#my usual style is heavy handed so i was trying to do a lighter style | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

miabebe · 9 months

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The Legend of The Sea

"You're crying? You must be turning human, the MerFolk don't cry."

"Of course we do. Why do you think the Sea is nothing but salt?"

Pairing: Choi Seungcheol × reader

Genre: Heavy Angst, Romance, Implied smut

Word count: 14K (completed)

A/N: This was supposed to be a very long fic with lots of dialogue and lot of plot but I decided to take a turn and write a shorter version! It's very different from my usual writing style, it would be great to recieve your thoughts and comments! I'm considering writing a epilogue if the response is good :)

Tags: @xcynthiaaa @dr3aluv5 @unlikelysublimekryptonite @orcasandtea @letsplayitcool @idubutily

It all started the day you woke up on the beach with that unbearable pain searing through you.

The air was cool, the sand was hot; the seagulls were flying across the blue sky, the sound of the waves was like a beautiful melody – it was like a perfectly painted picture. It should have felt pleasant, it should have felt serene, instead you felt immense pain, like your guts were turning inside out and your chest was being split into two.

And it just wouldn’t stop. Even if you thrashed about in the sand or let out soundless screams clutching your chest, nothing could make the pain stop.

Except the soft laughter.

Someone else was here.

As the pain ebbed at the sound of a voice, fear came rushing in its place.

Someone else was here.

Your instincts told you to hide so you did, scrambling to your knees in the sand, crouching behind one of the many large boulders scattered around, trying your best not to be found. And to not let curiosity get the better of you….. until it eventually did.

You allowed yourself to peak, just a little, just to put a face to the voice and instead saw a bouncing fluffy cloud of white. Strange. You didn’t know clouds came down like that. Or that they had eyes, because suddenly, this one looked right at you.

You immediately retreated back into your hiding but it was in vain - within seconds, it made its way over and much to your surprise, jumped right into your lap, covering you in wet, eager licks. You panicked, trying to defend yourself, although it didn’t feel like much of an attack.

And that was when you saw him.

First, he was just a silhouette, a dark outline against the sun but when he crouched down to meet your eye, you realised he was the most beautiful thing you’d ever seen. He had such pretty hazel eyes, lighter in the middle, darker on the outside. Then there were the thick, dark eyebrows and thicker darker hair, swept back by the wind. He was wearing a white dress shirt, the first two buttons (unnecessarily) undone, the sleeves (needlessly) pushed up to his elbow. But your eyes were stuck on his lips – red, full of life and moving – he was saying something.

You can’t hear him, not with the way your stomach was turning and turning and turning and then unable to hold back, you gave in. You turned and doubled up, finally throwing up all that discomfort into the sand, breaking into a fit of cough. The man before you though, wasn’t fazed. Rather, he was efficient, quickly getting up, pulling you away from the mess gently and handed you the bottle of water he had on him. You refused - water was only making you more nauseous.

He didn’t insist, instead he unfolded a large piece of cloth, (later you learnt that it was called a picnic blanket) and threw it over you. It was only its warmth that you realised – unlike him, every bit of your skin was exposed. You held the fabric closer to yourself hoping you could just bury yourself in the sand instead of having to face him – something about the way he looked at you made you feel very vulnerable.

He then asked if you were feeling okay but only received silence as an answer. The truth was, you weren’t. Not only were you in the middle of nowhere, you had no idea why or how you got there. It seemed like he understood that; like he realised you were lost and needed help. When he got up and held his hand out though, you didn’t take it. Instead, you took support of the boulder behind you and got up on your own, only to lose your footing and stumble right into his arms. You instantly pulled yourself away and took another faltering step and then another, and then fell right back into his arms again. He was amused but didn’t say or do anything except watch you try, ankles sinking in the sand, knees unfaithfully giving away every time, until finally you gave up and took his hand. Slowly and silently, he led you far away from there.

That day you learnt his name was SeungCheol.

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That white cloud, Kkuma, was apparently what humans called a dog.

While humans efficiently seemed to walk on two legs and could converse for hours, dogs apparently walked on four legs and couldn’t talk. Though you certainly looked like a human, you often wondered if you and Kkuma were the same. You too happened to find long hours of walking and talking difficult and more than anything, you didn’t seem to enjoy the company of other humans that much. That’s why the last one month, you spent most of your time with Kkuma, far away from most people, all the way across the town, in a small settlement between the lake and the mountains, in Seungcheol’s cottage.

Seungcheol’s home was your safe haven. Rather, Seungcheol was your safe haven.

When you were with him, when you looked at him, you always forgot that it had been four weeks and you still had no idea who you were, that you had no memories, you had no life.

Because Seungcheol gave you a life. He taught you to walk the way you saw mothers hold the hands of their little babies, encouraging them to take a step forward. He taught you to read, scribbling away alphabets with you for hours on end, even when little children laughed at you for not understanding. He taught you that a fork was not the same thing as a comb and that water was used to wash yourself, and that fire was hot and burnt things.

He didn’t just teach you things, he cared for you. He noticed you liked the red and filled your wardrobe with red dresses. When you told him you really liked the taste of fish, fish was all he cooked for weeks. Though he never seemed to like being away from Kkuma, his little princess, he would always leave her behind to give you company whenever he left.

Seungcheol left the house every morning at the break of down. So did most men, you noticed. The lady who lived down the stone pathway told you that men went out to make money while their wives, who stayed at home, cooked for them. That day you tried to cook for the first time, and asked Seungcheol if you were his wife. He laughed, then choked on a fish bone and asked you to leave all the cooking to him from here on and so you did.

Every day, Seungcheol would cook before he left while you stood beside him, watching in awe, handing him whatever he asked for. You usually ate breakfast and lunch with the animals in the stable but you always had dinner with Seungcheol. No matter how long he was gone for, end of the day, he always made it back to you.

You watched the sun slowly setting behind the mountains. He should be here soon, which was why you shouldn’t be sitting by the lake anymore. Seungcheol always warned you to maintain a safe distance from it, to never go too near. He said it was dangerous, that people drown because they cannot breathe under water. You had seen it.

When the woodcutter’s young boy fell into the lake a few weeks ago, you watched him thrash in the water, struggling to come up. A few brave people jumped in to save him but the boy never came out again. Everyone in town was scared of the lake, they hated it. Only the old ‘crazy’ lady that lived by the edge of the forest ever went near it. She wasn’t afraid of it; she said the lake was barely dangerous - it was the sea that was bad. That it had terrifying monsters and horrors that should never be uncovered. She liked the lake and honestly, so did you.

You liked how it never really felt cold and how the temperature was always just nice. You liked how all the fish swam up to you whenever you dangled your feet in, sitting by the bank, how at peace it all made you feel.

But when you saw Hannie in the sky, you immediately pulled your legs out of the water and hid the wetness of your feet under the fabric of your long skirt. Hannie was Seungcheol’s other pet, a pretty, baby white dove. He wasn’t a pet, not really, he belonged to the skies but Hannie loved to follow Seungcheol everywhere and Seungcheol loved it just as much. Actually, the whole town seemed to love white doves – it was on their flags, their shields, their uniforms. Seungcheol said it was the emblem of the kingdom. You had no idea what that meant, and frankly you didn’t care much. All that mattered was that whenever you spotted this little white bird, instantly recognisable by the small tinge of red right in the middle of its chest, it meant Seungcheol was home. As it softly landed on the fence, right before the sun was completely engulfed by the mountains, you heard Seungcheol’s horse and opened the gates to let them in.

Over dinner, Seungcheol told you about the fight that broke in the marketplace. It’s a funny place the market, something always seemed to be happening there. On the weekends, you would follow him through it as he went vendor to vendor, making his purchases. The people of the market were actually sweet. They would always smile and try to talk to you but you could never bring yourself to talk back, you could never find the right words to say. Instead, you’d simply stare blankly then move closer to Seungcheol, holding on to him. Eventually, they all started assuming you couldn’t speak. You didn’t correct them and looking at your reluctance, neither did Seungcheol. He would simply wave them away, or shoo the kids who seemed to tease you. As long as you were outside, Seungcheol would never leave your side or your hand.

You didn’t like going out very much, the big crowds and all those loud noises were always highly uncomfortable but the few times Seungcheol insisted you come with him and said it would be fun, it was actually not that bad. He took you to the town’s lights festival, where every inch of the streets and houses was covered with the prettiest coloured lights, and also to the annual horse racing competition which was exhilarating beyond belief. Your favourite though was children’s drama day, when the little kids of the town participated in skits looking a lot, lot smaller than the original characters were supposed to be. He didn’t though, take you to that big feast that happened in the castle. You didn’t really mind – something about the castle was just very unnerving.

It stood tall and proud, all the way at the edge of the town, up a long winding route, at the edge of the cliff, looking down at the sea waters. Initially you had no idea what a castle even was, but over time you learnt that it was where the king lived. The king was the most important person in the town and supposedly the kindest, wisest and strongest man too. If you didn’t know better, you would have thought Seungcheol was the king. Afterall, he helped everyone in the neighbourhood, he solved the fights in the markets, he protected the settlement from the wild dogs and other beasts of the forest. But Seungcheol was not the king. The king lived in the castle and Seungcheol lived with you.

After dinner, like every other day, you sat in Seungcheol’s study, practicing writing your alphabets as he went through endlessly long scrolls of his own. Today when you handed him your work, he scolded you yet again for rushing through the last few lines. You knew you shouldn’t have but you can never help it because the faster you finished, the sooner Seungcheol would read to you. Granted you knew how to read now but you weren’t really good at it, not everything made sense. The small books were easy but they were boring - it was always about animals and children and other things. The big books were where everything interesting was.

Every night before you went to sleep, Seungcheol would bring out a book, sitting down by the fireplace and you would curl up next to him, leaning over as he read to you. Sometimes he would read out history, recounts of great wars and heroes and sometimes about legends, the fire breathing dragons, sea monsters, fairies in the woods. While you listened to all of them with the same fascination and curiosity, a selected few made you feel somewhat…..different – the ones about true love. About two people fighting all odds to be together. About two people wanting to be with each other more than anything.

Whenever Seungcheol read those to you, you somehow saw yourself in those words. Or rather, those words in you. You found that ‘quickening heartbeat’ whenever your hand brushed against the man beside you. His compliments made the ‘heat in your cheeks rise’. There was a constant ‘nervous fidgeting of the fingers’ when you were around him and sharing of the ‘secret glances’. Even now as he was reading you were looking at him, at the way his lips were moving and how soft they looked and wondering how much softer they would feel against yours.

When Seungcheol turned to you, sensing your eyes on him, meeting them without hesitation, you could have leaned in, you could have found out. But you didn’t; you didn’t dare. Instead, you looked down at the book, at the pictures of the prince and princess dancing, wondering if you too had a happily ever after written in your fate.

Maybe it was, because a few days later, when Seungcheol looked at you like that again, you didn’t hold back anymore. You didn’t want to. This time you leaned in, gently pressing your lips onto his, discovering much to your relief that they were indeed every bit as soft as they looked. His eyes widened when you pulled back immediately, but he didn’t say or do anything. Then a silence followed, heavy with confusion and anticipation and so many other things that you couldn’t quite fathom so you quickly excused yourself from there stating it might rain and you forgot to close your bedroom windows.

As you shut the doors of your room behind you, hand on your chest, you felt your heart racing away but you should have been at peace, right? You had finally plucked up the courage and satiated all that bubbling curiosity. Instead, you felt like you were going to lose your mind – now that you had a taste, you wanted more.

Days passed before you finally kissed him again.

It was on a rainy night and you were sitting closer to him than usual, as though the fire was not enough to keep you warm. It started the same way, first a few stolen glances, then a long silent stare and then you were kissing him, soft and sweet but this time he pulled back and you didn't let him. Instead you grabbed a fistful of his shirt, holding him close, whispering that you wanted to do it again. He listened, kissing you back but it was different this time and god did it set off something in you.

His lips became demanding, and his hands were everywhere - in your hair, running down your back, on your waist. He took your breath away, quite literally because he just wouldn't stop and you couldn’t breathe. You didn't want to either but after what felt like eternity, you had to break apart, feeling all giddy. Seungcheol then gave you the brightest smile and one last peck.

That went on for many more days. Sometimes it was sweet and simple, sometimes hot and heavy. Initially the books were your only witness then there were more. The peaking sun as he gave you a peak before he left in the mornings, the pots and pans of the kitchen while he focused on you instead of the burning bread, and kkuma, when he forgot to seek while she hid, his attention on your mouth instead. Everything was going blissful.

Then one day Seungcheol didn't come home even after the sun set.

You waited by the gate for a long time, but neither Hannie, nor Seungcheol, nor his horse could be seen. That was the first night you spent alone - shivering in the cold and terrified. The storms had begun outside, the rain was drowning everything in its way and as each hour passed, you sunk deeper and deeper into despair.

Even when the sun came up again the rain didn't stop, the pain didn't stop. Though you hadn't slept or eaten in hours you only thought about him. Even kkuma got tired of waiting and curled up in the warmest spot in the house but you stood by the door the whole time until you couldn't anymore.

Not when you saw finally saw Hannie in the sky but Seungcheol didn't follow. That was when you knew something was terribly wrong. You immediately grabbed a lamp and were ready to set off to find him on your own when you saw the paper tied to the bird’s little foot. I'll be back soon it read in the handwriting you recognised was Seungcheol's, a wave of relief crashing over you.

But it took very, very long for 'soon’ to come.

The rain had stopped, the sun had set, the sky had cleared and the stars were pitifully watching the way you sat against the door, desperately fighting your eyes threatening to fall shut. That was when you felt Seungcheol's hand on your face, gently tucking your hair behind your ear.

You instantly got up, throwing yourself into his arms and for the first time ever, broke down, sobbing into his chest. He held you like that for as long as you didn't let him go, softly patting you, telling you it was okay, and that he's home. There was apparently a landslide near the mountains and he had to help the people stuck there but you didn't care what his reasons were. You were never going to let him go ever again, you'd fight the sun from coming up tomorrow morning if needed.

Seungcheol simply laughed and said first you should fight your stomach, it seemed like it was struggling in there. It was only when you admitted you hadn't eaten since last night that he let you go and walked into the kitchen to whip you a quick morsel.

