#i am but a lovestruck schoolgirl for this man | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

seungkwansphd · 2 years

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at first glance

pairing: jeonghan x reader wordcount: 1.2k summary: jeonghan this, jeonghan that. you’ve had more than enough and you haven’t even met the man. genre/themes: rivals to lovers(eventually), meet cute ugly, coworker!jeonghan, ‘we get along infamously’-verse

a/n: as usual, I couldn’t stop wondering about these two and why they dislike each other to begin with. this plot is 95% from @wavelikewhat‘s brain so thank god for her!!!

“Mr. Yoon, I have to say, I am incredibly impressed at your solution to this technical exercise!” Director Bae blinked as he reviewed Jeonghan’s lines of code. “Truly! We thought our existing internal solution was elegant, but this…this was done in even fewer lines of code! I didn’t think it was possible!”

“Thank you Mr. Bae,” Jeonghan smiled, pleased at the positive feedback.

“This concludes the interview process for now! We will hold an internal consensus meeting this week and I would expect to hear from us before the end of the week,” Director Bae stood, shaking Jeonghan’s hand enthusiastically.

“Fantastic, thank you all for your time today!” Jeonghan bowed respectfully before signing out of the building.

…

“Incredible! Simply incredible!” Director Bae smiled like a schoolgirl with a crush as he walked by your desk, clutching a document to his chest.

“What is happening?” you turned to your cube neighbor, Vernon.

“Do you really think I know?” he asked, deadpan as usual, before returning to his work.

Unable to shake the image of infatuated Bae out of your mind, you pulled up a window to message Minghao. HR always seemed to know the latest tea.

[yn]: ‘please tell me you know why director bae is acting like a lovestruck teen???’

[minghao]: ‘yeah he’s pretty smitten with the candidate they just interviewed. apparently he solved the famous ‘YN Problem’ with even fewer lines of code than you did!’

[yn]: ‘oh really? i’d love to see their solution if you can get your hands on it’

[minghao]: ‘nosy’

[yn]: ‘fewer lines of code doesn’t always mean better’

[minghao]: ‘i’ll see what i can pull’

You narrowed your eyes at the screen. You knew that Director Bae, a staunch short code supremacist, would be tickled pink with the solution, regardless of readability, maintenance, or elegance. You’d be interested to meet this individual. You could already tell that your director would likely throw all his weight during consensus in order to extend an offer.

…

“Really just incredible! YN, can you believe it? Fewer lines than your solve! The famous ‘YN Problem’. Perhaps we’ll rename it the ‘Jeonghan Problem’!” Director Bae tittered excitedly as the rest of the team sat around him in a semicircle.

You closed your eyes, willing him to leave so that everyone could get back to work. While your leader was generally tolerable, he didn’t have the firmest grasp on the fact that his presence could greatly derail the team’s time management. The week had already been busy with intern onboarding and mentorship activities. All the time now spent gushing over, contemplating, and speculating about Yoon Jeonghan would surely make the day longer than it needed to be.

“YN, what do you think Jeonghan looks like?” your newest intern duckling, Miseon, asked dreamily. “I hope he’s cute!”

“I hope he’s severely injured in an accident on his first day,” you grumbled under your breath. You knew you were being unreasonable. You hadn’t even met the man and he had simply done what had been asked of him during the interview, but you prided yourself on your competency and all of this Jeonghan worship was, in fact, getting under your skin.

“What’s that?” Miseon asked, not quite catching your mutterings.

“Nothing, I think let’s focus on our task and worry about Jeonghan when he gets here,” you nodded at her.

“You’re right,” she flushed, pulling up the documents that she had asked to review with you today.

…

Jeonghan inhaled sharply before pressing the button for the elevator. It was his first day and he wasn’t exactly nervous, but he did hope to make a good impression. He felt pretty certain that he had Director Bae in his pocket already, but he knew nothing about the rest of the team.

Between all of the back and forth of the formal offer, he had managed to request a copy of YN’s solution to his technical interview question and he had been impressed. While yes, strictly speaking, it utilized longer code, he actually felt like their solution was better set up for long term maintenance and readability. He was very interested to meet this person and get to know them.

“Jeonghan!” Director Bae greeted him excitedly as he stepped out of the elevator. “We are so excited to have you joining us!”

“Ah, thank you!” Jeonghan smiled brightly, following him through a maze of cubicles.

“I’ll leave you here with our friendly HR professionals to get you onboarded, but please do tell me if you need anything! So so happy to have you starting.”

“Thank you very much,” Jeonghan nodded before turning to greet the lanky HR person.

“I’m Minghao, it’s so nice to finally meet you,” he smiled at Jeonghan, gesturing to the seat in his office.

…

[minghao]: ‘he asked about you…’

[yn]: ‘who?’

[minghao]: ‘the new hire. jeonghan’

You rolled your eyes so hard they threatened to fall out of their sockets. Jeonghan, Jeonghan, Jeonghan! You were tempted to hide in a wellness room so you could work alone and in peace.

[yn]: ‘hao, i love you. but i am truly not in the mood to think about, talk to, or look at that man. i’m so swamped’

[minghao]: ‘got it. i will put off intros until later’

You checked your appearance in the reflection of the glass divider and scoffed. Even if you had wanted to meet Jeonghan, you were in no shape to do so. Your hair was a frizzled mess, the bags under your eyes were starting to resemble black holes, and you had chosen the most shapeless office sweater you owned because you were meant to be coding, and only coding, today. You blew out your cheeks as you dove back into your work.

“Oh hey! Are you YN?” Jeonghan couldn’t help but ask when your nameplate caught his eye later in the day.

“Yes?” you turned slowly, blinking at him.

“Hey, I’m Jeonghan! I’ve been looking forw-”

“Yeah, I’ve heard more than enough about you already,” you grumbled before turning brusquely back to your work.

Jeonghan’s brows furrowed. Your disheveled appearance and rude treatment was starkly in contrast to the way everyone else, so far, had been professional and welcoming. Pulling back his outstretched hand, he walked back to his desk. Noted.

…

“Whoa! You look-, oh wait, that’s right. You have that presentation today,” Vernon’s jaw dropped when you walked in, but he recovered fairly quickly.

“Shut up,” you flushed, rolling your eyes at your coworker. So you were wearing makeup and pants that fit. So what? “It’s an important day.”

“It’s just rare for you to look so…fancy?” Vernon tried to compliment you in a way that wouldn’t land him in Minghao’s office.

You raised your fist playfully at him, but smiled anyway. Vernon, though somewhat hapless, was one of your preferred coworkers so you would spare him today.

Jeonghan’s eyes flitted towards Vernon’s commotion and he had to do a double take. You looked…incredible. It almost made him chuckle as he reminded himself of the way you’d looked when he’d first met you. In the months since he had joined the team, you had been more than clear about your dislike of him. That was fine, it wasn’t like he was interested in you anyways.

...

we get along infamously - series masterlist

#we get along infamously #seungkwansphd #seungkwansphd:writes #jeonghan fanfic #jeonghan fic #jeonghan angst #seventeen fanfic #seventeen angst #seventeen x reader #jeonghan x reader #seventeen scenarios #seventeen imagines #jeonghan imagine #jeonghan scenario

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astaroth1357 · 4 years

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Brothers React to the MC Looking at Them Lovingly

This is a personal experiment. This is the very first time I've written one of these with a goal in mind, "Make them fall in love all over again." It's a tall order. I hope I succeeded. 🙏 Special thanks to @a-chaotic-dumbass for picking the mood for this one!

Intro:

We all know that look. The one where one person stares at another like they just realized they're the only thing in the universe and they're in fucking awe of it. The kind of look that tells you they're utterly enthralled by that other person and just can't get enough of their presence. That look. Yeah, the brothers just got that look out of the MC.

Let's warm some cold hearts, everybody.

Lucifer

Lucifer was always beautiful. Always has been, as an angel or a demon.

A morning star is one that outshines all the rest. It stands out when the other stars have dimmed, holding onto its luster in defiance of the sun.

There couldn't be a truer title for Lucifer to have. Not the horrors of war nor the fires of Hell could tarnish his radiance in any way…

But there were moments, like right then, where the MC caught a glimpse of a different sort of Lucifer.

His brothers would often only see the uptight Lucifer, the practiced visage of perfection that he tried so hard to keep up…

But after a long day, when he thinks he's alone, he retires to his room to listen to his music and the difference is astonishing.

There's something so entrancingly calm about him… How the light of the fireplace flickers and dances across his alabaster skin to the subtle slouch of his posture. His face no longer marred by creases of stress and frustration…

And his expression is so pure… So tranquil and at peace… Beauty without effort. A shine that can't be ignored. A morning star, in the truest sense of the word…

It took awhile for Lucifer to see the MC leaning against his doorframe.

They were staring at him with the oddest look… Smiling like they were enraptured by something, but he didn't have a clue why. He was just sitting there…

So, naturally, he turned to suspicion.

"Am I really that amusing…?"

Frankly, he wasn’t prepared for the little laugh they let out in response.

"Mm? No, no... I'm just always so amazed by you, is all. I'll leave you to your music..."

Having thoroughly ruined the mood, the MC then turned to leave. But Lucifer was already upon them before they could step away, wrapping his arms around their waist and letting contented hum escape his chest.

"Going so soon…?"

Apparently he appreciated the compliment.

Mammon

He didn't have to do it.

When Belphie bumped into one of the House's vases, shattering it against the tile, he didn’t have to take the fall for it.

It wasn’t connected to him at all. He could have stayed quiet and no one would have pointed a finger at him for once.

But he did.

When Mammon set his phone down on the table, MC knew instantly that he had lied in the chat.

He was with them the entire day, he didn't have the time to accidentally break a vase. He hadn't even gone down that hallway all day...

But he said something anyway.

And he didn't even look fazed. He didn't turn towards them seeking approval nor did he look irritated that Belphie didn't speak up. He didn't curse at himself for doing something so self-sacrificing either...

When Mammon leaned back into the cushion of his couch, the MC saw something truly remarkable on his face… A smile. A small one, sure, but relaxed…

Assured in his own actions. Confident in his choice and accepting the consequences… undeserved, and likely thankless, they may be.

A genuine, serene smile…

Mammon wasn't sure what he expected to see when he turned to the MC. Probably confusion or disbelief that he, the Great Mammon, could be so selfless.

Definitely not the awed, lovestruck look he got...

"G-gah!" He panicked slightly and pressed himself back against the armrest of the couch in shock. "Wh-... What'cha lookin at me like that for??"

When the MC didn't answer after a few seconds and just kept staring, he honestly didn't know what to do. Were they broken or something??

"Oi, MC! I asked ya wh-Hey wait a minute!!"

He made a noise between a yelp and a shout when the MC leapt forward and latched their arms onto him. What had gotten into them??

"U-uh… MC? MC?? Damnit MC, answer me already!! Or at least stop squeezin so tight!!... MC!!!"

Leviathan

To anyone else, it was just Levi being Levi.

He had finished a new episode of his latest animated obsession and he had to share it with someone. Anyone would do, but the MC was always willing to lend an ear.

Something about Levi really changes when he talks about his passions… It's like he comes alive in a whole new way.

He speaks at a mile-a-minute, but that's because he's so excited the words fly from his mouth.

Some part of him is always bouncing, be it his leg or body. Sometimes even his tail will swish and curl behind him like an ecstatic puppy. And his eyes…

Citrine pools that glimmer and dilate from the exhilaration of it all. It's his little world and anyone can see he's thrilled to be sharing it.

You'd never know he was shy. You'd never think he'd look down himself. You'd never guess that he hid himself away… Why would someone so full of passion and life ever want to? Some things are just too beautiful to keep hidden...

Levi had only gotten six minutes into his latest rant before he finally registered how the MC was staring at him…

This man has seen enough shoujo to know what that look means and it shut him up sooo quick. If anyone else were in the room they would have seen a beet-red Levi desperately trying to hide his face.

"M-MC…! S-top staring at me like that…!!"

"Like what~?"

He didn't have to look at them to hear the teasing lilt in their voice.

"MC…" He peeked out from behind his fingers to see them still staring and covered himself up more vigorously. "Stoooop…!!!"

But secretly? He wished they'd never stop. His cheeks may have been red from embarrassment, but his heart was trying to hammer its way out of his chest to hug them itself. Hell, he'd have happily given it over to them if they'd asked…

Please just let those loving eyes be for him and him alone...

Satan

Soft isn't exactly a word anybody would use to describe Satan, least of all himself.

His anger was quick to spark, his strength was nothing to scoff at, and even his smiles were nothing but plastic for nearly all of his existence…

Nearly.

The MC learned surprisingly quick that there was one thing that could bypass all of the hidden ferocity to Satan's personality. Something that could make him melt like butter in the summer sun…

Satan had always looked a little cute when he was reading. He was easily at his most expressive when engrossed in a thrilling story or deeply intrigued by something he found between the pages of a book…

But watching Satan read about cats, as he was right then, was really something else entirely.

Maybe it was the way his emerald eyes would sparkle or the lopsided grin he just couldn't hide as he would scan the pages about the playful habits of Bengals or the relaxed nature of Ragdolls…

Maybe it was the sheer impassioned dedication he took the subject, pouring countless hours into collecting and memorizing every fact he could from their diets to coat maintenance.

Or maybe it was the sheer fact that anytime he saw a picture of kitty in-print he looked like a besotted schoolgirl drawing hearts around her crush in a teen magazine.

Really, who's to say? But to the MC, it was proof that under all that anger, there was a tender, loving center even for the smallest, softest creatures…

Satan automatically snapped his book closed when he saw MC watching him from behind a bookshelves. Caught red-handed…

He knows exactly how he looks when he's doing his research internally squealing over cat pictures so he tries to do so in private...

He was about to sputter out a defensive explanation but then he registered their face…

He'd seen that look described in stories, romance novels mostly, but he'd rarely seen it in action… and never once leveled at him with such intensity…

Not to be cliche, but frankly his heart skipped a beat.

Satan forgot about his book briefly and got up to close the distance between them, tilting their chin up to keep their eyes on him.

"Like something that you see, Kitten?"

"You could say that…"

He laughed at their attempt to play coy, but let it slide just this once… Easy to do with them looking at him so amorously.

Asmodeus

Asmo is a very popular demon. Someone so free ought to know quite a lot of people, after all.

And, of course, he had plenty of fans. He made DevilTube videos, hosted radio shows, fashion designed, and even modeled.

So it wasn't very surprising when a young demoness stopped him while he and the MC were out shopping. It wasn’t the first time he had been asked to sign autographs, but this meeting… it was different.

It was clear to them both that this girl was shy. Though she held out the paper, her eyes stayed firmly on the ground and she stumbled on her question… She likely a fan from afar, but everything about her seemed meek… unassuming.

Most people would have just gave the autograph then went on with their day. The interaction could have taken five seconds at most… but not Asmo.

He asked her name… where she was from, how she was feeling, her favorite foods, outfits, makeup, you name it. All with investment.

It was amazing to watch the shy young woman slowly open up, getting more bright and cheerful with each passing question until it evolved into a healthy conversation.

When their little meeting finally wrapped up, he gave her back the paper (now signed) but also fished out a bottle of perfume from among the mountains of bags he was carrying. He gave it to her and wouldn't hear anything to the contrary, he could always buy another.

None of his brothers ever gave Asmo enough credit for his giving nature… even if he had his own way of going about it. Though he cared so much about image and his ability to shine, he never hesitated to make sure that the people around him shined too...

Asmo waved to the fan as she scampered away and was about to apologize to the MC when he saw their face…

The man knows this look well. He's seen it a billion times, though it was particularly cute coming from them.

"Awww MC! Taken by my beauty are you~?"

He was about ready to kiss their cheek when they responded.

"No, not your looks, Asmo… with you."

… Oh.

It was very rare to see Asmo speechless, but for a few seconds his mind seemed to take in their words… letting them fully sink in before his heart utterly melting.

Oh MC… His sweet MC!!

Asmo ended up dropping the rest of his bags just so he could properly litter his human in nuzzles and kisses, the both of them humming and giggling in delight despite their shameless PDA.

