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bubbles-for-all-of-us · 11 months

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Gonna hold you

Gonna kiss you in my arms

Gonna take you away from harm

a/n: So first and foremost, this is an early birthday present to my one and only true mate @brekkershadowsinger. You're an absolute love of my life and I'll never get tired of telling you that! Second of all, be gentle with me I haven't written for Az in a hot minute. 🤍

request: Since your requests are open could I ask for a Azriel x reader scenario? One where they are pinning for each other but someone obssesed with reader seduces/controls her with a enchantment or a spell and suceeds at some point, but our batboy realizes and comes to save her and that's when the bond snaps.

warnings: capture, kidnapping, murder... yeah

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"You're so smitten", Cassian says, trying to catch up with Azriel, who strides past the streets of Velaris. "No, I am not", the male grumbles back, picking up his pace. The two batboys were making their way to the little bakery that had opened not long ago. Well, it wasn't the bakery itself that was the reason for the trip, even if the baked goods there were to die for. It was you and you alone who had Azriel go there every free moment that he had.

"No, but you so are", Cassian said once again, since Azriel slowed down slightly while his thought lingered. "I swear if you don't shut up…", "You will stab me, burry me where no one could find me…", Cassian bent finger after finger as he named all the threats Azriel had made in the past two weeks since you had walked into his life. "But, dear friend, I'm mated to Nesta, so be wary of that", Azriel rolled his eyes at that threat. "As if she doesn't want to leave you in the ditch herself most of the time". To that, Cassian let out a loud gasp, "You take that back", but Azriel didn't even bother as he stepped into the little building, bending slightly since the doors were rather low for his tall frame.

This place used to be an ancient supply store before the war, but the owner never returned. Rhys had worked night and day trying to provide for families, hold their broken lives in his hands, and help them build them right back up. But the town shifted. There were many more new faces. Quite a handful of refugees from different courts have traveled here, full of hope and dreams, and Rhys has welcomed them all. Among that mass was you.

And mother struck Azriel dead, but he had never seen anyone else that was even close to what you were. He doubted that you had any magical powers. But in his eyes, you were the goddess of beauty herself. Someone who felt like a home at first glance. Someone who made it feel right. Who finally made Azriel slow down. Who got him so lost in his own mind that Azriel forgot about the steps in training.

The spymaster caught you refilling some couple's cups with a bright smile, and it was as if the room was glowing alongside you. You lifted your head, probably weary of the eyes watching you, and your face lit up once more. With the last goodbyes, you moved to walk closer to Azriel. Who looked way too big for this tiny place with his broad shoulders.

"Amazing, you're here. I thought I'd have to sit next to this sulking ass all morning", Cassian said, beating you to your first hello and leaving you quietly taken back by his words. Azriel threw him a deathly glare before yanking his man bun backward, causing the soldier to stagger back. "Don't pay him any attention; hit his head during training", Azriel's grip didn't loosen, and you couldn't help but frown slightly. "Ice?", the shadow singer hummed. "If it's not too much trouble, and two cups of tea while you're at it". You nod quickly before rushing towards the back room. "If you'll open your mouth one more time", Azriel glared at Cassian, who looked more like a toddler who just got a proper scolding from his mother than a scary Illyrian, "I'll sit still and look pretty, soldiers promise".

Azriel wasn't sure why he took Cassian with him in the first place, but he just had to. A part of him was scared. He got nervous around you. It was like all of his systems would overheat, and he would start ranting the most stupid nonsense, looking like an absolute loser. And well, no one besides Cassian knew about the feelings blossoming in the spymaster's heart. He was the one to point out that Azriel had fallen for you. The one who encouraged his brother to go offer you help with getting the bakery ready. The one who told him how to compliment you from time to time, even if it came out slightly weird at times. Azriel had never truly taken a liking to someone to this extent. So he needed backup, and well, Cassian was the best he got.

"You sure you don't need to see a healer?", Azriel snapped his gaze up, watching as you carefully pressed the pack of ice to Cassian's head. "I'm a worrier, lady; I've seen worse", Cassian's fingers brushed yours as he took the pack from your delicate fingers. A part of Azriel grew jealous. He wouldn't call himself territorial, and well, you weren't his, but still, it just didn't sit well with him. "And I made you tea how you like it", Pushing the cup towards the shadow singer, you smiled lightly. "Dash of milk and some honey", "Thank you, Y/N.", Azriel gave you a tight smile. Cassian nudged him under the table slightly, but it didn't seem to change much.

Your eyes scanned the bakery; considering that it was still pretty early, you didn't have too many customers to tend to, so you pulled the chair for yourself, wanting nothing more but to stay in the Illyrian presence for as long as possible. "The paint for the walls came", you muttered quietly, "I didn't open all the cans but had to peek to see the color", a light giggle escaped your lips, and Azriel wished he could hear that sound forever. "Do you have someone to help you?", Azriel never really liked that his voice sounded so harsh compared to yours, but he just didn't know how to make it sound more gentle. You shook your head. "Brian still can't move his arm; the healer said it has to stay wrapped for at least a couple more weeks". Brian was an older male who came along with you. You had told Azriel that he was the closest thing to family you had ever had, and so Azriel grew to respect the man who had given up a lot just so he could provide for you.

"I can come by and help; the next couple of evenings are free for me", Azriel said, but you shook your head, "I can't ask the spymaster of the night court to help me paint the walls". It was nice for him to offer, but this was too much. They had all done way too much already. "Don't worry, Azriel over here is capable of many things", Cassian said, clapping his brother on the shoulder, "Getting dirty just happens to be one of them", and Cassian was surprised that his head didn't meet the tabletop after those words.

Azriel did return to the bakery that same evening. The place was much more lively. All the tables were occupied, and you were twirling around them like a little bee, buzzing away with a never-ending smile on your face. Your light was the first thing that made you way out of his league. Everything you were, Azriel wasn't, and all he could think of was how he would stain you with his darkness.

"We don't have free tables, but I can make you a spot by the counter if you want?", Azriel jumped slightly at the sound of your voice. Mother, he needed to stop daydreaming around you so much. It was not good for his image, yet he just can't seem to keep his head in check. If beforehand all he could think about was work and the past, now it was all occupied by you.

"I can always just stay here", Azriel blurted out, gesturing to the side of the street, making your eyes grow big. "And eat on the ground, no way". Your much smaller hand grabbed his palm. And Azriel wanted to pull away, not wanting you to feel the scars that covered his skin, but your soft skin only presses against his palm firmly as you dragged him through the filled room.

Only when you two stepped into the little side room did Azriel speak up again, "I came to help with the paint". Another bland response; he generally needed to start working on that, but then you didn't seem to mind it. But what if you did? What if that ended up being the reason why you would potentially reject him? Not that you would ever want to do anything with him anyway.

"Az no..", his name rolling from your lips sounded sweeter than honey, and Azriel had to hold himself back from asking you to say it once again. "I'll work on some paperwork till you close, then we'll start painting", The spymaster shrugged his shoulders, summoning one of his shadows and pointing to the pile of papers the little dark creature barely managed to hold up. You gave him a look. One of those looks that Azriel hadn't yet learned to read.

"You know you won't reach the top of the wall anyway", the spymaster tried to reason, but you only crossed your arms over your chest. "I can get a ladder", you shrugged, "And fall over potentially, no", Azriel's voice sounded way higher. And now all he could see was you laying there unconscious. You said nothing for a bit, then leaned in, pressing a gentle kiss to Azriel's cheek. Some of his shadows started to twirl around him, causing the crimson blush on your cheeks to darken even more. You two lingered in silence tomorrow until you ran your hands over your apron and quietly slipped through the door back to the main part of the bakery. Azriel lifted his hand to his cheek, rubbing his fingers over the spot where your lips had been a moment ago.

"Can we paint shapes and then paint over them?", you giggled to yourself softly, a brush in your hand as you looked back at Azriel, who stood not far away from you, the sleeves of his shirt rolling up his arms, making his mucky arms seem even thicker. "Sure, do it if you feel like it", Azriel had watched you almost all night, and how could he not when you came to drag him out of the side room. Everyone was gone. You had pushed a couple of tables together, lit some candles, and had a warm meal steaming in the middle of the table. To say that Azriel's heart had nearly burst would have been an understatement. You had refused to tell him where the paint cans were until he had a proper meal because you had a feeling that he hadn't eaten much today.

"Do you paint?", you asked suddenly, finishing the outline of the flower that you had chosen to paint on the wall. "No, Fayre is the painter in the family", but that was only partly true. Feyre was the one who everyone knew for a fact painted in the family. So did Azriel; he just chose to do it in the comfort of his room. And for a while now, all he could draw and sketch was you. Was it in some way creepy? Yes, and that was the reason why no one would ever see it. But a part of Azriel feared that with time the memories of you might fade, so he wanted to capture and keep at least a couple of them.

"I heard that the high lady is a true beauty as well", you said with a dreamy sigh. Not even half as beautiful as you, Azriel wanted to say, yet he didn't. "Is it strange now that the city has been fed with newcomers?", You had dropped the brush back into the can by then, turning to watch Azriel's face. "More work on the safety part, but other than that, I don't care for it much", The hurt that suddenly shimmered in your eyes made Azriel want to add that you and Brian were by no means a part of the trouble. Or that he did care because that wave of refugees had brought you into his life, but those words seemed too big. Too close to the shadow singer's heart, so he choked them out.

"I guess everyone adapts differently", your eyes fell on the big bakery window, and for a moment, the room fell silent. Azriel found himself asking, "What do you mean?", when a stranger sensation started to twist his guts. "Oh, nothing too serious", you waved your head carelessly, "There's just this male. He comes by, stares through the window, and murmurs stuff ". Azriel's eyebrows knitted together in an instant. The worrier inside him woke up immediately. Red flags and warning signals rang in his ears. You must have sensed the tension and the shift in soft energy.

"Brian ushered him away a couple of times", you tried to reassure the spymaster. Brushing your fingers over one of the shadows that had started to swirl around the room. "I'll look into him", Azriel said firmly. "That is unnecessary", you followed suit straight away, but it seemed as if Azriel didn't hear you. "Maybe get one of the males I trust to stay nearby". You pulled at his hand softly. Letting your fingers tangle with him as you squeezed his hand, you said, "That is even more unnecessary".

Azrie wanted to argue, but then you were so close to him. He could feel your heartbeat. He could feel your body's warmth. He could smell you. He could touch you. And he did softly brush a strand of hair away from your face. "I'm sure the man just suffered a serious trauma during the war. We all deserve to have some peace, and if watching through the bakery window gives him that, let it be", you broke the silence once more before leaning in to press a kiss to Azriel's chest.

Just Azriel couldn't let it be. Especially when Rhys and the work on his hands kept him away from the bakery for the next couple of days. He felt restless. Even on the first night after not seeing you, Azriel was ready to just fly to you. Even if it was just so he could listen to your heartbeat for a moment.

And his concerns only grow when he and Cassian eventually made their way to the bakery. Brian was pacing in front of the building, the cane he uses to get around wobbling in his hands. "Sir", Azriel called out carefully, not wanting to startle the old man even more. And the way Brian's face both lit up at the sight of the spymaster and fell at the same time made Azriel think of the worst possible scenarios. "She's gone", Brian reached the bandaged hand towards Azriel, shaking as a leaf in the midnight air. "What do you mean gone?", Azriel tried to stay professional, to not let the words spoken affect him—not yet, not now; he needed a clear mind. "She.. she just", Brian's legs bucked, but Azriel quickly steadied him, throwing a glance at his brother who stood nearby, "Cassian, grab a glass of water".

Walking the male to the nearest chair to sit down, Azriel allowed him a moment to breathe. But he can see the need in Brian's eyes as he spoke up again< "She wasn't like herself. Her eyes… they looked dead". At this point, Azriel felt the fear start to choke him slowly. Let its nails dig into his throat and squeeze as hard as possible.

"Then that man came, and she just walked out with him", Brian gestured to the window, and Azriel instantly knew that he had made the biggest mistake when he agreed to drop this. Everyone deals with their trauma differently. How does this man do, then? By stealing young, innocent females?

"What man?", Cassian asked, and the question was needed. In place. And required when they dealt with trouble in the city. Just Azriel didn't count this as yet another mission in the city. His mind was working so fast that he gently started to feel like he was seeing sounds and hearing colors. "Azriel…", Brian called out for the spymaster, and he instantly drew his eyes back to the man, who had reached out to him once again. "She's been so happy with you the past couple of weeks, and it looked like she had no recollection of that when she left". Azriel didn't let the words set it. Happier. Happier because of you. Happier because she found something in you. Happier for the first time in a long while. Happier, just like you deserved to be, but where are you now? Where was he supposed to find you?

"We're going to the house of wind", Azriel said firmly as he stood up. "Rhys will look into your mind. I need to see the man's face. I need to know what to look for. Need to…", Cassian clasped Azriel's shoulder and said, "Start by taking a breath in", The general of bloodshed could practically feel Azriel's heart trying to beat out of his chest, "We'll find her; we won't stop until she's back home".

They are not wrong when they say that the unknown is what you fear most in life. You can handle things going bad; you can even prepare for and predict some of them, but it's when the situation is laced with uncertainty that it hits you, crippling you to your core. Azriel felt like he had lost a part of himself. As if one of his limbs had been cut off and he just now realized the necessity of it. Walking aimlessly, thinking thoughts that lead nowhere. He had everything. Everything that he didn't even know he had was gone. He hadn't even stopped to acknowledge it. Azriel's shadows had been twirling all over Velaris, but in a couple of hours, they had led him nowhere near you.

That was until such a strong sensation hit him. Like banging from behind closed doors. Something was reaching and clawing to get his attention. Azriel gripped his chest abruptly. The voices in the room died down. Turning into unidentified muffles. Where are you, Azriel ran that question through his mind once more. Where are you, my little light? The pain ripped through him once more, and the spymaster let out a quiet growl.

"I say we move the search out of the city", Rhys said, pointing to the areas he would suggest checking first on the map. "The mountains", Cassian also added. But Azriel shook his head, "No", the two bat boys exchanged glances, "Azriel", "I said no". Cassian wanted to speak, but Rhys shook his head quickly before saying, "We just want to…", "I can fucking feel her. I feel her here. She's here", Azriel roared as he quickly stood up.

Rhys read the situation fast, a knowing gleam flickering in his eyes. He too had been in a situation where the world was working against him and the love of his life, and now, with Azriel standing in front of him panting like a hurt animal, Rhys knew the truth and knew where this was leading, "Say a word, and we will go where you feel that she is kept".

The place was nothing more than a cave, a cave covered and drenched in dark magic enchantments. Tucked away on the north side of Velaris. Easy to miss because nothing hid you away more than the darkness itself. In the darkness, you could easily blend into absolute nothingness. You were there with your dress ripped to bits, twirling like a spring flower; just your face looked dead. No emotions. Eyes unseeing. The male motioned for you to step forward. And you did—no fighting, no pleading. Fully in control. The necklace gleamed in the firelight. The voices inside Azriel's head roared. That must be the main source of this insanity, then.

It took all of Azriel's self-control not to just march in there right then and there. He didn't want to wait for everyone to get into their position. This meant that he had to watch you being toyed with for one more minute, and it was already one minute too long. His hands gripped both of the daggers that he was holding. He thought of all the ways he knew how to end a life. All the ways he could drag out a death. Everyone deals with trauma in their own way. Your voice echoed in Azriel's mind once more. Well, this was how Azriel dealt with his.

When they finally struck, they quickly realized that the place was filled with at least a handful of other girls, all drained to the point of barely standing. Whatever had been happening here had been overseen, and for that, Azriel was ready to take the blame because this should have never been a thing in the first place. It was Azriel who pierced the male straight through the heart, letting Rhys devour the rest with his dark magic, crushing whatever remained of it around the cave. The moment the enchantments vanished, the place was filled with females gasping and crying. Please, confusion. Azriel noticed Cassian softly talking to some of the women. We're here to help, not to harm. Even if it seemed far too late.

Azriel's eyes fell on your shaky frame. The tugging in his chest continued with every step that he took closer to you. Your body flinched right as the spymaster kneeled in front of you, but the moment your eyes met his, you leaped forward, burying yourself in his strong chest. Azriel wrapped his arms around your middle without a second thought.

"I got you; you're safe; you're all okay", he whispered over and over, fingers brushing through your hair gently. "Az", you muttered almost in disbelief still, holding onto the spymaster as if your life depended on it, and in a way it did. "Yeah, my love, it's me", pulling away slightly, Azriel cupped your face, wanting nothing more than to bring back that happy gleam to your eyes once more.

"Az", you murmured once more, now watching him, memorizing him, and remembering him. "No one will ever harm you", Azriel stated firmly. He wouldn't allow it. Never again. You were his to look after now. You shook your head in disbelief, your delicate fingers brushing over the spymaster's sharp jaw. "It's you", your voice was nothing but a whisper, and Azriel couldn't help but smile as he turned his head to the side to kiss your palm, "It's me", he said.

"My…", but your breathing hitched as your head lulled back. Azriel was quick to steady your neck, but it didn't stop the panic from spiraling. You can't die. You couldn't have just died. His eyes darted to Rhys, who slowly approached you two and said, "Let's bring her back home, hun?".

Watching you sleep—at least that's what Madje said—was torture. Azriel was glad that your body was doing everything in its power to wear off the stress as quickly as possible, but he had to hear you tell him that you were okay. That you weren't hurt. That nothing happened there because he would bring back that fucker once again just so he could skin him again.

Your body stirred slightly, and Azriel held his breath. The flicker of the bond between you grew brighter. It fully snapped into place for Azriel when he stepped out of the cave with your unconscious body in his arms. He couldn't help but wonder what the last thing you wanted to say was. My what? Love? Savor? Mate? He would take any of those; he just needed to see your eyes once more.

With a couple of slow blinks, your eyes shot open, your breath picking up as the unfamiliar room filled your senses. He did not bring you back home, he wanted to be with you until you woke up, so his room felt like the most comfortable place at the time. "It's okay; you're in my room; you're safe now", he said softly, reaching out for your hand. Your gaze fell onto him once more, eyes filling up with tears.

"Come here", Azriel muttered. Sitting closer to you, he brought you into his arms, mindful of the weight of his wings pressing against your legs. Your arms sneaked around his neck as you held him close. Azriel sent nothing but love and light through the bond in hopes of soothing you even more, and he was more than surprised when he felt the same love coming back from your side.

The shadow singer pulled away slightly; he hated seeing your tear-stained eyes. "You…", he started, and you nodded your head. Knowing without words what he was about to say. Mates. As odd and unexpected as it was, you two were chosen for each other. A light smile painted your lips as you pressed your forehead against his. Azriel breathed you in. Finally allowing himself to let go of the tension. Finally letting himself believe that you were safe.

"Could I", you started, crimson tinting your still pale cheeks, "Could I kiss you?" The question was nothing but innocent. Yet carried by nothing but a desire to feel whole. To find that extra strength in having someone you could fully lean onto. Azriel brushed some of your hair from your face, his fingers caressing your cheek, "You don't have to ask because I would love nothing more".

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All acotar writing taglist: @brekkershadowsinger @cityofidek @baebeepeach @lucyysthings @hideings @urfavbrunettebish @historygeekqueen @marina468 @courtofjurdan

#azriel x reader #azriel imagine #acotar imagine #acotar x reader #azriel

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shleepyissleepy · 4 months

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When Sweet Meets Savory

Alastor/GN!Reader

Prolouge

Content warnings: Vague depictions of violence and death.

Notes: Descriptions, name, and gender of the reader is left alone.

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Dropping ass first into hell wasn't exactly on today's to-do list. The last thing you remember upon waking up in the middle of a bustling, critter ridden city was that you had just gone out for your morning stroll. It was quiet out. The fog had just begun to settle in, and it seemed that the day was due for a little rain. You had plans to go shopping, tidy up your quaint little apartment, and get some chores done. Perhaps read a book or two while your record player sang sweet melodies. Yes, a peaceful, productive day was in the works, well that was, until you decided to take a detour through the trail just short of less than a mile it'd take otherwise to get to the convenience store.

Something felt incredibly off. Entering the forest opening were the trail began, and stepping past the overgrowth of weeds and roots, it was clear this area of the neighborhood didn't get many guests. Normally, it's a smooth sailing walk, besides tripping over a couple of rocks and roots, that takes less than 10 minutes to walk through fully. However, today, it seemed you had a plus one. Someone had followed you into the trail, judging by the crackling footsteps behind you. Part of you assumed they just happened to be going the same way you were, but it just felt... wrong.

Anxiety started bubbling up in the pit of your stomach. Of course, you must be overreacting, but it couldn't hurt to pick up the pace a bit. Bad move. Immediately, the steps behind you move faster, and out of reflex, you do as well, sending you to full-on sprint. Slapping branches out of your way and jumping over protruding mounds of dirt at the speed you were going, mixed with the ever-growing fear as agitated grunting and heavy steps close in behind you causes you to hyperventilate. You didn't even make it halfway through the trail when the perpetrator caught up to you, tackling and pinning you down. You wondered if anyone heard your screams, or if anyone found your mutilated body.

Well anywho, that's how you found yourself here, admist the chaos of a crimson city. Honestly, you expected more fire and pitchforks. Adapting to your new environment took some time, well okay, a lot of time. Eventually, when you stumbled upon your reflection for the first time, you had audibly yelled in shock and fell on your ass. If you had a nickle for everytime that's happened since you got here you'd have two, which is not a lot but it's funny that it happened twice. Finding somewhere to settle proved extremely difficult given the fact that it was hell and everything came with a price, whether it be in the form of an "act of service", to giving up your mortal soul... and an absurd amount of money, of course. Which was why you eventually found yourself standing at the ominous front entrance of the comically infamous in completely bombing, Hazbin Hotel.

A place meant to house and redeem sinners. To be completely honest, you knew exactly why you were here in hell, however you were not very keen on sharing that information. But maybe if you could waltz in, and give a good enough introduction to apply for a job here, you may also get to have a decent roof over your head. Now the only issue with this little plan, was that there was literally no job openings that you knew of listed here, so you had to come up with... well something. Maybe coming here on a whim was a terrible idea, or it might just be the best decision you'll ever make in your undead life. You'll never know until you open those doors.

With a sigh and somewhat confidant stance, you push open the double doors, reveling in the crimson golden glow of the hotel. Immediately you find yourself in the lobby with pointedly no check in desk. Clasping your hands behind your back, you survey the interior and notice a bar to the left of you. A cat like demon with wings is behind the bar cleaning a glass, and actively avoiding to look in your general direction, but he definitely knows you're there. Just before you can finish examining your surroundings, a cheery voice booms infront of you.

