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yandere-daydreams · 4 months

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Title: Nursle.

Pairing: Yandere!Gojo Satoru x Reader (JJK).

Word Count: 3.4k.

TW: Non/Con, Fem!Reader, Mentions of Pregnancy, Implied Stalking, Unprotected Sex, Oral Sex, Rough Sex, Lactation, Slight Breeding Kinks, Daddy Kinks, Mentions of Abusive Relationships, and Age Gaps (Gojo is 20, Reader is 35+).

[Part Two]

A few days into the new school year, you decided that Gojo Satoru could not be Fushiguro Megumi’s primary guardian, despite what the paperwork filed by the former claimed. Honestly, the fact that Megumi’s name had been misspelled in every conceivable way across the aforementioned paperwork should’ve been enough to make that clear, but after a decade of teaching, you’d learned to pick up on the smaller signs; a certain discomfort that passed through Megumi's expression whenever you asked about his homelife, the lapse before a half-hearted answer whenever you posed a question to Satoru as to Megumi's preferences. It didn’t necessarily mean anything bad was going on, just that something was going on - something you couldn’t ignore, not completely.

Four weeks into the new school year, you decided that Fushiguro Megumi did not like Gojo Satoru. All your students were at the age where they were suddenly eager to distance themselves from any adult they could call an authority, but Megumi was the only one still in your classroom hours after the school day ended, the only one who stayed for as long as you could afford to let him. Sometimes, Satoru would make an appearance, loiter outside of your classroom or pass time with the best attempts at small talk someone nearly two decades your junior could make, but Megumi made a habit of ignoring him and try as you might, you'd never had the heart to be very strict with your students. The only days he didn’t stay to help you (as much as a nine year old could help anyone do anything) were the days when his sister was free to pick him up and, much to your relief, Satoru was nowhere to be found.

Two months into the new school year, you found yourself on the doorstep of Gojo Satoru’s listed address which, notably, was not the dingy flat you’d dropped off Megumi in front of whenever he stayed too late to justify letting him walk home alone. Instead, you gaped openly at the skyscraper in front of you, as tall as the eye could see and pouring out the kind of people you couldn’t help but want to get away from. You’d called ahead, let Satoru know you’d be making a home visit to discuss some of your concerns about Megumi, but for as long as he’d kept you on the phone, he’d never bothered to explain why he would ask you to meet him in a place like—

“You’re early, Miss (L/n).”

You stiffened, glanced over your shoulder to find Gojo Satoru – dressed in his usual plain, black uniform and unaccompanied by the student you’d come to discuss. He greeted you with a wide grin, a lazy nod, and you returned it with a purse-lipped smile and a tightened hold on the strap of your messenger bag. “Well, I’d hate to waste your time.” You toyed with the idea of meeting his eyes, but your gaze skirted over the pitch-black lenses of his sunglasses and settled firmly on the collar of his button-up. “And you don’t have to call me that. It makes you sound like one of my students and—” A slight pause, a nervous laugh. “I think you might be a little too old to blend in.”

Satoru’s grin only widened. With only your own paranoia as warning, he strung an arm through the crook of yours, dragging you towards the entrance of his looming tower. “I think it’s got a nice ring to it, Miss.”

Something sharp pricked at the back of your throat.

In hindsight, it might’ve been easier to do this with the nine year old.

You kept your teeth grit and your smile plastered on as he led you through the lobby – all shining crystal chandeliers and glistening marble floors – and hauled you into a gold-gilded elevator, the kind that would’ve let you know you were somewhere you didn’t belong under normal circumstances. You watched in stomach-knotting, heart-stopping terror as the numbers ticked up, up, up, until the mirrored doors were sliding open and you were stepping into the living room that could’ve swallowed your shoebox of an apartment whole. Your heels (blocked, low, practical – the only pair you’d found the strength to wear since coming back from your leave) clicked against the bare tile floor as you stumbled into the remarkably open space, his furniture sparse and largely utilitarian. You spotted one of Megumi’s drawings on a low coffee table, a pile of Tsumiki’s hairbands forgotten on an otherwise empty bookshelf, but any other signs of life were either nonexistent or exceptionally well-hidden. Any hope you had that Megumi and Satoru’s situation might’ve just been that of a young, overburdened guardian and his slow-to-warm ward evaporated immediately. Those of limited means tended not to live in penthouses that cost triple your annual salary in rent.

If Satoru noticed your growing anxiety, he didn’t seem to pay it any mind. With an exaggerated yawn, he strode past you and collapsed onto a leather couch – too pristine to have been recently visited by two hyperactive children. When you stalled near the entryway, he let his head lull to the side, his tinted glasses falling low on the bridge of his nose. “You don’t have to be shy. There’s plenty of room – not that I mind the view, if you really wanna stand.”

You took a deep breath and let it out in a long, labored exhale. He’s practically a kid, you reminded yourself. You could only be thankful you hadn’t gotten him a couple of years ago – otherwise, you’d be dealing with an actual child.

Reluctantly, you squared your shoulders and perched yourself on the far edge of the sofa. Satoru immediately closed the distance, draping his lanky arms over the back of the couch, his fingertips just barely brushing against your shoulder. You pulled your messenger bag into your lap, opening your mouth as you looked for Megumi’s file, but Satoru cut in before you could start your well-practiced monologue. “This is your first year at his school, right? I’d remember if I saw a teacher as pretty as you around campus.”

“It’s my first year back,” you corrected. “I’ve noticed Megumi very introverted for a boy his—”

“Let me guess – maternity leave?”

Your lips quirked into a tight frown. Fighting the urge to cross your arms over your stomach self-consciously, you sent him a withering look out of the corner of your eye. “I’d rather not talk about my personal life, if it’s all the same to you. Like I said, I’m not here to waste your time.”

Your tone was clipped, your voice strict, but Satoru’s only response was an airy chuckle, a careless grin. “I’m not in a rush,” he said. “But you’re probably eager to get back home to your baby girl. I know you try to spend time with her on weekends.”

This time, you didn’t try to breathe. Letting your bag fall back to your side, you moved to stand, but Satoru was quick to catch you by the wrist, to pull you back down with a single, playful jerk. Your bag fell off of your shoulder, hitting the floor and spilling open at your feet, but you didn’t reach for it. He was stronger than he looked, and you already knew everything you had to about strong young men with more power than they knew what to do with. “I’d really rather not talk about myself when Megumi is—”

“Can’t be easy, leaving her all alone like that. Did you ask your neighbor to babysit again, or was it that brat of a teenager you call up on weekends?” His hand fell to your thigh, and you immediately regretted wearing a dress, let alone one that ended well before the knee. You’d wanted this to seem causal, unintrusive, but as his fingertips bit into the plush of your thigh, you regretted not going straight to the police as soon as you noticed something strange. “Can’t be easy, not having a husband to dote on you and the little princess anymore.”

You keep your eyes on your feet, on one of the manilla folders spilling out of your bag. Megumi's name was scrawled messily across the upper right corner in red pen, because red was his favorite color and you knew he would see it every time he helped you organize paperwork for your other students. “I appreciate your concern, but we’ve managed to take care of ourselves.”

“I know.” He was close, too close. You could feel his breath, hot and humid, against the shell of your ear. “It’s just that I think I might just be able to take care of you a little better.”

“I think I should leave.” You spoke slowly, your tone flat, factual. Like you were talking to a child, or a dog, or worst of all – a man in monks' clothing, ready to worship at his own alter. “Before either of us does anything we might regret.”

Satoru let his lead lull forward, his fanged smile biting into the corner of your jaw.

You tried to bolt, but it was already too late.

It happened too quickly for you to process. One second, you were writhing in your own skin, your favorite student’s neglectful guardian pressed into your side and the next, you were on your back, splayed over the length of his couch, Satoru’s knee between your open legs and his hands on either side of your head. Your body reacted before your mind, trying to run, to resist, to get away from him, but Satoru’s hand was on your chest before you could so much as sit up, keeping you trapped underneath him without a trace of effort. “You can stop working so hard, momma.” His glasses had fallen away completely, revealing eyes as blinding as the cloudless sky and as unfeeling as raw ice. It was hard to remember why you’d ever thought a man like this could ever have anything to do with a boy as sweet as Megumi. “Daddy’s gonna take real good care of you.”

You shouldn’t have been so worried about the dress. It didn’t matter how long your skirt was, not when the cheap material fell apart so easily under his eager touch – your bra and panties discarded with just as little thought. You panicked, started to kick and shove and thrash, but his hands were already locked over your hips, keeping you pinned to the couch as he bent down and buried his face between your thighs. However young you’d thought he was, he must’ve been younger; his inexperience shining through in the overzealous way he nipped at the inside of your thighs, how hastily he laved the flat of his tongue over your slit. His pace was rough, his technique nonexistent, but you couldn’t remember the last time you had time to touch yourself, and you hadn’t slept with someone else since…

This time, when your mind went blank, you were the one willing away fractured thoughts and bitter memories. You didn’t want to acknowledge the twisted pleasure Satoru was forcing onto your body either, but it would’ve been impossible to ignore the way his teeth grazed over your clit as he wrapped his lips around the sensitive bud, to not hear the slick sound you just couldn’t seem to believe a part of you would make as he forced two fingers into your tight pussy. You threw your head back, clenched your eyes shut, but no amount of aversion could seem to block out his throaty laugh, to make the reverberations his deep voice sent pulsing through your cunt anything short of unbearable. “Needy little thing,” he muttered, pulling away just far enough to press a lingering kiss into the apex of your hip. “Bet he was neglecting you even before you ran off. Is that why you had to leave him? He didn’t know how to treat a pretty thing like you?”

You would’ve given anything to make him stop talking, but you didn’t have a chance to try and bargain. While his fingers pumped mercilessly into your pussy, his mouth pushed slow, wet kisses into the rounded curves of your stomach, your midriff, your chest. He noticed it before you did; saw the thin trail of thin, near-transparent fluid running down the curve of your chest before you felt the telltale soreness in your breasts, managed to draw a connection between that and the shallow, airy moan Satoru let out as he ran his tongue over your leaking nipple. He took long, agonizing seconds to lick up the spilled milk before his lips found the closest nipple and finally, he latched onto you properly.

He was worse than your newborn. It was an awful thing to think, it was a terrible thing to have to think, but it was true. He was rough, and clumsy, and noisy – groaning as he lapped and sucked, eager to swallow down anything you had to give. Drool seeped out of the corner of his mouth, whatever pain he might’ve alleviated immediately replaced as the fingertips of his free hand kneaded into your swollen tit. By the time he pulled away, he was panting, scissoring open your pussy with enough force to leave your toes curling, your thighs twitching, little involuntary whimpers slipping past your lips despite your best efforts to choke them back.

He didn’t so much earn your climax as drag it out of you, piece by fractured piece, broken moan by stuttering convulsion. Your hands shot to his head, fingers soon knotted through messy white hair, but he didn’t seem to care, didn’t seem to mind, his attention devoted entirely to spreading open your cunt and milking your chest dry even as the last of the aftershocks faded and the first pangs of overstimulation began to set in. When he did pull away from you, it was with an exaggerated smack of his lips, a teasing nudge of the heel of his palm against your clit, a cocky smirk that reminded you of the expression Megumi would sometimes draw onto his doodled stick figures as they were hit with simplistic, two-dimensional cars or torn apart by black and white wolves. That was something you’d meant to bring up during your conversation with Satoru – Megumi’s tendency towards more violent forms of creativity, how it could be an early sign of emotional unrest in children too young to properly express themselves. Now, you could only wonder why he didn’t draw Satoru more often.

You were barely conscious by the time he drew back working one arm under your back and another under the bend of your knees. You let your eyes fall shut and, by the time you found the strength to open them again, you were on your back, dark satin sheets underneath you and Satoru above, snowy hair providing a much-appreciated barrier between you and those terrible eyes. This time, you couldn’t stop yourself from meeting his prying gaze, and he welcomed your bleary stare, drinking you in for one second, then another, before dipping that much lower and slotting his lips against yours. The kiss was surprisingly gentle – all slow tenderness and delicate warmth. Your mind flitted back to dark eyes and pitch-black hair, pointed teeth and deceiving smiles and you willed yourself not to think at all.

You heard fabric shift, felt his hands curl around your thighs. With an aching sort of slowness, he pushed your knees into your chest, leaving you spread open and vulnerable below him. You felt the head of his cock press against your slick entrance, heard a raspy groan trickle past his lips as he thrust into you – bottoming out in the same stroke.

He didn’t wait for you to adjust to his size. With his face buried in the crook of your neck, he rutted into you with short, brutal thrusts; never pulling out of you entirely, never happy unless his cock was abusing the deepest pocket of your wet heat. Immediately, it was overwhelming – too much stimulation being forced onto you too quickly with too little preparation. Your hands fell to his back, your nails biting into his skin as he fucked into you with a jagged kind of desperation. His cock scraped against something soft and spongy inside of you and you cried out, arching against him. “I can’t— It hurts, Gojo, slow—”

“C’mon, baby, you can do better than that.” His voice was low, airy. He pressed an open-mouthed kiss into the corner of your jaw, rolled his hips and pressed himself that much deeper into you. “What’s my name? Who’s takin' care of you from now on?”

It was more an act of desperation than anything; a broken plea that you could barely recognize as your own voice. “Daddy,” you sobbed, shrinking against him. “Please, don’t cum insi—”

You were cut off by an unabashed moan, the feeling of his cock twitching inside of you. His hips pressed into yours, his thrusts growing shorter, more violent as he pumped something warm and awful into your pussy. At the same time, his thumb found your clit, pushing harsh circles into the vulnerable bundle of nerves and bringing your exhausted body to its second climax. Your vision burnt white as your cunt clenched around him, as his thrusts turned labored and languid, as collapsed against you – limp and boneless. Idly, almost lovingly, he nuzzled into the side of your neck, letting several seconds pass in silence before sighing, the pinnacle of satisfaction. Eventually, he picked himself up, resting his weight on his elbows as he cupped your face. “Pretty girl. I think the brat’s got a crush on you, too – always going on about his favorite teacher, telling me to keep my dirty hands away from you.” He laughed, shook his head. “Think he’ll be excited to have a younger sister?”

You didn’t answer, but Satoru didn’t need you to. He was already picking himself up, already pressing a kiss into the crook of your neck as he straightened his back, staring down at you with eyes that must’ve gone lifeless years ago. Eyes that, despite your best efforts to ignore their similarities, you couldn’t help but feel that you’d seen before.

“Speaking of, I think it’s about time we checked on our baby girl.”

Less than an hour later, you found yourself in your makeshift nursery; the corner of your bedroom occupied by a crib and a few shelves of miscellaneous supplies. You sat on the foot of your bed as Satoru held your daughter in his arms, rocking her as she sniffled and threatened to cry. You’d taken a taxi back to your apartment – called up and paid for by Satoru, of course. He’d given the driver your address before you so could so much as process where he was taking you, something you were currently choosing to ignore.

“She looks just like him.” His tone was light, his smile soft. He gestured to your daughter’s curly tufts of dark hair, her brown eyes – both only a shade away from black. “It’ll get worse as she grows up. He was always like that – couldn’t stand to let anyone else be the center of attention.”

You felt sick. Black spots still danced in the corners of your vision, and it took all your strength just to choke something coherent out. “He’ll never meet her. I’d die before I ever let him put his hands on my daughter.”

“I know, baby, I know.” He flashed you a grin, then turned back to your daughter. “I’m gonna keep both of you safe, be such a good daddy to both my pretty girls.” He pulled her that much closer to him, pressing a ginger kiss into her forehead. “You know, you really gotta open up more. I tried as hard as I could, but I don’t think I ever managed to catch her name.”

That made sense. You tended not to use it, when you could help it, when you were strong enough not to think about the man who’d given it to her – the man who’d tried to take yours, before you’d gotten away from him and and his monsters. You weren’t feeling very strong right now, though.

“Himari,” you mumbled, the sound of it alone still enough to steal the air out of your lungs, to leave the taste of blood heavy on your tongue.

“Geto Himari.”

#yandere #yandere x reader #yandere x you #yandere imagines #yandere oneshot #jujutsu kaisen #jujutsu kaisen imagines #jujutsu kaisen x reader #yandere jujutsu kaisen #jjk x reader #jjk imagines #yandere jjk #gojo x reader #gojo x you #yandere gojo satoru #gojo satoru x reader #yanderecore #yancore #yandere gojo

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riki-dazed · 2 months

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You get into a bad argument with your boyfriend, Riki. The evening proceeds to end in a very unexpected way.

NSFW smut · block & don't read if you're uncomfortable · toxicity, cursing, pure angsty, smutty filth with a touch of softness at the end,, call it a heart-wrenching rollercoaster, if you will · wc · 1774 · requested

"You always find something about me to complain about," You cried, throwing your hands in the air as you stormed about Riki's tension-filled room in frustration, looking for your belongings.

"You're being dramatic," He snapped back as his eyes watched you from the door way, his gaze piercing. "Just say you regret ever becoming my girlfriend,"

Something within you snapped after Riki got home in a bad mood and decided to take out his frustrations on you. You couldn't control your emotions, considering it wasn't the first time he had done that. The both of you have already had to deal with a couple of arguments in the short time since you started dating, which was leading you to believe that you just simply weren't compatible for him in that sense. If you were to be completely honest with yourself, you were worried since the very beginning of the relationship. You and Riki spent many years as very close friends, you loved him dearly. More than any other friend. The thought of a relationship ruining things between the two of you scared you to death, though, Riki reassured you everything would be okay.

Until it wasn't.

His facial expression changed as he noticed you starting to pile clothes into one of your bags, his heart began to sink. He wanted to stop you but he didn't know how to approach the situation, he had never seen you that angry and upset in all of the years he had known you. The longer he watched you irritably pack your belongings, the tighter the feeling within his chest grew. The realization was starting to eat at him. He knew he messed up again, big time.

He watched you silence as your tears didn't stop flowing.

"Good fucking job for ruining this, Riki, I told you countless times how worried I was for us at the start,"

"Can you just stop and fucking talk to me," His voice began to tremble, his hands found their way into his hair and tugged at the strands.

"What's there to talk about? I do regret becoming your girlfriend!"

Although Riki was an emotional person, he was never great at expressing those said emotions. You kept your eyes off him, though, knowing how he affects you when he's upset. You cared for him so deeply, you'd cross oceans if you had to in order to comfort your boy, and by the sound of his voice, you could just tell his nonchalant composure was nowhere to be found anymore.

His tall frame stopped you in your tracks, his hands found their way to your shoulders as he towered over you. For someone so big compared to your frame, his voice sounded small.

"You don't mean that,"

"Get off me," You almost yelled, your eyes stayed focused on the floor, not daring to look at his face. Your body twisted and turned as it tried to get out of his grasp.

After not being able to break out of his hold, your tear-filled eyes finally looked up at Riki's. His bottom lip was quivering, the tears in his eyes threatening to spill. You had never seen his face look like that. Before you could process anything, Riki pulled you into his chest. His arms clung around you tightly, he was so afraid to let you go. Your arms stayed swinging by your sides as you stood against his warm chest, letting out silent cries as your tears continued to pour. Your eyes screwed shut.

Riki couldn't hold his emotions back after scenes of a life without you in it flashed throughout his mind. That was the first time he allowed himself to be so incredibly vulnerable in front of anyone, ever. Even you.

"You don't mean that," Riki repeated, he was crying into the crook of your neck. The sounds of his sniffles only made your tears fall harder. You raised your arms slightly, grasping the sides of his shirt within your hands.

"Y/n," His voice broke the sorrowful, long silence. He lifted his head from where it was settled beside your neck, and wiped at your tears with his thumbs. "Let me show you how much you mean to me,"

Your eyes drifted from his gaze, unsure of how to reply to him, "Riki.."

"Please," He pleaded, attaching his quivering, pillowy lips to one of your tear-stained cheeks.

One thing lead to another, and before you knew it, you were suddenly sat on the edge of Riki's bed. Your face was still struck by pain, you couldn't even force the frown off it. He stood in front of you, pulling his hoodie over his head. Your gaze lifted, eyes scanning him carefully as he revealed his breathtakingly toned body, you were sure it was sculpted by the gods. Silence continued to engulf the tension-filled room as your hands got to work on Riki's belt, one of his hands simultaneously pushed damp strands of hair out of your face. You shuffled your body backwards across the soft sheets, your eyes not leaving his. He climbed onto the bed after stepping out of his jeans, he followed after you and propped his body above yours.

Riki's woeful gaze burned into yours for what felt like an eternity.. Before his lips met yours in a fervent hunger. He kissed you like he had never kissed you before. Your tear-stained cheeks met his ones as he deepened the kiss, your mouth being entirely engulfed by his. Your breaths mingled, hot and heavy as you let his tongue fight against yours. The kiss spoke volumes without words, it expressed every single pent-up emotion he had buried deep within himself.

You couldn't believe this was how he was going to take your virginity, and you, his. While you were painfully upset at him. You thought about how you had different plans for how you wanted your first time to go, though, your focus was shifted back onto Riki as you felt him slightly lift your oversized shirt. He left gentle kisses across the skin on your abdomen, in which left you with chills running up your spine. He then tugged at the waistband of your sweatpants, helping you take them off. He left another trail of wet kisses up your legs and thighs, stopping at your soaked panties, almost drooling over the sight. Riki's eyes, puffy and red, found yours again. You gave him a nod, reassuring him that he could proceed.

His hands tugged the soft fabric down, his lips placing a kiss where your body needed him the most. He slipped a finger between your folds, wanting to ensure you were ready for him. Your body reacted immediately, your hips lifted off the bed and into his touch. He lips traveled up your body, and found their way back to yours in a sweet kiss. He reached a hand between your bodies, tugging at his boxers.

His voice was gentle as you felt him rub his length against your wetness, "Ready?"

"Yeah," You breathed out,

Riki's gaze didn't leave yours as he pushed himself into your core excruciatingly slowly, eliciting a gasp from you. He groaned at the feeling of having you finally wrapped around him. It took him a few moments to bottom out inside, before he waited for you to adjust to his size. He carefully analyzed your face for any signs of pain or discomfort. You were seeing stars at the feeling and size of him.

Riki became alarmed when he noticed your eyes starting to fill with tears yet again, he wasn't aware of the fact that it was due to how much of an emotional mess you were in the moment. You couldn't deny your anger towards him, yet you also couldn't deny the fact that you loved him more than anything and anyone in the world.

"Keep going," You broke the silence. He kissed your tears away before he began to thrust carefully into you, his gaze switching between your eyes and lips. A finger of yours settled on his bottom lip as you scanned his gorgeous features.

"Does it f-feel okay?" He managed to choke out quietly against your finger, as he continued his actions. Your back arched, your chest pushed against his.

Another moan escaped your lips, "More than okay,"

You could feel your release build up over the next few minutes as he repeatedly hit all of the right spots, he was thrusting into you like there was no tomorrow. Your hands ran along the soft skin of his back, he was so warm. The thin layer of sweat covering him made his skin glisten.

"Y/n," He panted into your ear, from what you could tell, he was very close, "I'm so sorry,"

You were closer.

A short, high-pitched moan fell out of your lips as you felt yourself come undone, Riki's pace quickened as he chased his own high. You choked out a sentence you had been meaning to tell Riki for a long time, in the middle of it all.

"I- I love you," You cried, barely being able to speak, your hands still stuck to the bed sheets,

Riki's gaze shifted back to your face instantaneously, he thought he was hearing things. His lips bit at yours as he pulled out and released all over your tummy, the sticky liquid felt warm against your skin. He felt another tear run down one of his cheeks, he was so overriden with emotions he didn't know what to do with himself.

"I love you so much more," The boy panted, trying to regain his breath as he laid his head on top of you, his chin nuzzling between your clothed breasts.

You pushed his hair out of his face as you raised an eyebrow at him, your voice tired, "But I'm still angry at you,"

His eyes closed as a light chuckle escaped his mouth, gaze soon softening as he continued to watch your face. Your fingers were still within the messy strands of his hair.

"I can live with that, but I can't live without you,"

His statement felt like a stab at your chest, god, you truly did love him.

"I never regretted becoming yours," You sighed as you suddenly remembered the angry sentence you spat at your boyfriend, just to get a reaction out of him for how he emotionally hurt you.

Riki moved his body to place a kiss on the side of your neck. He nuzzled into the space, his arms hung around your figure. He kept you close.

"I can't live without you either, Riki, we'll work through this."

#enhypen smut #riki smut #ni-ki smut #enhypen imagines #riki imagines #niki smut #niki imagines #enhypen hard thoughts #enhypen hard hours #riki-dazed

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exhaslo · 5 months

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Puzzle Pieces Ch10

(Mafia!Miguel x Shy!Reader)

Ch.1, Ch.2, Ch.3, Ch.4, Ch.5, Ch6, Ch7, Ch8, Ch9

Warning: Smut so Minors DNI, mentions of abuse, blood, murder, language, fluff, bullying, mentions of sex, shower sex, praise

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You were trapped there again.

Afraid.

Your body was already shaking, just anticipating the heavy footsteps once that creaky door opened. Your breathing hitched as those thoughts became reality. The loud creak made you stumble as you hurried to the kitchen.

Swiftly, you tried to stop your hands from shaking as you prepped a plate. Tears were rolling down your cheeks as you heard a heavy bag hit the floor. Your heart was about to burst out of your chest. You couldn't focus and because of that...

CRASH.

"Fuck, woman." Eddie hissed.

You started sobbing and apologizing as you attempted to clean up your mess. His footsteps grew louder and harsher as they drew closer to you. Your breathing stopped as Eddie appeared in front of you. A harsh scowl on his face as he looked down at you.

"Tch, so useless. Clean this shit up and get my dinner ready. I got to head out again soon." Eddie spat as he gave you a swift kick to your stomach.

"S-Sorry....hn...I-I'm so s-sorry." You sobbed, holding your stomach in pain as you kept cleaning.

"Can't believe I got stuck with you."

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"I'm sorry!" You gasped, crying as you awoke.

It was hot. You felt sweat all over your body as you scooted off your bed. Another nightmare about him. This was the first one you had since you officially dated Miguel. Unable to stop shaking, you hurried to your living room and grabbed a puzzle.

It had been two weeks since Halloween night. You were happy with Miguel. Everything was going so smoothly, so why. Why were you having nightmares again?

"It's s-so l-late...I-I...d-don't...want...want to bother...." You sniffled lowly, shaking as you reached for your phone.

Miguel had told you to call him whenever you needed to calm down. He was so understanding. Shuddering as you felt your chest tighten, you hesitated to press on Miguel's name. It was almost midnight. What were the chances that he was awake?

-------

Miguel sat alone in a dark room. The only visible thing were his eyes that seemed to have a red glow to them. An echo of a tap was heard until the door creaked opened. Miguel exhaled softly as he watched Miles and his little crew enter.

"Still nothing?" Miguel's tone was more than annoyed.

"Our lead got us nowhere. The best we can do is just keep watching the supermarket." Peter stepped in. Miguel's eye twitched,

"Why is it so hard to find one man?"

"Well, to be fair, we're always fighting someone so our attention isn't that focused on this one dude," Gwen sighed and glanced at Miles, "Maybe we can draw-"

Miguel slammed his fist against the desk. His glare more prominent than normal. Everyone took this as a sign to leave. Not before apologizing to Miguel first. Once they were all gone, Miguel hissed lowly as he grabbed a bottle of whiskey from under his desk.

Right as he poured the liquid into a glass, Miguel growled at the sound of his phone. It was late and Miguel was ready to go home, but of course, that new pest of a mafia group had to cause trouble. This new Venom group was going to be destroyed one way or another.