Of course it would be his MC to see that part in himself… Who else would take the time?

Beelzebub

Food is a precious resource to Beel. For him, it's a lifeline. A good meal could save him from the brink of starvation…

But that still doesn't make him incapable of sharing from time to time.

He and the MC were walking back to the House after getting takeout from Hell's Kitchen. Beel hadn't even waited until they left the restaurant to start eating his share, spilling the smell of fresh food into the air around them…

Things were going fine on their route back until they heard whimpering behind them…

A hellhound puppy, not quite old enough to bear its fangs, seemingly followed them as they were walking… It looked like it had been out for some time and eyed their food with hungry eyes, but weak posture. Who knows when it last had a meal?

The MC was about to tug at Beel's sleeve and say something, but their demon was ahead of them this time.

A casual observer might have gawked at the sight of Gluttony kneeling down to offer such a lowly creature a sandwich. But the MC knew better. When you spend your whole life hungry, nobody more than you understands that kind of pain in someone else.

This reaction wasn't out of character for Beel, it was elementary.

And when the puppy finished its meal and covered Beel's cheeks with appreciative licks, he just laughed and scratched behind its ears. Amethyst eyes looking more relieved at its health than disappointed he lost some of his lunch...

Food was Beel's lifeline, but kindness is what made him who he was…

When the pup finally scampered off, Beel looked over at the MC to tell them it'd be alright and saw their face…

He wasn't really sure what they were staring at… Did he have something between his teeth again?

"MC? Are you okay...?"

They laughed at him for some reason but pulled him in for a hug so they must have meant well.

"You're so sweet, Beel…"

Beel's never one to refuse a compliment so he just hugged them back, beaming.

"Thank you, MC…"

Belphegor

To say that Belphegor tended to be on the melancholic side would be an understatement… It wasn’t that he was incapable of expressing joy, it was just harder for him to do than most. Not helped, of course, by his tendency to keep his true feelings vague and hard to pinpoint.

But on those rare occasions where he was overjoyed… Belphie could really be something special…

The MC and Belphie were attending one of Beel's games and it was a tight one… Both teams had spent most of it tied and Beel's team was running out of time to overtake that slim margin.

Belphie had always been a supporter of his twin's athletics, but this time it was tense even for him. He kept on the edge of his seat and didn't even nod off during the breaks like he normally would… The MC could just tell how nervous he was for Beel…

But right as the time was about to run out, Beel made a last minute score and sure, the whole field erupted, but Belphie? Belphie hollered.

The normally sleepy and mellow demon was on his feet in an instant and practically shredding his vocal chords in excitement. If his tail had been out, it would have been beating against the bleachers like a war-drum. And his expression?

Belphie's smile is said to stop hearts for a reason. When he puts his all into a grin it's almost like he ascends to Heaven once more, as pure as an angel's choir and as warm as a summer's breeze… Nothing in his eyes but pride and adoration for his beloved twin brother.

Truly, a heartwarming sight to behold…

Belphie didn't calm down until the rest of the crowd settled and was about to point out Beel's skill to the MC when he noticed their face.

… oh no… Why do they look so sappy…?

"You really love your brother, don't you?"

Belphie quickly hid his thoughts behind an irritated frown and plopped back down in his seat… but that didn't shield them from seeing his pink cheeks.

"Of course I do. What kind of question is that?"

He debated just joining Beel on the field to hide his embarrassment when he heard them snicker back.

"Yeah, you're right… Don't mind me."

Oh he minded. He minded a lot that he let his carefully veiled image slip like that. But thinking back to that smile on their face…?

Maybe being a little open wasn't so bad after all...

#obey me #obey me shall we date #shall-we-date-obey-me #obey me lucifer #obey me mammon #obey me leviathan #obey me satan #obey me asmodeus #obey me beelzebub #obey me belphegor #obey me headcanons #obey me hc #obey me scenarios

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hey-its-puddlesock · 2 years

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I'M SORRY I AM SO SORRY PLEASE FORGIVE ME

Lord have mercy upon anyone on this taglist: @aldriix, @happi-tree, @elle-cosmic-chaos, @darcysd20, @monarch2800, @yourpersonaltimebomb, @your-local-hurt-comfort-junkie-1, @reyraccoon

Send an ask if you'd like to be added, I have no idea why you'd want to be added after this

As Andrias stepped through the portal, relishing the crackle of electricity against his damp skin as he put an enormous foot down on the soil of a new world, he took a deep breath of the air that was soon to be his as he surveyed his future territory.

Cars squealed to a stop on the busy highway in front of him, swerving to avoid each other as people stopped to stare at the enormous newt standing on the overpass. He gave them a genial wave. A few brave souls tentatively waved back.

The king prepared to step out into his new domain, but a figure in the corner of his eye stopped him. They were tall, by the standards of any normal creature (Andrias knew himself to be an exception). Their face was covered with a mask of pale gold with a pair of horns like those of a beetle reaching into the sky. Piercing blue eyes shined in the hollow sockets of the mask, seeming to bore into Andrias’s very soul. He felt his mouth become dry and his cheeks flush as he stared at the stranger.

They walked towards each other across the crowded freeway, ignoring the cars that were piling up and overturning around them. When the screeching vehicles got too close, the masked figure would blast them away with a blast of energy from the staff they carried at their side, while Andrias would simply nudge them aside with an oversized boot. The two of them found themselves being pulled together, almost magnetically, as tires squealed and cars overturned around them. They met in the middle of the street and stared, awestruck, into each other’s eyes.

The mysterious figure removed their mask, revealing a withered face marred with a stripe of rotted green across the middle and a head topped with a crown of greasy, tangled hair. He was the most beautiful man Andrias had ever seen. The king found himself, for once, at a loss for words.

The stranger spoke for him. “You’re beautiful,” he murmured, reaching up to place a gnarled hand against Andrias’s cheek but coming up short by a few feet. The newt made up the distance by kneeling down to the pavement. “I’ve never met anyone like you before.”

“Nor I you,” Andrias laughed, one of the first moments of genuine joy he’d had in hundreds of years. He gently offered an enormous hand to the man, who gently grasped the tip of his index finger. “But I feel like I’ve known you my whole life. May I ask your name?”

The man smiled, a miscolored blush rising in his cheeks. “Emperor Belos, of the Boiling Isles, at your service.” He swept into a deep bow, not taking his lovestruck gaze off of the king. “And you, my blue knight?”

“Andrias Leviathan, lord of Amphibia, peacekeeper of one thousand years and the first of my name.” he gave the emperor a bashful smile, not quite meeting his piercing blue eyes. “But you can call me Ani, if you’d like.”

“I think I’d like that very much,” Belos looked lovingly up at Andrias, whose moist amphibian skin glistened in the light of the fires from the car wrecks piled around the pair of them. “What are you doing in the Human Realm, Ani?”

Andrias’s face split into a wide grin. He swept his enormous arm out, gesturing widely to the city spread out before them. “I’m going to conquer this world,” he declared. “And add it to my glorious empire!”

The emperor said nothing, leaving the newt to look back anxiously, wondering if he had said something wrong. Instead he was met with the sight of Belos grinning from ear to ear and flapping his hands like a giddy schoolgirl. “Ani, you’ll never believe what I’m doing.”

“Shut the front door!” Andrias squealed in excitement. “Who would’ve known we would have so much in common?”

Both their faces turned dark as they looked off into the distance. “Now if only I could get rid of that human girl—” they spoke in unison before stopping short and turning to each other in delight.

“No way, you too?” Andrias gasped. “Let me guess, plucky teenager who was trapped in your world by mistake, and now has a ride-or-die group of friends and found family trying to help her get home?” the newt chuckled, not expecting his overly specific description to be at all accurate.

“How did you know?” Belos gripped Andrias’s enormous hand with both of his own. “And she won’t stop interfering with my plans—”

“For world domination?” the newt interrupted, astounded by the parallels between the pair of them.

Belos nodded emphatically. “Yes, exactly! Ani, I know we’ve just met but it’s as if we’ve known each other forever.” He gazed earnestly into the king’s enormous eyes.

“I, um,” the newt stumbled over his words a bit before clearing his throat and trying again. “Are you doing anything? Like, right now?”

“Of course, I’m with you, aren’t I?”

The king took a deep breath, steeling himself for the question at the back of his throat. He took a deep breath before he was interrupted.

“Do you want to go out with me?” the emperor blurted, his cheeks flushing a pale green.

With a chuckle, Andrias brought his hands up over his face. “No, I was so ready,” he blushed, grinning sheepishly at the man standing just at the height of his knee.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, you can say it,” Belos responded with a bashful smile.

Andrias took another breath. “Emperor Belos, do you want to go out with me?”

“Yes!”

They stood there for a moment before sheepishly moving towards each other. Andrias knelt as close to the ground as he could, leaning down towards the emperor who stood on tiptoe to reach. Their lips met, Belos’s face completely enveloped in the newt’s slimy snout. Neither one could tell how long they stayed like that; The sounds of car alarms and police sirens faded into beautiful music as they kissed, moist amphibian skin against dry, withered flesh. Finally, they pulled away, both euphoric from the experience.

“I’m sorry,” Andrias murmured as he stared into the emperor’s ice-blue orbs. “In my millennium of life, I’ve never kissed anyone.”

“It was lovely,” Belos assured, holding one of the king’s fingers in his hands.

“So… how about a date?” Andrias looked away, glancing shyly from the corners of his eyes.

Belos smiled softly. “A date sounds lovely.”

The newt stood, leaning sideways to allow the witch at his side to reach up and grasp his finger.

“Now, do you have any tips on getting rid of annoying human teenagers?” Belos asked as they weaved through the wreckage of the highway around them toward the sunset.

“Oh, absolutely. Have you considered investing in fire swords?”

#I AM CRYING WHY DID I UNLEASH THIS ABOMINATION UPON THE EARTH #SOMEONE SAVE MY SINFUL SOUL #I AM GOING TO HELL FOR THIS #owl house fanfiction #amphibia fanfiction #crack pairing #king andrias #lord belos #please forgive me #i am so sorry

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lovelytarou · 3 years

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kiss me thru the phone — bakugo katsuki

— katsuki always calls you on the phone, making sure that it's his voice you hear when you wake and the one you'll listen to as you fall asleep.

pairing: bakugo katsuki x reader

tags: established relationship, swearing? cuz this is bakugo hehe. not proofread!!

genre: fluff, kinda angst

word count: 1.4k

a/n: 1/7 of the 200 follower event, i can just see him doing this lmao. sorry if the header doesn't look good, i tried my best (˘･_･˘) not at me saying i'll upload this yesterday night but it's already 2am here. it is what it is.

bakugo katsuki is a busy man.

even when he was in his UA days, you always see him training by himself and excusing himself early to go study and then eventually, sleep. his friends often tease him for being a grandpa and not having time to go and have fun, but when he met you that's when he really started to let himself free and experience fun things with his friends albeit he's masking it as having “no choice but to join” under the guise of watching over his friends as to not make themselves look like idiots, but you know better. you know that when he says he doesn't care, you understand the meaning that he actually does. and deeply too.

he's just a big tsundere who cares a lot for the people he loves.

now that he's a pro hero working his way up to the top, hectic times and cancelled dates cannot be helped. he has to always excuse himself and apologize over and over for not going to the date you both planned as promised and you always have to say that it's alright, that you understand over and over. and if anyone knew bakugo, it's that he would never settle for less. a simple ‘okay’ isn't enough for him.

so when you woke up one morning to the ringing of your phone and the rare photo of your lover smiling instead of your cacophonous alarm, you knew it had to be one of those days where bakugo was feeling particularly soft for you.

rolling over on his side of the bed, you answered the call with a smile on your face despite him not seeing it. the warm streaks of sunlight coming through the windows illuminated your face, making you shut your eyes for a moment.

“hi, baby.” you croaked, voice scratchy and raspy upon waking.

you heard his chuckle on the other end before he greeted you as well.

“good morning, sleepyhead. it's 10am already, you should be getting your ass out of bed,” he scolded you. you rolled your eyes as you lied on your back, staring up at the ceiling while you twirled a piece of your hair like a lovestruck schoolgirl talking to your crush.

“i know, i know. but the bed's still warm and i wanna stay in bed for a bit.” you whined, even pouting for effect that you knew he wouldn't resist.

you heard him click his tongue in annoyance at your statement. knowing him, he's probably shaking his head in disapproval at your lazy behavior.

“get the fuck out of bed or else your breakfast will get cold. you don't want to eat cold food, do you?"

“wait, you made me breakfast?” you felt your stomach do flips at the thought of bakugo waking up early and even having the time and effort to cook for you.

you heard him scoff at that, “course i did. i know your dumbass will complain about how i didn't cook you anything before i left if i didn't. so eat up, okay? i know i'm not always at home to eat with you and this is the only thing i can do to make you feel that you're not alone. and i'm sorry about that. i promise one of these days, i'll take you out for dinner, alright?”

he can only hear sniffles and soft sobs on the other end as you nodded.

“oi, are you crying?!”

“yes! why the hell are you so sweet? and it's too early for me to be crying like this!” you wailed, tears streaming down your face like a waterfall, trying your best to wipe them away with your night shirt.

“i'd like that very much. you're the best, katsuki. take care and good luck at work!”

“i know i am, babe. take care as well, don't wait up for me tonight, i'll call you.” you both bid your goodbyes with words of love before he hung up to do his hero work and for you to get ready for the day. you ate your breakfast with a smile on your face and heart feeling much fuller than your stomach with the thought of katsuki.

some days, when he's away on a mission, he'd love to call you randomly and he wouldn't even care if you're doing something or if you're busy. what he knows is that he needs to hear your voice more than anything.

on a particularly busy and dreadful day, bakugo had called you during work and you picked it up without second thoughts, worry already clouding your mind.

“tsuki baby!” you greeted in a joyful tone. your smile evaporated when he didn't return the sentiment.

“katsuki? are you okay? what's up, baby?” you tried to make your voice as soothing as possible, knowing that any other unwelcoming approach might set him off.

he sighed on the other end, and you can only guess what happened.

“i'm fine...just...i missed your voice,” his own had a low timbre to it, sort of a deep vulnerable tone he only let you hear when he wanted you to see his true self without the facades and the mask.

“i'm here now, katsuki. do you wanna talk?” being a pro hero can be stressful as much as he loves it. he's also human, and he can only handle as much when faced with a lot of obstacles in life.

“yeah, that'd be nice. tell me about your day, how are you?” he might be diverting the topic towards you instead but you indulged him in his request and started to tell him about your day – from the time you wake up to the time you arrived to work.

“oh! and um, i also bumped into my old friend a while ago. they asked me about you and i told them that we should meet up someday, you know, like a double date?”

“sure, yeah. i'd love to meet them. they seem like a cool person.”

“they are! anyway, what about you? anything happened in there on the mission?” you waited patiently for his response which he appreciated a whole lot than what you realize.

“it was okay. the mission was going smoothly with everyone helping and then...i just, we rescued this man and his...wife got–” he faltered, you heard him choke a sob through the phone and you can only wish you can hold him right at that moment if you weren't only miles away from each other.

“it's okay if you don't wanna continue, tsuki. i understand this is heavy for you. i'm sorry you have to suffer through that alone. i wish i can be there for you,” in your head, you're imagining that you're comforting him and kissing his worries away as he's nuzzling into your neck. and you'd tell him that everything will be alright and that you'll always be there for him.

“i'm sorry...thank you, for staying with me and being in my life. i wouldn't know what i'd do without you, honestly. maybe be the same asshole that i was before we met,” he joked, chuckling at the fond memory that felt like ages ago today.

“no worries, babe. you know i'm always here if you want to talk. i'll listen and you can never talk my ear off because i love listening to you sexy voice.” you teased, knowing it would make him as red as a tomato. the both of you laughed and it felt like you're together, probably at home as you lounged in the living room without worrying about anything.

“whatever. i like hearing your voice too, i guess. anyway, i gotta go in a few minutes. i'm calling again later before you sleep, make sure you don't doze off on me!” you can practically imagine the smoke coming out of his ears as he yelled at his phone.

