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virgil-my-emo-son · 2 months

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Lavender and Rosemary

Dukeceit Week 2024 Day 3, Cats!

Dukeceit Week 2024 is run by @imnotgrimimjustagrumpyreaper ! Also tagging @dukeceitweek ! Day three!!!

This one is a bit heavier than yesterday, trigger warning, Remus is just coming out of a hypomanic episode. Nothing serious has happened except for him impulsively jumping in a river which I imagine to be the Ohio River because I grew up by the Ohio River and it scares me lol. Remus's experiences are heavily based on my own experiences with hypomania.

However it is still quite fluffy, more hurt comfort than anything focused on the actual hypomanic experience! Their dynamic is once again very heavily inspired by TMDORG by Grim!

Ao3

Remus hit Janus’s doorbell and shifted his weight from one foot to the other, hyper aware of the water dripping off of him and pooling by his feet.

Janus opened the door and looked him up and down. “It’s March.”

“Yeah.”

“You went swimming?”

Remus shrugged. “Yeah.”

Janus opened the door. “Come in.”

Remus came in. He’d never actually been to Janus’s apartment. While they’d been hanging out in the same small circle of six people since high school, Remus had never been as close with Janus as he had with the others.

Which is exactly why he’d tracked him down on the Find My iPhone app.

Remus had already made a promise in some manner or another to all their other friends that he’d tell them if he was having a hypomanic episode, no matter how brief. And he was scared to tell them that it had been four days, four days that he hadn’t talked to them, and he was finally beginning to crash.

Remus had been so immersed in his thoughts that didn’t even realize Janus had walked out of the room until he was walking back in with a towel and a matching fluffy robe.

“Here.” Janus held them out to him.

“Thanks.” Remus gave a small smile, then glanced around for the bathroom.

“That way.” Janus motioned his head to the left. Remus nodded and walked over to the door, which did indeed lead to a bathroom.

“Do you mind if I take a shower?”

“Not at all.” Janus offered a small smile.

“Thank you, Jan.”

“Of course.”

As Remus stood under the water he’d turned on so hot it was nearly burning his skin, he was thinking about what he’d say to Janus when he went back out. He ran through a few things in his mind before he decided he didn’t like any of them and that he’d just vibe it.

He looked for a moment at Janus’s assortment of colorful bottles on the corner ledge. He saw at least three which looked like some version of body wash, so he opened the top of each one and smelled them. He decided on a rosemary and lavender scented gel in an appropriately purple bottle.

He closed his eyes as he tilted his head back into the water, letting it wash the bubbles off his skin.

Remus slipped on the robe once he’d dried off. It was deep grey and soft, with a small snake emblem embroidered on the left breast.

Janus raised his eyebrows when Remus walked back out. “You look like a cooked lobster.”

“Do I?” Remus waggled his own eyebrows. “Good enough to eat?”

Janus rolled his eyes. “Sure.” He patted the couch beside him. “Sit.”

Remus climbed over the arm of the couch to sit where Janus had indicated, hugging his knees against his chest.

“Uncurl.”

Remus fixed him with a suspicious look. “Why should I?”

“Because I made you hot chocolate, and I’ll only give it to you if you open up and tell me what’s going on.”

Remus sighed, eyeing the black mug in Janus’s hand. He made a grabbing motion, and Janus handed it to him as he let his feet fall to the floor. He held it between his palms, looking down at the mini marshmallows.

“I had an episode. That’s why I was all wet, I had this impulsive thought to jump in the river.”

“The river?” Janus’s eyes widened. “The river’s gross. How did you not get eaten by a giant catfish or something?”

Remus shrugged. “Beats me. The water was so cold, though… it kinda snapped me out of my head. I was like, ‘what am I doing?’ Usually, I don’t have those sorta self-aware moments, but today… I guess it was just different.”

Janus only nodded, encouraging Remus to continue, so Remus continued.

“I don’t know, I told everyone I’d tell them if I needed anything, or if I got manic, or I suppose hypomanic. And I didn’t. And I was worried they’d get all mad at me, so I figured I’d go to the one person I hadn’t made that deal with.”

Janus nodded again. “I see. I’m really glad you came, Remus.” He gave a gentle smile. “I’m glad a catfish didn’t get you.”

Remus laughed. “I am too, Janus.”

“Do you want to talk more, or do you want to do something else?”

Remus considered for a moment. “I’m really tired… can I just have a pillow or something for the couch?”