"(Y/N)?" Miguel whispered as he saw your name on his phone, "It's late, Conejita (bunny), why are you still up?" He lowered his voice for you.

"I...I had a n-nightmare," You whimpered.

Miguel's eyes soften as he leaned back in his seat. Your voice was scratchy and low. You've been crying. That and your stuttering was pretty bad. Oh, how he wished you were in his arms right now for him to comfort you.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Miguel glanced at his watch, his own exhausted eyes drooping slightly,

"N-No...I...I just...j-just need to c-calm down. I-I like...h-hearing y-your voice." You whimpered softly. Miguel inhaled deeply as he found the energy to stand,

"I'll be there in a bit, amor (love). Don't worry."

"O-Okay,"

Miguel smiled softly as he heard the relief in your tone. He hung up, then immediately called his driver. Despite still having a lot of work to do, Miguel was going to call it a night. He can have his men and women do his dirty work for now.

Miguel needed his relief.

----------

You played with your sleeves as you fixed up your place. It helped you clear your mind a bit since Miguel was coming over. Hurrying to the bedroom, you doublechecked his spare clothes. Since you started dating, you bought Miguel some cozy clothes in case he ever decided to stay over again.

You were always the one to sleep over at his place.

Feeling your cheeks burn, you shook the thought away and hurried back to the living room. Miguel was going to come over any minute now. You needed to finish your puzzle.

'Pick up this shit! What are you a fucking child?'

Your breathing shuddered as the voice screamed from the back of your mind. You held the small piece in your palm, unable to stop shaking. Your sleeves slowly rolling down, revealing the scars you gave yourself as a means of escape.

'Do you have ANY FUCKING IDEA how fucked I'll be if you tried to fucking kill yourself? Don't be a stupid little bitch!'

Tears rolled down your cheeks as you sobbed once more. Why did his voice have to come back and haunt you? Why was he such a poison in your mind? Eddie was a venom. Eating away at your soul until you were nothing left.

"(Y/N)?" Miguel knocked against your door.

Quickly, you hurried to him. You tackled Miguel, wrapping your arms around him as you sobbed into his chest. With ease, Miguel picked you up and carried you into the bedroom. You didn't want to let him go.

"What's wrong, (Y/N)?" Miguel asked, sitting you on the bed. He noticed a pair of clothes set aside for him, "Hm?"

"I-I k-keep hearing...h-his...his voice. I-I can't..." You tighten your grip against his jacket, "I-I'm sorry. S-Sorry I'm a burden."

"But you're not," Miguel sighed softly and lifted your chin, kissing your tears away, "He is no longer in your life. Y estoy planeando matar al cabrón por ti, mi conejito. (And I'm planning on killing the fucker for you, my bunny)."

"Mhm, M-Miguel..." You whispered, only understanding the 'bunny' part, "Um...I, um...I got you some comfortable clothes...to s-sleep in. W-Would you like s-shower first?"

"Only if you join me,"

You bit your lower lip and slowly nodded. Honestly, just having Miguel here was calming you down. Following Miguel into the bathroom, you helped set the water and squeaked softly as Miguel already started to get undressed.

You followed suit, still hesitating with your clothes. Miguel approached you, his hands gently holding your waist. You closed your eyes, finally removing your shirt. Miguel responded with a hum and proceeded to kiss you,

"My beautiful girl," He whispered, slowly pulling you into the shower with him.

Your heart fluttered every time Miguel complemented you. Your shower was small, so your bodies were pressed against each other. Miguel had you in his embrace, his head resting against the crook of your neck as the warm water hit his skin.

"(Y/n), whenever you think of that asshole, I want you to remember that I'm taking care of you now," Miguel whispered in your ear as his hands stroked your sides, "That I cherish you for the wonderful woman you are."

"M-Miguel," You whispered, feeling your back pressed against the wall.

You whimpered softly as Miguel started to kiss and nibble at your neck and shoulder. You slowly wrapped your arms around his broad shoulders as Miguel lifted you up. You shuddered as Miguel started to grind his hips into yours, causing you to wrap your legs around his waist.

"Call out of work tomorrow, amor. Let me spoil you."

"B-But...mhm, I-I can't...c-call out again." You whimpered softly, resisting a moan as Miguel's dick slid against your folds, "M-My...b-b-bills"

"I'll take care of everything," Miguel hummed, making his marks on you, "You deserve a break. Let me take care of you."

"M-Miggy," You moaned as his tip poked your hole.

You arched your back against the wall, giving Miguel more space to mark you. He hummed in response, his fingers slowly rubbing circles against your clit. The heat of the shower was fogging your mind as you started to give into the pleasure.

"That's right, let me take care of you." Miguel hummed, stealing your lips in a kiss as he gently slid his dick inside you.

"Mhpm~"

Your legs tighten around Miguel's waist as he started to thrust into you. His gentle yet rough thrusts sending you to nirvana with each slap. Whimpers and moans were coming out loudly as you clenched around Miguel's cock.

Every time Miguel fucked you, it made you remember the difference between him and your past relationship. Miguel was far too good for you. Gasping, you fell victim to an orgasm with another simple rough thrust from Miguel.

"Gooooood girl. That's right, you're doing so good for me," Miguel groaned, his thrusts getting a little faster and harsher.

You flung your head back, crying out as Miguel kept hitting your sweet spot. Your hands were gripping his hair, your head resting against his shoulder.

"Miggy~"

-------

Miguel grunted as you kept clenching around his dick. Your blissed out expression gave him full to keep going. You were doing better giving yourself into him. Miguel just needed you to realize that you didn't have to work anymore.

That you could live with him.

Hearing loud knocking from against the shower wall, Miguel chuckled darkly. Seems like his shy bunny was being too loud for your neighbors. You didn't even notice as Miguel drew another orgasm out of you.

"Let's take this to the bed," Miguel chuckled.

Still holding onto you, Miguel turned the water off and brought a towel. He placed the towel on the bed before laying you on your back. His harsh and rough thrusts continued as he pressed you into mating position.

"I'll treat you like the princess you deserve to be," Miguel grunted as he unloaded inside of you.

"M-Mig..." You breathed out, "P-Please...K-Keep going,"

Miguel just chuckled as he kissed you deeply. Your cute fucked out expression just begging for more. Miguel flipped you on your stomach, pressing himself against you back. You whimpered and moaned as his rough thrusts continued.

"Ah, sabe tan bien. Eres mi dulce conejita en celo, ¿no? ¿Quieres que te dé una razón para ser mía? (Ah, taste so good. You are my sweet little bunny in heat aren't you? Want me to give you a reason to be mine?)" Miguel whispered, falling into his own lust.

Miguel pressed his hand against your back, watching you grip the bed sheets. Your moans filling his ears like music. Your sweet pussy dripping and sucking his dick, forming a white ring around his cock. Your moans were almost pornographic as Miguel finally let loose.

"I'm going to treat you so well tomorrow. I've had such a long day." Miguel whispered in your ear, "Going to make you forget all about what hurts you."

"Miguel~!" You cried out, collapsing after a harsh orgasm.

Miguel sighed softly as he finished. Another grunt and a moan, Miguel gave you one last load of his cum. A loud sigh escaping his throat as relief washed over him. As he pulled out, Miguel smiled at his work once more.

You were fast asleep, your body twitching softly with his marks all over you. Miguel put on the clothes you got him and proceeded to wipe you down. He found some new pajamas for you and got you dressed before finally climbing into your bed.

"Not the best way to comfort her, but this works too," Miguel told himself before falling asleep.

---------

"Took forever, but we finally had time to get here." Eddie huffed as he stood in front of the supermarket you worked at, "Now to take back what belongs to me."

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

next chapter

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#miguel o'hara #miguel o'hara x reader #spiderman 2099 #miguel spiderverse #miguel o'hara smut #miguel spiderman #miguel o’hara x reader #atsv miguel #across the spiderverse #miguel x y/n #miguel x you

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elixrr · 6 months

Text

My love was mine, all mine.

You were supposed to be his.

He could've sworn that he just had you.

So, why?

Why weren't you his?

Your lips. Your lips pressed against another's.

Your arms. Your arms wrapped somebody else.

You— beautiful, glorious you— entwined and sparkling with somebody who wasn't him.

The sky above did not depict those dark, mournful sceneries that books and shows would often have. No. The clouds dispersed; the sun shone as if everything he felt was fake; the crowds around clapped and cheered for your kiss—for your newfound love.

It's almost as if none of his feelings mattered in the first place. You belonged to someone else now, and what was there to do about it? His eyes won't tear away from your smile, the same one that he adored so much. The way your eyes crinkled with love, the way your nose scrunched with pure happiness. It'd make him want to smile, too, and with all the same feelings.

But not this time.

Your smile was someone else's now.

Your smile belonged to someone else now.

It wasn't his. Never belonged to him.

Would it have ever been for him?

None of the material items that he possessed would've made him as joyous as you would. You, even as his friend, already gave him so much to smile for, so much to look forward to. Your heart was the biggest reason for his heartbeat.

So, why? Why couldn't he at least have you?

Did he possess too many items?

If so, then consider them freed from him. None of it will belong to him anymore if it means that you could just turn your gaze towards him. If you'd just let go of that person and run up to him instead, embrace him, kiss him like you did with the other, then his losses will only sum to the biggest gain.

Yet, you turn your head elsewhere. Your back faces his front as you cheer. You're the happiest version of you that he's ever seen. He's jealous, not of your happiness, but of the fact that he could've been standing there next to you, arm wrapped around your waist to hold you dearly, and he could be just as happy as you.

Your love could've been his. In his head, it should've been—

But it's not.

And then you— with your hand in someone else's— walk away from him. Your feet glide farther and farther away from him as the crowd follows in celebration.

Everyone left him behind.

You left him behind.

He wants to scream, run up, and cry— to beg you with his confession to be his— but he knows he can't. All he can do is extend his hand out to yours, that which remains empty, yet it disappears from view.

And eventually the crowd closes in, and you are nowhere to be soon.

Was this really the gift of love? Heartbreak?

His hopes; his dreams; his chances, were they all really for naught? All of that effort he put into trying to be yours, and all he gets is loneliness?

Maybe it wasn't enough.

Was it already planned by fate above that you were destined for another? That his love for you, a love that runs deep within his veins and flows straight to and through the beat of his heart, was already unrequited from the start?

He collapses. No one's there to see him fall onto his knee, hand grasping his head as the internal storm within begins to rain and rage. His tears finally form, and they pour like a faucet. The pain in him began to ring throughout his body, and he felt his heart fully sink.

In his mind, he had just lost everything,

And all of that loss reduced to no gain,

And all of that loss summed up to nothing.

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adventuringblind · 8 months

Text

Still Have You

Lando Norris x Reader X Oscar Piastri

Genre: Angst

Summary: and then there were two...

Warnings: crash, injury description, death

Notes: oops... I wrote another sad thing...

Masterlist

Racing is her life. It's all she knows. It was her entire life.

Until it wasn't.

She was a rookie. A female driver that Williams decided to take a chance on.

Oscar signed for McLaren the same year. She already knew he was going to get a seat because he's amazing. And getting to drive alongside Lando Norris was nothing to scoff about.

Oscar introduced his teammate to his best friend, and the three became attached to the hip. Inseparable. It definitely wasn't anything they were expecting. It just happened, but they wouldn't have it any other way.

So then it was them and racing. Like her life had somehow gained a new purpose.

The Dutch Grandprix. It's raining heavily, and she'd rather be curled up with her lovers, hot chocolate, and a good book.

"Are they really going to have the race?" She asks Alex who's standing next to her I the cover of their garage.

"Looks like it." He sighs. "Any word from your papaya clad lovers?"

Check jabs him in the side with an elbow. "Shup up! Someone could hear you!" She hisses at him.

"Not my fault Lando can't keep a secret." He throws his hands up in surrender.

They are then promptly told to get ready to head to the grip. She throws a final text to her boys before she has to leave her phone for the next couple of hours.

Alex is starting fourth. It's an amazing thing for him, and she can't help but feel a tinge of pride.

It feels like she's in the car for hours. Just waiting for them to say go or call off the race. She hopes it's the latter. She'd hate to see any of her of the grid get hurt because the FIA decided to put the show on regardless of their safety.

The rain slows, and it seems like it might actually clear up. So it would make sense that the FIA decided it's time to race.

Soon enough, they are racing off the line. Her start was better than she'd expected. Managing to hold her place as the down pour started again.

"We're expecting the rain to stay like this for the next ten minutes."

She mentally groans. Begs whoever controls the weather to let up. Prays that nobody gets hurt.

But fate it cruel.

It's only lap five, but the rain is making it difficult to see. She knows someone is close to her. No idea who, but he's there.

She definitely knows when they spin out. And she feels it when they tap her car as she's flying down the straight.

It's like the world moves in slow motion. One minute, she's driving. Then she's not even on the ground anymore.

Ground.

Sky.

Wet.

Dry.

Shooting pain.

Copper taste.

Radio static.

Cold.

Bright.

Nothing.

"Red flag Lando, red flag, come into the pits, please."

"Did someone crash? "

"One of the Williams."

Lando's heart drops. Every thought in his mind going to the worst. "Which Williams?"

"We believe it's y/n."

Suddenly, he can't hear anymore. He passes the crash sight, and he feels like the air is sucked out of his lungs.

He's not thinking. He just pulls the car over and gets out. Not caring at all who's watching.

The front of the car is bent upwards over the cockpit. The back is nowhere to he seen. There are pieces of fence and barrier stuck to the ring of the halo.

The Marshalls are barely getting started. They've started splitting the car into peices with saws.

Lando skids to a halt. His arms pull away the debris so he can at least see her.

They he sees just how bad it is.

There is a piece of metal piercing directly through her chest. Her legs are crushed at odd angles.

He helps the Marshalls pull her out. His stomach flips with every second she doesn't respond. He stays with her until they pull him away.

He fights them. Or - he tries to fight them. But the adrenaline isn't pumping as it was. It's just his anxiety now.

Oscar stares at the screen in front of him. He knows he doesn't look as calm as he's trying to seem.

Alex looks similar in a way. The tall Williams driver stands next to him in the blue garage. Waiting for any sign that the girl in the car is breathing.

He's choking on his tears. He's fighting the urge to run onto the track.

There are other drivers in front of the Williams garage. All of them are asking for updates. The one thing nobody has right now.

When they lift her body out of the car, he screams. It rips through his body and pieces everyone's ears.

He tries to bolt, but Alex holds him back. It's not long til he's sobbing into his arms.

He's been nothing but the Trios' biggest supporter since he found out. In this specific moment, Oscar has never felt more grateful for him.

He watches the screen closely. Lando is pressing on the females chest. His neon yellow gloves now staied red from the open wound.

He tries to bolt again. Flee to Lando so they don't have to be separated. He knows the Brits anxiety is probably skyrocketing.

If his is, then Lando's definitely is.

Alex wasn't prepared, and he managed to make it about ten steps before being stopped by Max. The Aussie runs straight into him and collapses once again.

This time, he fights. He flails his limbs and tries to shove his way past until his body gives out.

Lando feels a tap on his shoulder. He hadn't realized he'd just been standing where they'd left him until the new presence snapped him out of it.

"Lando, we should go back to the paddock." It's Charles speaking to him. He sounds so distant, like he's calling to him from a meter away.

He just let the Monegasque lead him back down the track. He stares at his glives as they walk. Coated in her blood.

This should've never happened. The race should have been called off. Every time the scene replays in his mind, it makes him angrier at them.

They find themselves at the Williams garage with the rest of the drivers. He takes note of the sobbing Austrian currently trying to break free of Max's grip. Oscar is usually the most collected out of the three. It breaks something in Lando, seeing him like this. Like Oscar crying just makes it more real.

Lando pulls off the blood-soaked gloves and sinks to where Oscar is. The Brit gets his focus and attempts to calm him down. Most likely, neither of them are going to be able to drive in such a state. Lando still has his car on track where he left it.

He really doesn't care who's watching in this moment. He prys Oscar away from Max and cradles him. The two falling into a puddle of tears on the ground.

Oscar lays with his head leaning against Lando. Their hands entertained like one would disappear if they let go.

It feels wrong without her.

Max and Alex had come to wait with them. Neither of them deemed it safe to leave the two alone.

"Miss l/n?" Says a doctor. He sounds as exhausted as they feel.

All four scramble up out of their seats. All hope seeming to float away as they see his expression.

"I'm so sorry to tell you that she didn't make it."

And then everything shattered. Their world fell apart. Everything tainted with the lack of her presence.

"She woke herself up right before she flat lined and asked to make sure someone heard it." The doctor inhales deeply. Like, somehow, this message was difficult for him. "She said: 'tell them to cling to each other. That she's not gone. You'll find her on the track."

A year later, at the same track, two boys visit a memorial. Flowers in hand as they kneel in the grass.

The sun is shining today. A stark contrast to the weather which had claimed her life.

They sit together, hands interlocked, and engagement rings fit snugly on their ring fingers.

"We miss you. Every day. We think about you all the time." Lando sniffles. The lump in his throat threatened to leave. "Alex makes sure we take care of ourselves, and Max let us stay with him. He won another title, by the way, and dedicated it to you."

"I got my first win. It was in Australia, just like how you predicted." Oscar's gaze is toward the sky. He knows she's up there somewhere smiling down upon them.

"I asked Oscar to marry me, and he said yes. We thought we might have the ceremony at that one park you love in the spring when the cherry blossoms are in season."

"Thought you also might want to know that we have an extra ring for you. We owe it to you for getting us together, after all."

Both of them are choking on their tears now. It's not the same without you.

"We'll always love you. Even if we're only two."

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arduouslove · 1 year

Text

Loving You isn't Hard to Learn 06

genres: hybrid, romance, found family, slow burn(ish) series rating: mature (mentions of/references to death and abuse. eventual smut) chapter warnings (may contain spoilers): mentions of death. accusations of drugging/roofie-ing. descriptions of injury to the face. the reader character cooks meat; if you don't eat meat, please think of it as them just cooking it for other people. relationship(s): ot7 x female reader

In the middle of what many would call nowhere, a sign glows bright yellow. Old, unmaintained, and on its last legs, the letter e flickers for a few seconds before going dark. H aven’s Door Motel, it now reads.

prev | chapter six (12.0k) | next

The floor is cold when you wake up on it, though not as cold as it could be, so you must've been sleeping on the floor for at least a couple hours. As you sit up, you try to get on your knees, but find your legs tangled up in half of a throw blanket. You grumble, touching one hand to the side of your head, where you had to have laid directly on the floor rather than the throw pillow you can see pushed under the coffee table. Okay, you're definitely not telling Hoseok your head kind of hurts. He's already enough of a worrywart. Speaking of...

Looking up at the couch, you see Hoseok's sleeping face smushed against the cushion, his hair ruffled all over and his mouth slightly open. Upon closer inspection, a small wet spot of drool has grown on the couch cushion directly under his mouth. You grimace at that but quickly shake the split second of disgust away. It's just saliva; it'll wash out just fine.

You untangle yourself from the blanket, and when you stand up, you drape it over Hoseok's sleeping form as quietly as you can. Yawning, you head to the kitchen, first filling your kettle and turning it on, then moving to the other side of the counter and unplugging your phone from the wall. As the screen flicks on, you see a missed call from Lee Minhyuk from only a few minutes ago, and a text from him that followed soon after.

It seems I forgot to leave one last thing to you. I found it in our storage this morning. I'll be in my office all day if you'd like to come and pick it up. Otherwise, please let me know by phone call.

As professional as always, this guy. Glancing over at the microwave, you take note that it's only 8:56AM, which isn't that early for someone like him, but still. Lee Minhyuk is punctual, you'll give him that. Well, you suppose if you head out soon, you could get back before ten, depending on what it is Minhyuk forgot to give you. Some paperwork, maybe. He did say before that Mr. Jung had liquidated everything he owned other than the motel... You wonder what it could be.

Not wanting to wake your two house guests up, you stop the kettle before it can beep to signal that it's boiled and pour the hot water over a tea bag in a to-go mug to let it steep while you get changed. You sneak on tip-toes back to your room, and you move your hand as deftly as possible on your bedroom doorknob, focusing on your feet as you step in and close the door behind you. Bee-lining to your dresser, you tug off your pyjamas and pull on some fresh clothes as quietly as you can.

But when you turn around, Jimin is sitting up in your bed and looking at you with a frown.

"Oh my gosh!" You jump and pat a hand over your heart, taking a sharp breath in at the sudden sight of him. He barely reacts, just raising one of his eyebrows at you, his bottom half still snug under the comforter. "How long were you just sitting there?"

Eyes still half closed, Jimin says, "Long enough."

"Oh. Well..." Embarrassment trickles along your veins knowing he watched you trying to quietly sneak in. He looks too tired and uninterested to care about the fact that you changed right in front of him, though. There goes your confidence in your own sex appeal. "...Did you sleep okay?"

"It was fine." His words come out short and curt, and you can't quite pinpoint why, but you get a weird feeling as you try not to narrow your eyes. He flips the covers off himself and swings his legs over the edge of the bed, using his hands at his sides to push himself off and stand. His eyes dart around your room. "Where are my clothes?"

You blink. "Oh. They're in a hamper in the bathroom. I was planning on putting them through the wash and then making something to eat." Of course, stopping by Lee Minhyuk's office threw a tiny wrench in those plans, but still, you weren't expecting this from Jimin as soon as he woke up. Whatever this is.

Just as he tries to exit your bedroom, you move to stand between him and the door, your hand held up. Jimin stops himself before either of you touch, and he frowns slightly when you go, "Whoa, hold on. What's the hurry?"

"I have to go back."

"Go back?" you echo, confusion tinged in your voice, but Jimin doesn't bother. He gently puts a hand on your wrist and moves you out of the way, which you let him do all too easily in your stupor. Go back? To the streets? Blinking and shaking yourself out of it, you turn to follow him into the bathroom, where you watch him find his dirty clothes at the top of the pile in the hamper. "What do you mean?"

Jimin doesn't look at you as he focuses on unbuttoning his pyjama top. "She's looking for me."

Sputtering, you completely miss the fact that Jimin is taking off his clothes right in front of you. "Rayoung?"

Even though he doesn't answer you, the determined look in his eyes tells you you're right. He slips on his old clothes and pushes past you again.

"She is?" You struggle to follow both him and his words, stepping into the main living space after him. "How do you know--"

Jimin whips around, and you almost bump into him, but your feet screech to a halt directly in front of him. He glares at you with those piercing brown eyes. "She loves me," he says.

Your mouth opens and closes like those dogs in kids movies they'd feed peanut butter to so it'd look like they were talking. You can't say what you think, no, that would be too harsh. You can't just say outright that someone who loves him wouldn't leave him to live miserably like he did. But, what can you say? You don't want him to go back to where he was, even if what he thinks of Rayoung is true... not when you have something within likeness of a solution so close to falling in your grasp. You were planning on going to the motel this evening with Hoseok -- and, ideally, Jimin -- to scope out the building better and finally figure out what the hell you're doing.

"Jimin..." You hold yourself back from reaching out to him, knowing that your touch might be the last thing he wants. "At least eat something..."

"I'm not hungry," he tells you, and with the conviction he puts behind the words, you almost believe him.

"C'mon, at least a bite--"

"No!"

Jimin's sudden volume startles you, and your eyes go wide as he pushes both hands against you, causing you both to stumble back a step. You stare at your feet for half a second before looking back up at him, a breath of a laugh tainted with disbelief puffing past your lips. "What--"

"Don't come any closer!" He wraps his arms around his chest and scrunches his eyes shut. "I don't know what was in that fucking tea, but you can't keep me here." His back turns to you. "Rayoung was right. I can't trust anyone."

Completely thrown off, you straighten up slowly, his words settling in your brain. "...Excuse me?"

Jimin says no more, simply standing there in the foyer with his back turned, shielding himself from... you.

Roused from his deep slumber, Hoseok appears next to you. His hair is tousled and pressed flat against the side of his head that he slept on, but the sight isn't as endearing as it would be if you weren't so baffled by what Jimin just said. Taking one step in front of you, Hoseok puts a hand on your arm before you've even realized you went to get closer to Jimin, one hand up and pointed at him.

"You--" Hoseok's firm grip on your arm stops you from getting far, and as he pulls you partway behind him and your shoulder bumps into his back, you lower your voice to a whisper. "You think I drugged you?"

With his head down low, Jimin still refuses to respond. His entire body trembles, fear coursing through him like rapids under his skin. Even you can see it.

But something fogs over your rationality.

"Are you serious right now? I didn't-- I would never--" You try to take a deep breath, but it gets stuck in your throat and only serves to fuel this ugly feeling inside your chest. "You're delusional."

Hoseok hushes out your name, a warning of sorts, or maybe something closer to a plea. You don't hear it past the ringing in your ears.

"And it's not because of anything in my fucking tea," you continue. "No, you know why you're delusional?"

Hesitantly, Jimin turns around half-way, his frowning profile causing that awful roiling in you to flare up.

"Because even though you've been living on the streets for months, starved enough to root through restaurant trash bins, abandoned by the very person who supposedly loves you--" Something flashes across Jimin's eyes, but you have no grasp of what it is. "--you still think she's coming back for you."

No one says anything for a second -- too long, and Hoseok's hand slides down your arm and gently wraps around your wrist. You tug it out of his grasp with a sharp inhale. "So let's just go," you say, walking to where you keep your car keys. The jingle-jangle as you pick up your keys is the only sound in the apartment aside from your footsteps. "I'll take you right now. Near Antonio's, right? She left you around there and that's where you think she'll go looking for you?"

Hoseok softly calls your name again, but you don't hear him. Jimin only follows you with angry eyes.

"I was on my way out anyway," you continue. With your hand already on the doorknob, you slip on your shoes. "So yeah, I have no problem with dropping you off on your own with nowhere to go." You pull the door towards you and step out, eyes still on your feet. "Where you have no sure way of getting food."

Jimin doesn't look at you as he puts on his shoes.

"Where Hybrid Services already know your face--"

Your words choke to a stop when you look down the hall towards the elevators. That damned fluorescent yellow armband you had no business caring about a couple days ago -- two of them -- appear in your sight just a few metres away, directly in front of the apartment-next-door's open entrance, where your neighbour to the right, Anne-Marie, is talking to the two officers.

Without uttering another sound, you push Jimin back inside your apartment as quickly and overtly as you can. Unfortunately, this means you achieve that by shoving your hand in Jimin's face, but your head isn't exactly in the right place to think about hiding-someone-away etiquette.

"Wha--?! Stop--!"

"Shh!" You make frantic eye contact with Hoseok while Jimin glares daggers at you. At this point, you know you can't just go back inside yourself; both the officers and your neighbour have probably seen you already. You keep your voice as quiet as you can, hoping the boys can still hear you with their weird hybrid powers. "Both of you, not a peep. Got it?"

You don't wait for either of them to answer before you grab the doorknob and swing the door shut in their faces. As soon as you look back down the hall, both officers, a man and a woman, and Anne-Marie are looking at you.

"Good morning," you greet with a slight bow, completely unsure of what to do or say next.

Would asking some sort of question be suspicious? Or would trying to walk by and ignoring them be even worse?

Either way, you have to get to the elevator...

Before you have to decide, (or maybe after you already should've, considering the awkward silence,) Anne-Marie waves you over with a slight frown. "Leaving so early today?"

"Ah..." You nod at her with a strained smile as you walk up to her and the officers, making sure to smile and nod at them too in that weird, you're not really part of this conversation but you're standing here so I'll try to include you sort of way. "Yes, I have some errands to run this morning."

Anne-Marie doesn't question you, thank goodness, and just gestures towards the officers. "Well you should hear them out before you go," she says. "Apparently there's a feral hybrid on the loose."