“yes, yes, i will. i already told you i'm sorry! go kick some villain ass in there, baby. i'll be waiting for you back home.”

“good. goodbye, i miss you. stay safe and always lock your door and the windows! don't stay up too late or i'll swim there to make you sleep myself–”

before he went on a tangent about his usual scoldings you told him that you still had work to do and he can save them for later, but you felt warm inside knowing this is how he tells you he loves you without really saying them. time and distance may keep you away from each other, but your love can travel through great distances and defy all odds.

Taglist: @chibishae34

#sorry for posting late! 🤧#ugH what i wouldn't do to hear his voice through the phone <3 #tarou writes 🌹#tarou at 200 🎉#bnha #bnha fic #💫. bakugo katsuki #bakugo katsuki x reader #bakugo x reader #bakugo fluff #bnha imagines #bnha fanfiction #bnha x reader #bakugo katsuki

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bard-llama · 4 years

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The Witcher Fic Masterlist

Masterlist of all of my Witcher fics, updated as of June 5, 2021.

If you like my writing, consider donating to my ko-fi! I am writing gift fics for all donors.

Here is a masterlist of all completed multi-chapter fics.

Series:

Families of Choice

Geraskefer Canon Divergent AU

Summary: The best families are those you choose. Jaskier realized that early in life, but his family continues to expand over the years.

Series Masterlist

Cintra Happily Ever After Series:

AU from the Families of Choice Series (as of the end of 5 Dinners with the Lioness chapter 5)

Summary: A series in which I pretend everything is fine and nobody dies, and Geralt makes Cintra his home base after the feast in episode 4.

Series Masterlist

Chronic Pain Series

Summary: Unconnected shorts in which I vent my pain onto fictional characters.

At Her Back

Summary: Yennefer was born with a twisted spine. Her transformation had cured her, but she still felt the pain as if nothing had changed. Geralt offers Jaskier's services as a masseuse.

Coming to a Head

Summary: During a confrontation gone wrong, Jaskier gets hit with a spell that is supposed to cause unimaginable pain. So why does Jaskier seems mostly unaffected?

When Pigs Talk

Summary: When seeking pain relief, Yennefer takes something that makes the pigs in her pig pen start talking. It’s the start of an interesting evening.

Your eyes aren’t rivers there to weep

Rated E

Summary: Geralt’s eyes burn and ache like he’s undergoing the trials again, so Jaskier does his best to help distract from the pain.

Don’t Cry for Me, Temeria

Iorveth/Roche Witcher 2 Different First Meeting AU

Summary: A Witcher 2 Canon AU in which Iorveth and Roche meet before either of them know who the other is. Somehow, this changes absolutely everything.

Series Masterlist

Fish Out of Water

Iorveth/Roche MerMay AU

Summary: Once upon a time, all elves lived in the sea and had mer forms. Now, Iorveth is something of a novelty, one of the last true elves.

Series Masterlist

For You, My Love, I Bleed

Iorveth/Roche angsty AU

Summary: Iorveth and Roche had been happy, or so Iorveth had thought. Then King Foltest recalls Roche to the capital, and suddenly Iorveth is left alone as Roche returns to Foltest. Roche made his choice, clearly, and Iorveth just has to deal with that. But all is not as it seems, and Roche considers everything worth sacrificing if it protects the man he loves.

Series Masterlist

A Hard Day’s Night

Iorveth/Roche interrogation AU

Summary: Iorveth ends up imprisoned, with Vernon Roche as his interrogator. From there it only gets worse - or better, depending on your point of view.

Series Masterlist

If You’re Good to Mama

Iorveth/Roche Outsider POV

Summary: The Clarabelle is the finest brothel in town and its located in the shittiest part of town. Follow the adventures of the Madame, Eliza, and the brothel workers as they start working to supply food to the terrorist elves in the Scoia'tael.

Series Masterlist

Keep Me

Iorveth/Roche fanart AU

Summary: All Vernon Roche wants in life is someone to keep him and appreciate him. Surprisingly, he may find exactly that - in the form of his enemy, no less. Based on this art.

Series Masterlist

King and Country

Iorveth/Roche divergent AU

Summary: When Foltest rejects Vernon Roche, he sets into motion a series of events that have consequences he never could've expected. A universe in which Roche's anger and hurt at Foltest remove the rose colored glasses.

Series Masterlist (NEW ADDITIONS!)

Love Shack

Iorveth/Roche Secret Relationship AU

Summary: The Love Shack: a ramshackle cabin in the forest that happens to be Iorveth and Roche's only respite from a reality full of violence, war, and hate. In the Love Shack, all that matters is each other.

Series Masterlist

The Lovestruck Fox

Iorveth/Roche Schoolgirl Crush AU

Summary: It’s obvious to anyone with eyes that the Scoia’tael Commander holds his opposite in the highest esteem.

Series Masterlist

Petals and Stripes

Iorveth/Roche Hanahaki AU

Summary: Those that felt the deepest of deep loves could develop a condition known as the wasting disease. Those afflicted slowly suffocate as their lungs fill with fruit representing the one they love. Well, it's supposed to be fruit. So why is Commander Roche coughing up flowers?

Series Masterlist

With A Look I May Not Meet

Iorveth/Roche capture AU

Summary: When Iorveth is captured using his relationship with Vernon Roche, Roche is forced to make a decision. Stand with King Foltest and Temeria as he has always done - or choose Iorveth and go on the run.

Series Masterlist

The Woodland Fox and The Temerian Hound

Iorveth/Roche animal transformation AU

Summary: Roche usually didn’t mind Triss’s magic much. Sure, she poked at him with it all the time, but it was always playful, inviting him in on the fun. This time, however, something had gone very, very wrong and he was quite sure that it would take him a long time to trust her magic again. Because somehow a rebound spell had hit him, and now he had a tail. A dog’s tail. Well, he was always getting called Foltest’s attack dog. Now it was just a bit more literal.

Series Masterlist

Under the cut:

New! Gen fics (22)

Yennefer fics (4)

Geraskier/Geraskefer fics (25)

Geralt getting railed fics (4)

Cintra fics (Calanthe/Eist and others) (9)

Lambert/Aiden fics (6)

Lambert/Jaskier fic (1)

Wolf Witcher fics (2)

New! Iorveth/Roche fics (45)

New! Saskia fics (3)

Gen Fics:

(They came after me) With Masterful Deceit

Summary: When Jaskier discovers that Yennefer has Elven blood, he is forced to confront his prejudices.

Beauty and Imperfections

Summary: Jaskier signs up to be a nude model. He's expecting it to be a fun, sexy time. It goes a lot differently than he expected.

The Blood of the Covenant is Thicker Than the Water of the Womb

Summary: Found Family prompt fills, focusing mostly on Iorveth and Roche. Chapter 1: Geralt invited all of his family to join him in Corvo Bianco, which is great, but has the downside that finding a moment alone is near impossible.

Cards Out For Your Country

WiP

Summary: In which a great number of people are convinced or coerced into posing for a Gwent Pinup Calendar.

Greg the Demon Horse

Summary: Jaskier tries to make a stuffed toy for Ciri. If only he knew how to sew properly.

Gwent, The Good Old Game (NEW!)

WiP

Summary: Zoltan, Dandelion, and Priscilla decide to go all in on a new money-making scheme involving gwent. This time, they are going to sell stories and dolls of the characters that appear on gwent cards. It's guaranteed to make a killing.

History is Written by the Victors

Summary: “Dara said grandmother’s men laughed as they raped women and killed babies by - by swinging them by their legs, bashing their heads in.” Fuck. Tentatively, Jaskier wrapped an arm around her shoulder, pulling her into a hug when she didn’t flinch away. In his head, he could hear Filavandrel’s voice, the humans proudly watch these very fields grow... our babies fertilizer for their grain. He swallowed against rising bile. Against his neck, he could feel Ciri finally succumb to tears. “How could grandmother order that? I know her, that wasn’t what she was like! But Dara wouldn’t have lied.”

Wherein our characters struggle with knowing that good people can do awful things, and that everything you think you know is probably wrong.

How to Train Your Roach

Summary: The story of how Jaskier's stupid ditties on the road accidentally trained Roach.

Inspired by Her Fire

Warning: Spoilers for Witcher 2, specifically something from the end of Iorveth’s Path.

Summary: Saskia's POV during the Council Meeting where Saskia introduces Iorveth.

It’s the Little Things

Summary: A collection of fills for various prompts! Chapter 1: “You. Rest. Now.”

jaws that crack the bones the lion leaves

Summary: Jaskier writes a song about the Slaughter of Cintra.

Life is a Cabaret

Witcher 3 Canon/Spoilers

Summary: Set during the Cabaret quest, after Geralt helps Dandelion with his staged fight, he decides that Dandelion's big comfy bed at the Rosemary & Thyme is perfect for a bit of rest. Dandelion doesn't exactly mind.

The Lion That Haunts My Dreams

Rated M

Summary: Calanthe does what is needed to protect her kingdom. Dara just wants to forget. Two perspectives on a genocide.

Marilka

Summary: Geralt knew he couldn’t claim his Child of Surprise. Destiny had punished him harshly the one time he’d thought about raising a child. He could not risk its wrath again.

Power

Summary: Yennefer had been forced to fight for every bit of power she had. So why does the power to make people see her seem so unattainable? An introspective look at Yenn during the Dragon Hunt (but ignoring the break up because I can)

Sentenced to Write

Summary: A collection of fics from 1 sentence prompts. Chapter One: Thief!Ciri Chapter Two: Kid!Calanthe

Soft Words and Kind Hearts

Summary: A collection of fills for Geralt Fluff Week 2020. Day 1: First times. Geralt gets a tattoo and becomes part of the Blue Stripes Commandos

Sweat and Blood and Tears: A Geralt Whump Collection

Summary: Collected shorts for Geralt Whump Week

What Makes a Family

Summary: Ciri spends her first birthday since the Fall of Cintra at Kaer Morhen.

What You Meme to Me

Summary: A collection of Witcher fics inspired by memes. Just because. Second chapter: Jaskier doesn't understand why people are so obsessed with gender. Why would what's in their pants matter?

The White Wolf

Summary: Geralt always gets named the White Wolf in fight clubs, even before Jaskier gave him the name. Sometimes he even hid his medallion and gave a fake name, and still, he was always called the White Wolf.

Your Voice is Your Life

Summary: “Your voice is your life.” His old teacher used to tell him. Jaskier largely disagreed, but then a djinn steals his voice. Bottled Appetites from Jaskier's point of view

Yennefer Fics

To Be...

Summary: Collection of shorts for Yennefer Appreciation Week on Tumblr!

A Tribute to the Fae

Rated E

Summary: When Yennefer accidentally trespasses on fae land, she must pay the price.

Viscount Pankratz and Wife

WiP

Summary: When Jaskier receives an invitation to a fancy party addressed to him and his wife, he decided he deserved a night of fun causing problems for people. Who better to help than Yennefer of Vengerberg?

Yenn & Djinn

WiP

Summary: Bottled Appetites AU Jaskier’s last wish is for Geralt to appear. This manages to change everything.

Geraskier/Geraskefer Fics:

(I would not wish) Any Companion But You

Summary: I’m not your friend, Geralt always insists whenever Jaskier calls them such.

100 Ways to Love You

Rated E

Summary: A drabble collection for Witcher OT3 sex Okay, it might be more double drabbles than drabbles, but shhh

Awaken in Pleasure

Rated E

Summary: Geralt dreams of having Jaskier waking him up with sex. He finally manages to ask for it.

Bounce a Coin Off Your Witcher

Rated E

Summary: Jaskier has lots of thoughts about Geralt's arse in leather pants. And then they get stuck in a small room together.

Butter That Biscuit

Rated E

Summary: Bottled Appetites Ep 5 AU – When Jaskier awakes in Yennefer’s room, he does, in fact, butter that biscuit.

Five Almost Kisses and One Happily Ever After

WiP

Rated E

Summary: What it says on the tin. Geralt knows he wants Jaskier, but why would the bard ever be interested in a witcher? Five times Geralt ALMOST figures it out and one time he actually makes a move.

Five Times Geralt Frotted Against Jaskier’s Ass and One Time He Fucked It

Rated E

Summary: Based on this tumblr post about Geralt frotting against Jaskier's ass in his sleep.

Fulfilling a Need

Rated E

Summary: Geralt has been twitchy and restless lately. When Jaskier confronts him, he discovers that what Geralt needs is for Jaskier to take control and fuck his face. So he does.

Gestures of Affection

Rated M

Summary: A collection of shorts featuring any configuration of the relationship between Geralt, Jaskier, and Yennefer and the ways they show affection to each other. With bonus Ciri, because she’s their family.

Hit Me Baby (One More Time)

Rated E

Summary: Jaskier desperately wants physical evidence of Geralt’s love for him.

How to Spoil Your Pet

Rated E

Summary: Yennefer and Jaskier team up to give Geralt everything he wants. He wants a lot. Good thing they're amenable.

Howling Swirling Storm

Summary: Jaskier is a winter spirit who has always been shit at hiding his powers. But somehow Geralt still never figured it out?

Jaskier’s Words are Horseshit

Summary: The thing about Jaskier is, he never shuts up. Literally, ever. That was the first thing Geralt noticed about the bard, but he was not prepared for all that entailed. Jaskier was, quite literally, always making noise of some sort. If he wasn’t singing, he was humming, muttering, strumming at his lute. Even in his sleep, the bard hmm’d and sighed and mumbled and snored continuously.

A Kiss With a Lash

Rated E

Summary: Geralt asks Jaskier to punish him for the Break Up (TM)

Making Amends

WiP

Rated E

Summary: Jaskier is putting his life back together after the Mountain™. So what is he supposed to do when Geralt arrives at his doorstep?

Pamper Your Witcher

Rated E

Summary: Geralt doesn't let himself have the finer things in life. So Jaskier decides to pamper him.

That Wild Blue Yonder

Summary: Jaskier lives in the modern world as Julian Alfred Pancratz. When his family vacations at an old castle his cousin owns, he discovers an old wardrobe that leads to the Continent. Specifically, it leads to a wardrobe belonging to Madeline de Stael.

The Pleasure of a Good Bath

Rated E

Summary: Geralt had always enjoyed baths. Since Jaskier had joined him, they'd gotten even better - and it was making it difficult to hide that he wanted more.

Porny Prompt Pile

Rated E

Summary: Just porny fics based on prompts. First chapter: Geraskier - blow job while standing Second chapter: Geraskier - Jaskier riles Geralt into rough sex

Relationships Require Communication

Summary: Jaskier liked to joke about him being allergic to the word ‘friends’, but he wasn’t far off. Geralt was aware that he was not good at talking, not good at feelings, and definitely not good about combining the two. After Yennefer and Jaskier leave him on the mountain, Geralt does some thinking about what happened and how exactly he messed up. And how to fix it.

Rushing Thoughts and Pulsing Hearts

Rated E

Summary: Geralt knew he was in love with Jaskier, but what could he do about it? No one believed Witchers could love. Not even him, sometimes.

So hold me, lover, like you used to

Rated E

Summary: When Geralt brings Cirilla to Oxenfurt to search for Jaskier, he was not expecting to walk into a concert the bard and another were giving together. Songfic based on The Amazing Devil.

When Words Act As Phantoms on Horseback

Summary: Jaskier gets Geralt used to the lack of silence. Without him, the silence creeps up on him and itches at his mind until he must break it. AKA how Netflix!Geralt slowly becomes more like Game!Geralt.

With Knot But A Look

Rated E

Summary: Jaskier asks tamed werewolf!Geralt to fuck him in the forest under the full moon.

Worth 100 Words

Summary: This is a Witcher drabble collection, using prompts. Mostly OT3 and family fics with Ciri.

Geralt getting railed fics:

A Cintran Welcome

Rated E

Summary: Geralt’s Witcher stamina is too much for Jaskier to handle alone, but he wants Geralt to experience being fucked to exhaustion. So he arranges a gangbang in Cintra. Featuring Geralt’s self–loathing getting overwhelmed with pleasure.