“My bed’s a queen.” Janus tilted his head. “That’s definitely big enough for two.”

“Jan, I don’t want to encroach—”

“You’re not encroaching. I’m offering.”

Remus examined his face for a moment, looking for a hint of hesitation he couldn’t find. “Then, yes. I accept your offer.”

Janus smiled. “Come on.”

Remus trailed behind him into his bedroom, which was neat and tidy and yellow and black. It looked exactly like what Remus expected Janus’s bedroom to look like.

“Here, let me get you a T-shirt and some shorts, and I’ll brush my teeth, and we can get to sleep.”

Remus changed in the bedroom as Janus was in the bathroom. It all felt so domestic, getting changed from a robe into pajamas. Getting ready to sleep in a bed together.

Remus felt like he could get used to this.

Janus walked back in, pulling his long hair back into a ponytail and looking past him to the bed. “Get out of there, Python.”

Remus turned to see a dark grey cat leap off the bed, looking at him with wide yellow eyes before disappearing.

“Python? Like the snake?”

“Like the programming language.” Janus grinned. “You know I’m a STEM guy.”

“God, you are such a nerd.” Remus pulled back the grey striped comforter, getting into the left side of the bed while Janus climbed into the right.

“Can… how do you want to do this?” Janus asked.

“Um… I…” Remus swallowed. “Do you mind holding my hand?”

“All night?”

“You don’t have to.”

Janus’s hand found his, warm, stable, comforting. “Anything that will make you feel better.”

“Thank you.” Remus whispered as Janus’s other hand clicked off the bedside table light.

“Of course, Remus.” Janus whispered back into the darkness. “Do I smell… did you use my body wash? The lavender rosemary?”

“I did. I hope that’s—”

“Oh, it’s fine.” Janus squeezed his hand. “I don’t mind. Just was wondering.”

“Okay.” Remus squeezed back. “You always smell nice, I wanted to smell nice, too.”

“I smell nice, do I?”

“You do.” Remus scooted infinitesimally closer to him.

“Mm. Thank you.” Janus hummed, and Remus could’ve sworn he shifted a bit towards him, too.

#tw hypomanic episode #hypomanic #remus sanders #janus sanders #dukeceit fic #dukeceit #dukeceit week 2024 #dukeceitweek2024 #sanders sides #sanders sides fic #fic #hurt comfort

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daytaker · 4 months

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5. Othello

(Existing Sucks So) Let's All Be Shadows.

A Satan-centric Nightbringer Timeline Fic (Read on AO3)* *This combines Chapters 7 (Othello) & 8 (Cats & Curses) from AO3.

Chapter Starring: MC, Satan, Mammon Chapter Word Count: ~5.3k Chapter Warnings: Canon-typical violence, Wrath

“If you saw a drowning cat, and you reached out to help it, and it scratched you because it was scared and hurt and flailing around... Would you just let it drown?”

First Chapter | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter | Latest Chapter

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I woke up late the next day. After tossing and turning in bed, trying to get the memories of what Satan had told me out of my mind, I’d finally fallen into a fitful sleep about four in the morning.

I probably would have woken up even later, actually, if it hadn’t been for my D.D.D. ringing on the nightstand by the bed. Half-asleep, I fumbled for the device, and after a few messy attempts, I managed to answer.

“What’s the matter?” I muttered as a greeting, still half-asleep.

“What ain’t the matter!” Mammon’s voice boomed through the speaker. “Listen up, we need ya down here stat! Satan’s throwin’ a fit and Lucifer ain’t here to stop it!”

“What makes you think I can do anything about it?” I groaned as I rolled onto my back. Honestly, the last thing I needed right now was more of Satan’s issues to deal with.

“You ain’t one of us! He doesn’t wanna talk to his broth–” I could hear crashing in the background, and Mammon seemed to pull the speaker away from his mouth and shout, “COOL IT, WOULD YA? I’M TRYIN’ TO GET HELP!”

I rubbed my forehead, already exhausted, but I dutifully climbed out of bed and started getting out of my pajamas.

“Listen, just hurry over, alright?” Mammon had shifted gears and was talking to me again.

“Aye-aye, cap’n,” I sighed, and I hung up.

I stood in my underwear, resting my forearms on the dresser for a few seconds as I breathed. In, and out… In, and out… I could do this.

