very much not from the paint, he sat up and a few feet from you, knees up and arms outstretched over them. Shocked by your own self, you copied his stance and waited for time to pass. The beating of your heart was nearly overwhelming. 
Quietly, he murmured, “so, what were you breaking things for?” 
Motioning behind him at another door, he waved his thumb and explained, “you seemed a bit fixed on those old IKEA chairs.”
Shyly, you brought your hands to your eyes and chuckled, embarrassed he saw. “I- O didn’t think you were watching me.”
Shrugging, Eric shifted closer, definitely dipping his gloves in paint but he didn’t seem to mind. The music above faded out when you weren’t paying attention to it, nearly disappearing as you focused on the thumping in your chest. Looking at Eric today felt completely different, as if each time you blinked, he was a different person, with layers you never knew before. 
“I was thinking of Sunwoo,” you admitted, almost never wanting to lie to him again, “you?”
An exhale left his lips slowly, cheeks puffing out into circles before he lay back on the ground. More paint shifted around him, and around you as you lay beside him, but it didn’t seem to matter. All that mattered for the moment was the tension in your chest, the revolving of the fans above you, and the sound of Eric’s voice. 
“School and my parents, you know how they get, and stress and- and honestly, sometimes, you.” 
The way he spoke was careful but raw, something you missed hearing from him. Turning your head, you were met with his perfect profile, a killer jaw and chin, with strong cheekbones and nose to match. His hair was splayed across his forehead, pressed there and drying with the paint but it didn’t matter much to him, or to you. He was still beautiful, platinum hair suiting his complexion more than you ever thought it could.
Softly, he murmured, “but mostly me. I guess I’m mad at me for not being able to handle the fact that, like, just because I like you doesn’t mean you have to like me back. I’m mad for being mean to you.”
A laugh coupled his last little mumble, the words, “I don’t know,” slipping past his teeth as he tried to run a gloveless hand through his hair. “A little bit of everything, I guess.”
“Yeah, me too.” The conversation concluded somberly, neither of you particularly keen on continuing it. You’d also taken off your gloves, having them rest on your stomach and take a ride up and down with your breath. Music seemed to fill your ears again, but you weren’t too aware of it. 
Almost all you could think of was the inching of your fingers towards his, and the butterflies that creeped up into your stomach when they met. As your pinkies linked, you wondered what it meant for you, for Eric, for Sunwoo. It felt like an affair, though you were sure from other people’s perspectives, maybe you and Sunwoo were the affair.
“I get to pick the next place, right?” Eric’s eyes lit up as you met in the main hall after getting changed out of your uniforms and handing everything back in. You were glad he wasn’t mentioning what happened in the paintball room, knowing it would only render you speechless. All you gave him was another nod, one he took gracefully. 
“Then, I’ll drive or I can tell you directions.”
“I can’t know?” you prodded, raising your brows. 
He mimicked your stance before, sticking his nose in the air and slyly crooning, “it’s a surprise.”
The surprise was somewhere you’d been going for so long, one of your favourite hang out spots before you left your hometown and you squealed in excitement pulling up to the lot. As you found parking, taking quite a bit to park straight enough, you bounced in your seat. 
“I guessed it, I guessed it,” you giggled, turning your head around and placing your hand on the back of his seat to see behind you as you parked, “I’m so excited!”
The innocent laugh that escaped his lips as he watched you, gazed at you almost, was uncontrollable. “I couldn’t tell.”
It took everything not to jump out of the car immediately, leaving it unlocked and behind in the future. Where you were going was the past, and the music and lights and oranged floors of the roller rink were all familiar. Nothing had changed, nothing but you and Eric, both of which were much taller than you used to be. Checking in and getting a pair of ‘70s wheels, you both sat and chittered about the filling rink while tying the laces. 
Sticking your foot out, you pouted. “It’s not working, help me.”
So many thoughts ran past Eric’s face, all different emotions before he landed on being amused and helping you with it. As he tied the laces a little tight on purpose, he murmured, “I haven’t been here since you left.”
“What a coincidence,” you said, trying to sound dumb, “me neither? So weird.”