"Feral hybrid?"

You don't have to fake the initial look of concern that appears on your face, but the way you deepen your frown at the flyer one of the officers hands you is definitely for show.

"Yes," he confirms, face stiff and almost bored from repeating the words so many times to all the residents in the building already. "He ran away from a hybrid clinic in the city and was last spotted in this neighbourhood."

Anne-Marie nods along as he speaks and shakes her head when he points out the area the hybrid was spotted last night on a small map included in the flyer. "So close to home..." she mutters, which he ignores.

Continuing after him, the female officer speaks up. "We're doing rounds to make sure everyone living in the area is aware of the risks of a feral hybrid, as well as inform everyone of the proper procedure."

"Which is...?"

"Do not approach," the man tells you as your eyes finally focus in on the two pictures of the feral hybrid, one from the front and another of his profile. In both photos, he's smiling, eyes bright. "It's dangerous for regular citizens to attempt to capture feral hybrids. Leave it to the professionals and call Hybrid Services upon encounter."

He doesn't look so dangerous.

His smile is wide and almost boyish, like someone told him he was posing for a photo op rather than the strange hybrid-version of a mug shot it actually is. He holds up his name placard like it's an award he's proud of. "V," it reads, then a bunch of numbers underneath. His animal ears are perked straight up, and you can't tell what kind of ears they are in the grainy black-and-white pictures, not to mention how small they look compared to Hoseok's. Still, the deepness of his smile, the happiness in his eyes and the scrunch of his nose -- you're not scared at all.

You don't say any of that, though.

"I'll keep an eye out, thank you," you say with a polite smile. "What kind of hybrid is he?"

The two share a look, the female officer grimacing before she turns back to you. "That's unfortunately classified information."

"What? Why? Wouldn't it help us be safer and more prepared if we know what he looks like?" You turn to make eye contact with Anne-Marie, who drinks in your words and nods with a slight frown towards the officers, a finger propped concernedly on her chin.

The man sighs. "As much as I agree with you, these pictures are the only images any of us have to go off of. Even Hybrid Services hasn't been informed of his sub-species. It's private information belonging to the clinic, and legally, we don't need to have it to apprehend the hybrid."

"I see..."

After thanking them again and giving your due goodbyes, you do your best not to turn around and watch the officers as you wait for the elevator. You step into the elevator, and as your finger finds the button for the ground floor, you peak down the hall and let out a breath of relief. The officers seem to have skipped your door because you already spoke to them.

It would probably be suspicious to re-enter your apartment so soon while they're still patrolling your floor, you think. The last thing you need right now is Hybrid Services finding a reason to look into you.

And, maybe, you need a minute to yourself. Just to breathe.

You hadn't meant to snap at Jimin like that, it just... So much doesn't make sense to you. You've barely had Hoseok around for a few days, but you feel as though your friendship is something already. Maybe not something to be proud of, exactly, but it's something.

Jimin... you've known him for even less time, if you could even call that "knowing" him at all. And yet, you felt this strange surge of protectiveness over him.

You really hope that isn't part of the saviour thing Hoseok spoke of before...

Sighing into the empty elevator, you try not to think about the fact that it probably is, and instead focus on what is right in front of you. Your car keys are still in your hand, the shape imprinted into your palm from how hard your nerves had made you grip them between your fingers while you talked to the officers.

You take the coward's route and run away.

Lee Minhyuk's office building isn't that far in terms of distance, but the traffic around it is pure hell. It gives you much too much time alone with only your thoughts. You try to drown them out with whatever is on the radio, but even that can't seem to calm the disquiet within you. The more you think about the things you said, the more regret builds in your gut. What right did you have to say those things to Jimin? Sure, you think it's a fool's dream to believe this Rayoung girl is out there searching for him, but to purposefully shut him down like that? To crush that dream just because you got offended by emotions he was completely valid in feeling? Just because he's been scarred by humans before and you happen to be one? It's not his fault that he thought you might've drugged him, it's a product of--

"Ah, you're here."

Blinking, you realize that your body went on autopilot and walked you up to Lee Minhyuk's office without you knowing, and you watch his back as he goes to sit at his desk.

"Yeah I... got your text," you say dazedly, unsure of anything else you could possibly say in the moment.

"Well, it's good that you came. I wouldn't want you to go without this." Minhyuk holds his hand out, and you step closer to his desk to let him drop whatever the thing he forgot is in your awaiting palm.

A single key stares up at you, attached by a small ring to a simple metal tag.

Silver Meadows Columbarium, it reads.

"Oh."

Moving the key to your fingers, you flip over the tag and read lot C 258 on the back. You'd never heard of Silver Meadows Columbarium before. Never needed to...

"I believe Mr Jung set up his..." Minhyuk pauses as he mulls over his word choice. "...accommodations before he passed."

You can't help but ask, "Just him? No family, or...?"

Your words trail off, both of you knowing that Mr Jung left you as his sole beneficiary. If he had family, he didn't leave them anything. Not even the location of his remains.

Minhyuk shakes his head, and you frown.

"He prepared for his own death all by himself?"

Your concern is met with a small, understanding smile on Minhyuk's face. "Well, he may have done the paperwork himself, but he wasn't alone. He had you."

"But I--" You hardly knew Mr Jung.

"He brought you up more than once," Minhyuk says, making you close your mouth and blink stupidly at him. At your silence, he continues. "He came to my office a few times to sign the papers and whatnot, and he mentioned you every time. Always said you're the only one who laughs at his jokes."

"They're funny!"

Your own response jars you a bit. The last time you said that, you thought Mr Jung was alive.

Minhyuk only smiles again, softly. "He was happy you thought so."

"Did he say that?"

"Not in so many words, but I it wasn't hard to tell. Don't get too caught up in the fact that Jung didn't have blood relatives he wanted to include in his will. Evidently--" He gestures to you. "--he had a family of sorts."

Except that you weren't it. You couldn't be, right?

A seedling plants itself in the forefront of your mind.

A seedling named Hoseok.

That's must be it -- Mr Jung wanted to leave his estate to Hoseok, but couldn't figure out how to, legally. Hybrids probably can't even have bank accounts, much less accept inheritance, which is why Mr Jung defaulted to you. He trusted you to help Hoseok start up Heaven's Door as the legal owner of the land it's built on.

In his letter, he'd said it's that it's you, whatever that means.

You look down at the key in your hand, taking a deep breath in. It might not be the key to Heaven's Door Motel, but you clutch it in your fingers, and as you step out of Lee Minhyuk's office, you make a silent promise to Mr Jung.

You'll get Heaven's Door up and running.

And you'll do a damn good job of it too.

When you return to your apartment, you have a brown paper bag of fresh pastries in your hand and a heavy something in your chest. You tried to figure out what you want to say to the two hybrids in your place on your way home, but it's hard. You feel like all you keep doing is messing up. Now, you even ran off without a word after seeing the Hybrid Services officers, which had to have freaked Hoseok out.

You grimace as you twist the doorknob. Less than an hour ago, you'd resolved yourself to running Heaven's Door with everything you've got, but are you really the right person for the job?

When you enter, you go to call out for Hoseok, but you freeze with your mouth partially open. The guys stand ramrod straight in front of you, Hoseok with a slight smile and Jimin with a hesitant clench of his jaw, arms crossed. You gape at them for a couple seconds until Hoseok frowns at Jimin and jabs his elbow into his side.

"Ow! What the--"

"Don't you have something to say?" Hoseok prompts through his teeth, a harsh grit to the question.

Jimin huffs, his arms shifting in front of his chest, hands holding his own arms a little tighter. He meets your eyes. "I'm--"

"Wait." You hold up a hand to stop him, not missing the confusion that flashes across Hoseok's face. Something like panic reflects in Jimin's eyes when he sneaks a glance at Hoseok, but you don't acknowledge it. "Let's talk." With the hand still holding the paper bag, you gesture towards the couch. "Have a seat. Both of you."

Jimin doesn't move until Hoseok does, following silently while Hoseok watches you out of the corner of his eye as he sits down.

You set the pastries on the kitchen table before making your way to them, stopping in front of the couch and chewing over your thoughts. Jimin regards you with a half-frown, brows knitted in apparent distrust. You can't really blame him.

If your ears were better, you might've heard the slight gasp Hoseok let out when you dropped to your knees, bent down, and pressed your forehead to your hands, which are now flat on the floor. You bow in front of them, let out a breath, and raise your head once you gather your thoughts, putting your hands respectfully on your lap. "I'm sorry," you say. "I fucked up."

Hoseok's ears twitch, dipping, and he scoots forward on the cushion, about to say something, but you don't let him.

"Jimin, I want to apologize for this morning. I had no right to react the way I did." You look at Jimin, but you can't read his face. "It's not your fault if humans have hurt you enough to make you think we're all the same. People can be... horrible. I wish things were different, but... I want you to know that I will never intentionally hurt you--" Your eyes meet Hoseok's. "--either of you. I'm not going to punish you. I'm not going to force or coerce you into anything you don't want to do. I don't want to be the kind of human you're afraid of."

Hoseok shakes his head. "I'm not afraid--"

"I can't promise I won't fuck up again," you say, wincing as you realize you've spoken over him, but when he doesn't speak up again, you continue. "I honestly feel like a walking disaster with how many times I've fucked up, and it's only been a couple days. Sometimes I speak before I think, and I really need to work on that. I'm sorry."

You don't know when you started staring into your lap, but you let out a long breath, and only after that do you slowly look up at the two hybrids. They both wear blank expressions, and it makes you want to shrink back in on yourself. "I just--"

"I lied," Jimin blurts out, and you face him, eyes slightly widening.

"...Lied? About what?"

Sighing, Jimin casts a glance at Hoseok, who nods determinedly. He fidgets with his hands, looking at them rather than meeting your eyes. "I guess, technically, Rayoung isn't looking for me right now," he mumbles. "But she will. As soon as she breaks up with her stupid tool boyfriend."

"Oh." You blink at Jimin. "Well, um... You're welcome to stay with us. Until then, I mean."

Jimin's lips form into a contemplative pout, but he says nothing.

You scratch the back of your neck. Is there a good way to approach this? "We could, um... let her know somehow? That you're with us."

You eye Hoseok, who's hopefully in the same boat for you to be saying we. He wasn't exactly Jimin's biggest fan last night, weird possessiveness over pyjama sets aside. Now, though, you see that even he can tell this Rayoung girl is bad news. Still, Jimin's ties to her seem to run deep, and you know it's nowhere near simple to tell someone a person they love isn't as great as they thought.

Jimin takes a deep breath in, his shoulders scrunching up as his body tenses and relaxes. "Can I... think about it?"

"Of course!" You perk up at the idea of him even considering your offer after the way you snapped this morning, and you point at the brown paper bag on the table. "Do you want to have breakfast while you think?"

While Jimin marks a straight line to the kitchen, Hoseok holds his hand out for you before you even move to get up. You take it, and he uses his other hand to gently grasp your elbow and lift you onto your feet. He doesn't let go right away, instead holding both your hands and whispering, "You shouldn't have gone out alone." He rubs his thumbs over your knuckles. "You're still concussed."

The proximity combined with his concern for you causes heat to stir in your chest. It's uncomfortable and foreign, so you try to force it down, smiling and letting out a chuckle that screams casual. You hope. "I can hold my own. Besides, I think I'm all better; right as rain up here." You pull one of your hands out of his tender hold and curl it into a fist, knocking on your cranium like a door. Except, the impact makes your brain swish around in your skull like gargled fluoride. "Whoa-- shit."

You sway, tipping the direction you knocked your own head into. Hoseok keeps you standing, but he doesn't like it. "You just proved my point."

"Listen--"

"From now on, no going off on your own," he says, and from his tone, there's no point in a rebuttal.

You roll your eyes, and, whoa, does the room always spin when you do that? Still, even wooziness can't stopper your sarcasm. "Protective much?"

"Kind of my job description."

"I thought I was your bodyguard," you tease, and he chuckles, his seriousness evaporating with the sound.

"As if--"

"You're dumb."

You and Hoseok both turn towards the kitchen, where Jimin stands next to the table with a half eaten pastry in his mouth. Ignoring the glare he's under from Hoseok, which you don't notice, he speaks around the pastry. "Only a dumb person would go out on their own in your condition."

Even though you're pretty sure he should be on the same side as Jimin on this, Hoseok sneers at him, the slightest of growls rumbling in his throat.

Jimin holds up a hand, mockingly. "Easy, pup."

"I'm older than you, punk!"

You can't help it; you laugh. Jimin is all over the place, accusing you of atrocities one second and talking to you and Hoseok like you're long-time friends the next. The two hybrids cease their bickering at the sound of your laughter.

"Okay, okay." You take a breath to stop the giggles threatening to break past your lips. "New temporary house rule: no one should go off on their own unless they have to."

Jimin raises a brow. "No one?"

"Ideally." You nod. "Which brings me to the next thing I wanted to talk about. When the Hybrid Services officers were here before, they were telling everyone there's a feral hybrid in the area. The entire neighbourhood is going to be on alert-- I don't know how kindly they'll take to finding any unregistered or, uh, stray hybrids if they run into either of you alone."

Nodding along, Hoseok rubs his chin with his thumb. "Makes sense."

"They know what the hybrid looks like, but we don't know how much they actually care about the picture. Who knows if they'd just nab any male hybrid off the street," you say. "It's probably best to play it safe; at least while we're still in the neighbourhood."

"What do you mean, 'still in the neighbourhood'?" Jimin asks, curious.

You smack your own forehead and ignore the way Hoseok immediately brings his hands up like you're going to knock yourself over any second now. "Right, uh... We're kind of..." Bringing up a hand, you gesture between yourself and Hoseok. "...prospective business owners? Is that--? No, we're, uh...starting up a motel? But, like, for hybrids?"

Hoseok is decidedly unhelpful with explaining what Heaven's Door is meant to be, staying silent and just making a face as you botch it.

"Anyway, it might be safer if we head out there sooner rather than later if the neighbourhood is getting paranoid over stray hybrids. It's outside of the city, and Hybrid Services doesn't do patrols out there. I was thinking to move once I'd figured more shit out, but I didn't think the whole 'feral hybrid' thing would happen today, and I definitely didn't foresee meeting you." Not that anything that's happened to you in the last few days could've been foreseen, either. You smile at Jimin. "But hey, at least you were a pleasant surprise."

"Didn't I threaten to kill you?."

You shrug. "I'm still here, aren't I?"

"And your guard dog attacked me."

"After you attacked her!" Hoseok argues.

Clicking his tongue, Jimin gives his head a nod. "Point taken."

"Anyhow," you continue on. "While you think about what you wanna do, I'd like you to come with us. Of course, you're free to refuse. I still have two-ish weeks of rent paid for this place, so you could stay here, but..." You share a look with Hoseok, then return your eyes to Jimin.

"...I'd be alone?" he finishes for you.

"I guess I'd just feel better if you're with us."

Jimin seems to absorb your words, but he stays silent for a few seconds. He tosses the last bite of the pastry into his mouth, chewing quietly and brushing his hands together to get rid of the leftover crumbs. He takes a breath. "I guess I sort of owe you for the food and the bed I slept in last night... The least I can do is make you feel better."

Your cheeks make way for a beaming smile.

"Just while I think about it."

You school yourself. "Right! Right," you say, clearing your throat of any enthusiasm that might've gotten clogged in there. "Just while you're thinking about it. Nothing's set in stone."

Either Hoseok calls shotgun outside of your hearing range, or Jimin silently sits in the backseat of your car out of some unfounded sense of regularity. He doesn't speak a word as you drive, just watches the world pass by through the side window. You can't really see him in the rear view mirror, and most of your focus is on the road, but there are a few moments where you catch his fingers scratching at his arms before he flexes his hands and stops. You're reminded of the red, bumpy skin you saw on his arms. Now, it's covered by his shirt and jacket, both of which you convinced him to let you wash before you all left your apartment.

"I don't think this is the right way..." Hoseok says, squinting at the street signs as you drive out of the inner city.

"Yeah, uh." You'd looked up the address to Silver Meadows before you left, and it's practically on the other side of the city as Heaven's Door. "There's somewhere I wanted to go first. You know how I left this morning?"

Hoseok nods.

"Well, it wasn't just to throw a tantrum, if that's what you were thinking."

"I thought maybe you were trying to get those Hybrid Services officers to think you were going somewhere, so they'd think no one was in your apartment," Hoseok says, making your eyebrows rise on your forehead.

"Wow, you're pretty intuitive, aren't you?" Your eyes dart to the backseat, but you can't see Jimin's face since he's sitting right behind you. "Were you guys able to hear that whole conversation in the hallway?"

Jimin scoffs, something sarcastic in the simple sound, while Hoseok nods again. "It's weird how even they don't know the species of the feral hybrid," he says. "Without that information, they'd go after any stray hybrid they encounter -- not that they weren't doing that already."

"But they might treat any stray like they're feral and dangerous," you finish the thought process for him, and when you meet his eyes, he sports a grim expression. You roll your shoulders back, sighing. "It's a good enough reason to stay on our toes, but hopefully we won't run into any trouble outside of my neighbourhood..."

And, hopefully, the feral hybrid doesn't get found by anyone less than civil. The cheerful face of that hybrid flashes across your mind, and you wonder about his circumstances. What makes a hybrid go feral, anyway? What made him run away from the hybrid clinic? How much of the information the officers gave you is a stretching of the truth?

"So where did you go?" Hoseok asks when you make another unfamiliar turn.

"Lee Minhyuk texted me -- he was Mr Jung's estate lawyer." You add that in to give Jimin some context, but you're not sure if he's even listening. "He forgot to give me the key for Mr Jung's niche."

Hoseok's brows furrow as he echoes you. "Niche?"

"It's what they call the individual sections in a columbarium," you explain, not too informed yourself, but you know enough. You take Hoseok's silence as him not filling the gaps quite yet. "Mr Jung's urn is being kept in one. Lot C, niche 258, at Silver Meadows Columbarium."

"Oh." Hoseok doesn't exactly slump in his seat, but you see the way his shoulders sag just the slightest. "He was cremated?"

You nod, eyes still on the road. "Yeah... I hadn't thought about it much. I'd assumed his family was dealing with all the..." Breathing out a long exhale through your nose, you try to think of the right words. (And come up with nothing.) "...well, that kind of stuff. But apparently I'm the only one with the key."

"Mr Jung never talked about any family..." Hoseok mumbles.

A road sign ahead reads Silver Meadows, and you slow down to turn into the lot.

"You're not bringing flowers?"

You turn your head at Jimin's sudden question, surprised since he was quiet the whole drive. He meets your eyes.

"You're visiting a grave, and you didn't bring flowers?" he asks, arms crossed.

"Oh." You look downward. "I hadn't thought about that..."

Jimin doesn't say anything, and you've run out of words yourself. Does it make sense to go back to buy some? You think about Mr Jung, and far above wanting to go get flowers for him now, you wish you could've brought him one back then. When he could see it.

You find a parking spot and switch off the engine.

"It's okay," Hoseok says before any of you exit the car. He's not looking at you, though. "We can bring flowers next time."

You watch him step out of the car, and as he does, he pulls his collar out of his pocket and fastens it around his neck, clasping the metal ends together before he shuts the car door behind him. Before you'd left the apartment, you told him to bring it, but you forgot about it during the drive.

"Oh, right. Jimin." You twist in your seat and reach into your bag, finding the red velvet choker you'd stuffed in there earlier. You've never really worn it since someone gave it to you however long ago, and you just hastily grabbed it from your room before you all left the apartment. You hold it out for him. "Wear this for now. It's not technically a collar, but... no one will be looking too closely. I hope."

Jimin frowns, but he takes the choker. "Can't I just stay in the car?"

You don't want to pressure him, but you can't help the grimace that crosses your face. "I feel safer together..."

"Fine," he huffs, bringing his hands up to fasten the choker. "You're lucky this is cute."

By the time you both catch up to Hoseok, he's already found the directions to lot C. He walks silently, and when he finds niche 258, you and Jimin hang a bit back, giving him a moment.

This section of the columbarium is indoors, and the walls and niches seem to be white marble, or made to look like white marble. Whichever it is, it feels a bit... cold.

Mr Jung's niche is empty, save for the black urn inside. Jimin was probably right -- some flowers would at least bring some life to the space.

Hoseok stands in front of the niche, which is embedded in the wall at around the height of his chest. His arms hang limp at his sides. You step up beside him, and you take his hand, gently, bringing it up so you can push the key into his palm.

"I think he meant to give this to you." And everything else, you want to say, but you hold your tongue. That's a lot to put on someone all at once.

You would know.

Hoseok holds his hand in front of him, staring at the key. He looks up at you and meets your eyes with his watery ones. "You think so?"

"Of course I do." You put a hand on Hoseok's shoulder, your thumb rubbing back and forth over his coat. "You said Mr Jung never talked about any family, right? That's because you were his family."

Sniffling, Hoseok bites his bottom lip to stop it from trembling as he breaks eye contact and returns to looking at Mr Jung's niche. "I... I wish he wasn't this far away. He made it so much harder to visit."

"Hey..." Gently, you use your hand on his shoulder to turn Hoseok toward you, then put both your hands on his arms and give him a reassuring squeeze. A tear threatens to roll down his cheek, but you reach up at thumb it away. "I know you probably knew Mr Jung better than I did, but... something in me thinks he'd want to say..." You turn your head to look at the niche, smile, and shake your head. "He's not in there." Bringing a hand up, you softly poke the pad of your pointer finger between Hoseok's eyebrows. "He's in here." You move to his chest and poke at where his heart should be. "And here." Finally, you take both his hands, a bit awkward with the one still holding the key, and hold them between you. "And that's what matters, right?"

Hoseok nods, but his face crumples up, and he tucks it into your neck. You wrap your arms around him just as his embrace you tight. Over his shoulder, you glance at Jimin, who quickly looks away, but you know he was watching. He stuffs his hands in his pockets, suddenly very interested in his worn out shoes.

"But we can still visit, right?" Hoseok mumbles into your skin, bringing your attention back to him.

"Of course. And next time, we'll bring flowers."

As you slide into one of the parking spots in front of Heaven's Door, it occurs to you that this is the first time you're seeing it in the daylight. All of its mediocre glory. The outer walls are a faded yellow, with supporting pillars and railings on the second floor landing which were once white. The doors to the individual rooms are a nice dark green that matches the roofing, but you have to admit they've seen better days. Still, you can feel the potential the old building blooms in your chest.

"Not too bad, hey?" you say to Jimin, who's leaning forward between the driver and passenger seats to peer out the windshield at the place.

He sniffs. "It's no Plaza Hotel."

"You've been?"

"No, I've seen Home Alone 2."

Chuckling, you pull your car key out of the ignition and exit the car. You put your hands on your hips, inhaling a big, exaggerated breath as you take in the motel. Hoseok walks over and stands next to you, arms crossed.

"Well," you say. "It might be a bit of a fixer-upper, but that's nothing a couple of fixer-uppers like us can't handle, right?" You bump your shoulder into Hoseok, who smiles at you and bumps back with his hip. You stumble a bit, but Jimin's hand on your back stops you from swaying too hard. When you take your eyes off your feet, he meets your eyes with a plain expression.

"You guys are disgustingly optimistic."

A hand on his shoulder, you grin. "You just named one of my best traits!"

The move into Heaven's Door is by no means smooth, but you can't say it's not something you expected.

The first thing you notice is the broken window in the convenience store under the motel lobby, which you'd missed that first night in the dark. Hoseok sheepishly admits that he'd had to break in to eat the snack food inside. You don't push it -- that void of time between losing Mr Jung and meeting you isn't a topic you think is worth diving into if it's going to bring Hoseok back to that time. The window won't be cheap, but if you don't put a custom decal on it like the shattered one on the ground, it might not be as expensive.

Secondly, Hoseok leads you and Jimin to the master room you remember Mr Jung mentioning in his letter, and you realize you'd only seen the motel from one side. Behind the lobby, which has a lot of that same forest green as the doors outside, Hoseok shows you the half of the building you had no idea about before. An entire branch extends behind the lobby, about the same length as the front, but instead of the entrances to each room facing outside like the ones you saw before, there are doors mirroring each other on both sides of a hallway. Immediately to the right is the master room, but at the end of the hallway seems to be a common area with couches and coffee tables, and two walls lined with a counter and cabinets. Hoseok tells you it's the same downstairs, except the end of the hall is a kitchen and dining area. It reminds you of a college dorm.

If anyone stayed in the rooms you saw out front, you don't think they'd even notice this half of the building.

The master room is smaller than your apartment, but it has its own half-kitchen and en suite bathroom with a pretty nice shower. Hoseok explains to you that most of Mr Jung's time and focus went into building and upgrading the interior of Heaven's Door, which is why it has its less than shiny exterior.

You can tell Hoseok was staying in the master room up until you... kidnapped(?) him.

"This is probably the nicest room in the motel, huh?" Jimin posits, walking inside with his hands in his pants pockets. He's wearing the clothes he met you in, now washed but no less worn down.

You nod. "Probably. We're a bit far from the city, so it would make sense for the owner to just live here."

"Dibs." Jimin flops down face first into the bed.

Hoseok crosses his arms. "Yah."

As you fail to hide your laughter behind your hand, Jimin squirms in the bed, twisting himself so he lies on his back. He stretches his arms and legs out like a sea star. "Smells too much like dog here, though."

While Hoseok sneers, you say, "Probably because this is Hoseok's room. You and I can take the rooms next door and across the hall."

"Why would I wanna be next door to you?" Jimin closes his eyes and interlocks is fingers behind his head, fully relaxing into the bed.

You let out an affronted scoff. Your hand goes up to your chest, right over your heart even though Jimin can't see it. "Um, my amazing company and charming personality?"

"Pass."

As you and Jimin go through this back-and-forth, you miss the way Hoseok's face fell when you said you'd be in a different room. His disheartened expression goes unnoticed, and when you stand up, proclaiming there's a lot of work to be done, he smiles at you with all the sunshine he can muster.

You're none the wiser.

Aside from the horrors (the mere idea of business management, the building maintenance, the absolute atrocity that is dealing with plumbing, the phone calls, etc, etc,) at least it's fun to print keys. Hoseok apparently never figured the system out because Mr Jung took care of getting it installed, but half an hour on the computer, and you manage to print a key for both yourself and Jimin. He chooses the room across from the master, while you're right next to it.

Hoseok insists on him and Jimin carrying all the food you'd brought inside, but to appease your need to take part, he lets you carry one item for each trip from your car to the common kitchen area. (You find this a little patronizing, but it is admittedly nice to be doted on by them both, even if Jimin's still pretending he doesn't care.)

((He takes a bag you were reaching for, despite already having both his hands full.))

Much of your things are still back at your apartment, but you have time to bring them over. The first day is mostly about getting Hoseok and Jimin out of dodge -- you can worry about your own problems later. You spend the afternoon sitting in the lobby, poring over the paperwork left there and googling motel business 4 dummies like your life depends on it. Hoseok, who'd been cleaning up his room and taking care of the broken glass outside (and inside, unfortunately) the convenience store, forces you to take a break in the form of helping him make dinner.

During dinner, unprompted, Jimin tells you he's still thinking.

It hasn't slipped by you, of course, that Jimin's stay with you is conditional and, lest you hope otherwise, temporary.

But when he says that, staring into his food rather than looking at you, a tiny smile makes it's way onto your face,

"Take all the time you need."

On the third night, you wake up to soft knocks on your door. You have no expectations because your brain is in the process of trying to dissect the dream you'd just been ripped out of, but seeing Hoseok on the other side of your door still isn't something you were prepared for. He's wearing the new, new pyjamas you'd bought for him in a sparse shopping trip you'd all gone on the second day, despite him saying he didn't care that much about Jimin wearing the other ones.