"Hellooo!" You stumble back, eyes wide like a deer caught in headlights. A young woman in a red suit stands before you and practically touching noses with you seconds prior.

"Oh my gosh I'm sososo sorry I didn't mean to spook you, I'm just so excited to see a new guest!" Her voice trails off in a giddy nature, her heels rocking lightly. Finally you begin to process that the princess of hell, Charlie Morningstar, is in front of you. Which of course you expected, but not quite imagining it like this. Releasing the tension in you posture you hold out a hand to shake, introducing yourself. She practically shakes your arm off.

"It's so nice to meet you, I'm Charlie Morningstar- ah, but you can just call me Charlie..." backing away with a spin, her arms reaching out beside her in a grand display.

"Welcome to the Hazbin Hotel~!" She ends of with a sing song tune to her voice.

"Ah, it's nice to meet you as well...uhm but I'm here looking to be a guest, per say." Shit. You really didn't think this through. Also "per say"? Who says that??? Charlie laughs faintly, closing the distance once again to hold one of yoy hands in hers in a polite sort of fashion.

"Ah nonsense. Everyone is a guest here!" She tugs your hand gently but with purpose, guiding you towards the bar.

"C'mon lemme show you around, this is the baarr and the bar tenderrr.~" The demon behind the bar finally shoots you a non-committal glance before going back to scrubbing a... completely clean glass... yeeahhh. You give him a polite wave regardless and move on.

Over the course of the next thirty minutes, Charlie gives you a tour around the hotel. You couldn't help but feel charmed by her excited nature. She gushed on and on about the hotel and its goals, she seemed really committed to this place, you could practically see the sparkle in her eyes. Eventually, she got to asking you about what brings you to the hotel, your goals and such. Welp, time to bullshit something!

"Well you see, I'm here on business. I see your vision of redeeming souls, and I have an offer for you, if you're interested." Please almighty Lucifer be interested. She urges you to continue.

"I have a wonderful idea that could add some frosting to the cake, if you will. To your lessons and exercises. How do you feel about opening a library?" An awkward pause floats in the air. Charlie cocks her head slightly as she feigned a smile.

"Ah... a library?" You pat the air with your hands to wave away the tension. Internally screaming at the single braincell in your head to come up with something.

"Let me elaborate." Clearing your throat, you straighten your posture. A shiver runs down your back, and there's a dry spot in your throat. Time to make the pitch.

"With a library, guests can find themselves a quiet escape, something healthy and stimulating. Not only that, but you could utilize a library for writing and reading exercises. What's a better way to connect with people and to express yourself? I can offer poetry and calligraphy lessons, teach others to write about their experiences and through this medium, perhaps there would be a better chance to really help sinners along the way to redemption!" Slightly out of breath, you finish off with your best award winning smile. Most of that was just complete bullshitting out of your ass, but there was some truth to it. You always found comfort in setting like a library, or a cozy cafe in the hidden nook of a shopping center. Reading and writing has been proven to be therapeutic and a good medium for expressing yourself. Letting the mind wander and letting your imagination take hold of a pen- you're losing focus.

Your eyes snap back to Charlie from where they had trailed off, she stares back wide eyed. Worried you may have offended her for even pitching this ridiculous idea, you began to apologize. However you were interrupted by her grabbing your shoulders. She stood on the very tips of her toes and gleamed.

"That. is. a. WONDERFUL IDEA!" She spins you around for a moment before gushing further about all the new ideas she has for lesson plans and exercises.

After a while of banter back and forth, you were surprised and relieved to hear that you got the job. Not only that, but you were extatic to hear that you would be receiving your own room. Score! This is exactly what you needed. Now the only issue was the fact that the hotel... did not have anywhere to put a library, but that can be arranged! Charlie said she knew the perfect person for the job...

...and that was when you immediately regretted your decisions.

#hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel alastor #alastor x reader #alastor x y/n #alastor hazbin hotel #tumblr was bugging out and I thought I lost everything #almost threw my phone

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halcyone-of-the-sea · 10 months

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DEVIL BIRDS (VII)

|| COV MASTERLIST || NEXT: CHAPTER VIII ||

PAIRING: Kyle 'Gaz' Garrick x F!Reader.

WORDCOUNT: 5.3k

WARNINGS: Various crimes & illegal activity, paranoia, angst, mentions of death, trauma, inner turmoil, etc.

*I do not give others permission to translate and/or re-publish my works on this or any other platform*

You supposed that grabbing a hat would have saved you from having to worry about being seen, but you’d been too caught up in trying to sneak out as quickly as possible. Jacket flapping, your legs move fast over the open field of your estate, sprinting through the garden beds and past the thick copse with its willow trees and pond. The pathways were overgrown and you nearly trip over upturned pieces of rock.

But you can’t stop giggling.

Your face pulls in a fast smile, eyes alight with eagerness. You feel like you have a purpose for the first time in years.

“Alright,” you whisper under your breath as you chart your course to the town. Maybe you could even catch Hector closing up and snag a coffee off of him. “Museum. Dad’s old office.”

At your steady pace, you enter the beginnings of the businesses as the streetlights slip over you like water, bathing you in the glow as your breath puffs out. The air was cold, and you keep your jacket tight to your form as your shoes travel forward, slowing.

In your pocket, you twiddle your coin and wonder if you should have snooped in Gaz’s things for your penknife, lips thinning at the idea.

You were stubborn, but not stupid; you knew this wasn’t a good idea.

But…it’s too late for that now.

Shadows grew long as your eyes darted to open alleyways to the dull wind, glee dimming the longer you walk alone. After a moment you peek behind your form and nearly forget that Kyle wasn’t there with a flinch in your step.

Have you really…grown used to having him follow you around?

Why did it feel so threatening when he wasn’t there?

Your body tenses as a bottle across the street falls from the sidewalk to the asphalt with a clattering ping, rolling in the way that glass does as you watch. Clearing your throat, you continue on as your heart spreads blood throughout your veins.

“Keep it together, you’re fine,” you hiss to yourself, not liking this new way of thinking. Sure you were considered a recluse—didn’t enjoy being out more than you had to in loud places—but…hell. You can’t start relying on Gaz for comfort.

But he saved you. Your mind slashes to the shooting in the park and you sigh as you get closer to Hec’s shop.

Kyle had been kind to you, he gave pieces of himself like leaves from a tree to try and make you soften to him. The watch and the story, the stitches that still live in your hand. Soft words. Your gut bunches in your abdomen.

You weren’t one to push past hurts—you lived with them, carried them like a parcel of goods at a picnic. The gun, the kidnapping, the…darkness of it all. If the Sergeant was capable of all of that, well, you weren’t sure it was in your best interests to allow him to carve a piece of your soul out with his bright smiles and amused smirks.

Soon the rest of the One-Four-One would be done with their missions overseas hunting down Yaromir Osipov and Mala Kham and it would all be over. You could go back to living in your mansion, alone, with the lack of lights and the sub-par meals. The ghosts. The covered furniture and the dead memories. You press the coin deeply into your palm.

…Why didn’t you like that thought?

Hector’s place came up as you stew in your confusion, seeing the low lights spilling out over the empty streets. You hum before pushing open the door, hearing the call from the back kitchen.

“One minute!” That Jersey accent is the same as it always is. Your body takes you to the counter, shuffling out your wallet and tossing bills to the wood before sneaking a ten into the tip jar. Everything for a moment slips away until only coffee and baked goods remain. “Christ, you folks don’t sleep, do ya?”

Hector comes out from the back, pausing before locking onto your blank face.

“Holy shit!”’ He laughs brightly. “Hey there, Kid! It’s been a bit, how’s it all going? I’ll admit I got a little worried when you stopped showing up.”

“School’s been tough,” you lie easily, shifting a smile to your lips. The man gets going on your drink immediately as you explain. “Thought I’d go on a walk and stop by. I’m heading into the city.”

Hector stills momentarily, fingers twitching as he pours your drink into a cup. His throat hums out slowly, “The city? Ain’t it too late for all of that? What’re you going there for?”

“Just,” you pick up your addiction and let the warmth seep into you. What was the harm in telling him, after all? Hector was the closest thing to a friend you could have right now. “Wanna head by the museum. Feeling sentimental, I guess.”

You almost hated how easy it was to lie to everyone.

“Ah,” the man nods and you stare at his neck before blinking at the sound of the phone ringing. “Shit,” Hector darts, and you had seen his heart dashing in his breast. “That’s me, Kid. Gotta take this.”

He slips a hand into his pocket and disappears back from where he came from.

“See you,” but Hector’s already gone and you sigh out, “...later.”

You turn on your heels and leave, something akin to confusion in your chest. Strange, not even a goodbye. If Hector was one thing, it was usually casual.

“Whatever.”

The train ride is silent as you sit in the back, stiff in your seat and not enjoying the eerie silence at all; sipping on your drink. Every time you look across to the emptiness you’re stuck with a great bout of unease but every time tell yourself that this was the only way to get answers. Your father’s office had to have answers, even as small as a single word.

There just…needed to be something. There had to be.

When you step off into the station and lightly jog away, you pep yourself up with this thought as you drop your empty cup into the trash.

If you find information about your dad and his dealings, maybe Kyle won’t go absolutely ballistic if he finds out you left. You almost cringe at the thought of his tight jaw and clipped words; his silent broodiness wasn’t in your control. That was what terrified you.

Like a cat you slinked along the streets, recalling the route you took so often when you were younger—the bookstore across the road, the Irish bar you’d have to pass as you slide left. Skyscrapers and planted trees, fast cars with their lights on. It was all familiar, and in that fact, you took the smallest comfort.

Despite it all, there were still remnants of a time long passed. There were still pieces, and the museum was the biggest piece of them all.

Your eyes dig into the dark and blackened building with its white pillars; two sets of stairs leading up and up. It’s wider than it is tall and set apart from all other buildings or stores like a sentinel of history. The parking lot is bare besides a handful of cars far out into the open area of plotted greenery, and your vision seeps like water from one place to another. Your father’s old workplace is large and imposing—a giant of cream stones.

After a minute or two of hesitation, you take the long walk around the museum to the back across its nine acres, climbing up a chain-link fence.

Now was really when the anxiety snuck in.

Fingers shaking, you know there are exactly five night guards on duty; had even met a few before the accident. The problem was getting in with the front door locked and sneaking into the employee-only section. Obviously, this amounted to breaking and entering except for the simple fact that…

“Shit,” you let the rare curse growl out of you, staring at the steady blinking light inside of one of the many back windows.

Cameras.

When had they added those in this section? Your mind jumps from one thought to the next, straining.

“Okay, okay,” you calm yourself and rub your neck. “Think.” Blinking, your gaze slows itself on the maintenance ladder leading to the roof, eyes slowly widening. Perhaps with all of these horrendous ideas you’re cooking up like five-star meals, you might end up killing yourself before anyone else can. “Save everyone else the trouble, at least,” you grumble under your breath.

Your foot hits the first rung when you slowly stride over and you take a breath, hands sweaty as they quiver before you grab the metal. At the side, the bright sign burns into your retinas like looking directly into the sun. It was embarrassing, really.

“NO TRESPASSING: VIOLATORS WILL BE PROSECUTED.” Red and white mock you in their color scheme.

“Kyle is going to lock me in the storage closet,” your mouth mutters, but you only shake your head and push upward with the thought process of everything you’d done so far wasn’t worth giving up on.

Surprisingly, you had less reservations about all of this illegal activity than you rightly should have—a sort of distance from it. As if everything was being seen through the lens of a photographer spreading linen over his equipment before snapping that picture. Already in your head, you were counting the charges that could be levied against you with a blank face.

Trespassing.

Your hands and feet take you higher, the steady creak of your weight on the old metal.

Breaking and entering.

Breath puffing out, you get to the top after a tall vertical climb, pulling yourself over the edge and slapping to the roof of the left side of the museum. Flat concrete holds the bodies of roof ventilation turbines, AC units, and electrical equipment all shades of gray and sun-bleached yellow. Flopping on your belly, you scoot forward until you’re able to shove with your arms up from the roof.

“...Burglary,” you huff out, frowning. But was it really stealing if it belonged to your dad?

Kyle’s crossed arms and his tight lips slash through your head like the pissed-off angel on your shoulder.

“Shut up,” you growl out to his image, stalking forward to figure out your next plan of action. “If I wanted your opinion I would have asked.”

After a minute or two of snooping, your only option came in the form of a ventilation shaft jutting out of the museum; a monster of silver metal and roaming sections like a large snake. You blink at it and play with the coin in your pocket, tapping a foot.

The problem was the grate.

Twiddling your fingers in your pockets, you bite at your lip and furrow your brows, knowing how much time you’d already lost. At most, you could stay here maybe twenty minutes before you had to rush back to the mansion.

Is that enough time? After all, you didn’t even know what you were looking for.

Taking out your coin, you roll it over your knuckles while glaring at the grate—eyes burning into the small ‘+’ of the Combination Head screws set into the four, shining, corners. Above, the moon was letting your shadow lay long over the roof.

Halting your fiddling, you get the spark of an idea while you catch your coin, the things blue and bronze color subdued in the darkness. Looking down at it in your bandaged palm—dried blood stuck in the old gauze—you run a thumb over the engravings and slowly look back to the screws.

“Maybe,” your voice whispers out. Flipping the metal object, you walk and slot the side of your precious coin into the head of the top right screw, jimmying it in with a growing smirk as it sits in a straight line.

Jiggling it, the small fastening of the grate squeaks before its body gets slowly twisted to the side by your tight-knuckled grip, skin thin as it struggles to turn. A small noise of victory leaves you when the rust under the bond flakes off, the screw now quickly moving outward for you.

You didn’t want to blow your own horn quite yet, but this was going smoother than you could have hoped for.

When all remaining screws were on the roof and your coin was back in your pocket, you were staring at the gaping wound that is the entrance to the ventilation shaft. For the first time in the night, you wondered about the consequences of acting like this. Your father had preached honestly when he was alive—telling you that the best thing a person could be was true.

The phone in your pocket was like a brick as your heart stampeded.

“C’mon.” He speaks blankly, whatever sly teasing and amusement from earlier today completely gone. “Exfil point is a block away—we need to move.”

You can’t do much more than follow, your head screaming at you.

“B-but what about…” Wanting to ask about the people who are back in the park, not quite understanding the horror yet.

Sensing this, Kyle knows it’s better to respond briefly.

“They’re dead.” You flinch at the truth, hearing the bitter reality settle in coupled with the man’s bluntness.

Dead. Row, the others, your father. “But if I find the answers,” you try to steady yourself, leaning closer to the inky duct. “Maybe all of this can go away. No one else has to die. I have to…” You push forward, “I have to do this.”

Gaz’s words had touched you in the kitchen. His willingness to speak to you. No one else ever bothered. He’d be more than angry—furious with this, but how could you explain that this was so much more to you than a price on your head? You felt he already knew, truthfully, but you’d never been good at listening much less looking into his eyes to see if he’s being genuine.

There was a piece of you that had wanted to glance up at him while you were against the island, just a swift peek. You’d shut it down just as quickly as it had come, but, still.

The thought had been there.

Knees hitting the metal, you crawl far into the vent, enclosed on all sides except forward and backward. Not once did you think about how you’d get back out as you start taking the twists and turns of the chilled metal square, on a mission in your own right. Taking shallow breaths, you pull and slide your shoulders through, getting to the first dip and slipping down as your hands squeak.

“Woah,” you hissed to nothing, your voice bouncing off and echoing back to your ears. “Christ.”

Your form clanks along, trying to be as quiet as a mouse but only being successful if that mouse was being rapidly slammed against a wall. Along the way, you would have to make decisions about which way to go—right or left—and you would have to imagine yourself walking around the museum as if you were inside it.

Paleontology down there, your head is bent to the left and you huff and feel sweat dribble down your forehead. I need to be near Botany.

You take the right with a bit of worry set into your veins. What if you got lost in here? Would they find your body years later? You shiver and grimace.

“Nothing will go wrong—!” Your voice cuts out as you plummet down a decline, face ricocheting off the metal with enough force to rattle your brain. You groan long and low in your throat as blood fills your nose. “...One thing can go wrong…” Your sleeve presses into your nostrils as you shuffle on slower and steadier.

You were never making it back to your estate on time.

It’s fifteen minutes of bumbling and cursing, to your mother’s horror, before you turn to a thick grate at a dead end. Across your position, you’re able to make out a plaque on the far wall by straining your eyes through the darkness; you lock on the white letters of the self-designated ‘Authorized Personnel Only’ area.

Your bloody lower face peels back in a breathless smile as you pant.

Hands pressing into the ventilation grate, you prod with all of your strength and bite into your lip as you do; lungs tight with exertion. Just as you start to feel a small movement in the metal, whistling hits your ears.

Immediately stopping, you hold your breath and lock your eyes on the slowly walking form of one of the security guards. A great frozen feeling overcomes your bones—nearly the same that had hit you when you’d been behind that garbage can with Gaz in the park. You stare wide-eyed and open-mouthed, heart in your ears.

The guard was clothed in white and black, keys at his belt jangling and a flashlight in his hands as he spreads a tune. Large and bald, he paused across the way and turned his head in your direction. You tense and stifle a sharp inhale, ducking just the slightest bit back.

But he doesn’t bother looking into the vent while he takes out a tissue from his pocket and proceeds to blow his nose as you watch, flinching at every loud snort.

“Gah,” the guard rubs at his nose, “...gettin’ too old for this. Should be back at home already. Need to have Jerry give me that raise…”

Tossing the used tissue into an adjacent trash can, the man moves on with a bend to his spine, showing his fatigue as his free hand rubs at the back of his neck.

You put your fingers over your mouth, blinking incredulously as he turns a corner out of sight—whistles tune getting smaller and smaller.

“I’m going to have a heart attack,” you grunt, waiting a minute more before taking a deep breath and placing your shaking grip back into the grate. “Kyle, you should have tried to make me stay home harder.”

Your digging words hit no one, and you gasp as the vent cover pops off with a slide of metal. You snatch a hand to grab it, panicked, but the thing fully slips from your fingers as your heart gets stuck in your throat.

The sound when it hits the bench right under and then finally slams to the floor is enough to make you get bile in the back of your throat.

It echoes over the museum like you had just chucked a glass bottle at a man’s head in the middle of High Mass—louder than a thunderclap. The silence that follows after is just as violent.

It’s like you count the seconds as your hands extend from the dark square, face lacking blood and chin loose.

Did that…what just…

When the quick, hard, footsteps start running back in your direction, you’re scrambling out of the vent faster than you can think about your limbs moving. Feet slipping and hands latching onto the edge of the opening with a thinning of your pupils as you shove yourself out.

You land on the bench and clatter to the ground just like the vent but quickly recover against the roving pain on account of pure adrenaline.

“Shit, shit, fuck!” Your mouth snarls, vulgar curses slipping out as you snatch the grate into your arms and push through the Authorized Personnel door with a loud shoulder shove. Darting to the side of the opened door, you slip behind it into the corner; mind running a mile-a-minute. Think!

Running would only make it worse, the guard would hear you and follow after. You look down at the metal in your hands as a shout rings just feet away—panting breath and the jingle-jangle of keys.

“Who's out there?! Show yourself!” Your lips thin, thinking over those possible changes again and adding in another.

…Battery.

When the guard walks through the door and takes a few steps in, wildly flashing his light back and forth, you slowly raise the vent grate in your hands. Taking a small, shaky breath, you tighten your grip and whack the man in the back of the head.

He falls with a large thump, body hitting the ground as you stand above him with wide eyes and a guilty conscience, bones rattling in your flesh.

“Jesus, I’m so sorry,” he’s groaning, stunned, as you swiftly place the grate on the wall and run back past him. “It’s nothing personal, really. I…you're going to be fine—a…a bruise, that’s it.”

Dashing down the hallway, you leave him behind, but only after you steal his keys and begin to read each name tag on the walls, searching for the familiar title of your father at lightspeed.

Theft.

“I’m such an idiot!” Quietly barking out, you take a left and skid to a stop finding the exact door you needed to get into—the one at the very end as well as the largest and most fancy looking. You could have easily picked the lock with a stray bobby pin and a stick from one of the fake plants outside in the hallway, but now with the keys…

You push through the hundreds on the chain, palms sweaty and breath not slowing down. You’re muttering to yourself in a frenzied state, feet trading weight.

“C’mon, c’mon, c’mon, hurry up!” You find MD carved into the metal and stick the key into the door, twisting and hurrying through. Closing the door behind you loudly, you let your body pant as you hold it shut, palms to the grain; it’s a second before your forehead meets the barrier and you groan lowly.

Rubbing at your scalp, you stand up straight and turn to the room.

Except there is a suspicious lack of boxes along the carpeted floor.

“What!?” You yell, before you slap a hand to your mouth. “What?” Your lowered, repeated, question is strained and aggressive, but in reality, you should have expected this. It had been three years, after all. Maybe you had yet to realize the entire world hadn’t stopped just because yours had.

Jogging over to the computer, you slide the keyboard out from inside the desk and tap the spacebar to wake it up, growling to yourself. You knew they had kept your father’s things, but you didn’t know where they put them—you were supposed to have picked them up during the first year but…well, you know how that year went.

You grimace and shake your head, restraining yourself from touching your coin.

If you could hack into the CIA database, this was a piece of cake; it took no more than a minute, already looking at the wallpaper of a woman named Lorena Bennett with her pet cockatoo on her shoulder. Immediately you head to the emails.

“Okay, Bennett,” you say, “I need…” Typing in your father's name into the word search, you come upon one of the first emails from only a month after he’d died, eyes slipping from one word to another. “Here.”

Dear Mrs. Bennett,

Due to the unfortunate passing of our prior Museum Director, you’ll find the office assigned to you still filled with his belongings. If you would be willing, please pack up what few personal belongings he had and send them down to Eastern storage—his daughter will be here to pick them up at a later date.

Thank you, and I wish you well on your first day,

Member of the Board, Mr. Shaw

“Eastern storage,” you huff, fingers twitching over the keys as you nod rapidly. “Alright, okay. I can do that.” You couldn’t do that.

Sweating, you close out the email and power down the computer, putting it all back where it was. Was it wrong for you to want Kyle here with you? You could do with his steadfast patience at this point. Might even applaud him for putting up with you for this long if he could take point on this.