That night he said he was too tired to read to you. Instead, he placed a soft kiss on your forehead with an apology and was about to retire to his room when you held him by the hand, scared to let him go again. He tried to comfort you but the tears just wouldn’t stop, not until he cupped your cheek and kissed you, whispering about how he missed this, how he missed you. You confessed that you did too, and his absence made you feel terrible, like never before.

Let me make you feel good then he said. But if he wanted to help you, why did it seem like he was pleading? Like if you didn't agree he would lose it? So you agreed, letting him do whatever he wanted, whatever he needed.

His mouth was hot on yours, hands wandering all over and when they tugged the strings of your dress, you let out an inaudible gasp against his lips. He swallowed your words, undressing you slowly, with his hands and his eyes. You felt so bare, so exposed yet you didn't feel like hiding from him - you wanted him to explore you however he could and god did he do it.

If you thought his mouth on yours felt good, the places he put it now were wild. It was like he somehow knew every sensitive bit of your skin and went straight for it. He wasn't lying, this was better than good, it felt euphoric. He unravelled you with his touch, his hands in places even you hadn't felt yourself. You wanted more, you wanted so much more and he gave it, over and over again, letting you feel every inch of him, reaching as deep inside you as he could, like any distance between the both of you was unbearable. You let him consume you in his fire as the pain turned to a pleasure like never before, a coil tightening in the pits of your being. The both of you whispered each other’s names for as long as you could hold it until you finally let go and so did he, filling you with every last essence of him. As you laid side by side breathless, staring at the roof, you saw the stars have come down, swirling across the ceiling and you fell into a deep slumber.

When you woke up that morning, the sun was almost right on top of the cottage, half the day having already passed. Seungcheol didn't leave that day, instead he was right there, pressed against your back, wrapping you in his embrace, your limbs messily tangled with each other’s. When you tried to free yourself from him, he pulled you closer, burying his face in your neck, taking in as much of you as he could before he said he had to leave again. I'll come back to you, he promised and you did not let him see how tears brimmed in your eyes as you waved him away.

After that day though, you never cried again. Or ever slept in your own bedroom. Like promised every night Seungcheol returned to you and every night you lay between the sheets together, some days making love, some days simply talking and laughing away, some days just drifting away to sleep in each other’s arms. It truly felt like happily every after but you forgot, happily ever after was only for fairytales.

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It was just another normal day. The both of you had woken up as usual to the crowing of the rooster before dawn. You gathered the vegetables in the garden while Seungcheol made the most wonderful soup, perfect for a cold day. After he kissed you goodbye and left, you cleaned the stables, drew water from the well, tended to the garden, washed up, donned your favourite red dress, ate lunch, took a nap, played with kkuma, and finally, sat by the lake again, trying to catch your breath. It was the same routine as the last eight weeks.

As you unconsciously plucked on the grass, your mind couldn’t help but wander back to a question that had been plaguing you these days. Was this all your life was going to be? The same routine, waking up everyday knowing it was going to be the exact same as yesterday and will be the exact same as tomorrow? Sure, you loved Seungcheol and Kkuma and Hannie and this little life you had built together, but you couldn’t help but think if you were made for something more. This couldn’t be it right?

It wasn’t. And you were moments away from finding out.

You were so lost in thought, you didn’t notice Hannie in the sky until he landed right next to you, making you hurriedly jump to your feet to get away from the lake only for your damned dress to get tangled between your feet, making you fall right into the waters. Thank God Seungcheol had reached just in time to see you disappear under the surface and immediately dived in. Using all his might he pulled you up before you were lost in the depths, coughing and catching his breath as he crawled onto the bank.

That was the first day things went very, very differently.

Instead of greeting Seungcheol like you usually did every day, you shivered, walking away into the house to dry yourself. You didn’t change into another red dress but a blue on this time that made even Seungcheol raise an eyebrow in surprise. Dinner was not the same too. The kimchi which never ran out had finally run out, there was apparently no fish in the market today and seungcheol bought eggs for the first time. When he insisted you would like the taste, you tried it and you indeed did like it, a lot. He grinned at you and said you could always trust his word but how could you anymore?

He told you to stay away from the lake, that people couldn’t breathe under it but when you fell in, you could. In there you felt, if not more, just as alive and breathing and the water – it spoke to you. At first you were sure you were dying - you should have listened to Seungcheol, you should have stayed away but here you were in the middle of the lake, so close to death that you were hallucinating voices. But when you realised you were actually breathing, you listened.

Finish your mission Y/n. Finish the mission and you can become who you really are again. You can join the waters again.

You didn’t understand.

That night instead of a fairytale, you ask Seungcheol to tell you about the legend of the sea again so he did.

Centuries ago, back when there was magic on Land, there was an ancient war between two of the most powerful kingdoms of Earth – the Chois and the Kangs. They battled tirelessly, day and night, for months to the point where uncountable bodies began piling, resources began running out and even the heavens begged them to stop - there would be nothing left of the Earth this way. But that’s the thing about power – relinquishing it was not an option.

Finally, one unfortunate day, the Chois gained an upper hand in battle, forcing the Kangs to seek refuge in hiding. The Kangs though, disappeared overnight - though the Chois searched every corner of Land, they could not find them. It was only when they sort to use magic to find them that victors of the battle realised, they had lost their most prized possession – the Sceptre. The sceptre was like the motherboard of all magic on Earth – it was the source. After years of combing every inch of Land, the Chois finally came to the conclusion that the Kangs and the Sceptre were in the one place that no one on Land could reach – The Sea.

Indeed, powered by magic, the entire kingdom of the Kangs and all those who stood by their side had retreated into the ocean, making a life for themselves there. Using the magic, they kept themselves alive, preparing once again to battle for what they believed was rightfully theirs. But the Earth could not take another war, at this rate, nothing would be left and so, the Council of the Land and the Council of the Sea were formed, to keep peace between both kingdoms. After months of debate, both councils came to a Pact.

The Kangs were allowed to keep the magic but were forbidden from ever stepping on Land. The very magic they stole was used to strip them of their ability to breath air, forcing them to stay in the waters for life. The Chois on the other hand, were allowed to rule Land but were never to see magic again – the Land would not know of it and would not use it anymore. And most importantly, the Land and the Sea were never to meet. Every single ship in sight was burnt, boats were torn apart, walls were built at the border of every coastal city.

Over generations, not only did the Land never interact with the Sea but they began to fear it, malicious stories of monsters and merpeople making their way into children’s bedtime stories and fairytales. A few brave, rebellious souls would try to break The Pact and venture into the Sea but no one really lived to tell the tale.

Seungcheol said that there will never be anyone with a tale to tell because like all legends, this too was no more than just a story and a speculation. But for the first time, you don’t believe him.

Instead, you think merpeople truly do exist and as impossible as it sounded, you might just be one of them

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You looked at the pretty red dress you had laid out on the bed for today.

Today was important for more than one reasons.

Today was the annual citizen’s banquet, which meant it was the first time you were going to the castle. Today was also the first time you were going to see the king and most importantly, today was also probably the day you were going to find out who you really are.

You didn’t tell Seungcheol about what happened that day in the lake. Maybe because he believed that the Legend of the Sea was not true or because you yourself were not sure you entirely believed it, but somehow you, who told Seungcheol about everything, didn’t tell him about this. You needed more confirmation first, you needed to go into the lake once more.

But surprisingly, the lake you once liked so much looks more daunting now. You were not afraid of drowning, rather you were afraid what being able to survive the waters would mean. You kept avoiding it, telling yourself one day you couldn’t go in there because you had to brine the vegetables and that you had to bathe the cows or whatever other excuse you could find until one day all the chores were over and you ran out of excuses. You had to go in now.

Carefully looking around to make sure there was no one in sight, you sat down on the bank, put a foot first, then the other, then slowly lowered yourself in, submerging into the waters, kkuma’s barks fading out, the voices taking over.

Finish your mission Y/n and join the waters again.

It was true.

You weren’t imagining things, you were indeed breathing in there, the voices were real, everything was ridiculously real. It didn’t make any sense but it also really did. The water felt like home, like you belonged. You could swim much faster, better than you could walk. You felt stronger, more powerful, more like you in there. Even though the lake looked like it held darkness, you could clearly see everything below – the animals, the plants, the life, all of it. Oh, you wanted to join the waters, you wanted to be here forever.

But when you opened your mouth to ask what the mission was, only the gurgling sound of bubbles left you. Somehow just the thought was enough because you heard the answer soon enough and it sent a chill down your spine.

Kill the King.

You looked at yourself in the mirror, donning your dress.

The price for finding out who you were was to kill the king, the most important man in the town.

You couldn’t.

Taking the life of another could not be the price of your truth. So, you had decided to forget about it. It was wrong and unethical and whoever asked you of that had clearly lost their mind except….. it was you.

The more you thought about it, the more you could not deny it – the voice in the lake was your own, as though you had left yourself a message, a reminder. Why on Earth would you want to kill the king? Then again, how did you, someone who clearly belonged to The Sea, find themselves on land? Why was it that you remembered nothing?

Maybe killing the king had a bigger purpose, a noble one, after all, all kings were not necessarily good.

You had to find out. You had to meet him and see for yourself.

And as though the universe was aligning things into place for you, the night you decided to ask Seungcheol about visiting the castle, he mentioned that the king was arranging a grand banquet to which all citizens of the town were invited. He said if you were not comfortable you didn’t have to go but you cut him off much to his surprise, insisting that you want to attend.

That’s how days later you found yourself standing at the gates of the castle as the crowd of town poured into the estate on either side of you. Seungcheol was supposed to pick you up tonight but instead there was a carriage waiting for you, with a message relayed by the footman that he got caught up in something and will meet you in the banquet.

The banquet was arranged in a large hall right in the middle of the castle and it was perhaps the most stunning place you had ever seen. The stone walls were covered in drapes of red and purple, the large windows shining with the views of prettily trimmed gardens. There were beautiful paintings everywhere, statues of men in armour and food of all kinds being serve around. Almost the whole town fraternised under the large golden chandelier, each dressed better than the other, chattering away in small whispers. You stayed near the large pillars of stone, as far away from the crowd as possible, eyes still looking for Seungcheol, ears trying to tune out all that people were saying around you.

But you couldn’t ignore the loud sound of the trumpet as it echoes through the hall, followed by an announcement that the King had arrived. As your heart thumped away in your chest, he appeared, at the top of the stairs that led down into the hall, dressed in what you thought was rather simple for a king. You wanted to move closer to get a better look as he descended down the stairs but you realised everyone around you was bowing down to him so you mirrored it, staring at the white marble of the floor. Its only when a pair of pretty leather shoes appear right before you that you allow yourself to look up, facing the one person you were to see tonight – the king.

He was nothing like you hoped. He didn’t look malicious, or evil or like he was even capable of doing something wrong. He had the kindest eyes, crinkled with crows’ feet as he smiled at you so warmly, you felt nothing but comfort. Only one other person in this whole town ever made you feel safe like that. From the looks of his salt and pepper hair, he looked like he was aging, and the wisdom that came with time also shone on his face. He smiled so pleasantly, didn’t dress in a way that showed off all his wealth, and didn’t seem to harbour any sort of superiority because the moment the music swelled to life, he held his hand out to ask you, a commoner, for a dance.

The whole town looked at you as though they were waiting so you placed your hand on his, letting him lead you to the middle of the floor as everyone else immediately moved to pick partners of their own.

Seungcheol had taught you how to dance. When you expressed your interest to go to the banquet, he told you there would also be a dance accompanying it and showed you how it was done. He was so patient with you, even though you stepped on his foot and banged his head with yours a few hundred times, bursting into a string of apologies whenever you did. But he only laughed, holding you close and dancing with you through the rainy night. You wondered where he was right now but that was the least of your worries considering you were dancing with the man you were deemed to kill and to your absolute disappointment, you could not find one reason to do so.

You hoped so hard that you were right, that the king was a bad man and you were given this mission to make things right but he wasn’t. As much as you tried to not eavesdrop, you still heard whatever the people around you were whispering away. They were all in praises of him. They said he was a great man and under his ruling, the town was doing better than ever. They said the harvest was good thanks to him, that the they were safe from invasion thanks to him and were all living well thanks to him.

A part of you knew they were right – you had seen how happy and peaceful the townspeople always were, something that was only possible if they were in good hands. You could see for yourself what a wonderful man the king seemed to be and how everyone truly seemed to love and cherish him.

But a part of you didn’t want to believe that. You had to find a reason, something had to be wrong, you needed to justify why killing him was important. That was the only way to find out who you are.

And as though the universe which had been so helpful so far decided now was the time to create chaos, the trumpet echoes through the hall again, announcing the arrival of the crown prince. When you see the person standing at the top of the stairs, you instant freeze, feeling your guts twist the way they did the first time you ever saw him – Seungcheol.

Seungcheol was a prince. He was the crown prince of this land which meant he was the first born of the king.

That meant...... your mission was to kill the father of the man you loved.

As the townspeople gathered in the gardens below, you stood in a balcony of the castle, looking at the stars dancing in the sky.

The whole night you had been feeling nothing but numb. The moment Seungcheol had appeared you excused yourself from the king, rushing out of the hall, trying not to throw up. Seungcheol immediately followed asking if you were okay but you didn’t answer. You did not see things unfolding this way. Not only did you not find a single reason why you had to kill the King, now you had one for why you shouldn’t do it.

Seungcheol asked again, looking for answers in your expression but you just looked away, muttering that you had no idea he was the prince. He said he wasn’t trying to hide it from you, he just didn’t think about it. The whole town knew he was the crown prince so he never had to introduce himself that way. Besides, he didn't like to his status as royalty to define him so he didn’t usually mention it to anyone. As far as why he didn’t live in the castle was concerned, he started living in the cottage when he was 14 years old. That house was his mother’s, before the king and her fell in love and got married. After she passed away in the childbirth of her second child, he moved there so he could feel closer to her. His father too thought it was good for him to live among his subjects, to learn their problems and to gain their trust.

You had nothing but silence to offer in return. It was all too much, all at once.

The loud whispers of the town started fading out as the King walked in, standing among them. Seungcheol didn’t look too happy as he stared at the scene below him. He said he was worried about his father. You felt that churning feeling in your stomach once again. He said that he was getting old and it was getting harder for him to negotiate with neighbouring kingdoms, to keep war at bay. You didn’t understand what he meant.