Forest of Plenty

Rated E

Summary: Geralt goes to visit his friend Mousesack for some fun and discovers that Mousesack and Jaskier have already anticipated his arrival and prepared quite a surprise for him.

I’m Yours to Claim

Rated E

Summary: Geralt knew he would eventually agree to go to Cintra. It was Jaskier asking, after all. He hadn't expected to run into his old friend and fuckbuddy, Mousesack, but it was nice to see him again.

Size Matters: The Geralt Size Queen Chronicles

Rated E

Summary: Just porn about Geralt being a size queen.

Cintra Fics:

5 Gifts from Family, 1 Vision of the Future, and 1 New Start

Summary: Pavetta gets to know her family after the banquet.

Artistic Endeavors

Rated M

Summary: Calanthe discovers that her daughter has a habit of drawing rather explicit art. For the Banned Together Bingo prompt "Porn". Set before Episode 4: Of Banquets, Bastards, and Burials

Falling Into the Lion’s Den

Rated E

Summary: Calanthe and Eist have slept together many times, but it was never about feelings. So why does Eist propose to her and insist on changing everything?

Her Mother’s Legacy

Summary: Ciri had always had trouble with schooling. So if Geralt wants to train her in monster lore, he's going to have to do some things for her. Featuring ways Pavetta helped Ciri figure out how to manage her ADHD.

Like a Punch to the Face

Summary: “Oh sweet Cintra, you were so promising, from your spoiled princess to your stupid old king! But when I arrived, the royals were dead! Tossed out a window or shot in the head!” Ciri forced herself to keep walking past the puppet show, feeling like a fist had reached into her chest and ripped out her heart.

The Lion in the Woods

Summary: Mousesack teaches Ciri about the importance of balance.

The Lioness and the Seahound

Rated E

Summary: A collection of Calanthe/Eist porn fics. Chapter One: Calanthe positions Eist so that she can ride him while giving the illusion that she was taking him. Eist loves it.

Mousesack’s Educational Retreat for Proper Young Nobles

WiP

Summary: 13 year old Calanthe gets sent to a “whip-your-heirs-into-shape” 6 weeks and she is not happy about it. She’s also not delighted by this kid Eist, who is determined to become her friend, and sharing her room with 2 other noblewomen was not fun. Featuring 13 year olds’ interpretations of cultures, some significant cultural misunderstandings, and some slow but sure developing friendships.

O war! Thou son of hell

Summary: In the aftermath of war, Calanthe waits to feel the way everyone said she was supposed to.

Lambert/Aiden Fics:

An Evening of Frippery

Rated E

Summary: When Lambert and Aiden get invited to a fancy party, it’s the perfect excuse to dress up, dance, and have some fun.

Fuck Me Properly (NEW!)

Rated E

Summary: Aiden stumbles upon Lambert getting fucked by a plant. With tentacles. Then his brain kind of shorts out.

One Way to Skin a Cat (NEW!)

Summary: A reflection on Aiden's thoughts in the aftermath of his near death, and a realization of what Lambert must be thinking.

pretty witcher (walking down the street)

Rated E

Summary: Lambert decides to finally make his move, dressing up in his prettiest dress to encourage Aiden to give in to temptation. Before he has a chance, though, bandits force them into an unexpected position.

Silk and Lace

Rated E

Summary: When Aiden and Lambert split up on the road to tackle separate contracts before meeting again, Lambert takes the opportunity to spoil himself with pretty clothes and slow, drawn out pleasure.

Sweet Dreams Are Made Of This (NEW!)

Rated M

Summary: Lambert wakes up when Aiden has a bad dream. Fortunately, he knows a good way to get Aiden's mind off of it.

Lambert/Jaskier Fics:

Desperate Affection

Rated E

Summary: Lambert didn't know when he'd fallen in love with the bard, but he could no longer imagine life at Kaer Morhen without him.

Wolf Witcher Fics:

Ensnared

Rated E

Summary: Lambert, Geralt, and Eskel have a long tradition where Eskel ties them up. This time, they've invited Aiden and Jaskier in on the fun.

The School of the Wolf

Summary: Vesemir is old, the oldest Witcher alive. Witchers don’t retire, they get slow and they die. He knows he's slowing down, but all he has left in this world is the boys he trained, and the legacy of the School of the Wolf.

Iorveth/Roche Fics:

A Kiss Can Mean A Thousand Things

Summary: Fills for kissing prompts based on the 50 Types of Kisses Writing Prompts

And Ghosts Did Shriek and Shrill

WiP

Rated M for violence/gore

Summary: After the unjust murder of his team, Vernon Roche is willing to do anything to get them back. Even if it means drawing on unspoken-of beliefs from a childhood in Velen.

Before All Else, Be Armed (NEW!)

Summary: Iorveth and Vernon Roche are finally getting together. But when it comes time to disrobe, they run into a few problems. Namely, the sheer number of concealed weapons each of them carry.

Brewing Romance and Dissent

WiP

Summary: When a spear to the eye means that Iorveth needs to take at least a year to recover, he decides to spend it undercover in a coffeeshop in Vizima's Royal Quarter. He's also not expecting his favorite customer to be a human.

Can’t We All Just Get Oolong?

WiP

Summary: In which Iorveth and Roche discover that Roche's mom Eliza works for both of them, drink lots of tea, and slowly get to know one another.

The Chase

WiP

Rated M

Summary: Iorveth likes making Roche chase him when the Blue Stripes and the Scoia'tael clash. When Roche manages to catch him one day, something entirely unexpected happens. And then it keeps happening.

Commander Roche’s Secret Lover (NEW!)

WiP

Rated E

Summary: Commander Roche is very clearly hiding a lover. His team tries to figure out who it could be.

Deep Inside Me (NEW!)

Rated E

WiP

Summary: Iorveth longs for things he shouldn't want and his attempt to ignore that ends up making everything worse.

Devour What’s Truly Yours

Rated E

Summary: When Roche discovers Iorveth inside a magical circle of flowers with pollen that makes you feel good, he was not at all prepared to find out what they had to do before they could leave.

A Dh’oine’s Only Use (NEW!)

Rated E

Summary: Iorveth arranges for his Scoia'tael to make use of his new whore, Vernon Roche. After all, a dh'oine's only use is as a hole to be fucked.

Dream a Little Dream of Me

Rated E

Summary: It totally doesn’t mean anything that Roche dreams of Iorveth.

‘Ere Our Souls Are Ground To Dust

Summary: After Nilfgaard conquered the continent and deigned to let Temeria be self-governed, Roche finds himself drowning in work trying to build a new government and keep an economy afloat (well, more get it back there for some parts of Temeria). Meanwhile, he and Iorveth were managing to live a fairly domestic life together. It had only been a few months, but it was going well. Then they have their first fight. Over coffee, of all things.

Every Kiss Begins With Kayran (NEW!)

WiP

Rated E

Summary: Every once in a while, there was a local brave enough to seek out the Kayran for a pleasant distraction. The Kayran was delighted to oblige. And sometimes, sometimes there were people who wanted a more regular experience. People like Iorveth, who had scheduled monthly fuck dates to work off the stresses of command. Neither of them expected to get discovered during one such session.

Explore That Which Sets Your Soul Aflame (NEW!)

Rated E

Summary: Iorveth very much was not expecting Vernon to ask about his ears. But if he's going to satisfy Vernon's curiosity, it's only right that Vernon satisfy his in return.

Eye on You

WiP

Rated E

Summary: 5 Times Iorveth Accidentally Watched Roche Come and 1 Time Roche Watched Him

False Positive (NEW!)

WiP

Rated E

Summary: When Iorveth sneaks into Lobinden in disguise to enjoy the Imbolc festival, the last thing he expects is to deal with Vernon Roche - especially because Vernon doesn't know it's him.

The First Seeds of Trust

WiP

Rated E

Summary: As soon as Iorveth had started fighting vines rather than fighting him, Roche knew something was up. Still, nothing could have prepared him for what happened next.

Great Eggspectations (NEW!)

WiP

Rated E

Summary: In the aftermath of Temeria's fall, Vernon Roche is feeling unmoored. So it only makes sense to track down his once-enemy. Iorveth has always encouraged his mind to bring its best and right now, he dearly needs that. He's in for a slight surprise when he actually finds Iorveth, though.

A Heart’s Fire (NEW!)

Summary: Skellige is the only kingdom without a price on Iorveth's head, so it only makes sense to seek shelter there after the Scoia'tael are disbanded. The isles are nice, but what had been pleasantly cool in summer now turns freezing in winter and elves were not made for temperature extremes. So of course Iorveth manages to get caught in a blizzard.

How to Fluster an Elf

WiP

Summary: When Geralt, Dandelion, and Zoltan make a casual remark about never having seen Iorveth flustered, Roche decides to take it as a challenge. Featuring Nilfgaardian feasts, cultural differences, really fancy beds and baths, and a witcher, a dwarf, and a bard who are having the time of their lives watching Roche try to catch Iorveth off guard.

It’s the Little Things

Summary: A collection of fills for various prompts! Chapter 1: “You. Rest. Now.”

The language of friendship is not words but meanings

WiP

Summary: When Geralt is hired by the Blue Stripes and the Scoia'tael to find their missing commanders, he discovers that not only have said commanders somehow turned into children, but that the two groups managed to scare them away before introductions could be made. Fortunately, Roche and Iorveth both have their own ways of making themselves understood.

Leap of Faith

WiP

Summary: When Roche changes the rules of engagement in a skirmish with the Scoia'tael, Iorveth ends up captured.

Needs More Dragons

Summary: Frankly, 2 dragons in all the Witcher stories? Not enough. So have some fics with random dragons! Chapter 1: Honey, I Adopted A Dragon: Iorveth may have acquired a baby dragon while Roche was traveling. Roche is about to find out.

Never Have I Ever

Summary: The Blue Stripes have an evening off. What better way to spend it than by playing drinking games?

On Knife’s Edge

Rated E

Summary: After they assist in the Battle of Kaer Morhen, Iorveth and Roche end up traveling back to Temeria together. An injury to Roche’s arm leaves him unable to shave himself, so it’s only polite for Iorveth to offer his assistance… right?

Olfucktory Senses (NEW!)

Rated E

WiP

Summary: Iorveth typically found the smell of human exertion to be nauseating. But when it's Vernon Roche's sweat, somehow he finds himself responding entirely differently.

Orificial Business

Rated E

WiP

Summary: When Roche hears a rumor that the Scoia’tael might be frequenting a brothel on the edge of town, he decides it’s worth going undercover to see.

Pining and Poignards (NEW!)

WiP

Rated E

Summary: Iorveth may spend a lot of time thinking about Vernon Roche, but it didn't mean anything. It couldn't mean anything. Doesn't stop him from contemplating the possibilities, though. Meanwhile, Roche attempts to teach himself Elder Speech to translate the carvings on a knife Iorveth stabbed him with.

The Portrait of Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon (NEW UPDATE!)

WiP

Summary: Ciri hates the portrait from her childhood that Geralt displays openly and proudly and loudly. He shows it off to everyone he can and she wants to destroy it. Lucky for her, two fighting enemies present a prime opportunity to make the portrait's destruction look like an accident.

The Pride of Temeria

The Blue Stripes are Temeria's elite Special Forces Unit. Their mission is to hunt down the Scoia'tael, but in between fighting and drilling, they get up to an awful lot of shenanigans. “He looks like he’s dead,” Shorty said, poking the sleeping form of their commanding officer with a stick. “Shorty!” Silas hissed shrilly. The newbie was still scared of breaking rules and he fidgeted nervously. “What?” Shorty shrugged, “He sleeps like the dead, it’s fine. As long as he’s not actually dead, anyway.” “He’s not,” Ves, their erstwhile second in command, rolled her eyes. “He’s just fucking weird.” “Are you sure he’s okay? How can he possibly breathe like that?” Igo frowned in worry, which wasn’t surprising for the man who had accidentally become their de facto team therapist. “What he needs,” Thirteen pointed in what would have been a dramatic gesture if not for the drunken stumble, “is a goo’ pair o’ tits to bury his face in.”

Red is the Rose (Complete!)

When Roche gives Iorveth a rose of remembrance, Iorveth doesn't know what to think. Legend has it that if you give a rose to someone you love, then it’ll live forever, but surely that can't be true. After all, Roche is his enemy.

Run Away With Me

Summary: Iorveth and Roche spend a starlit night together. “Run away with me,” he murmured, only half aware of the words he was saying. But when Iorveth froze, they truly processed and suddenly cold fear gripped him. He stuttered a correction, “I mean – I know, obviously, you can’t just leave your people. It’s – I–” Iorveth cupped his face, cutting off the stream of words. “Vernon,” Iorveth said, voice soft and wondrous. “Vernon,” he said again, tugging Roche forward into a desperate kiss, full of wanting and longing and regret. Even though Roche already knew the answer – of course they couldn’t just run away together – he still had to close his eyes and brace himself against the words he knew were coming when Iorveth drew back again. “Cariad,” Iorveth whispered, stroking his face. “Were my life my own, I would go anywhere with you.”

Scenes from Another World

Summary: Standalone scenes based on different trope AUs, but set in the canon Witcher universe.

Sentiment and Condescension

Summary: Roche hadn’t been planning to go to the Vengelbud party, but as soon as Emhyr told him not to... Now if he could just get Iorveth to leave him alone, he could get wasted in peace.

Seven Seconds in Holding

Summary: Iorveth is very, very unclear on how his last fight with the Blue Stripes led to him here, spooning Roche in the Blue Stripes’ holding cell, both their wrists cuffed together.

Spousal Privilege

Summary: Stuck at a diplomatic conference, Roche is frustrated that none of the elves in the room will even acknowledge he exists. Then Iorveth enters and it's like seeing an old friend. And then somehow they end up pretending to be married.

A Stubbornly Persistent Illusion (NEW!)

WiP

Rated E

Summary: Roche wakes up in a different world, one where he and Iorveth are raising Foltest's children in the dwarven city of Vergen.

These Boots (are gonna walk all over you)

Rated E

Summary: Neither Iorveth nor Roche had expected their fight to go like this. Inspired by this gorgeous art.

Time is Cruel, To Rob Us from Ourselves

WiP

Summary: An AU of Don’t Cry for Me, Temeria/(Im)Perfect Strangers where a magical artifact sends everyone back through events of Iorveth’s past. Iorveth is less than pleased, but the insights into his character may be invaluable for more than one person present.

Under Pressure

WiP

Rated E

Summary: When Iorveth defeats Vernon Roche, he intends to take his time interrogating his enemy. Fortunately, an abandoned mage’s house nearby provides him with the perfect toys to make this fun.

The Value of a Man

WiP

Summary: When Iorveth finally defeats Roche, he decides that such a valuable prisoner is worth ransoming back to the King. After all, surely the King's Enforcer is worth a few concessions to elven rights. Right?

To Weave The Strands of Fate (NEW!)

WiP

Summary: There is a tradition in Velen. Whenever a child is born within Velen, a lock of their hair is cut off and gifted to the Ladies of the Wood. According to whispered legends, the Lady Weavess could add the hair to her loom and thereby change their Fate.

What Happens in the Cave-In Stays in the Cave-In

WiP

Summary: When Iorveth and Roche’s fight ends abruptly because of a cave in, they find themselves trapped together as they wait to be unburied. In the meantime, Roche is injured and Iorveth has herbs that could help - but all he knows about humans is “they need more”.

Wolves and Squirrels and Stripes

Rated E

Geralt/Iorveth/Roche

Summary: A collection of Witcher 2 short fics featuring Geralt, Iorveth, and Roche. Chapter 1: Iorveth had never expected this to happen when Geralt invited him to visit Kaer Morhen.

Saskia Fics:

Damned Be The Thoughts That Refuse To Leave (NEW!)

Rated E

Saskia/Iorveth/Roche

Summary: When Saskia gifted him a toy shaped like a large human penis, Iorveth had sworn he would never use it. After all, it wasn't as if there were any humans he desired... right?

Shared Custody (NEW!)

Rated E

Saskia/Iorveth/Roche

Summary: Iorveth wasn't sure how walking into Saskia's office to see her talking with Vernon Roche of all people led to the three of them jammed into a closet with him in the middle, but he supposed it could be worse.