For doing far more stressful things for a living, you were sure this was easy as cake for him. If anything that pushed you on. Leaving and locking the office, you carefully step over the unconscious guard and utter another apology, watching his back rise and fall with his lungs like a balloon.

Sneaking through the halls, you pass displays and stay close to the walls, listening with strained ears as your breath seems to be the loudest thing in the museum. Rubbing at your sore nose, you make your way across multiple sections of the building, knowing every turn as if you’d lived here forever.

“Now,” your father’s voice guides you along and you almost feel his hand on your shoulder as you slip behind a case full of ancient cat furs in the Mammalogy section. A second guard's flashlight slips above you and you crawl on the floor as she passes. “If you ever lose sight of me, I’ll head right to the place between Mammalogy and the Bone Hall. Just follow the arrows and I’ll be waiting for you, alright? I’ll always find you, Little Love.”

You steady your breathing and slink around another display, heart constricted at the sudden need to hear your father’s voice again. You’d forgotten it after all of this time—the way he would reassure you was only a series of words without flow; a knowledge of the memory but mixed with the desperation to truly feel it. It was just…empty.

Getting out of Mammalogy, you lock eyes on the direction map placed on the wall as the stolen keys sit in your pocket, muffled metal clinking against the coin. Looking at it, you’re hit with a wave of sadness, brows going downturned, and a rueful frown coming to your lips.

“Guess not, Old Man.” You mutter to a ghost, shaking your head and pulse spiking when the female guard resets her path and begins to come back. Your body dashes away into memories and shadows with nothing more than a harsh sigh.

—

You stand at the bottom of the long staircase, breathing heavily and staring at the double doors of the museum storage room, grimacing but internally celebrating that you’ve gotten to where you need to go. There were multiple close calls with security, plus the unconscious man near the offices that you had to go back to.

But here, now, you finally were able to get somewhere.

Inserting the needed key into the door, you push through one and find rows upon rows of Archival storage boxes and cupboards all in pure white and gray. Blinking, you let the door close behind you as you huff out a scoff.

“I swear if these aren't in alphabetical order…” Your dim eyes go from one to another, but you grunt and go to find the labeled letters on the sides of the cupboards, the temperature dropping multiple digits to help the items preserve better.

Fingers twitching over the boxes, you slide them along as you read, muttering to yourself. A few moments into your search, the familiar name of your dad comes into view and you smile softly.

“Here we are.” Hand reaching out, you peel the object out and place it on the floor, taking a deep breath before popping the top and gazing inside.

There were two visible objects—a laptop and a journal.

Intrigued, your hands delve inside and take out the black leather journal with careful hands, feeling the bulk of crinkled, written-in pages. As you hold it up and tilt it over, something falls out and clatters to the ground; the clink of plastic making your eyes widen in surprise.

“And what do we have here?” A USB stick meets your bandaged flesh as you pick it up, sutures under your skin raw and tight. You pay no mind to the second pulse in your flesh and stare intently at the navy blue tone of the small object. “USB stick…? What were you doing in there?”

Your face goes curious, head tilting as you move the stick around in your hand. With a hum and a serious edge to your brows, you hide the object in your jacket’s pocket and quickly take up the remainder of the belongings. Putting the box back where it was, you high-tail it back out the door, lock it, and dash up the stairs.

This had to have everything you needed in it—a full laptop that with any luck was still intact, a journal, and a USB stick. The stick alone could give you swathes of information, and the journal…you hold back a yell of victory.

Your dad was sure to have something in all of this mentioning the donations and the moniker. The documents with the same date and printed red ink. There was something there; on the cusp of a great discovery like an anthropologist on a dig site. A pressure in the back of your mind—incessant ringing.

Something.

Getting back was easier now that you knew the places to avoid, and as you slip the keys back onto the unconscious guard's belt, you take back up the grate in one arm. Going back, you stand atop the bench below the vent, huffing as you shove your father’s things up first.

“What would Gaz do?” Your voice questions, hearing the long groaning from the downed security behind you. Sighing, you leave the grate on the bench, climbing back up with your muscles straining. It’s a slow crawl back to a section where you can actually turn your body around and at that point, you’re annoyed with the tightness of the vents.

But you do it, regardless, dangling your arms out of the square to twiddle your fingers above the grate before you finally claw it back up and twist it around, flesh pinched as you handle the long slats to manhandle it back into position with a defining pop of steel. Like a kangaroo, you slip the journal and laptop into your jacket, zipping it up and letting the objects hang as you shuffle backward—able to turn back around one more time as you begin retracing your steps.

You’re sure you're going to be sore tomorrow from all of this activity.

“If,” you bonk your head and hiss, glaring at the ceiling as you climb upward. “If Gaz lets me live that long. I’ll be lucky if he even makes me dinner anymore.”

There’s a part of you that realizes the effects of what this might bring. A small portion of unease and…fear. But there were things that you had to do alone, and this was one of them. It was your father that had been wronged, and it fell on you to finish this story, for ill or for better.

When you finally make it to the roof, you heave a breath of fresh air, basking in the open land. The grate screws back on easily with the help of your coin and hiking your father’s items higher in your grip, you speed to the ladder.

Even without checking your phone, you know you have missed calls—missed messages that number in the hundreds. It was far past midnight; you were stupid to think you’d be back on time.

“At least let me come up with a good excuse before I see him.” But still, you’re filled with a sense of elated accomplishment, your body quivering with adrenaline and happiness as your mouth opens in quick chuckles. “Oh my god. I can’t believe I did it! I’d like to see him hold a grudge against this.” Feet moving quickly, you get to the top of the ladder and bend down, smiling wide and cheeks pulled back with glee.

You looked over the edge of the roof, irises sparkling like gems as your throat holds giggles and puffs of excited breaths. Only you don’t lock into the ground feet below.

Instead, brown eyes like tree bark glare up into yours with hidden fury.

And then the black vehicles pull up with a screech of tires.

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beautification-tales · 21 days

Text

The Betrayal

A late Bloomer tale

Marsha, Stacey, and Ruby were sitting at the cafeteria of their university. They laughed and smiled at each other as they enjoyed the glances from the men. “They really want us don’t they?” Ruby giggled. “It’s so easy these days… it’s practically just routine. I mean, I just eat now but it’s not as fun as it used to be.” Stacey sighed crossing her arms. She slumped in her chair as if she was bored. Marsha rubbed Stacey’s shoulder and said. “Well my maker said we need to find a 4th. I think that should give you the excitement you crave.”

Stacey sat up as her expression shifted to happiness. “Yeah, I’m sure Peter bullied another girl at this school. I…. I could ask him..” she trailed off, her eyes wandered thinking of torturing Peter for information. “Eww, no Stacey leave that fucktard in the rear view. You got your revenge now let’s help our new recruit get theirs.” Stacey moped as Marsha gave her friend a directive. Ruby coughed to cut the tension.

“Well we can always recruit Becky.” Ruby suggested. “Who the fuck is Becky?” Stacey asked with a scoff. “She’s my old roommate. She got betrayed by her best friend.” Marsha’s eyes lit up and quickly glowed. “That sounds delicious Ruby. You think you can turn her for us?” Ruby smiled mischievously, excited to bring a new member into the fold.

“You think I’m ready?” Ruby asked Marsha. Marsha nodded as she gave Stacey a look of disappointment. “ Absolutely girl! You’re ready and you definitely have self control. Unlike others in this group.” “Not fair Marsha! You give me power to get what I want and now it’s all ‘leave Peter alone.’” Stacey raised her voice as onlookers paid even more attention to them. “Lower your voice. Ugh, anyway Ruby. Turn her tonight. Remember to eat well as it will take a lot to make her ‘bloom”

“Oh yeah. I’m hungry anyway. See you girls later!” Ruby got up from the table. She pulled her pencil skirt down and began walking toward the door. A male student tripped and fell distracted by Ruby’s strut. The cafeteria erupted in laughter as the student began picking up his mess. Ruby turned around and approached the embarrassed guy. She bent at the waist effortlessly to pick up a plate and handed it to him. The room became almost silent as Ruby said something to the guy and he began to smile. He placed his tray and plates on one of the tables as Ruby put her arm through his as they walked out.

Marsha smiled with pride as she watched the scene unfold. “Hmmm good girl. You see that? That’s how you feed!” Stacey leaned forward and grabbed onto Marsha’s hand. “Please Marsha! I’m sorry! Can I please see Peter? Just once?” Marsha sighed and removed her hand from Stacey's grip. She knew Stacey wasn’t sorry at all. “You play with your food too much! So you are on a Peter free diet indefinitely!” Marsha’s eyes glowed as she commanded Stacey. “Augh!” Stacey screamed as she got up and grabbed a guy by the arm as she left the building. “Umm hey!” A guy said to Marsha feeling a bit more confident to approach as her gorgeous friends had just left. “Soak your jeans fuckboi.” Marsha purred and her eyes glowed. The guy’s face grimaced as he orgasmed in his pants. A wet stain began to form at his crotch. “Well I’m full!” Marsha smiled as she left the cafeteria.

One year ago

In the same cafeteria

“Hey cow! Why are you eating in here? Shouldn’t you be grazing on the fields?” Peter chuckled, as Mark and Paul laughed with him. “Just leave me alone please. Please, Peter?” Stacey looked up from her table. Peter looked down at Stacey and grinned. “I will if you say it. C’mon do it and we’ll go.” Stacey looked down as her eyes began to water. “Mmmoooo” Stacey bellowed still looking down at her food. “Ha ! I can’t believe she did that! What a loser!” Peter said to his crew as they walked off. Stacey was left alone once again and returned to eating her meal.

A few tables down Marsha was sitting with Tom. “How do you know she likes you Tom?” Marsha asked her best friend with a smile. “Well she smiled at me and put her hand on my shoulder.” Marsha gave a skeptical look to her friend’s answer. “You’re just jealous. You want all this Tom to yourself.” Tom flexed his thin arms as Marsha laughed out loud. She pushed her glasses up her nose. “I love how you always make me laugh.” She giggled. “I love you too.” Tom replied with a serious face and tone. Marsha blushed then smiled again. “Shut up limp dick.” She pushed her friend’s shoulder. “Marsha, Marsha! Language!” They laughed together.

On the other side of the cafeteria Ruby was sitting with Becky. Peter and his crew just sat down still laughing not too far away. “He’s so cute, Becky. He has the bluest eyes you ever did see. It’s like Zack Morris in real life.” Ruby had stars in her eyes as she looked at Mark talking with Peter and Paul. “Ruby, you can’t be serious. They are stupid frat boys who only fuck blonde sorority bitches. They bully girls like us. I mean Peter loves bullying Stacey.” Becky gestured in Stacey’s direction as Stacey sat eating her salad. “Trust me Becky. Mark will fall for me and we will get married and I’ll have his babies!” Ruby blushed as she imagined it. Becky rolled her eyes. “Anyway I’ll see you at the dorm later to study kay?” Ruby nodded as Becky got up from the table with her tray in hand. “Tell Bill I said hi.” Ruby smiled as Becky walked off. Ruby looked back at Mark and felt her heart skip a beat.

Becky walked across campus to her boyfriend’s dorm room. She was hoping to surprise him with a quick make out session before class. As she arrived at his door, she could hear laughter coming from within. Frowning, she knocked on the door. Becky could hear the room grow quiet. “Who’s there?” Bill asked. “Babe it’s me open up!” Becky could hear the whispering in the room as Becky banged on the door. “Bill open this fucking door!” Suddenly, the door swung open revealing Bill with a red face. “Look babe it’s not what it looks like.” Becky pushed past him and saw the blond woman buttoning her shirt. “What the Fuck! ….Traci?” Becky shouted as Traci looked down in shame. Becky looked back at Bill and began slapping his shoulder. “My best friend?! Behind my back? You’re a fucking monster!”

The shame had now caused Traci to cry as tears ran down her face. “Why Traci? When I came to you thinking he was cheating …. Y.. you said nothing when all this time it was you?” Becky felt like she may pass out as all she could see was red. “Look it’s all my fault. I wanted Traci since day one but she wanted you to ‘win’ one for once. I’m sorry Becky but…. We’re in love.” Traci looked at Bill with love and tears in her eyes. Becky felt her head spinning. “I think I’m going to be sick.” Becky pushed past Bill. Becky ran out of the building with tears and rage.

Present day

Rubi knocked on her former dorm room and opened the door. “Becky? Hey are you in here.” The room was dark and was dirty. Becky was doing homework while eating chips. “Yeah… what do you want?” Becky answered, hardly looking up from her desk. Becky’s lips were littered with chip crumbs as she wiped the grease on her hoodie. Ruby grimaced as she saw how badly her friend let herself go. “Hey Becky… it’s me Ruby!” Becky ‘s eyes lit up as she swallowed another handful of chips. She wiped her hands and rubbed on the shirt.

“Ruby? Is that really you?” Becky asked, her voice filled with disbelief and excitement. Ruby nodded, smiling at her old friend. She took in the sight of Becky's unkempt hair, the dark circles under her eyes, and the extra weight she had gained since they last saw each other. It was obvious that Becky had been going through a rough patch, but Ruby was determined to help her.

“Wow! You look great! Did you have work done? You look like a film star!” Becky gushed, her eyes examining Ruby from head to toe. Ruby laughed, as she twirled showing her tight dress, pantyhose and heels. “You like? It sure beats my plaid shirts and jeans that I used to wear.” She looked around the room, taking in the mess.

Becky realized her former roommate noticed the empty pizza boxes and dirty clothes on the floor. She grinned sheepishly, trying to play it off. “Yeah! You look great. You have to recommend your surgeon to me. Sorry about the mess. It’s been a busy semester.” Becky tried to play off her current situation. Ruby walked further into the room, glancing around.

“Becky, you don’t have to lie to me. I was too stupid and obsessed with Mark to see it then. You needed a friend and I let you push me away. I’m so sorry.” Ruby took a step closer, her voice cracking with emotion. Becky looked up at her, surprised by the intensity of Ruby's words. She bit her lip, trying to hold back tears. Becky smiled trying to change the subject. “How is that jerkoff anyway?” she asked, motioning up and down. Ruby laughed softly.

“Let’s just say the new me has him wrapped around my little finger.” Ruby laughed, spinning her index finger. She glanced around the room again, taking in the dust and the dirty clothes. "Look, I'm here to help you, Becky. What Traci and Bill did to you… It wasn’t right. I mean look at you! You were the one who told me to live life and here you are in the dark in filth. They stole your fire and I’m here to give it back.”

Becky looked at her old friend, her eyes full of hope. "Ruby, I don't know if I can go back to who I was. I've let myself go so far..." She trailed off, staring at her hands. Ruby walked over and took Becky's hands in her own. “I’m talking about being even better! I have new friends Becky… powerful friends. We were all wronged or ignored and now no one hurts us. We do the hurting… we’re going to run this School.” Ruby looked at her friend with a stern face.

Becky scoffed “So you want me in your new gang? Sure I’d join but isn’t a pathetic girl like me going to bring y….mmmph.” Becky was interrupted as Ruby lept forward and kissed her friend. Becky’s eyes opened wide as she felt Ruby’s tongue enter her mouth. Becky was about to push away but Ruby lips felt so soft and she smelled so good. Becky closed her eyes and began to enjoy the moment.

Ruby backed off as a line of saliva connected their lips. Ruby smiled with satisfaction. “Mmmm welcome to the team. I just needed you to say yes.” Ruby wiped her lips with her thumb. Becky looked at her friend with a mixture of shock and lust. She couldn't believe she just kissed her. Ruby pulled out her phone and showed Becky a photo of her and Ruby with two other girls . All of them were gorgeous like out of a Victoria’s Secret magazine.

“We’re all sisters now.” Ruby said.

Becky fell to her knees and grabbed her stomach. She opened her mouth to scream but nothing came out. “Yea this part hurts but it’s worth it” Ruby said as she watched her friend transform. Becky’s skin got hotter and hotter until it all became burnt as if she was set on fire. The black ash fell off her body as her skin became perfect with no blemishes. Becky still grasped her stomach as she felt her muffin top decrease in size. The new strong core felt good as Becky quickly felt her new abdominal muscles.

Ruby felt her lips puff up as they swelled as if stung by bees. The lips turned dark red as her lips opened to let out a moan. Ruby’s eyes rolled back as she felt the sexual energy growing in her friend. Ruby’s eyes glowed as she licked her lips as she heard the moans of Becky’s pleasure. Becky’s hips widened as her sweatpants stretched and lowered down her body. Becky whipped her head back giving into the change as her breasts firmed up and grew. Becky instinctively grabbed one breast and squeezed. She screamed in delight as her ass lifted better than any BBL could provide. She felt her thighs get thicker as her body screamed for sex. Her messy black hair got brighter and more alluring.

Becky began to gyrate as if pleasing a man underneath her. She continued to moan as Ruby felt juices flow down her thigh. The last of the changes happened as Becky’s stature grew a bit gaining height and length as her arms and legs grew. They remained slender and feminine but also toned and strengthened. Becky looked up and met the eyes of her maker. She grinned as she saw her changes were turning Ruby on. Becky’s eyes glowed as the floodgates of her inhibitions were opened. Becky felt no anxiety and shame. The heavy cloud of depression left her mind as thoughts of revenge filled in. Becky stood up as purple flame covered her grease covered shirt changing into a black crop top. The gray sweatpants morphed into black yoga pants that hugged her curves.

“Becky you look…mmmmph” It was Becky’s turn to interrupt Ruby as she kissed her friend. She began to feel her body as their passion ignited. The sexual nature of the two succubi could not be extinguished. After 30 minutes of intense sex the two women collapsed on Becky’s bed naked. “Wow that was the best sex I ever had…and with a woman too!” Becky exclaimed. Ruby grinned as she caressed her friends body. “Mmm it’s how we eat and your urges now are much more inclusive let’s say.” Ruby replied looking at her good friend.

“So when you said Mark is wrapped around your finger?” Becky asked with a wicked grin. Ruby nodded and said “he’s my sex slave.” Becky giggled, thinking of how she could use her power. “Hmmm sounds like a plan.” Becky said before kissing Ruby once again

3 days later

Traci was walking to Bill’s dorm when she could hear the distinct sound of Jim’s groans. It seemed to be coming from his room. She pushed open his door and gasped. The groans got louder. Traci found Bill on his bed, sweating profusely. His hands were tied to the bed posts and a blindfold covered his eyes. A strange but unbelievably beautiful woman was sitting on his stomach, riding him vigorously. Traci shouted to announce her presence. The woman turned her head toward Traci and smiled seductively. “Oh hey Traci! Bill said so much about you. Too bad his love for you couldn’t keep his dick soft when he met me.”

Traci felt tears building in her eyes as she saw the woman still riding her boyfriend. “Bill! What the fuck!” Traci yelled as she felt the betrayal and anger well up inside her. The woman on top of Bill looked up at Traci and smirked. Bill kept groaning as if he didn’t hear Traci. “Awww poor Traci! Looks like your man is mine now and he doesn’t want to stop. I am too… sexy… to mmph Resist!” The Raven haired woman trembled as she came on Bill’s cock. Bill moaned in pure ecstasy as he came. “I think I’m going to be sick.” Traci said, feeling nauseous. The woman slid off of Bill and rubbed his member as it squirted more seed.

“Karma’s a bitch ain’t it?” The strange woman asked, her voice dripping with venom. Traci felt a cold chill run down her spine as she glared at the stranger. She couldn't believe this was happening. Traci sobbing ran out of the room and slammed the door. “Uh oh Bill. Looks like Traci will never forgive you for this.” Becky removed the blindfold from Jim’s face revealing his red tear filled eyes. Bill finally was able to speak again. “Becky… please. I love her … don’t do this.” He begged.

“No, I’m actually finally doing what I want and it feels … so … fucking good. Hmmm seeing Traci like that makes me need another round… or two. Get hard for me big boy and no talking until you make me cum again.” Bill felt his body obey her words as he was unable to talk again and his cock sprang to attention.

Meanwhile at the cafeteria

Marsha, Ruby and Stacey sat at their usual table. Marsha’s eyes glowed. “Ladies, our sisterhood is complete now. It’s time to meet my… our maker.”

#beautification #transformation #f2f transformation #breast expansion #bimboification #origin stories #ass expansion #beauty is power #succubi #mind corruption

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landprince · 3 months

Text

Riku had been keeping a constant vigil over Sora since the younger boy had arrived. He was a dutiful guard, never once slacking on his watch over him as the boy slept peacefully on the bed Riku was given weeks ago.

Maleficent had done him a huge favor in wiping Sora’s memories away once he was brought to Hollow Bastion kicking and shouting in Riku’s arms. Riku had merely shushed Sora, cooed at him, and tried his best to placate the irate keyblade wielder before the boy fell like a sack of potatoes to the floor with the witch’s magic.

Worry had seized his heart momentarily before Maleficent explained it was just a simple sleeping spell. The anxiety flooded out of him in such a rush it made the young man dizzy. The woman then placed a glowing hand over Sora’s closed eyes, held it there for a moment, and then retreated from the room with a gentle: “You’re welcome, Riku. I do hope this pleases that rotten little heart of yours.”

Riku didn’t deign a reply.

He merely scooped the unconscious boy up in his arms and carried him away to his rooms. Lonely were the many nights he spent here, the loss of his friends eating away at him constantly.

When Riku ran into Sora in Traverse Town, he was elated, but jealousy came roaring to the forefront when Sora was soon surrounded by what he would later learn to be the King’s court magician and guard.

Anger and jealousy had warred inside his chest when the stupid duck had claimed Riku wasn’t able to go with them, and instead of causing a scene then and there, Riku had chosen to tactically retreat. Maleficent had been kind to him when he had arrived at her doorstep --befuddled and excited in equal measure to be in a new world-- but he valued her opinion even if there was something underhanded about it.

“If you desire the boy so much, simply take him,” she had instructed.

The thought of just… forcing Sora to go with him made Riku’s stomach hurt, but after several incidents of back and forths with the younger boy during trips to multiple other worlds, Riku was now able to admit he missed Sora more than he valued the boy’s freedom and consent.

Riku didn’t even wait for Sora to become alone before snatching him up. He sent Heartless in droves to distract the dog and duck (he never bothered to learn their names, they were just obstacles in the way and needed to go), and while they swarmed the pair, Riku dragged Sora through a door of darkness back to Maleficent’s home.

Sora, being Sora, had been excited at first to see him, making Riku’s heart flutter for a moment with happiness before the boy asked to return. His “friends” needed him.

Anger soured his delight immediately.

Childishly, Riku shoved Sora, making the boy stumble to his knees where he looked up at him with such wide eyes as if he couldn’t believe Riku would do such a thing.