You go to say his name, but he just brings a finger up to his lips in a silent shush, and with his other hand, he gently takes your hand and leads you down the hall into the master room.

Nothing in your body wants to fight it, so you let him bring you right up to the bed. He practically pushes you onto it, but the way he pulls the warm comforter over you defies any ill intent. When he settles in on the other side of the bed, his breath puffs against your cheek. He hasn't really scented you since the day you met Jimin; you've been near each other almost constantly since, so there was really no reason to.

You remember him telling you it's about separation, but also not. He never did tell you more about it.

In your sleep-ridden haze, you shift to your side. Hoseok is on his side too, rather close, and his eyes are closed, but you know he can't have fallen asleep so fast. Gently, you bring a hand to the back of his head, careful, as always, not to touch his dingo ears. You pull him closer ever so slowly. If he resists at all, you'll let go.

Hoseok lets out a shaking breath. He wraps both arms around you and tugs you closer, his face pressing itself against your neck. Eyes still closed, he squeezes you close. It's warm.

That's right, you think.

He’s a strong little pup, but he hates being alone.

How did you manage to forget that?

If Jimin has anything to say about the fact that you've started to retire to the master room at the end of the day, he doesn't vocalize it. Hoseok never brings it up, either. He's hardly touchy during the daytime, keeping his hands to himself, especially in front of Jimin. Yet, when night comes, he pulls you to bed like he's done it his entire life and keeps his arms around you until you fall asleep and wake up to find him all tangled up in the sheets.

Jimin either hasn't noticed, or, as you suspect, he doesn't care.

He'll often say he's "still thinking about it". You're not quite sure how to respond to it every time, so now you just smile and nod, sometimes reminding him that the choice is still his.

One night, you find him in the common area, sitting on a couch and watching a muted cartoon on the tv you'd connected to your Netflix account the day before. The subtitles aren't even on, and when he turns at the sound of your footsteps, you see the red of his eyes, and the shining tracks on his cheeks.

There's still a lot you don't know about Jimin.

Rayoung. Her boyfriend. His red contacts and why he wore them.

"It's freezing in here," is all he says as he wipes his cheeks with his sleeve. "You should get the heating system checked."

You sit down next to him, neither of you looking at each other. "Feels normal to me."

The cartoon isn't one you recognize, but it looks like it could be fun if you knew what anyone was saying.

For a while, you and Jimin say nothing. He sits next to you, and you next to him. At some point, he shifts just the slightest bit closer so your shoulders brush against each other. That's as far as he goes for your body heat.

"Do you get cold easily?" you eventually whisper.

"Mhmm."

"Is that a snake thing?"

Jimin shakes his head, slowly, the late hour finally getting to him. "Some reptile hybrids are like that, some aren't. There aren't many of us, so people don't really know why. At least... that's what he told me."

He. You decide not to dig into that. Jimin will tell you if he wants to.

"Your scales... the skin around them seemed irritated."

"...Itchy..." Jimin's head falls to your shoulder. He doesn't snuggle in, but he rests there. "I had a cream for it..."

"We should buy some," you say.

"It's expensive... You shouldn't buy it if I'm going to leave soon..."

Though his words cause a muted ache in your heart, you don't stew on it. That was always the case.

"You can take it with you."

Jimin doesn't respond, asleep on your shoulder.

You're not sure how much time passes, but later, you hear light, shuffling footsteps behind you, and you turn your head towards the sound, careful not to jostle the slumbering Jimin on your shoulder. Hoseok stands there, eyes half closed but on you nonetheless.

"You left," he mumbles, swaying slightly like he's struggling to stay both awake and upright.

You give him a small smile, lit only by the tv that's still playing that cartoon you don't know the name of. "I didn't go very far."

"Come back to bed?"

Gently, you lift a hand and gesture at Jimin. "Can we bring him back to his, first?"

When you're sent the invoice for the window repair, you realize (not for the first time) this won't be easy.

You didn't think it'd be a walk in the park, of course not, but you've never really had to worry about the cost of running a business before. Now, you look at the numbers, and you just can't wrap your head around how it'll all work. Mr Jung left you a considerable amount, yes, but... will it be enough? You can't imagine the motel is in any high level of traffic area for travellers. There are quite a few campsites around in the surrounding forest, but that's about it. How many customers would it take monthly to support the motel? How much has to or even can be sacrificed before any income is made?

You've already spent so much on keeping you, Hoseok, and Jimin alive and warm for the past week. It's normal, you suppose, but you've never supported two dependants before, and the fact that you're currently unemployed doesn't settle the heavy feeling in your chest at all. You're draining your savings while not making any money in the meantime.

A safe haven for hybrids...

...who can't pay rent.

Maybe Mr Jung was older and more senile than you thought.

You shake your head and rub your hands over your face, resting your elbows on the desk in front of you. First, you gotta apologize to Mr Jung for disrespecting the dead. You might be cynical, but he had a dream. A really good and nice dream. Secondly, you scold yourself for thinking what you did about hybrids. Of course they can't pay rent. They were born into a system that actively discourages their financial (and pretty much every other kind of) autonomy. They can't pay for anything because of humans.

Still, you don't know how long you can keep running Heaven's Door on your inheritance alone. You haven't even opened yet -- how much will it cost to run for a month? Three? A year?

"Do the numbers change if you sigh hard enough?"

You turn in your swivel chair to glare at Jimin, who's sitting in the chair next to you with one leg folded up to his chest, foot propped up on the seat. He doesn't return your gaze, enraptured by the match-three game he's playing on your phone, which he's been going at rather consistently for the past two days. You don't really have a job for him right now, and aside from the tv, he doesn't have much to take up his time. You'd offered to grab the contents of your bookshelf back at home for him, but he'd casually refused, telling you he'd take a look next time you make the trip, but not to go out of your way.

"Maybe they will," you taunt back, which goes just as ignored as your glare. "I better sigh harder to test it out."

You tilt your head, looking at your phone in his hand. "Should I get you guys phones...?" you ask, mostly to yourself.

Jimin's eyes glance up, and he finally acknowledges you. He doesn't need to say it. He does anyway.

"I'm still thinking."

Curling your lips in, you nod, turning back to the computer and hovering your hands over the mouse and keyboard even though you have no plans on what to do with them. "Right. Right..."

Thankfully, Hoseok chooses that awkward moment to walk into the lobby. "You should take a break," he says. "How is your head feeling?"

"It's fine, doc." You roll your eyes, smiling. "Just as fine as I said it was yesterday."

"Have you been taking your meds?"

You shake your head. "The doctor said they're for headaches. They're just painkillers -- the few times my head has hurt, the pain went away by the time I remembered I could take them."

Jimin lowers your phone and gives you a look you can't quite decipher. It's not positive; you know that at least. "You're still getting headaches?"

"Only itty-bitty ones," you try to placate them.

"How long has it been since you fell?"

You almost forgot you lied to Jimin about how you got your concussion. By the looks of Hoseok's guilty expression, though, you're not sure if you regret it. You don't want him to feel responsible, but talking about it -- whether or not Jimin knows -- still seems to remind him of what he did. Where you put the blame doesn't matter to him. He still thinks it's his fault.

"Uhh... a little over a week?" you answer, keeping a careful eye on Hoseok. "Maybe eight or nine days."

Jimin frowns. "That can't be good, right?"

"The doctor said to go back to the hospital if the symptoms last over two weeks." Concern laced in his features, Hoseok crosses his arms.

You nod along. "I'll put the date on my calendar, okay? I'm sure I'll be fine by then."

"You better not play it down when the time comes," Hoseok warns.

"Yes sir," you joke.

Hoseok takes in a sharp breath, shoulders scrunching up for half a second before he forces them to relax. A small huff of a laugh escapes Jimin's nose, and you look at him in confusion, but his eyes are on Hoseok, something playful and teasing in them. Jimin mouths something to Hoseok, which you can't read.

Hoseok grumbles and tightens the arms crossed in front of him. "Shut up."

"No fair," you whine. "You guys already have inside jokes?"

Jimin just laughs harder while Hoseok gives him a death glare and says, "It doesn't count as an inside joke if I don't find it funny."

"Don't worry," Jimin teases through a smirk. "I find it funny enough for the both of us!"

You can't help but smile at the ever-growing amity between the two hybrids, which is admittedly playful in the biting way, but it still makes you happy that they're somewhat getting along.

"We should celebrate," you tell the boys one day.

"Celebrate what?" Jimin questions, hands stuffed in his coat pocket and shoulders scrunched up to his ears.

You'd gone around the back of the motel and found a paved, patio-like area, complete with five wooden picnic tables, propane patio heaters, and an old-looking but (probably) functional barbecue, but Jimin isn't exactly a fan of the cool breeze flowing through the air.

You lift the lid of the barbecue, examining the charred grates of the grill. "Well, I dunno, but it'd be a shame not to use this before it gets too cold out."

"Too late," Jimin mumbles. His lips are hidden behind the front of his coat, which he's ducked half his face into.

Hoseok ignores Jimin, nodding at your idea. "A barbecue night would be nice."

"How are you on the grill?" you ask him.

"I'm better at prepping."

You chuckle. "So basically, not good?"

"Not good," he echoes with a smile.

After sharing some giggles, you look at the barbecue again. "I'm sure I could figure this out."

"I'm going back inside," Jimin tells you both, already walking away.

"C'mon!" you call after him. "It'll be fun!"

Although you're in a different store now, near the edge of the city closer to the motel, the pet/hybrid aisle hosts a pretty similar collection to the store near your apartment. You pull another plain, black collar off the hook on the shelf, which matches the one currently sitting around Hoseok's neck.

He's not paying attention at all, as far as you know, instead hunched over the pushbar of the shopping cart he insisted on pushing for you, poring over the grocery list you'd written on a memo pad for tonight's "celebration".

In your mind, you've started calling it your "new friends party :D", emoticon included, but you haven't worded that out loud to either of the boys. Hoseok would surely laugh at the childishness of the name, even if he'd politely try to stifle it, and you know Jimin would only remind you that his relationship to you and Hoseok is temporary.

Mood killer, you think to Jimin, although it's the hypothetical version of him.

The real Jimin is looking at the array of collars on the shelf like you asked him to, and you step up next to him.

"What do you think?"

Jimin frowns, deep in thought. "They're all ugly."

Okay, maybe not that deep.

"Ouch," you chuckle, fingers toying with the black silk in your hand. "You don't have to wear one all the time -- just while we're in public spaces like this."

Grumbling, Jimin stuffs both his hands in his coat pockets. "In public... that's when I wanna look good."

"Okay, okay." You pat a hand on his shoulder. "Maybe we can find one you like online, or something."

"Doesn't this one work?" Jimin points at his neck, fingers ghosting over the soft velvet of your red choker.

You tilt your head. "I guess... Probably."

The tags for collars have to be bought and customized separately anyway. There's no reason why you wouldn't be able to put Jimin's on your choker, though attaching the tag might not be as simple as the store-bought collars. Manageable, though, you're sure.

"If you're done being picky, we should get going. The frozen meat will be rotten by the time we get to the car," Hoseok says, making Jimin roll his eyes and stick his tongue out at him.

You clap your hands together. "Ooh! We should get ice cream!"

When you bring all the groceries to the counter, you notice that Jimin keeps his head down, avoiding the eyes of the person ringing everything up. This isn't new -- Jimin seems to not like making eye contact with anyone but you or Hoseok.

He'd tossed the red contacts after one of them had an intimate meet and greet with your bedroom floor, but you can tell he doesn't like being without them. It's awful, you think, how long he wore those fake red eyes just because his owner... what, enjoyed the idea of owning a deadly hybrid?

The... exoticism?

You shiver.

On the cusp of winter time, with Jimin in a couple layers, you wouldn't even know he's a hybrid if you weren't paying attention. As far as you know, his only hybrid-defining trait is his scales, and the only ones you can see right now are on his neck. They'd easily go unnoticed to the everyday passerby.

"Your total is--"

The cashier's voice startles you, and all you can do is shake your head when they ask if you have their points reward card.

Before heading back to the motel, you make a quick stop at your apartment, telling the boys that you're just grabbing some more of your clothes and that they can wait in the car. You do grab some clothes, but you also pick up a few of your favourite books. Hopefully the boys will be able to find some entertainment in them. Recently, you discovered a recreation room in the motel, complete with a couple of exercise machines and a pool table. With how preoccupied you are with all this motel business stuff, though, you haven't had the time to play a round of pool or even think about exercising. Maybe the boys have been in there, but it seems like Hoseok is almost always somewhere around you, still weary of your condition.

It's sort of fair, you think. Dizzy spells still hit you sometimes.

Jimin, too, often sticks around somewhere nearby. Maybe it's because he likes scrolling through your phone and doesn't want to just take it and leave whatever room you're in.

Which brings you to the real reason you stopped by your apartment. You walk up to the mailboxes and pull out your key, smiling when you open your locker and find the packages you were expecting.

It's a bit of a pricey expense -- at least, for how you used to budget your life before it flipped on its head -- but you think it's worth the money. A simple phone for each of the boys, a new family plan to save on the phone bills, and a specialty reptilian hybrid eczema cream. You hope it's the right one for Jimin. You haven't seen his irritated skin since that shower due to the chilly weather, but you still catch him scratching his arms over his clothes from time to time.

You're sure if you told Jimin you wanted to buy the cream for him, he would've refused. The phone, too.

"Took you long enough," Jimin says when you dip back into the driver's seat of your car.

You chuckle. "I missed you too, Mochi."

He huffs at the nickname and crosses his arms, then turns his head to stare out the window. You don't see his faint smile.

"It's freezing," Jimin complains through chattering teeth, hands stuffed in his coat pockets and shoulders scrunched up practically to his ears.

You can't hold back a little laugh. "I told you, you could either help me out here with the grill, help Hoseok with prepping everything inside, or run the raw food from the kitchen to out here." Raising an eyebrow at him, you gesture towards your gloved hands and the food you're flipping on the grill with metal tongs. It is chilly out, especially since the sun set, but you're wrapped up in your own jacket, and the fire from the grill is keeping your cheeks warm. It probably feels colder to Jimin, though. "You wanna trade with me?"

He gives you a flat look. "You're kidding."

"Thought so. You wanna trade with Hoseok?"

Cringing, Jimin shakes his head. "I hate touching raw meat."

"Well, there's our answer then," you say. "Was that the last of it?"

He nods, another shiver rippling through him. It's almost endearing how red his cheeks are turning, but you know he really can't stand the cold.

"Okay, go inside and warm up. I should be done cooking everything in ten or fifteen minutes. Bring this plate in--" You point at a foil-wrapped plate of the food you've already cooked. "I can bring the rest inside once I'm finished."

Jimin's eyes widen slightly. "I thought you wanted to eat out here?" He looks at one of the picnic tables.

"Nah." You shrug. "It's way too cold for me, and the food will cool down too fast."

Elated by this news, Jimin smiles and bounces on his feet when he grabs the plate and runs it inside.

"And help Hoseok clean up the kitchen!" you yell out right before the door shuts behind him.

Truthfully, you did want to eat outside for the celebration, but it's more important to you that Jimin is comfortable and happy. After all, he's one of your new friends, and that's the whole point of tonight. You smile at the thought, excited to gift the boys their new cell phones after dinner.

Flipping some of the last pieces of meat on the grill, you hum to yourself. Out of the corner of your eye, you see a hand reach for the plate you have set to the side for the cooked food. It tentatively grabs one of the slices of meat and pulls it off the plate, which you let out a chuckle at.

"What, you couldn't wait a couple more minute--"

You choke to a stop, though, when you look up and see neither Hoseok nor Jimin.

Dark eyes meet yours for less than a moment before swiftly turning downward. The man stumbles back a step, but he freezes in almost the same way you do. Except, instead of his jaw dropping open like yours does, he pauses mid-chew, the frisked meat still in between his teeth.

That's not what makes your breath hitch, though.

Even under the blackened sky, you can see the bruises.

A dark, deep purple sits boldly under is left eye, the surrounding skin a sickening blend of yellow and green that winds up all the way to his brow. His chin sports another bruise in a similar state, like the blows had been a couple days ago and the skin has gone through only the first stages of healing. Although his face is grimy with sweat and dirt, you can see crusted blood just at his hairline before his black hair hides anything else. You can tell his lip was completely busted at some point, marred with dark, dried blood that's been split over and over again and given no chance to heal.

Even his stance looks like he's in pain. Like he's trying to make himself look smaller.

You swallow the shock down, the words not coming out. "I..."

He snaps out of it at the sound of your voice. Both of his hands shoot up, palms flat and facing you. "Sorry-- I'm sorry," he mumbles and winces, like it hurts to speak. His voice is scratchy and rasping.

He backs up further while you try to find something to say, something to do, but before you can do anything, he runs off the patio and disappears into the treeline, a clear limp in his movement.

"Wait!" you call out, but he's gone.

Maybe it was the injuries that made you want to go after him. Maybe it was the way he held himself, like he didn't want to be in his own body. Maybe it was the way his voice trembled, or the fact that he definitely wasn't wearing enough for the temperature outside.

Maybe it was all that combined, but most of all, it was the pointed black ears you saw on top of his head.

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heizlut · 7 days

Text

So This is Love

cw: angst/misunderstandings

tags: fem!reader from natlan, kaeya being kaeya, angst/comfort/smut, diluc is heavily mentioned, venti and jean are also mentioned, mostly proofread

a/n: don't ask how many words this is, it's a lot😅

m!list here

⋆꙳•̩̩͙❅*̩̩͙‧͙ ‧͙*̩̩͙❆ ͙͛ ˚₊⋆ ⋆꙳•̩̩͙❅*̩̩͙‧͙ ‧͙*̩̩͙❆ ͙͛

Kaeya would do anything for you, why couldn't you just see that? He didn't understand since he had been so attentive towards you, even after that one night where he witnessed something from outside the window of Angel's Share that made him feel too many emotions at once. Was he just not enough for you? Did you move on? Even worse, did you truly choose Diluc? These thoughts consume him constantly and tear at his aching heart.

So, in this moment, Kaeya is standing there soaked from the pouring rain in front of your door as you look up at him with a mix of confusion and concern. His gaze full of turmoil as he stares down into your eyes, seemingly unfazed by how the rain continues to pelt his tanned skin and drench him completely. "Please... Will you please listen to me?", his voice is soft but with so much desperation and heartache.

But how did you two even get to this point? Had things always been this way? No, they hadn't. And Kaeya was more determined than ever to have you by his side.

❅*ִ❅*ִ❅*ִ❅*ִ❅*ִ❅*ִ

Being in Mondstadt was certainly quite the culture shock for you since you had come from Natlan. Mondstadt was a far-cry from the scorching heat and endless wars that consumed your nation. Everything here was so peaceful and freeing. There seemed to be no archon ruling over the place finding joy in calling for constant war between its people. In fact, the archon seemed largely absent here but many people still held faith for him.

It was...nice. You felt like you could breathe without smelling the stench of death and fire. You certainly turned heads when you arrived here since you did not look like the people who resided in this nation nor did you dress like them. Maybe if you had gone to Sumeru instead, less heads would have turned at your appearance, but you wanted to get as far from Natlan as possible.

The guards at the gates leading in Mondstadt City looked at you warily while you looked at them with curiosity. "Who are you and what is your purpose here?", one of the guards spoke. You blink a couple of times as your brain processes the language difference and makes the switch to their tongue, "I'm here for refuge." The two men cast sideways glances at each other before looking back at you, "And how long do you plan on staying?" You frowned slightly as you thought, "For as long as I can."

The guards looked skeptical of you and one narrowed their eyes at you as he spoke, "Come with me. I'll escort you to the headquarters of the Knights of Favonius where you can meet with the Acting Grandmaster." Just as he turned around to lead you, Venti seemed to pop out of nowhere with a bright smile and curious eyes, "Who's this?" The guard jumped, startled by Venti's sudden appearance and put a hand to his chest to keep his heart from jumping out of his chest from the innocent scare, "Gah!" He clicked his tongue, "If it isn't Venti the bard... We have someone new here and I was going to escort them to the Knights Headquarters."

You looked at Venti curiously, trying to figure out if he was someone you could trust. It was a habit you didn't think you would be rid of anytime soon. But he only smiled happily at you then back at the guard, "Let me take her. I have nothing else going on right now." The guard hesitated for a moment, then released a deep, defeated sigh, "Fine. I shouldn't leave my post anyways." Venti's bright smile seemed to get even brighter at his relentence. He looked back to you, "Come and follow me!" You only shrugged and began to follow after him.

Walking through the main city beside Venti, you felt many eyes on you. Some wary of you while others just looked on in curiosity. Maybe they would relax if you had walked with a small smile on your face, but alas, resting bitch face was your default unless you were among close friends (which you could count on only one hand). Venti chattered away endlessly as you followed him as if he had known you for ages, but you hardly listened. The only thing that caught your attention was the towered statue of the nations archon. You paused as Venti continued to speak, until he shortly noticed you had stopped, "Huh? Is something wrong?" Your eyes go from the statue to him, back and forth a couple of times before you finally spoke, "Do your people not realize that you are their archon? Why do they call you the bard and seem to disregard you?"

Venti's eyes widened and his cheeks flushed, "Oh... That's um..." You raised a brow at him, "Why do you hide your identity?" Venti paused again, but recovered by clearing his throat, "I would rather the people have full freedom then feel the need to bow down to me, I don't want to go into details." You simply regarded his words with a shrug, "Well, that's your choice, I guess." Venti blinked at your nonchalant acceptance but quickly smiled his usual bright smile, "Anyways, that's enough of that tour. I'll take you to the Knights of Favonius headquarters now."

It wasn't long before you both arrived to HQ and entered through the grand double doors. Venti approached the first door on the left, "And this is Acting Grandmaster Jean's office." Venti stepped aside to allow you to enter first, but before you hand could even turn to handle, the door flew open. A hard mass ran into you and the next thing you knew, you were on the ground. Your nose scrunched up from the fall and a smooth voice sounded out, "Oh my! I am so sorry. Please, let me..." The voice trailed off as you looked up at the source.

Light periwinkle eye met yours. You studied the tall tanned man before you as he looked at you, not with wariness, but with pure awe. Venti stared at the interaction and then let out a light knowing giggle which snapped both you and the man out of it. The man cleared his throat and held out his hand out towards you and you took it. After you were pulled back to your feet, the man gave you a charming smile, "The name's Kaeya. Calvary Captain of the Knights of Favonius." His smooth voice made you feel as though you were being wrapped up in a soft blanket. "I'm y/n", you replied then looked down at where his hand was still holding yours, "You can let go now..."

Kaeya's cheeks reddened immediately and he let go of your hand, letting out an awkward laugh, "Sorry about that." A blonde woman peeked behind Kaeya's shoulder, "And who might this be?" Kaeya stepped aside to allow both you and Jean to get a better look at each other and Venti spoke up, "She's new here and will be staying here for awhile." Jean smiled softly at you, "Then, please, come in. We can discuss any questions you might have and I'll find you a good place to stay while you're here." With that, you entered her office and discussions began.

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After Jean had escorted you to your new home, you were finally alone again. You laid flat on your back against the small, soft twin-sized bed as you stared up at the wooden ceiling. "Things will be different now... Things will be better... At least I hope so...", you spoke aloud to noone. Since it had become late in the day and you were too exhausted to prepare a meal for yourself or purchase clothes that better with this nation, you resigned yourself to head to the tavern Venti spoke so highly of.

Making your way through town as the sun hung low in the sky that casted pink and purple hues over everything, you push open the door to Angel's Share and were instantly greeted with music from a bard you didn't know and drunk patrons laughing and talking loudly throughout the cozy space. Your eyes drifted over to the bar where you spotted a tall, broad-shouldered man with fiery red hair. Your heart instantly jumped in your chest at the sight of a familiar hair color that the majority of your nation bore. He made you feel a small comfort with something so familiar.

Without much thought, you strode over to where he was and sat on one of the bar stools that creaked slightly underneath you. The sound caught the man's attention, he paused his wiping of the drinking glass he had been cleaning as his crimson eyes met yours, "What can I get for you?" His voice was deep and almost monotonous, but there was a sense of comfort tied to it. He studied you with a brief curiosity before he apparently decided your different appearance didn't matter to him.

"I'll take a Queimada", you replied instantly earning you a quirked brow from the man. "Apologies, but we don't serve that here. From that choice though, you must be from Natlan, correct?", his question wasn't wary, simply curious as he took in your appearance yet again. You nodded once, "That's right." There was a bit of an awkward pause that the man had no intention of filling, so you were the first to break it, "I'll just take what specialty you serve here." With a nod, he made your drink and set it down in front of you, the golden liquid looked bright and sweet, "Enjoy."

You took a sip and it wasn't long before you had downed 3 more glasses of what you learned to be dandelion wine. You finally cracked a little smile at the brooding man and introduced yourself, to which he finally casted a glance your way for the first time in a while, "I'm Diluc, the owner of Dawn Winery and Angel's Share." His response was gruff though you could tell he meant no harm by it. You both had been fine with the silence between the two of you as you drank what he served you, but with the alcohol that buzzed beneath your skin, you longed for more conversation. Before further conversation could ensue, you heard a familiar sing-song voice calling out to you, "Y/n! Come join us!"

Diluc groaned which made you turn to see the one who called out to you. It was no other than Venti who sat with a smirking Kaeya. You quirked a brow at Diluc to which he gave you a defeated and narrowed look, "Those two cause too much disturbance. It would best if you didn't get too wrapped up with them." But you being you, took that as a bit of challenge, "I can handle it." Diluc rolled his eyes at your response and didn't spare you a second glance as you strolled over to the two men who desired your presence.

Kaeya got up and pulled the chair out for you. One corner of your lips curled up as you gave him a teasing look, "Such a gentleman." He bowed dramatically, playing along, "Of course, my dear~" This display pulled a laugh from you that caused Kaeya to feel a tug on his heart, but he hid it behind a cheeky smile and sat down when you did as well. The night went on and whenever Kaeya got up to retrieve more drinks for both you and Venti, the girls seemed to flock to him. You couldn't help but watch as he never turned down flirtations from the girls and expertly charmed them in return.

You weren't close enough to Kaeya to feel any sort of jealousy, but part of you silently admitted you hated what you saw. That small part of you hoped he treated you and only you like that. What a silly thought to have for someone you had just met earlier that day... Without your knowing, Venti took in your very subtle disheartened look whenever Kaeya charmed someone else. Not that he would particularly do anything with this new information, but he didn't like seeing you unhappy.

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Weeks seemed to pass by quicker than you had expected. Some of the people of Mondstadt were still wary of you and kept their distance, not that you particularly cared much. You were happy with your small group of people you were now considering your friends that consisted of Kaeya, Venti, Diluc, and Jean. You remember being with Jean when you decided you should probably purchase clothes that better fit with the style of Mondstadt. You looked at her as if she were crazy when she came over to your place and handed you an off-the-shoulder long sleeve top, a brown corset, and dark green pants.

She insisted that you put it on and relented with a heavy sigh, going into your bathroom and changing. When you stepped out in the new outfit, Jean looked so proud, "Come on. You should be out and about in this!" You felt awkward leaving your home in an outfit that felt foreign to you, but when the two of you came across Kaeya by the fountain in the center of the city, you felt differently. Jean looked up at him expectantly, "Welllll? What do you think?"

Kaeya stood there stunned at the way you looked. His eye trailed your figure, taking in the swell of the top of your breasts and the way the corset hugged your figure tightly and oh... the pants.... He felt his cock twitch involuntarily and a slight blush crept to his tanned cheeks, "You look more beautiful than ever." You weren't entirely sure of how genuine his words were since the tone of his voice was the same tone he used to charm every other woman who approached him with flirtatious intentions. That small part of you whispered to you that you wanted him to only say those words to you in such a tone, but you knew from what you had observed, that wouldn't ever be likely. Kaeya seemed to belong to everyone.