Snorting, he slapped at your foot to tell you it was done and you perked up, trying to stand. Gripping onto a railing, you succeeded in standing but wondered how you were going to make it out with the skaters. Eric’s hand came to rest on the small of your back to steady you before he stepped in first. 
“I’ll go around first and see if I can get it and then come get you?”
You shook your head, adamant to follow him. He seemed to get the hang of being on his feet, knees bent just slightly and you copied his stance as you outstretched your hands.
“Together.” 
The word slipped out absentmindedly, but it was enough to make him take your hands and pull you forward, lacquered floor definitely easier to roller-skate on. Stumbling a bit, both of you wavered and laughed, gripping onto each other for dear life. More experienced skaters left space around you but it truly felt like they weren’t even there. There was nothing more than Eric’s eyes, which twinkled and shone with every grin and belly laugh. Even when he slipped, he felt like a galaxy splaying out to cover more ground. Nothing about him ever bored you, not even when you were left on your feet trying to pull him back up but he just tugged you down. 
If anything, he felt like the place you were supposed to be. Here, with him, where nothing could go wrong, you were safe. 
Tired from skating and your previous adventure, Eric went to grab nachos as you unlaced your skates and returned both pairs. Sitting there, in the darker spots of the rink, psychedelic prints as wallpaper and contemporary pieces of Jimi Hendrix plastered against it all, you sat at a high table and reminisced. Both of you sat outward, watching people and picking at chips absentmindedly, thinking about the past you’d let slip through your fingers. 
“We came here for Keenan’s birthday, do you remember?” you asked, chuckling a bit as you imagined a horde of little sixth graders bumbling around, pushing and shoving each other, being loud and crazy. They seemed painted gold, your memories. 
Eric hummed, smiling broadly as he ate. Covering his mouth to speak politely, he chittered, “I had my first kiss that day.”
Your eyebrows raised, turning to look at him. “Did you really?”
A nod came from him, though he seemed a little confused. As he gripped at a tissue, going to wipe his hands, he inquired, “you don’t remember?”
“You told me about it?”
Blinking, only slightly taken aback, Eric finished cleaning his hand before softly saying, “I didn’t have to tell you because you were it.”
Eyes widening, you tried to think back on it, but you couldn’t. Nothing was coming to mind and it made you feel embarrassed. Something so important to both you and Eric was something you didn’t remember. It didn’t seem to faze him for much longer, the shrug falling off his shoulders trying to seem casual. 
“Doesn’t matter, really,” he mumbled, looking down at this hands before turning back out to the public, “it was just a peck.”
——————————————————
Not remembering that kiss definitely made me wonder when I’d started to see you the way I do now. I remember being irrevocably in love with you then, spending days doting on you and trying to get you to see me. I remember all the moments when we would skip around town, go biking or swimming and just be together and I’d think that was what love was- what it meant. Every single day, spent with the person you wanted to be with, that was love. Nothing else. I thought I was wrong before. Now, the more I think about it, the more I realize that’s what love is to me, and it’s difficult when you love someone you can’t see. 
——————————————————
Early May 2018
“Keep your knees bent!” Eric called out to you, watching you try to kick off the skateboard but immediately stumbling back to the ground. He was far enough away that it took him a few seconds to skate close enough to shake his head at you. 
“Where’s your head at?” he muttered, trying to show you how he stood. Little did he know that your brain wasn’t anywhere near skateboarding. It was your first time learning so you should’ve probably been more attentive but you were so distracted. 
A conversation between you and Sunwoo last night seemed to play on repeat, like a cassette tape on loop until the vinyl got pulled and stretched and burnt. By that point, every word sounded warped and unreal, though the feeling was visceral. You didn’t know how Eric didn’t notice the puffiness of your eyes, or maybe he did and didn’t feel it was his place to ask. Instead, he toyed around in your empty streets and determined to teach your how to skateboard. 
“Sorry,” you murmured, not even noticing you said it. He went to press his hands lightly on your shoulders, trying to tell you to get a bit more bend in your knees. You complied easily, absentmindedly letting him adjust your stance. 
“Everything okay?” Eric asked, dipping down to meet your eyes face on. It was the only moment where you felt like you were living in that time. A part of you wanted to just spill your guts then but you held back, withdrawing into your thoughts once more as you offered him a nod. It was the best you could do given the circumstances. 