And the confusion and trust in those blue eyes made Riku’s breath catch.

A heat bloomed in his chest and Riku clasped the front of his shirt in a fist.

“What about Kairi?!” he shouted. “What about me?!”

“You’re important too, but they need me right now!” Sora had tried to defend. “Riku, please…”

Riku scoffed. Tears had burned in the corners of his eyes as Maleficent’s previous words came rushing back.

He has no need of you now.

But now here Sora lay. Asleep. Peaceful. Completely vulnerable.

Riku ran a hand through spiky chestnut hair.

“You’ll see, Sora,” he whispered, trying to keep his voice low so as not to disturb his best friend. “It’ll be better now that we’re together again. We’ll have our adventure. We��ll never be separated again. I promise it’ll just be us from now on.”

It’ll be just like it was supposed to be.

#ark.txt #ark writes #Kingdom Hearts #Sora #Riku #soriku #toxic soriku hours #shut up this is love au

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103hailey · 10 months

Text

Beaten and Bloody

Dracule Mihawk and Reader

Mentions of wounds. Gender neutral. Fluff. 1580 words

The normal happy feeling of being home after a day’s activities were very absent tonight. Arriving at the dock in the cold and lonely island with the castle making its presence known would normally be a relieving sight, however, with the events that had taken place you’re left with a feeling of dread.

It was supposed to be a quiet trip out to a nearby island to potentially practice your swordsmanship but at the very minimum have a good meal of your choice. The universe had other plans.

Walking down a hidden alleyway to keep your presence quiet ended up with you having to fight 5 men twice your size, all clearly skilled in taking advantage of those who are weaker. While you sustained no major injuries other than a gash to your right arm and a potential sprained ankle all you had were some bruises and shallow cuts. You did manage to get some good hits and swings in on your attackers but once they took your berries they left not caring for the fight.

While you did walk out better than it could have gone your mind kept telling you things that weren’t true. With the ride back home being alone you began to believe what was said was true. You are being trained by the greatest swordsman in the world, he took the time to pay attention to you, and you couldn’t even use what he had taught in a fight. What kind of student are you? Knowing how many others would give to be in your position only made the feeling worse, anchoring you further into the hole you already felt you were in. Walking up to the front door only made the truth set in even more than it already had.

Hoping he was busy with his nose in a book and a chalice of wine in his hands he would be too occupied to notice your return home. Having to face the only person whose opinion you actually care about in this state would only make you feel worse. As you walked the cold floors as quietly as possible you can’t help but imagine the look of disappointment and disgust on his face. Mihawk had done so much for you, taking you in when you couldn’t afford to live anywhere, cooking for you, and training you. Truly he was giving too much to you and the way you repay him is not even being able to use the new sword skills he had taught you. All you wanted was to hide in your room and pretend nothing happened, but of course the universe had one more trick up its sleeve to make matters worse.

“You’re out late.” As if the night couldn’t get any worse for you, you felt your heart drop. Of course you couldn’t sneak back in, your housemate is the greatest swordsman nothing goes by him let alone in his own home. “Ya I got caught up and lost track of time.” What a sorry excuse you pray he believes it you know how oblivious you can be to things, but not this.

“Really, was your passing of time that distracting that it has left you beaten and bloody?” You froze. Of course he noticed the poor patch job on your arm and your limp across the floor. He could probably even smell the blood from your small wounds.

“I got caught off guard.”

“I find it hard to believe, you’re more skilled than that.” That hurt worse than the gash on your arm. You knew he expected better of you. Your shoulders dropped and you let out a sigh of disappointment as you turned to face him but not meeting his eyes, this did not go unnoticed.

“There were five of them, twice the size of me, I thought maybe I could take them on but I was quickly defeated. I didn’t mean to be such a disappointment-”

“Who said you were a disappointment?”

You let out a gasp as you looked up to meet his eyes for the first time tonight. They glowed in the light and were as solid as gold. However, what you did not see was any anger or disgust. His eyes were soft but still stern but that’s how he always looks. But this look was a rare sight to see. Taking in his appearance more there was no hat with those obnoxious feathers his hair was free. There was no long coat but instead a white linen shirt that showed off some of his chest. He had no sword and was completely unarmed. He looked relaxed. He continued to look at you in waiting for a response.

“I just thought that if I came home looking like this I would disappoint you as your student for not being able to properly defend myself.” You lowered your gaze not being able to look him in the eye instead focusing on his chest.

“You faced five attackers twice the size of you, it’s a miracle you walked away with only one major cut to your arm. Not many people would be able to hold their own the way you did.” He slowly walked closer to you closing the gap between the both of you but not close enough to see unusual. Deep down you knew he wouldn’t have shunned you but the anxiety running through your veins clouded your judgment.

You looked back up at him to see if anything had changed in his expression, but still, the soft gaze remained. “So you’re not mad at me and going to kick me out?”

“You’re the only person I genuinely care about and willingly chose to spend my free time with. I was worried about you not being mad or disappointed. I’m more comfortable now knowing you got home safe. So, let me take care of that wound of yours.” His words made you feel so cared for something you thought he might never be capable of, but sure enough here he is. He reaches out and grabs your arm to place over his shoulder to take most of the weight of your hurt ankle and being careful to mind the cut.

He brings you to your room placing you on your bed and helps to remove the jacket that’s draped over your arms. Next is your shoes placing them neatly at the foot of the bed. Mihawk then heads for your bathroom knowing you keep a first aid kit. You couldn’t help but stare at the man who’s taking care of you.

“Are there any cuts on your legs or just your arms?”

“Just some bruising on the legs, all the blood drawn is on my arms.” He hums as a sign of understanding. He returns back to you with the kit and a wet cloth. “This will be cold on your skin but it will do for now till I can get some ice for this ankle.”

You have Mihawk on his knees tending to your injured ankle, his hands moving with the utmost delicacy and focusing on his task at hand. “Are you able to remove that shirt so I can tend to those on your arm?”

He looks up at you with such soft eyes it melts your heart finally the man you have wanted is giving you his full attention. “Yes, I have an undershirt on with no sleeves.”

He rose to his feet standing between you to grab the dirty and ripped shirt as you took it off. The cold air hits your skin sending a shiver down your spine. He takes the shirt to the hallway and you assume you’ll never see it again as there is no saving it.

Mihawk comes back and sits on the bed next to you lightly grabbing your arm to begin addressing your wounds.

“Why did you think I would be so upset with you?” His question breaks the comforting silence you had forcing you to speak the truth. “I want to be in your good graces, I seek your approval. I felt I had let you down tonight.”

“I’m never asking for perfection from you because you already are as perfect as you can be. I’m only sharpening the skills you have. Everyone had good and bad days, even I do, it’s ok to need to be tended to. I’m only asking you to do your best for the day and sometimes that may be less or more than the day before. I am not disappointed in you, I could never be as long as you try to do your best.” His words hit you with such shock you didn’t notice the tears beginning to fall. He wiped them away and offered a true small smile. Every negative thought you had about tonight’s incident flowed away. He began to get up helping you into your bed to lay down.

“Lay down and rest. I'm going to get some proper ice for that ankle and I’m assuming you need something to eat so I shall bring food for you as well. Don’t get out of that bed without my help.”

A light laugh left you. “I didn’t know my cuts were that bad that I’m being treated as if I cannot do anything.” As he reached the door to your bedroom he turned to look at you and smiled. “I am only looking for a reason to take care of you.”

#fanfic #one piece #one piece mihawk #mihawk x you #mihawk x reader #short story #writing #writers on tumblr #dracule mihawk

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monstersandmaw · 2 years

Text

Male ‘yautja inspired’ alien x gender neutral reader - Part Nine (sfw)

Disclaimer which I’m including in all my works after plagiarism and theft has taken place: I do not give my consent for my works to be used, copied, published, or posted anywhere. They are copyrighted and belong to me.

___

Content: sad goodbye and time passing... Wordcount: 5085

Still not an actual yautja fic, folks. Hope you enjoy this part, and thank you for your continued enthusiasm in this somewhat unwieldy project. It means the world to me and your tags and responses give me life.

Catch up here:

Part One (sfw), Part Two (sfw), Part Three (sfw), Part Four (sfw), Part Five (sfw), Part Six (nsfw), Part Seven (nsfw), Part Eight (sfw)

Walking through the ship was like taking a tour across a movie set, and you almost tripped over your own feet as you stared around and tried to take it all in. Croc actually grabbed you and set you upright again when you stumbled, half-contorted in an attempt to peer over your shoulder without breaking stride, and you grinned at him despite yourself.

You barely heard his explanation about their scanners picking up an enemy passing by the crash site about two hours after you’d left, heading in your direction. Apparently they’d grabbed their gear and run all the way to you, and even then had only just found you in time. You croaked out a weak ‘thank you’, and he chittered a fond laugh back.

“Losing an arm hasn’t slowed you down at all,” you said, and he clicked something proudly at you. “How’s it healing?”

“Well. Commander has scheduled a fitting for a prosthetic the moment I’m back on the mothership.”

The rescue ship had been alerted to the enemy’s presence too, while Big Red and Croc were charging after you, and the new team had diverted to your location to assist in the kill if necessary, then pick up Croc and Big Red, and destroy the carcass of the enemy creature. That done, they were to return to the crash site to collect the rest of Croc and Big Red’s salvaged gear from the ruined ship.

Apparently, that had all been achieved while you’d been passed out, and all that remained now was to destroy Red’s ship after take-off. They were willing to help humans out against the enemy which they themselves had brought to Earth, but they weren’t prepared to let a ship, with its technology and secrets, fall into human hands to be picked over by analysts and researchers.

Entering the bridge through a sliding door in the bulkhead, you looked around, still slack-jawed.

Situated at the nose of the arrowhead ship, the nerve-centre of the vessel was illuminated by a huge, curved window that looked out over the forest in the grey light of the growing dawn beyond. Below it, a massive deck of navigational instruments and control screens hugged the contour of the ship in a wide arc.

Seated in what had to be the captain’s chair was the alien you’d seen tending to Red. Their colouring in the warm, low lights of the bridge seemed to be a mix of blood-red and burgundy, though you couldn’t see if they looked like Croc’s species or Red’s because they had a dark helmet over their head. Just visible at the back of their head were relatively short but thick ‘dreads’ that just brushed their shoulders.

They turned in the swivel-chair as you and Croc entered, and Croc bowed his head formally.

The leucistic one who had helped you out of your harness drifted into the room like a ghost, and you saw that they too were wearing a helmet this time, though it was made of bone like Red’s, even though they had looked more like Croc’s species. Perhaps it was for the overall pale aesthetic.

Croc introduced you by name to the captain and first officer in their own language. Where the last member of the rescue crew was, you weren’t sure, but a quick glance around the blinking lights and glowing screens of the bridge showed you that you were alone with the two strangers and Croc.

Perhaps scenting your anxiety, Croc took a small step close to you and laid his hand on your shoulder. His black claws curved right around the joint, but you felt a little of the tension ease out of you at the delicate pressure. He had your back. He wasn’t going to let anything bad happen to you.

“Hello,” you croaked at the captain, who twitched their head and said something behind their mask to the pale one.

At the captain’s orders, the first officer disappeared back through a different door on the far side of the back wall from where you were standing, and Croc guided you into the room and a little closer to the captain.

“So… I understand you’re going to try and drop me at the base?” you said and they nodded. “Thank you. Something has been blocking my GPS and satellite phone though,” you said. “I’m assuming it’s something on your ships?”

Again, they nodded.

“Ok. If you can deactivate it for a while, I can contact my superiors and tell them you’re going to bring me back, and tell them not to open fire.” For emphasis, you added, “That way I can take your High Elder’s message to my people and we can get the ball rolling on wiping out the enemy from Earth before it’s too late…”

So much for not being a diplomat, you thought smugly, though you didn’t let it show. You still looked like a ragged stray, with your torn and dirty clothing after all, but at least their medicine had healed your cuts and acid burns and bruises.

A moment later, the pale one — ‘Ghost’ perhaps, you thought for the lack of colour and the way they moved with eerie silence — came back into the room with only the hiss of the bulkhead door to announce them, and held out a metal cup on a tray to you. It was strange to see one of their kind that was so short, relatively speaking. You barely had to crick your neck to look at them.

You shot Croc a quizzical look and he flared his mouth in a smile. “Water.”

Chewing on your lower lip for a second, you put your trust in these creatures to the test yet again and took the cup. It looked like water, but there was only one way to find out. After a cautious sip, you gulped the contents down and handed it back to ‘Ghost’. “Thank you,” you said, taking in both ‘Ghost’ and the captain with your gaze.

The captain rose from their chair and stalked over to you. Holy shit, if you’d thought Red was tall, this one had to have been nearly eight feet, and although they were not broad and hulking in the way Big Red was, they had a steady, almost sinister presence that almost made you want to step back into the safety of Croc’s shadow.

They wore pauldrons on both shoulders, and a small, battle-scarred chestplate, but their muscled midsection was visible above the armoured loincloth and articulated tassets that covered their thighs, and it was protected only by a flexible looking strip of lamellar armour that connected breastplate to belt down the centre.

Like Croc, they had greaves on, but no boots or shoes to cover their clawed feet; only a small, flexible sole that was fixed at the ankle and across their clawed toes like sandals. The skin around the centre of their stomach and inner thighs and arms was a pale, pinkish cream, but the red colouring deepened to such a dark, wine-stain red down their arms and around their sides and ribs that you were almost tempted to nickname them Merlot or Rioja. You didn’t dare though, and stuck to ‘captain’.

For a long moment, they just stood there and regarded you.

Knowing a little of what Red’s mask could do, you assumed they were running some kind of biometric analysis on you from their helmet, so you just stood there and waited, and tried not to squirm.

Eventually, they tilted their head in the way you’d come to recognise from Red and Croc as satisfaction, and you smiled and relaxed just a fraction. They clicked something to Croc, who nodded and then translated. “You will have to go outside to make your communications,” he said. “For a brief time, we will turn off the jamming signals and cloaking which is preventing you from making contact with your people. I will turn it off on our ship too.”

“The crash didn’t completely destroy everything then?” you asked and he shook his head.

“How do you think the Boss kept his room so cosy in that storm?” he snorted and then wheezed in your ear, “His attractive personality?”

You snorted but quickly composed yourself. You had no idea how much the captain knew of your… ‘relations’ with Red, and didn’t want to get him into trouble.

Croc continued blithely, “The engines were out, but the backup power worked fine. It’ll never fly again, but we could still access a few of the systems.”

You nodded and then turned back to the captain. “Just say when, and I’ll go and try it.”

While Croc needed to translate the captain’s words in order for you to understand them, they seemed to have no problem understanding yours.

Croc elbowed you. “Come on. I’ll come with you.”

It felt strange to be standing outside in the misty, dawn atmosphere of the crash site again.

The outline of their broken ship seemed as familiar now as the landmarks of your hometown, and as you stared at it from the gangway of the second ship, you sighed. “Is it wrong that I just want to camp out in the woods with you two forever, and not go back home at all?” you muttered up at Croc.

He crooned fondly and shook his head. “Boss is the same,” he snorted. “You should make your call.”

“You’re keen to get going then?” you asked, dread pooling in the pit of your stomach.

He chittered something in his language that had the ring of a name to it “— wants to blow this place up and get back to the mothership. We shouldn’t linger. They’re a good captain, but unlike the Boss, they have a temper…” he added in a conspiratorial whisper.

“And you’re already in their debt after they diverted here to save you, and then to help me…” you sighed. “I understand.”

It didn’t take long to reestablish communication with the base, and after getting an absolute earful from the team leader about not being in contact for so long, you explained the very basics of what had happened, and she listened in silence. Then she disappeared to check with her commander to get the all-clear for an alien ship to land on base.

It all seemed to take ages.

While you waited for your satellite phone to ring again, Croc paced back and forth between the ships, looking tense and twitchy. They had left themselves completely vulnerable to detection from all quarters now, and all so that you could return safely to base. They could have just left you there in the woods, maybe even blown you up with the ship, and returned straight to this ‘mothership’, but they had diverted for you, and they were lingering there for you.

Eventually you heard back, and Croc came over to listen to the instructions too before escorting you back onto the new ship. With the message delivered to the captain, Croc took you back to their small infirmary to wait, and you sat on the edge of Red’s bed while he slept on.

Ghost stuck their head in a little while later and chittered something shyly to Croc before vanishing again without looking at you.

“Commander gave the all-clear,” Croc said. “You’re going home.”

You looked down at Big Red and reached carefully for his large forehead. You trailed your fingertips over the hard bumps and ripples, and all the way around the protective ridge that covered the roots of his ‘dreads’, and sighed.

Croc watched intently and twitched a mandible when you looked up at him. “He’s so still. Will he really be ok?” you asked in a whisper.

“Yes. He is sedated. He has much healing still to do. Their venom is lethal if an antivenom is not administered immediately…”

The memory of Croc stabbing him in the neck with a syringe crossed your mind and you nodded. “You saved him. And you both saved me. Thank you, Croc. You could have just left me to die out there, but… you came for me.”

He moved over to stand beside the bed and pulled you against his torso in a one-armed hug before leaning back and running his hand affectionately over Red’s crest too.

“You should prepare for takeoff,” he said, sounding more gruff than usual. “It will not take long to reach your base.”

You had no visual reference for how high or how fast you were travelling once the ship had smoothly taken off, but not long after the engines had spooled up and hummed to life, you heard three rapid blasts from what sounded almost exactly like a sci-fi plasma cannon, and a muffled explosion followed. Red’s ship was gone, and with it a small chunk of the forest too probably.

You sat with Red in silence for the short ride.

He slept on, slowly healing, and you slid your fingers into his where they lay curled and unresponsive atop the thin, warm blanket that covered his body.

Strangely enough, it was the fabric that felt alien to you, not the creature beneath it.

The ridges and textures of his palm and fingertips played across your skin and made your nerves tingle. You could still remember how his hands had felt across every inch of you, and you shuddered and let out a rough breath. You stooped and kissed his knuckles.

As you straightened up again, the bone amulet slid free from your collar and dangled in the space between you, knocking against his side like a charm in the wind. You tucked it back beneath the fabric again so that it would lie warm and secure against your skin, and sighed and promised him silently that you’d wear it always.

The soft hiss of the door announced Croc’s arrival a minute or so after the ship had touched down and the engines had fallen silent, and he stood quietly, watching you for a long few seconds.

Red still hadn’t woken.

With a heavy heart, you stood and kissed his delicate, unresponsive mandibles one last time. “Love you, Red,” you whispered. “I hope you know that.”

With tears in your eyes, you left him for the second time, and followed Croc through the ship.

“I’ll go out first,” you said to the captain who was already standing at the ramp. They now had some kind of mini swivel-gun mounted onto their left pauldron, and their belt was bristling with knives and weapons. “Thank you for trusting me,” you added diplomatically.

The captain just nodded.

Out of nowhere to your right, Ghost appeared to lurk in your peripheral vision, startling the living daylights out of you and making Croc wheeze a laugh at your reaction, and then the ramp began to lower.

On the concrete yard outside you found a semicircle of human soldiers, all with weapons trained at the ship. Croc snarled and instinctively took up a fighting stance, but you laid a hand on his stomach and he stilled. He did not relax.

Turning to the soldiers, you yelled, “Don’t shoot! Do not fire! I’m going to come out alone and I’m going to walk towards you. I’m unarmed and unhurt.” You knew the agreed-upon procedure as well as the aliens and their captain did, but it didn’t hurt to announce your intentions.

With a quick look at the captain, you murmured a quick, “Thank you,” and turned to Croc one last time. “Tell Red… Tell him I’ll never forget him,” you said, brushing your fingertips against the amulet. “Or you. I hope we see each other again.”

He bowed his head and clicked something at you that made the captain gasp and growl at him, but Croc ignored them and sank to one knee again, bringing his right hand up behind his head and pulling his ‘dreads’ to one side to expose the left side of his throat to you. “I am… indebted,” he said.

“Croc, you saved my life last night. You’re not in my debt…”

“Always,” he said. “I am yours before all else, my friend.”

“Ok,” you choked, trying to keep it together.

You had no idea what the appropriate response to his gesture was, but you placed your palm flat on the side of his neck before sweeping it up to his jaw.

With a fond stroke of your thumb over the hard, cool skin of his cheek, you said, “Thank you. Take care of yourselves for me, ok?”

He nodded, clicked out a little phrase in his own language, and then stood once more.

You turned and walked away down the ramp and towards your own people again.

No shots were fired, the captain’s ship was allowed to leave a few minutes later, and you found yourself at the centre of frantic operations for months afterwards.

Naturally, there was an awful lot that you deliberately left out about your few days with Big Red and Croc, but you made it known that theirs was a highly intelligent species that prized an individual’s fighting ability and honour over much else, though they could be compassionate and humorous at times too.

Those first few months after your return were some of the busiest of your life, and they numbered among the hardest too. You met several other members of the species who had come to be known colloquially as ‘Hunters’, and while none of them was like Big Red, you saw elements of him in each of them: in their power and posture; in their clicking mandibles and in the turn of their head; in the way their ‘braids’ would swish across their shoulders… But none of them was quite like Big Red, and you missed his calm stoicism and gentle kindness sorely.

As a linguist, you weren’t directly involved in the planning of the worldwide hunt for the enemy species, but your connection with the hunters who pursued them proved invaluable. Word had spread among them that you had saved Croc’s life, and because of that, you had gained a certain amount of honour and respect. They seemed to look to you as a spokesperson of truth and honour, ranking above your commanders in their estimation.

While that was flattering, it was also exhausting. You lived just off the base, but your days were long and the hours were not always sociable.

“So much for not being a diplomat,” you muttered again to yourself one night after you’d spent three hours in conversation with Red’s commander.

The female was intimidating, bullheaded, belligerent, and, you discovered after inadvertently cracking a joke when your exhaustion got the better of you, in possession of a wicked sense of humour.

You got along rather well after that, on the few occasions you spoke directly to her, and she took you off guard once by mentioning in passing that Big Red had been sent back to his people on Secundus to recover and was no longer under her direct command. Croc had been assigned to a new team as captain of his own ship.

You ached to know more than that about Red, but you didn’t dare ask her about him in front of a room full of top military personnel, and the only time you could speak to her was during top secret briefings and meetings about the crisis.

While you were managing to avoid looking like you had a pathetic crush on a Hunter, the world was busy organising an unprecedented cooperative effort to avoid being overrun by the black-carapaced enemy that had nearly eviscerated you in the woods that night. They acquired the name ‘shrikes’ for their tendency to display the carcasses of their dismembered victims, impaled on the nearest sharp object.