He claimed the town was happy now but 3 months ago, nothing was going well. Their kingdom was under attack, everyone’s lives were threatened, the future looked very bleak. The king had somehow managed to save everyone then but unknown to the people, it was temporary. His father tried his best to negotiate and talk to the neighbouring kingdoms but there was no use – war has been declared against them yet again and he was worried King Choi was not strong enough for battle.

You held his hand stroking the back of it softly. He then apologised to you, confusing you even more. You asked him why but you had an idea already – he was taking his father’s place in war; he was going to lead the army.

You felt as though someone pulled the ground below your feet and Seungcheol’s grip on your hand was the only thing saving you from falling. As crown prince it was his duty and you knew and understood but the thought of being away from him again was killing you on the inside. He said he wouldn’t be gone for long but you know what war meant - there was no guarantee of him even returning.

You hugged him shaking your head, refusing to let him go or insisting that he take you along with him but he simply hugged you back claiming that was not possible, it was dangerous. He told you to move to the castle while he was gone. Here you would be taken care of, you wouldn’t be lonely and most importantly, you would have the chance to get closer to his father.

You froze.

Seungcheol let you go, making you sit on the moss-covered stone bench, sitting next to you. He said he wanted to leave you in good hands in case he didn’t make it back. You refused to listen to anything else, he promised he would always come back to you, that meant he had to come back. He laughed at your futile stubbornness, tucking your hair behind your ear, looking at you with a strange longing. You give him a soft peck on his lips to let him know he had no reason to long for you, you were always his. He pulled you in for more, taking your face in his hands, his mouth desperate against yours, like it was the last time, like a silent goodbye etched in his kiss.

It was only when the applause rang downstairs that he let you go, pressing his forehead on yours, sighing. You felt tears threaten your eyes once again as he caressed your cheek with his thumb softly, like he was trying to memorise how your face felt under his touch. He said he wished he had longer with you, he wished had done this earlier and slid onto the gravel floor onto his knees, looking up at you softly.

Marry me, he whispered, holding your hands.

You stared at him wordlessly as the sky behind you came alive with lights, fireworks prettily burning against the black canvas of the night. Maybe a few days ago if he asked you would have said yes without him even needing to finish. You would marry him right there and then but now you were torn. Kill the King. The words were constantly ringing in your head. How could you marry him if your mission was to…..

He understood your silence as hesitance, saying you didn’t have to answer now, you could tell him when he returned - that way he would have something he had to come back for. He then pulled out a small necklace from his pocket, making you wear it, saying it was a reminder of him while he was away. You touched the pendant, feeling it with your fingers. It wasn’t like any jewel you had ever seen - it didn’t shine, it was an odd shape and it looked rather dull. He said it was a shell and it was from the sea.

If he noticed your shocked reaction and stuttering as you asked him how he got it , he didn’t mention it. Instead, he answered that there was a path from behind his cottage that led to the other side of the forest, to a sea cave where land and sea met fearlessly. Before you came into his life, that was his favourite place to go - he often spent his free time there and that’s where he found this.

You wonder if it’s a sign from the universe, receiving a part of the ocean at a time when you didn’t know what to choose.

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The next morning, trumpets rang through the entire town, announcing that the neighbouring kingdom had declared war and the crown prince was leading the army to fight. People spilled onto the streets to watch the armoured and determined cavalry going to serve their kingdom, Seungcheol leading the troop all the way in front on his horse. You stood at the highest terrace of the castle, watching him leave, going further and further away, until the distance engulfed him and you couldn’t see him anymore. You barely had him to yourself for five minutes in the morning to say goodbye before he was called away. You convinced yourself that all this was temporary anyways, he would come back.

With a heavy heart, you walked down the wide corridors of the palace, kkuma following your every step. You lived here now. Seungcheol had people shift your few things from the cottage to his room in the castle. Though the bed was beyond comfortable and the room was bigger than the whole cottage you lived in previously, you didn’t spend much time in there. Instead, you roamed around the gardens and corridors or stepped out into the marketplace that you never ventured in without Seungcheol by your side. Any place was better than his room. It reeked of loneliness and most importantly, it overlooked the sea. As much as the breeze gave you unexplainable comfort, it was also a constant reminder of your mission.

As time passed, you found yourself less and less inclined to fulfilling your task. You tried your best to not let yourself be swayed but in vain – you could not help but like the king. He was nothing but welcoming and kind to you. Maybe Seungcheol told him or maybe it was just a constant in the Choi family, but he insisted that every night you join him for dinner. He would ask about your day and make light conversation, but unlike Seungcheol, he would retire early to bed. He was sick. You could see in the way he coughed through his meal, the way his eyes keep fluttering shut in tiredness towards the end of the night. Yet he did all he could to make sure you were alright.

He introduced you to the library in the castle and if you thought Seungcheol’s study had a large collection of books, this place was massive. Books were lined all the way up till the ceiling, there were all sorts of maps and globes scattered all over the room, shelfs lined with little trinkets and souvenirs from his travels. The King explained that Seungcheol like his mother, loved to explore and like him, loved science and this library was where it all came together. He used to be unstoppable ever since he was a child and his curiosity always landed him in trouble – the whole town was banned from stepping on the beach but nothing could stop him. He always wanted to explore the sea.

It surprised you to learn about Seungcheol’s fascination with the sea because he had always told you to stay away from water, that it was dangerous. You spent days of your time in that library, going through his journals and drawings, but didn’t really understand all the scribbles of notes he had jotted everywhere. You did see on the map though, the location of the sea cave that Seungcheol had mentioned about, wondering if you could get any answers there, but somehow you could never bring yourself to go. The answers of the questions you had so far had not been pleasant.

Then one day as you sat on the wooden floor of the sunlit room studying what looked like drawings of some strange contraption, Hannie appeared in the sky.

You immediately got up, running out of the room, down the corridor, up the stairs, all the way to the top, to try and see Seungcheol reappear where you last saw him.

He didn’t.

Clouds made their way, covering the strong sun, submerging the town in a strange gloom. It all felt too apocalyptic. You rushed to find the King, learning that he was holding court, making your way to the hall, stopping right by the door and hiding yourself to overhear the discussion.

The Chois were ambushed.

More than half the forces were dead or injured, many were missing and as though your greatest fear came true, Seungcheol was missing too. He was also very badly injured and no one had seen or heard from him in two days, it was highly likely he succumbed to his injuries. You refused to believe it. He said he would come back to you, which meant he would, you believed him. But no one else seemed to share the same faith as you. They were going to give up, surrender the throne to prevent an attack on the town itself. That was when to everyone’s surprise you barged in.

You insisted nothing was wrong with Seungcheol and they had to find him and finish this war. They tried to reason with you, tell you the facts but you refused to hear it. You questioned how they could give up so soon and why they aren’t even trying to find him. They claimed they had to clear out from enemy territory, that it could be dangerous going back there. You turned to the King hoping you could at least reason with him but his tired old face looks like he’s already mourning his son. You ran out of there, unable to come to terms with what was happening.

You would find him yourself if that’s what it took.

Rushing to the royal stables, you picked the horse that looked the strongest and forced its gates open, ignoring the crimson bleeding out of your hand as you cut it on the metal. Before the poor stable boy could stop you, you mounted it, riding out of the palace, into the unprepared town. People hurriedly ran out of the way, pulling their carts and children to the side, nothing but wind left behind as you raced through. You had your eyes on Hannie flying in the sky above you. You knew it could lead you to him, you just had to follow. You were almost successful in crossing the gates of the town, into the woods, when the royal guards caught up, surrounding you.

The head of security begged you to stop, that you were putting the kingdom in more jeopardy and you couldn’t let your desire to protect one man affect everyone. You wanted to argue, tell him that you didn’t care about anyone else and to insist that they let you go but when you turned and saw all the people stepping out of their houses to see what the commotion is, you let go the reins of the horse. Yes, finding Seungcheol was most important to you, but not at the cost of so many people’s lives. You knew better than that, you could never be that selfish.

As though Hannie sympathised, it landed on your softly shoulder, nuzzling your neck, cooing in your ear. You took him in your hands, the bloodied hand further darkening the red on its chest, a thought forming in your mind. You smudge the blood onto your fingertips, tracing a word onto its white, a word that you knew would bring Seungcheol back to you. As you set it free hoping it would find him, you watch the yes etched on it, praying to the skies that when it returns, Seungcheol follows it like always.

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You didn’t return to the castle after that.

Turning your horse in the other direction, you rode to Seungcheol’s cottage by the woods, the only place you felt close to him. The big room and big bed of the castle might be physically comfortable but nothing made you feel at peace like this house, your safe haven. You were curled up in the bed for hours now as the sun slowly began to descend behind the mountains. You just had to give it time. You kept telling yourself it wasn’t a matter of if Seungcheol returned but when. He would come back for you, he would fight all odds and come back, you knew it.

The sound of the horses neighing at a distance made you sit up. The royal guards must be here to escort you back to the castle now that it was getting darker outside. You didn’t want to go. You couldn’t stand being in that castle again.

Grabbing the oil lantern nearby, you soundlessly left through the back door, kkuma following you just as quietly. You thought you could just wait it out until the guards didn’t find you and returned to the castle but when kkuma began wandering away, you had no choice but to follow her. Not listening to your hushed whispers, with a mind of her own, she ventured into the forest and thoughtlessly, you followed. It’s only when the trees parted that you realised where you were – the sea cave.

You didn’t know what you were expecting when Seungcheol mentioned about this place but it was beyond beautiful. The crystal blue waves were racing back and forth on the golden sand, the stone wall of the caves were gradients of brown rocks and green weeds. There were holes eroded onto the roof, the evening sun softly pouring in and in that soft light you noticed in the corner, folded are some blankets and books that clearly belonged to Seungcheol – he indeed must have spent a long time here. Kkuma settled herself down in the warmth of the bundled cloths, as you placed the lantern on a nearby rock and kicked your shoes off, feeling the warm sand under your feet.

The water was inches away. The Ocean, the place that, if you had assumed right, was your home. Every bone in your body was craving to be in it, to submerge in it, to just feel alive in it once again. You walked ahead, taking one step after another, but the closer you moved to the waters, the further it seemed to be moving away from you. You quickened your steps, but the Sea kept retreating, pulling away. It surprised you to receive such hostility from waters that always looked so welcoming but not more than the voice that boomed through the cave, making you look around in panic. There was no one, you were all alone and kkuma too was fast asleep, like she didn’t hear anything. When you turned back to the sea, you bit back a scream, coming face to face with a woman, whose eyes were piercing into you, her lips curled into a smile as her voice echoed through the cave again.

I see you’ve finally found your way home.

Pain like no other seared through your head, making you fall to your knees in agony, your dress fanning out in the sand. As the woman bent down to your level, you scrambled back, swallowing the phantom lump in your throat, taking a better look at her. Holding a staff in one hand, she looked as old as time, her white hair and ragged clothes floating like she was still in the waters and that’s when you realised, she wasn’t actually here – it was apparition, like… magic. As though she read your mind, she confirmed it indeed was magic, that she controlled all the magic of the Sea - she was after all the Sea Witch.

You recalled Seungcheol’s story about how the Sea had taken away magic from the Land, watching the legend come to life before you as the woman floated a few feet above the ground, looking at you expressionlessly. Who am I? Do I belong to the Sea? Why am I on Land? You knew she was the only one who could possibly have the answers and she did - for a price.

She pointed at the shell on your neck, claiming it belonged to the Sea – give it back and you could have all the answers you wanted. You held it in your grasp; it was the only thing of Seungcheol’s you had with you. You could either lose it and learn who you are or keep it and walk away, return to the castle. You could let your forgotten past remain forgotten and think only about the future with Seungcheol.

But is there a future? She asked, reading your mind yet again. You knew what she meant. Seungcheol went to war and people died in war all the time. If he did not make it back, you had no place on Land, no home, no one to call your own. But if you were to find out who you truly are, you could then return to where you truly belonged. You tightened your grip on the shell, the pressure opening your wound, the blood spilling again. Giving up this necklace meant admitting to the possibility that Seungcheol will not return. How did that make you any different from all the others in the court who you lashed out at?

The Sea Witch looked at you fighting your own battle in your head. She held out her hand saying if it was meant to be, then Seungcheol would return to you, regardless of whether you had this necklace or not. You know she’s playing you but give in, ripping the chain from your throat and throwing it into the waters, watching it sink into the dark bottom.

The waves which seemed so afraid of you, raised themselves, almost as though bowing to you and the Sea Witch mirrored their action before straightening and looking up but this time, respectfully not meeting your eye.

What do you seek, Princess of the Ocean.

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You held the dagger in your hand tight, hands not shaking as you approached the dining room.

The moment you returned to the castle, the maids had told you dinner was served and the king was waiting for you. You washed up and changed out of your sand filled clothes into one of your usual red dresses. Maybe there was a reason why you liked red so much – maybe deep down you knew you needed to hide the blood on your hands somewhere.

You had to kill the King tonight.

You stood in front of the large doors, the dagger that the Sea Witch gave in your hands, hiding efficiently in the large fabric of your dress. Once you stepped in, everything would change. You would become the killer of Seungcheol’s father, but you would also finally be fulfilling your duty to your people, the MerFolk.

The Sea Witch told you the story from when it all began. The legends were all true. The merfolk were real, the life under the sea was real, everything you had experienced was real. 3 months ago, you were a part of the Sea, living a carefree life as the youngest princess of the royal family. Then one move by King Choi and everything changed.

Over the centuries even though the entire ocean was ruled by just one family, without the power of magic, land had split into many Kingdoms and many rulers. Unlike the peace in the Sea, Land was always at war with itself, neighbouring kingdoms attacking and occupying towns – they never got rid of the battle they thought they won. One such battle happened three months ago at the Kingdom of the Chois where they were invaded by their neighbours, the Hans. At the brink of losing war, King Choi did the unthinkable – he set sail.

His deep interest in the Sea, that his son eventually inherited, had led him to spend years of his youth designing and building ships, the last of which had been burned during the Pact. The Sea allowed his soldiers to take an alternative route to attack their invaders and drive them out but the moment the ships had touched the ocean waters, years of peace dissolved into chaos.