Lightly, he grasped your hands once more and led you around slowly, in circles. It seemed easy when he led you but you weren’t controlling a thing, just leaning the ways he was pulling you. He coaxed you off his hands, telling you that it was alright before he pulled away completely. Surprisingly, you were on your feet longer than you expected, long enough for him to think it was safe to skate a little further away. He was in the middle of doing a trick when he heard your skateboard clatter across the pavement and your body thudding against the ground.
You watched his head whip over his shoulder before he leapt off his own board, grabbing it off the floor and sprinting toward you. Worry wasn’t natural on his face, you thought that as you sat up, clutching a part of your knee where you felt sharp stings. The rubbing of your jeans against your skin probably didn’t help. It didn’t take much for you to start to feel like your reality was actually happening, dampness of your hand asking you to start properly paying attention to your surroundings. 
The tears in your eyes were involuntary. Eric seemed to slide to the ground, coming to sit beside you and trying to pry your hand away from the spot while you sobbed, clutching your leg closer and closer. You were sure it looked like you were crying because of your injury but it was so much more than that. In fact, you didn’t even really feel much pain. Your hand proceeded to press into what felt like a very thin puddle on your jeans. 
“Y-y/n, please let me see it I- does it hurt that much? Do we need to go to the hospital? I- Is that blood?!” His voice hitched up, almost exclaiming as he pried your fingers off yours to see the many dotted stains of red up and down the area you scraped against the floor. Panic really did not suit him, he wasn’t well equipped for these situations. 
Through your tears, you started to feel less weighted. Looking at Eric care so much for you made you realize you weren’t alone the way you thought you were. It was just a conversation. A break-up wasn’t the end of the world. 
A broken laugh broke through your tears, which seemed to spark most of them. You must’ve looked ridiculous, not even trying to wipe at your cheeks with your sleeves. Instead, they covered your hands and tugged you forward as you wrapped your arms around Eric. He seemed taken aback, placing a palm against the ground beside him to steady your weight and his. 
You watched as droplets fell against his shoulder, squishing in closer to him only to whisper, “thank you.”
His free hand was somewhere in midair, brain preoccupied and concerned that you were on your knees to hug him. You listened as he spluttered, not quite understanding the situation or anything at all. He was ridiculous on days like this, a little giggle slipping past your teeth at the thought of the look on his face. Pulling back, hands of yours trailing up his shoulders and resting there to face him, you sniffled and forced a smile. 
“Thank you for always being here.”
He blinked. The computer of his brain restarted a few blinks later. Silence filled the streets and you became more aware of the dampness of the jean above and below your knees. Suddenly, a sharp sting shot up your leg and you hissed, sitting back on your bum. That seemed to snap him back into real life and the small boy, short but firm, proceeded to help pick you up off the floor. 
“Let’s clean you up, yeah?” he murmured, not daring to stare you in the eye anymore, “we can talk after.”
Having no one home that day was a plus. Your parents were out visiting someone for the weekend so you didn’t have to worry about their prodding and chittering and comments about your clumsiness. You’d heard enough when it came to your grades, you really just wanted some peace and quiet. 
Eric led you carefully up the stairs, making sure to watch for you. He let you change into shorts in your room, offering to clean up the blood because he knew injuries made you queasy. A little tease escaped his mouth, filling your ears and the quiet air as he spoke. 
“I’ll hold your hand if it hurts too much.”
You knew he was kidding but it still caused your heart to pick up. A part of you couldn’t believe you were saying it but Eric excited you. He made you wonder about all the things you could be doing if you were together when you were apart. Not once did he fall back into being your best friend and maybe you never felt that way about him. Selfishly, you kept him so close to your heart that you confused deeper feelings for platonic ones and it was unfair to him- unfair to you.
He’d found the speaker and was playing his relax playlist by the time you emerged from your room, redness up one leg. Eric seemed to pay close attention to that rather than the high cut of your shorts, a bit taken aback by it. You could’ve sworn there was blush on his cheeks. Biting down on your cheek, you made your way to the bathtub and sat down inside of it, outstretching one leg but leaving enough room for Eric to fit. You didn’t want to risk getting blood between the tiles.