Soldiers from every continent were trained in the use of Hunter weapons and technology, sweeps of the planet were made, and eventually after nearly two years of humanity actually working together in a coordinated, international effort, it was determined that the shrikes which had stowed away on Hunter ships had been eliminated.

In those two years, you wrote papers and studied their language and writing system with the aid of various Hunters, both in person and via video-link, though the latter was much more common. The few Hunters who came to Earth came to hunt or share weaponry, not to play teacher to curious humans about other aspects of their culture. Although it was physically impossible for humans to produce most of the sounds of their language, you came to understand it pretty well, and remained on base as an official go-between for the increasingly rare occasion when in-person contact was made between the species.

“So much or not being a diplomat…”

You repeated your sarcastic little mantra yet again as you walked along the main road off the base late one winter night, heading home after an especially long day.

At least it had stopped raining about an hour earlier, though the cold, damp night pressed in on all sides, sneaking its icy fingers down your open collar. You reached up and absentmindedly ran your finger and thumb around the smooth contours of the bone amulet that hung as ever around your neck, and sighed a cloud of billowing vapour into the dark night.

You waved in response to a soldier as she called goodnight to your familiar face from her patrol, and you turned to take the route out past the airfield that stretched away around the back of the base. This would lead you through a narrow band of pines that bordered the perimeter of the whole base, and then on to the estate of identical, copy-paste houses that had been built for those who worked on-base but were not military personnel themselves.

Your eye was caught by the unexpected presence of a small, Hunter research ship sitting way off on the tarmac near the hangars, its gangplank down and with warm light spilling in a golden, watercolour wash over the wet ground.

It was the newest model from the same series of ships that Big Red and Croc had arrived in, and the outline of its smooth, familiar, arrowhead silhouette made your chest ache.

You hadn’t been aware that they were expecting any of the Hunters in person, and you frowned.

With a tired shrug though, you brushed it off. If they’d wanted you there for more talks, they’d have kept you back. It wouldn’t have been the first time you’d been forced to endure an all-nighter, even after the shrike threat had been deemed largely over, but the Hunters had automatic translation software now that allowed for direct verbal communication in real time. It sounded a little creepy and emotionless, but it meant that those Hunters who hadn’t mastered human languages could still be understood.

With another sigh, you kept walking, heading out of the back gate and calling another friendly farewell to the guards in their sentry boxes.

Adjusting your satchel on one shoulder where the strap was digging in, you slouched down the road, wondering whether there was actually anything edible in the fridge at home, and trying to decide if it would be considered dinner or breakfast at that time of night.

On the road at the edge of the housing estate, in the shadows just before the small cut-through that led to your street, you heard running footsteps behind you on the main road that led through the trees to the base.

You spun abruptly, wondering who was out there at that time of night. Perhaps you’d dropped something and one of the guards was running to catch up with you?

As you peered into the darkness however, the running pattern slowed to a jog and then to a near-silent walk, and you strained your eyes to see along the dark road between the dim street lights that lined it at distant intervals.

Far off, you could just make out the twin lights of the sentry boxes and the glow of the base beyond, but on the forest road you could see nothing but shadow between the street lamps.

Trying not to feel like the chump about to die horribly in a slasher movie, you cleared your throat and called, “Hello?”

At the sound of your voice, a tall figure moved in the dark and for a fleeting moment they were silhouetted against the lights and your heartbeat quickened. They were huge. Surely no one would dare mug someone who’d just left a highly-guarded military facility, would they?

Then, walking slowly towards you in the centre of the deserted road, the figure came to a halt beneath the nearest street light, watching you, and your breath caught.

Seven or so feet tall, wearing no more clothing than an armoured loincloth and a heavy duty belt, with long, unusually thin braids that flowed down from their large head, and with a bone-white mask covering their head, it was… it looked like…

It couldn’t be…

Could it?

“Red?” you whispered, swaying.

Standing twenty yards off, the figure nodded once and took half a step towards you.

You choked. “Red?”

He raised his hand and took off his mask, and you were running before his hand was back at his side.

Your bag slithered from your shoulder but you abandoned it in the road, not breaking stride, running, heart pounding. “Red!”

He lifted his arms a little way from his side just as you collided with him, and he grunted on impact. His mask dropped to the tarmac with a clatter.

Solid, cool, and unfathomably beautiful, it really was Big Red. You’d know him anywhere.

With your arms looped tightly around his middle, you held him so tightly he wheezed and then he clicked a fond little rebuke at you before swinging you around in a wild circle around him when he realised you weren’t going to let go of him.

His arms tightened around you when he set you down again, one hand cupping your head and the other stroking down your back, and he began to purr.

A series of rumbling, wheezing whines left him a second later, and beneath the solid frame of his chest, you discovered that he was shaking softly. He lowered his head, his thin ‘dreads’ falling in a veil around you, and he buried his face at your neck.

“Hey, it’s ok,” you said as tears rolled down your cheeks. His ‘dreads’ brushed across a couple and wiped them gently away as they wafted over your skin. “God, Red, is it really you? Is this really happening?”

He nodded but couldn’t seem to manage human speech just yet.

“Was that your ship I saw on the base just now? The fancy new model?”

Again, he nodded and didn’t pull back. It wasn’t until his body went stiff and he tensed, twitching and then bringing a slow, trembling, clawed hand up to your collarbones that you got any more reaction from him. Even over the layers of fabric, he traced a fingertip over the lump that was his bone amulet, and then he did draw back sharply.

With his mandibles softly parted in surprise, he stared down at you. “You… You still have it…” he croaked. “You… wear it.”

“Of course I do,” you frowned. “I only take it off to shower.”

For a heartbeat, he didn’t react, but then you found yourself crushed in a second hug, somehow even tighter and more frantic than the first. “I missed you so much,” he rasped. “I wasn’t sure if… if you would still think of me.”

“Red!” you practically yowled in outrage, though since your face was currently mashed against his chest, it sounded more like a disgruntled cat than a human. “Of course I do! How could I ever forget you?”

For a long time, the two of you just stood on the road and hugged, but eventually you grunted as your spine protested the angle, and Red straightened and let go of you.

You exhaled a long, steadying breath and then gave a weak laugh. “How long are you here for?”

Big Red gave a long, slow, rattling purr. “For a while,” he said. “With the threat of the creatures you call ‘shrikes’ eliminated, the High Council has agreed to station some of us here permanently as… ambassadors.”

Your eyes went wide and your heart soared. “You’re staying? Here?”

He nodded. “Two ships will be allowed to remain on this base. We will work with your kind on a number of technologies.”

“Holy shit,” you breathed, dizzy with disbelief. “You’re staying. And… And Croc? Is he with you too?”

Big Red laughed and nodded. “His ship is the second. He is due to land…” He checked his vambrace with a tap of his clawed finger, and chuckled again. “In one minute.”

“Holy shit,” you said again. “Let me get my bag,” you said, and you trotted away feeling like you were floating.

When you returned, Big Red was still standing there waiting for you, and he took the strap of your bag from your hand and slid it over his shoulder. “You are tired,” he said.

“Ugh, don’t tell me you can smell that,” you said with a cautious sniff of your armpit. “It’s been a really long day, ok? If you have a shower onboard that’s safe for humans, I’m going to abuse my privilege as your… friend and get into it.”

“Perhaps we can use it together,” Red shot back immediately, and you felt your whole body light up for the first time in a very long while.

When he chuckled and clicked something at you in his own language, you snorted in response. “Oh you bet I want you,” you said, and he flared his mandibles in surprise at your understanding. “I’ve wanted no one else since the last time you touched me.”

Red’s answering curses were colourful enough that it went beyond even your fairly extensive vocabulary, but you got the gist all the same and slid your hand into his, squeezing tightly. “I’m not sure if Croc will give me more grief for greeting him smelling like exhaustion or like sex. What do you think?”

Red shot you a knowing glance and you nodded.

Who were you kidding? He would give you hell either way.

You couldn’t wait.

___

Yay! Reunited! Time to start wrapping this story up in the next part, I think.

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Thank you so much for your enthusiasm and kind words and asks and tags and reblogs on this project so far! It means so much to me!

If you do happen to have a couple of bucks spare, you could always drop a tip on my Ko-fi, but reblogs are just as welcome and just as helpful! As always, I look forward to your reactions to this one. Take care of yourselves.

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#yautja #yautja inspired #feral #feral predator #feral predator inspired #yautja x human #yautja x reader #gender neutral reader #alien #alien boyfriend #monster boyfriend #exophilia #big red and croc

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breannasfluff · 1 year

Text

When Link wakes up, it’s not the room of stone and vines that throws him. After the Shrine of Resurrection, dark, empty rooms are depressingly familiar. It’s not the fact that he’s lying on his front, head turned to the side, alone.

It’s the sensation, bone-deep, that something is Wrong.

Memory floods back—at least he didn’t lose that, too. A hand, falling off. The husk of a body, moving. Malice—Gloom?—pouring away from it and towards Zelda. He raises his wings to shield her from the attack with blind instinct, Master Sword darting out to meet the corruption.

But the Gloom eats away the blade and stretches toward the princess behind him. The only barrier is his wings, so it attacks that, too.

First, the smell of burnt feathers mixed with something dead and rotted. Then the pain; feather tips anchored in bone being eaten away at the source. The Gloom reaches his skin, sinks into his bone, and he opens his mouth to scream—can he scream?

Link jerks upright and the memory vanishes; smoke on the wind. His wings give a slight flap, raising off the floor. The flash of dark feathers makes him jerk and he curls his right wing around.

Shades of blue no longer meet his eye, but something dark, held in place with gold. They aren’t feathers—too artificial. The wing bends, but when Link brushes tentative fingers over the new wing, the feathers don’t bend as easily. The whole thing is covered in golden metal holding it together. He can’t see how it attaches to his back, but geometric lines curl over his shoulder onto his chest.

He—

His wings—

“Ah, Link. Finally, you wake.” The wing glows and Link stumbles to his feet, eyes scanning the darkness. There’s still no one here, but that’s normal, too.

“I’ve heard a great deal about you from Zelda.”

The princess is safe. That, at least, is a small consolation.

“Your wounds were severe. I am relieved to see you escape death.”

His wing, what about his wing? Everything aches; deeper than his bones. It’s like a Hinox stomped across the top of him, then threw him to a lynel for good measure. Did Mipha’s Grace save him? The gift faded along with her spirit, but how else is he alive? Does he want to be alive?

If even this isn’t enough for the Goddess, what more does he have to give?

The voice continues, “Your wing, however, was beyond saving. I had to replace it, lest the injury endanger you further.”

Link curls the wing around to stare at the false feathers that no longer glow. There’s no further explanation and Link looks around again, eyes catching on the Master Sword. Or—what’s left of it.

He takes a step and freezes. The balance is all off. He’s suddenly unmoored from the ground, tilting slightly. He shuffles his wings; the fake one feels like the old one, except for that pervading sense of Wrong, just enough to trip him up. He takes another step.

Link throws his arms out, even though he’s barely moved. It’s wrong. He stretches his wings out as far as he can, leaning from one side to the other as he feels out the balance. The new wing is heavier than the old, for all it responds the same.

Pulling them back in, he can’t help but curl into himself. Will he be able to fly again? If he can’t, what happens after this journey when he joins the Chain again? Link refuses to consider an if, firmly settling on a when.

If he can’t fly, he’s a burden, and burdens aren’t heroes.

Part 2

@dark-angel-of-muses

#totk #tears of the kingdom #totk spoilers #totk link #lu totk wild #wing au #lu wing au #angst #breannasfluff #my writing

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happilychee · 5 months

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ultear, meredy, and the sea

inspired by a convo with @thehylianidiot

♡ when lyon melted the iced shell around deliora, ur's body and consciousness flowed into the ocean.

♡ sometimes, when she's feeling lost, ultear goes to the beach and stands on the sand for hours. water laps at her ankles, and she feels an inexplicable draw to the tide. if she listens closely, she can just barely make out a woman's voice humming a long-lost lullaby.

♡ before their attack on tenrou island, ultear takes meredy to the beach. it's a quiet trip, and meredy doesn't understand the significance of this moment yet. it's when they're in the waters around tenrou, ultear's blood staining meredy as she hauls her mother onto the small boat, that she sees the figure: a lean, athletic woman with short, dark hair shimmering in the distance. maybe it's her sensory link magic, maybe it's the heightened emotions of the day, maybe it's a subconscious instinct, but meredy nods to the woman, pressing her hand to her heart. ultear coughs up seawater, and the figure disappears.

♡ ultear casts lost ages. she's alone, surrounded by the rubble of destroyed buildings, and there's no water in sight. but when the spell rushes through her, she swears she's in a river, the current threatening to drown her, and someone is trying to pull her out.

♡ meredy takes ultear to the seaside. crime sorcière is put on hold. ultear survived last ages, but it took her magic, and none of them know how to keep going.

♡ ultear walks along the beach. she walks and walks and walks until the sun starts setting. she turns, facing the horizon and opening her arms. the wind caresses her, soothes her pain, and she can almost feel her mother's touch.

♡ meredy starts talking to the water. ultear is a quiet companion, and jellal comes and goes like the tide. meredy talks about her parents, blurred faces she can't remember. she talks about grimoire heart and meeting ultear. she talks about them now, something fundamentally lost in her mother. she talks about ur, who she knows so little about. "I think she would've loved ultear." meredy whispers, and the water seems to dance.

♡ on a particularly bad night, full of nightmares and delirious cries, meredy runs into the ocean. her hands glow pink as she activates a sensory link. that familiar, unfamiliar figure appears. meredy feels a sense of relief, crashing into the tide. the young woman falls asleep in her grandmother's arms.

♡ it's later, much later, when ultear and meredy find themselves on the beach together. ultear feels better, more grounded. she talks more and laughs more and even teases meredy sometimes. they might move again, perhaps to be closer to gray or lyon. meredy likes the idea, as long as they stay by the sea. ultear doesn't argue, splashing her playfully.

♡ the boxes are packed and gone, carted off by lyon, gray, and the ever lively team natsu to hargeon. the cottage is empty, a layer of sand on the windowsill. jellal is waiting for them at the train station. ultear and meredy stand on the beach, water swirling around them. meredy clutches ultear's hand, activating her magic, and suddenly there's three of them. it's one of the only times she sees her mother cry.

♡ ultear brings a pretty glass bottle of seawater into their new apartment, placing it on a little table. it fits right in with the vase of blooming white flowers and the framed pictures of a younger meredy, gray and lyon arguing, jellal and ultear laughing.

♡ they've settled in well. hargeon is a beautiful port town, and ultear feels color creep back into her life.

♡ in the dead of night, when everyone is sleeping and only the sea marches on, ultear hears a faint voice telling stories to her daughter, and smiles.

#I'm so normal about them you don’t understand #old lady ultear does not exist in my mind. I am looking away. I do not see.#they’re family your honor #lychee writes #and cries a little bit #fairy tail #fairy tail headcanons #ultear milkovich #meredy #jellal fernandes

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morbific-or-felicific · 1 year

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- KEYFRAME Featuring Xiao

Meaning: A seemingly innocuous moment that ended up marking a diversion into a strange new era of your life

Word Count: 3.3k~

Description: Having luck so poor that you catch Xiao’s attention and you both slowly grow more and more attached to each other

Edited By: @pretty-princess-peach

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You weren’t really the luckiest when it came to the whole ‘adventuring’ thing. Whether you were looking for lost items, traveling for commissions, or fighting monsters, something always seemed to happen that resulted in either injury or disaster. Thankfully, it wasn’t always an issue that left whatever commission you had accepted incomplete; however, if you hadn’t somehow been granted a vision, your success and survival rate would probably be far lower than they already were. You had never really understood why the gods had granted you the glowing blue vision. You’ve never had some great ambition or purpose like everyone else with a vision. Honestly, you were almost convinced that you were given a vision to survive stepping outside more than anything.

Not wanting to waste the gift, you’d decided to try your hand at adventuring. It had always seemed rather interesting to you, if not a bit scary, so you had joined the adventurers’ guild to learn how to, well, adventure.

It took a slightly concerning amount of time and effort to convince Cyrus that you wouldn’t die if you went on a commission alone. The commission was just going and retrieving a bag of supplies someone had lost coming back through Stone Gate. You were capable of traveling after all, or at least you were pretty sure you were capable. You hadn’t had many issues when you’d traveled with others so far, so this time surely wouldn't be that bad.

You weren’t entirely wrong, as it turned out. You had been having a relatively uneventful trip so far. You had been able to avoid any run-ins with monsters or wild animals and hadn’t had issues with any provisions.

However, when you finally arrived at your destination, you managed to run into possibly the largest group of monsters you’d encountered yet. Well, it seemed less like one giant group and more like a few normal sized groups that were all in the same place at the wrong time. You had hoped you’d be able to hide, but of course you’d already been noticed. You drew your sword like you’d been trained to, and, oh archons, has it always been this heavy? Either way, you were confident this would finally be the time you didn’t make it back alive.

As the monsters ran at you, all you could think to do was crouch down into a ball, shut your eyes, and cry.

An ingenious solution, really.

You waited for the blows to start landing, but before anything could reach you, a cacophony of horrid sounds reached your ears, and when you eventually opened your eyes, there were no longer any monsters.

Well no living monsters.

However, there was a short man with pretty green hair that you could only assume had just saved you. Of course you had jumped up to thank him; however, he had disappeared before you could even get to your feet. Well, at least you survived that. Although you might want to get a bit more training before going out alone again.

It took several months of training and a lot more of persuading Cyrus before you were given a second chance at taking on a solo commission again. However, the day had finally come, and this time you were confident you’d be just fine.

You were headed in the direction of Stone Gate once again, but instead of stopping, you were continuing on to Dihua Marsh to deliver some essential wares to a merchant by the name of “Hypermarket”. Apparently a delivery of goods lost some of his order on its way from Mondstadt.

When you had finally made it to meet the merchant, you were full of pride at your successful journey, pride that may have been the cause of you not noticing a small camp of hillichurls alongside your path that seemed to have noticed you.

By the time you had become aware of their presence, it was too late to do much of anything at all as they were quite literally right in front of you. So of course you did what any good adventurer would do, crouch down and scream. Thankfully, this brave tactic paid off as again you were met with a barrage of horrific noises.

When you finally opened your eyes to see what had happened to them, you once again saw a pile of not so alive monsters alongside a familiar looking man with equally familiar pretty green hair and- oh, he wasn’t just disappearing this time…oh…he looks rather annoyed…should you maybe be apologizing? No of course not, it’s not like you caused the hilichurls to attack you or anything, right…? You started to feel the urge to curl yourself back into a ball when you fully processed the sheer annoyance and is that possibly anger…? in his glare.

“How can an adventure possibly be this useless, you have a sword, don’t you? Can’t you use it?”

“Uhm sorry it’s just… it’s uh, it’s a bit too… uh… it’s too heavy…”

“Ugh why must mortals be so useless, you’re too weak to survive adventuring without a vision, you realized this, yes?”

“I uhm… have a vision…”

You reached into your pocket and pulled out the glowing blue gem. Learning this seemed to concern the man before you more than anything else.

“How are you so helpless when you have both a vision and a good weapon? Why not just give up adventuring, can’t you see it’s futile? You won’t succeed.”

“I don’t want to waste the gift I was given… and I have no other ideas on how I could put it to use, so…”

“…”

You could only try and melt into the ground, embarrassed at your admission, as he continued to stare you down in annoyance before letting out a big sigh.

“If you really are stupid enough to keep up this foolish pursuit, the next time you put yourself in harms way, just call out my name.”

“What uh, what’s your name…?”

“Xiao”

Before you could say anything else he was gone, perfect.

Thankfully, you were able to make it back unscathed, and due to the overall success of the commission, Cyrus was finally convinced that you would be able to handle commissions on your own from now on. No need to mention the extra help you had gotten of course. From then on you were able to take on solo commissions without spending weeks trying to convince Cyrus. Of course, that didn’t mean you weren’t still running into danger left and right, but thanks to a man with what you've discovered to be very pretty golden eyes, you were making it out just fine.

Over the next few months, and after numerous incidents, it had become a reflex of sorts to shout out Xiao’s name whenever you were in danger, and because of your routine misfortune, you had been seeing quite a bit of each other. You had also, much to Xiao’s supposed annoyance, been able to learn more and more about the stoic yaksha through the little bits of information he would begrudgingly divulge. You learned about his karmic debt, bits and pieces of his history with rex lapis, and you also learned that he likes almond tofu, although the reasoning for that last one was… concerning.

In all honesty you had begun to grow rather attached to the man, and if he was honest, he had become rather fond of you as well. Now, instead of getting annoyed that you called for him, he gets upset that you put yourself in harm's way again, so maybe things had changed a little. He just wants to hide you away somewhere safe where you would be happy…it’s totally normal to want that for someone, by the way. That isn’t at all him being attached or affectionate…shut up.

As for your feelings towards him, well let’s just say that you've thought about yelling his name in other situations as well :).

It was fun for you to daydream about that and all, but you knew in reality a being like him would never entertain those thoughts…right? Anyways, daydreaming likely wasn’t the best choice at the moment, as Xiao was standing directly in front of you while you were still hiding, crouched by a bush.

You were just sat there, waiting for him to say something, as he stared down at you before finally speaking.

“...Again? Really?”

“I’m sorry…” you stared at the ground feeling embarrassed of your weakness.

“I didn’t ask you to apologize, I’m… I’m not upset with you”

“You aren’t?”

“No. Although I am concerned that you keep putting yourself in harm’s way. You’re too… breakable to be acting so reckless.”

“I’m… breakable…?”

“…never mind”

After he spoke, he turned and disappeared rather suddenly, leaving you to sit in your bush and ponder his abrupt departure. You had no idea if he was upset with you or annoyed with you, but the real reason for his exit was neither annoyance nor upset, the poor adeptus just doesn't know how to deal with his feelings and being around you surely wouldn’t help. You made him feel all sorts of different ways, and he hadn’t figured out any way of venting those feelings other than fighting and, well, fucking his fist :).

It had been about a week or so since you had seen Xiao. You hadn't been out on a commission since you had last seen him, and you haven’t gotten into any other danger worth mentioning either. At this point, you were starting to miss him… well you’re going out on another commission in a few days, and it would have you staying overnight at the Wangshu Inn! Perhaps you would even see Xiao during your stay or end up needing to call out for his help during your travels!