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As months passed, you felt yourself longing for Kaeya's attention, but he always seemed just out of your grasp even if he spent most of his free time with you and the others. You knew it seemed foolish to have that desire, but you couldn't help how you felt towards him. You two had grown quite close and even shared moments where you felt as though he felt the same way towards you.

One memory you can recall of such an instance is when he insisted on walking you home late at night after quite a few rounds of drinks. The warm air felt comfortable as it brushed through your hair and his as you both walked. The streets were mostly quiet besides the sounds of frogs croaking somewhere in the distance and bugs singing their nightly songs. There was a brief moment in which your hand brushed against his and you muttered a quick apology. Kaeya chuckled softly in response and told you it was fine.

Part of you wished you were brave enough to just take his hand in yours, but instead you were a coward. Once you reached your doorstep, you turned and looked up at Kaeya who gave a soft smile down at you, "Goodnight. Sleep well." His voice and the way he looked at you made you want so much more. You stood there lost in him, wishing he would kiss you.

You were snapped out of your thoughts when Kaeya tilted his head ever-so slightly, eyebrows furrowed, and lowered his voice, "Are you alright?" You blinked and gave a half-hearted smile, "I'm fine. Must've just had too much to drink..." Kaeya visibly relaxed at your answer, "Well, have a good night then. I should be going now." You kept your half-hearted smile, "Yeah. Goodnight, Kaeya." He gave one more soft smile and turned, walking away into the night.

Another memory you were quite fond of was another time were it had been just you and Kaeya. You were sitting on the edge of Starsnatch Cliff letting your legs dangle as the wind threaded through your hair. "Need some company?" a smooth voice spoke out to you. You turned your head to see a smirking Kaeya approaching. You gave him a slight smile in return and he sat down next to you. His shoulder brushed against yours, but neither of you moved away at the feeling.

Kaeya broke the peaceful silence between you, "Do you come here often?" You barked out a laugh that turned into genuine laughter, “Does that line usually work for you?" Kaeya raised a brow at your response, but once the realization struck him he laughed, "I've never had to use that line before, so you tell me..." He gently grasped your chin and leaned in dangerously close with a smirk, his voice lowered, "Did it work?"

Your eyes widened and your cheeks turned crimson at the closeness and the gesture. You quickly came back to yourself and swatted his hand away, turning you face back to the sprawling view in front of you, "You'll have to try a little harder. Lines like that don't work on me." Kaeya looked amused but also faced to view that captured your attention and spoke nonchalantly, "Guess I'll have to be better next time."

Later that evening, you came home to find three cecelias tied together on a blue string with a little note that read: Hopefully this is an improvement from cheesy pick-up lines. Your heart skipped a beat. This certainly was better than any cheesy pick-up line.

From then, your heart seemed to ache for him even more. But seeing the way he was with every other woman really made you feel like shit, so you turned to the one who knew him best, Diluc.

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It was evening when you made the decision to ask for Diluc's advice, strolling into Angel's Share with a disheartened look. Diluc's crimson eyes met yours as soon as you walked in and his eyebrows furrowed when he saw the look on your face, "What's wrong?"

You sighed and plopped down on one of the bar stools, immediately crossing your arms on top of the bar and resting your forehead down on them. "This is so stupid. I'm so stupid. I hate this...", your voice came out muffled from the position you were in, but Diluc caught the gist of your grumbles. "Come on, lift your head up. How can I possibly help if I can't even hear what's troubling you?", his voice was stern but was mixed with genuine worry. Though Diluc wasn't one to be generally close with others, he felt that all those times he spent around you that he was comfortable with you.

You finally lifted your head and Diluc's somewhat stern expression morphed to pure concern when he saw the tears pricking your eyes. Immediately he announced for everyone to get out of the tavern, stating they were closing early for the night. People grumbled, not wanting their drinking shenanigans to end to early, but they left as they were told. As soon as the tavern was empty, he came from behind the bar and sat next to you, his voice low with worry, "Tell me why you're crying."

You sniffled as tears threatened to spill, "This is so stupid. I shouldn't even be crying." Diluc frowned, "No. Whatever it is, it's making you cry. Not once have I seen you cry while you've been staying here in Mondstadt. So tell me." You bit the inside of your cheek and then relented. As you explained your feelings about Kaeya, the only thing that kept Diluc from confirming that you were indeed stupid to even have feelings for his brother were your tears that continuously rolled down your cheeks.

In a soft gesture that Diluc didn't do for just anyone, he gently wiped one of the tears from your cheek with the pad of his gloved thumb, "Your feelings and concerns aren't stupid, even if I don't agree with you having romantic feelings for Kaeya, I can't disregard them just because I personally dislike him for my own reasons." You looked into his eyes and knew he was being genuine with you, "But what do I even do? I hate feeling like this..." Diluc frowned as he tried to come up with a proper response for something he had never dealt with before, "Try to distract yourself. Put your focus on yourself and when you're ready, start to focus on someone new."

You pondered his words for a moment with shaky breaths, "But what if I can't?" Diluc gently grabbed your shoulders and leaned closer to you, "You can. You're a strong woman, so don't doubt yourself." For some reason his words made you cry again, perhaps not from sadness, moreso from feeling too much at once. This startled Diluc and he did what he thought would be best to calm you. He stood up and brought you into his arms in a warm, comforting embrace. He held you and smoothed your hair as you cried into his chest.

One thing the two of you did not know what Kaeya was there just outside the tavern, having watched this exchange from the front window. He didn't know what had been said between the two of you, but seeing the way Diluc wiped your tears in an intimate gesture and held you against him in his arms made something twist in Kaeya's stomach. So, you had supposedly chosen Diluc. Maybe you wanted Diluc this whole time. Kaeya witnessing what had just happened seemed to bring a sense of finality to his question. To him, you chose his brother.

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Ever since that night, you had noticed that Kaeya seemed to be avoiding you which made you feel incredibly worse. You wanted to listen to Diluc's advice and push past your feelings for Kaeya since he seemed so unattainable. Kaeya would still spend some evenings with you and the others, but more frequently began to find excuses for why he couldn't join you all. When he was around you, he still had that mischievous charm, that sweet but sly smirk, and kind compliments that he gave to you. He seemed the same as ever, but with the growing distance, you weren't sure what to think.

You made yourself believe that you were fine with this. Diluc said to keep your distance as well so you tried to not let it get to you whenever Kaya couldn't join you are the group. But fuck, it did bother you. So fucking much. Will this heartache ever go away? No.

Apparently you were only getting ready to be completely heartbroken.

You couldn't have known what you were about to walk into. How could you have? You had gone to the tavern as usual, already accepting that Kaeya said he wouldn't be able to make it for whatever made up excuse he came up with this time. You sat at the bar having some light-hearted conversation with Diluc and throwing back a drink or maybe more than just one. Your brain was swimming with the alcohol you had consumed and excused yourself to the bathroom to splash your face with water to sober up a little.

Before you could even make it there, you heard a familiar laugh.

Kaeya's laugh. Your first thought was that it was a comforting sound only for your second thought to come barrelling in. What was he doing here? He said he couldnt make it so why the hell were you hearing his laughter? With the alcohol flooding your mind and heating your body, you went to find the source.

The sound of his flirtatious, sultry voice could not be mistaken for someone else's. The voice carried you to the second floor of Angel's Share. And there he was. He wasn't alone. Some pretty little blonde stood there, leaning over his table and propping herself up on her elbows as her ass stuck out in the position she put herself in. You couldn't hear what either of them said because the pounding of your heart filled your ears.

You stood there in some kind of stupor, frozen in place. The next thing you knew, the girls lips were on his. You didn't stay to see what happened next. You raced down the stairs. This caught Diluc's attention. The sight of you racing towards him looking as though you had seen a ghost. He didn't hesitate for even a second when you begged him to take you home, claiming that you couldn't bear to be alone right then. Tossing the tavern's keys to Charles, who caught them effortlessly and took over as if this was nothing new to him.

Diluc held you by your waist protectively as you both walked quickly out of Angel's Share and towards your home. He didn't speak, feeling it wasn't the right moment to ask you anything. As soon as you both entered your home and Diluc shut the door, rain began to pelt against the windows and you threw yourself in his arms and sobbed.

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Diluc held you for what seemed like hours as you wet the front of his shirt with your tears, your fingers clutching the fabric as if he were your lifeline. He didn't mind it so much, he just wanted you to feel better and if holding you and letting you cry against him was what you wanted, he would stay like just like this.

You meant something to him, even though it wasn't in a romantic sense, you were deeply important to him. After what seemed like forever, he tilted your head up gently so you would look up at him, “You don’t have to tell me anything if you don’t want to. But just know that I’m here and I’m listening.” You drew in shaky breaths, your body trembling from all the crying, “He was there. With someone else. She… They… They kissed.”

Diluc's expression of concern morphed to anger and he held you close once again as you began to cry once more, but softly this time.

Why was his brother so fucking stupid? Didn't Kaeya know what you felt for him? Couldn't he even tell?

It took a long time for you to calm down, but with Diluc keeping his arms wrapped around you as you listened to him breathe and softly soothe you helped immensely. When you looked up at him again he gave a sad smile, "Will you be alright by yourself tonight?" You wiped your tear-stained cheeks and let out a breath, "I'll be okay... You've done enough for me already...”

He brushed away a strand of your hair that was stuck to your wet cheek, "Are you sure?" You gave a smile that didn't quite reach your eyes, "Promise. Now go home. I've kept you long enough." Diluc huffed at your answer but he wouldn't push you to change your mind.

If you said you would be okay, he would believe you. He gently grasped you shoulders and spoke in earnest, "Don't hesitate to come to the winery if you find you can't be alone later. My doors will be open for you." You smiled slightly at that and thanked him. Diluc pressed a soft kiss to your forehead before turning on his heels and heading out into the pouring rain.

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You change into a nightgown, get a fire started in your little fireplace, and make yourself a cup of hot tea. You hold the warm mug in both of your hands as you watched the steam rise. The rain didn't seem to be letting up any time soon, but that was fine with you. It suits your mood. You take a sip of your tea and let the warmth fill your body as your eyes trail after a raindrop that was rolling down your window.

You nearly jump out of your skin when you hear a desperate knock on your door. Your heart clenched tightly when you heard the voice on the other side, "Y/n. It's me. Please, please let me in. Let me talk to you." It was Kaeya. A small part of you held a flicker of hope when you heard it was him, but the other part of you felt even worse. The knocking and desperate pleas to be let in continued as you weighed whether you should open the door and hear what he had to say.

A crack of thunder reminded you that it was pouring outside and Kaeya must be absolutely soaked. You would feel bad if he got horribly sick, so with a heavy sigh you open the door.

There he was, looking down into your eyes with a gaze full of turmoil, seemingly unfazed by how the rain continues to pelt his tanned skin and drench him completely. "Please... Will you please listen to me?" his voice is soft but with so much desperation and heartache. You frown up at him, but step to the side to let him in without a word. Kaeya steps in and water droplets roll off of him, dripping to your wooden floors.

You set down your mug on the small wooden table that still held the now dried-out cecelias he had given you some time ago, "Let me get you a towel." Before you could turn to do as you said from your bathroom, his large hand grabbed your wrist. Kaeya pulled you back towards him, almost making you stumble, "No, let me speak first You blink up at him, opening your mouth to protest, but you quickly close it and sigh heavily. The fire crackles to your left and you decide to speak, "Let's at least sit in front of the fire. ... don't want you getting sick because of this." Kaeya let go of your wrist and nodded.

You both sit on the intricately designed rug as the fire crackles and casts a warm, orange glow on both of you. You avoid looking at him, staring at the flames instead when you speak softly, "I don't really want to talk to you right now, but you seem to have something to say. The least I can do is listen." Kaeya runs a hand through his damp blue hair, "I'm sorry for avoiding you occasionally." You huff, "No, I get it. You were seeing someone else so-" "What are you even talking about??", Kaeya cuts you off.

You finally turn your head to look at him with an incredulous look, "Seriously, Kaeya? I saw you tonight with that girl. You were kissing." Kaeya groans and pinches the bridge of his nose, "It's not like that." "Then what else could it possibly be?", you snap. "If you're seeing someone then just say so, I'II be fine." His jaw clenches, "Of course you'd be fine, you're with my brother." Your jaw drops at the words,"What are you saying? I'm not with anyone, certainly not Diluc for that matter. We aren't together."

Kaeya scoffs, "Well you sure looked awfully cozy when he wiped away your tears and held you some nights ago at Angel's Share. And you seem to spend an awful lot of time with him these days." "That only happened because I was crying over my aching feelings for you!", you raise your voice and immediately regret letting your words slip so easily. Kaeya stares at you in shock for a moment before speaking softly, "..What?"

Tears threaten to prick the inner corners of your eyes, but you turn to face to fire again, "My feelings don't matter. As I said earlier, you have that girl." Kaeya leans in towards you, "Look at me." His voice was soft, but with a commanding desperation. You finally spare him a glance, tears welling up in your eyes. He puts his palm to your cheek and caresses it, "I'm not with the girl that you saw. I didn't even know who she was.” A tear rolls down your cheek and your voice breaks when you speak, "Then why did you kiss her?"

His thumb swipes away the rolling tear and his forehead presses against yours, "She kissed me and I pushed her away right after she did that. You can ask the others that were up there, I'm being honest here." A few more tears fall and he holds you face with both hands now, forehead still pressed to yours as he speaks in a hushed voice, "You're the only I want. The only one I've been wanting since you came here." Your teary eyes search his eye, looking for any trace of dishonesty but you could find none, only truth. His breath fans against your face as he speaks again, "You're the one who has my heart. No one else. I mean it, truly."

You don't even think, you just act. Your lips press against his, startling him at first but he soon melts into it. His lips move in rhythm with yours. Your arms wrap around him, pulling him closer. Your nightgown getting wet as you pressed against his rain-soaked body.

The kiss becomes more desperate and you find yourself laying flat against the rug with Kaeya caging you in underneath him as the fire crackles and pops beside the two of you. "Tell me you want this just as much as I do", his voice came out almost shaky between heavy breaths. Your soft hand caresses his cheek and down to the back of his neck as you pulled him down to you, "More than anything, I need you."

That was all it took for him to hastily unbutton his shirt and and shrug it off his body, his pants came off just as swiftly. You lay there in awe of his tanned, muscular body and your eyes trailed down the light blue happy trail that led down to a small tuft of tangled blue and a heavy, throbbing cock with a pink, leaking tip. If you had been just anyone, he would've smirked at your reaction, but right now was not the time for teasing. He made quick work of you nightgown, tossing it unceremoniously behind him. Your breasts moved in time with you heavy breaths and he took in every inch of your body, "I've never seen anyone as beautiful as you...” His voice was barely above a whisper when he spoke.

Kaeya lowered himself down and spread your thighs gently. His breath is hot against your sensitive pussy and makes you long for him even more. His uncovered eye flits up to your face and just as quickly as he look up at you, his tongue began to flick against your clit. You draw in a sharp breath as your back arches off the rug in time with a sporadic pop from the fireplace. He groans with need when his tongue licks through your folds and laps at the taste of you.

Your legs begin to shake from the intensity of it all and you tangle your fingers in his still slightly damp hair, pulling him impossibly closer. Your grind your pussy against his tongue as he pushes you over the edge into white-hot bliss. You cry out his name when his tongue gives one more flick to your now overly sensitive clit. When he moves up towards your blissful face, you can see your own juices glistening against his lips. You don't even care that you can taste yourself on his lips and tongue when Kaeya kisses you with a deep passion.

His aching cock rubs against your wet pussy as his tongue dances with yours. Kaeya pulls back just enough that your lips still graze against each other as he speaks, "Please.." That's all he says with a breathless voice as his eye gazes into yours with so much love and desperation. You nod once and it was all it took for him to be lined up with your entrance and pushing in slowly. His eyes squeeze shut and he lets out a broken moan as he pushes his length into your warm, wet walls.

You wrap your arms around him, holding him against your body tightly as you release breathy moans. Once fully sheathed, Kaeya stills inside of you, letting you adjust to his thickness and length that were foreign to you. He presses a soft kiss to your neck as he pulls out slightly then slams back into you, making you dig your nails into his shoulders. He hisses at the feeling but doesn't stop his movement, "Fuck, you feel so good. Tell me you're mine. Please, angel, tell me you're mine." His voice was so desperate as he spoke between deep thrusts and whining groans. "I'm yours, Kaeya. Always was yours. Forever yours", you cry out as tears spill from your eyes yet again but for an entirely different reason.

Your heart feels like it is overflowing with emotion that you can't even begin to put into words. Kaeya's lips meet yours feverishly as he thrusts relentlessly into you. His cock hitting the deepest parts of you and you wrap your legs around his waist. "Gonna cum, angel", he breathes against your lips and soon your name becomes like a prayer falling repeatedly from his lips. Barely a moment later, Kaeya moans loudly and his cock throbs and twitches erratically as hot, white ropes of cum fill you. Your pussy contracts tightly around his in response as you hold him even tighter and cry out in time with the booming thunder outside your home.

Kaeya relaxes on top of you, his chest heaving and sweat glistening in the glow of the dying fire. He rolls off of you but turns towards you. You turn your head to take in his features and he tucks a strand of your hair behind your ear, "So this is what love feels like, huh?"

Your heart flutters in your chest and you turn your body fully towards him. He wraps his arms around you and holds you close against him. You press your face against his chest and he kisses the top of your head. You finally speak, your voice soft, "You must be right."

⋆꙳•̩̩͙❅*̩̩͙‧͙ ‧͙*̩̩͙❆ ͙͛ ˚₊⋆ ⋆꙳•̩̩͙❅*̩̩͙‧͙ ‧͙*̩̩͙❆ ͙͛

a/n: i went through all the stages of grief while writing this🥲

#kaeya smut #kaeya x reader smut #genshin smut #genshin impact smut #kaeya angst #kaeya x reader #genshin kaeya #genshin impact kaeya

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tuiccim · 1 year

Text

Though I Have Never Read It

Pairing: Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes x Female!Reader

Word Count: 2756

Warnings: Angst, smut, Only one bed

Summary: You had run away from all of your problems and found solitude in a cabin in the middle of nowhere. When a storm blows in, it drags a man with a metal arm through your door. You offer shelter to the handsome stranger.

A/N: Special thanks to my hype princess & beta reader @whisperlullaby.

Though I Have Never Read It Masterlist

You stoked the fire in your tiny cabin, well off the beaten path, in a sparsely populated corner of Estonia, you lived off the grid. Your home consisted of a fireplace, a tiny bathroom that used rainwater, a small bed, comfy chair, a table for two (though it was rarely used), and a shelf of canned and jarred food. You had chosen a solitary life after yours had turned to absolute shit. Escape had seemed to be your only option, and here you kept to yourself.

Glancing at the wood piled in one corner, you knew with this weather coming in, it would be best to bring in more logs to keep dry. Bundling up, you head out with a lantern and gather as many as you can carry. Back and forth you went in the frigid snow that had begun to fall. Kicking the door closed after your last load, you promised yourself a special treat from your stash.

You peel the layers off and head to lock the door before treating yourself. Just before you reach it, the door is kicked open and in stalks a tall man all in black. You back away quickly as he closes the door and locks it before recognizing your presence.

“Where am I?” He demands in Russian, removing his eye protection revealing incredibly blue eyes.

“Eesti,” you say in Estonian.

He nods and moves to crouch in front of the fire. You watch him warily. Where the hell did he come from? Why is he here? Who sent him? Had they found you? You couldn’t stand the silence and ask, still in Estonian, “What do you want?”

He turns his head to you slowly, studies you carefully, and surprisingly speaks in English, “Shelter.”

You take a few deep breaths, trying to calm your rapidly beating heart and attempt to come up with a plan. “Are you going to hurt me?”

He removes the mask from the lower half of his face, revealing a razor sharp jawline, but stays silent.

“Did you come here on purpose?”

“No.”

“Are you here for me?”

“No.”

“Do you want something from me?”

“No.”

“Then why are you here?”

He looks at the floor and sighs heavily, “Shelter.”

“Shelter. That’s it?”

“Yes.”

“Are you lost?”

“Yes.”

“Is someone after you?”

“Yes.”

“Are you hiding?”

“Yes.”

“There’s a blizzard coming in.”

“Yes.”

“You could be stuck here for days.”

He looks at you, surprisingly he seems unperturbed, just resigned. You take another breath and decide that compliance is probably your best bet here. You try a different tactic, “What’s your name?”

When he doesn’t speak, you give him yours and explain, “I’ve lived here for a few months.” When he still doesn’t engage, you continue, “I was going to make myself some dinner. I should have enough for you, too. I just need to get this pot.”

With slow movements, you pick up the pot from the hearth and put it on the hook, pushing it close to the fire. You continued slowly while he watched your every move. Grabbing a jar of soup from the shelf, you struggle to open it and when you still hadn’t managed it by the time you made it back to him, he held out his hand. You look at him in surprise. His eyes seem to soften, as if trying to convey his harmless intentions. You hold the jar out to him gingerly and he pops it open with little effort. Your fingers brush his gloved ones as he hands it back, making you shiver at the damp material. You pour the soup into the pot and push it over the fire to warm. Turning back, you study the man’s clothing and realize they’re wet from the snow. Grabbing towels and an extra blanket, you bring them to him.

“You need to get out of the wet clothes,” you say gently.

“I’m fine,” he says quietly. He hadn’t moved from the spot by the fire and was beginning to shiver despite being so close to the source of heat.

You decide not to push. You knew you should still be frightened at what he might do but he seemed less like a scary intruder and more like a lost little boy. You set out two bowls, spoons, and cups. Deciding it wouldn’t hurt, you pull a bottle of whiskey from the cabinet and pour him a stiff drink. When the soup was ready, you served and gently said, “Come to the table. You need to eat.”

He moved, watching you with each step. You sat across from him and motioned to the whiskey, “This’ll help warm you up.”

You ate, staring at your bowl with an occasional glance up at him. Working up your bravery, you try to get him to talk again. “If we’re going to be stuck in here together, it’d be nice to have something to call you.”

He glances away as if searching for something before saying quietly, “Soldat.”

“You’re a soldier? Well, even soldier’s have names,” you try again.

You jump when he thumps his fist on the table, “I don’t.”

“Okay, okay. Soldat.” You hold up a hand placatingly, but you just couldn’t stop yourself from pushing one more time. “You don’t remember ever being called something else?”

He looked out into the darkness that had fallen outside, seeming to search for something, anything to grab on to. He shook his head as if warding off bad thoughts but then he whispers,”Ja- James?”

“James,” you smile. “Okay, James. Is the soup okay?”

He nods but the expression on his face betrays confusion. You finished the rest of the meal quietly, not wanting to overwhelm him. As you cleared dishes away, he sat still shivering. You told yourself to leave it alone but you also sucked at listening to yourself. You dragged your small bed closer to the fire and pulled back the covers.

“James,” you say gently. Your heart beats faster as his intense blue gaze meets yours. “You have to get out of those wet clothes. You’re never going to get warm if you don’t. Here, take this towel, dry off your skin, and get in the bed. I’ll wait in the bathroom. Just let me know when you’re done.”

“I-” he halts whatever was about to exit his mouth and instead gives a curt nod.

You use the bathroom, brush your teeth, and wait. When you hear a halting “okay” from the other room, you emerge. Picking the clothes up from where he had laid them over a chair, you spread them over the rods next to the fireplace to dry more efficiently. Without a second thought, you walked over to him and added another layer of blankets. He watched you, eyes following each movement.

“Is there anything I can do for you?” you ask.

“No.”

“Okay,” you settled into your armchair, the only real luxury you gave yourself, and picked up your book. As you turned to your bookmarked page, he spoke.

“Aloud?”

“You want me to read out loud? Uh, sure,” you looked down at the well-worn copy, and turning back to the first page began reading, “This is my favorite book in all the world, though I have never read it.” You smiled as you glanced up to see his confused expression. “That’s the first line of the book. The Princess Bride by William Goldman.” You continue to read through Buttercup and Westley’s romance while occasionally looking to see James’ reaction. Most of the time there was none but occasionally a corner of his mouth would tip up or down as you went on. When he seemed to be drifting off and your eyes had begun to droop, you put the book to the side, threw another log on the fire, and turned out the oil lamp. Wrapping a blanket around yourself, you settle in to sleep in your chair.

“No.”

Your head snaps up at the word and you turn to see James trying to get out of the bed. It was obvious he was in some pain and as he sat up you could see the bruises criss crossing his torso, then the mass of scars on his left shoulder that led to a metal arm. Your mouth fell open for a second before you realized what he was trying to say. You jump up to stop him.

“Hey. It’s fine. You need the bed more than I do.”

“No,” he insists.

“James! Stop,” you put your hand on his right shoulder to keep him in place but pull back when he gasps. “Did I hurt you?”

“No,” he looks up with such pleading in his eyes it nearly breaks your heart. “Please.”

Gingerly, you reach out to him again and it’s as if his whole body relaxes at your touch. You sit on the side of the bed and stroke the long locks away from his forehead, allowing you a full view of his face. He was incredibly handsome. His eyes slipped closed as you continued to gently run your hands through his hair. When his breathing became even and you thought he had fallen asleep, you pulled your hands away.

He started awake and stared up at you with wide eyes, “Stay.”

After a momentary hesitation, you slide into the bed and pull the covers over both of you. Much later, after he had been out for a while, you fell asleep with a hand still tangled in his hair.

–

The warmth of the sun shining down on you was glorious. You looked over at James chopping wood shirtless and smiled at him. When he grinned back your thighs clenched. He was outright the most gorgeous man you’d ever seen. He chopped one last log and then laid the ax down. He made his way to you and, rather than shy away, you grinned as he wrapped his arms around you. Your breathing picked up feeling him pressed against you, his cock already hard and rubbing against your middle. James moans causing you to…

…wake up. You realize that your dream was mirroring what was happening in your bed. James' arms were wrapped tightly around you and his hips flexed in rhythm. His moans were making your panties flood as you debate what to do. He shifts and his hard cock rubs directly against your mound eliciting a gasp from you. He stops, his eyes flying open and staring into yours. It was the fear in them that broke you. He looked terrified. You weren’t sure if it was because he didn’t know where he was or at what he had been doing but the only thought in your head was to soothe him. Tightening your arms around him, you arch to bring your bodies together and run a hand through his hair.

His tension melted away. Staring into each other, time seemed to slow down. Your breathing matched and your body seemed to tingle where it touched him. And then, he moved so quickly it made your eyes fly wide open as his mouth took yours. You were keenly aware of his nakedness in contrast to your clothed body when he rolled on top of you and his hips flexed. After a moment, his lips trailed down your neck and a desperate whisper slipped past his lips, a single word, “Please.”

You knew exactly what he’s asking and it scared you and thrilled you at the same time. The thoughts that went through your head were telling you how stupid this whole thing was and, alternatively, to throw caution to the wind for once in your life. He put a hand under your shirt, just enough to feel your bare skin and whispered please again. That solitary word made any resistance, any reason, any thought of stopping him disappear. Instead, you reach for your waistband and push it down as far as you can. His hands take over and get them below your knees.

You expect him to go fast, to take you in the same rushed way he had kissed you, but he doesn’t. He’s gentle and slow. He slides a hand between your legs and lets out a moan as his fingers explore. You hold on to him tighter and open your legs. When he guides the head of his cock to your entrance, he kisses you again while he slowly presses in. He swallows the whimpers you release as he buries himself inside of you. When he’s fully seated, he pulls back to look you in the eyes as he begins to softly thrust. You let out little gasps and moans as the pleasure builds.