Half an hour later, I stood in the front hall of the House of Lamentation. Belphie came running up to me and practically collapsed in my arms. “What took you so long?” he whined into my stomach.

Deeper in the house, I could hear the rumbling and clattering of the house being slowly destroyed, one piece of furniture at a time.

“Where’s Lucifer?” I asked Belphie.

“He’s out sucking up to the future Demon King,” he told me, rolling his eyes. “Mammon’s trying to manage Satan on his own, but he’s doing about as terribly as you’d expect from him.”

“You’re all too hard on Mammon,” I sighed, setting my bag down against the wall and rolling up my sleeves. “It isn’t like any of the rest of you can handle him either.”

“Mammon’s the second-born,” argued Belphie petulantly, his voice tinged with an edge of whininess. “He’s supposed to be stronger than Satan. So is Levi, for that matter…”

I picked my bag up again, and Belphie followed me as I made my way deeper into the house. “What’s happening, exactly?” I asked.

“He’s been on a rampage since early this morning,” sighed the youngest.

“Why?”

“Nobody knows.” He shrugged. “Maybe he stepped on something when he got out of bed. Probably there’s no real reason.”

I nodded grimly. There was always a reason, though. Maybe not a great reason, maybe not an obvious immediate reason, but there was a reason. Yesterday taught me how little I knew about what’s really going on in his head.

“So what are you going to do?” Belphie asked. “Are you going to pull something like you did when you first got here? What was it you said… ‘Stay’?”

I grimaced inwardly. “Not if I can avoid it,” I replied. Lucifer would put me through the wringer if I did that again. “I brought something that might help snap him out of it.”

“Is it some sort of cursed artifact?” Belphie tilted his head. “Satan loves things like that.”

“No,”I said, “but that’s good thinking. I’ll stow that away for next time.”

We had arrived outside the door to the observatory, where the volume of the crashing and clattering inside made talking nearly impossible. I gestured to Belphie that I was going in, and he watched me with some trepidation as I opened the door and stepped into the room.

Inside the observatory, Satan and Mammon stood on opposite ends of the sofa, which looked as if it had been chewed up by a pack of hyenas. Mammon was clearly on the defensive, and he was gripping his left wrist with his right hand.

“You’re here!” Mammon exclaimed with relief as the door closed behind me. Satan’s eyes flashed in my direction, and he snarled in frustration.

“Why are you here?” He hurled a lamp across the room. I was amazed that there were still lamps in the house to be destroyed.

“I’m here because Mammon called me.”

Satan looked around the room with bloodshot eyes and snatched up the remains of a painting he’d already trashed. He looked like he was struggling to decide what to do with it. “I don’t want to see you right now.”

His voice was quiet, and tight, and quivering. It was tinged with rage but subdued as if smothered under a blanket of exhaustion. It was frightening.

“Mammon, is your wrist alright?” I asked him, not taking my eyes off of Satan.

Mammon seemed surprised at the question. Through my peripheral vision, I saw him look down at the wrist he was grasping, then back up at me.

“Uh, yeah. It ain’t nothing.”

“Go ask Beel to wrap it up.”

“Eh?” Mammon started, walking towards me. “No way! I ain’t gonna just leave you in here with–”

“Mammon.”

I turned and hit him full on with an entreating stare directly in his eyes. This might be a different time period, but I knew what I was capable of, with or without magic or pacts. Mammon quickly averted his eyes, but he stubbornly stayed where he was.

“...Please.”

He grumbled audibly, but I knew he’d relented. “...I’m stayin’ right by the door.”

I smiled at him gratefully, and as he headed to the door, I looked back at Satan. He was crushing the outside of the broken picture frame between his fingers.

The door latched shut, and an eerie silence descended on the room.

I set my bag down on the ground and folded my arms. Then I unfolded them again. It was probably best not to take a defensive posture.

“...Well?” Satan growled.

Today didn’t feel like yesterday.

Yesterday, I was powerless. Satan was under control and in control, calling the shots, standing in home territory. Today, he was off-balance. He evidently wasn’t expecting me, and he certainly hadn’t planned out any grim revelations to drop on me. As scary as it was to see him angry, it felt less threatening than whatever had happened the day before. I took comfort in that.

“Why are you angry?” I asked.

He snorted disdainfully as if I had just asked him an idiotic question. “I’m the Avatar of Wrath, or did you forget?”

I wasn’t about to let my question get obfuscated so easily. So I repeated myself.

“Why are you angry, Satan?”