As the calm waters were shaken, towns under the Sea began falling apart – many merfolk died, many lost their homes, many lost their way back and among all the tragedies, the greatest one was losing your mother, the Queen.

Her death left the entire Ocean without a leader, without a protector. Your sister, the oldest in the family, who had been trained for years to take over as queen was missing, like many others in the aftermath. The kingdom waited for days for her to show up until it was not practical to anymore – the ocean needed rebuilding, it needed leadership and guidance. As the only one left in the royal family, you had offered to take your mother’s place as queen but the Council of the Sea refused. You were young and inexperienced and unlike your sister, you were not trained to take over the Kingdom. They wanted to hand the Sea to the Hwangs, another family who had their eye on the throne for centuries now and were willing to take up the responsibility of the Ocean.

You couldn’t let that happen, not only would it crush your mother’s dreams if the Kang lineage of rulers ended with her but also the Hwangs were notoriously famous for their aggressiveness. Under their hands, there was no saying what the future of the Ocean would look like. The citizens of the sea protested too – they were all on your side, they wanted you to rule and so the Council of the Sea and the Hwangs agreed – if you could prove yourself worthy.

Kill the King of the Land.

Blood for blood. Get revenge for the destruction of the Sea, that was the order. That was the price for you to get back your kingdom and 100 days was all you had to do it.

That’s when they called on the Sea Witch. Breathing on Land for 100 days would require very powerful and ancient magic, something only she was capable of. But it would not be so straightforward. The process would be excruciatingly painful, almost like becoming a new person, like being born again - quite literally because it would wipe out all your memories, everything you know of the Sea would be taken away. You would be sent to Land like a blank slate.

That meant you had 100 days to go on Land, figure out who you were, learn of your mission and complete it. Should you fail, not only would you lose your kingdom, but the waters had no forgiveness for those who disobeyed magic so ancient – you would join them again, but as sea foam.

Today was day 92. You only had 8 days left.

You pushed open the doors of the dining hall, eyes falling on the King tiredly slouched in his chair waiting for you. He must’ve fallen asleep because he didn’t move when you approached. You looked at face responsible for the death of your mother, the disappearance of your sister, the destruction of your kingdom and you felt numb. You still couldn’t bring yourself to hate him, but you also couldn’t walk away. Yes, if only he didn’t bring out his ships you wouldn’t have lost so much, you wouldn’t be here but you know like any other good king, he did it to save his people. And now you had to do whatever it took to save yours.

And then fate smirked.

Just as you raised the knife and were about to plunge it in his chest, you heard the fluttering sound of wings and on the balcony landed Hannie, looking more red than white. The knife slipped from your hands, landing on the floor with a thud as the king stirred awake. His guards burst into the room as the royal trumpets echoed through the night. You rushed to Hannie in the balcony, the one that overlooked the town, and saw the oil lanterns of the houses, slowly increase in number, getting brighter and brighter in the darkness. The king and his men departed immediately and so you followed them, holding Hannie in one hand and your dress in the other, running down the palace corridors and out the gate to see a crowd gathered.

As it parted, it revealed Seungcheol's horse and holding onto its reins walking it was Seungcheol, bruised and battered, blood splattered all over him, multiple wounds gashed open, barely but still alive. Take a staggering step at a time, he approached his father bowing and whispered, We won before collapsing into the gravel.

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Seungcheol was immediately taken away by the royal physicians as the king announced to the people that the war was over and the town erupted into cheers. You tried to follow the doctors to be with him but they closed the door on your face, asking you to stay out. So, you stayed right outside, the whole night, prancing about, biting your nails, as you waited for the news.

Instead, you were met with screams. You don’t know what they were doing to Seungcheol in there but he was evidentially in unbearable pain – you could hear in the way the screams ripped out of his throat, like he was in pure agony. It went on for hours and it was so terrifying to hear, you felt your heart shatter every time it rang through the halls.

Finally at the crack of dawn he seemed to calm down and the doors finally opened. He was deeply wounded and his body was beyond exhausted, he just needed some sleep, the physicians assured you and the king, who unknown to you had also arrived. You thanked them and hurried in to see Seungcheol peacefully lying on the bed, bandages wrapped all over his body.

You sat beside him as the king gently stroked his son’s hair both proudly and sadly, muttering that he would pray for him to heal soon. As you held Seungcheol’s hand in yours, the king requested you to stay by the former’s side till he woke up. You assured him you would, to which he nodded and to both your shock and horror, pulled out the dagger which you had dropped in the dining room the day before. You held your breath as he placed it on the table beside the bed, not even looking at you. I believe this is yours.

He knew.

He figured out that you had attempted to take his life, but the tired old man didn’t say anything as he left. Instead, the royal guards placed at the door told you what you needed to know.

You failed your mission. Not only had you let down your people, you were discovered and now you were to be tried for treason. You only had till Seungcheol woke up. Lips quivering, you held onto his hand tighter.

You didn’t know if fate was showing you mercy or prolonging your agony but it took almost 2 whole days for Seungcheol to finally wake up.

You hadn’t left his room since you had entered it. Not only were you not allowed to, but you didn’t want to leave Seungcheol’s side. You either sat beside him, or in the balcony overlooking the ocean for hours together with kkuma curled up next to you and hannie flying around in the sky. The two of them had been awfully calm, as though they too knew what was coming.

Finally, on the 94th night, just as you had closed the doors of his bedroom and prepared your bed to sleep, Seungcheol stirred awake. You immediately rushed to his side as his eyes fluttered open, and the moment they landed on you, he broke into the most peaceful smile. You sighed in relief, softly holding his cheek in your hand, asking him how he was feeling.

You said yes.

Hannie flew into the room like a reminder of your message to him but his words only pained you. Things had changed so much since then. Not only could you not marry him but you had now become worthy of his hatred. You don’t think you can bear to see anything but love for you in his eyes.

Leaning down you kissed him, whispering that you loved him and that you wish no matter what, he always remembered that. He didn’t seem to understand your words, still reeling in the happiness of your acceptance of his proposal as he pulled you into his arms, wrapping you in the embrace you were craving for.

As the two of you laid for hours together, wrapped in each other, he told you how they had been ambushed before they even reached the battlefield - someone had betrayed them. His horse had saved him, taking him away into the woods, far from his attackers but he was already very badly injured. It was Hannie who arrived with your yes that truly saved him. He knew he had to come back for you so he pushed through. He regrouped what was left of the army and infiltrated the enemy camp that was prematurely celebrating their victory and gained the upper hand.

You snuggled closer in his warmth, hoping he wouldn’t see the guilt on your face when he spoke of you like you were his saviour. Everything would change tomorrow. Tonight was your last night with him, your last chance to create a memory for him to remember you by. As he went on about how tomorrow morning he would talk to the king about the wedding, you kissed him, cutting him off. Tonight you only wanted to love and love you did.

Of all the nights you spent with Seungcheol, nothing felt like this. There was a strange desperation carved in the way you undressed each other, hands roaming, names whispered against skin. You took the lead this time, clambering on top of him and he stared at you like you were his whole world and more. Tucking your hair behind your ear, he told you how lucky he was to have you and you pushed the recurring feeling of guilt down and claimed him for yourself one last time.

A clash of hands, tongues and moans, he matched your need, leaving marks of love on your shoulder and chest. Burying your face in his neck, you held back the tears of pain and pleasure and a goodbye all dissolved in one as you came apart above him. Like always his arms held you in his embrace as though stopping you from losing yourself but it was too late. Everything had fallen apart already.

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When you woke up, the bed was empty.

Seungcheol was not in the room, neither were the maids scurrying in as usual, cleaning up and neither were the guards who were placed outside the doors all these days. You walked down the corridors which were overtaken by a strange emptiness, wondering where everyone was. It was late in the afternoon judging by the sun but the palace was looking bleaker than usual.

That was when your eyes fell on the flag of the kingdom hoisted down, flying low.

Mourning.

You rushed back towards the bedroom wing of the palace, heart beating erratically against your still lungs, till you found the royal physicians walking out of a chamber, looking dejected. The kings chamber.

As you got closer, you noticed the officials of the royal court had all gathered around, dressed in black, heads hanging, faces in sorrow. They parted, letting you walk in to see Seungcheol standing at the edge of the bed, looking down at the king who laid peacefully in a slumber he would never wake up from.

The moment you put your hand on his shoulder Seungcheol turned. He wasn’t crying but there was so much pain in his face, it made you want to take him in your arms and hide him there forever. But you didn’t. You rubbed his arms softly whispering that you will wait for him outside, knowing he needed time with his father, the last of his family.

But the moment you stepped out, the royal guards surrounded you, their spears pointing at you from a distance and you knew the time had come. By the order of the late king, after Prince Choi was awake, you were to be imprisoned for treason. For life.

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You might have been forced into a four stone walled dark cell for 5 days now but there was no greater prison that your own mind. As the moonlight creeped through the metal bars of the window on top, you sat crouched in the little dark space, leaning against the cold rocks. It was always so silent in here, you only ever heard the crashing of the waves against the walls, each ebb and flow reminding you of where you truly belonged.

With the king now dead, your mission was complete, you could go back home. You could go back to your people, you could take back your kingdom but somehow you lacked the strength or the will to fight your way out of here. It would mean facing Seungcheol, who in the last many days had not come even once to see you. With each passing minute in his absence a part of you was glad to not see the disgust he would hold for you but another was broken at the thought of this being the end of the love you shared. As you fought your inner battle as a lover and a princess, time, the one thing that you did not have, kept slipping away.

And then for the first time in 5 days, a shadow other than your own was cast in the moonlight. Seungcheol’s.

You stood up, taken aback by his presence after so long but more by the sound of the gates opening and the guards asking you to step out, leading you out of the prison cell. You were free.

It was only then in the light of the fire lit corridors that you saw him, dressed in finery like never before and on his head rested the whole responsibility of the kingdom - the crown.

It was no longer Prince Seungcheol, he was now King Choi Seungcheol.

Seeing him like that, your heart swelled with pride. When you found out Seungcheol was the prince you weren’t really as surprised as you should have been because it was only then that things made perfect sense. You had seen the king in him all along. One of the reasons that you loved him so much was because of what a good man he was, always thoughtful of others, always helping those in need, always looking out. No one was more worthy of being king than him.

But before you can say anything to him, the maids brought you away to his room, complaining that you needed a change of clothes and a good bath. As they helped you strip out and scrubbed your neglected skin, they talked about how Seungcheol was furious when he learnt of your imprisonment. He insisted that you be released at once but he could not do anything as the royal guards would only take orders from the king. Stubborn to get you released no matter what, he sped up the coronation, which was due two weeks later and was crowned king just hours ago. His first order as ruler was that you be immediately released.

You asked to be left alone for a bit, soaking yourself in the water after days now. Why did Seungcheol let you go? Did he not believe you tried to kill his father? Or did he love you so much that he was willing to forgive you for the attempt?

You couldn’t even ask him. He would not be free of the coronation festivities which apparently went on till sunrise and you didn’t have long before you had to return to the ocean – it was already day 99.

Maybe it was better this way. You had your duties like he had his. Maybe if you left without giving him an explanation and without getting one, it would be easier for the love between the two of you to die. It had to die. The two of you belonged to two different worlds. There was no a happily ever after written for this story.

You slid against the bath, submerging yourself into the waters, trying to breathe in peace again.

But the nightmare had not ended. The voices were not gone.

Kill the King.

----------------------------------------------------------

When you walked out of the bathroom, Seungcheol was there.

He was sitting on the edge of the bed, dressed in his usual simple clothes again. In fact, he was wearing the same white shirt as the first time you ever saw him. The irony was not lost on you. It was like fate was not tired of the joke after joke after joke it was playing.

You walked in, asking him what he was doing away from the celebrations when you noticed what was in his hands. The dagger. Your dagger.

It's been a while since I told you a story.

He looked up, meeting your eye in the mirror, his finger dangerously dragging against the blade.

Do you remember the legend of the sea?

Why was the talking about this to you right now?

There's more, he claimed, standing up, turning to you. In that blue sea of dangerous creatures and vicious beings also lived the most beautiful woman in the world.

You can hear your heart thumping in your ear.

One day, the woman of the waters found herself on land. She was sent with a mission.

You took a step back. How could he possibly know all this?

You may have forgotten everything Y/n. But I didn't. He walked up to you. You may remember only 3 months of our love, but I remember 10 years of it.

You didn't understand. You didn't understand at all.

The young woman had been interested in the Land and humans ever since she was a little girl. Even though the merfolk were clearly warned to stay away from humans and shallow waters were dangerous to swim in, she would always escape the barricades quietly, to see whatever little of Land she would.

Finally, when she was 14 years old, she discovered a little secret - a sea cave. It was the only place where the waters next to land were deep enough, where she could get close to the land without being in much danger. She would come there often just to look at the sand and the rocks but she never saw any humans.

Until one day, a young, 14 year old Prince, distraught at the loss of his mother had ventured into the forest all alone and found the cave.

You remember Seungcheol telling you he moved to the cottage after the death of his mother when he was 14.

The price was also just as interested in the Sea as she was in land but unlike her, he did the stupid thing of entering the waters - he immediately started drowning.

That was the day she saved him the first time. Holding her breath to the point she couldn't anymore, she pulled him onto the sand before disappearing into the ocean. The last thing he remembered was seeing her most beautiful face.

After that the prince came everyday. Initially the young girl never showed herself. He knew she was there though, deeper in the waters, lurking silently. He would come every morning and just sit in the sand doing his assignments, glancing at the sea every once in a while and when the sun would start to set, he would return. Slowly, much to his anticipation and delight, she started coming up closer and closer to the surface until one day when he was 16, Seungcheol for the first time, put his hand in the water and touched hers.

It was magical, like nothing he ever felt before.

Then he started to get reckless again, trying to enter the waters, almost drowning too, but this time she held his hand and taught him to swim. Of the many hours he spent in the cave, a few minutes were always in the water, swimming by her side, and the rest were just watching her glide through the waves.

When he was 18, he created something extraordinary. He had always been a bit of a science man but after years of trial and error, he had finally made a device - a little mask of sorts that could help him breathe underwater, for about an hour or so. He didn't have to hold his breath anymore - he was able to spend longer under the sea, longer with her.