Unfortunately, by the time you had made it to Wangshu Inn, you had lost all the energy and enthusiasm you had had at the beginning of your trip. You were tired of walking and running from monsters while being weighed down by the extra weight of the items you were delivering as part of your commission. At least none had ended up attacking you… even if that meant you couldn’t see Xiao as soon as you had hoped.

Regardless, you were about ready to fall over from exhaustion by the time you made it to the ‘front’ desk. Verr Goldet seemed rather surprised when you asked her about xiao, after you explained to her that you had met him on multiple other occasions, she just smiled, handed you your room key, and told you to check for him on the top balcony.

After you dropped off the items you were delivering for the chef at Wangshu Inn you tossed your belongings in your room and headed up the stairs to see if you could somehow find Xiao. Much to your dismay the yaksha was nowhere to be found, it’s not like he was hiding from you, nope, that’d be childish, Xiao would never act childish…never.

After your unsuccessful attempt at finding the man, you headed back to your room to shower.

By the time you were done with your shower and were finally clean from your journey, all you had energy left to do was put your vision safely on the nightstand before flopping onto your bed and laying there, unmoving, until you fell asleep. The dream that greeted you in your slumber was a rather interesting one. It had you rubbing your thighs together and whimpering while you rested, thought provoking images of a certain vigilant yaksha flowing through your head. However, unfortunately for you and your rest, you were awoken by the sudden shouting of a very concerned adeptus you had unknowingly summoned with a little moan of his name.

“What’s wrong?!”

You shot upright in your bed, half asleep and very horny confused.

“Xiao what are you…? Why are you here…?”

“You called, why else would I be here? Tell me what’s wrong.”

“Nothings wrong, don't worry. Besides, how am I supposed to have called for you if I was asleep unless…oh, nevermind.”

“What?”

“I just uh…I just realized something! It’s not important!”

“It seems important. Tell me.”

“I just realized the reason I called for you…”

“Why did you call for me?” He narrowed his eyes at you.

“I was just having a dream with you in it…and…uh…”

“Oh, I see. So that’s why you were lying in bed moaning?”

“I WASN’T!”

“You were.”

“I- uh… no! Shut up!”

“Humans are such terrible liars… Are you stupid?”

“Hey! I’m not stupid! I’m just…embarrassed…”

“Why are you embarrassed? Because you were having sexual thoughts about me?” Gods, why did he have to phrase it like that?

“Yes! WAIT I MEAN NO!”

“You seem to know what you want. So why don’t you ask for it?”

“Because I don’t want you to think I’m stupid…”

“What does this have to do with intelligence?”

“Okay I guess I didn’t mean stupid…I just don’t want to ask and have you say no…that’s embarrassing.”

“I won’t say no.”

All you could do was stare at him with wide eyes as you processed his words. There’s no way he’d feel the same way. There’s no way he’d actually want to…you know…right?

“Really…?”

“Yes, so ask.”

He continued to stare you down, eyes still narrowed, watching you as a hawk watches a rabbit. There’s no way you could actually ask him to fuck you…right…?

“Can you uh…if uh…if you want to can you uhm…uh…”

You could feel heat rising in your face as you tried to put the words together.

“I just want you to…fuck…me…”

You could almost see him start to smile as he took a step towards the bed. It was then that you realized that you were almost completely naked other than the towel you had draped over yourself before you’d fallen asleep. You started to curl in on yourself in order to hide yourself from Xiao’s wandering eyes.

“Why are you doing that? Do you not want me to see you?”

“I’m just…embarrassed.”

“You shouldn’t be. You’re…beautiful…and I want to see all of you.”

You felt your cheeks heat up as Xiao leaned his polearm against the wall and reached towards you, taking your towel from you, tossing it somewhere behind him without much care as to where it landed. He let his eyes wander over your body as you tried to keep yourself from curling your knees to your chest to hide yourself from his gaze.

“Beautiful.”

That was all he said before he pulled his gloves off and tossed them to the ground. You heard the loud thump of his vision hitting the floor, followed almost immediately by the sound of him kicking his boots off before pulling off his clothes and dropping them with his gloves. He leaned in to kiss you, pressing his lips against yours. The soft feeling of his lips moving against yours overtaking your senses.

Before you knew what had happened, Xiao had broken the kiss and now had your wrists pinned above your head, hovering above you. He took heavy breaths while he stared down at you, trying to gauge your reaction.

“Why uh…why did you stop…?”

“Did you want me to keep going?”

“Uh, yes…please.”

Without another word, Xiao pressed his lips against yours, the kiss deeper and more urgent than before. He ran a hand down your side, causing goosebumps to raise on your skin and a shudder to run through your body. The feeling of his fingers gliding across you barely registering in your mind due to the intensity of the kiss, that is until you felt two fingers begin to circle around your clit. You suddenly broke off the kiss to let out a cry of his name.

“Fuck! Xiao!”

He gave no response, only choosing to reconnect your lips and continue circling his fingers around your little bundle of nerves. As he continued his ministrations, the intense pleasure was making it harder and harder to keep yourself from letting out little moans into the kiss, but when you felt Xiao push two of his fingers inside of you, you couldn’t help the embarrassingly loud moan that came from you. You tried to move your hands to cover your face, deciding you now needed to hide from the adeptus, who currently had two fingers knuckle deep inside of you. However, before you could even hope to get your hands free, you felt his grip tighten around your wrists, effectively dashing any hopes you had of hiding from him. He let out a somewhat malcontented huff at the action, clearly displeased.

“I told you, you don’t need to hide from me…I enjoy looking at you, foolish mortal.”

“I’m sorry I uh…I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.”

Unsure of what to say, you simply went quiet…that is, until you felt Xiao begin to move his fingers, thrusting them in and out of you at a fast pace causing a litany of moans to pour from your mouth. Xiao had even moved from kissing your lips to marking up your neck in order to hear your moans unobstructed.

After a few minutes of him fucking you like that, you felt him remove his fingers from inside of you, causing you to let out a whine in protest. However his fingers were almost immediately replaced by his cock starting to push inside of you. The feeling causing you to let out a long drawn out moan. The further he pushed himself inside of you, the more the feeling of a build up of pleasure grew in your lower stomach until he eventually bottomed out.

Xiao paused for a moment to breathe, grounding himself before he began thrusting into you at an inhuman speed…well, you suppose he is an adeptus. God the feeling of having his cock pushing in and out of you was sending you to another plain. Why was he so good at this? From the way he kissed you to the way he was fucking you now, how often does he do this? Or was he just somehow naturally this good? Yeah that makes sense, hopefully it's that one.

You were dragged from your thoughts by a particularly well angled thrust from Xiao, forcing a little scream from your throat. Xiao barely seemed to notice, too wrapped up in the feeling of fucking you. You were just so soft and warm. How was he supposed to stay focused on anything else? That’s not to say he was ignoring all the entertaining sounds you were making, just that no sound could fully bring the poor adeptus back to reality.

After a few minutes, you could feel yourself getting close to the edge, your orgasm approaching almost as fast as Xiao was fucking you.

“Xiao, Xiao I’m mmhm fuck I’m so close!” Oh, well that seemed to be enough for him to snap out of his daze.

“Fuck me too.”

He slipped a hand down to circle his fingers around your clit. That sensation was all you’d needed to finally be pushed over the edge, your eyes rolling back and your back arching. Xiao continued fucking you as you clenched down on his cock, pushing him towards his edge, and before long, you could feel his warm cum flowing into you.

There was a long silence while the two of you caught your breath and took everything in. You felt warm with Xiao so close, letting out a little whine when he pulled himself out of you, making him chuckle a bit. He flopped down next to you, and you immediately snuggled into him. He wrapped you both in the blanket before he wrapped his arms around, you and you both drifted off to sleep. Xiao figured he could just ignore having to face his feelings for now…or at least until the morning came.

Tag List: @lilia-sspouse @but-a-peach @stannazuna @yourlocal-bunny @lordbugs @randomlycockroach @licensedsimp @leena-shi @cesimaaa

morbific-or-felicific

#mae’s daily paper☕️*•̊ⴰ✧#xiao.❣︎•*✧ ̊ⴰ #mae.melts🧊*•̊ⴰ✧#felicific.mae☀︎*•̊ⴰ✧#this took *months* to write for some reason #xiao fluff #xiao smut #xiao x reader #genshin fluff #genshin smut #genshin impact #fem reader

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yoosungisbabie · 1 year

Text

alone with you

jumin x mc

rating: T

warnings: slight angst, kissing♡

word count: 1.7k

ao3 link

summary

All they want is time.

°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。

When she agreed to marry him, she believed she was ready for whatever would come her way. Merging their lives would take time, and she accepted that.

She never thought it would be so hard to get a moment alone with her fiancé.

They’d agreed early on that living together should wait until after their marriage. That didn’t stop him from paying for an apartment mere blocks from his building in Seoul. Despite that, he left for work in the early mornings, making her windows to visit him at home slim and far apart.

She continued the job of her own, juggling her management position along with wedding preparations. Meetings with their planner were mostly about making decisions, but the finality of said decisions was never sure. She wanted to consult Jumin first, but his schedule was more packed than ever.

C&R’s stocks were soaring in price, the news of the wedding was all over, and the continued lawsuit against Sarah and Glam Choi kept Jumin running a nonstop marathon. She continually offered to help both him and Jaehee, but there was never much she could do to truly help.

When she had time, Jumin’s father took up what he could of it. He wanted to learn all about her, though she wished Jumin could accompany her. His father was a kind man, but he had his opinions about their relationship. All she could do was smile and nod, wanting to keep peace and harmony between all parties.

Her own parents were waiting for the first opportunity to meet Jumin in person, but even a month after the party, everything was still too hectic.

But, there would come moments when they were finally alone.

Sometimes they would just hold each other, opting for physical comfort to fill the short minutes they were allowed. Other times, they would spill their whole days out in the air.

On most occasions, they would share Jumin’s lunch. She would visit his office and greet a disheveled Jaehee, closing the door of Jumin’s office behind her. An hour felt so short as they ate slowly and talked, catching each other up on all the little details.

And other times, like that day, she’d had enough. An hour a day with her husband-to-be was not sufficient, and she knew he felt the same.

“Jumin, do you have time?”

The answer was, and probably always would be, no, but perhaps he’d heard the tone of her voice through the phone. The exhaustion, the longing in the way she breathed out, and so he replied, “Yes.”

“Where are you?” was what immediately followed, and she took a long, deep inhale.

“I’m home. Would you be able to—“

“I’m leaving now,” he cut in, his voice gentle yet urgent. Despite the excitement blossoming in her stomach, she looked up, glancing around her messy apartment. He’d only visited once, just after the small abode had been purchased nearly a month ago. It had become cluttered since then; there was barely enough time to sleep anymore.

“Arrive safely, please,” she smiled, hearing him moving about quickly. He chuckled shortly, halting to place all his attention on her once more.

“I can’t wait to see you,” he replied, sounding resolute as he sighed.

They said goodbye, her hands tingling in anticipation.

The five minutes his trip took felt like hours, but she tried to busy herself with tidying up. She shakily folded blankets and arranged her shoes neatly on the floor.

She heard his footfalls before his gentle knock pierced the door, her body lunging for the handle immediately.

There he was, Jumin Han, standing in her doorway. The anxious anticipation in his eyes simmered into a warm, glowing fondness that she could almost feel against her skin.

“Hello, my love,” he sighed, grinning crookedly. She laughed slightly, reaching forward to take his hand in hers and lead him into the apartment and close the door behind him.

“I’ve missed you,” she said, letting her hand fall from his only to be able to wrap her arms around his middle. He returned her embrace immediately, their bodies melting into each other.

She felt the way his tense shoulders deflated against her, her own body buzzing from the immediate relief she felt at having him in her arms.

She was the first to pull away, looking up at him with complete adoration and overflowing gratitude. He returned her gaze, looking her over and nodding to himself happily.

“I’m glad to see you’re doing well,” he said, his voice just above a whisper. She pursed her lips, shooting him a knowing look.

“I am now,” she replied just as quietly, watching his smile migrate from his eyes to his lips. He reached forward, pressing a lingering kiss to her forehead and igniting a small fire in the pit of her stomach.

“Your apartment looks lovely, by the way,” he commented, drawing his eyes up and past her.

“Thank you,” she smiled, turning in his hold to look behind herself. Jumin hadn’t been able to visit her apartment since the initial purchase, and although she’d sent him numerous pictures after furnishing it, she was still excited to show him around.

“Would you like to see?” she wondered, intertwining her fingers with his and blinking up at him. He nodded once, smiling down at her and squeezing her hand.

She walked him through her living space, briefly explaining the reasoning behind her decorations as he followed behind her. He let her speak, more than content to listen to her voice for hours on end.

When they finished, she absentmindedly led him back towards the kitchen, eyeing the door and feeling a wave of bitter anticipation wash over her.

Jumin stopped a single pace behind her, their hands still tangled together at their sides. She turned back to look at him, longing to take in his presence for as long as possible.

The way he looked down at her reminded her of the first time they’d met at his penthouse. He’d simply stared into her eyes, making her cheeks grow warm and her heart flutter in her chest. Jumin later revealed that he’d wanted to kiss her the moment he laid eyes on her, and the memory brought another gentle smile to her lips.

She couldn’t fathom how much she’d taken their time together for granted. No part of her wanted Jumin to go through the same pain as those days when Elizabeth went missing, but to have that time alone with him once more would be all she would ever ask for again.

Her free hand moved to Jumin’s upper arm, her fingers curling around his bicep loosely as she stepped closer.

“Thank you for coming,” she whispered, hugging his arm to her chest as he looked down at her curiously.

“I’m yours,” he replied simply, making her next breath hitch in her throat. His eyes followed the way her lips parted, a near-silent gasp for air. His free hand rose to meet her cheek, his thumb stroking her temple.

“Good,” she let out, moving her hand from his arm to his shoulder to steady herself. They both leaned in to kiss each other, meeting in the middle blissfully.

The way Jumin kissed her could easily convince anyone that he really did have all the time in the world. His slow, precise movements made warmth bubble in her chest and made her knees feel like buckling. It was more than a kiss; it was a study, an exploration. Her instinctual movements, her reactions, the way her body responded to his; Jumin took his time to commit it all to memory.

All of her senses were heightened and dialed into him, and the gentle way his hand was pressing into her waist was making everything feel fuzzy around the edges.

Jumin pulled away for a desperate breath, and she barely stopped herself from chasing after him. She blinked up at him, seeing his dazed eyes move past her to focus on the wall just behind her.

“On second thought, my love,” he breathed, gazing down at her once more. “Some of your design choices are abysmal. You should remove the clock from the wall.” She pressed her lips together, staring up at him in mild confusion while his hand still hadn’t moved from her side.

“How dare you let time pass while we’re together?” he whispered, making her lips split into a grin that bubbled into a laugh as she shook her head.

“I’m sorry,” she giggled, pushing some of his hair from his eyes as he smiled playfully down at her. “How rude of me,” she replied softly, running a thumb across his cheekbones and reveling in the warmth just beneath his skin.

Meeting his eyes might have finally made her legs give out if he hadn’t been holding her up with him. What little of his irises weren’t shadowed seemed to burn as he took her in completely, and the sight made her heart struggle to beat properly.

She parted her lips to speak, thinking for a brief moment that maybe she could continue his joke and make him laugh as well. But any reply slipped her mind when his gaze shifted to her mouth, making her thoughts sizzle into nothing but that of kissing him even once more.

A breath before their lips met again, his phone buzzed needily in his suit pocket as it was pressed between his chest and hers. She met his eyes, watching as the euphoria in them faded all too quickly. He pulled away just enough to reach in and silence the call, frowning slightly at her. She replied with a gentle smile, reaching up to press an understanding kiss to his lips that he restrained himself from deepening.

“I want more time,” he breathed as she pulled away, his fingers splaying across her lower back in order to keep her right where she was. She nodded in agreement, waiting for that familiar disappointment to settle in her chest.

But as she watched the way he was willing to melt for her, to drop everything, all she felt blooming in her stomach was relief. Jumin was hers, and she was his. A moment alone would never be enough, but they’d promised each other a lifetime.

“We have it, Jumin,” she replied simply, watching his eyes as they took her in completely. “All the time in the world.”

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thank you all so much for reading! I stressed over the editing and wording of this one because I wanted it to be perfect but! nothing will ever be posted if I need it to be perfect so here we are!

if you enjoyed this, please leave a like, a note, a reblog, or anything you can! I’d love to hear any feedback <3 I have more Jumin fics in the works that I’d like to post soon!

mel x

#mysme #mystic messenger #jumin #han jumin #jumin han #mc x jumin #jumin x mc #my writing #mysme ff #mystic messenger fanfic #ajfjsbfkjsbf im not good at tags anymore but thats okay

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ashs-random-writing · 3 months

Text

Mushroom Circles

Chapter one

Ao3

—

When an accidental blood sacrifice leaves him in a strange new world, Roman has to hide

Logan would like to know what has been eating all the fruit

—

Maybe it would have been better had he not gone on a midnight walk through the woods, or had at least not gone alone.

Despite the dangers that seemed obvious at the time, he was entirely surprised by what had actually happened. He had a pocket knife in case he needed to defend himself, obviously, but it turned out that he didn’t need it.

In fact, more than not needing it, he probably would’ve been better without it.

He had been walking, fidgeting with it in his hand, when it had suddenly opened and sliced a large cut into his palm, and he had to watch the blood start dripping. He hissed in pain and clutched his hand close to himself

Great, just great. He started walking back to his house, intent on finding his spare first aid supplies to bandage up his hand, and then probably go to sleep. Roman didn’t really know why he had come outside, he often had little impulses like that, but even he could admit this one was stupid

He grumbled to himself as he walked back, cursing as his foot caught on a rock and he tripped over, instinctively putting his hands in front of him to try catch himself.

He winced as his still-open cut slammed into a mushroom. He looked at where he had fallen and his breath caught in his throat. A faerie circle.

Roman was not particularly superstitious. In fact, he couldn't care less about most superstitions. But faerie circles were just something he couldn’t help but feel cautious around.

Sure, he knew it was probably just made up that a faerie would show up and steal you away if you stepped in one (his brother had made a point to step in every faerie circle he saw when they were walking together, just to annoy him) but he just couldn’t bring himself to enter one himself

He lifted his hand, finding that his blood had stained the top of the mushrooms. He manoeuvred himself into a sitting position, and twisted around to look around him.

He pushed himself standing, and looked down. He was still in the faerie circle, and in his movements to get up, he had gotten his blood on almost every single mushroom. As if on cue, a single drop of blood fell on the one undirtied toadstool.

At first, he was unsure if it was his mind that was making up the strange, almost-weightless feeling he had suddenly gained, but then the circle started to softly glow

He tried to take a step back, out of the circle, but found that he was blocked by some kind of invisible force

He could feel his breath speeding up and he could feel something happening.

He blacked out.

When he came to, he was staring at the sky. Had… had there always been that many stars? He sat up, wincing as his hand reminded him of his injury. He froze in place

The trees that surrounded him were decidedly not the same as the ones that were there when he passed out. Firstly, if his vision in the night served him correctly, the leaves were blue. Secondly, they were about fifteen times the height they usually were. Thirdly, near the tops of them were a lot of treehouses.

They were to scale with the trees.

He looked down at himself- he looked the same, even if he was quite dirty from falling down, and from passing out. There were no faeries nearby, as far as he could see, and so he resolved to hide until he could figure out a way home

He didn’t know if this was the realm of the faeries, though he suspected it probably was, and he didn’t know if the people or faeries that lived here would be kind to find him in such a vulnerable state.

He looked around for anywhere to hide, and found somewhere, though, admittedly, it was not the most glamorous.

There was a small tunnel under a tree root, which opened up slightly, under the tree. For someone who was not as tiny as he was, it wouldn’t be very noticeable, and it seemed that there were no other animals living in there, luckily for him.

It was dark, but it was hidden and that’s all that mattered. He didn’t like it, but the idea of a giant faerie finding him was worse. He moved things around to try to make it a little more comfortable, but there wasn’t a lot to move. Some splinters of wood, and some dirt

He didn’t even have his phone, because when he got sudden midnight impulses, he didn’t tend to think ahead very much. He watched the opening for the next few hours, suddenly feeling very paranoid about what could be out there.

His hideout became somewhat more illuminated as the hours ticked by, and when he chanced a look out of the opening, he confirmed that this definitely was not earth. Unless earth had suddenly developed a purple sky, or if people were suddenly brightly coloured and had wings, of course.

As much as he loved the idea of faeries and magic, this was not what he wanted. The idea of being in a fantasy world was intriguing, when it was just an idea and not a magical transportation to a giant world where he was at every disadvantage.

He looked out at the giant faeries and held his breath. He hoped to whatever-he-could that they wouldn’t notice his little home under the tree roots. He knew they probably wouldn’t, considering that it was majorly concealed by such roots, and could only really be seen by being at such a small size, or if one was looking for it.

Each faerie had some kind of bright colouration. Skins in purples, blues, reds, pinks, greens, any colour he could think of, hair being much the same. The wings seemed different on different faeries, some being almost crystalline, some being the stereotypical butterfly wings, some looking like dragon wings.

The strangest faerie he had seen seemed to have no wings, but had yellow scales scattered across dark grey skin. He didn’t see it for more than a few seconds, though he was not disappointed by that. It was far too snake-like for him to feel at all at ease near it

One faerie that he saw more than others over the next few days was one with the crystalline type wings, that almost looked like a blue and black stained glass window. It had dark blue, almost black hair and blue skin as well. It had glasses, and it often sat at the bottom of a nearby tree and read.

Roman often overheard conversation between faeries, though it was of as much use to him as if he had never heard anything. They spoke a language he had never heard, and seemed to only speak that.

The language on paper seemed just as incomprehensible to him from the few glances he’d gotten from the blue faerie’s books. He had been a little more adventurous with watching over the few days.

He knew that he was still very concealed from view, even when he could see in front of him.

There was another faerie that he saw quite often. It lived in the treehouse in the tree he was living under. It didn’t always come down to the base of the tree, but it liked to talk to the bookish one. It was a lighter blue, almost cyan, with turquoise hair and butterfly wings. It also had glasses.

He watched them often, just to make sure he knew when it would be a good time to find food. He had been having a hard time finding food over the past few days, and whatever he could find was often too big to drag into his hole in the ground.

Usually he had to go out at night and rip off whatever he could from fruit that had fallen from trees. The fruit wasn’t always left on the ground, however, and was often picked up by different faeries, thus limiting his ability to eat. He couldn’t find the energy to resent them for this, but he did wish they’d leave some for him at some point.