Politely and keeping his distance, Eric squeezed in as best as he could, a bottle of antiseptic in one hand and a multitude of cotton pads in the other. There were bandages and pins for them splayed across the closed toilet seat. It definitely wasn’t hospital level clean but it was good enough given the circumstances. 
Eric’s free hand gripped yours as he ran over your wounds lightly, obviously trying not to press too hard. He asked for your help sometimes to stretch the skin, apologizing and looking mournful whenever you hissed or a muscle twitched. You weren’t in too much pain, but it was fun to see him care so much for you. 
Crimped, blonde hair fell into his eyes and he shook it out of the way as he bent forward, trying to get through every little scratch before he bandaged it. With his mouth dropped open just a fraction of an inch, eyebrows scrunched forward and eyes hyper focused, there was no way he was going to notice you eyeballing him. You watched like he was the first movie ever made, not black and white but in full colour and enamouring. Sharp lines and pink lips, ones that made you wonder what they felt like against yours. 
Was it the pain in your chest talking or did you really feel this way?
Breaking the silence, almost unknowingly and without any intention, you murmured, “I’m sorry. I feel like I’ve been so shitty recently and I was- I was unfair to you.”
It wasn’t the first time he looked confused, pausing as he tried to bring your leg closer. He was cupping the bottom of your calve with one hand, the other against your knee to make the bend easier for you. This time, he just waited for you to elaborate, seeing the words form on your lips before they came out in sound. 
“I hated Raven for no reason and ever since I started dating Sunwoo, I brought him up all the time and that was wrong of me but maybe,” you paused here, trailing off and not really knowing where you were going until you realized it yourself, “maybe I wanted you to feel the same way I did. I wanted you to be jealous too, which is shitty.
“It’s horrible of me, actually,” you admitted, lowering your tone and embarrassed with yourself. Despite hearing it out loud and knowing how it sounded, you needed it out in the open. It felt only right for him, the person who knew you bone deep, to hear the secrets you’d been hiding for so long. 
“I love Sunwoo, I do,” you assured him, or was it yourself? Catching the way you spoke, you hesitated before continuing, dipping your chin further into your chest and pouting, “it’s just- sometimes I just- I don’t know, it’s like-” 
“Sometimes, it’s hard to admit that you’re in love with your best friend.” He finished for you, clipping the last bit of the bandage together. His eyes didn’t meet yours, staying fixed on the beige wrappings against your skin. It almost looked like a present with his hands around your leg, holding it so tenderly.
Slowly and almost silently, he murmured, “and that maybe a part of you will always be in love with them.”
“Sunwoo and I broke up,” you said so definitively, you wondered if he would take the hint.
The surprise in his eyes didn’t lead to the same conclusion. You watched him want to ask how it happened, if you were alright and needed some sort of support. Maybe he was putting it together that’s why you were crying, or maybe it was nothing of the sort. 
Looking for an answer you knew you weren’t going to get, you filled the clueless kid in on your desire. “Kiss me now or forever hold your peace.”
Your joke was almost cut off by his lips pressing into yours, soft and warm and everything you imagined it to be. He was cinnamon without the spice, hands so generously sliding up your leg while the other came to steady your jaw and neck. This time, it was a kiss you wouldn’t forget. That much you were sure of, smile spreading across your lips whenever it got the chance. His breathless laugh in that closed space was all you could think of in the days to pass.
——————————————————
Truthfully, I don’t know where this puts us. We hardly saw each other or talked, exams and then my trip getting in the way. I could feel the desperation between us for an answer but neither of us had one, and I don’t know if I ever will. It’s weird, but exciting and fun. I hope that, when I come back, I’ll have an answer. I want to know who I love once and for all, and put an end to this part of my life. Leaving high school means leaving these little letters behind, letters I’ve poured everything I am into. I’m glad you’re my last, Eric. You’ve been the love I’ve had the longest and a love I don’t think will ever fade. I don’t ever want it to. 
Love forever, probably, your best friend, y/n y/l/n. On June 18th, 2018.