“So good,” James’ voice is strained as he grinds right against your clit, determined to make you come before he loses himself. Every thrust is taking you closer and when you can feel the spasms beginning, you pull his face back to your neck. He wastes no time, sucking that soft spot just below your ear. You let out a moan that’s foreign to your ears as your orgasm rips through you. You clench down and James’ strokes come a little faster until he grunts at his own release. You lay together until your breathing becomes normal again.

James rolls to one side to study you before he asks, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, of course,” you smile at him before awkwardly reaching down to pull your bottoms back up. When you succeed, you slip out of the bed to hand him his clothes. “I’ll, um, I’ll let you get dressed.”

He nods and watches as you scurry to the tiny bathroom. You stare at yourself in the mirror, surprised that you still look exactly the same except the small mark on your neck. You use the bathroom and wash up. Determined to act normally, you decide to make breakfast and walk back into the main cabin. Glancing out the window, you see the snow that had fallen wasn’t as deep as you had worried. Looking over, James is dressed but he stands over the bed, staring at it. He glances up at you and then back at the bed. You see the small bloodstain on the sheets and hurry to snatch the covers over it. With knots in your stomach, you go to stoke the fire.

James watches you, “You-” He cuts himself off and when you finally look at him, his eyes are trained on the window.

“What is it?” you ask, watching his face fill with fear. When you finally hear the sounds of vehicles approaching, “James?”

He stares at you before jumping into action, “Get in the bathroom. No matter what happens, do not come out.”

He hadn’t spoken that many words since he showed up the night before and it scared him, “James, what’s happening?”

“They’re coming for me. Go!” He ushers you into the room but before closing the door, he looks at you with sadness and whispers, “Thank you. Stay here. Stay, no matter what.”

It was the tensest ten minutes of your life. You heard the cabin door open and slam shut, some muffled shouting from outside, and then silence. You were just about to peek out when you heard the door again. The sound of furniture being thrown and glass shattering has your heart racing, then the quiet invaded again. A fire crackling was all you could hear and as smoke began to seep under the door, your worst nightmare was confirmed. You try the door and it’s obvious that it had been blocked off. You panic for just a moment before wetting a cloth and covering your face as a makeshift filter. Looking around, you realize the only way out is the door. Using a piece of loose wood from the wall, you manage to get it through the sliver you open in the door. Using it as a wedge, you manage to get the door open wide enough to slip through. Your oil lanterns are shattered and the fire was nearly across the entire room. You grab a blanket near you and manage to climb out of the kitchen window. Looking around, it seems that James is gone along with whoever came after him. You run to your old but serviceable truck.

Turning back for one last glance, your cabin is already engulfed in flames. Your escape was gone. It must be true, you can't run from your problems. Time to return to New York and see if you can pick up the pieces.

Part Two

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teaberrii · 6 months

Text

Chapter 8: In the Dark

After ending a five-year relationship, you pour all your energy into work. Your latest assignment? Staying at a popular bed-and-breakfast to gather information. It should be a piece of cake... If only the owner isn't the man you scolded on the street.

Jing Yuan/You

Notes:

Cross-posted on Ao3

Female reader

Chapter index at the end of chapter one

“...I see. So, the hostility hasn’t changed.”

You’re on a call with Kafka that early morning about what you found. You told her about the contrasting attitudes of the locals and tourists, and you’re a little surprised that she doesn’t seem too shocked about the attitudes of the locals. Is there something she’s not telling you?

“Do you know something about that?”

“Not too much,” Kafka says. “This was before I joined the company, but I know about a project where Star Rails first tried to acquire a boutique hotel. That failed.”

Your heart starts racing. “Yes, I heard about that too.”

“Unfortunately, that’s all I can tell you.” Kafka sighs. “Truth be told, I tried to do a little digging myself when I heard about this, but I came up with nothing, which… is a little strange.”

“Nothing? At all?"

“That’s right. I would think we’d have records. It’s protocol, after all. We have documentation for all of our projects, even for the ones that didn’t succeed. But, when it comes to that one, I found nothing.”

“Did any stakeholders or anybody mention it at the meeting?”

“None.”

Now, you’re even more curious. Is Star Rails hiding something? But what? And why?

“One of them came to talk to me a little after you left,” Kafka continues. “About the hostility that you mentioned. It’s how I found out about it. It’s an attitude they want to change.”

Kafka was replying to an important email when someone knocked on her door.

“Come in.”

A young woman opened the door and said, “Ms. Kafka, someone is here to see you.” Then, she said a man’s name that Kafka recognized as one of the stakeholders of the Star Rails project. That’s strange. He didn’t mention he’d be dropping by. “Should I ask him to come in?”

“Yes, please.”

Kafka turned off her screen just as a middle-aged man walked in. Dressed in a suit, he nodded at Kafka and sat in the chair in front of her desk.

“I hope I wasn’t interrupting anything,” he said.

“Not at all. But, this must be important if you came to see me.”

“I heard you’ve already sent someone to Xianzhou.”

“That’s right.”

The man crossed one leg over the other. “...There’s something we didn’t mention at the meeting.”

Kafka narrowed her eyes. “And what’s that? And why are you mentioning this now?”

“Xianzhou is known for having a strong community. They pride themselves on family-owned businesses rather than corporate businesses. I wouldn’t be surprised if whoever you sent over there experiences some pushback from the locals because of their traditional attitudes.”

“...What are you getting at?” Kafka asked skeptically. “She’ll get the job done.”

“Sounds like you’re confident in her. But, I’m here to give a suggestion. We’ll get nowhere if attitudes don’t change, even with all the research that she might find.” Kafka narrowed her eyes. “It’s just a kind suggestion.”

"If my understanding is correct, you're asking for something that's close to impossible. I sent her there for market research, not to change people's attitudes."

"If she wants to do well, she might have to do both."

If she wants to do well? Is that a threat?

“I may not know exactly what’s going on," Kafka says, "but something doesn’t sit well with me.” You remember March and Jing Yuan’s reactions when you mentioned Caelus. Is it possible to get in touch with him? “Anyway, for now, keep doing what you’re doing. If I find out anything, I’ll let you know.”

Once Kafka gets off the call with you, she leaves her office, not knowing that Sampo heard almost everything from outside.

After ending the call with Kafka, you decide to go for an early morning run.

Dressed in a black sports bra and yoga pants, you slip on a thin, white jacket before heading out. After making sure your hair won’t get in the way, you head off on your run. The crisp morning breeze against your skin relaxes your nerves, and the quiet streets are a nice change from the hustle and bustle of the city.

You eventually notice a flat terrain that stands out amongst the surrounding buildings. The area is sealed off, and there’s no sign that anyone plans on using the land. As you get closer, you stop. Next to the empty area is a restaurant while there’s a convenience store on the other side. You aren't sure why, but something about it seems off.

“I’ve never seen you around here before.”

You face forward and see a middle-aged woman with fair skin and purple eyes. It isn’t until she turns to look at the empty area that you see her blue-grey hair tied into a ponytail at the back. You can't tell with the front looking like a bob.

“Is there something that interests you?” she asks.

“Oh, well… Not really.”

The woman turns back. “Say, are you…” Then, she says your name.

“Have we met?” you ask in disbelief.

“My name is Natasha. I’m a doctor at Luocha’s clinic. He briefly told me about a city girl staying at Jing Yuan’s bed and breakfast. You can’t miss her, he said.”

“Do I really stand out that much?” you ask jokingly.

“Tourists often do, but it’s because we dress a little differently around here.” That’s when you notice that Natasha is wearing a layered dress with a blue-gray layer and crimson lining. Her long boots almost reach her knees. Now that she mentions it, Natasha reminds you of a cosplayer.

“...I’m just curious,” you say, looking back to the empty land. “Was there something that used to be here? It’s just a little strange that this area is left empty.”

“Ah…” Natasha looks down. “Well…”

“Oh, Natasha, dear! Good morning!”

An elderly woman walks up to Natasha, and the doctor pleasantly greets her back.

“I’ll be in to see you in the afternoon. Is—” The woman stops and looks at you as if you’re crazy. “What are you wearing?” A little confused, you look down. “This is not the city where you can go parading around wearing something that revealing!”

You’d unzipped your jacket sometime during your run as it’s getting hot, revealing your sports bra. You look back at the woman who has a disgusted look on her face. “I don’t see what’s wrong with what I’m wearing.”

“You—”

Natasha is about to speak when a familiar male voice says, “Good morning.”

You spin around and see Jing Yuan who’s dressed in a running tee and shorts.

“Oh, Jing Yuan!” The elderly woman looks from Jing Yuan to you. “Won’t you lecture this young woman about proper attire?"

“It looks like she’s out for a run,” Jing Yuan says, looking from you to the woman. “It’s important to dress appropriately for whatever activity you’re doing, and it is quite hot this morning.”

The woman sighs. “So unsightly.”

Jing Yuan leans closer to you. “...Shall we go?” You subtly nod. Then, he looks at the doctor. “It was nice seeing you, Natasha.”

As you pass Natasha, you give her a polite nod and follow Jing Yuan down the street. You reluctantly zip your jacket just enough to cover your sports bra when Jing Yuan says, “The people here are a little more conservative.”

“Are they?” you ask sarcastically. “I didn’t catch on.”

“Do you always go for a run in the mornings? If I remember correctly… someone called me crazy the other day.”

“I go when I want to clear my head.”

“...Is something wrong?”

You and Jing Yuan stop at a red light. “I keep thinking about what you told me yesterday. Caelus and his boutique hotel, and... your ex." A soft sigh. "I think Star Rails is hiding something."

The light turns green, and you and Jing Yuan walk across the street.

“...It sounds like you want to find out more.”

“I do,” you say. Then, quietly, “Because I’m starting to sense a hidden motive for why I’m here, but that’s a whole other story.”

“Then… there’s something you should know.”

“I’m all ears, General.”

But before Jing Yuan can say anything, his phone goes off. He takes it out of his pocket and looks at the numerous work messages on his screen.

“Duty calls?” you ask.

“Duty calls,” Jing Yuan says. “...But, I’ll tell you about it at dinner tonight.” Then, he leans closer and kisses the top of your head. He stands upright and smiles at you. “You look like you’ve just seen a ghost, Corporal.”

“Quite an unexpected gesture.”

“Is it? I would think that it’s normal… being your boyfriend and all.”

Your face warms. “No one’s here, so you don’t have to pretend.”

Jing Yuan gently pulls you closer. “What if I’m not pretending?”

Your words are caught in your throat, and you briefly entertain the thought of pulling him closer… closer… until his lips are against yours in a heated—

You quietly clear your throat and give him a deadpan look. “Let’s head back.“

Jing Yuan thinks about teasing you but leaves it alone as you jog back to the bed and breakfast.

Once you and Jing Yuan are back, you see the athlete brothers dressed in sportswear. Both of them have a gym bag over their shoulder. As soon as Dan Feng sees you and Jing Yuan, he waves.

“Well, well, an early morning date?” Dan Feng asks. Then, he looks at Jing Yuan. “Don’t you have your big boy job to do?” Dan Feng swings a friendly arm around you. “We’ll keep her company for the day.”

Jing Yuan looks at you. “I’ll see you tonight.”

Dan Feng lets you go and puts his hands in his pockets as Jing Yuan heads off. Then, he looks at you. “Looks like he really trusts you, Mom.”

“Who are you calling Mom?” you ask.

“I didn’t know that was restricted to Yanqing.”

You give Dan Feng a deadpan look, and he smiles at you. Then, you look around. “Is March and Welt not with you guys?”

“Welt’s locked up in his room working on his novel,” Dan Feng says. “And March…”

“...She went to visit a friend,” Dan Heng finishes. “Hey. Are you busy for the rest of the day?”

And that’s how you end up with a bag over your shoulder and walking with the brothers to Jingliu’s gym for an afternoon of boxing. This is far from what you expected, but you’re already dressed for the occasion. So, why not?

“Boxing?” you ask, after Dan Heng tells you that he, his brother, and Jing Yuan go to Jingliu’s gym to box.

“Every time we’re here, we go for a few rounds,” Dan Heng says.

"Blade and Luocha have been picking it up too," Dan Feng says. "Guess we inspired them."

You glance at him. “How did you two meet Jing Yuan?”

"Jing Yuan? He was our popular senior in school."

Jing Yuan was studying at the school library, not noticing a young man walking towards his table. Upon hearing a chair scoot out in front of him, Jing Yuan looked up from his textbook just as the student sat down.

“You’re Jing Yuan, right?”

Jing Yuan recognized him as Dan Feng, a promising, first-year student who was training to be a professional athlete. Then, Jing Yuan glanced to his right and saw his twin brother walk up to them.

“Do you need something?” Jing Yuan asked.

“A challenge.” Jing Yuan’s indifferent look didn’t change. “I heard you’re quite skilled with a sword.”

“Not interested.”

When he looked back at his textbook, Dan Feng said, “What? You scared?”

Jing Yuan almost sighed. He looked Dan Feng straight in the eyes but said nothing. Instead, Dan Heng said, “...Let’s just go.”

“Look, I just want a match,” Dan Feng said. “Maybe I can learn a thing or two from a senior.”

“Did you have to tell her that story?” Dan Feng deadpans.

“Why keep it a secret?” Dan Heng asks. His brother rolls his eyes. “He"—Dan Heng glances at his brother—"got a rude awakening, but it worked out for all of us.”

“How so?” you ask.

“It’s through Jing Yuan we met Jingliu, and we eventually started training under her,” Dan Heng says.

Dan Feng sighs. “But… I think her old man wants her to retire.”

“Retire?” you ask in disbelief.

“We know she won’t budge, though,” Dan Heng says.

Dan Feng puts his hands behind his head. “That’s right. It’s not her.”

Eventually, you and the brothers are standing in the lobby of Jingliu’s dojo. Just then, you see a man and woman dressed in suits come downstairs. Their expressions are serious, and the woman shoots you and the others a look before leaving the building.

Then, you hear someone say your name. “I wasn’t expecting you!” Jingliu came downstairs, looking surprised but happy to see you.

“We stole her from Jing Yuan,” Dan Feng says.

“Did you?” Jingliu deadpans.

“We’re keeping her company,” Dan Heng clarifies.

Jingliu turns to you. “Well… How do you feel about learning a bit of boxing?”

“Excited as I’ll ever be.”

“You sound thrilled, Mom."

“Who knows? Maybe I’ll even be better than you.”

Dan Feng scoffs just as Dan Heng hides a smile. Jingliu laughs and says, “Now, that’s the spirit!”

It's not until after a few rounds with the punching bag that you collapse on your butt, panting and sweating. Jingliu had been giving you tips and pointers on your punches and form as you went. The punching bag is still slightly swaying.

“You learn fast,” Jingliu says, amazed. “If you keep doing a little bit each day, you’ll be a natural in no time.”

You hear consecutive punches in a row, and you look over your shoulder. The brothers are still going at it with perfect form. Their persistence also catches the attention of the other people at the gym who are casually watching.

Jingliu helps you to your feet and you say, “I heard from Dan Heng that they train under you. You also taught Jing Yuan too.” Then, jokingly, “Is there anything you can’t do?”

“Jingliu.” You turn around and see two middle-aged men walk up to her. “...Could we talk?”

You glance at Jingliu who says, “Is it important? I’m with a friend.”

“I heard you turned them down,” he says as if unable to contain what’s on his mind. The other man looks over at you, leans over, and whispers something to the other man. He glances at you and sighs. “...We’ll talk after.”

As soon as they leave, Jingliu turns to you looking like nothing happened. “Shall we continue?”

◆◆◆

“This is great news, Jing Yuan. We look forward to working with you.”

“Likewise.”

“We’ll talk again soon.”

And on that positive note, Jing Yuan ends the call. He softly sighs and turns around to see the late afternoon sun outside his window. He just closed another business partnership with a growing tourism company in the city. Now that he finally gets a little break, his mind wanders to you. Then, he takes out his phone.

Are you allergic to anything?

It doesn’t take long for him to get a reply.

Corporal: Shouldn’t you be working, General?

I am. This is a stress reliever.

Jing Yuan puts his phone down and looks out the window again. His heart is racing as he thinks about having dinner with you tonight. And thanks to Blade, it will just be you and him.

“Wooing her over with your cooking skills, I see,” Blade said yesterday night after Yanqing had gone to bed. Jing Yuan had just finished showering and was preparing hot tea before bed. His friend had initially messaged him asking if Jing Yuan needed someone to drop Yanqing off at school tomorrow. Eventually, the conversation led to you and then the call. “Gotta win over her stomach if you want her heart.”

“You sound like Luocha.”

“How insulting.”

A short chuckle later, Blade asked, “...Well, I approve. My instincts tell me she’s a good person.”

“...Yeah, but I’m getting a little impatient.”

"Impatient?" Blade almost chuckled. " Doesn’t that just mean you’re sure? You want her. Plain and simple. It’s about time you get yourself a good woman.”

“I didn’t think you’d be that concerned about my love life,” Jing Yuan said. Then, he took a sip of his tea.

“I’ve seen the way Yanqing also looks at her. He really likes her.”

Jing Yuan quietly scoffed. “Oh, I see how it is,” he said teasingly. “You just want Yanqing off your back.”

“Hey, don’t get me wrong. I love the kid to the moon and back. He deserves the best of both worlds. Don’t screw this up for him. No pressure or anything.”

Jing Yuan would’ve given him a deadpan look. But instead, he said, “...She’s someone who deserves the absolute best. I want to be the one who gives that to her.”

“Good. I’ll take Yanqing tomorrow, so play your cards right and enjoy your little date.”

Jing Yuan picks up his phone and sees your reply. Well, now that he’s sure you’re not allergic to anything, it’s time to start working his magic.

Ding!

…Right after he deals with these work emails, that is.

◆◆◆

You’re in the locker room, changing into clean clothes when you hear the sound of someone closing a locker from the other side.

“Jingliu isn’t really going to sell the place, is she?”

“Of course not!” A small pause. “I… think.”

“But… wouldn’t it be better if she does? I mean, she looks young, but she's getting older… And… isn’t she partially blind?”

You're fixing your shirt when you hear the question. You stop and think back to when you saw Jingliu's eyes. You had a hunch, but it hadn’t crossed your mind again as she never brought it up nor acted like it hindered her in any way.

“Do you know what happened?”

You hear the sound of a locker close.

“You mean what happened to her eye? No idea. Nothing in the news either.”

A sigh. “...You’d think they would’ve released something… considering she was an athlete and all.”

"Well, there was something, if I remember correctly... It was very vague, though. She probably didn't want people finding out what happened."

Two women walk by, and you glance at them. They don’t look at you and continue talking, except now they’re talking about where to eat for dinner. You finish changing and head out of the locker room but Jingliu is nowhere to be seen.

“Are you looking for Jingliu?” Dan Heng has just come out of the men’s locker room. He looks at the door. “...She just went out.”

“...Ah.” Then, you notice that Dan Heng looks a little worried. “Is everything okay?”

Before Dan Heng can say anything, his brother comes out of the locker room. “I’m starving!” With a small, playful smile, he says, “What's Mom having for dinner?"

“You just want someone to cook for you.”

“Wow, no need to call me out like that, Brother.”

Jingliu walks back inside with her phone. Seeing Dan Feng’s unamused face, she asks, “Why the long face?”

“Oh, no reason,” Dan Feng says flatly.

Just then, your phone buzzes with a message.

General: Are you at your cabin? I’ll pick you up.

“...Do you have a date?”

You look up and see everyone looking at you.

“You’re smiling,” Dan Heng adds.

You hadn’t noticed. “Ah, well… I’m having dinner with Jing Yuan.”

“Is he cooking?” Jingliu asks.

“He is.”

“Damn. The man’s serious,” Dan Feng says.

“What?” Jingliu asks. “For a man to be serious, he has to cook?”

Dan Heng adjusts the bag on his shoulder. “That only applies to my brother.” Dan Heng shoots his brother a look. “He has to be absolutely smitten if you’re going to get him to cook for anyone.”

“That is so not true,” Dan Feng counters. “I cooked for March and Welt!”

“Scrambled eggs don’t count.”

Jingliu walks up and looks you up and down. “Say… If you’re up for it, why don’t we give Jing Yuan a surprise?”

“...A surprise?”

Jingliu nods toward your phone. “It’ll definitely be worth the wait.”

◆◆◆

Corporal: I’m at Jingliu’s gym. Do you mind waiting for thirty minutes?

Jing Yuan is about to head to his car when he gets your text. He’s at the bed and breakfast, having dropped by from his house to check on things. He quickly types in a reply. Then, just as he slips his phone inside his pocket, someone grabs him by the shoulders from behind.

“Surprise!” Then, March looks him up and down. “Ooh, someone’s all dressed up. Where are you headed?”

Jing Yuan is wearing a wine-red, long-sleeved shirt and an open black blazer on top. His shirt is neatly tucked into his black pants with a black and silver belt. On the wrist of his left hand is a black and gold watch.

“Is it a date?” March asks, smiling.

“A dinner date.”

She gasps. “With Mom?” She says your name and Jing Yuan nods. “What about Yanqing?”

“Blade’s looking after him.”

“Now, that’s a true friend.” After a short pause, March looks at him. “...I heard you brought up Caelus with her. Are you going to tell her everything? What if she gets too involved and…”

“She’s already suspicious that Star Rails is hiding something.” Jing Yuan sighs softly. “There might be another reason why she’s here.”

"She works for Star Rails, doesn't she?" March asks quietly. "Don't take this the wrong way. I want to believe in her. But what if she already knows? And she’s just lying to you? It’s hard to say how much she really knows considering she works there.”

“You sound like you’re worried about her, and now you sound like you’re suspicious of her.”

March sighs. “Caelus or Stelle was never brought to justice. I just…”

Jing Yuan slides a hand inside his pocket. “I don’t see any reason for her to lie. If Star Rails was involved at that time, they didn’t get found out. Her bringing this up wouldn't benefit them."

“I see your point.” She puts a hand on her hip. “Still… this must mean you really believe in her.”

“I’m only rationalizing.”

March sighs dramatically. “My man’s in love. About time.”

Then, Jing Yuan looks at his watch. "I have to go. I'll see you around."

“Have fun, Dad. Go wild!”

Jing Yuan heads off just as March’s phone buzzes with a message.

Have you thought about what I said?

She begins typing but ends up deleting it. Then, she turns off her phone screen and slips her phone back into her pocket before heading back to her cabin.

Chapter 9

Tag list: @suoshiii @lordbugs @lxry-chxn @seirenspinel @immahuman @queencybow @grimreapersscythe @nqctre @winterpein @asakenajustexistshere

#jingyuan x you #jingyuan x reader #jing yuan x you #honkai star rail jing yuan #jing yuan x reader #hsr jing yuan

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terxez · 2 months

Text

𝐃𝐎𝐍'𝐓 𝐉𝐔𝐌𝐏

𝐀𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫, 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲, 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐰, 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬, 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐦𝐩.

SAD

𝖸𝗈𝗎𝗋 𝖭𝖺𝗆𝖾: 𝓝𝓪𝓽𝓪𝓵𝓲𝓪

2007

TW: suicidal thoughts, mention of suicide.

════════ ⋆★⋆ ═══════

☆ NATALIA'S POV

The door to my room was closed as I sat on the floor by my bed. Only my father was at home, I lost my mother when I was only 5 years old. Everyone thinks she died from cancer, but I know the truth. She committed suicide. It's not like someone told me...

I saw it.

I still see her in front of my eyes.

The way she's sitting on the bed crying. The way she's apologizing.

I didn't understand what was happening at first. I was 5. Mom disappeared out of nowhere and I was told she was sick and her heart couldn't handle it. But I realized it later.

all the apologies, the tears, the letters. It was all because she couldn't make it.

My father started beating my mother after I was born. He was yelling at her, scolding her, hurting her. later it got to me as well, when I brought home a bad grade from school, he started yelling at me.I could never have a boyfriend, I could only have friends, that he allowed me. I couldn't go out without him knowing who I was going with, where I was going, and where I would be. Ever since my mom died, it's gotten worse. My father started drinking and is always drunk.

“Natalia!! Bring me one beer” My father shouted at me from the living room. Even if I didn't want to, I had to. I said no once and it didn't go well. I got up from the cold, wooden floor and quietly went to unlock my door. I quickly reached the kitchen and headed for the fridge. As soon as I opened it, the cold that the refrigerator hides poured out on me. I reached for the nearest can and strode towards the couch where my father was currently sitting. I got goosebumps when I saw the face of a person who was half me. My shaky hands put the can on the table. Then I turned around so my back was facing his face ready to go back to my room.

“This is not the beer I wanted!” My father yelled at me. I automatically turned to face him. Rage burned in my body before I clenched my hands into fists . “Maybe you can get the fucking beer by yourself!” I let my emotions win before I could think twince. Only now I realized what I had caused. My mother wouldn't be proud of this.

The man who ruined my life got off the couch. His eyes were red. “Who do you think you're talking to, young lady!” My eyes were wide open, I didn't even have time to answer, and there were streams of water coming out of my eyes. I knew what was going to happen. “I'm sorry” I whispered quietly, wondering if he'd heard me. He started to raise his right hand to hit me, but I quickly turned around and ran into my room. The floor below me crackled as I slammed my door shut. I heard my father running after me, he started banging on my door and yelling my name, but I ignored it. I sat down on the bed again and began to cry, my eyes were tired. I was too but for a different reason.

I wanted to end it.

Now and here.

The noise my father was making didn't stop, he was even louder. “Open the fucking door slut! I swear I will beat you!!” His words hurt. The pain he caused me couldn't be healed. I hate him.

It's all my fault. It was always my fault. Maybe I was the reason my mother left me. What if there's something wrong with me? I look for mistakes in others, but never in myself. I'll never be happy again, it's not even possible. I can't talk about my family because there's nothing nice about it. I don't even have any family.

I'm nothing.

My life is meaningless.

I lifted my weak legs and looked out the window. My vision was blurry, my pulse quickened and my breathing irregular. I've never felt worse.

it was dark outside. Birds sang softly, children outside playing and enjoying their life, while I was locked in my room knowing that I had no one. The mess from the living room stopped. The only thing that could be heard was my father's television and me sobbing. I opened my dusty window and, slowly jumped out. I started running as fast as I could, wanting to be away from the place. Sticks crunched beneath me, leaves rustled and the wind blew violently. I decided to go to an old building where I used to spend a lot of time.

I stopped in front of an abandoned tall building. It didn't even have doors -The windows were broken and walls ruined. The stairs were dirty but stable. And with my final decision, I went up the stairs until I was at the top of the building. The view of the city was amazing, but my last.

I stepped on the edge of the building and just stared down. Up here the breeze was soft and calm, the air cold and fresh. The light fought with the darkness. It was quiet up here. You could hear some footsteps, but they weren't mine.

“Take a step back” someone behind me said, breaking the silence. I didn't turn around. Whoever it is, I don't want them to see my face before I jump. “No, I don't want to” I replied coldly, still looking down.

“Please don't jump” I sighed and put my hands in my pockets, it was getting cold. “Why are you trying to save me? You don't know me.. uhm-” My eyes started to water again, but I didn't want to look weak, I held them back and didn't let one fall.

“Bill, I'm Bill... and I don't want to let you take your own life, you still have time to change your decision” I laughed and rolled my eyes. “I'm serious” He assured me, and I just nodded “My life is terrible, it's not worth living and if you knew me you'd understand” You could tell he had no words. I don't want him to see me like this, but I warned him. No one will take my decision away, even if he tried real hard.