What Goes Around Comes Around (NEW!)

Rated E

Saskia/Philippa

Summary: Philippa decides to give Saskia a little treat to wake up to. Saskia repays her in full.

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deathflares · 4 years

Text

» ffxivwrite day #05 — matter of fact

wol & thancred, implied wolexarch&thanuri, 1k words, mature.

[ao3 mirror]

Shiori’s drunk—like, actually might either start telling people things she’ll soon regret or pass out on the spot at any moment drunk. It’s been a couple years since she has been this wasted, but gods damn it, she’s earned herself some respite, alright?

She sits on a table further away from the crowd for now—as much as she appreciates the people of the Crystarium and their attempt to show her and the Scions their gratitude by means of a terribly extravagant party, she’s never been much of a people person, and huge gatherings like those tire her out very quickly, the alcohol in her blood notwithstanding.

And, well. From here it’s easier to watch him, and wallow in her own misery without being disturbed.

The man in question is currently surrounded by the same Mystel children that had braided her hair and woven flowers into it, all the while bombarding her with more questions than she could manage to answer with one mouth—the usual why did you become an adventurer and how did you get to be so strong, with some more complicated ones such as how did you and the Exarch meet and are you guys going to get married thrown in at times.

Right now he’s kneeling among them while they curiously marvel over his crystal arm and his intricate robes, some playing with the whitened tips of his hair and one actually trying to weave a flower into his locks like they’d done with yours. He entertains them with gentle hands and patient words, no sign of the cheeky, if a little brash young man she had met four years ago to be seen.

Thoughts of he’d make a good father and would he be that patient as he ran those judicious hands through her naked body, teasing her until all she can do is beg cross her mind, and she briefly ponders the pros and cons of throwing herself down the stairs of the Mean. The children ask him something she can’t hear, and he for once appears actually flustered, throwing a nervous glance in her direction. Shiori schools her expression into something neutral as quickly as she can, giving him a wry smile. They’re your problem now.

“Considering they’re being held in your regard, I fear you staying away from the festivities defeats the point of them, my friend,” she hears.

She glances up to see Thancred, tankard in hand, already moving to sit on the chair beside hers.

“They’re not only for me,” Shiori answers, “and even if they were, should I not be able to do as please, as the subject to be celebrated? I feel I’ve earned myself a breath of respite.”

“Oh, is that why you were here? I thought you had merely sought the best vantage point to ogle the object of your affections, if the way you’ve been staring at your new old friend like a lovestruck schoolgirl is anything to go by,” he says, the shite-eating grin spread over his face tempting Shiori to dump what remains in her own tankard over his clothes.

“Speak louder, why don’t you,” she hisses instead, glad she can excuse the flush on her cheeks as a consequence of the alcohol.

“Forgive me the nosiness. I am simply surprised to finally meet the one able to win your heart, after all the lords and ladies that have battled for your affections. But I suppose no one has quite crossed the bounds of time and space and laboured a hundred years to save your life like he has.”

Shiori groans, taking another long chug of her ale. Nevermind what she’d thought earlier—she is definitely still not drunk enough for this.

“I don’t mean to pry,” Thancred says, prying, “but pray answer me this—why not tell him? Surely you don’t doubt a man who calls you his inspiration and has dedicated a century of his life to saving yours isn’t, at the very least, madly in love with you.”

“That’s where you’re wrong,” she says. “He is, as a matter of fact, in love with someone—but that someone isn’t me. She’s the brave warrior from the tales he read in the future he comes from, the fearless, dauntless hero who ended wars and liberated nations and who was somehow still a beacon of hope for the people in a world she failed to save. She’s the Warrior of Light, flawless and immaculate—not the woman behind the title, with all of her flaws and weaknesses and baggage. She’s not—me.”

Nothing like being stupidly drunk to make her unusually honest. Thancred is silent for a long moment, and while she can feel his eyes on her, she keeps her own gaze pointedly on the table in front of them.

“You are more than your flaws, Shiori,” he says finally, voice unusually gentle.

So what if I am, she thinks. I’ll still never be good enough for someone like him. G’raha is kind and selfless, loved by an entire nation for his compassion and leadership. He is the one who gave up his life to wait in slumber for the sake of a future he would one day inherit; who freely gave a century of his years to save two stars from certain doom. His warm and gentle hands have given life and protected it; hers only know how to destroy. What right does she have, to tarnish his gleaming light with her dreary darkness?

“He still deserves better than this, after all he’s done,” she says instead, quickly forcing her lips around a smile before continuing. “But you surely seem interested in my love life, when you have plenty of turmoil on your own, master Waters. Pray tell me, when do you intend to tell our resident astrologian about your certainly not platonic feelings?”

That gives him pause, to no shortage of her satisfaction.

“I,” he says, averting her eyes, “haven’t the faintest idea what you’re talking about, my friend.”

She laughs, turning her voice into her best impression of Thancred-from-four-years-ago. “I guess poetry only falls unbidden from your lips when there are no complicated feelings involved, my dearest minstrel.”

“Must you humiliate me so,” he asks.

“You started it.”

“Then I shall end it,” he says, standing up and offering her his hand. “Join me for a dance, my lady, that we may forget our emotional turmoils even if just for a few minutes?”

She laughs, but in the end, she takes his hand.

#final fantasy xiv #ffxiv #final fantasy 14 #ff14 #ffxivwrite2020 #my writing

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the-canary · 5 years

Text

You Know - S.R (3/6)

Summary: Dear heart, the term “faking dating” didn’t mean go and fall in love with him, especially when he’s not yours to begin with. (Office/Fake Dating! Reader/Steve Rogers)

Prompt: Kiss at the theater

A/N: This is for @barnesrogersvstheworld‘s kissing challenge. i am sorry if this chapter sucks ;A; drinking and sort of dirty jokes in this chapter!

Part 1 | Part 2 | Masterlist

Feedback is always welcomed.

Nat, help me! I’m trying to look cute for Friday!

Nat: Okay, send me pics of your outfits.

You know that you shouldn’t be asking Nat for help when it comes towards choosing an outfit for your date with Steve tonight. However, the more time you spent with him --mainly during lunch-- had your heart jumping like it hadn’t for quite some time now. You were going to make the best of the situation at hand and if that meant just having some fun with Steve for the month -- well, then you were going to take what you could get aside from helping him with getting some info on Nat.

Killing two birds with one stone seemed like a good idea.

You nod and accept the idea before going through your closet and sending pictures of your chosen outfits for tomorrow night.

Steve Rogers is nervous as hell when he sees Friday coming to an end. He couldn’t sleep the night before and while he had been getting used to you in general through your lunches together, this was completely different -- this was his first real date in more than a year, his date with the cute co-worker he had been crushing for the past six months. He had trouble breathing and almost went back to the 13-year asthmatic that couldn’t talk to the pretty British transfer student.

“Come on, Rogers,” he tries to amp himself up before heading down the hallway that houses both your offices, “You’ve done this before.”

He had a handful of times, but that never stopped his heart from thumping like crazy. Steve took some steady steps down, blue eyes glance at the widow into your office. You were typing on your company laptop, but you were wearing a button up sweater in which he couldn’t see what you were wearing, thus keeping what you were planning on wearing to your first date a secret from the poor man.

You catch him peeking and you wave with a bright, teasing smile that Steve can’t help but frown at, which leads to you laughing loudly as it echoes through the walls and rings into his ears. He just shakes his head before going into his office.

It takes Steve a good while before he can really start working on his latest project, to the point that he misses your usual lunchtime. It’s then that he realizes that you hadn’t asked to have your usual lunch time together as you had been doing for the past week. He wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad thing, as he watches from his office window a certain redhead pass through and give him a wink.

“What have I gotten myself into?” he can’t help but breathe out in a mix of worry and anxiety.

Steve was slowly coming to realize that your true, outside of work, personality was full of teasing snide and bubbly laughter was going to kill him before the month was over.

He was also coming to realize that -- he was okay with that.

It’s different going to lunch with a co-worker than going out of the office with them after working hours, so you two decide to meet a few blocks down in the cafe that you are familiar with. Steve gets there first, since you are still on call with a student and it surprises him how chic you taste can be what with the cafe having nothing but bread and salad options, but very strong coffee and lattes. He waits half and hour with a cup of coffee that gets refilled twice before he sees you running into the shop from the window.

Light blue summer dress, gray cardigan, and dark flats.

“I’m sorry, the poor kid was totally freaking out over his classes,” you admit while taking a seat across from him. Steve is temporary blindsided by how cute you can look compared to how professionally you usually dress, “We match!”

“W-What?” he can’t help but stutter out, as he sees you pointing to his shirt and your dress, though there is a quip on your lips that tells him that you have caught him staring.

“I’m glad you like the outfit,” you admit softly, as he takes a sip of coffee and hoping that he isn’t blushing, “So, I have two ideas for our ‘date’ tonight.”

“Shoot.”

“Jazz club or movie,” you state without giving him any further information, as Steve perks up to the first idea.

After agreeing on the jazz club (which had been Nat’s idea), the two of you head to the subway and get off a few stops before hitting Central Park. Fury’s from what the redhead had told you was a jazz club that served some good drinks with an eclectic taste in music and requests, depending on the time of the day. Friday was one of their busier days, but it was a good place to easyup and talk, which is what you wanted for yourself and Steve after the long work week.

Soft music rolled onto you like waves when you entered the establishment and proceeded to take a seat not that far away from the band that was playing. You ordered the drinks from a man with an eye patch that gives you a nod, like he knew you. Steve was looking around at the dark contrast of the hazy windows and dark interior of the place, though they never overtook one another. His eyes sparkled and his shoulder let go of the weight that they had been carrying, which made you smile -- this place was a success.

“Good place,” Steve nods, as he takes in the band a bit more, thrumming his fingers for a moment in the wooden table. You’re glad he enjoys it, but you don’t ever plan on telling him who chose it.

“Thanks,” you state as your drinks and some additional side dishes come in. You look up in confusion only for the bartender to nod at you again before going back to work. In your confusion, you decide to move your talk with Steve towards something else, on what you could help him with.

“Okay, okay,” you state, after taking your first drink, “What Steve Rogers’ idea of the perfect woman?”

“I don’t know really,” Steve shrugs before taking a sip of his own, as he explains, “Sharon was always dedicated, serious when it came to her career. I guess, we were both athletic, running and playing basketball -- went to the movies on weekends, partied with friends. We just had fun, at least I thought we did.”

“Ah, so you like the serious type of gals,” you state, as if giving out a fact, to which to add, “Nat is kinda of like that too.”

“Okay, then what’s your type?”

“I think I called them muscular jerks once,” you state, like you have a bitter aftertaste in your mouth, “Those guys that kinda of look like Arnold Schwarzenegger, but have zero personality. Kept going after them and look what that got me.”

“They sound horrible,” Steve can’t help but agree, “But, I’m guessing that means we both have to start looking elsewhere.”

“I’m guessing you’re right, Stevie,” you can’t help but admit as you take another shot as Steve gives you a sardonic smile in agreement, though his heart is going into overdrive over the sudden nickname.

The drinks keep coming for a while longer as the two of you keep playing twenty questions with one another. You learn that Steve born and raised Brooklyn boy that hasn’t always looked like this when he was younger, that he was even lucky to be alive. His father had died when he was young and his mother was a retired nurse that still lived in their old apartment, though he hadn’t seen her in quite some time. His best friends were utterly in love with each other, though out of the picture at the moment.

Steve Rogers sounded like a lonely person, but you really couldn’t say that your life was any better than his at the moment. You take another shot, to forget the thought, before changing the subject.

“Tell me on thing that nobody else knows,” you exclaim as he thinks about for a while, the alcohol in his system leading him to giggle like a schoolgirl at whatever he is thinking. You wait in excitement as he leans into your space, his breathing brushing lightly over your ear.

“You play the trumpet?” you question as he starts laughing even more, before he explains it a bit more which leads to you letting out a loud laugh, that catches the attention of several other patrons as you smack the man on the shoulder.

“I’m gonna have to keep my eye on you, Steve Rogers,” you huff out but instead of being meet with a scoff and instant rejection, like Sharon did when he tried to throw a dirty joke here and there, all he was meet with was bright eyes and little giggles escaping your body over the joke long after he had shared it.

It was refreshing sight and he couldn’t help the warmth taking over his chest.

The two of you eventually leave the club close to 8pm and decide to take a walk in Central Park, as you head towards your apartment. Though, you aren’t sure if it's the evening summer heat or being held by Steve that is causing you to feel a bit warmer than usual -- maybe it was even the drinks still coursing through your body. You hadn’t planned on letting go so loosely, but something about him told you that it was all right and that he could take care of both of you.

The steady pace you were walking and the large bottle of water you were sharing was proof of that and as you got closer to your apartment you didn’t want to let him go -- to be left alone in that cruddy little apartment you lived in.

Time is a cruel mistress though, as you end up in your apartment entrance. Steve gave you a soft smile, as you took the first step up only to look at him with bright eyes.

“Tonight was good,” you start of timidly as he agrees, “Would Sunday be a good for another date?”

“Sunday’s perfect,” he answers back softly causing you to grin.

“Good, good,” you state with a bubbly laugh, as you give him a peck on the forehead from where you are standing before waving goodnight and heading inside.

You don’t see the immediate aftermath as the man is left standing there with a huge, lovestruck grin for a good while as you do a small dance in the hallway in absolute giddiness over the aftermath of all this.

Unknowingly, each other’s heart already being stolen by the other.

Thank you! Thank you! I love you <3.

Nat: Okay, I think I am going to need details if you are so happy. Spill!

Part 4

#attie’s marvel kiss challenge #steve x reader #steve rogers x reader #steve rogers #steve grant rogers x reader #steve rogers fanfiction #steve rogers au #steve rogers office au #steve rogers modern au #steve rogers fluff #steve rogers fic #steve rogers fanfic #steve rogers fan fic #series: you know #fabiola trying to write

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memories-are-mine · 5 years

Text

A Thousand Promises

I was just gonna post this on AO3 so if you wanna read it there go for it, but I've decided to post it here too, just out of habit.

TWs: Implied child abuse, attempted kidnapping (because this is me here)

Minor spoilers for crimes of Grindelwald but who am I kidding you’ve probably seen it already,,, and tbh its barely spoilers.

Summary: Corvus Lestrange catches Theseus and Leta together, and things gradually get worse, but, it ends with a happily ever after.

Alternate Title: Theseus is a self-sacrificing idiot and Leta isn’t taking any of her dad’s shit, then a bunch of cute promises are made.

Anyway, enjoy my kittens!! <3

Leta had just finished topping off the champagne into two glasses sitting on the coffee table at the apartment she had moved into just a few days prior. Theseus had helped her find it, helped her move in, even offered to help with rent if she needed it until he could secure her a higher ranking job at the Ministry, instead of the glorified secretary position she had now. The moment she had confided to him how scared she was of her father, and what he would do if he found out about Theseus and Leta seeing each other, Theseus, ever the storybook hero, immediately began seeking other arrangements for her. Now that she was away from her father and her family home, Leta had felt a thousand pounds of fear lift from her shoulders, and she felt so light that it was almost like walking on air

It was only a few months into their courtship, and in all of Leta’s years, she never imagined she’d be in a relationship with Theseus Scamander, but when the doorbell rang, Leta’s heart did a little happy dance in her chest. As it always did when Theseus was around. He was later than he had said he would be, as he often was, but Leta knew firsthand that his job wasn’t an easy one.

She tried to retain her composure as she set down the half-full bottle of champagne on the table between the two glasses but ended up practically skipping to the door like some lovestruck schoolgirl ready for a date, part of her felt ridiculous, but she couldn’t help it. It had been a long time since she had allowed herself to be close with anyone, to care about anyone even just a little bit, that she was almost drowning in the feeling of it.