“Don’t play stupid!” He finally threw the damaged painting into the ground, snapping the paneling. “Why did you tell Lucifer?” He stormed in my direction, dark energy circling the air around him like a hurricane. He almost walked through me; he surrounded me without quite touching me, somehow, his feet inches from mine when he stopped short, his face close enough to mine that I felt each heavy exhale on my skin. But he was on all sides; he was everywhere. It was his tail, I finally realized. His tail curled around me; never touching me, but putting me in a snare that might snap shut if I made any wrong moves.

“I didn’t tell Lucifer anything,” I responded coolly. I could feel hot irritation bubbling up inside me, but I swallowed it. The last thing the situation needed was for both of us to lose our tempers. “What, did he say something?”

“Just that I should watch who I talk to about family matters.” His eyes were blazing, and his quivering tail nicked me in the arm. I flinched. “You said you weren’t just loyal to him! You said you were my attendant too!”

“I didn’t tell Lucifer anything,” I repeated more vehemently. I couldn’t tell if this rage of his was rooted in jealousy or a sense of betrayal. “He probably just heard we had tea together from one of your brothers. Is that really what made you so angry? What else did he say?”

“It isn’t any of your damn business what he said!” His tail flicked, and he paced around me in tight semi-circles. “Why do you think I talked to you yesterday?”

“I’ve been trying to figure that out, and I haven’t yet,” I said, lowering my voice. “Satan, you scared me yesterday.”

“So you went to Lucifer.”

“So I went home!” I jabbed a finger in his chest. That stopped his relentless pacing, at least. “I went home, Satan, and I was miserable! I actually worry about you, you know!”

Satan’s tail recoiled before the rest of him could. He didn’t look convinced–in fact, he looked more suspicious than ever. But he was no longer quite so close, or quite so ready to lunge at any opening I might offer. His green eyes searched my face silently for a few seconds, then he spoke again.

“Why?”

Ah. There was the tricky part. Why indeed? I couldn’t exactly say, ‘Because I’m from the future and in that time I’ve developed a very close bond with you and your brothers, and I love and care for you, so seeing you in such obvious pain breaks my heart.’ And I didn’t think ‘because I’m your attendant’ would cut it this time either.

“If you saw a drowning cat,” I said, trying to choose my words carefully, “and you reached out to help it, and it scratched you because it was scared and hurt and flailing around. Would you just let it drown?”

I thought I was going to reach him with that. I thought that analogy would somehow click. What I didn’t expect was that Satan would look me straight in the face and respond by asking: “What’s a cat?”

I blinked at him. He stared back at me without blinking once. I considered rephrasing the scenario with a child as the drowning victim, but I was much less confident that Satan would feel like he would, in fact, want to save a child even if it was screaming and scratching at him.

I rubbed my face in my hands. “...Never mind, then. I just… I worry about you because you need someone to worry about you.”

“That’s a stupid reason.”

“You really want me to tell you that you’re right, and I don’t actually care, huh?” Satan didn’t say anything in response to that. He just looked at me as if challenging me to confirm that he’d nailed it. I couldn’t really tell if he was desperate for me to validate all the horrible thoughts he had about himself or if he was begging me to insist he had it all wrong.

Instead of following up my rhetorical question, I reached into my bag and pulled out a folded board and a box of black and white game tokens. I sat cross-legged on the floor, in an area with relatively little debris, opened the board, and patted the spot across from me.

Satan stared down at me for a few seconds before slowly walking over and sitting down across from me, hugging one knee.

“Do you know how to play Othello?” I asked.

He shook his head no.

The corner of my mouth quirked into a smile. Satan was the one who taught me the game. Now it was time for me to return the favor. Or was this paying it forward?

“It’s pretty simple. We start with four tokens in the middle like this…” I set up the board. “Then we take turns putting tokens on the board. One of us is white and the other is black. You try to surround your opponent’s tokens on two opposite sides, and you switch them to your color. If you can’t put any tokens in a flanking position, you skip your turn. And when the board is full, whoever has more tokens facing up is the winner.”

“It sounds boring,” mumbled Satan.

“Then it should be easy to beat me.”

“At least give me a few turns to figure out how it works. Then I’ll start beating you.”

For the next ten minutes, we sat more or less silently in the observatory, surrounded by wreckage as if the place had been hit by a bomb, carefully studying the board and placing our tokens.

I won the first game. It was the first time I’d ever beaten Satan at a game of Othello. It was also the last.