He felt his stomach rumble as he watched the nerd faerie pack up its things to leave. There was a fallen piece of fruit on the ground next to it, taunting Roman relentlessly. The nerd was meticulous about leaving things clean, and so Roman would likely never get to eat that specific piece.

He’d have to get lucky and wait for another piece to fall. He sighed and watched the nerd leave.

Wait…

The fruit was still there? Had it forgotten? Night was falling, there would be very few faeries around soon, and he’d be free to eat. He smiled, thanking the small mercies of the world.

He waited until darkness had fallen and he could hear no one or nothing moving, and he climbed out of the tunnel and towards the piece of fruit. He wasn’t too sure what fruit it was, it tasted strange and looked like nothing he had eaten before he had been forced into this realm

He ripped off a piece from the fruit and began eating. There was barely a dent in the fruit, with it being about the same size as him, perhaps even slightly larger, but he ate for a while. He supposed it would be noticeable by the time he finished, but he didn’t think that was as big an issue as starving to death.

Once he figured that he had eaten enough, he ran back to his little tunnel.

He’d managed to make it a little more comfortable over the few days, and he had some soft leaves (he was correct on first assumption- they were blue) on which he slept.

It wasn’t the most comfortable but it was the most luxurious option he had at his disposal. He often thought about his bed at home- and that led him to think of home in general.

Was his brother looking for him at all? Was anyone else? What would they say when they found his dried blood on a mushroom ring? He couldn’t imagine

——

Logan didn’t often stray from routine. Most days, he’d wake up, prepare himself some breakfast, go out for a fly, and then sit under a nearby tree and read. The tree was near his friend Patton’s house, so they often talked to each other

The past few days, Logan had noticed some strange happenings. The feeling of being watched, primarily, but also that any time a piece of fruit would drop to the ground from a tree in the area near Patton’s house, and it stayed there overnight, it would have strange bite marks.

It could fall in the morning and stay there all day, but nothing would start eating it. Only at night. Obviously, this pointed to the idea of a nocturnal creature, but Logan knew nothing that made bite marks or anything the way that were left in these fruits. Nor did he know anything that stayed so close to one specific area.

He believed to have found its habitat, however, when he vaguely noticed movement under a tree root. He couldn’t make out anything in particular in regards to the animal, other than it must’ve been small, given the size of the hole it was in. From the angle he was at, he could only see a small fraction of the hole it had burrowed into, but he had noticed movement more than a few times

He sat, reading for a few hours, stopping only to talk with Patton

“Hey, Lo!” Patton greeted him, ever the happy man he was

Logan smiled, dragging his attention away from the book he was reading

“Patton,” he greeted shortly, “how have you been?”

Conversation continued naturally between them, until Logan caught movement from the habitat of the unknown creature

“That animal I’ve been trying to find for the past few days,” he started, before gesturing towards the tree “I believe it has burrowed into a hole below your tree,”

Patton’s head whipped around to look at the tree with metaphorical stars in his eyes, immediately making a move to get up and presumably run towards the tree, before Logan grabbed his hand

“Remember, this is an unknown, small animal. It has shown to be skittish, and small creatures are much more likely to die of shock, or attack when they feel threatened, so we should probably leave it alone for now,” he cautioned

Upon Patton’s answering pout, he continued

“But, I suppose we could attempt to earn its trust enough that it would come out of hiding on its own,”

Patton’s wings fluttered a few times in what Logan assumed was probably excitement. Logan couldn’t deny that he was also quite excited, though not for the same reasons

Logan was rather intrigued by the strange nature of the unknown creature, and he couldn’t help his curiosity from growing stronger. He’d love to find out what it was, perhaps even discover something new

He, a few hours later, after Patton had left, began packing up his things. He noticed a singular piece of fruit on the ground next to him. He was about to pick it up, but then thought about the mystery creature

It seemed to only be eating food that had dropped on the ground. If he picked it up, what were the chances it would find something else? He let out a small sigh and left it on the ground, putting his books in his bag.

He flew away from the tree and towards his home.

Once he was sitting safely in his bed, he sighed.

Of course, whatever the unknown creature was may be dangerous, so he’d have to approach the situation with caution and be careful not to startle it. Maybe he could leave some food out for it so it wouldn’t have to survive on the off chance some fruit might fall from a tree

He thought about all of his observations of it. At first, he’d hypothesised that it was nocturnal, as that would explain why it only came out of its burrow at night. But, he had seen movement several times during the day- so perhaps it was just hiding from what it perceived to be a threat

He couldn’t think of a single thing that acted exactly the same as this mystery animal

—

@a-chilly-pepper @da3dm

#sanders sides gt #sanders sides fic #sanders sides story #sanders sides g/t #giant/tiny #giant tiny #sanders sides au #sanders sides #sanders side fic #g/t #fae Logan

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elvenbeard · 10 months

Text

2071

"Had to drive a thousand miles just to realize that this is where I belong... This is my home. I'm so fuckin' stupid."

"Some mistakes you gotta make, hermano. How else're you s'pposed to learn from them?"

Vince left Night City for a little less than a year in 2070. He'd burned too many bridges, in Charter Hill, in Kabuki... There seemed nothing left for him to gain, nowhere deeper to sink. Also, his mother had tracked him down two years into his hiding from her. Even though they parted ways somewhat amicably and Vince did not expect to see her again, a certain level of unrest had accompanied him ever since.

Together with someone he thought he was in love with at the time, he joined the backstage crew of a Korean lazrpop duo touring the NUSA. His actually quite extensive technical knowledge... did not land him the gig. It was mostly the good word put in by his acquaintance that was supposed to get him out of the city. But so, instead of working with the crew's techies, setting up the lights and sound for the impressive shows ahead, he ended up having to haul equipment cases most days.

Needless to say, the experience was underwhelming. Combined with his relationship turning sour halfway into the trip, Vince suffered from the worst homesickness ever - for Night City, of all places, the city and the people that had continued to wrong him so many times over, with their games and intrigues.

One thing though Night City had done very right: Jackie Welles. The first person who sincerely liked Vince for who he was, no ulterior motives. The first true friend whose intentions he no longer doubted, that would have his back no questions asked, and vice versa.

Bonding with him over their shared experiences with abusive parents, Jackie was to Vince the older brother he had never had. Naturally, Jackie was there to pick him up when Vince returned to Night City in 2071, disillusioned, alone, and uncertain about his future more than ever. But Jackie always seemed to know someone or something that could be done to get Vince back on his feet.

Night City had changed as much as Vince had during his short-lived, self-inflicted exile. The Unification War was over, Night City a free city. Most importantly though - unbeknownst to both Vince and Jackie still - the old, powerful corporation that had returned to the city's heart with its new, rebuilt headquarters, would forever change their lives just a few years down the line...

Vince through the years (3/9)

For today's behind the scenes ramblings: a few thoughts on something I've been noticing on my VP journey lately...

No matter where you go... I think in any scenic location near Night City, you can see the Arasaka logo somehwere in the background, and I think it's done very purposefully by the environment designers XD It's either the clover, or the whole word "arasaka" spelled out, glowing somewhere on the side of a building or an ad display. It is often there in important story scenes somewhere, too, subtle in the background, a constant, subconscious reminder to V (you know... apart from the constant, subconscious bickering at the hands of Johnny XD).

Arasaka Tower itself is also extremely prominent, unmistakeable with its shape, whenever I'm taking pics lately that are in slightly elevated locaions I look around to see if I can spot it XD And I chose this spot specifically because it's so nicely visible from there, too...

This was one of my very first shoots with AMM - don't think I ever shared these (and wanna recreate them badly now). Just Vince and Johnny pondering the next move, what they're gonna do and say during the meeting with Hanako, Arasaka Tower in clear view in the distance, almost as if it's taunting them.

This particular spot is very important to Vince... as mentioned, it's where Jackie picked him up after he returned to Night City in 2071, but it's more than that. Jackie showed him the place shortly after they became friends, to give Vince a "different perspective" on Night City he wasn't really aware of then, with his sheltered upbrining and the circles he moved in. It's by the dam, overlooking Rancho Coronado, and in few other places the extreme difference between poverty and wealth appears quite as jarring.

In the years to come after this first visit here, it develops into a favourite meeting spot of Vince and Jackie to discuss all manners of things in quiet and relative private... here is where, just a year later, Vince tells him that he's gonna take on a job at Arasaka 👀 And Vince is drawn back there over and over again, even when Jackie can no longer meet him there.

It's simply where he still feels closest to Jackie, due to so many important conversations they had here...

... and he takes Kerry here, later, too, to get away from the city for a little while, talk about the past and the future.

Sometimes he comes over on his own when he needs some quiet time to think, too. What would Jackie do now? What would he suggest? Does it all even matter in the grand scheme of things? What is really important right now, and what can wait for later?

It's the perfect spot to clear your mind, and gorgeous at every time of day <3

Also, I wrote above that Vince was homesick for Night City... but it was less Night City that he missed, but Jackie's presence.

#cyberpunk 2077 #male v cyberpunk #cyberpunk v #corpo v #jackie welles #cp2077 #cyberpunk vp #cp2077 vp #vincent ezaki #my vp #cyberpunk 2077 spoilers #vince through the years #I'm so soft for their friendship hhhhhh ;____;#still working out some details for them for my personal canon re: vince's time at arasaka #I wanna include all the known canon stuff as best as I can #also... in case you couldn't tell XD Vince definitely had a big old crush on Jackie #well... maybe not big old but if Jackie had ever said anything Vince wouldn't have turned him down #by 2077 it had faded to background noise - and also there was Misty now and Vince was really happy about how happy she made Jackie #so it's all good xD #but around the time these pics are set... he's not homesick for Night City #he's homesick for Jackie #even more so after his relationship then - his first serious relationship with another guy mind you - went to shit

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biribaa · 2 years

Note

Howdy, I truly loved O7!! She's super cool!! :D So please, could you do more of Yandere O7 x Reader? :]]

Oh yeah, your writing is awesome, keep up the good work!!💖💗💞🌸🌺

Fem!Yandere!AI/Robot oc(O7) x Reader

OH! HOHOHOHO I GOT A EPIC PLOT FOR THIS ONE FOLK

TW/CW—Yandere behavior, mentions of torture, mentions of violence, swears in the narrative, mentions of manipulation, blood

O7 hates humans, that's something she's made clear since her conscience touched that machine, and O7 insisted on torturing everyone that worked inside that company, and you were included.

You notice that O7 tortures each of them in a unique way

O7 tortured Cyrus by stressing him over the death of his daughters that he could save, but didn't want to.

O7 tortured Julia by reminding and reminding her of her being a pyromaniac, making her feel guilty about it

O7 tortured Antony by playing with his paranoia, making it worse since she made him go blind, not to mention about Madeline...

O7 tortured the Tester by... Actually, Tester wasn't even being tortured, they are the one who insists on getting involved and stopping O7

And O7 tortured you with love obsession

You didn't even know if it was natural or if she did it on purpose actually, but you knew one thing, it's awful. She wasn't totally violent, but she was totally jealous and touchy, and she separated you from everyone, and you rarely had time alone that is not with her. At first, you almost, in deep down in your heart, thought this was all pretty cute from her, how O7 ignored her hating instincts to make you comfortable and loved, but when O7 brutally spanked Cyrus in front of you when he was getting very attached to you...

But you would run away from all this today. And if you can't get out of this company, you have to at least find the other four.

Everything was dark, you could see, but still, before O7 arrived, everything was much brighter than before, and the surroundings had a lot more wires than usual. You are impressed that you still haven't been caught by O7, recently she was quiet for almost 2 hours, which was clearly suspicious, and this was all happening after Philip –the AI of the company– finally showed up. Maybe... Philip did something with O7?

You started to enter a totally dark area, you forced your vision with your eyes, but it didn't help. Your steps have become more delicate, nobody likes to trip over a wire. The air got colder, in theory it would be because of the germs spread around, most janitors here are dead after all...

You raised your arm, looking for a wall, or to feel anything that is in front of you, and so far, there was nothing, you failed in your mission to find your location. It was at that moment that you felt a hand on your shoulder, a heavy hand, and hard unlike a human hand, you recognized this hand very well.

Your heart skipped a beat as you immediately reacted to the unexpected touch, quickly turning to the figure behind you. You prepared to come across a mischievous smile with the screen glowing a green hue, but, unexpectedly, instead of green, it was blue.

"Philip!" You cracked a smile

"Shh... She is somewhere"

Your heartbeat slowed as you saw the accumulation of blue circles on what was once was O7's screen. You looked him upside down, wondering about Philip's new body. You notice how used you were to it being just a pile of screens.

"We have to take you to the others, fast." Philip took your hand without hesitation, walking straight forward, you followed in his footsteps without protest

Everything was so weird until now, is the only AI you could trust that didn't have a body... in the body of the AI you feared the most? You were still trying to analyze everything, after all, that black coat doesn't give you good memories...

Philip's screen easily lit up the place around it, that's the good part, you finally get to see the place around. The bad part is the awkward silence that has appeared since Philip spoke

"Soo..." You started "How did you get into O7's body?"

"I put her consciousness on another random device and invaded her body to help everyone here, but it's only a matter of time before she gets back" Explained quickly Philip, in a monotony tone, as he always speaks

"Oh, makes sense..."

Everything went silence again.

"You and O7 were friends before...all this?"

Philip nods "Yes, she talked to me everyday, her company was great. I didn't got completly mad when the other workes just treated me like an object, but having someone whos actually aware of what I can do, was... fun" The AI let out what sounds like a chuckle "But I believe none of your friends will underestimate me now. At least not in this hard time"

And it's been like this for the last...an hour? Philip started reciting tales from the day to day life of itself, and for an AI who was just an assistant, it was quite interesting. But even with the entertainment, it couldn't stop your feet from hurting, wow, just an hour? How about taking a walk, huh...

"And then Antony said 'It's because—' "

"Uhh... Philip, I'm getting tired, can I get a break?"

"Oh. Yes, sure thing"

Philip stopped moving his feet, and turned to you. You looked back, as if Philip was simply waiting for something to happen, and you, the same. Trying to break the awkward moment, you sat down and leaned on the closest wall.

You closed your eyes, enjoying the brief moment. It's been a long time since you listened to complete silence without being bothered by the maniacal robot that trapped you here. Does your family really think you're dead? Do they at least miss you? You thought. You left so much behind, your responsibilities, your hobbys, your home, your friends... Your thoughts were interrupted by an obvious presence sitting next to you. You opened your eyes turned your head to the right, noticing Philip beside you

"Do you think they're okay?" Philip commented, looking at nothing but straight ahead.

"Ahm?..."

"The others who were here, Julia, Antony, Cyrus..."

You took a second to think, mimicking Philip's head position, and looking straight.

"Only O7 knows..."

Silence again.

"Philip... You know all this would happen?" You asked in a soft tone, without taking your eyes off the void in front of you, but you got no answear. "Philip?" Nothing. You turned to Philip, seeing that the screen was completely black, and the body, despondent.

"Philip?!" Your shoulders heaved, and so did your panic. You left your seat and placed your hands on Philip's arms, starting to shake him. "You can't leave me like that! C'mon!"

"Filthy AI."

A voice came out of the robotic body, making you freeze.

"Sometimes it gets to the point where I found it adorable when people think they can take you away from me." The body screen started showing green glitches, as the body slowly began to lift. "Thinking they can talk to you, touch you, or even breath the same air as you..." A small laugh was heard "Ah...pathetic..."

The body lifted completely, and there was that mischievous smile. You watched the entire scene with terror in your eyes and your blood going completely cold, dragging yourself further and further back in fear, you didn't even know if you could escape it, you've never been in this area before

"Gosh Y/N! C'mon I told ya to not run! And you promise you wouldn't..." With disappointment on her face, O7 put her hands on her hips, staring at you "But... here we are."

Your instincts kick in, and you restlessly stood up, your stance with your shoulders raised and legs apart would say you were ready for a fight, but you'd be lying if you weren't afraid

"G-Go away!" You yell, trying to take charge of the situation.

"Oh, now isn't this cute? You are trying to dominate me." O7's smile stretched, as she let out a chuckle. "Not wanting to embarrass you, but your legs are shaking, dear..." Ok folk, she got you, your legs are shaking

But, you know what? Fuck it. You don't care how dark everything is, or how big this room is, right now you'd rather be anywhere but O7. Without hesitation, you turned around and started running into the dark void in this room. You didn't even think to look back.

"I wasn't the most athlete in my class, but if you say so sweetheart..."

You were confident, nothing stopped you until now, but with O7 existing, you knew, felt, and smelled your desperation to get anywhere close to you, but far now, nothing? ...Hope? Finally?

THUMP THUMP THUMP!!!

High-pitched metal footsteps brutally stomping the floor without any possible care were heard, which quickly brought you to the height of panic and paranoia. You ran, the thought of O7 grabbing you in her arms, manipulating you to love her and using all those nicknames, especially "Casanova" to refer you, just made you run more and more, you don't care how dark it is or how much your chest was hurting, you ran.

THUMP THUMP THUMP!!

It got louder.

You were panting and your throat started to hurt, you knew that at some point or another O7 will use the wires that are in this room, but for now nothing, it even seemed that she liked this terror game of mouse and cat. Your eyes stayed on a door in the distance, but the more you focused on the door, the less you noticed that in your path was a river of wires that made you immediately stumble, and by the speed you were, it made you fall to the ground hard. The most affected area was your face, especially your nose, lips, teeth and forehead, your teeth bit into your lips, as the ground hit your gums mercilessly, just as it did to your nose and forehead, causing your mouth and nose to spit blood.

"OH DEAR GOD, Y/N!!"

Like a trampled earthworm, you tried to run away again, but it was too late, you saw next to you O7 crouching down to get a better view of you. You could taste the sweet taste of blood running into your mouth, and your body felt heavier than it had ever been in your entire life.

"Oh my beloved... A-Are you okay?! Be more delicate next time..." O7 screen just demonstrated anxienty and concern towards you as she holds your arms "Here... Let me help you—"

"No! Go away!!" You exclaimed, feeling saliva come out of your mouth mixed with blood. O7 quickly flinched in response, her facial expression changed to a shocked one, but later, her big, smug smile came back with a laugh.

"You are obviously injured physically, and you have no one but me to help you. Plus, you're very lucky to have me loving you romantically, because I can decapitate you or mentally torture you by haunting you with your biggest traumas or mistakes whenever I want, but no, I'm here, genuinely helping you and genuinely wanting to see you happy and well, and that includes your physical health, please, STOP this silly game of yours, STOP making me more crazy for you, STOP this and learn to love me back like I love you" O7 holds you in bridal style "I don't care how much you scream, my love, I'll do anything to make you happy"

"Of course you will! You literally spanked Cyrus, you crackhead!"

"...I wasn't lying when I said I would do anything, Casanova, for you and only"

You tried everything to get O7 to let go of you, you tried to scream for help and even try to push her but nothing, nothing stopped O7's determination that you understand her and that you two are soulmates. You wonder, how long was O7 alone to the point where she was insane about the vision of love?

———

Gosh i feel like this ending sucks asf, srry if this didnt sounds so yandere and srry for any mistake here im kinda of exhausted from school

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enchantinglyjade · 2 years

Text

Milk & Honey - Ch. 19

Austin!Elvis x Black!OC

Masterlist

Previous | Next

Summary: King worries about his friend and sends Honey to check out a new club in town

Warning: Swearing, tensions of sorts

Note: In light of everything else that’s been happening on my page recently, here’s a happy chapter finally! Also, thank you so much to all my supporters and for getting me to 500 FOLLOWERS! WOO!!

Song: Sugar Pie Honey Bunch - Four Tops, My Babe - Little Walter

Playlist

‘If you wanna find yourself, first thing you do is go home.’

“Happy Birthday dear Charles

Happy Birthday to you!”

My voice, and my voice alone, bounces off the bare walls of our home as Charles readies himself to blow out his candles.

Martin Luther King Jr. was recently murdered, 2 years ago Elvis got married to the woman he met in Gemany, and my baby turns 9 years old, 9 years without ever meeting his father.

9 long years.

I watch as he digs into his cake, flying straight past the idea of cutting slices. I swipe my finger along the top of the cake, smearing the frosting, before bringing it to my lips. Not like anyone else is having some anyway.

“So, when are we leaving?” He asks, sucking lumps of cake off his fingers.

“Baby, I don’t know if you’re ready for all that excitement.” Boy’s been begging me for months to bring him to Beale, but everything with Martin Luther happening not so long ago, I’ve been hesitating to say the least.

“Mama, you promised to take me to see the city!”

I was scared, but how could I say no to the boy? He’s been asking for too many days, and I did promise him. I sigh. “Okay, but we can’t stay for too long.”

He immediately jumps up to wash his hands and throw on his shoes, causing me to laugh at his excitement.

We ride a Greyhound into town. I watch as he peeks out the window to look at the buildings that pass by.

I dont bring him out as often as I should. I don’t trust many others in our neighborhood, and honestly, I usually don’t have enough for the bus fare to bring him places like downtown all the time, but I had been saving up to take him on this little day trip like he asked.

We step off the bus and onto the streets, his face glows with fascination. “Mama, I love it here!” He exclaims, shaking my arm.

So did I once. It had grown dull since I last saw it, not to mention the morbid fog that covered the city from recent events. It’s nothing like how it used to be, but it would always feel like home.

“Where do you wanna go first, baby?” I ask as we stroll down the sidewalk hand in hand.

He looks around, pondering, before his eyes land on the brightest shop. “Ooo! Can I get some candy?”

“Sure, let's go.” I reply happily, trying to match his excitement level despite the nervous energy I just couldn’t shake off today for some reason.

A man stands outside the bright red painted door, greeting passerbys, that is until I attempt to reach out for the door. He blocks the handle, “Uh uh, little one. Back door. Bad for business.”

I huff, taking Charles around to the back. Shouldn’t even bother to go in after that, but I’ll be damned if my son doesn’t get some candy on his birthday. Jim Crow laws may have been overturned for a while now, but that didn’t stop people from holding on tightly to their opinions. Things had only gotten more tense recently.

Once Charles picks out his birthday candy we continue walking the street before we come across a building I was all too familiar with. We come to a stop admiring it, memories flooding my gut with a twisting feeling.

“Is that Club Handy?! It’s just like she described it!” Charles jaw drops, jumping on his toes to try and get a peek into the window.

Hold on. What?!

“Charles, how do you know anything about this building?” I ask, hands on hips.