The door swung open at Leta’s touch, and Theseus came strolling into the room, still in his work clothes, but with his suit jacket folded over his arm and his tie loosened. Leta couldn’t help noticing how tired he looked, the bags under his eyes, the slight hunch of his shoulders like someone had tied a hundred pounds to his back. He was still a knockout despite that, and Leta almost lamented how unfair it was, how he could look so good while obviously being so exhausted, while when Leta didn’t get enough sleep, she looked like she was emerging from a tornado.

When he smiled at her, Leta’s heart soared, though she tried not to show it. But with the soar, there was that leftover apprehension, the leftover fear that had kept Leta Lestrange from being with Newt. The fear that had kept her from being with Theseus for quite some time, however desperately she had wanted to pin him against a corridor wall and kiss him senseless (A hobby she now very much enjoyed). That fear that washed over Leta every time she had broken her family’s strict rules in secret, and she wondered if her father would find out, and she would have to taste his violent wrath.

Leta rose to her tiptoes and gave him a kiss on the cheek hello as she took the coat off his arm. “You’re late, again,” she teased with a smile. “Is seeing me really so dreadful?”

“Leta, I’m so sorry,” Theseus said, and he sounded truly guilty. “I was about to leave to actually get ready and be on time for once, then Travers pulled me into this bloody meeting about magical tax evasion…”

Leta let out a little laugh. “Theseus, I’m only teasing you.” She dumped his coat on the chair as she turned from him. “Though I’m sure Travers droning on about taxes was quite riveting. Must’ve been awfully hard to tear yourself away.”

“Truly, it was the most exciting hour and a half of my life,” Theseus said sardonically as he let out a small laugh, pulling his tie off his neck and tossing it on top of his coat, on the back of one of the three dining room chairs, leaving him only in a white button-down and navy slacks. “I really am sorry I’m late.”

Leta shushed him as she turned back to face him. “None of that. I know how important your work is. I don’t mind waiting half an hour if it means your helping to keep people safe, however much I enjoy your company.”

“The problem is, I wasn’t keeping anybody safe unless what seems to be Travers’ greatest fear comes true and turning into an angry badger to avoid paying taxes suddenly becomes the new trend. He talked on for quite a while about that.”

“Has that ever happened before?” Leta laughed.

“Apparently, once, about twenty years ago.” Theseus let out a mirthless laugh as he sank down on Leta’s new sofa, suddenly sounding frustrated. “We have Grindelwald on the loose, and he’s gaining followers every day, and instead of trying to apprehend him, Travers just wants to just pretend he doesn’t exist. Sometimes I’m tempted to just go after Grindelwald myself, no matter how risky.”

Of course, Leta would never betray the Ministry, but punching Torquil Travers in the face became more and more tempting by the minute. But the declaration about Grindelwald, a statement Theseus made sometimes, shook her no less than it had the dozen other instances in which he’d confided it to her.

“Travers can be so stupid,” she muttered, shaking her head as she sat beside Theseus, who already was halfway through his glass of champagne.“But you can’t go hunting for Grindelwald yourself, Theseus, if he were to get his hands on you…”

“I know, Leta,” Theseus replied, looking thoughtful. “Enough about me.” He looked around the small apartment, slowly taking in a breath. “I haven’t gotten to talk to you as much as I would’ve liked to these past few days. How are you? Your father hasn’t bothered you has he? Is he angry you’ve left?”

“He doesn’t know, actually,” Leta said, involuntarily tensing at the mention of Corvus LeStrange. “He’s been traveling for the past two weeks, coming back tonight, though I suspect that my father’s servants have informed him already. I don’t think he’ll have anything to say about it.” She hoped not, anyway.

Theseus must have seen the look in her eyes, and leaned toward her on the couch, holding her hand in his. “However he may feel about your leaving, I can promise you that he won’t be taking it out on you. I swear to you I’m going to make sure that he never harms you again.”

Leta wondered what she’d done to deserve Theseus. A man so heroic, so ready to save the world, and so willing to protect Leta. She wasn’t used to having people look out for her. It felt good to be looked out for. She wished she could repay his kindness.

She figured a passionate kiss on the lips was a good place to start.

Theseus returned it eagerly, his hands finding their way to her waist as Leta ran her tongue over his lips, taking pleasure in the gasp that involuntarily formed in the back of his throat. Experimentally, she pressed on his shoulders and he leaned back obediently, his head landing on the decorative pillows of Leta’s sofa.

When Leta broke the kiss, she was practically on top of him, unbuttoning the top button of his shirt as they gazed at one another, Leta was so caught up in the ecstasy of romance that she almost didn’t hear the soft thump that came outside the door. But Theseus heard it too, which meant she wasn’t going crazy.

“What was that?” Leta climbed off of Theseus immediately as he grabbed his wand, which sat on the coffee table next to the champagne. He rose to his feet as the door swung open.

Theseus and Leta looked at each other fearfully, as together they edged toward the door. Theseus’s wand still pointed at the opening. There didn’t appear to be anything or anyone in the doorway, but Leta knew that the door hadn’t opened just because of the wind.

Theseus turned his head to look at her, raising an eyebrow. “What do you think - “

“EXPELLIARMUS!”

Theseus’s wand immediately flew across the room, unattainable as Corvus LeStrange barrelled into Leta’s apartment, the tip of his wand leveled right at them.

Immediately all the thousand pounds of terror came rushing back, making Leta so dizzy that she sank back down on the couch. Theseus went with her, pressing her into his arms.

“LETA LAURENA LESTRANGE!” Her father bellowed, and Leta flinched violently, all thoughts of self-defense suddenly gone. She was unable to think, move for her wand, unable to even scream. “How dare you disobey the rules of my house and my family?” He started toward them and Theseus stood, glaring, ignoring Leta’s grip on his arm. “First, you leave my house without my permission after refusing to join our family in Grindelwald’s cause. Then… then I find you here… consorting with….with him?” He gestured wildly at Theseus as if he were some kind of disgusting snake. “Theseus Scamander. The enemy, no less! You are a disgrace, Leta, you -”

Theseus started to go for his wand, but Corvus pointed it at Leta. “Try it, Mr. Scamander, and you won’t like the consequences.” Theseus stopped, cut him off, standing protectively in front of her. “You will not speak to her like that, leave her alone!” he snarled. Leta had seen him angry before, but this was different. There was a desperation behind it, like he was ready to try anything to keep her safe.

“Mr. Scamander,” Corvus LeStrange stopped shouting at Leta, moved his wand away from her, which he never would have done under any other circumstance, but this time there was someone else to point it at. Leta choked back a scream as Corvus leveled his wand at Theseus’s heart. “When I first saw you with my daughter I wanted to kill you there and then.” He took a step towards Theseus. “But now that I��ve collected myself a bit, and I recognize you now, I’ve realized that this is a bit of a blessing in disguise. But make no mistake, child.” He whipped back to Leta, careful to keep his wand at Theseus’s heart. “After I deliver your beloved Mr. Scamander you and I will talk.”

“What do you mean?” Leta burst out. “What do you want with him?”

“Shut up!” Corvus shouted at her, and Leta sank back into her silence, her childhood instinct to obey her father and avoid punishment washing over her. “You should be happy, Leta. I recognized him from the photograph I saw at Nurmengard. If I bring Theseus Scamander, the war hero, the Auror, to Grindelwald, he will reward us bounteously. The LeStrange family name will live on forever in legend, among the greatest heroes.”

“You’re not taking him!” Leta gasped. “I - I won’t let you!”

“Hush, Leta, it’s alright,” Theseus said gently, turning away from Corvus for a moment. His gaze lingered on her for a heartbeat, then two. Then, lifting his head and straightening his back, he turned back to her father. Taking another few steps closer, he took a breath and said, “I’ll go without a fight, but you have to swear on your life that you’ll leave her be, or I swear to Merlin that I will -”

“Theseus!” Leta shrieked as her father grabbed his arm roughly, still pointing his wand at his throat.

“SILENCE!!” Corvus Lestrange yelled so loudly that that it shook the walls of the house. “I promised to leave you be, Leta, but do not test my patience.”

“Leta, it’ll be okay,” Theseus promised, though he didn’t sound so sure. “I promise.”

Leta didn’t know at what point during these past four months that she’d fallen in love with him, but through the mix of terror and childhood instinct that was swallowing Leta up, a clear thought burned through her mind. Father is not taking Theseus anywhere.

Leta knew that her father should have left by now, but he was making a show of his control of the whole situation. He made sure she was watching before he muttered a spell, conjuring silvery chains that latched themselves around Theseus’s wrists. Theseus hated being restrained, and he visibly stiffened as the chains bound his hands. That just made her angrier.

While he was distracted, Leta slid a hand behind the bottle of champagne that concealed her own wand, and hid it in her sleeve before she stood to face her father.

“If you’re going to take him.” It wasn’t hard for Leta to sound broken, defeated. Just the way her father wanted it. “At least let me say goodbye.” She lowered her head, trying to look like the obedient daughter that her father had expected of her. Obedience and submission were rewarded. Defiance was punished severely.

She kept her eyes down as her father considered her request. She felt Theseus’s eyes on her. She prayed to every entity she could think of that Corvus wouldn’t see through her facade.

“Very well,” her father decided. “Say your goodbyes, then.”

Impulsively, Leta moved close to Theseus, making sure that he was between her and her father, though every instinct in her body screamed to shove him behind her and throttle her father with her bare hands. She had to conceal her movements, though.

“Leta,” Theseus began, reaching with his shackled hands to touch her face. “I wish-” he paused, seeing her pull her wand. “Leta?”

With her free hand, Leta pulled him down for a kiss, all the while desperately running through her mental list of spells that might be useful in this situation. The first ones that came to her mind were incredibly violent and very much illegal. And however tempting they were, Leta would not use them. She wouldn’t stoop to her father’s level.

Her hand thought for her, and before she knew what she was doing, she raised her wand, she pointed it at her father, shoved Theseus out of harm’s way, and screamed with all the force she could muster:

“FLIPENDO!”

Corvus Lestrange wasn’t expecting it, so he didn’t have time to counter her spell, and Leta couldn’t help but feel a rush of satisfaction as he flew backward across the room, landing hard on the floor. His wand skittered out of his hand, and Leta summoned it into her grip. Using both hands, she grabbed his wand on either end and snapped it in half over her knee, and tossed the pieces on the ground at her feet.

Unfortunately, he recovered quickly, and got to his feet, scowling at them, his eyes holding such fury that it was hard for Leta not to shut down again. But this time, a look to Theseus was all that was required to clear her head.

“Get out,” she snarled. “Never come back or next time I will throw you in Azkaban myself.”

Still glaring at her, her father snatched the pieces of the wand from the floor and started to march out of the room.

“Oh, something else,” Leta said. “If you ever put another finger on Theseus, I swear to Merlin that you won’t like the consequences.”

With that, Leta’s father left, and Leta turned to Theseus and tapped his chains with her wand, muttering the spell that would free him. The restraints vanished immediately and Theseus wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close.

Leta didn’t trust herself not to start sobbing with relief.

“Are you alright?” He asked her, burying his face in her long brown curls.

“Am I alright?” Leta pulled away from him, looking him in the eye. “Of course I’m not alright! What were you thinking? Do you know what Grindelwald would have done to you if my father had brought you to him?” Even she was surprised by her anger, but Theseus didn’t seem hurt by it. “Don’t you understand?” She said, her voice breaking. “You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I can’t afford to lose you, Theseus.”

Then, Leta really did start crying. Crying was not something that she did often, and never around anyone but Theseus, but she had seen how Grindelwald tortured his prisoners. Her father had shown her, once, when he had taken them to Nurmengard, acting like it was some grand family vacation. The thought of Theseus in the same pain that those poor people had been through was too much to bear. And the torture that Grindelwald would inflict on Theseus would likely be worse since he was so high-ranking in the Ministry.

“Shh,” Theseus pulled her back into his warm embrace, and Leta could have melted into him. “I’m alright, Leta. We’re alright.”

“What were you thinking?” She sobbed again, her voice muffled slightly by his shirt.

“I promised I would protect you from your father,” Theseus replied, stroking her hair. “And I did what I had to in order to keep my promise.”

“Never do that again,” Leta scolded. “Because I would rather die myself than let you sacrifice yourself for me.”

Before Theseus could come up with some heroic response that would likely make Leta keel over on the spot, she pressed her lips to his, guiding him back so he was sitting on the sofa once again. He pulled her onto his lap, wrapping his arms around her, and they kissed until she almost felt okay again.

“So,” she said when they finally broke apart. “Are all Scamanders self-sacrificing, heroic bloody idiots or is it just you and Newt?”

Theseus smiled. “I suppose that’s up for debate.” Then he studied her, and his smile faded a little. “Leta, I -”

“Hush,” Leta placed a finger to his lips. “You’re not going to say anything about sacrificing yourself for me, or protecting me because you care about me. Or any of that noble heroic garbage that I know you want to say. Because I’m making a promise to you, right here, right now. Nobody in Grindelwald’s Army is putting a finger on you if I have anything to say about it, least of all my father, and if I have to give my life to make that happen, I will. Because I love you, Theseus. I really, really do.”

Leta hadn’t meant to make that last declaration, but her head was spinning so fast, and she’d wanted to say those words for so long, that they had just slipped out. Besides, Theseus had spent so much of his life protecting other people, Leta figured it was his turn to be the one protected for once.

Theseus looked taken aback, and for a moment looked like he didn’t know what to say. “I love you too, Leta,” he said, pressing his forehead to hers. “And that’s why I did what I did just then, and why I’d do it again in a minute if it meant protecting you from your father.”

Leta didn’t know what to say to that. She wasn’t used to having this. Having someone like him. “Stay?” Was what she blurted out. Nice one, Lestrange.

“I’m not going anywhere.”

“So many promises tonight.”

“I’m going to keep every one of them.” Theseus laid down on the couch, his head on the pillows, just the way they had been earlier. Leta, strangely, had no strong impulse to kiss him just then. She just wanted to hold him, bask in the glory of them just being together. And safe.

So she just pulled him into her arms and laid his head on his chest and not long after, she heard his deep, steady breathing, telling her he had fallen asleep. She followed him not long after, and for a little while, all the evil in the world was lost to dreams.

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cassandraclare · 6 years

Text

Anna, Ariadne, sexuality and genderfludity in the Belle Epoque

SPOILERS (and a mass of text, much under a cut)

jonginflicted said: cassie i loved every exquisite thing so much oh god, i could almost see myself in ariadne, like a sort of refusal to fully be herself (we were born in the same place too!) and i'm wondering, does ariadne really love anna or is this just a time-pass or an experiment for her. she does say that she likes anna a lot, but her willingness to marry charles seems a little off to me (or am i seeing things) as always, thank you so much for writing for us!

-Thank you!

Ariadne is under crushing social pressure to marry a man. She does love Anna

— she’s fallen in love with her the same way Anna has with her, with that sort of sweeping at-first-sight romantic overwhelmingness that sometimes happens, especially when it’s your first time. I really tried to avoid any suggestion this was an “experiment” or anything like that for Ariadne. She’s a lesbian and she knows she’s a lesbian. She just also believes it’s impossible for her to live an authentic life as a lesbian woman in 1901 without being cruelly punished. I don’t think you’re seeing things so much as it’s hard to understand what Ariadne is facing in 1901 (and would face in some places now):

From Strangers: Homosexual Love in the Nineteenth Century by Graham Robb: 19th-century homosexuals lived under a cloud...Most of them suffered, not from the cruel machinery of justice, but from the creeping sense of shame, the fear of losing friends, family and reputation, the painful incompatibility of religious belief and sexual desire, the social and mental isolation, and the strain of concealment.

That’s a horrific thing to face. (Not that we live in an LGBT+ utopia now and they lived in an LGBT+ dystopia then: it’s a lot more complicated than that.) Ariadne’s parents, unlike Anna’s, are extremely conservative, and this union with Charles is the thing they want. So it wouldn’t matter much to Ariadne whether it was Charles or some other guy – it’s not going to be the thing she wants except that she doesn’t want to be isolated, to be abandoned, to be rejected by her parents and family, which are totally normal things to be terrified of.