——————————————————
The paper in Eric’s hand ruffled as he tried to straighten it out. There were wrinkles on it and a bunch of edits and pen markings from different hands. Almost everyone wanted to make it perfect but the weight was on him to tell you and hope it reached you. He approached your room only to hear soft sobs from inside and pieces of words. Amalia, the person who helped him earlier today, was inside and murmuring to you. A lack of a closed door helped him hear her a bit more clearly. 
“I never meant for this to happen,” she seemed to whimper, voice quiet. It felt inappropriate to listen and Eric nearly dipped away but her next sentence caught his ear. 
“I sent the letters because I- I wanted to show you how many people you’ve touched, and how many people love you.” 
His eyebrows arched up, but a part of him wondered why he was even surprised. You were very secretive about these letters. It seemed only Sunwoo really knew you had them but he was convinced you’d only sent him them until he saw the one to Haknyeon. Eric only found out in January but he didn’t expect to get one himself, much less the eleven other boys that showed up over the past few weeks. It really never was your intention for anyone to see, then.
Softly, Amalia continued, seeming to lose her touch the more she spoke. She was almost a spool of yarn someone had rolled across a floor and Eric couldn’t help but understand. He’d be lying if he said he didn’t feel the same.
“You kept saying you were losing everyone and nobody would know if you disappeared but so many people would. I would and I- I do. I’m here, y/n. Please. Please wake up.”
With a definitive break in her voice, she whispered, “please, I miss you so much.”
Figuring he’d overheard enough, Eric took steps away and rested in a chair near the room, waiting for his chance. Instead, he looked over his very own papers and tried to read it over before he went in. In some way, it felt like rehearsing a script and he wanted it to be perfect. He wanted you to hear it the way he intended it, the way everyone else did too. Reading it again seemed to hurt more than he remembered it would. 
The sound of the chair scraping against the floor, rubber on the legs of it making the sound muted, filled the room once he entered. Amalia had put it back on the opposite side of the room, away from the ledge of your belongings which Eric eyed for a moment. He’d added his little bit of affection for you after reading your letter, hoping you’d remember which was his when you woke. 
A small exhale escaped his mouth, almost as if he was preparing for something he didn’t know how to handle. If he was being honest with himself, he didn’t think you’d hear him at all with this. All he could do was hope but that was wishful thinking. Thinking he didn’t know if he could afford to make, realistically. 
Sniffling for a moment, extending the paper before him after taking a small rub at his nose, he began to speak, praying that in the galaxy of your brain, he’d reach you. 
“Okay, y/n,” he breathed, a lack of courage sapping at his voice until he cleared his throat to say, “I don’t know if you can hear me but, here goes, I guess”
Straightening his paper out and mumbling little whispers of encouragement to himself, already feeling the tightness in his throat, he said, “We thought that- like me and Sunwoo and other people- we thought that, since you’ve written all of us a letter, it was about time you had one written to you.
“Sunwoo helped, and Amalia and Joon and- and basically everyone around. They all had something they wanted to say so it's here, I guess. In this paper, right here,” he hummed, waving the paper around lightly. Catching his ridiculousness, knowing you couldn’t see him, he paused and gave a laugh that lacked amusement. He was so nervous. 
“Everyone wanted to start at the beginning so they said I should be the one to say it to you. Sunwoo wanted to be here but he’s doing a few more tests now and I have to leave for school soon. It’s been a bit since I’ve been and I don’t think I can miss any more time.
“I wish I could hear your voice. I’m really nervous to leave home and study in the city. You said you were going too and we’d be in the same city but I don’t know which university you accepted. I don’t even know if you’re going anymore.”
Catching himself rambling, Eric tried to shift his focus back to the words scrawled on paper, desperately ignoring the nipping at his eyes. It was just the air conditioner, he lied to himself, trying to convince himself that it wasn’t the build up of emotions he’d been trying so hard to repress. 
“Sorry, I got distracted but, yeah. This letter is for you. Dear y/n, the person who brought so many people together, a sibling, a child, a best friend; you. It was hard figuring out where to start this letter but the basis of everyone’s answers when they thought of you was love. Maybe they were all letters you addressed to people but they held so much love.