“I was still getting used to the game mechanics,” growled Satan as he cleared the board. He was annoyed, but not angry, and when he bested me in the next round, he looked hesitantly pleased.

“…You didn’t lose on purpose, did you?”

“Absolutely not. I play to win. You’re going down in the next round.”

That satisfied him. But he won the next round too. And the one after. I guess it was only to be expected. He was wickedly clever.

“Satan?” I asked as we cleared the board and set up for another game.

“Mm?”

“You never said why you had that talk with me yesterday.”

He fidgeted uncomfortably, turning one of the tokens over in his fingers a few times. Black, white, black white. “...I had to tell somebody .”

“Did you…?”

His tail snapped irritably against the floor beside him, knocking the board askew. I rearranged the tokens as he searched for words.

“Yes, I did.” He looked at the board like he was trying to set it on fire with his mind. “Now I know not to tell anybody else.”

“Why did you tell me? Yesterday, you said you wanted to tell me specifically. To see my reaction.”

“And I saw your reaction,” he snapped. His tail slammed the ground even harder. I paused, then started to rearrange the board again. “Now I know not to tell anybody else! I just said that!”

“Was there some sort of way you wanted me to react?”

“I don’t know. Stop asking me stupid questions. It’s making me angry.”

I obliged. Nothing good would come from pressing the issue when he was adamant he didn’t want to discuss it, and it was probably a useful skill for him to identify when he was starting to feel angry if he ever wanted to learn to control that emotion.

Satan had just wiped the floor with me for the fifth time when I looked up at the devastated room around us, then checked the time on my D.D.D. Lucifer was definitely going to expect me to help clean this up.

“...Hey, Satan. Let’s go to the library.”

“What…?”

“Your room is too empty.” I thought about how barren the space felt yesterday. “You should fill it with things you like.”

Satan stared blankly at me, then squinted slightly. “Are you mad that you keep losing?”

I laughed at that, and Satan blushed, scowling. “No. I was just thinking that I don’t want to be here when Lucifer gets back.” I nodded to our surroundings.

That was enough to convince him.

I put away Othello and led Satan to the observatory door. When I opened it, I felt a thump and heard a pained yelp on the other side. Mammon quickly darted out from behind the door, rubbing his nose.

“You coulda warned me you were gonna swing that thing open!” he whined. His gaze darted from me to Satan, then back to me again. “...What the hell did you do?”

“We played Othello,” I said, and my gaze shifted to his wrist, which appeared to be swelling. “I thought I told you to have Beel wrap that wrist for you.”

“And I thought I told you I was gonna wait right out here,” Mammon retorted. “What the hell is Othello, anyway?”

Satan impatiently sidestepped Mammon and continued down the hall. “Come on,” he called to me. Mammon looked at him over his shoulder, then looked back at me, his expression heartbreakingly puppy-like. “Now you’re goin’ somewhere with him?”

Leave it to Mammon to make me feel guilty. I put a hand on his shoulder. “I’ll be back in a couple of hours. I’ll check on your wrist then, but it had better be wrapped. Got it?”

Mammon let out an exaggerated sigh, but he nodded.

I patted his shoulder. “Good boy.”

“Don’t call me–”

“Are you coming or not?!” Satan’s voice called from up the hallway.

I gave Mammon an apologetic smile. “Later.”

“You better give me the full 'wounded soldier' treatment when ya get back, understand?” I nodded as I slung my bag over my shoulder and hurried down the hall. Mammon called after me, “I got injured in the line of duty, y’know!”

------

I wasn’t sure how we would be received when we entered the library with a wheelbarrow, but apparently, with Satan’s status as one of the Seven Rulers of the Underworld more or less accepted, he could get away with it. At any rate, the library staff seemed more at ease with the wheelbarrow than they had been last time Satan was here, carrying dozens of books piled one on top of the other in a single precarious stack.

I stood back and watched while Satan piloted the thing in and out of aisles, tossing books into the bed of the wheelbarrow one, two, five at a time. He was collecting quite eclectic material, too. Novels, spellbooks, medical tomes, astrological works, zoological and botanical indices, and, of course, dozens and dozens of books on curses.