Everyone has layered identities. Ariadne has identities as a woman of color, as a lesbian, as an adopted child, as the daughter of conservative government officials, as a woman who wants children, and in many ways those identities are in conflict for her in ways Anna’s identities are less so. Ariadne isn’t a coward, or a cruel person. She is making the best choices she can within a set of limitations that are oppressive, and that she did not invent or ask for.

ti-bae-rius said: Hello Cassie! Firstly, wow okay turns out I have a huge fiction crush on Anna Lightwood. Hot damn. Secondly - and slightly less flippant/lovestruck - is Anna happy with female pronouns? Is that what Anna identifies with or was it more due to conformity of the time? Basically, is Anna’s gender expression limited by temporal factors? Such a badass character who is seriously fuelling my waistcoat obsession right now. Love the new GOTSM and all the best! x

I'm so happy you enjoyed the new GOTSM and that you like (have a huge crush on) Anna! I would say that Anna is happy with female pronouns, yes, as she's happy with the gift of the necklace that her mother gave her, something she can be comfortable with as she's not with dresses. That said, temporal factors are certainly a part of that! Today Anna would consider and call herself genderfluid, but the term didn't exist at the time, and of course many genderfluid people today refer to themselves by “he” or “she” pronouns, as well as many others, according to what feels most comfortable to them. Anna is a product of her time: had she been born in a different time many things might have been different — but that is the case for every single one of the TID and TLH characters, and for all of us alive today, who express ourselves in ways which would have been extremely unconventional in the past and will likely be considered backward and oppressive in the future. :)

In 1902 (a year after the events of EET) people were academically discussing the idea of a third or “intermediate” sex, but it was a very new thing — not something Shadowhunters would know about, or the average mundane. It was also referred to as “sexual inversion” which was seen as an academic term at the time. The idea of LGBTQ+ sexuality was a taboo topic--sexuality at all was a taboo topic, with people getting arrested for indecency for publishing pamphlets about contraception--and the idea of LGBTQ+ identity was scarcely understood at all.

Anna herself, and those who love and accept her, would find it very hard to conceptualize or articulate gender fluidity. Feelings have always existed long before there were words for them, and many words once used are not the words we use now. I wanted to be accurate and faithful to the time period, but I also wanted to be as sensitive as possible to the modern day, real life readers, and not hurt them by using terms which would have been acceptable then but are certainly not acceptable now. (A whole code for speaking about homosexuality existed at the time, ranging from the gentle “Is he musical?” or “Does she like Achilles?” to words I would just never use whether they’re historically accurate or not.) Anna, as we see, has strong feelings about not only romance with women but friendship and alliance with women, and female pronouns to her feel like another way of expressing that alliance, even while she wants to be true to herself and express her complex and beautiful identity as fully as she can.

ariadnebridgestock said: hello cassie!! I was incredibly touched by how understanding and supportive Cecily and Gabriel were about Anna so I was wondering, will we be seeing other support that Anna receives from the rest of her family, like her brother Christopher, her aunts and uncles and her cousins and family friends like the Fairchilds etc? thank you for taking your time to answer questions!

archerondale said: Hi, Cassie! I was just wondering- what does the Clave think about Anna wearing man's clothes and preferring women?

EET is set two years before TLH, so in 1903 Anna's already openly living a fabulous lifestyle in her own abode in Percy Street, and her family and friends are all fully aware and supportive of her lifestyle. We will see her family support her, though not every single one of their specific reactions to her starting to dress as she prefers, as that's well in the past. Everyone responds with love, in their characteristic ways, so we see Matthew, a loving and fashionable friend, giving her his clothing: Christopher, her sweet and science-minded brother, offering to perform a saving act of science (Christopher would blow up the Tower of London to make Anna feel better, any day of the week). Everyone offers support in their own way. Lucie asks to hear about Anna's scandalous love life so she can write about romance in her novels. James reads up on people like Julie d'Aubigny, who dressed as a man, fought duels, and liberated her lady beloved from a nunnery.

However, the Clave as a whole, and even the Enclave in London, is vaguely horrified by what Anna's up to, but Anna's helped out by the attitude that what Anna's doing can barely be true--there is a myth that Queen Victoria refused to believe in women feeling passion for other women, which reflects the prevailing attitudes of the time (which again, aren't the same as Shadowhunter attitudes, but Shadowhunter attitudes are influenced by the world) that love between women didn't happen, or if it did, didn't count (Unlike sex between men, lesbianism was not illegal in 1903).

That said, in 1902 (after EET, before TLH) society became interested in “sexology”--examining the different kinds of sexual attractions and activities that existed, and the terms sapphic and lesbian came into more common use. Lesbian activity wasn't criminalized in the same way as gay activity (though the denial of women's sexuality is a problem in itself): Oscar Wilde's fate would not happen to a woman, though as we see with Ariadne there was still horrible pressure to conform. During this same period, Vita Sackville-West (later, Virginia Woolf's lover) and Violet Keppel, the daughter of King Edward's mistress, were involved in a schoolgirl romance, but Violet's mother urged concealment and both were to go on to marry men. You can read their love letters here:

Oh, Mitya, come away, let’s fly, Mitya darling — let’s go away and forget the world and all its squalor — let’s forget such things as trains, and trams, and servants, and streets, and shops, and money, and cares and responsibilities. Oh god! how I hate it all — you and I, Mitya, were born 2000 years too late, or 2000 years too soon.

Anna insisting on living openly, dressing the way she wants and publicly loving who she wants, has created something of a sensation in the Enclave society. Sona's worried about Cordelia consorting with the infamous Anna: Mrs Bridgestock is appalled by the idea of Anna, now living so scandalously, approaching Ariadne. Many mothers are whisking aside their children and many proper Shadowhunters are shunning Anna. London society says Anna should be got under control, or that they should stop her from fighting because it's given her ideas: all manner of microaggressions are visited upon Anna, but Anna prefers to steadfastly ignore them (not that they don’t bother her or add up over time — this is just her particular coping strategy). Sometimes she trots off to Paris if they annoy her. But the fact she's learned to just avoid or not think about unpleasantness may become a problem for her, later, since eventually unpleasantness that she can't avoid does come and she has to face it.

Still, the constant love and support from her influential family and friends is very helpful, not just emotionally but socially: it matters that Charlotte's the Consul, that her Uncle Gideon is influential in the Clave, that her beloved Uncle Will is Head of the London Institute and loves and looks out for her. With them standing by her, the Clave has been able to mostly overlook Anna--maybe she's just going through a wild phase! Even the Consul's son Matthew is running wild, what will become of the children! They say nasty things sometimes, and Anna isn't invited to the most proper parties, and Anna DEFINITELY wouldn't be able to wield political power within the Clave or marry a really respectable Shadowhunter boy (luckily...Anna isn't at all in the market for a husband), but Anna's extremely popular with the younger set and well-supported by the older set. Which is all to say: as it has been for people like Anna in many generations and many places, one can create a society within a society where you feel comfortable. She is lucky that her own family home and the homes of her friends are places she can feel comfortable (the same is not true for Ariadne, for instance) but outside of those safe spaces, there are places where she would (and is) stared at, commented on, and subject to prejudice.

* One of the fascinating things about LGBT+ history is the way there have always been subcultural spaces where the non-straight and non-cis were able to carve out networks of neighborhoods, bars, clubs, salons and spaces where they felt safe and were able to be open. I don’t just keep mentioning Paris randomly: neighborhoods in Paris were a lesbian and gay haven during the Belle Epoque — one of those subcultural places I was talking about, where Anna and other non-binary and LGBT+ people could feel comfortable. Fin de siecle society in Paris included bars, restaurants and cafes frequented and owned by lesbians, such as Le Hanneton and le Rat Mort, Private salons, like the one hosted by the American expatriate Nathalie Barney, drew lesbian and bisexual artists and writers of the era, including Romaine Brooks, Renee Vivien, Colette, Djuna Barnes, Gertrude Stein, and Radclyffe Hall. One of Barnes's lovers, the courtesan Liane de Pougy, published a best-selling novel based on their romance called l’Idylle Saphique (1901). Descriptions of lesbian salons, cafes and restaurants were included in tourist guides and journalism of the era, as well as mention of houses of prostitution that were uniquely for lesbians. Toulouse Lautrec created paintings of many of the lesbians he met, some of whom frequented or worked at the famed Moulin Rouge. — Wikipedia

Sounds like a great place and we’ll definitely be visiting :)

#anna lightwood #ariadne bridgestock #eet #gotsm #tsc #th

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brahms--heelshire · 5 years

Text

Christmas Presents (USUK)

(A/N): Hey, here’s the real Christmas oneshot... even if it’s a couple days late. I hope it’s worth the wait!

My boyfriend greeted me with a “Merry Christmas,” and a kiss under the mistletoe that he lifted over our heads the moment that I walked in.

I looked around, somewhat confused. “Where’s everyone else, Alfred? You always have a huge Christmas party.”

“Aw, I know. But this year, I wanted to spend it with just you. It’s more romantic that way.” He looked very proud of himself for that decision.

“Well thank you, love.” I walked to the couch in his living room and sat down, placing my present for him next to me.

He followed, sitting down next to me.

“Hey, uh, Arthur… are you cold?” He asked, looking at me nervously.

“I guess. The insulation in your house isn’t the best.” I shrugged.

He grinned, picking a large blanket up off of the end table. He then wrapped it around us, snuggling up close to me.

“Don’t worry, Arthur! I’ll be your hero.” He smiled and gave my cheek a kiss.

I felt my face heat up with the familiar feeling of blushing.

“Aww, you’re blushing. You’re blushing,” he teased.

“Well maybe I wouldn’t if you weren’t so impossibly cute!” I retorted.

He kissed me gently, wrapping his arms around me. The kiss only lasted a few seconds, but it felt as though it lasted forever. I don’t think I would’ve minded much if it did.

When he pulled away, he didn’t loosen his grip on me, instead choosing to pull me closer to him.

“You should open my present. You know I’m not patient!” He suggested.

“Okay, but only if you open mine. I’m sure that you’ll love what I got you.” I smirked, sure that if Christmas presents were a competition, mine would win.

We silently agreed to move the blanket to over our laps to make it easier to open stuff with our hands.

I passed the card over to him. He opened it, smiling as he read what I had written. I wrote an honest card about how much he meant to me.

“Aw, that’s so sweet,” he commented, taking his glasses off to wipe a tear out of his eye.

I gently kissed his cheek, passing him the rest of his gift.

“Oh my god, Arthur.” His eyes went wide at the sight of four gift cards for McDonalds. “Thank you so much! You’re the best!” He put his glasses on to read how much was on them- it was fifty per card- and his whole face looked shocked. “Dude, that’s a lot.”

“Well, this is our fifth Christmas as a couple. That’s a large milestone,” I told him, “So I felt like you deserved something special. Just accept it.”

“Okay, Arthur. Thank you very much. I love you.” He said.

“You’re welcome. I love you too,” I replied.

“Uh, so now I guess it’s time for my present for you, babe.” He looked legitimately nervous as he spoke.

“Dear, there’s no need to be nervous. Calm down.” I rested my hand on his leg, gently rubbing it.

“I have a lot of reason to be nervous, Arthur. What if you don’t like it? What if you think my card is dumb or tacky or really cheesy?” He replied, twiddling his thumbs as he spoke rapidly.

“Alfred, I would trust you with my life. Why wouldn’t I trust you to get me a gift?” I ran my hand gently through his hair as I spoke. “I adore you with all of my heart, you dumbass. Now give me my gift.”

“Okay. Uh.” He smiled. “Here it is.” He handed it to me, letting out a nervous laugh.

It was a large box, wrapped shoddily. I almost wanted to laugh. It was obvious that Alfred had wrapped it himself.

“Open the card first,” he told me.

“But of course! I am a gentleman,” I replied to him.

I turned the box over, gently pulling off the card that was taped to it.

I read it aloud. “Arthur, every day that I am with you is a joy. When we’re not near each other, all I can think of is the next time that I’ll see you. I want to live with you. I want to fall asleep next to your angelic form every night and wake up to your beautiful face every morning.” I paused for a moment, blushing heavily. “I want to treat you to whatever you may long for. Even just spending time with you makes me the happiest man alive. Arthur Kirkland, I am madly in love with you.” I was touched. Alfred normally wasn’t the best at being romantic, but I could tell that he had written from his heart.

“Yeah, sorry babe. I might’ve written a lot, but that’s because I wanted to tell you the honest truth and nothing less.” Alfred looked faintly embarrassed.

“No,” I took a moment to blow my nose and wipe my eyes. “I love it, Alfred. Thank you so much. This is so sweet of you” I reached my arms out, giving him a tight hug. He kissed the top of my head, hugging me back.

“Now open the box!” He persuaded me. “Now I’m even more nervous and excited for you to see what’s in there.”

I gently pulled at the corners of the wrapping paper, only to reveal a large cardboard box. I looked at him confused.

“Now you open the box.” He said.

I nodded at him, pulling the tape off of the box. Once it was off, I lifted the flaps to see… another wrapped box.

“Alfred, why?”

He looked as though he was struggling to hold back laughter. “Just open the box.”

So I did. And in that box was another, slightly smaller box. In that box was another box. They kept getting smaller and smaller. I opened three more boxes. I pulled another box out. It was a little bit softer than most of the other wrapped boxes. I could squish it a little bit, almost like there was some sort of thick fabric on it.

“Turn around,” Alfred commanded.

“Why?” I asked.

“Just… please?”

So I stood up and turned away from him. Then I pulled the wrapping paper off to reveal a jewelry box. I gasped loudly at the sight of it.

“Oh my God! Alfred! You didn’t!” My lips were stretched into a wide smile.

“You can turn back to me now,” he said.

When I turned back towards him, he was down on one knee. I felt tears threatening to

prick up in my eyes again.

“I’m sorry,” I wiped at my eyes, “I’m being really emotional today, Alfred.”

“Don’t worry about it,” he said, a hearty grin on his face.

I opened the box, looking at the lovely ring.

“It’s beautiful, Alfred,” I said, awestruck, as I looked at it.

“Can I have it for a sec, baby?” He asked.

I silently handed him the box, feeling tears drip down my cheeks as I did.

He took a deep breath. “Arthur Kirkland. I love you to the moon and back. You mean the world to me, and nothing else matters as long as we’re together. You make me feel like I can do anything, and I want to share the rest of my life with you. Will you make me officially the happiest man alive and grant me the honor of being your husband?”

“Yes, Alfred. Yes. A million times yes.” I confirmed loudly.

He took my left hand, giving it a kiss before he slid the ring onto my finger. I admired the way that my hand looked with it, giggling like a schoolgirl.

I noticed him pulling out his smartphone and taking a picture of me.

“Can I post this? I’m so glad that I have you. I just want to show you off to the world.” Alfred looked as lovestruck as I felt.

“Of course, love.”

I watched as he got off of his knee. He tapped his phone a few times, then quickly typed with the on-screen keyboard.

He put it away, and before I was expecting anything, he grabbed me by the hands and fell backwards onto the couch, pulling me down on top of him.

I felt his hands snake around my waist, and I replied by laying my head down on his shoulder.

I reached my arm out next to us to grab the blanket, then proceeded to lay it back over us.

“Love you Arthur.”

“I love you too, Alfred.”

#usuk #usuk fanfiction #usuk fluff #fanfiction #axis powers hetalia #hetalia fanfiction #aph england #aph america

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blame-canada · 6 years

Text

II. Dinosaurs and Race Cars - Kyvid

The concept of David Rodriguez was one that Kyle had a very hard time understanding. It was, after all, hard to think when the very essence of a person was enough to drown out rational thought and basic comprehension. Also he had very, very nice arms.

Hi guys! Here we are with part two to this saga that will be full of the sweet, sweet kyvid content that the world so desperately needs. I, on a deeply personal level, feel I must provide for my rarepair, and so here I am, throwing cliches into the wind and hoping they stick (at least to somebody). Regardless, I hope you enjoy it! Tagging @mcnuggyy and @valzilla as my endless fountains of support and headcanons- y’all the real ones.

Part I

II.

“I’m gonna do it.”

“Kyle, dude,” Stan said, exasperated in every sense of the word, “you’ve been repeating that all fucking day. Are you gonna do it or not?”