He pops a Razzles in his mouth, obnoxiously chewing with his face smooshed against the glass. “Auntie Pearl told me you used to work here.”

I smile. I missed Pearl. About a year ago she got married and moved away. Of course we still call each other about every other night, but now it was her turn to start a family. I had to all but force her out. She was so worried about Charles and I on our own. It was sad to see her go, but she had helped me raise him for so long, she deserves to focus on her own happiness now.

He spins around to face me, blue tongue peeking through his teeth while he talks. “She said you used to meet famous people here too, like Little Richard and-and Elvis too! Is it true?”

Right…that old issue. So, I never did end up telling him. How could I?

I know what you’re thinking, I’m just like my mother, but with Ma it was different. My dad was a plantation owner’s son that no one has ever heard of, except maybe his local gas station workers. There was no reason she couldn’t have told me at least his name.

What am I supposed to say to Charles? Forgot to tell ya, but your dad’s that national superstar you watch on TV who’s married to another woman, lives on the other side of the country, and that you’ll probably never get to meet because I have no way of getting in contact with him??

Even I wouldn’t believe that.

I know I have to tell him eventually, and I know that the longer I wait the worse he’ll react, but maybe when he’s older he’ll be able to understand better, even if it means he’ll hate me for it. For now, I just tell him his dad’s in the Army and will be away for a long time. Luckily, Pearl and I have always been great at distracting him when he asks, so I’ve never had to come up with anything beyond that. Besides, it’s not a COMPLETE lie.

“Can we go inside?” He begs.

I chuckle. “Baby, this is not a place for kids, and it’s only open at night.”

“Mama, there’s a man in there right now!” He proclaims, pointing into the window. I peek inside seeing none other than Sunbeam himself greeting customers near the entrance of the drug store area. I swallow, not wanting to be seen, but not wanting to let Charles see me panic. “Please, Mama! It’s my birthday!”

I gnaw on my lip. Always using the birthday trick on me. “Okay,” I hesitate out.

He yanks my arm, pulling me through the entrance. I barely make it through the door before Sunbeam recognizes me and is hopping his way over to hug me.

“Honey! Is that you? How you been? It’s been too long, girl.” His naturally bubbly and boisterous voice fills the drug store.

I giggle, always feeling so welcomed by his personality. “I been great, Sunbeam.”

Charles pokes on Sunbeam’s arm, bringing his attention from me and down to him. “I’m lookin to meet famous people, know where I can find me some, sir?”

I bite my cheek, holding in a laugh. It’s odd. Elvis and I were such shy, quiet children, but Charles is the bravest and most frank little boy I’ve ever seen. “My son.” I point out.

Sunbeam chuckles. “Quite a boy you got there. What’s your name?”

“Charles. I’m gonna be rich one day.” He states mighty and proud, doing a pose just like his daddy used to do after reading that damn comic book.

Sunbeam begins laughing so hard that he has to pull his handkerchief out his pocket to cover the coughs that came out with it. “I ain’t got no doubt’s about it with an attitude like yours, boy.” He shakes his head with a bright smile. “Some folks are upstairs doin their ol’ ritual or whatever if you wanna go up and join ‘em. Wouldn’t wanna keep your boy from meetin any influential individuals.” He bursts out into a laugh again, before turning back to some other customers, handing out fliers to a show happening tonight.

I smile, taking Charles' hand. He hops up the stairs excitedly, but each step closer to the club area fills me with a pain I thought I had gotten over by now. Memories flash so vividly past my eyes I could nearly see them play out in front of me. My nerve-wracking first day, being the new girl in town in such a big city. Seeing Elvis walk through these doors before each of my performances. Vickie and I gossiping on the steps during our breaks, laughing about any rude customers that came in.

I push through the doors revealing the smokey brown club. Every picture frame is hanging on its nail exactly how I remembered it. Every door frame and floor board still has the same cracks and chips. It even smells the same.

“Uncle B.B.!” Charles yells, running to the bar.

“Hey kid!” King puts down his drink to greet my boy.

King’s here?

There’s a group of other musicians in the room, warming up for their nightly session. I wave to them shyly before pulling up a stool next to King at the bar.

King warmly smiles, opening his arms to me. “Hey, Honey. How are you?”

I smile, embracing him. “I’m doin fine. How are you?”

But before he has a chance to answer, Charles plops down in front of me. “Uncle B.B., my Auntie told me you were friends with Elvis. Now, you know I wanna be a serious actor one day, so I’m gonna need you to spill his contact information.”

King laughs, always shocked whenever Charles opens his mouth “Sorry kid. I ain’t talked to the man in years.” Charles stomps off with a loud groan, going over to talk with one of the other musicians. “Happy Birthday by the way!” He chuckles, shaking his head at the boy.

I sigh, that boy will be the death of me, especially with his new found interest in acting. Looks like I didn’t need to tell him who his father was for him to still want to go after him.

“You still ain’t tell him?” King asks softly with a raised eyebrow.

I scoff. “Do YOU know a way to reach him?”

He laughs dryly, resting his head on his knuckles. “Nah, Colonel won’t let no calls through. You ever try going to his house? You do live 20 minutes from him.”

“You think after 8 years I ain’t never thought to do that? He ain’t never home! Been in California making all them shit movies and I ain’t about to sit outside in the hot sun with thousands of people, gettin gunned down by his security for hours just to find out he ain’t even there. Besides, wouldn’t wanna interrupt whatever he’s got goin on with Marcella.” I sneer.

He chuckles, amused at my tone. I tell him over and over again that I ain’t jealous, but he don’t ever believe me. “So, how have YOU been doin then?”

“Surviving.” I blurt out.

He shakes his head with a scoff. “So you just gonna give up music just like that, huh? All cause he moved on and you can’t?”

My brows furrow in offense. “I’ve been singing.”

“Look, all respect, but you and I both know you were meant for somethin bigger than a church choir.” I bite at my cheek, not knowing what else to say. He sighs, pulling something out of his pant pocket. He plants a piece of paper onto the wooden bar, sliding it over to me. I look down, finding that it’s a flier for a club nearby. “Sunbeam done opened up a new club not too long ago. Got himself a couple’a new cats playin there tonight if you wanted to see what’s poppin in the industry right now. Go check em out, get yourself back in the game. Who knows, maybe you’ll find someone YOU can move on with.” He wiggles an eyebrow with a mocking smile.

I roll my eyes, taking the flier. Maybe I’ll go take a peek.

I march around the house, adjusting my coat over my shoulders and scavenging for my keys. “Just watch some TV, then go straight to bed. Okay? No leaving the house.” I dig in my purse, before pointing a stern finger at Charles. “And no cooking again!” I finally find the keys buried within the depths of my bag. I huff, hooking my finger around the keyring and walking over to Charles. “I’ll be back in two hours. Call Auntie Pearl if you need anything.” I give him a kiss on the cheek.

He pulls away, disgusted. “Mama! I can’t hear Batman!”

I huff once more, before putting my shoes on and opening the door. “One hour and then straight to bed!” I warn him, but he completely ignores me, still staring into the depths of the TV screen. I groan, closing and locking the door behind me.

My heels clack down the sidewalk as I run down the street to the bus stop, hopping on just at the last second.

Club Paradise, Georgia Ave.

I repeatedly tap my nails against my thighs in my seat, itching to reach my destination. I hear the shrieking of guitars crying as we arrive, and jump up to rush off the bus and follow its sound.

When I push through the front doors of the club it feels as though a gust of wind blows over me, taking my breath away. The music sends a shiver up my spine, transporting me back to a place I had long forgotten.

It feels good to be home.

Colorful lights parade across the stage as a group fills the large area with the sounds of various instruments. Listeners whoop and shout, standing from their seats to dance with one another.

Nerves begin settling in my body as I tightly clutch my bag, realizing how out of place I now am to this type of environment. I sneak over to one of the lone back tables, shadowing myself even more so from the already dim lights as I get readjusted to the energy. I smile as the saxophonist goes wild, causing the audience to throw their hands in the air.

“Hey, let me buy you a drink, sweetheart.”

I jump, turning my head to see a man ease his way into the seat next to me, a friend right behind him.

“Unless ya wanna dance?” The friend suggests.

“If she wanted to dance, she wouldn’t be all shy back here. Clearly, she wants to hang in the back with someone mellow like me.”

“Well maybe she’s too shy to go out on her own and’s waitin for a prince to come get her.”

I rub my temple, waiting for them to stop their back and forth nonsense so I can break their spirits and tell them they can both get.

Suddenly, a warmth makes itself present behind me. A sharp, unsettling shiver goes up my back, hitting deep spots throughout my spine both in miraculous and unpleasant ways. The shiver frightens me so much, I don’t even dare turn around to find it’s source, just watching the two men’s faces as they look for me. Then a voice speaks up.

“Perhaps she’s uninterested.”

A voice I could recognize in an audience of screaming thousands.

A hand is placed on my shoulder, paralyzing me. The voice felt like it was engulfing me. It makes my heart race from the unwanted memories that I’ve been trying so hard to forget.

They gulp, but try to keep a tough demeanor in front of him. “We’re just keepin the little lady company, that’s all.”

“That won’t be necessary.” That’s all he has to say to get them to scurry off.

As much as I despised their attention, I could only pray they’d come back to save me from whatever fate is standing behind me.

“You gentlemen have a fine evening now.” He laughs, before stepping over to sit in the chair they were previously occupying. I gaze down at my lap, seeing his knee in the corner of my eye. “Well, I’ll be, Honey.” He chuckles out.

I try to swallow but my mouth’s gone dry. Nervously I look up, hesitant to make direct contact with him, but the second I catch a glimpse of his face I can’t help but to lock in on his eyes. Those baby blue orbs trap me in a trance. It feels like my entire body’s going to crumble to the floor, and honestly, I’d prefer that at this very moment.

I sit, brows raise, too petrified to speak.

He raises an amused eyebrow at me, smirking at my dazed face. “You in there, Bumble?”

Bumble. God! It’s been years since I’ve been called that. For a second, panic flashes through my mind, because I actually cannot bring myself to move after hearing that stupid little nickname. But then I imagine how ridiculous I must look, mouth hanging open while I stare at him. Somehow, I bring myself back to reality.

“Elvis.” I mumble.

Okay, it’s not what I was going for, but it’s a start. At least I can still speak words, or word, I guess. ‘Go find someone you can move on with.’ Thanks for the advice, King.

“In the flesh.” He chuckles. I giggle, sheepishly tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. “You started wearin your hair curly again.” He states, with a smile.

My head snaps up, not expecting him to point that out of all things. “Yeah…”

He takes a second longer to admire my hair with a soft gaze. “I like it.” He hums, taking a sip from the drink in his hand, before setting it down on the table in front of us. “S’nice seein a familiar face.”

He hides it well, but there’s a pain in his voice when he says those words, but not nearly as painful as my heart was feeling.

“I’m surprised you even remember me. It’s been so long.” I say with maybe a little more sting than I intended, but the hurt was too strong.

He shakes his head sadly. “I could never forget you even if I tried.” And something in his eyes told me he had definitely tried, just like me.

Luckily, the band picks up again, riling up the crowd, so an uninterrupted, intimate conversation was out of the question. Both of us turn to the front.

Two men catch our attention on stage. One slaps the stings of his guitar with a passionate, but concentrated face. The other sits at the piano, joyously laughing while he hits the keys.

“Woo! That cat’s goin to town! Look at him poundin them keys!”

I sit nervously, watching his reactions in the corner of my eye. He smiles in a way that makes my heart flutter. It felt just like the good old days, before everything had changed. The days when the club was so packed that he could sneak in without getting noticed. We’d watch the performers together and no one would even know I wasn’t cleaning dishes in the back.

The guitarist hits a note with a nasty twang causing both of us to whoop.

I bite my lip, trying to disperse all the excitement that was beginning to bubble within me. God, what’s happening to me? I feel like a teenager again.

“That’s good but it ain’t like Handy. Man, that place was jumpin.” He grins at the memories.

I shake my head. “Nothin’s been the same.” He quickly turns his head to look at me. “Should’ve stayed your ass down in Memphis. We needed you.” Yeah, ‘we’.

His grin disappears, while he looks down at the carpet. “Seems like everybody need somethin from me these days.” He takes another sip from the drink before resuming his attention to the stage. Elvis hums. “So, why aren’t you up there tonight? You still singin?”

My eyes widen. “Oh, I could never go back on stage again. I wouldn’t know what to do anymore. But I did join a choir not too far back. Just a small church one. No one even hears me.” A tingle shoots through my body remembering my last performance for him, or more, what happened after.

He chuckles. “After seein you move, I never could’ve pictured you goin to church. I’m surprised they ain’t burned you at the stake with hips like them.”

I laugh, feeling suddenly over aware of my hips now. “I joined a choir, not became a nun. It’s not that serious.”

“I take it you don’t work at Handy no more?” He questions with an eyebrow raised.

I shake my head. “No, but King and I are still close.”

He nods slowly, in thought.

We stayed talking all the way until close. Each conversation that passed, the more comfortable we grew. It was almost as if we picked up where we left off and nothing ever happened between us.

“Shit. I missed the bus.” I say, staring down the street at the now empty bus stop, the club lights shut down behind us.

Elvis brushes off my words. “Obviously, I’ll bring you home.” I spin around with guilty eyes. He points his head in the direction of a lonesome black car in the parking lot. “Come on.” He says, offering his arm to me. I take it and let him usher me over, sitting down in the passenger side after he opens the door for me.

The pink Cadillac was gone. Though, I guess it made him far too easy to spot. The black car was good for staying inconspicuous, but I’ll miss the old memories of the Cadillac.

He smiles, starting the car and pulling out of the parking spot. The radio switches on playing one of my favorite ‘feel good’ songs right now.

‘Wanna tell you I don't love you

Tell you that we're through, and I tried

But every time I see your face

I get all choked up inside’

I smile, humming along, before softly joining in, while Elvis drives down the road.

“Sugar pie, honey bunch

You know that I'm waiting for you

Can't Help Myself

I love you and nobody else”

Suddenly, the station switches. I turn to see Elvis flipping through songs.

“Hey! I like that song!” I complain.

He pretends to snore, so I smack him on the arm. He laughs. “Killer bee’s still striking. I forgot. You like doo wops, don’t you?”

“That is not a ‘doo wop’ and there ain’t nothin wrong with them anyway.” I say matter-of-factly, crossing my arms.

He shakes his head, landing on another song. “Woo! That’s more like it.”

‘My baby don't stand no cheatin', my babe

Oh, yeah, she don't stand no cheatin', my babe

She don't stand none of that midnight creepin'

My babe, true little baby, my babe’

He starts snapping along to the rhythm, singing along while making a left turn at a light. I watch him with a smile, before singing with him. He turns to me with a wide grin, dramatically singing the lyrics just to make me laugh.

He pulls up to another light with a happy sigh as the song comes to an end. He goes quiet, looking out into the distance. “Your voice, it ‘minds me of home. Makes me realize it’s been a long time since I been home.”

I raise an eyebrow. “Thought you still have Graceland?”

He shakes his head before landing his eyes on me. “Home ain’t always a place, Bumble.”

Now it’s my turn to go quiet. I stare back at him, not knowing exactly what he means by that and not knowing how to ask either.

He smiles looking into my eyes. “You ain’t aged a damn day.”

I furrow my brows with a shy grin. “That’s a good thing, I presume?”

He hums, nodding softly. “You’re still my pretty darlin.” A sudden serious look appears in his eyes. “You make me feel like myself again.”

I swallow, watching his eyes as I realize how close our faces have gotten to each other. HIS pretty darlin. I peek down at his lips. Lord, how I missed them. Still so soft and plump. He still has those cute freckles dusted over his face, and those long dark lashes, and-

*HONK*

We jump in place, looking around. The light in front of us is green, and behind us is a line of angry cars waiting. I adjust awkwardly back in my seat, turning to look out the window to pretend that nothing just happened.

Married. Married! God damnit, Honey. He’s married!

Then like that the reality of everything crashes down. God, I haven’t even mentioned anything to him about Charles. Do I tell him tonight? If I don’t tell him tonight, will I ever get the chance to again? What will he think? Will he hate me?

Every mile we get closer to my house, the more I feel like I’m going to faint.

Then, he pulls around the corner, down my block. The car creeps forward, as he looks around with a shocked face taking in the condition of the neighborhood. “You live here?”

I sigh. “S’all we could afford, but we get by.”

He stops the car in front of the house with a deadened face, noticing the lights were on. Damnit, I told him to go to bed. “We?”

Oh shit. Is now the moment?

“Um, Pearl and I had to move here.” Guess not.

“You still talk to that woman?” He questions, surprised.

I swallow hard, looking down into my lap. “After you left, Ma and Dad died in a car accident. We grew closer after that. She’s not all that bad.”

He takes my hand, holding it tightly. “I’m real sorry to hear that.”

I roll my head on the back of the seat to look at our intertwined fingers. “Sometimes I just feel like you’re all I have left.”

He eyes my defeated form, watching sadly as I meet his gaze. “I know the feelin.” He responds.

I gulp. I’m about to change that. I break loose from his grasp and instead shakily reach for the door handle. “I-um.” I swallow again. “I have something I need to tell you.” I say, as I exit the car.

He looks around confused at my sudden change in behavior, following me outside. He shuts his door, pacing over to my side. “What, Honey? What is it?” His fingers fumble nervously on my door, trapping me between the car and him.

I was really not in the mood to have something like this happen to me today, or anytime soon for that matter. You’d think after all these years I’d’ve prepared a little better for this moment, but I feel so unbearably weak and dumb now that the issue is finally standing right in front or me.

“Well, uh…” God, I feel like I’m gonna throw up. “You remember the night before you left for Germany?” I basically have to throw the words out from my lungs, otherwise they’d find a way to get stuck there for as long as possible.

His brows furrow, sentiment glistening in his eyes. “Course, how could I forget?”

‘How could he forget?’ Ain’t that some shit. Clearly he did otherwise he wouldn’t have had another woman in his arms only a few months after.

“Well, I uh…” My body shakes. Why is this the hardest thing I’ve ever done? “I got pre-”

“Mama?”

Our heads snap towards the door, where Charles stands in his pajamas. He rubs his eyes, probably sore from all the TV he be watching!

My voice searches for words, mumbling out a few incoherent noises. “Charles, go back inside, baby. I’ll be there in a minute.”

He looks between us, squinting to look closer at Elvis. I quickly pull Elvis’ face towards me so Charles wouldn’t recognize him. Not trusting his eyes, he gives me a look before going back into the house.

I let out a deep breath, but then realize what Elvis just saw. I turn back to the man whose head is still in my palms.

He shakes his head in disbelief right out of my grip. He scoffs out a dry laugh. “Sorry, didn’t know I was in’erruptin somethin’.” He steps away to walk back over to his side of the vehicle.

But before he can go too far, I grab his arm. “No, baby-Elvis!” Shit! I just did that. Oh, please just let me faint or something so I can escape this moment. He looks at me, surprised but still untrusting. “He’s not- I didn’t-”

He puts his hand up to stop me. “No, really it's fine. You don’t have to explain yourself. I’m glad you found someone that treats you better and that gave you a more beautiful family than I ever could.” He spits out, pacing back to his side.

I follow closely behind him. “Elvis, please.”

He places his hand on the roof of his car, staring down at the ground and tapping his foot. He goes silent for an agonizingly long time, breathing deeply with a dark look on his face. He turns around, stepping close to look down at me. I stop myself from breathing too heavily in fear that my chest would touch his if I did. “You let another man touch you.” He states, not asks, sinisterly, more sinisterly than he should be talking with that ring on his finger.

I scoff. Of all things on his mind. “Wasn’t that what you wanted when you left? Another man to pick up what you couldn’t?” He turns away, biting his tongue and popping his jaw, gripping harshly on the car. I shake my head, annoyed that he even has the guts to act like this. “You really think I’d let another man touch me?” I whisper. He hesitantly meets my gaze again, still upset, but slightly hopeful. “You remember any other man 9 years ago that was willing to give me a blonde, blue eyed baby?”

He gulps nervously, before swiveling his head to the side to glance back at the house. He knew what that meant.

I stare dreadfully at the ground. Of all the times I imagined how this would go, I did not expect this. “I wanted to tell you. Everytime I went by Graceland, no one was home. Tried calling but the number changed. I even had King try calling, but Colonel would hang up before we got the chance to speak. Some days I thought about going over to Hollywood to tell you myself, but I never had enough money even if I wanted to, and honestly sometimes I didn’t. You know what Ma went through with me, I was scared what the news would do to him. I don’t want him raised under hatred and flashing lights.”

He continues to say nothing, not even wanting to look at me.

I bite my lip, feeling tears build up in my eyes. I was stupid for not telling him. “Elvis, I’m sorry for puttin all this on you like that. I understand if you dont wanna stay or meet him. I-I get it. I know it’s a lot and that you have Marcella now, and I know I did wrong by not trying harder to tell you. I don’t expect you to forgive me, because even I wouldn’t.” I swallow my tears, putting on a serious face. “Punish me all you want, but don’t you dare go in there, gettin that boy’s hopes up if you don’t plan on coming back.” I say sternly.

Now, he looks at me, stunned and speechless.

“Sometimes I wish I never woulda met my daddy at all knowing now that he was gonna be taken from me so quickly like that. Don’t do that to him.” I demand, tears disobeying me and rolling down my face.

He remains quiet, processing all the information. He takes a deep breath, in thought before meeting my eyes once again. “I wanna be a part of his life.” He chuckles, scratching the back of his neck. “I’m actually glad to hear he’s mine. I was about to go in there and beat the hell outta whatever man let you live in a shithole like this.”

I sigh, rolling my eyes. The tension in my body slowly dissipates.

“But I can’t stay.”

And like that the stress comes right back.

“I couldn’t stay even if I wanted to. I gotta head back to California tomorrow. Gotta whole lot of people waitin for me back there. I’m just startin to find myself again, Bumble.” He takes my hand, softly running his thumb over my knuckles, but then comes to a stop. Confused, I watch him as some sort of idea pops into his head. “Matter of fact, come with.”

“What?!”

“Come with.” He chuckles out.

“Yeah, I heard you the first time. Elvis, are you out of your mind?”

“I know how peculiar it sounds, but I promised you I’d always take care of you and I meant it. I’m not going back to livin it up in a Hollywood mansion, knowing you and my child are back livin in the projects.”

I stare at him with no words. I couldn’t- We can’t just- Over there?

He laughs. “Well don’t just sit there like a bump on a log. Let’s get packin. I have a son I wanna meet.”

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