Taking one at random, I perused the cover. “Book of Forbidden Spelles and Hexes,” I read out loud, glancing up at Satan with a raised eyebrow before opening it at random. “A curse to put upon thine enemy which shall in due time render him blinde and tooth-less, a wondrous revenge against sorcerers wielding ye Eville Eye.” Satan smirked to himself as he continued looking through the shelves, and I flipped to another page which was bookmarked. “Septinfermium. A curse of sevenfold agonies to befall thy adversary, amonge these being a scourge of boiles, loss of hair, perturbation of tongue, loss of vigour in the loines, a sickness of sweating, incontinence of bowels, and sanguinity of urine.” I closed the book and looked up at Satan, who appeared to be suppressing laughter. “If I read that right, you’re looking into a curse that’s going to make Lucifer pee blood, crap himself, and turn impotent?”

“That about sums it up, yes. Along with boils, balding, sweating, and stuttering.”

I tried to picture Lucifer under a curse like that, but I found that I simply couldn’t. “You’re actually going to do that?”

Satan turned to look at me, frowning. “You think I wouldn’t?”

“It’s not that, it’s more…” I hesitated. “...You don’t really think you’d get away with it, do you?”

“I don’t worry about whether or not I’ll get away with something.” He shrugged and looked back to the books on the shelf. “If I did, I’d never do anything. That said, that particular hex is extremely complicated and requires a good deal of preparation, so I don’t plan on attempting it just yet.”

Not just yet, hmm? “Why do you hate him so much? Lucifer, I mean.” I’d heard this question answered a few times, but never from this Satan.

He turned around to face me, yet another book in his hands. He stared down at it thoughtfully, opening it and flipping through the pages without really seeing anything.

“He pretends to be so incredibly responsible and put-together… He lords it over the rest of us. But the fact that I exist at all is proof of how flimsy his pretensions really are.” Satan slammed the book shut. “He’s a hypocrite, and he’s irresponsible enough to create an entire sentient being without any thought as to what kind of existence that being is going to have to endure.” His knuckles were turning white as he gripped the book and stared at its cover. “I never consented to my own creation. But he acts as if he’s done me an enormous favor by shoving me out into the world. Never mind it’s a world where we’re all social pariahs and just about the only emotion I can experience is a mind-numbing rage. And on top of all that, I'm made out of him. It's disgusting.”

Again, Satan was talking about his very existence as if it was a burden; something he would never have accepted if given the choice. It was stirring up all the unpleasantness of yesterday.

“You sound like you hate being alive.” I leaned forward a bit, taking a good look at him.

“I can’t say I love it.”

“Doesn’t anything make you happy?”

Satan smacked his palm lightly with the book in his hand, continuing to stare at it without seeing. “...Not really.”

I hadn’t actually anticipated that answer, so it hit me like a gut-punch. He sounded so earnest and resigned–not even sad, just resigned–that I instinctively raised a hand to reach out in his direction. But what was I supposed to do? Take his hand? Ruffle his hair? Gestures that felt like second nature in one sense seemed out of line here and now. My hand returned to my side, but I still couldn’t accept Satan’s response.

“...I’ll help you figure out how to feel happy,” I said after a lengthy silence. I clenched my fists and met his gaze when he glanced over his shoulder at me in surprise. “That’s a promise.”

Satan looked me up and down for a few quiet seconds before he cracked a bemused smile. “...You’re a really strange demon.”

“Mhm, like you’re one to talk.” I smiled impishly at him, trying to hide how dry my mouth felt. It was strange, but somehow, he looked a little bit different from this angle. Not soft, but softer. It made me want to touch his face.

I didn’t, of course.

Over the next half hour, while Satan kept adding more and more books to the wheelbarrow, I considered my self-assigned task: find something to make Satan happy. Of course, there was an obvious course of action that wasn’t lost on me. I had to introduce this man to cats.

“Are we heading home, then?” I asked Satan as I pushed the wheelbarrow out the library doors. As much as I cared for the guy, I could never accuse him of being too conscientious, and he seemed to consider it a given that his attendant would be the one to roll a few hundred pounds of books along for him.

“What, so Lucifer can lecture me on things I already know?”

I set down the handles to the wheelbarrow and looked at him with what I hoped was a withering gaze. “If you think I’m going to push this thing all around the Devildom, I have some news for you.”

“I’ll buy you ice cream.”

“You’ll have to do better than that.”

Satan looked around as we walked, clicking his tongue as he thought. “I’ll buy you dinner?”

I’ll admit, that idea appealed to me just a little bit more. But now that this had started, I didn’t want to fold without seeing what my options might be. “Dinner from where?” He sighed tiredly, and I slowed down. “It looks like we’re coming to a hill. I’m going to need some real motivation to tackle this.”