When he went to show it to her, she had discovered a little secret of her own - weeds. Not any kind but a very particular one that only grew in the Sea witches house. She apparently used to work for one, to learn magic, like all her other siblings did. There she had come across these very special plants that allowed merfolk to breathe on land.

That was the first time she stepped on land. The moment she did, she succumbed to her knees, throwing up water in the sand. Even the weed had its downsides, the most important one being that its affect only seemed to last an hour or so. But the hour she had with him on land and he had with her in the waters were more than enough - Their worlds were no longer barriers.

That went on for years, these secret meetings. Initially it was just sharing laughs, then dreams, then the thought of a whole life together. He taught her how to read and write their language, she drew him maps of different lands, far away in the sea. He taught her about science and she taught him about magic. His stories about the land animals fascinated her and her stories about the sea creatures terrified him.

When he was 20, he kissed her for the first time. When they were 22, they made love and when they were 24, around a 100 days ago, she told him she had to come to land for a mission.

It felt like someone had knocked the air out of your lungs. How was any of this possible?

She didn't say what her mission was, just that she had something to do and she needed him to help her. She would apparently arrive on land with all her memories gone and she needed him to guide her to find her way back. He didn't understand but she didn't have the time to tell him more. She just handed him a shell necklace and told him to give it to her when the time was right, it would help her figure things out.

So did you figure it out Y/n? He took you hand, placing the knife laced with his blood in it. Was your mission to kill my father?

You shook your head slowly, still processing all the information.

"It was to kill you."

The moment you heard your voice again in that bath, you felt like your life just left you. You thought the mission was completed - the king was dead. Then why were you still hearing it.... except you didn't complete the mission. You didn't kill the king, you didn't use the dagger.

Now the king was right in front of you. The man you just discovered you had been in love with your whole life. The man who made you fall in love with him all over again. The man who you had to kill to stay alive.

But he didn't look even a little fazed.

The sky behind you was starting to get brighter. The sun was rising. The 100th day was nearly here.

"Its okay." He whispered, moving closer to you without an ounce of fear. "Do it."

How could he love you so much, enough to die for you?

You could feel the tears rolling down your cheeks. He gently wiped it away, shaking his head. You kissed the inside of his hand on your cheek, and then pulled him close, feeling his mouth against yours for what you knew was the last time.

As you whispered an apology, he assured you it was okay. That you were the most beautiful thing that ever happened to him. And there was no better way for him to go than you being the last thing he saw.

You took a step back.

"Till death do us apart."

And then another step.

"Till death do us apart."

And then another, till you reached the window overlooking the ocean, you back against it.

You smiled at him.

He was not the only one who loved you enough to die.

The sun had risen quite high by now. You were simply a silhouette against the light, an outline and soon a memory. Before Seungcheol could even realise what you were doing, you leaned back. He ran towards you, as you let yourself drop, only just missing his outstretched hand trying to pointlessly save you, taken away by the winds, taken away to the sea.

As the sun fully rose in the sky, the dagger in you hands landed in the ocean with a splash, sinking to the bottom slowly, disappearing from existence.

And around it was sea foam, finally reclaimed by the waters where it belonged, gently floating away in peace.

#seungcheol oneshot #seventeen seungcheol #seungcheol angst #seungcheol smut #seungcheol fluff #seungcheol x reader #choi seungcheol #seungcheol scenarios #seventeen series #seventeen one shot #s.coups #s.coups angst #s.coups smut #s.coups fluff

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cozycottagetarot · 1 year

Text

First Impressions Reading

Notes--

Hey, it's been a while!

I've been MIA for practically a year due to work, poor health, and school. Thankfully, I've recovered from the aftermath of working that job, I'm still figuring out my health, but my studies are almost officially over leaving me with time to get back into tarot reading once again (yay!).

I've kind of changed up my reading style so if you're familiar with my old readings I'd love to know what you think of this style vs my old style. I don't think it's that different, but who knows.

Anyways, I think that's all the housekeeping for today. The usual disclaimer is at the bottom, enjoy your reading!

Pile One

Hi Pile One! So just an fyi, I feel like what I’m picking up on in this reading is multiple first impressions? I know that doesn’t sound like it makes any sense. But your reading I feel picks up a lot on your person’s past at first and then a romantic/companionship first impression later? Like a friends-to-lovers kind of thing.

Right off the bat I feel like your first impression of your future spouse is startling. As I’m shuffling the cards are jumping out, I’m get startled, I’m trembling. But it’s not necessarily in a bad way. Looking at the cards, the ‘vibes’ are complex. The cards flip over but stay hidden in the deck. Oddly enough, it’s not the cards with negative connotations, but positive ones. Like your person hides the better parts of them… maybe in the name of vulnerability.

When you meet you can sense they're healing from something upon first impressions. Your person may have walked away from a lifestyle that many would desire or some kind of association with wealth that was actually killing them from the inside out. From your first one-on-one interaction, you can tell that the wild inside them that’s had to escape and survive gets triggered easily. It may show up in their work or their self-talk. You can see they’re trying to fight their inner battles, but they may need a friend to help them do so.

You may meet them at the end of a significant period of healing for them when they have to face the heavy stuff of their past. You may feel like their perspective of life, be it all of it or one aspect, isn’t very fair. I don’t want to say they have a pessimistic view of life in general, but maybe their life in particular. To you, one bad thing happening doesn’t mean the end of the world but for them it does. Initially, you might not think they care to hear what anyone has to say but that is untrue. They might simply be off in their own world as most of the people on the cards are looking down or turned away, yet their cards symbolise openness and communication. For some of you, your person may just be shy and it’s easy to pick up on in your first meeting.

When the time comes to show interest in a romantic/companionship relationship, they might approach the subject gently. They’d want to be your knight in shining armour (as in they want to take care of you even though you can handle it yourself), but they recognize that as much as they’ve made progress, they still have some healing to do. Once they’ve gone through the darker stuff, they have a much lighter energy to them. You can see it in their appearance, habits, speech and general demeanour. You may notice that they are more spiritual (by your own personal definition). For some you may drift apart briefly (a couple months) and when you reconnect you gather that they’ve become dedicated to growing and nourishing their peace. You may also pick up on a wisdom that they’ve gained from their healing journey.

Pile Two

Pile two, I am loving you person’s energy! This person is calm, cool and collected. They’re not one to tell out all their secrets and they are 100% in their power. There are a lot of hands in the cards as well as imagery of fencing to enclose something. Your person may quickly and easily give off vibes of being guarded as people may chase after them and what they offer.

Your person gives off vibes of being hardworking and they definitely are. However, you can tell they work so hard one of the first thoughts to cross your mind will probably have something to do with “they’re gonna burn out if they don’t relax”. Them burning out isn’t something that happens often tough and when they do, they hide it well. People, yourself included, may wonder how this person can juggle so many things at once so well. They’re resilient and indulge in their many tasks in moderation, even when it means pissing someone off. They know their limits and that’s something that will be evident to you when you meet.

Communication seems to be a big factor in how they make an impression. For pile one *spoilers* it appeared that one of the ways they get their impression from their person was based on what their person was saying. For you, it’s how they say it. Your person has excellent communication skills and has prominent leadership vibes. They may work in a position that requires them to lead multiple groups or teams, or at the very least, you can see they have the qualities of a good leader.

First impressions for you most likely show this person is well off, and honestly a bit of a person of desire. They don’t pay people much mind though. You can tell if you want their attention you have to show you’re genuine. People either want them in a romantic sense or for the material things they have to offer. For some of you, they may work in finance as a manager for company accounts.

Some way somehow, you may be able to tell they’re crafty… in a clever sense and/or as in literal crafts. They’re creative but in a practical sense. This person is the type of person who gathers ideas from EVERYTHING and can make an inconvenience work for them. You may also gather that they’re someone always looking for a way to improve themself.

From the first conversation(s) with them you can tell they think about their legacy and what kind of impact they want to leave behind.

Pile Three

Your first impression of your future spouse is less about them specifically and more about the general feeling.

I think for many of you, this person might come into your life when you’re least expecting it. They feel fated… You’ve got the Wheel of Fortune so it’s like meeting this person was going to happen regardless. They most likely will feel like the start of a new beginning. It’s not a prominent feeling, but you will be able to recognise that something inside you shifts.

Your person is someone who upon first meeting changes your perspective. For some, they may spark the desire to improve in some format. They may be older and/or wiser, but you can tell it came from hard work and hard life experiences. Yet there’s a gentleness to them, as though all the things they may have endured only made them softer. They may seem too good to be true. You or they may be going through a transition in life. An unbecoming, I hear. Some of you might need to make a decision and this person helps influence it.

Your feelings/impression of this person— You can tell this person is respected. They’re level-headed and a good communicator. They’re someone you can connect with on many levels instantly.

I feel like there’s not much to say about this person. It’s kind of a 'when you know, you know' type of situation. Meeting them is like an exploration of yourself as well as them. Generous and gentle, they may do a lot of volunteer work. There’s a homeliness to them and an unspoken strength. They’re someone you can lean on.

I know I’ve said it already but the energy of this person feeling like & being a fated new beginning comes through very strong.

They could also signify a fiery romance, adventure and passion. The energy they exude resembles letting loose and not caring what someone thinks. They may influence you in this way, inspire you to be authentically you. From the first meet, they’re a leap of faith.

No specific thing comes to mind because last minute I got the lovers. Just a heartwarming feeling for you all about this person.

Also, they’re physically attractive, not just by your standards though. Most people would see them and agree they’re pleasant to look at. (Someone tell me if that’s how they interpret physical attraction as well lol).

Pile Four

*Minor Language

Okay so meeting in a kitchen or the medical area immediately jump out at me. Of course, that’s not the only scenario in which you could meet but it definitely comes through the strongest. For some of you, this is someone you know and have been trying to outrun for a lack of a better word. You may think you’re polar opposites but I don’t think you are. Taurus energy comes through strong, so they may have strong Taurus placements. You and your person may be similar. But there’s definitely that vibe of ‘oh great, you again.’ kind of enemies to lovers.

Brief story time to help you paint the picture. The 'polar opposites but not really' remind me of my sisters. Both of them are a Taurus. They always clashed when they were younger. Sister A would complain about Sister B as if she didn’t do the same exact thing Sister A was pissing her off with. It was equal parts annoying and amusing. However, now that they’ve kind of ‘separated’ and both reshaped themselves in new environments, they’re closer than ever… but they’ll never admit it willingly. If you’re still with me, hopefully, this will help make the rest of the reading make more sense.

So I had to redo your reading because I couldn’t interpret the cards clearly the first time around. However, I was definitely picking up on the whole enemies or at the very least ‘mutual nuisances’ to lovers first time around. I had also picked up that this could be an LGBTQ+ relationship for a few of you.

You most likely have a prior impression of this person or you two just don’t click upon meeting. The first scenario comes through strongest so that’s the one I’m reading, but of course, interpret as you would like. In the situation where you meet again, you may be frustrated with them initially, but you two have to come to peace, most likely for a business endeavour or something career-related it seems.

I see you keeping your eye on them though. They seem trustworthy but you know what they were like in the past. If it’s a completely new person, you can pick up that they may be a bit of an ass. You might be very in your head about them after your ceasefire and at some point have to take a step back and assess yourself. Some of you might know this person from as far back as childhood. You might notice this person has actually grown a lot and come to the realisation that you have to hold them to a new standard.

Some of you, you may be jaded towards this person because they broke your heart. You may be exes or there may have been a third-party situation where they chose something else over you. It could be a person that was the third party, but it feels like it was you or an opportunity and they picked the opportunity over you. Maybe the same opportunity leads to them coming back to you better.

Your new forming impression of them seems to be one of reluctant admiration. Whatever successes you see them with now, they’ve worked hard to earn and you can see it. It’s in their work ethic the effort they make in how they carry themself. You’ll notice how intuitive this person is and/or how fast they think on their feet. They’re mentally agile and can handle what is thrown at them quickly and with ease. They could be very creative and adaptable or they may inspire creativity in you.

Disclaimer: All readings and tarot/blog games are for fun and entertainment purposes only. It is in no way meant to act as or replace professional advice of any kind. You know yourself and what’s going on in your life best so I ask that you trust yourself above all else. Finally please take only what resonates from the reading which may be some of it, all of it, or none at all.

#ariesmoontarot #pac #pac reading #pick a card reading #pick a card #pick a pile #future spouse reading #pick a pile reading #cozycottagetarot #tarot reading #pick a picture #tarotblr

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stardustdreams-andcaffeine · 1 year

Text

Runaway Bride | Bucky Barnes

bucky barnes x fem!reader ✧ oneshot

Summary: When wedding bells sound like a death sentence, you flee your big day and desperately look for an escape plan. Lucky for you, Bucky and a motorcycle just happen to be there.

A/N: This one's short than usual and is actually fluff! I know, it's shocking even to me. 🤍

Warnings: none, for once

Word Count: 2,018

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Dreading your wedding day probably isn't the best sign.

My bridesmaids hurry around me, fixing the veil atop my perfectly styled hair and making sure my dress is perfectly fit. I should be smiling, giddy, maybe even a little nervous. Instead, all I feel is dread, cool and heavy in the pit of my stomach.

"Mom, how do you know if something you're about to do is right?" I suddenly ask when my mother walks by. She pauses and looks over at me, barely even registering my questions and beginning to gush about how beautiful I look.

"Oh honey, look at you all grown up!" she squeals, smiling warmly at me. She must not recognize the unease in my eyes because she completely dismisses my question.

"How did you feel on your wedding day?" I try again, this time garnering a response. A far away look takes to her face and her smile becomes nostalgic.

"Oh I remember it like it was yesterday," She begins, letting out a sigh, "I was nervous, sure, but I'd never felt lighter in my entire life. I was the happiest I've ever been"

This only makes me more uneasy.

"So you weren't having second thoughts?" I clarify, swallowing nervously and wringing my hands together before the tule of the bottom of the dress I didn't even like. I only bought it because Aaron, my fiancé, was paying and he liked this one best.

"Of course not, don't be silly!" My mom exclaims, letting out a laugh before turning on her heel and marching away to speak with one of the coordinators passing the outside of the room.