“Yes, I’m gonna do it!” Kyle whisper-yelled, and he shrunk into his locker door as Stan’s gaze sized him up. “Just, like. In a minute. Next period.”

“Next period was two weeks ago,” he deadpanned. Then he gripped Kyle by the shoulders and whirled him around, and Kyle sputtered his anger out in incoherent noises of distress until Stan’s hand shot out from behind his shoulder to point straight ahead, to a locker that he knew embarrassingly by heart. “It’s so far past next period it’s stupid. Fucking go, Kyle, Jesus.”

Kyle’s hands met against his chest, his nerves exploding so violently he feared a seizure. He was right there, swinging his locker door open with his backpack slung over only one shoulder, halfway through pulling it off his back. His hair looked freshly cut from here, which did not bode well for Kyle. “God, what am I doing?” he moaned, and Stan gave him a decent push right in the middle of his back to force him out from behind his locker door and properly into the hallway.

“Making a fool of yourself. Go,” he hissed, and Kyle gulped down the nervous lump in his throat, nodding slightly. Next period really may as well have been two weeks ago. With a big breath, as though diving into the ocean, he surged forward in the most confident wide-stepped stride he could muster to try to pump himself up. It didn’t really matter, however, because David managed to catch him so off guard he deflated and nearly stumbled when he swiveled on one heel to face the hall.

Kyle’s heart leapt to his throat, and when David caught his eyes and smiled at him, his stomach grew flowers, the roots of them tickling and infiltrating his organs so violently he felt like he might be sick. At the same time, the glow of his familiar face left him awash with unusual calm, like a sedative with a laundry list of nasty lovestruck side effects that were somehow still worth it. In that moment, as David took one step forward to get close enough to talk over the crashing of locker doors slamming shut, all Kyle could think was,

‘Oh, god, I do love him.’

“My raptor friend,” David began, the smile audible in his tone, and Kyle wanted simultaneously to die and jump for joy at such an embarrassing nickname, “come to finish the hunt?”

Kyle giggled, honest to god giggled, before he cleared his throat and returned to his game face. “I, uh, wanted to make up for that.”

“Why? It was funny,” he said, and he chuckled himself, the sound so melodic and warm it could’ve brought him to his knees. “Plus the faces you make when I call you that are cute.”

Oh, Kyle could die. Die right there, in the middle of South Park High, at the ripe old age of seventeen, in front of a boy who could rule the world with one flash of his charming grin. He called him cute.

David leaned one hip against his locker and crossed his arms, and Kyle was stunned, transfixed by how his body moved with such finesse. “I actually had a question for you, if you had a minute..?” David said, and Kyle stood up straight, knowing full well that he would do fucking anything for him.

“Yeah, anything,” Kyle confirmed, perhaps too eagerly, because David’s smile turned the slightest bit devilish, and Kyle felt so caught in the act he considered ‘raptoring’ out all over again. In defiance of instinct, he glued his feet in place, determined.

David ran a hand through his perfectly newly-clipped hair, and Kyle could've sworn he looked nervous. “I was wondering if you would, ah,” he faltered, averting his gaze to the left and rubbing at the back of his neck, and Kyle had to try very hard not to stare at his arms as his muscles performed the elementary task. It looked anything but elementary, though; god, why was he wearing a short sleeved shirt in this weather? Shouldn’t he have his arms covered like a normal person? Any decent human being would know just how threatening it was to the student body to have his arms just exposed, like some sort of horrible tease that Kyle didn’t know how to talk to.

A deft hand snapped its fingers just beside Kyle’s left eye and it startled him back to Earth, to a grin that had definitely become devilish by now. “Back to the land of the living?” he teased, his sculpted brows quirked, and Kyle felt like dying all over again.

“Yeah, I, uh,” he fumbled, laughing nervously and clearing his throat like a schoolgirl in a goddamn rom-com, “yeah. Sorry, dude.”

David shrugged. “S’fine. Sound good, though?” he asked, but his face was uncharacteristically shy. Uncharacteristic, because David did and got what he wanted, and it was hot as hell.

“Yeah, yeah. Good!” Kyle said, a complete knee-jerk response, because his face heated up at the slow realization that he actually had absolutely no idea what David had said. Curse his beautiful arms, and that ridiculous, tantalizing v-neck—

“Alright, great! See you after school,” he said, and Kyle felt extremely grateful that David chose that moment to smile warmly at him and turn the other direction to go to class, because he was certain his face could light a match. What was after school? Oh god, what was after school?

Before David turned the corner, Craig Tucker, of all people, appeared to give him an unenthused high-five. Kyle knew they were kind of friends, but not high-five-level friends. Then, as though he could sense his thoughts, Craig looked over his shoulder and made direct eye contact with him. His face was just as flat and unyielding as always, and his eyes were so painfully scrutinizing he felt banished to Hell where he stood. What had he done? What had he signed up for?

A hand landed on his back and he jumped, twisting to find Stan looking at him expectantly.

“Stan, what’s after school?” Kyle asked before Stan could speak, a sinking feeling in his gut, and as Stan’s face morphed into one of confusion, he let out an embarrassing whine. “Stan, I don’t know what’s after school.”

“The fuck are you talking about?” Stan asked, brow furrowed, and Kyle dropped his face to his hands, mumbling into his palms and pressing his fingertips into his eye sockets, like he could end his own misery by squashing his brain right through them. All he managed was to make stars burst behind his eyelids. “Kyle, I can’t understand you when you talk in your crisis pose.”

“I agreed to something and I don’t know what!” he wailed, throwing his hands to the ceiling in frustration and screeching behind his teeth. “Stan, he said, ‘See you after school,’ and I have no idea what he was talking about. I just agreed!”

“Why didn’t you just ask him to repeat himself?”

“It was a knee-jerk reaction, Stan! By the time I realized what I did, he was already halfway down the hall!” He gripped at his hair and considered tearing it out. “What am I gonna do?”

“Well, you could ask him next period. You usually see him twice.” Stan shrugged, but was also clearly trying not to laugh, and Kyle resented him so much for that. “That sucks though, dude.” He snorted quietly, and Kyle dared him to go further. “Oh man, what are you gonna say? ‘Hey David, so funny story, I don’t actually know what I agreed to, because I was too distracted by how hot you look always.’ Oh shit, Kyle, you’re so fucked dude.” Then he did laugh, the motherfucker, the traitor, and he gripped his belly and wheezed while Kyle clenched and unclenched his fists, seriously considering resorting to violence.

There was suddenly a rough yanking sensation on his shoulder and Kyle yelped, turning to find Kenny hanging on his arm. “Heyyyy, my man! My big grown up manly man. How’d it go?” His teeth were ready to pop out of his beaming smile- at least the ones he still had. He then took a moment to assess the situation, and Kyle guessed he looked pretty dismal, because Kenny started to chill and let go of his arm, sobering up. “Aw man, that bad huh?”

“Kyle got distracted by David’s immaculate body, and regretfully does not know how it went.”

“Holy shit, Stan, stop,” Kyle warned, but Kenny had already resorted to booming laughter and started to hang off Stan’s arm instead, the two of them shrieking like hyenas. “It’s not like that! I just, I had a lapse in memory. It happens!”

“Yeah, when you’re obsessed with somebody, maybe,” Kenny snickered, and they switched to hushed giggling while they tried to calm down. Kyle felt his face go redder, if it was even possible. “Okay, so you need a new game plan. You gotta know where you’re meeting up anyways, right? Just meet up with ‘im here again when you usually do and you’re all set,” Kenny deduced, confidently. Kyle groaned.

“I guess I’m just nervous, again,” he admitted, feeling the embarrassment deep in his soul, crushing it and cracking it and making him generally miserable. His shoulders hung and he sagged into himself. Kenny and Stan shared a look, then Stan reached a hand out to grip his shoulder encouragingly.

“Hey, dude, this stuff is always tough. You can do it, though. We believe in you.”

“Yeah, well,” he grumbled, “two out of three ain’t bad.”

“That’s the spirit!” Kenny clapped his back hard and he straightened out his posture. “You got this, bud. You’ve got your own charm aboutcha. I got faith.” Stan nodded in agreement, and Kyle let out a big breath.

“Yeah, alright.”

He was not alright.

Will we ever find out what David said to Kyle in his moment of weakness? Does the author use italics way too much in Kyle’s POV? Is David the embodiment of perfection himself? The answer to all three is a resounding, ‘Probably!’

#south park #kyle broflovski #david rodriguez #stan marsh #kenny mccormick #kyvid #kyvid sp #sp kyvid #kyle x david #david x kyle #fanfiction #my fanfiction #south park fanfiction #sp fanfiction #south park fanfic #sp fanfic #my fanfic

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sapphyrelily · 7 years

Text

Phantom

Dust motes, floating through the air, lit up by sunlight streaming in through the window. Not white light – red, blue, green; yellow and gold and the multitude, dyed by the panes of stained glass, sparkling like mini suns. He watches them, little planets in their own solar system, spinning and dancing, all to themselves, maybe bumping into each other, maybe reaching for the echo of something they don’t know is going to happen yet.

He closes his eyes, turns his face to the stained glass window, to the rays travelling across the church floor, and exhales. Exhales, like the soul is leaving his body, like he is releasing his worries into the atmosphere. Exhales.

And in the distance, he hears them calling for him already, hears the voice of his best friend, of his neighbour, but of course, not the one he wants to hear. He probably never will hear, the only one he really wants to hear.

Hayato, Hayato, Hayato.

He presses his palms together, exhales. Looks up at the cross, smiles wryly.

“I’m leaving this here,” he tells it, and taps his chest, his heart, twice. “What is given will be taken away, but something better will come.”

I’m trusting You. It was good, but something better will come.

He rises to his feet and dusts off his knees, turning to exit the sanctuary.

-----

Yamagata never expected this. A dinner with his best friend and his husband, and someone else. Someone, come from a distant city, whose hooded eyes and silent ways were oddly…entrancing.

He couldn’t stop staring then, and he can’t stop staring now.

Different, from everyone we have here. Different, and intoxicatingly new.

Shirabu had dragged him aside after that dinner, into the library, into the sole silent place in their house, and told him to be less obvious.

“The county and the mayor may have allowed one occurrence, one mistake in their perfect town, but as far as they know, it is purely political. If you want to take Taichi to bed, could you try to be more subtle about it?”

Yamagata had stared, and laughed. Him? Take the pretty boy to bed? What nonsense!

But it weighed heavily on his mind, thoughts of loving another man like that, of getting involved with someone else when rumours of persecution were spreading like wildfire. It weighed heavily, because he had always known that his attraction to the fairer sex was only one half of the equation, and a good-looking man was always welcome in his house.

House, but bed might work as well.

He told Shirabu then that he’d be careful, but when his handsome cousin had turned up at his door the next day, he didn’t say no to a meeting.

A meeting, and another, and little outings around their town, showing him the sights, the ways of each trade, of the good and the bad and anything, everything he wanted to know. He didn’t hold back anything, didn’t begrudge him anything, and even as the ladies swooned from behind their fans and the sheer curtains of their parlours, he smiled.

He was lovestruck, or at least, too involved to hold back.

And one day; another dinner, another time, an offer made to stay the night. “Surely it is too late, and the streets are rife with robbers. Your cousin knows where you are, or you could call and let him know.”

He stayed. The fine gentleman stayed in his guest room that night, and Yamagata would have pressed for more, perhaps demanded more, but he was a patient man.

He woke in the middle of the night anyway, gasping at the weight on his chest, until a breathy voice identified itself, and he relaxed. Relaxed, until it was the chill of fingers upon his face, the warmth of lips against his, and the heat – the heat of nothing between them, perhaps white clouds of breath had it been colder.

Yamagata thought he saw the sliver of the moon behind his mostly closed curtains, but it could have been an illusion in the starburst, in the mounting fire of the moment.

Kawanishi went back to his cousin’s the next day, and by midday, Semi was at his door, shoving him into his study for a whispered chat.

He said ‘chat’, but he meant ‘interrogation’, what with all the questions and burning exclamations, until they had given up and were gossiping like schoolgirls.

It was an informative discussion, with the promise of perhaps more. Yamagata got to know that yes, perhaps Kawanishi would like to prolong his stay in their town, to learn a bit more about the trade.

(How insinuating, to suggest that. There was so much meaning in it. So much potential.)

But it did happen, again and again and again, even if sometimes they were false promises, words gilded with gold, no action taken. Even if Yamagata had to admit to himself that it was disappointing to be put aside so much, because he could walk out and see Kawanishi talking to yet another of the ladies who had taken a fancy to him.

(But he knows, he knows, he knows, what the circumstances are, what he has to do in order to preserve his image, possibly his life.)

(It doesn’t mean that he doesn’t resent it, just a little, that he couldn’t have had a circumstance like his best friend, despite that being deeply uncomfortable at the start.)

It became almost like a game of cat and mouse; to be chased, caught, and let go. To be like a starving animal on the streets, hoping for a scrap to be thrown, always holding on to hope, for a little more whenever a hint was slipped. Whenever a chance was given. Whenever the tall, handsome gentleman came over and ‘accidentally’ spent the night.

It was a cruel, beautiful game, but he was a man starving, always aching for more, and every tease was enough to keep him holding on.

Because despite his frequent absences, Yamagata remembered his story and his promises. Every piece of disclosed information, every mysterious part of his childhood and experiences, and he was besotted. Too far gone to stop and think, too far gone to wonder, if there was perhaps, a little something wrong, with all the tales he told, with all the promises he made.

Even a whispered conversation with Shirabu would not put him off; not the truth, slapped in his face, that Kawanishi wasn’t all he seemed to be, that yes, he would be leaving soon.

What is reality, when the dream has you in its thrall? What is sensibility, when you think you are in love?

And maybe, it took him only as long as seeing Kawanishi kiss a lady’s cheek – her cheek! The scandal! – that he perhaps came back into himself a little, and began to question.

The next time they met, the two men, in their own sort of coupling – the next time, in the remnant heat and the inability to fall asleep, he began to ponder.

Is it all worth it?

The moon was new that night, the sky dark. He lit a candle to gather the soiled sheets, then sat in its flickering flame. To watch, the blond beauty in his bed. To observe the rise and fall of his chest, the sparkle of light off his eyelashes, the shine of the sweat drying on his skin.

To listen, to the regularity of his breathing, the pounding of his blood in his ears, the shake in his breath as he finally blew out the candle.

It took him a few more weeks to confirm it for himself, to see the lifelessness that was really there, the lack of enthusiasm, the polite but distant remarks, the lack of energy put into his work.

No, no, no, he knew, he knew. Yamagata was a foolish man. A blinded man. But he was not completely beyond redemption, not completely beyond the call of sense.

A third visit from Shirabu, to call him to his senses – but he had already found it. And perhaps – perhaps that was the last push he needed.

-----

The church doors are heavy, and he misses it – the last moment, just before the carriage set off, the suspended fall of a raindrop off the eaves. Brown eyes – cocoa, hazel, chocolate – all of them, all people he knows, everyone watching, watching.

Like a whip cracked, the silence is broken, a tease drawing him back into the circle. Not an outsider, not like he who just left, but one of theirs, someone they know and trust.

They set off; disperse. The many who had gathered, they filter back to their own houses, and Yamagata – he walks back with his best friend and his husband, and waves it off when they ask him what he was doing in the chapel.

He turns his face to the sun, to the warmth of the day and the breath he had been holding for too long. To the reality around him, to the realisation that this listlessness, this hopeless pining, it had been too much for him, after all.

He exhales, inhales – the freshness of the day, the release of his unconscious burden. He might not have found what he was looking for, he might have lost a part of his time, his emotions, his heart – but he can see it fading away, like morning mist.

You were ephemeral, a spirit come to haunt me, to tempt and show me visions of grandeur. But you were a ghost, a spectral haunting, and while I am cured of your affliction, I will never forget you.

I can never forget you.

#kawagata #yamagata hayato #kawanishi taichi #semi eita #shirabu kenjirou #victorian era au #my writing #a little bit angst if you squint #haikyuu!!

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