“What are you doing here anyway? Nobody comes here” I asked him, I've never met anyone here. Who would go to a abandoned place alone just like me? “I wanted to clear my mind.. and find the right words for my songs” I stayed silent. I guess he makes music or something - at least someone has some sense of life, if not me. “um, can you please leave now? I'm sure your family is waiting for you” I said with tears in my eyes. Just thinking about my family drives me crazy.

“The same goes for you”

“But I don't have a family”

Silence again. My heart was beating faster and my hands were shaking again. I want to end this as soon as possible.

“Last words, that you want to share with me?” I asked him annoyed. I know it's not his fault and he just wants to help me, but my heart is arguing with my brain whether to end it now or later.

“Please don't-” His voice cracked, his soft sobs could be heard. “I'm sorry.. Bill” I heard his screams behind my back. I was scared, but I knew I had to do it. With the last words, I stepped forward with my foot, taking one last look at the mesmerizing view that will eat me in a moment. I closed my tired eyelids and fell off the edge of the building.

Everything went silent.

I can be with my mommy now.

I'm sure that there are mistakes. I wrote it late at night when I was tired ^^ my first storyy, I hope you like it 🫶🏻.

#bill kaulitz #tokio hotel #sad stories #tw depressing stuff #tw sui attempt #tw sui implied #2000s #2000s fashion #tw abuse #child abuse #mommy issues #daddy issues #family issues #tw kys mention

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the-fo0l · 1 year

Note

Tbh i won't mind if this acc ever becomes a 47 fan acc cuz i barely see any 47 fanfics😭 and i'm simp for that man<3(im recently in the fandom too)

Can i request a yandere 47 with a sleepy reader? Who basically just sleep everywhere and everywhere that would be interesting and probably stressful for him lol

Yandere!47 x sleepy reader

Notes: i think i would kinda mind if this became a 47 fan acc, don't get me wrong, i love him w all my heart but i have other characters and ideas

Warnings: none, I'm not a native english speaker, im totally fluent but this made me question my skills a bit

The drive back home was never quite fast enough.

The headlights were the only source of light on the rural road. Not like there was much to illuminate though, the night was overwhelmingly dark and the windsheild wipers couldn't do much against the pouring rain.

A palpable anxiety hung in the air, one that was only amplified by the fact that, aside for the harsh sounds of wind and rain outside, everything was completely silent.

God. He missed you so much

Your smile, your laugh, your touch, your expressions, opinions, thoughts, even your playful teasing.

This particular mission had taken unusually long. Well, the kill itself was quick, but the process of infiltrating for the required intel took much longer than he would've liked. He even had to spend a night in a hotel, not like he could sleep anyways. At least during the extra days away he had time to get you a few gifts (and by "a few" i mean seventeen).

His paranoia grew every passing minute that he wasn't with you, it was funny, how only you can bring out that kind of emotion in him. Of course a part of him knew you were okay, the house was stoked with everything you could ever need plus if someone broke through the security system he'd be the first one to know.

For a moment, 47's brought out of his thoughts as the road transitions from asphalt to gravel and the drive itself gets more uneven and noisy. It was a comforting sign that home wasn't much further.

Still, he couldn't help but be worried, worried about how you were doing, worried about how felt about him being gone for so weirdly long, worried over irrational scenarios where you accidentally hurt yourself.

It was times like these he wanted nothing more than to call you, to hear your voice and to talk to you, but he couldn't, he had made sure there was no line of communication between you two, thus no chance of calls getting traces.

So he kept driving, it was all he could do. He'd been so caught up in his thoughts he didn't notice how his grip on the steering wheel tightened and pressure on the accelerator got increased.

Would you be in the living room, binging that show you like? In the kitchen, having one of the pre-made dinners he prepared for you? In the bedroom, reading? Relaxing? Or, as you so often did, napping?

Relief washed over him once the house was in view. He could see that some lights were on but he couldn't see you in any of the large windows of the modern house.

He hastily parked, grabbed the supply bags and practically ran to the front door.

The door smoothly slid open and 47 practically threw his bags on the floor, he couldn't care less about anything besides seeing you right now.

There was no sign of altercation in the house. Though, if someone were smart enough to find your location (and be stupid enough to think they'd get away with it) they probably wouldn't leave a trace.

After all, there was no shortage of people who wanted 47 dead, and they certainly wouldn't be afraid to use you against him (they should be). He couldn't even trust Diana with the knowledge of your existence.

The first floor was dimly lit, you never did like using the big light. A few dishes were left out in the kitchen and on the coffee table, and you had clearly made yourself comfortable with the pillows and blankets on the couch, but you were nowhere to be seen.

47 made his way upstairs, quickly clearing other rooms on the way, since he was rather certain of where he'd find you.

He opened the bedroom door a lot more cautiously and carefully stepped inside.

You were in a deep sleep, the blanket only partly covering your body. You had made yourself into the most comfortable position possible and he couldn'thelp but smile at the sight.

He should have expected this, the sound of rain outside had always been relaxing to you. It would be a crime to disturb you when you looked so peaceful, not that 47 had considered it.

He slowly sat down at the edge of the bed and took you in, your messy hair, relaxed expression, slow breathing. You looked like the most beautiful person in the world, the best person in the world, and you were, at least to him.

God. He'd missed you so much.

The longer he sat there admiring you the harder he felt his heart swell with overwhelming adoration and love. He'd spent nearly a week yearning to get home, and only now that he was sitting beside, knowing you were safe, did he feel truly at home. It was a foreign feeling for most of his life, home. Before meeting you all it meant was the house one lived in most, but now, this house you two shared could get blown to pieces and he wouldn't care, as long as you were safe, and happy.

After a while he gently laid an arm over your hip and leaned in to give you a chaste kiss on the forehead.

His body and mind weren't quite ready to sleep just yet, so he begrudgingly pushed himself to get up. Now in a much calmer state of mind, he went to put away his gear and clean up the house. He wanted to prepare for when you woke, he wanted you to wake up to the smell of your favorite breakfast (plus the gifts he got you).

He could already picture it. You groggily stumbling downstairs, your eyes lighting up when you see him in the kitchen, you hugging and greeting him like you usually do-

-He couldn't wait <3

#image you wake up and his blue eyed ass is just staring at you like 👁👁#not sure how i feel abt this one guyysssssss #agent 47 x reader #yandere agent 47 #yandere agent 47 x reader #yandere hitman

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valentina-arrington · 3 months

Text

"Sweet dreams, my darling."

It was Tuesday evening, the 13th of February, and Valentina was tucking her son Diego in for the night. Gently pulling up his comforter, she leaned in to place a gentle kiss on his forehead before getting up and heading for the door. There, she lingered a while longer, looking on to her son as he peacefully slept. It was the only sight that could soothe her heavy heart these days, but was grateful for it nonetheless.

Valentina had kept the door ajar before heading into the kitchen to deep clean the area despite it already being pristine. But she needed the distraction, desperately.

It wasn't a minute into sorting out her pantry when she heard a knock at the front door.

Valentina's head whipped around at once, her gaze following the sound; it had startled her. Although it was only past eight o'clock, she hadn't been expecting anyone. Momentarily abandoning her task, she slowly made her way into the living room to see who'd come uninvited.

"Dios mío..." Valentina sighed in great relief as soon as she saw her twin sister, Catalina, standing at her threshold. "You could've called first, you know?" she chuckled, though her heart was still racing.

"And miss that ghostly look on your face?" teased Catalina as she stepped into Valentina's humble abode with a hug. "Besides, I did," the older Arrington pointed out, setting her bag down and taking her shoes off. "You just never answered."

"Ah..." Valentina remembered she hadn't touched her phone for days. "I've been busy," was all she said, not quite meeting her sister's eyes. "Would you like a drink?"

Catalina nodded in response, uncharacteristically quiet. Watching her sister make her way into the kitchen, Catalina frowned. She was right to come, she thought to herself. Something was not right. Valentina may have always been the quiet one but even then, she had such light and warmth about her. But now, it was nowhere to be found.

"Need any help?"

"No, no, I'm good," assured Valentina, who looked seemingly lost inside her pantry, rummaging for something. "I know it's here somewhere..."

"Take your time," Catalina assured her as she took her phone out to text their brother, Oliver. She had locked her screen just in time for Valentina to walk back in carrying a bottle of tequila that looked like it had been buried there for a decade. Upon closer inspection, it didn't look like there's much left. "Is that the same bottle we had at graduation???"

"Yeah! Can you believe it?" Valentina laughed, opening her cupboard to reach not just for one, but two clean glasses.

"You drink now?" Catalina was surprised. Since her partner had passed, Valentina hadn't touched a single drink. Not for a night cap, not on girls' night out, not even for the holidays.

"I drink now," was all Valentina said, busying herself with pouring out the last of the tequila from the bottle. It was all she could do not to meet her sister's eyes, knowing Catalina would be able to see right through her the minute she does.

As they picked up a glass each, another knock was heard.

"What the—...?" Valentina wondered before she could even lift her glass to her lips. "Who could that be?" Frowning, she started for the door when Catalina stopped her with a wave of her hand.

"Don't worry, it's just Ollie," she casually replied, as if she had been expecting him this whole time.

"Oliver? Why?"

"So, someone can watch over Diego while we go out tonight," Catalina explained, already opening the door. "In case you've forgotten, it's our birthday," her twin sister reminded her with a chuckle.

The reminder served as an unexpected douse of cold water on her face. It was their birthday! How could it have slipped her mind?! Shit!

"What about Alice?"

"Alice is here," piped in their sister-in-law from behind her towering husband.

"She's coming with us, too," Catalina said matter-of-factly, before turning to Valentina. "So go on, get ready! That bottle of yours is not going to be enough for us, so we might as well go somewhere with more drinks, good music, and dance the night away!"

"But—...?"

Catalina excused them back into the kitchen for a little privacy. For a second, Valentina's heart was hammering. She really didn't want to have to explain her lack of enthusiasm tonight. But surprisingly, Catalina didn't say a word. She simply cradled her younger sister's face and looked her in the eye for one quiet moment before pulling her into an embrace Valentina didn't realise she needed. Burrowing her face against her sister's arms, Valentina cried for the first time in a decade. Whether her tears were borne from pain or relief, she wasn't quite sure, but she knew this much: she was beyond grateful that she didn't need to explain herself to Catalina. She just knew. And that was enough — at least for now — to give her room to breathe.

"Happy birthday, Cat," she murmured sincerely.

"Happy birthday, Valé. I love you."

* All conversations are in Spanish.

#[ valé arrington || narrative 02 ]

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thetorturedpoetsintern · 11 months

Text

The longest summer in our life

Note: This was inspired by a tiktok @alwayssevvy sent me and it has themes from Gone With The Wind, hence the gif. I hope you'll enjoy my first Severus x reader oneshot 💜

Warnings: To avoid spoilers I'll only tell you one thing: TISSUES

It has been more than four months since you last saw him. He dropped you off to a secluded house in the middle of nowhere, warded every single corner of it and then disapparated as soon as he could detangle himself from your hands and lips. He didn’t even see your first tear starting to roll slowly down your face. You understood the urgency of it, the importance of your safety for him. You wouldn’t forget yourself though for not telling him while you still had the chance to about the small life growing inside of you. But you couldn’t actually bring yourself to it, to burden him even more than he already was.

That was in late April. It is September now. You’ve heard of what happened at Hogwarts and your heart broke into a million pieces at the news of Nagini’s attack on Severus. If it wasn’t for the hope of seeing his baby, a miniature him, running in the backyard of your fortress he made for your safety, you would have fled from it and tried to find him at any cost. Merlin only knows it took all the effort you could gather to make your mind into staying where he left you.

May and June were chaotic months. Uncaught Death Eaters kept causing trouble whenever they could, their attacks without any reasoning, just for their pleasure. Every newspaper and magazine had a page dedicated to the victims of the war. Dead wizards and witches who were only now found or who passed away recently in the last surge of the remaining Death Eaters’ attacks. Though his name never appeared there, no matter how much you checked and double checked that last page. You couldn’t get your mind over what that actually meant.

Is he dead? Harry’s declaration suggests just that. And if he’s dead then why didn’t they find his body? Is there a body left to be found? Did Voldemort hide his body? Did the other Death Eaters maim him beyond any recognition? Or is he alive? But if he’s alive why isn’t he coming to you? If he were to be alive he wouldn’t leave you without a clue of his survival. He’d send you an owl or someone will come to you to tell you he’s fine. Or even he’ll come and drag you out of the dark place your mind kept swimming to.

No owl arrived, no person to give you the news of his death or survival, no trace of him either. You were in a limbo. Waking up, checking the daily newspapers, spiraling again at the absence of his name on the last page, getting out of this state thinking of your unborn child, rinse, repeat.

August was the month where the Ministry of Magic declared the wizarding world safe once again. You couldn’t be happy about it. Instead you chose to resent it. Because if the world was declared safe, there will be no special page with the dead, no search for the still missing persons in the war, not a chance to find out what happened to Severus. It was selfish, you hated yourself for pouring your acid words on innocent people.

You took off the wards on the home Severus took you merely three months ago and for the first time since he left you there, you started making it your home. It was clear by now he wasn’t coming back, but your baby needed a place to call home.

The pregnancy started to show a little and you hated the pitiful looks on others eyes when they saw you. Like you were some poor helpless widow unlucky enough to have no one helping her during times like this. So you took on wearing dresses. The larger and flowier the better. As long as it hid your growing bump it was good.

Another habit you developed was sitting each afternoon in a chair by the porch in front of the house, sometimes a long time into the night, watching the road ending somewhere beyond the horizon. Sometimes reading, sometimes just sipping your tea, or even talking by yourself and caressing your growing belly. It was a fruitful activity. You invited any witch or wizard who happened to pass by for a cup of tea and interrogated them about the war. There weren’t many, there were actually more weeks where not even muggles seemed to step foot on the land the house was in than the number of guests you had that month, but there were enough to calm you and put your mind at ease.

It seemed there were more missing witches and wizards than they publicly admitted. Every one of your guests had a relative, a friend, or knew someone who went missing during the war. You weren’t alone in your grief, and even though you started to accept his death with each passing day, you were more than relieved to find out everyone had good words to say about your Severus. He had shown his true self to the world with his final moments, and that was more than enough for your child when it was born into the world.

And that’s how you end up now too, in September. A light green dress flowing out of the chair you sit in, your hands on your bump trying to feel your baby kicking as the mediwitch said it will soon, your mouth talking nonstop about Severus. You did that for a while now, talking about Severus. You reached the part of him proposing to you. Another thing the war kidnapped from you: the chance to call him your husband.

The sun is beginning to set and you can feel the chill already. Autumn really is enveloping the country little by little. You exhale, imagining what this scene would be like if Severus was alive. He’d sit beside you, a hand on your belly, reminiscing about nothing in particular. And that’s when you notice a flicker of white light in the distance and then a black figure popping in the field. Your hand instinctively grips your wand in your pocket and you sit up in a fruitless attempt to recognize the silhouette.

It doesn’t do much, it merely sits there and watches you standing on the porch. But then it starts limping toward you, and even though its walk is barely a walk at all, you’d recognize that posture everywhere. Those shoulders and hands balancing his limp, those dark locks hidden in a ponytail fluttered by the evening breeze.

Your heart wants to believe but your mind denies it. There is only one way to figure out if you’ve gone insane or the world did a flip and brought you back your lover. You step out of the porch, steady but small steps at first, wand still gripped in your hand. The more you approach it, the more its features become more familiar. Tears begin to well your eyes with every step you take, until you stop in your tracks and your heart seems to stop for more than a second. It is him. It is Severus. He came home to you. He’s alive. He’s alive.

You drop your wand in your pocket, hands going to lift your skirt high enough for you to sprint to him. Severus instead stops in his tracks, arms opening to accommodate you once you get to him. He dropped walking the minute he saw you run to him. It was painful enough to walk even now, and with your speed you’ll get to him faster than his five torturous steps he got to make ever would.

Nothing matters anymore as you get closer and closer to him. The wind has no power. You make the wind with each movement, hair and dress all over the air due to your speed. Your lungs burn. It starts to become difficult to breathe, and you feel your heart beating in your ears and yet you don’t stop. You have to get to him. And you do.

By the time you feel his big palms on your back bringing you closer to him, you have to push him back slightly because air won’t enter your lungs, as your face seems to burn from the inside. And still one hand of his clutches on the back of your head and leans forward in an attempt to kiss you. Your palms go over every centimeter of him you can reach to make sure he’s real, that he’s there. Your eyes notice the bandage around his neck, the slightly bluish veins protruding from under the bandage, and you want to ask him what happened but you can’t momentarily. You want to kiss him with all your body, your heart thumps wildly in anticipation, and yet you can’t. The sprint took its toll on you and he doesn’t look well enough for the long kiss you both seem to be wanting, needing for what feels like eternity.

Severus sighs, understanding. He’s content only to hold you in his arms and never let you go, and he resigns in bringing both his hands and grabbing your face between his palms, trying to make his fingers remember each and every contour of it. His breath smells like medicine, and that is the culminant point in deciding you’re not insane, he’s just alive. He survived. You unglue one of his hands from your cheekbone and trace it down your body until it reaches your bump.

“This is our child, Sev! We’ve both been waiting for you to come home,” you manage to exclaim through your tears. You feel his hand tense as his eyebrows scrunch into a look of unbelievable happiness you’ve never seen on his face before. The little one moved for the first time the moment it felt his father’s touch. Severus felt it too, you can tell from his eyes who seem to search far beyond for an explanation, trying to put all the pieces of the puzzle together. But suddenly a harsh croaked and yet very recognizable voice escapes his chopped thin lips, “You never told me…” His words, of which he used to be so proud, are failing him for the first time since you’ve met him.

You seem locked in place for eternity and you don’t want the moment to end. Feeling Severus’ heat again against your body, feeling his breath on your face, his hands all over you as the proof of him aching for you, his dark eyes taking you in, trying to grab your essence and lock it deep within his memories, your noses caressing in the only kiss you can manage for the moment.

“Love, let’s go home. I don’t want my two most important people in my life to catch a cold because I finally managed to get on my feet and come to you.”

#severus snape #severus snape x reader #snape x reader #prosnape #snapedom

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kitkatcarkeys · 1 year

Text

Really embarrassing moments for Y/n and how the boys handled them (minific) - Todoroki

Todoroki:

You hadn’t expected it to rain, and were running hard to try to get home.

Your water-spirit quirk was great. You could control water if it was nearby. Plus, in water you grew a mermaid tail and could swim and breathe like the fastest of fish.

But getting drenched was the only condition. If you were wet enough, you transformed. And with the rain coming down like it was now, and nowhere to shelter, you were in trouble!

It would be fine if you had remembered your emergency poncho, but for once, it wasn’t in your bag! You had gotten a new one the day before and must have missed it somehow. You had been sure you packed it, but it was nowhere to be found!

Suddenly, you felt your legs go out from under you, and you fell forwards, hard onto the pavement.

You looked down at your legs in dismay, your long, shining tail spread out behind you. It was beautiful and powerful, but useless on land. And right now it was distressing to see it. The lower half of your clothes and your shoes lay soaked on the ground. Your hero costume was made to accommodate the transformation, but you hadn’t dressed for this kind of thing today.

Wondering how you were going to get home like this, and worried that someone might try to hurt you in this stupid, embarrassing, vulnerable state, you cursed in frustration, rolling over to try to sit up.

Soaked as you were, and with the rain still pouring down, there still wasn’t enough water for you to be able to swim home, even if you manipulated it. Not with your current skill level, anyway.

Trying to figure out what to do, irritatingly brushing the rain out of your eyes, you caught sight of someone with an umbrella looking at you.

Your heart jumped and your face burned with humiliation.

It was Todoroki! You two had just started dating. You hadn’t even kissed yet. And now he was seeing you like this! Like this couldn’t get any more embarrassing!

You tried to scoot out of the way and hide behind a lamp post, but he had seen you.

“Y/n?” he asked, approaching quickly.

“Oh, um-” He was already in front of you. You were sitting on the street like an idiot, soaking wet. “Hi...” you mumbled, mortified.

“...You can’t walk with a fishtail.” he noted.

You looked away, wishing you had been able to hide in a bush or something.

Todoroki paused, then seemed to come out of a trance, moving his umbrella over you. “Sorry, here. It’s because of the rain, right?”

You would have been touched if you weren’t so embarassed. “Thank you,” you said quietly, “but I’m already soaked. I won’t be able to change back until I dry off.”

“...I could dry you off with my heat quirk.” he offered.

You paused a moment. You didn’t want to accept, but you wanted to be stuck like this even less. “That would be great, actually. Can I cover my legs-tail though? My clothes kind of...”

Todoroki looked in the direction you did, and his eyes widened, steam rising off his skin as he looked directly at your underwear lying in the street.

“Oh.” He said, eyes wide, covering his eyes as though it helped (it kind of did), then looking straight at your face. “Should I... dry those too?”

“No need!” you insisted, looking away. “The rest would be plenty! Thank you!” You threw (not your underwear) over his left arm once he offered it, and took your jacket off to cover your lap as they dried. The underwear in the puddle, you grabbed and stuffed in a spare compartment in your bag.

You hadn’t been sure what to expect next, but Todoroki took hold of the hem of your soaked top, and steam began rising off of it as it dried.

Once your fish tail disappeared, Todoroki turned around, keeping watch, still holding the umbrella over you. Thank goodness this side street was so quiet. No one could see you from here. There weren’t even any houses. You quickly tugged on the rescued clothes, and got to your feet, relieved.

“Thank you.” you said gratefully. “You can turn around, now.”

Todoroki did as he was told, and smiled to see you on your feet again.

“Please don’t tell anyone about this.” you asked gently.

“I won’t.” he said seriously.

“I’d be so embarrassed.” you said, hiding your face in your hands, “This is the third time this has happened in my whole life. I was a little kid the first two times. I always have a poncho to prevent it, but it’s missing today. I don’t know where I put it...”

“I won’t tell anyone.” he smiled, “And you shouldn’t be embarrassed. Your quirk is yours. You should be proud of it. I’m glad it was me who found you.”

You were relieved that he was so mature about it, and felt your face flush at his words.

Todoroki insisted on walking you home, linking arms to “keep you dry”. Whether that was the reason or not, you weren’t about to stop him. His warm left side was so comforting, and his considerate way was so touching.

You were still embarrassed at having been found the way you were, and at your hair that had frizzed in the rain, but you forgot all about it when he hugged you at your door and kissed your cheek.

It wasn’t until after he left and you had gone to throw your underwear in the wash, you realised the poncho had been there the whole time.

You’d need to get used to this bag.

#bnha imagines #bnha fanfiction #bnha minific #todoroki x reader #todoroki shouto x reader #mha imagines #mha fanfiction #mha x reader #todoroki imagine #todoroki shoto x reader #embarrassing #kkckwrites

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maplleaf · 1 year

Text

"Snow and Stars"

Dainsleif x gn!reader

{cw: Dain pining harder than when Khaenri'ah got destroyed}

BRO I HAD THIS IN MY DRAFTS FOR LIKE 2 MONTHS AND NEVER GOT AROUND TO CONTINUING IT 💀

You sighed, the calming warmth after hours of walking around the cold mountain that is Dragonspine finally hits you. The curse that the Gods gave hurts as hell sometimes, but it does ive an extra layer of resistance to the cold.

Surviving the Cataclysm as a Khaenri'ah citizen seems more like a curse than a blessing. The literal curse that the Gods inlaid upon you is a sore thumb. Not wanting to gain attention from people; and possibly Gods, you retreated to Dragonspine. The barren snowland making it easy for you to blend in, it's been like that for the past 500 years.

Unfortunately someone at the Adventurer's Guild decides it would be great to start using Dragonspine as the 'peak of an adventurer's strenght', causing many adventurers to come here.

The sudden interests of adventurers made you uneasy. They pop up unexpectedly in Dragonspine when the only reason you're here is to avoid people for fuck's sake!

You swear to your long-gone homeland that the adventurer would get frostbite.

Just as your legs were starting to feel less numb, you hear footsteps coming from behind.

"Shouldn't you be resting somewhere more safe?"

Ah yes, that deep and recognizable voice. "Dain, you need something?" Just as you looked back, you realized how Dain isn't looking the best as usual, "abyss fight again?"

"You could describe it as that," Dainsleif sat besides you. It's common to see the Twilight Sword alongside you. As the few Khaenri'ah survivors of the Cataclysm who still has their humanity left, the both of you got along well.

You both stayed quiet whilst looking at the corrupted dragon's heart in front of you two; the heavier air doesn't affect the both of you but it does give warmth around the cave. "It's really unsettling that the heart is still beating..." you commented.

Dainsleif chuckled, "then look for another cave to seek warmth, a fire would suffice."

You disregarded his idea with a scoff, "with all the adventurers running around? No thanks. They'll end up dragging me to Mondstadt as a new species of hilichurl or something."

You leaned back against the red ground you're sitting on, feeling much more at ease with the calming warmth and no sounds of anyone else nearby, and of course the added safety from Dainsleif. "So, are you here to regain some energy or just to comment on my life decisions?"

"I wanted some companion, that's all," Dainsleif answered truthfully. After seeing his past soldier back at the Chasm, he wanted some time to be with someone from his past again; even if the two of you didn't know eachother back then.

"A companion," you couldn't help but laugh, "worked out well last time." Dainsleif's lack of words made you feel guilty for the jab, "but I'm glad you came to me, the snowy mountains started to feel lonely."

When the traveler's sibling joined the abyss, Dainsleif devoted his next hundreds of years to prevent them from destroying Teyvat. He expected it to be a long and lonely path; to which his expectations are broken when he finds himself befriending someone with the same curse as him within the snowstorms of Dragonspine.

"It is much safer at least," Dainsleif glances at you; the last person he knows from his homeland that, like him, prefers the peace that reigns over Teyvat now.

He doesn't remember the exact moment when he fell for you, his feelings more like raindrops than a hard pouring rain that comes out of nowhere. Your presence brings him comfort he thought he didn't deserve anymore, sometimes he feels that he doesn't even deserve you.

Even with all those thoughts, Dainsleif still finds himself getting closer to you, and he's scared.

Dainsleif have lost too many things; his homeland, his people, his companion. Thoughts about you leaving him when he's vulnerable, or some kind of disaster taking you away makes him scared.

The Twilight Sword would rather distance himself away than to see you in danger. Chances are is that Dainsleif himself is the person who would endanger you with all the enemies he made.

You couldn't help but glance at the former knight. I's rare to see Dainsleif look so, for the lack of a better term, absent-minded. You've seen him focused before, yet it's the first time he has this expression.

Your hand subconsciously start to move as you fall into temptation.

Poke

The twilight sword held the cheek that you poked with your finger, a small hue of pink shades his face; it's almost invisible if you're not looking at it closely, "What're you doing?"

You couldn't help but smile at his adorable reaction. It's probably the first and last time you'll see him flustered, so it's best to savor the moment.

"Nothing," Dainsleif didn't seem too convinced with your answer but brushed it off anyway.

You wonder how long it'll take for him to realize that you know about his infatuation towards you.

#dainsleif #my lil meow meow dain heheheh #dainsleif x male reader #dainsleif x gn reader #dainsleif x reader #khaenriah #genshin x reader #genshin impact #dain #dainsleif genshin #genshin #dain x reader #kinda short bit better than nOTHING #also kinda ooc but cmon #flustered dain cute af #☆works

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outstandingblue · 1 year

Text

Promises to Keep

Nineteen - What's Real?

recom!miles quaritch x fem!na'vi oc

There's a thin line between a nightmare and a dream. And a dream can become a nightmare within seconds.

cross-posted on ao3 here and wattpad @/beanswolo content warning: nightmare, fire, blood, death, angst, hurt no comfort, then hurt with comfort, fluff, explicit language, touchy miles, touch starved men have my heart word count: 5.8k

Fire. It was everywhere - fire all around. The heat was sweltering as the flames licked at his exposed skin. Miles spun in a circle in a weak attempt to recognize something - anything. He didn’t know where he was as there was no familiarity among the darkness past the flames.