I open my mouth to call out again, but think better of it. Instead, I turn to my maid of honor who is doing the finishing touches to her makeup in the bridal suite of the church I didn't want to get married in. I'd always dreamt of an outdoor wedding, but Aaron, the money of the operations, didn't want the bugs or the elements interfering with his day.

"Am I doing the right thing?" I ask my maid of honor, hoping that at least she will give me a straight forward answer. My best friend turns towards me, a confused look upon her face. She approaches and fixes on last piece of my horrific dress with a sigh.

"Of course you are, this is just cold feet, Y/N," she assures, giving me a confident smile, "You and Aaron are great together. Think of the genius kids you'll have, think of how cute they'll be!"

The thought of having kids with Aaron nearly makes me sick, which increases the unsettled feeling of dread in my stomach. Looking into my best friend's excited eyes, I know that no one I talk to is going to say what I want to hear.

Which means that I already know the answers to my own questions.

Like a death toll, the bridal music starts up just outside the suite, alerting the bridesmaids that it's time to line up on the aisle with the groomsmen. They each give me a thumbs up or an excited smile before rushing out of the room, leaving me alone. With a racing mind, I examine the girl I see in the mirror.

A dress I don't like, a venue I didn't want...a man I don't love.

When the last thought hits me, I feel as though I've been woken up with a bucket of ice water, snapping me back to reality. My eyes widen slightly as I think over every date I've had with Aaron. Maddie was right, we are good together, but we aren't in love. This can't be what love is. It's always about what he wants, what he's feeling like, how he wants the day to go. Now that I think about it I don't think I ever chose one date we went on. He practically laid out our future—big house, same workplace, and three kids named Aaron Jr.

I never saw that for my life.

Even though it has been a while since I have even thought for myself, I have always seen so much more for my life. I want to travel anywhere and everywhere, and I crave a life of adventure and fun with my husband, a husband that I love. I only agreed to marry Aaron because everyone convinced me that it was perfect, convinced me that we were the perfect couple.

But not perfect for each other.

"What am I doing?" I breathe.

"Come on sweetie, it's almost your turn!" my dad calls out from outside the suite.

I jerk my head in the direction of the door and my heart rate begins to pick up its pace. As I walk towards the door and out into the area just outside the aisle where only my father waits, each bridesmaid already gone through, my mind becomes increasingly made up.

Never once was there any charge or chemistry between Aaron and I. Never once did I lie awake at night thinking about a life with him. I was so caught up in the excitement of everyone around me at the 'power couple' that I never stopped to question the countless times he'd blow me off or make passive aggressive comments about my intelligence being inferior to his, or even the times when he'd do what he wanted and not what I wanted because he automatically assumed that his mind was our mind.

I don't love him, I don't think I ever have. I just loved how happy I made everyone.

When the doors to the aisle open one last time and the bridal music swells, each person standing in the pews and turning to get a look at me, when my eyes connect with my fiancé who's smiling as though he's just won a game, I decide for one of the first times in my life that I'm done making everyone happy.

It's about time I do something that makes me happy.

My heart begins to hammer in my chest as my dad walks with me to the start of the aisle and I can't help the giddiness that begins to pool within me, replacing the dread. I'm not giddy to get married, but rather because I already know exactly what I'm about to do. The fact that the thought of what I'm going to do makes me so happy is all I need to seal my decision.

My eyes rapidly scan the back rows of the audience until my gaze finds the man I'm looking for. My best friend, the only person I've ever really felt like myself with, the man I've tried to deny my feelings for ever since I met him. My eyes meet Bucky's, and when he sees the look I give him, the thinly veiled sorrow in his vanishes. Suddenly, he sits up straighter and lifts an eyebrow at me. His eyes cast towards the door and I nod hurriedly. The fact that he understand what I mean to do without me saying a word...it makes my heart stumble in its rhythm.

Without another word, he's slipping out of his seat and rushing out of the church.

I freeze in my step, making my father halt beside me.

"Uh," I begin, pulling my arm from my dad's and surveying the increasingly confused church until my eyes connect with Aaron, who's features are beginning to crawl with panic at the look upon my face, "I...am so sorry for this"

Then I turn around and sprint away, not feeling sorry at all.

The room behind me erupts in frantic voices as confusion settles in. Above them all, I can hear the best man, Aaron's brother, laughing as he shouts out to me.

"RUN Y/N RUN!"

A crazy smile breaks onto my face and I laugh as I sprint right out of the church, bursting out of the doors and kicking off my heels in one motion. The front of my hideous dress is clutched in my fists as I hike it up to keep from tripping down the stairs

"Y/N! Stop! Y/N!" Aaron shouts into the spring New York air.

Pedestrians passing by all stop to survey the scene in shock and amusement as I jump the last four steps to the church in my wedding gown and begin sprinting down the sidewalk with my groom sprinting after me. As I do, I can hear a few people cheering and egging me on to run.

I cast a quick glance behind me to see Aaron being slowed down by some of the people who were cheering and I can't help but smile at the thought that they're doing it on purpose. I wave at them while I'm still turned.

"Thank you!" I call back, whirling around and searching the streets before me for Bucky. I can hear Aaron gaining on me and my giddiness turns to desperation. I falter in my sprinting, my frantic eyes scouring the streets for my best friend.

Just when my heart begins to fall, a motorcycle roars down the street and screeches to a halt in front of me.

"Need a ride?" Bucky calls out, a smirk dancing on his lips.

I smile wide, shaking my head at him and hopping onto the bike with my dress in my fists. I wrap my arm around his torso just as Aaron catches up and sees me. I tighten my grasp on Bucky, my stomach dropping slightly.

"Are you all good to-" he begins, but I cut him off in panic.

"GO GO GO!" I shout, and his motorcycle roars to life in response.

He pulls out onto the street and speeds away just in time. I look back to see Aaron stomping his foot in frustration behind us and when I wave at him, my veil flies off towards him in the breeze. I laugh, turning back around and smiling widely as the wind whips against my cheeks. I lay my cheek against Bucky's muscular back and sigh.

"You're my hero, Buck."

His muscles tighten at that before instantly relaxing in response. It's then that I realize what my words must mean to him. I know what he's been through, and I've been trying to convince him that he's good for so many years. I grasp onto him tighter, and not because of the wind.

"Anything for you, doll"

My heart flutters just like it has for years whenever I'm around Bucky. I don't know why I ever tried to convince myself that I could want anybody but him. Being here, pressed up against to him as he chariots me away from what would have been the worst decision of my life, I'm exactly where I'll ever want to be.

"Where are we going?" I call out over the wind.

"Anywhere you want, so long as I finally get to take you out on a date" Bucky calls back.

I'm glad for the roar of the bike and wind, because it hides the small squeal that leaves my lips. Sitting up straighter, I press a quick kiss to Bucky's shoulder and catch the way his lips twitch up.

"Finally, I thought you'd never ask," I reply.

"Well, you were kind of engaged," He reminds.

I smile, letting the city whizzing by and Bucky's taut muscles under my hands ease away the tension and pain and loneliness that has dominated me during Aaron and I's entire relationship.

"Not anymore,"I murmur, more to myself than anyone else.

I never once cheated on Aaron, not once. Even when I began to realize how badly I wanted Bucky, I still didn't cheat on Aaron. That is perhaps the only thing I don't regret from that relationship, because it makes this moment that much sweeter. Knowing I'm taking my life back into my hands, knowing I did it the right way, knowing Aaron had that stupid, smug smirk wiped off of his face.

Knowing I finally get to be in a relationship with someone I already love.

It makes running all the more worth it.

#bucky barnes oneshot #bucky imagine #bucky barnes x reader #bucky x female reader #bucky x reader #fluff #bucky barnes fluff #bucky barnes #bucky barnes drabble

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chiropteracupola · 1 year

Note

I am on a foth kick and I would like very much to know about to keep it real and green knight, if you have things you want to share!

to keep it real is currently in a weird state where it doesn't quite know what it wants to be, since it's certainly not the fic I set out to write, but I don't want to abandon the original idea entirely. the original idea would have been a mostly plotless practice scene based on the 'his wife has filled his house with chintz' post/poem, featuring Ewen visiting Keith at Stowe House in some nebulous future, but I got a little carried away with setup, writing interactions with Francis, and attempting to research the location itself.

the trouble with houses that keep getting used is that they do very much keep getting updated, and frankly, it's a little more effort than I'd like to put in right now just to figure out exactly which ostentatious bits of architecture would have been there at the time that Keith would have been! there appears to be some kind of 3d model of the house that might get looked at later on, but I'm still trying to wrap my head around a) figuring out how the ground-plan has changed since the mid-eighteenth century, and b) the sheer scale of these gardens (for the record, I'm using a garden I'm more familiar with as a reference point for the size, and it's only a seventh of the size of this place. yikes and other such exclamations.)

due to the nature of this particular story, I'm going to want a pretty detailed interior design plan for the room, since it's the sort where I'm essentially making what amounts to a dollhouse in my head. so that's taking a while! someday I will pick this thing up again because It Compels Me, but right now I really do not know when that will be.

the green knight story is based on an idea from @tgarnsl, and is basically exactly what it sounds like - a Gawain and the Green Knight AU with Keith, Ewen, and Alison.

it's been slow going writing it, as I'm having trouble settling between my usual writing style and the more poetic, kenning-heavy style that I use for things like Rat Piper, as well as the fact that I thought it would be very funny to get it done by Christmas and that very much Did Not Happen. and then there's the fact that the name Keith simply doesn't sound right to me in the sort of quasi-medieval setting I've been working with - well, there's not really any way out of that one that I like, so that's just something that I'll have to figure out as I go along. or probably I'll just leave him there, all incongruous as he is.

and since you've read all the way through that, here's the prologue for that particular tale:

His mother’s hand is on his shoulder, and his father’s sword is belted at his side, its bright blade so, so, much lighter than it looks.

“Go and do it, won’t you, Keith?” He doesn’t need to be asked. Every eye in the hall is on him, and he steps forward, and lets one knee bend so that he can dip just far enough to take the offered weapon. His fingers are on the axe-handle — good! — and in one smooth motion, he’s up again and that shining arc of steel is cutting through the air with a sound like church-bells. In that half-second before steel meets skin, the strange knight smiles, and tips his head a little to one side, his loosened collar slipping to show a line of pale skin.

Keith strikes true.

He steps back, his footsteps crisp as if against frosted-over ground. A thick slap of meat against stone, a flare of iron-scent in the air, a gasp from the assembly. The head rolls to a stop at Keith’s feet, the seeping blood staining the toes of his shoes as the strange knight falls to his knees.

But what is this? This man so lately slain is reaching out a hand for balance, reaching out towards Keith as he slowly, slowly pulls himself upright. His head is in his hands, gold-green hair trailing over lichen-pale fingers, but his blood runs down red, red, red to splatter on the rushes at Keith’s feet. Keith looks down, the axe now heavy in his hands, and watches as the stain sinks and blurs into the shadows, red turning back to green. His hands tighten on the haft of the axe, its weight solid but not at all reassuring.

Now, Keith no longer has to look up to meet the Green Knight’s eyes, for he holds his head just at the right height for Keith to see. And for all that this man is bleeding and headless, impossible and out of place, he smiles like the sun.

#em writes stuff #heronposting #if you are here for foth things then you are in luck because I have Things planned... Things I'm drawing...#me: it will be a fast quick short thing. me several months later downloading pdfs from the national trust: oh god oh no.#at some point I want to come up with outfit designs for the green knight thing but that would mean settling on a time period and aesthetic #so I Haven't. hooray.#aaugh. the readmore keeps going in the wrong place. hell and death.#for pete's sake it just did it AGAIN! BITING!

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abbyhaliti5 · 1 year

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The Different Techniques Used For Balayage In NYC Salons

Are beauty salons in NY, NY essential? Balayage is a popular hair coloring technique that involves hand-painting highlights onto the hair to create a natural, sun-kissed look. This technique has been growing in popularity over the years, and NYC salons are at the forefront of this trend, offering a range of innovative techniques to suit every hair type and style preference. Here are some of the different balayage techniques that you can expect to find in NYC salons:

1.Traditional Balayage: This is the original and classic form of the best balayage nyc, which involves hand-painting highlights in a sweeping motion from the root to the ends. This technique creates a subtle and gradual transition from the root to the tip of the hair, giving the hair a natural and effortless look.

2.Ombre Balayage: This technique involves a gradient of color from the roots to the ends, usually with darker roots transitioning into lighter tips. Ombre balayage is a great option for those looking for a bolder look.

Read Also:- 5 Reasons You Need a Best Colorist for Your Hair

3.Sombre Balayage: This is a subtler version of the ombre balayage, where the transition is less dramatic, and the color is more blended. Sombre balayage is a great option for those who want a softer and more natural-looking result.

Read This - Are beauty salons in NY, NY essential?

4.Micro Balayage: This technique involves applying very fine and delicate highlights to specific areas of the hair, such as around the face, to create a more subtle and natural look.

5.Babylights Balayage: This technique involves applying fine highlights to the hair to create a subtle and natural-looking result. Babylights are perfect for fine hair, giving the hair a soft and delicate look without looking too heavy or bulky.

Read More:- How to take Balayage's hair color appointment?

6.Balayage Highlights with Low Lights: This technique involves adding lowlights to the hair in between the highlights to create a more dimensional and natural look. This technique is great for those with natural hair, as it helps to blend any gray or white hair into the rest of the hair.

These are just a few of the many balayage techniques available in NYC salons. When choosing a balayage technique, it's important to consider your hair type, skin tone, lifestyle, and desired result. With so many options available, a balayage technique is perfect for everyone. So, book an appointment and try one for yourself today!

FAQs:

How much does balayage cost in NYC?

The cost of balayage in NYC can range from $200 to $800 or more, depending on the salon and stylist. Some high-end salons can charge up to $1,000 or more for a single appointment.

How often should I get balayage done in NYC?

The frequency of balayage appointments will depend on your hair growth, the desired look, and fading rate. On average, people get a touch-up every three to six months.

How do I take care of my balayage after the appointment in NYC?

Use a sulfate-free shampoo and conditioner to take care of your balayage, avoid excessive heat styling, and protect your hair from the sun. You can also use products specifically formulated for color-treated hair.