“Without even knowing it, you touched so many hearts. If only you could see the ever growing list of affections next to you. There’s a basketball, a new makeup brush, a guitar pick, a plant, and empty Coca Cola bottle, this big lemonade cup from the fair in town, apparently, a book of poems, a mask from the dance we went to- do you remember that dance?”
Stuttering here, Eric looked up and locked eyes with his next artifact, murmuring, “th- Sunwoo’s grey sweater, a coffee cup with doodles on it, a toy train and- and my skateboard. They’re all here for you, things people remember you with everyday. A sweater Sunwoo can’t see without thinking of you, closing his eyes and remembering your smell on it. A skateboard I watched you fall from and rip your skin on. A train from Haknyeon, something he says is one of his favourite memories.”
Giving pause here, Eric nearly crumpled his paper, desperately pushing back a tear that fell without permission. He dipped his head down, taking a deep breath. It felt like he was shattering, reading it aloud. To himself, he could make the letter detached but having you in the room, hoping you’d hear it: it was too much for him. Slowly, he inhaled until his breath wavered less and less and he could speak clearer. 
“It’s all these things that showed everyone who visited the person you really were. We didn’t talk about our letters but we all knew. It was the look in everyone’s eyes, the delicacy in which we viewed you. It was like a bond between brothers, a circle linking everyone with you in the middle. You’re the puppet master, pulling us all in to meet each other for no other reason other than your love, which you spread so easily and willingly.
“You guard your heart but there’s gold underneath there. You’re kind and accepting. You’re sweet and you listen- genuinely listen- and you care for people, no matter who they are or how little you’ve known them. Anyone you meet, you treat them like a friend, even if you’re scared or awkward or nervous.”
If Eric closed his eyes, he could remember you walking up to him at such a young age and just thrusting your hand forward to pull him from the sand he fell in. You weren’t even in the same class and still, you came to help him out. How many times have you saved his ass without even realizing it?
The thought caused breakages in his heart and voice, fractures and fissures appearing nearly everywhere, as if his whole body was shattering from pressure. 
“It’s- it’s time you knew your worth,” he began, clenching his jaw in a feeble attempt to keep his composure, “you make people feel seen just as much as people make you feel seen. I don’t think you realize the way people love you, have loved you, continue to love you. We need you. More honestly, I need you. So please just- please just come back. Don’t leave me now. Not yet. We have our whole lives we need to see together. Together, y/n. Please.”
The way he crushed under the pressure of his words, emotions weighing in on every piece of his body until he bent and hid his face in the sheets of your bedroom. He wasn’t one for crying, or so he liked to think. It was childish. He was trying to be more grown up, but adult life didn’t prepare him for this: the loss of the one person that would probably make the biggest difference in his life. 
Water dripped on his paper but he could just put it to the side now. He said all he needed to say and it still didn’t take you out of your sleep. It still didn’t bring him back. All he was in this situation was useless, a puddle of nothing. He couldn’t help you. He couldn’t even try. All he could do was sit there and cry, hide in your sheets and pray it was all a dream. Every night, that’s what he did and it didn’t seem to work but it didn’t matter. Anything for the shadow of your voice again. Anything to feel like you were still there.
The stiffness of fingers in his hair was enough to give him pause. There was an obvious attempt to brush through his locks but it was almost unnatural, like whoever was doing it didn’t know how to move anymore. 
Lifting his head, partially not wanting it to be you so you wouldn’t see him as broken as this, he met your eyes. They were only slits, the slightest bit open and maybe blurred, but it was you. A little smile pinched at your cheeks, fingers sliding through his hair a bit smoother now.
“Why… why are y… you crying?” The question came out in stages, throat obviously parched and creaking from a lack of use, but it didn’t matter. It was you. Eric would have laughed, bringing your hand down to hold it as he leaned further into you to hear your words, words which pushed him to chuckle when he never thought he would have. 
“Big baby.”
Your smile widened at his noise, maybe wanting to laugh along too but that would take a bit of time. Gripping your hand in his, he let his tears fall more, but for so many different reasons. Grogginess sapped at you but you were still you. You were finally here. When he looked at you, it was like he was looking at the stars. Even now, half awake in the hospital bed. You were his whole galaxy. He, too, never wanted to stop loving you, not if it meant never feeling this happy again.
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