There was rushing water and groaning metal, but it was too dark in the night and too bright from the flames to actually see anything. His ears rotated on either side of his head, trying to pick up any sign of life. Nothing - no Recoms, no Spider, no Jiniraa.

The fire was surrounding him on all sides as it slowly worked its way in, constricting him like a vengeful snake. As the wall of flames grew closer and closer Miles could see his untimely ending. Well, maybe it was a timely ending. He’d cheated death once already. Maybe it had just finally caught up with him.

But this couldn’t be the end. No. He needed to think fast. His instincts told him to run, but there was nowhere to run. The other side of the flames was a complete mystery. Was there even anything on the other side? Who’s to say that the grass isn’t greener on the other side?

Regardless, it was do or die. Or maybe it was die and die. He could sit here and let himself be roasted to death or he could try and get through the fire. Maybe it would give him a chance. He could cheat death once more.

A quick survey of the shrinking circle only helped a little. He found a discarded rifle laying on the ground - the crudely carved “JA” on the butt of the stock was evidence it wasn’t his. He had no clue where his own rifle was, but at least this meant at some point Ja was here. That meant the others were here as well. The clip was full. That wasn’t a good sign.

His stomach twisted. There was no sign of the medic near his fully loaded weapon.

Why would Ja not have his rifle? Where is everyone else?

A series of angry embers began to scorch Miles’ exposed skin as he cursed and rushed to brush them off. Over the roar of the fire he began to hear something - someone. A quick moan of pain. Someone was out there. He didn’t think before slapping his cheeks and bouncing on his feet, already regretting what he was going to idiotically do.

“Now or fuckin’ never,” Miles muttered under his breath, setting his jaw into place as he slung Ja’s rifle over his shoulder. Adrenaline masked most of the pain, but not all of it. Miles cursed, patting off his pants as they began to char in certain places. Sweat poured into his eyes as they frantically looked around, trying to find the source of that noise. The whimpering. He couldn’t find anything.

Maybe it was his subconscious creating a fake scenario in a desperate attempt at self-preservation.

There was no time to dwell on the thought as Miles pulled the rifle back in front of him. If Ja was here, everyone was here at some point - Jiniraa and Spider were nearby.

The thought of their possible deaths crept up the base of Miles’ skull, making his short hairs stand on edge. He wouldn’t allow himself to dwell on it. No. He wouldn’t believe they were dead unless he saw their bodies. Bile almost crept up his esophagus at the thought of finding their corpses.

In regimental silence, Miles scoped out the area. He quickly began to find bodies. Small bodies - humans. Clothed bodies. No sign of Spider. Then he started finding larger, bluer bodies. In all his years in the service as working in the RDA, Miles grew accustomed to seeing the corpses of his comrades and subordinates, but seeing the bloodied and mutilated bodies of his fellow Recoms felt different. This was their second chance at life. Their second death.

He tallied three Recoms, but none had the same cause of death. Prager had a spear through the chest Ja was crushed against the metal deck, Zdinark had an arrow embedded in her thigh and her face was split into pieces.

Dead twice. God must really hate them. Miles almost laughed to himself, trying to cope with the situation. There was no time to mourn. Not when he only found three bodies. He continued to search for others, hope slowly drying up as he passed more bodies, more blood spills, but nevertheless he pushed on. He had yet to see any sign of Lyle, Mansk, Spider, or Jiniraa.

That’s when he heard it - the same whimper somewhere around the corner. Since escaping the ring of fire, he must’ve traveled three hundred feet, so there was no way he heard such a weak sound over such a vast distance. Not even those finely tuned Na’vi ears were that good, yet here it was.

Rounding the corner, Miles jumped over a fallen beam to approach the sound. As Miles closed the distance, he realized why there was a familiarity to the noise. His heart dropped to his stomach as his senses took the sight in front of him. Blood. It was everywhere - encroaching from every angle as it filled his nose, took up his vision, and he almost swore he could taste it on his tongue by the sheer volume in front of him.

He dropped to his knees as any semblance of strength was robbed before hastily crawling over to Jiniraa. She barely registered his presence until his hand replaced her own, firmly pressing against the gushing wound on her chest. The warm blood slowly pushed through his tight fingers.

“Ma Miles…” she sweetly smiled up as she whispered, as if the pain wasn’t even registering. Maybe it was a good thing she couldn’t feel any of it.

Miles cursed as her blue skin was a dozen shades lighter than its normal hue, even as the nearby flames cast an orange glow around her body. In any other circumstance, Miles would’ve appreciated how the warmth complemented her soft beauty.

“The hell happened?” Miles barked out as he repositioned himself to press further into the wound. Her head rolled against the ground, falling to the side with a delirious smile. Miles panicked, momentarily sacrificing the pressure to grab at her chin with a bloodied finger. Her chest continued to shallowly rise and fall, but it was clearly becoming more difficult with each painful inhale.

“Eyes on me, yeah, you keep those eyes on me,” Miles commanded, trying to figure out what to do. His voice cracked at the end as reality settled in. His tail lashed out and smacked against the groaning metal beneath the pair.

“I am sorry, ma Miles,” Jiniraa whispered, bringing a single shaking bloodied hand to cradle the side of his face. “Please stop crying.”

Crying? He hadn’t even noticed the tears streaming down his face until they landed on Jiniraa’s own as her eyes began to close again. Please.

Her body was completely limp as Miles scooped her to his arm, resting her on his folded legs, “hey hey hey hey, goddamn eyes open.”

“I know it does, I know. Just keep your eyes open.” God, please, no. “You’re going to be alright? Fix you up all good.”

He knew he was lying, but he clung to the idea of her being okay. This is what he was afraid of.

“Spider?” Jiniraa asked, choking on the words.

“He’s safe, okay? He’s okay,” Miles lied right through his teeth. He had no clue where Spider was. Spider could be bleeding out right now, but he lied. He lied to protect her consciousness during the final few moments. It was the least he could do.

Jiniraa began to cough and the small smile crept back onto her face, glad the Spider was okay. Red stained her teeth. So much blood.

“Fuck,” Miles choked on the word as saliva collected in his mouth. He was out of options. There was nothing he could do. He was truly and utterly powerless. He couldn’t stop this.

“Ma Miles,” Jiniraa beckoned Miles to bend down, glancing down to his lips, “take the pain away.”

With quivering lips, Miles laid his lips on hers. He may have imagined the taste of blood earlier, but now it was hitting him full force. Miles pulled back to brush the hair out of Jiniraa’s face. He tried to whisper soothing words, but they came out as incoherent mumblings. It didn’t matter - ringing was already settling deep in her ears.

“I-” Jiniraa began, but was unable to finish as the breath caught in her throat. The light seemed to leave her eyes as her pupils expanded to hide the majority of the delicate green iris.

“Sweetheart? Hey! Wake up! Please…” Miles shook her body, but received no response.

When he looked down the expanse of her chest, he found a horrifying sight: his knife sticking out of her ribcage. All bloodied up and taunted him. It was all so real.

Miles woke with a jolt. He found himself surrounded in the familiar darkness of his room, but it took a moment to register as everything flooded back at once. It was a nightmare. Just a nightmare. The worst nightmare in a long time. They came almost every night, but they never elicited this visceral of a reaction. He could still feel blood on his hands, taste it on his tongue.

Jiniraa slept soundly next to him, luckily rolled over to face the wall. For once, she wasn’t curled up to his chest to sleep, so he didn’t wake her with his bolt upwards. He took a deep breath, rubbing the bridge of his nose and attempted to steady his breath. He may not have woken her up, but if he didn’t get his breathing under control it was only a matter of time before she picked up the sound - her ears were already beginning to twitch.

Miles pulled the thick blanket off both of them. His skin was clammy from sweat and he needed to cool off as he swung his feet to sit on the side of the bed. With a quick glance, Miles did a once over of Jiniraa’s bare form, utterly spent from their night before. It had been two weeks since they made their mating bond and they had yet to slow down. There wasn’t an inch of skin that hadn’t been subjected to his mouth and vice versa. Jiniraa was inexperienced at first, but she was quickly learning what she liked.

He must’ve held up the blanket for too long as Jiniraa rolled over to seek out his warmth. Her hand lazily reached out trying to find his normal sleeping spot, but came up empty. Miles cursed as her eyes began to flutter open. He hastily turned towards the door so she wouldn’t see the distress etched on his face. Even in the darkness and from behind, she was amazing at reading him especially after they created their bond.

“Ma Miles?” Jiniraa tiredly questioned. Her voice was soft from sleep. Miles grunted in response, unwilling to turn around. She shifted around in the bed to sit on her knees, slowly closing the distance between them before running a soft hand up the expanse of his back. “Why are you awake?”

Miles ignored the way her touch left his skin buzzing and yearning for more. Jiniraa continued to stroke his back, feeling the way he was shaking beneath her touch. Before they mated, Jiniraa already knew how desperate Miles was for physical touch and it increased tenfold since they sealed their bond. While some of it was intimate sexual touching, the majority of it was simple and lingering touches. A kiss to the hairline here. A possessive hand at the base of her back. Asking her to fix his braid when he grew too frustrated. Setting her between his legs during meal time in the field.

Miles relaxed into her touch as she waddled on her knees to press her bare chest against his back. His tail - as out of control as ever - attempted to wrap around her waist and establish another point of contact. Her knees settled on either side of his hips, hooking her chin on Miles' shoulder as she wrapped her hands around his shoulders to rub circles into his chest. Miles had yet to move, allowing her to wrap herself around him. He wasn’t going to complain.

The intense stare Miles had directed to his hands had Jiniraa worried, but she remained silent. He was a stoic man and needed time to think about things. He would open up to her eventually.

Minutes passed. Miles' breath would pick up for a few beats before settling back down. Not once did he relent on trying to burn a hole in his hands with the scrutinizing gaze. Jiniraa waited behind him, trying to rub at his skin. She’d travel over his shoulders, down his arms, into his hair and repeat the process over again.

“You should go back to sleep, sweetheart,” Miles finally offered in a gruff voice before clearing his throat, “didn’t mean to wake ya.”

Jiniraa shook her head, pressing a soft kiss at the hinge of his jaw, “not until you are okay.”

Miles shook his shoulders gently , trying to encourage Jiniraa to let go but she wouldn’t move. He murmured, “I’m fine.”

“Then why are your hands shaking?” Jiniraa whispered. Miles’ tensed under her touch as she saw how the dim light reflected off his glossy eyes. She tried to take his hands into her own, but he resisted. “Let me take the pain away.”

Miles froze at those words - the same ones she whimpered as she was bleeding out. Jiniraa gently grabbed Miles' chin beneath her long fingers, coaxing him to look at her. He resisted the gentle tug, roughly pulling his face away with a snarl, “don’t want to talk about it.”

“Okay,” Jiniraa yielded, slowly sliding back on the bed. Miles cursed himself for reacting as harshly as he had. He never got the thermostat fixed in the room, but that wasn’t the reason he was cold. No, without the warmth of her soft skin against him, Miles felt empty as he reverted back to old habits. Quaritch habits.

In reality, Jiniraa had grown a thick skin to Miles’ abrasive personality the longer she lived with the Recoms - she was undeterred by his snapping as she laid back down in the bed. She watched as Miles tried to sneak a glance over his shoulder, smirking as his tail jolted when he realized she was already watching - waiting - for him to finally break down those walls.

He was quick to cover his slight embarrassment with a lopsided smirk as he rolled his shoulders to emphasize the well-formed nature of his back and shoulders, “what? Like what you see?”

This time it was Jiniraa’s turn to remain silent as she returned his smirk with her own, waiting for him to huff and turn around. To finally give in and talk about it. It took two minutes of withholding her touch for him to turn. He held out a lot longer than she expected - even after she swatted his tail away from resting across her waist.

“Really gonna play this game?” Miles goaded.

“You told me to go back to bed,” Jiniraa argued back, “that is what I am doing? Is it not?” Jiniraa mockingly closed her eyes with raised eyebrows. Miles' eyes narrowed at her sarcastic action - she had a point, but he didn’t like it.

He hadn’t realized it before, but her presence was enough to bring him back to reality. His chest was no longer heaving to regain breaths. His skin was no longer clammy. His mind was at peace as her familiar touch and scent infiltrated his body in the most pleasurable way. The way she smiled in their mock argument just made him realize it. Fear wasn’t eating away at his chest anymore, not it was replaced with a familiar warmth. Her warmth.

With a heavy sigh, Miles stood before turning towards their shared Bridgehead bed. Jiniraa peeked one eye open in mild shock as it seemed like he was going to walk away, but once he turned back towards the bed she didn’t even try to hide her pleasure as she beamed towards him.

She expected him to collapse with his back against the bed and pull her into his chest, something he’d done countless times after the exhaustion finally hit after being in the field. When he was no longer in charge, he could just let it all go. All the stress of being the Colonel and he could just be Miles. What she didn’t expect was for him to crawl over the messy comforter and collapse face down on top of her, completely covering her body.

Miles was a furnace and he also outweighed Jiniraa by a hundred pounds or so, so having his weight on top of her was only comfortable for less than a minute. Miles groaned as Jiniraa swatted at his bare back. He burrowed his face further into the crook of her neck, “what, woman?”

“Heavy,” Jiniraa wheezed out. Did she make herself sound more out of breath than she actually was? Yes. Did it make Miles roll over just enough that she could breathe freely? Also, yes. “Do you want to talk now?”

“No,” Miles shook his head - as it remained buried in the crook of Jiniraa’s neck - stubborn as ever. He was enjoying the change of position. He let his guard down around her, even if he wasn’t sharing the details of his nightmare, this was pretty damn intimate for Miles Quaritch. “Just go to sleep. I’ll tell you about it later.”

She tried to protest at first, but Miles wasn’t having any of it as he slung an arm across her waist and hooked a leg over her hips, knowing the familiar weight was the quickest way to make her go back under. Jiniraa’s breathing settled out as she slowly fell back asleep.

Miles remained awake long after Jiniraa’s hand slowed to a halt against his back, unable to continue her comforting stroking in her unconscious state. He stayed still against her shoulder, watching as her bare chest rose and fell with each deep, even breath. He had to keep convincing himself she was alive as images of her bloodied and lifeless body flashed each time he closed his eyes. The corpse with his knife protruding from her chest.

●●●

Jiniraa had grown even more comfortable around the Recoms over the past two weeks, allowing herself to enjoy her time with them rather than simply tolerate it. The bond was for life, so she was stuck with Miles until the day one of them died. While she wanted nothing more than to return to her life in the forest indefinitely, there was a small nagging thought that Bridgehead could be her home for a while - their home for a while - so she may as well make the most of it.

Miles was a team-oriented guy and all of the Recoms were loyal to Quaritch before they were loyal to the RDA. They’d follow him to their graves.

Spider was a different story. He still wasn’t the biggest fan of Miles, but he stopped thinking of ways to try and kill the Colonel in his sleep after mating with Jiniraa. Jiniraa was sick of their ongoing resentment, so she forced her boys to compromise: Miles agreed to refrain from touching Jiniraa in public and Spider agreed to stop hiding Miles' miscellaneous items to get on his nerves.

Miles made sure to have a talk with his team to keep their relationship under wraps while at Bridgehead. That meant no jokes, no information in reports, and especially nothing to the General. The only people at Bridgehead who knew about Jiniraa and Miles were Renia and Bly - and only because Jiniraa told them. Miles was hesitant to even let them in, but Jiniraa insisted it would be okay. Renia was with Mansk and Bly definitely had something going on with Zdinarsk and Lopez.

“Jiniraa to Colonel,” Miles’ voice came through the earpiece firmly stuck in her ear. Although she hated the piece of technology at first, she found it somewhat useful at times like this when she was separated from Spider or Miles in Bridgehead.

“Yes, Miles?” Jiniraa answered, catching the attention of Lyle and Zdinarsk who were rolling their stiff muscles out after their workout a few feet away.

“What’s your location?” Miles' voice was tired. She could imagine him rubbing at his slack jaw.

“I’m in the gym with everyone.” There was a pause as Lyle began to stand up, slowly packing his stuff up as he already knew what was coming next.

“Have Wainfleet bring you to my office.”

“Office?” Jiniraa questioned. She’d never been there before, only hearing about the cold room when Miles complained about the General before they fell asleep.

“Yeah.” His voice softened at the end into a whisper as the conversation ended. “See you soon.”

When Jiniraa turned to ask Lyle to escort her, he was already standing in wait. Jiniraa’s privileges had grown significantly to the point where she could walk around certain sectors without company, but she’d never been in Miles’ office - he did his best to keep her out of that area even if she didn’t know it.

“What did the boss want, princess?” Lyle asked, groaning as he pulled his cut off over his sticky chest.

“He wants me to come to his office?” Jiniraa’s voice lifted at the end, growing increasingly confused as she tried to think of reasons Miles would want her to come to his office. Why didn’t he come looking for her himself? What could be so important that he would take her into arguably the most dangerous sector? What if the General or one of the RDA loyalists saw something?

Lyle shrugged at the hanging question before cocking his head towards the door. Jinraa waved to Spider, who was trying to learn something Prager called the ‘dragon pistol squat’. Although his relationship with Miles had a slight setback, Spider was the most comfortable around Prager and Lopez, always trying to get information or partake in crude jokes with them.

The walk towards the administrative area was relatively quiet. Lyle continued to glance over at Jiniraa as she took in the newer sights and sounds with a curious face.

Lyle glanced around as they turned the corner to a different corridor. He’d taken the long route towards the administrative wing to avoid as many people as possible. Shortly after mating with the Colonel, Jiniraa began wearing traditional Na’vi clothing both on top and bottom. Her quickly made bottom replaced the torn loose-fitting pants she donned before, but were made of the excess material. Spider’s collection of stones had been carved and tied in long strands to hook around her hips. She actually looked like a Na’vi now, not a weird half-Na’vi stuck in Bridgehead clothing or her non-traditional pants.

Lyle knew the Colonel almost better than Miles knew himself - the only way to describe the way his eye twitched when Bridgehead humans gawked at his mate was nothing but deadly. Until Miles settled down a bit, it would be better to just avoid the crowds. Plus, just because Jiniraa was more comfortable around the Recoms certainly did not equate to being comfortable around the humans. If anything, she’d become more comfortable at being flat out hostile with them, confidently baring her teeth and growling at them when she caught their invasive stares.

“So,” Lyle dragged out with a whistle. Jiniraa glanced up at the Corporal as he scratched the back of his neck. “How’re things with the boss? Honeymoon still goin’ strong?”

Jiniraa cocked her head to the side, “honeymoon?”

Lyle stumbled over his words, “yeah, you know, like married couples happy after they get married and everything. They normally go on some sort of trip, but you guys had a shotgun wedding I guess. No trip for you.”

“Shotgun wedding?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Lyle waved her away, not wanting to explain. He came to a sudden halt in front of a door - normal by their standards, but large by human standards. “Boss’ office.”

“Thank you, Lyle,” Jiniraa gave her appreciation in a quiet voice, slightly bowing her head. Lyle’s lip twitched once before spinning on his heel and heading in the direction they came from.

Jiniraa’s knuckles lightly tapped at the door in quick succession. She took a step back as she could hear shuffling from the other side begin immediately. Miles might’ve sounded drained and exhausted over the comm, but he looked worse than he sounded. His tiny ears were dropped down, his skin was dull and baggy around his eyes, brows were furrowed, lips chapped from constant biting and picking.

“Wainfleet really just drop you and run?” Miles gruffly asked as he looked both directions down the corridor, rolling his eyes as he found no sign of the bald headed sniper. In a quick and fluid motion, Miles reached forward and grabbed Jiniraa by the waist to pull her into his office. Even as the door closed behind them, he maintained contact as she took in the new room.

The office was overwhelmingly Miles. First of all, his scent was overpowering. There must’ve never been anyone else in here because it was all Jiniraa could smell. It was relatively bare in the decoration department. There was nothing hung on the walls, but a single printed photograph of the Deja Blue team sat next to an unopened frame buried beneath a pile of papers on the corner of his desk. With curious fingers, Jiniraa swiped the photo from the avalanche waiting to happen.

She recognized most of them. Some more than others. She bit her lip as she glanced at those who died in the forest on that fateful day all those months ago. Miles continued to study the changes in micro-expressions as Jiniraa softly sat the photograph on the top of the papers.

The atmosphere in the office became awkward as the silence hung between the pair. Miles’ thumb swiped at her waist once more before removing it to grab the photo himself. With a long breath he studied the faces of those who died already - twice. He led them to their deaths twice. It was only a matter of time before his nightmare became reality and all of the others died, too.

“What is it, Miles?” Jiniraa asked, leaning against the desk. Her fingers twitched as she wanted to reach out and comfort her mate, but after he lashed out at her earlier she hesitated. Miles cursed himself for allowing his old ways to affect the way he treated her.

“Nothing.” Walker. Brown. Fike. Zhang. Warren. “It’s nothing.”

“Your hands are shaking again.”

Miles scoffed, tossing the photograph back onto the desk. He turned his back on Jiniraa to study the wall. The picture floated to the ground, only for Jiniraa to pick it up with delicate hands before softly setting it back in its original place.

“Why did you ask Lyle to bring me here?” Jiniraa questioned, securing her curls back with her bone pin. Miles ignored her as he continued to brood into the wall.

“You wouldn’t have asked-”

“You’re going to die.” Miles blurted out.

Jiniraa was stunned as she replayed his statement three times over. Nope. That’s definitely what he said. You’re going to die. Her mouth opened and closed like a fish gasping for water as she tried to respond, but Miles beat her to it.

“You are going to die because of me, just like they did.”

“Miles, I do not understand.”

“Maybe not physically, but you know, like that culture shit. This isn’t your world. Bridgehead is a prison.”

“For you or for me?” Jiniraa probed as she tried to wrap her head around what he was saying.

“For us.” Miles finally turned to look at her. He almost expected to see that shell of a woman he found in the forest, but it was the exact opposite. She wasn’t angry or upset or anything like that. No. She warmly smiled up at him as he closed the distance between them. He traced her bottom lip with his rough thumb, “what you smilin’ at? I just told you you have a death sentence. I know you ain’t used to all the human stuff, but that isn’t good, sweetheart.”

“You said ‘us’. It means you know you cannot thrive here either. We cannot thrive here. You promised to get me out before, right? We are one now. Where I go, you go with.”

She was a beam of light after a long harsh winter, slowly melting away all the ice and snow. Bringing life back to the world. Bringing life back to Miles Quaritch. After leaving his most recent meeting with Adrmore, he spent an hour pacing the limited length of his office before finally caving and beckoning Jiniraa to him. He knew the only thing that would ease his anxieties was her.

“I guess you’re right.” Miles murmured as Jiniraa placed his hand on her chest and mirrored the motion on his own, laying their hands on the other's heart. As Miles blinked he saw that image of Jiniraa’s bloodied corpse with the knife protruding, but her warmth brought him back to reality. This was real. That was not. She was here.

“You can be a good man, Miles Quaritch,” Jiniraa began. Miles stiffly chucked at her accent when she attempted to use his last night. Her glare stopped it from swelling any further. “It will not be easy, but far lesser men have done far harder things.”

Miles scoffed at this, “you comparin’ me to Sully?”

“No. Toruk Makto is a mighty warrior who protected me and the People from the Sky People.” Jiniraa defended her Olo'eyktan. If only she knew where Jake was right now - hiding far away with strangers. At least the kids liked the ocean. Neytiri? Not as much.

“Yeah, yeah,” Miles dismissed, “guess the kid did that.”

“Ma Miles?” Jiniraa asked after a moment of silence.

“Yeah, baby?”

“What’s a shotgun wedding?”

Damn you, Lyle Wainfleet.

●●●

“Where are we going?” Jiniraa questioned as Miles pulled her through the familiar Recom designated halls of Bridgehead. It had been hours since supper and the skeleton crew of Bridgehead humans paid little attention to the pair as they snuck through the halls. Snuck in a loose sense - pretty hard to sneak around when you’re blue and double the size of most people. Regardless.

“It’s a surprise.” Miles smirked over his shoulder as he rolled them back, catching the way Jiniraa’s eyes flicked to the movement before returning to his face. “You are not sly. Sneakin’ glances?”

Jiniraa’s face burned - not embarrassed because she was shamelessly admiring her mate, but because of his teasing tone. It sent heat straight to the juncture between her legs. Miles knowing hum only made it worse.

It wasn’t necessarily a surprise as they passed through the airlock, but it was always nice to take a breath of actual Pandoran air instead of sipping that supplemental carbon they had to carry around. Jiniraa and Miles spent many hours outside, mostly over at the deserted shooting range to look at the stars. Miles could identify one constellation now, but he could recall the gist of half a dozen folklore stories surrounding the stars. As she shared the stories she heard in her youth, Miles always struggled to stay awake; not because he was bored - no, her voice was just that soothing. It was easier to just listen. Jiniraa didn’t seem to mind. He was bad at reading these stars anyway.

Jiniraa was confused when Miles made a left instead of a right. They were heading in the opposite direction of the shooting range, but his confident gait said not to question it. Her silent questions were answered as Miles summoned Cupcake with that whistle Jiniraa despised. She loved many things about Miles, but his ikran call was not one of them.

Miles greeted the ikran with a pat to the neck, instantly going to check the gear around its neck before forming the bond and mounting him with ease. Jiniraa admired how naturally the movement came to Miles now. If he wasn’t dressed in Sky People clothes and Cupcake didn’t have all that thick green gear on, he would almost look like a hunter. Almost. Maybe she’ll try to get him to grow his hair out a little. He is overdue for a haircut already and the slight curl was beginning to make an appearance.

“You gonna just stand there all night,” Miles mocked with an outstretched hand, “comin’ with?”

“Where are we going?” Jiniraa asked as she hopped up and settled down in front of Miles.

“Nowhere in particular.” Miles answered in a heavy voice as he pressed a quick sloppy kiss to the base of Jiniraa’s ears. While he liked burying his face into her hair, he did enjoy it when she pulled it back with that innovative little carved viperwolf bone. “Nighttime drive.”

So that’s what they did. A nighttime drive - Pandora style.

They laughed and joked as they flew above the trees. They sat in silence as the night drew on. They traced the bioluminescent freckles along their arms. They shared quick kisses here and there. They stayed wrapped in each others arms - the safety of their person.

It would be different in the morning. Everything would be different this time tomorrow, but that didn’t matter.

Right now? Right now it was just them as nothing else was of note. This was happening. This was now. It was real.

And it was beautiful. A dream come alive.

●●●

so it's been a while. sorry 'bout that. life has been crazy recently. very overwhelming and a lot to take in and deal with in such a short amount of time. this story was my escape from a lot of that, but i got very discouraged shortly after writing the last chapter. and honestly i contemplated wiping the story off every platform. thank you to everyone who sent in their kind words to encourage me to continue - even if i did not respond, i did see them.

so that combined with the stress and health issues i've been dealing with is what took this so long to come out. i do apologize for that, but i hope you enjoyed it. we're nearing the end btw. i expect another six or so chapters? no more than nine though based on what i have outlined right now. still playing around with how i want it to end end.

lots of love <3 please provide any feedback you have on how everything is going - good, bad, and neutral. please like, reblog, and/or comment to let me know what you think

taglist - let me know if you'd like to be added

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