#best colorist nyc nj #best blonde colors #best balayage nyc #best balayage new york #best balayage new jersey #best colorist nj

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qtsickchiq · 3 years

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ONLY YOU

with Haitani Rindou

“What have you done this time Rin?” You asked with a serious tone glaring at the younger brother of the Haitani who is currently sitting in the opposite of you.

You are surprised when you heard about the news. You knew something would happen in that Kantou incident but this exceeds your expectations. You make some time to visit the Haitani brothers at the Juvenile Centre.

Rindou has his usual bored expression on his face. “It’s none of your business y/n.”

“So this is how you’re speaking to me now huh?” You mumbled under your breath, gaze trailing down to the man in front of you. The young man let out a loud sigh as a response to yours.

“You know what Rin? I’ve enough. Let’s end this.” You whimpered, your fist tighten around your dress.

He raises a brow, trying to catch the things you were saying. “What nonsense are you spitting out now?” He let out frustrated chuckles.

“I don’t see any way we are going to work.”

“Stop, you can’t leave me. Not now.” He hissed, slamming both of his hands on the table.

“Rin, this is not going to work! You don’t even give a damn about me, about our future. Have you ever thought of me in that brain of yours?” You wail as the tears start rolling down on your cheeks. He flinches back, his eyes widen at your words. He was at a loss for words. It’s true, he know it himself. He knows damn well.

You looked at him, teeth gritted, frustration clear in your eyes. “As I thought, let’s end this. I can’t keep waiting for you like this.”

He tried to grab your hand but you end up slapping his hand away. “I’m sorry please- please don’t leave me.” He whimpers. He lowers his head and his eyes were teary, hands slightly trembling.

“I love you Rin, I love you so fucking damn much that it’s hurting me. I just want you to give a damn about me for once.” You murmur as you slowly getting up from your chair, wiping away the tears on your cheeks using both of your sleeves.

“I know.”

That was the last time he saw you. He hadn’t seen you at all for the past years. It’s been years but he still gets dreams of you. He missed you so much. He missed your soft-spoken voice when you talks to him, your sweet laugh when you laugh at his boring jokes, your honey sweet lips when it touch his. The thoughts of you linger in and out of his mind. He regrets everything he has done to you before.

He can’t stop loving you. Believe him, he tried. He lies awake every night, trying to think of ways to get you out of his mind. But he fails every time. He tried looking for you several times before but you keep on avoiding him. He still waits for you days by days even until today.

“Rindou, what are spacing out now? Come on, let’s enjoy the drinks. ” A voice greeted his ears and snapping him out of his pondering. Sanzu give a curious stare at him, brows knitted together before a grin emerged on his face. “Come on.” Rindou shrugs, running his fingers through his hair while following his friends from behind. Many years have passed from the incident and he’s in Bonten now. Sanzu drag him away as he passes him a bottle of alcohol.

With the loud music booming at every corner of the club, Rindou can’t help but to let out a sigh. His eyes are wandering around the club. He leaned back at his seat, having his second drink of the night. That is until he could catch a glimpse of you. What the fuck. You walk briskly to the dance floor in your low cut red silk dress draped around your body. You raised softly curved arm, and a myriad of gold bangles jangled to the rhythm of the mounting beat. You are dancing along to the music with a glass of wine in your hand. He keeps his gaze trailing down to you, not noticing the ways the other Bonten members are staring at him.

The older Haitani brother raises a brow, clicking his tongue. “Hey what’s wrong Rindou?” He was only greeted with silence from his younger brother. Rindou plopped down in a chair, his intense gaze fixed on you. Ran turns his head to look at the way his little brother is looking, his lips slowly curving up into a smile as he realizes the things that are bothering his brother “Oh is that y/n?” A loud laugh erupted from Ran.

Rindou shrugs it off as he leaned back at his seat. He flicks the lighter in his hand and watch the tip of his cigarette ignite as he inhale it and blow the heavy smoke from his mouth. It has been years and you are still able to catch his attention from everything. The most beautiful creature he has seen in his entire life. His steady gaze on you gave no indication of what else was on his mind. Fuck, he misses you. He wants to touch you. He wants to stroke your cheeks once again, while looking into your lustrous eyes. But he understands that you hate him now. He doesn’t want to be a bother in your life again. He hurts you once. The last time he made you cry was something he doesn’t want to remember ever again. All Rindou could do was to stare at you as you drown yourself deeper in the glass of wine, giggling. Everything felt so heavy to him.

That is until he notices that there’s a group of men staring at you with their lustful eyes as they are laughing to themselves near the bar. They are pissing him off. He tightened his grip slightly when he saw the men start making their way towards you. Without a second thought, Rindou clears his throat as he stands up from his seat, slowly walking towards you. His hands touched your waist and then he slipped his arms around you from behind and drew your back against his chest. You are too drunk to notice. He shot them a glare.

One of the men yells, “Hey! What the hell?”

“Don’t even think about it” He bits the inside of his cheek, trying to suppress his anger.

“Huh?”

His jaw clenched. “Don’t even think about touching my woman.” His voice is harsh and cold. He harshly grips your wrist, pulling you away from the creepy men. His eyes are flashing anger.

Your lips parted for a second trying to recall the man that is fully dressed in suit. You winced when you recognize him. “Wa-wait…hic…Rindou??”

“Let’s go.” He grumbles under his breath. He pulls you closer as he walks out from the club heading to where he parked his car. You try to jerks your hand away, but his grip is stronger than yours.

“I don’t… I don’t know if I… hic… if I wanna go…?” You mumble to yourself before you stumble forward losing your own balance. Rindou quickly catch you in his arms. He let out a heavy sigh.

“You had enough. Let’s go.” Picking your unconscious self in bridal style, he gently places you in his car.

The moment you blinks your eyes you were already in an unfamiliar bedroom. Your ears perked up from Rindou’s voice, you take a glance to see the man standing right next to a window talking to his phone. He already changes from his suits that he was wearing at the club earlier to a comfy black t-shirt and grey sweatpants.

A deep furrow ran across his forehead, “Yeah, I already went home. There’s something I have to take care of. See you tomorrow, brother.” He ends the call, placing the phone in his pocket.

You sat up in the bed and look around, with your hand rubbing your head to ease the throbbing in you temples, “Rindou? What’s happening here?” You clutch the comforter to your chest.

“I didn’t lay a finger on you.”

You flinch as you hurriedly look over yourself underneath the comfy comforter. Yes, you are still fully clothes. Rindou let out a loud sigh as he passed you a glass of water.

“Um, thank you for saving me.” You mumble under your breath. His lazy eyes are staring straight to you. You took a sip of the drink.

He scoffs, “Don’t bother.” He makes his way to a chair beside the bed. “Who the hell think it’s a good idea to drink more than you can handle?” He asked, placing both of his hands in his pockets.

You shot him a glare. Ah! Now you remembered. You were at the club earlier with you friends celebrating the promotion you just got from work. Rindou suddenly stands up from his chair, making his way towards the huge wardrobe in that bedroom. You turn your head to stare at the man who is busy looking for something in the wardrobe. He did change a lot huh. You push the thought from your mind as you can see him coming towards you. He passed you a new freshly clothes.

“Wear this. I don’t think you’re comfortable enough in that shitty dress anyway.”

You narrowed your brows at him. “Excuse me sir? This dress is beautiful okay.”

“Well seems like to me you couldn’t even breathe in that dress.” His brows knitted together, pointing his finger to your dress. Rindou admits to himself that you do look gorgeous in that dress but none of it matters at this moment. He only wants you to be comfortable enough.

You shrug, “Fine.” You grab the clothes from him as you stripping yourself, taking off the silk dress from your body. Rindou roll his eyes as he turns his head away from the sight. You glance down at the shirt that is way too big for you as you sniff it, you can smell his scent there.

You took a deep breath as you turn your head to face him. “So how are you doing now?”

“M'doing fine.” He mutters to himself.

You frown, clicking your tongue. “What are you doing now?”

“Nothing.” He murmurs as he place a cigarette in the corner of his mouth, his long fingers then searched inside the nightstand and finally emerged with a match. He lights up a cigarette in his mouth, blowing the heavy smoke out.

You waited for his reply in tense silence, but his response filled you with equal anger. You shot a glare at him. “Rin, I’m talking to you. At least make some efforts in replying.”

“I am.”

You glare at him with frustration clears in your eyes, teeth gritted. “Fuck off!” You curse as you plops yourself on the bed yanking the comforter over your body. You turn your face away avoiding his stare.

Rindou raises a brow at your sudden outburst. He puts out his cigarette as he slowly scoots over to sit next to you. “Language babe, anyway where have you been all these time?”

“Home duh.” You replied sarcastically, rolling your eyes.

“I’m serious now y/n.” He hissed, grabbing your wrist forcing you to face him. His brow knitted together.

“Oh now you know how to communicate properly. Why the hell do you care about me anyway?”

He slammed you down with him being on top of you. Both of his hands stay on the side of your head supporting him. “Because I was fucking looking for you, you dumb woman.” His body stays in between your legs.

You wince as you tried to escape from his grasp, “You what?”

He places his head on his palm, trembling as he stared down at you. Tears burned his eyes and his lower lip trembled, “I was looking for you all these years y/n.”

You scoff, “What the hell are you saying now? I told you we won’t work!” You tried to push him away. Your eyes were filling with tears.

His troubled gaze came back to your face, pacing from your eyes to your lips. “I don’t fucking care. I’ll make it work. I can’t live like this y/n.”

“How the hell you want to make us work if you don’t even give a damn about me before?” The tears are spilling past your eyes as you sob.

“I care about you y/n!” He grabbed your shoulders, pulling you roughly against him and kissed you in a demanding way that roused more anger than anything else. You flinch as you push away from his grip.

“LIAR!!” You scream pulling away to glare at him with tear-filled eyes as you wipe your lips with you hand. “Don’t you dare lie to me in front of my face? You barely made time for me before. Where were you when I need you the most? All you think about is your gang shits and fighting alongside your brother! Have you ever thought of me? How long do you expect me to wait for you?” You began to cry, you sob muffled as you leaned forward against your arms, hugging your knees.

His heart instantly drops to his stomach. “I’m sorry. Fuck, I’m so sorry. I fucking love you, babe.” He slowly lowered his head, gathering you gently in his arms. He pulled you closer in an embrace. “I love you, y/n. I love you so fucking much that it hurts me so freaking bad to not being able to stay by your side. I’m sorry, please forgive me. I miss you so fucking bad. Let me fix this and I know we weren’t perfect but I’ve never felt this way for no one. I care about you. I fucking do. Just for once, please trust me this time.” His warm lips brushed your forehead, peppering it with kisses. Lips quivering as the tears flow from his eyes. You bury your face in his chest.

Your hands making your way to hold his back as you fall deeper in his embrace. “I can’t Rin, I’m married now.” You whispered in his ears.

He jolted away from you, eyes widened from your statement. He gripped your wrist hard, lowering his head to look at you, “You what?”

You let out a giggle, “I’m just joking, you silly.”

He sigh, “That’s a dumb joke, I was about to kill your husband if it’s true.” He frowned as he releases his grip from your wrist turning his head away from you. His lips pressed in thin line.

“Sorry~” Your eyes brimmed with tears of mirth and the smile tugging your lips broke into a grin. You place your hand gently on his hand to pull him back in your embrace. An annoyance huff could be heard as he nuzzling himself into your hair, sliding his fingers down to your hair. He leaned back in your grasp, staring straight into your eyes.

“Say do you still love me?”

“No.” You shook you head with a smirk plastered on your face.

He rolls his eyes,“Y/n…”

“Hold me?” You held your arms out, welcoming him in your embrace. “Of course I still love you, you dumb ass. How can I forget my boring high school sweetheart?” You chuckles as you strokes his hair and kisses his forehead.

He cuts you off, “Shut up.” He was sitting on the bed, legs spreading as he places his hands on the back of your thigh and pulls you forward him. He makes you sit down on his lap, inching his face closer to you.

“But you said you missed me earlier.”

“I do.” He slowly lowered his eyes as his lips touch yours. You surrendered yourself to his warm lips and secure embrace, clinging to him as your heart stepped up pace. He grabs his shirt from the back of his necks, and yanking it off over his head. “You’re mine”, his gaze trailing down to you and his warm lips kissed their way down your neck and across you shoulder. You both fall deeper into the warmth of each other.

You blinks your eyes, hours has passed. The birds are chirping and the sunlight is peaking through Rindou’s bedroom curtains. You can feel his warmth surrounding you as you can feel his arms around you. You leaned closer to him. You both are cuddling together under his comfy comforter. You glance at the clock showed 9 in the morning.

“Hey Rin~” You face the beautiful man that is snuggling closer next to you. Enjoying the sight before you, he is still half asleep. You brush your fingers to his face gently tucking a stray piece of hair behind his ears.

“Hm?” His voice is raspy from the sleepiness.

You huff your cheeks and lips forming a pout. “I’m hungry, let’s go out for a breakfast.”

His arm is sneaking around you waist gently to hold you closer to him, “M’no. Stay here with me.”

“But, I’m shooo huuungry~” You whines.

“I’ll cook for you later.”

“What?”

“I’ll cook you Katsudon, it’s your favourite right.” He stops, his eyes are wide open after realizing what he just said “Shit” He quickly covering his face with his hand, looking away from your stares to hide the light shade of pink on his cheeks.

You sat in confusion before it finally clicked. “Eh you still remember about that? I mean yes, it’s my favourite since high school. I can’t believe you still remember that.” Wide smile plastered on your face as you pulls his hand away from his face. “You love me that bad huh.”

“Shut up.” He cuts you off by dropping himself on top of you, nuzzling his face on your neck. He’s blushing red. You blink before letting out your giggles. You tried to suppress your giggling, but ended up bursting into laughter

You put a hand on your mouth as you laugh at him. “Say, do you truly love me?” You gently stroke his pinkish-purple mullet hair with your hand.

A scowl appeared on Rindou’s face as he glances at you. “I said it already yesterday.” He mumbles to himself, sighing into your neck and ignoring the fluttering of his heart.

“Come onnnn say it again.” You chime, grinning at him. “Say it.” You giggle softly staring at him as your fingers gently tracing the tattoo on the left side of his naked body.

He let out a loud sigh as he gently pulls your wrist making you face him. He leans his forehead to yours. He smiles as one of his arm trailing down to wrap around your waist to bring you closer to him. The other hand of his is gently brushing your cheek. “I love you y/n, I love you so fucking much and trust me I won’t ever let you go ever again. You are my one and only. ” You both giggle as you both dozing off in each other’s arms.

yours truly @qtsickchiq

#tokyo revengers x reader #tokyo revengers x y/n #rindou haitani x reader #haitani rindou x reader #rindou haitani #haitani rindou #rindou x reader #rindou x y/n #tokyo manji gang #tokyo revengers

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soulmate-game · 3 years

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part 2 (of that new bio!dad fic)

Dick whipped his head over to Bruce, who could feel the heavy gazes of all his children as if they were physical. If they had had heat vision like Clark, he would have already been reduced to a puddle of mush. Bruce shifted, the only sign of his discomfort, but he recognized that the middle of a gala was no place for this discussion. There were too many busybodies trying to listen in for the latest gossip. So he plastered on a smile that he couldn’t quite feel, and held a hand out to Marinette. He was careful to keep a good distance though, and left the choice for contant purely up to her.

The young woman looked down at his hand, then back to his face. Damian had been shocked silent by what she had to say, and perhaps even more by the all too telling way that Bruce hadn’t so much as implied that she was lying, and the look he was giving her was making her a little uncomfortable. Yes, she hadn’t planned on interacting with her father more than just the years-overdue confrontation she had just done, at least not while at the gala… but her plans always left room for improvisation. She could make this work.

With a soft sigh, Marinette extended her own hand— half the size of Bruce’s, he noted almost immediately with a rush of illogical fondness— and grasped his lightly. She couldn’t help but notice the way his impossibly blue eyes brightened, no different than her own when she was particularly happy, or the way his mouth twitched with a barely suppressed beam. Instead, he controlled himself enough so that the only smile he gave would look professional and entirely in character to the nosy socialites still spying on them, and led them out onto the dance floor.

What everyone else saw was the unfairly charming Bruce Wayne giving his young guest of honor a simple dance. Just a basic swirl around the floor that every other social elite had learned when they were five. Clearly he was taking it easy on the self-made girl, who probably didn’t have experience with such dances. Humoring the accomplished young woman with his approval for a moment before he would slink back to his family or patrol the crowds and make the necessary greetings and meaningless chatter.

What his family saw was Bruce taking time to slow his steps, not for Marinette to keep up but rather to prolong the event. What they saw was the grace in Marinette’s steps as she never once faltered, and that Bruce was careful to take his cues from her instead of the other way around. He only led the dance in technicality, Marinette had all the real control.

What they saw was a father’s first dance with his daughter.

“Eighteen,” Dick whispered, eyebrows drawn low. “She said she’s almost eighteen.”

“Well, that lines up doesn’t it?” Jason asked gruffly, his own gaze never leaving the dancing duo. “We were planning on doubling up your big thirtieth birthday party as your eighteenth adoption anniversary,” he reminded his brother, who just made a slightly distressed noise in the back of his throat. Whether it was at the reinforcement of his adoption coming only months after Marinette being put up for adoption, or the fact that he was turning thirty, nobody could really tell.

“Hurt,” Cassandra spoke up from behind them, looking incredibly concerned as she watched the dance. “Uncertain.”

Stephany rolled her eyes, fidgeting from her quickly building energy. Anger was making her restless. “Of course she’s hurt. Bruce replaced her, with a boy he knew virtually nothing about, not even that long after she was born. How do you think that made her feel, when she found out?” Stephany let out a little growl, grabbing a flute of champagne from a passing server and downing it in one gulp. She ignored Dick protesting that she wasn’t of age yet, which made her wrinkle her nose. “Only one more year, Dickhead. Get over it, I need the buzz.”

“Well,” Barbara sighed and maneuvered her wheelchair around the group so that everyone could see her. “Nothing we can do right now but be supportive and watch Bruce like a hawk so he doesn’t make this worse,” she stated easily, not looking even the least bit ruffled by the news despite the disturbed glitter in her eyes.

“... Guys,” Tim spoke up, not looking at any of them. “Who wants to volunteer for Damian duty?” At first glance, it might seem like Tim was thinking about his own first disastrous meeting with the younger boy. Once everyone paid attention though, they could see that the truth was that Damian had snuck away and Tim was pointedly looking at a slightly hidden-away staircase to the second floor.

“Shit,” Dick muttered, but before he could say another word Jason shoved him back and started towards the stairs.

“No, not this time Dicky. I’ll talk to the brat.”

Back on the dancefloor, Bruce and Marinette broke away without any fanfare at the end of the song. If Bruce tried to hold her eyes for a moment too long, nobody noticed besides his observant children, and two of Marinette’s protective friends.

Then, just to make sure that nobody caught on with the help of hindsight, Bruce said something vaguely polite and praising, which Marinette accepted with flawless, distant poise. And they went back to their own groups, Bruce quickly noting that two of his sons were missing. He raised an eyebrow, about to ask why when a presence behind him caught his attention. Unlike Marinette and Chloe, this newcomer was not at all trying to hide their approach or be sneaky about it, even though Bruce couldn’t hear any footsteps that were close enough to belong to the mysterious entity. Closing his mouth, Bruce turned around only to be greeted by yet another vaguely familiar face. Bright green eyes bore into his, unreadable.

“Mister Wayne,” the newcomer greeted, voice warm but stiff. If the Waynes hadn’t all had years of recognizing when a person was only pretending to be cordial, they never would have suspected that the boy was anything but pure-heartedly happy to be there. But they did have that experience, and thus they instantly honed in on the very well-hidden fact that he had a bone to pick with them. Or, more probably, with Bruce.

He cut an impressive figure, for all that he was lithe muscle instead of bulk. Hair that was lighter than Chloe’s, less like cloth-of-gold and more like sunlight glinting off of wheatfields. It somehow hung in gravity-defying tufts, yet perfectly arranged to evoke a calming aesthetic. Like the fluff of a long-haired cat, almost, and it looked just as fluffy and hypnotizing. It contrasted with his emerald eyes, impossibly vibrant in their gleam. And the suit he wore was decidedly top-notch, much like the other two they had met from his class. He was daring, in a dark silver suit that slightly shifted in the light, green accents that matched his eyes standing out strikingly against the collars and trim, and coiling in tantalizing swirls at the cuffs. The lining of the suit jacket was done in a dark green that could almost pass for black in the right lighting, adding a layer of both drama and mystery as it peeked out at the back of his collar, the insides of his sleeves if he moved just the right way, at the bottom hem of the jacket when he turned or bent just so. And with his notoriety in the modeling world? He always knew exactly how to move or place himself to get the reactions he wanted. And he was clearly showing off the craftsmanship of his suit just then as he faked adjusting his cufflinks and lifted his head just the right amount to both look challenging and let the dark green on the back of his collar flash in the light in such a way that Bruce and those nearest him wouldn’t be able to miss the brief reveal of color.

“Adrien Agreste,” Bruce greeted back, eyebrows pulling down in slight confusion. Normally the topic of clothing was far from his genuine interest, but in this particular case it was an intriguing, and possibly even concerning, observation. So he said next; “That suit is not of your father’s usual style of design.”

Adrien scoffed, straightening out his suit’s jacket and making the obsidian buttons glint. “Of course not. I’ve started my rebellious phase— or, well, I finally started being blatant enough about it that my father noticed anyway,” the way his lips curled was decidedly not very attractive, but painted a vivid picture of a son who despised the way he was treated. Adrien quickly wiped the distasteful expression away and replaced it with a camera-ready smile. “I’m wearing one of Marinette’s designs, much to his chagrin. She insisted on making this for me as soon as she heard that my father was planning on sending me in a white suit.”

Bruce quickly caught on, and sighed. How long would the gala go on for, again? He didn’t remember what time it was anymore. “Your friend Chloe already got a pretty clear warning in. I suppose you know as well?”

Adrien’s grin darkened with mischief, and he nodded all too happily. “Of course! Marinette told me almost as soon as she found out, a few years ago. You see, we had to put down a very solid rule about secrets between the two of us. She has a bad habit of trying to shoulder the entire world’s problems and not tell anyone about it, if you don’t pay close enough attention,” his voice was deceptively light but his eyes were hard, warning. “And let’s just say, I have a lot of experience with bad father figures. I can recognize them a mile away by now. The signs of neglect, of apathy,” his eyes suddenly lightened when he saw how Bruce’s throat visibly caught, how the man didn’t seem to realize he had stopped breathing. Maybe he was being a little to mean, Adrien thought. So he let the dark slip out of his eyes, and his smile turned more genuine. “You don’t have those signs. You looked at Marinette like you were both the happiest and most miserable man in the world at the same time. But you can’t change what you did to her, Mister Wayne. If you want some advice from Marinette’s oldest friend?” Adrien held out a closed fist.

Bruce took a second to realize what was happening, too busy trying to recover from his situational whiplash and wave of relief. Once he caught back up to the present, however, he held out his open palm and let Adrien drop something into his hand.

To his shock, it was a pen, engraved with the name he recognized as Marinette’s biological mother. He also recognized it as a popular model of pen-knife. He raised his eyes to Adrien, who winked.

“Marinette doesn’t know I had this made. And she has a lot of tricks that might surprise you, but what she wants more than anything is stability. If you try to give her that, show that you care and you want her safe— and then prove that you’re gonna stay— then maybe you can repair the damage you’ve done. It won’t be easy though, Mari is the single most stubborn person I’ve ever met. And I grew up with Chloe.”

Bruce closed his hand around the pen, swallowing a lump in his throat. He couldn’t quite figure out why, but Adrien’s faith in him and his help… somehow felt significant. He nodded to the young model.

“Not to worry, I have experience with stubborn,” he glanced back at his other kids with a small smirk. None of them were the least bit repentant. “And I do want to stay. Thank you for the advice.”

Adrien shrugged. “Don’t thank me. If you hurt her again, you’ll never see my revenge coming. It can be rather… catastrophic,” with that ominous threat, Adrien bowed dramatically and turned to leave and do some rounds charming the elites. Bruce tucked the pen in one of his hidden pockets, but stayed silent after that. He had a lot to mull over.

—*—*—*—*—*

Damian leaned on the railing of the balcony, looking out over the gardens behind the gala’s venue. He was glaring at nothing, and his hands trembled from where they gripped the rail. It was five minutes, a little longer than he had expected but not that odd considering everyone’s distraction over Marinette, before he heard the glass doors behind him creak open.

“Yo,” Jason greeted, knowing it was better not to catch the boy off guard. None of them were good with surprises anymore, for good reason. It was always best to announce their presence before they made someone react violently on accident. Damian’s shoulders relaxed a little— not a lot, but enough for Jason to notice. The older man sighed, walking up and leaning on the rail next to his little brother. “What’s on your mind, kid?”

“That could have been me,” he almost instantly blurted. It was still hard talking about his feelings, but certain things were easier with Todd. This was, apparently, one of them. “If Mother hadn’t kept me a secret.”

“I don’t think so,” Jason disagreed, shrugging. “There are several big differences here. For one, Marinette was born three years before you were. By the time you were born, he already had Dick and he would have only been a year, max, away from taking me in. Which means he already had built up his problem with taking in kids, and nothing would have gotten him to give up a chance at raising you. With or without Batman getting in the way.”

“But then why—” Damian growled. “Why did he give her up?”

“Because he’s an idiot,” Jason remarked bluntly. “You know how he is. He didn’t have a kid at the time. Hell, Bruce would have only been twenty-two back then. He only adopted Dick on impulse because Dick reminded him of himself, but before all of that shit? He probably made a million excuses about not being able to raise a baby and be Batman at the same time. About his life being too dangerous for a kid. Which, yes it is, but that clearly didn’t stop him later.”

“She’s older,” Damian muttered, this time softer.

“Yup.”

“Her mother wasn’t an assassin, probably. She designs. I hate to admit it, and you are never to repeat it to anybody, but her work that we’ve seen so far is impressive. She can clearly charm even the most stuck-up of gotham’s upper crust.”

“Yeah,” Jason agreed neutrally, his eyes never leaving Damian.

“Father won’t need me. He already doesn’t have much patience—” Damian was cut off by a flick to the nose. “Hey!”

“Not my fault you’re being stupid,” Jason defended himself. “Look, B’s actually been real patient with you these past few years. I mean, when was the last time he yelled at you? Or told you that stupid ‘justice not vengeance’ line?”

Damian opened his mouth, then closed it. After another moment, he replied; “Almost two years.”

Jason nodded. “It might take him way too long, but he can still learn new tricks. Especially after that mess with Heretic, he’s been trying really hard to be better to you. He still screws up, because I think we all know by now that he’s a bigger mess than any of the rest of us and that’s an accomplishment, but he’s trying. He doesn’t keep you around because he needs you. He’s got plenty of us around if all he wanted was soldiers— though none of us would stick around if we thought that’s all he wanted.”

Damian flexed his jaw. He was still the most violent of the kids, besides Jason. He saw Bruce rubbing his forehead or pinching his nose far too often at some of his decisions or comments. He was stubborn, impatient, reckless.

But hadn’t Bruce himself told him on several occasions that he wasn’t trying to make him a perfect soldier? Hadn’t Bruce himself said that he just wanted Damian to grow into himself?

It was just really hard to swat away those stupid voices in Damian’s head. Voices of the past, mostly, old dialogue he had never actually forgotten. That he merely pretended had never affected him. The “you’re too violent”s, the “that’s not how we behave, Damian”s. All the old lectures, the old fights. They echoed like stupid little gremlins of doubt.

“...Marinette has his eyes.”

“Don’t beat yourself up over something like that,” Jason’s voice was soft, but gruff at the same time as he cuffed Damian over the head. “You didn’t choose to be born, idiot. And despite being a little demon, none of us would reverse it, You’ve saved all our skins at least once. And besides,” he nudged Damian a little with a grin. “You’re not half bad, nowadays.”

Damian chuckled. “That makes one of us.”

“Hey!”

@peterxwade24 @mizzy-pop @maskedpainter @ladybug-182 @khneltea @itsmeevie01 @fusser90 @woe-is-me0 @lolieg @moonlightstar64 @jayjayspixiepop

#maribat #platonic jasonette #platonic daminette #platonic brucinette #ml x dc #mlb x dc #dc x mlb #dc x miraculous #maribat fic

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