“Alright, stop whining,” Satan snapped. He elbowed me aside and took the handles of the wheelbarrow himself before barreling up the incline.

“Oh– hey!” I pursued him, crestfallen. “Wait, does this mean you take it all back?”

“Maybe,” grunted Satan as he pushed the thing forward. “Are you disappointed?”

“A little,” I admitted. I could see him smirk out of the corner of my eye. “Are you laughing at me?”

“Yes,” he replied without any concern. “You shouldn’t test me like that when you have such a sorry poker face.”

I sighed, and he laughed. It was a nice sound. I hadn’t heard it much lately. Not a genuine laugh, at least. So in spite of myself, I smiled.

“Whatever,” he said with a soft sigh as we reached the top of the slope. “I’ll still buy you ice cream, at any rate. Maybe if we can find a table we can play that black-and-white game again.”

“Othello,” I reminded him. “Sure, if you want.”

He seemed to have a place in mind already, so I was content to follow after him until we reached the ice cream vendor.

“I would like to order a double scoop of stewed hell ham with salamander gizzards.” Satan’s voice when ordering was almost painfully formal. He glanced over at me. “What do you want?”

Now, I have to be honest. I’ve never gotten used to Devildom ice cream. I’ve learned to look past the ingredients in most meals, but there’s something so inherently unappealing to a human about “hell newt ice cream” or “demon squid ink sorbet” that I can’t really get past it. Fortunately, most places sell a flavor called blood anise, which is probably the Devildom’s equivalent to human world vanilla, and although it isn’t fantastic, it mostly just tastes like frozen licorice.

“I’ll just have a scoop of blood anise,” I told Satan.

“Any hell beetles to top it off?” cut in the vendor.

“No thanks, just blood anise.”

“No extra charge for stewed toad sauce.”

“I’m fine, thank you.”

“We’re having a special discount on black and yellow bile chunks—”

“Are you deaf? Just blood anise!” Satan thundered. For a second I thought he was going to grab the vendor by his collar and shake him, but he seemed to regain control of himself before it came to that. The vendor looked like he’d been shaken though, and he ducked into the stall to prepare the order.

Satan stood with his arms crossed, lips tight, scowling down at the wheelbarrow. He almost looked…embarrassed. When the ice cream was ready, he paid without speaking and carried both cups to an outdoor bistro table, leaving me to roll the books along after him.

“…Was I scary?” he asked me as I set up the Othello board.

“Hm?” I looked up at him questioningly.

Satan dragged a hand down his face, exhaled as if this required all his stores of patience, and spoke lowly. “…That demon who sold us the ice cream. He looked terrified.”

“Oh…” I glanced back at the ice cream stand and Satan snapped his fingers in my ear, startling me back into facing him.

“Stop, don’t look at him!” he hissed.

“You want to know if you were too scary?”

Satan hesitated, tapping the table with one of the game tokens. “…Did I embarrass you?”

I hadn’t expected him to approach the issue from that angle. I shook my head and swallowed a smile. “No. You look like you embarrassed yourself, though.”

Satan’s cheeks, already a little pink, darkened in color as he grabbed his spoon and shoveled a mouthful of frozen stewed hell ham with toad spleens or whatever it was into his mouth. Whoever came up with meat-flavored ice cream deserved whatever horrible thing they inevitably had coming, I decided as my stomach churned.

“It isn’t that big of a deal,” I continued after a sullen silence on Satan’s end. “You didn’t actually hurt him.”

“Right?” Satan glared down at his ice cream with the same amount of loathing that I felt for it. “And he shouldn’t have been pushy about toppings in the first place. It’s his fault.”

With that out of the way, he placed his token on the board, and the subject was dropped.

We were around halfway through the game when I noticed Satan looking distracted. He kept glancing at something behind me, and when I turned around to look, I saw a tawny cat peeking out from between two buildings. I couldn’t believe my luck.

“Are you looking at that animal?” I asked, looking back at Satan.

“Yes,” he answered. “It looks comfortable in a very uncomfortable place.”

“That’s a cat,” I told him. There was something deeply sad about the fact that Satan was aware of things like hexes, and bowel incontinence, and impotence, but not cats–though it did make some sense. Satan had a natural curiosity for all things esoteric, and he was the owner of a body with anatomy that, presumably, made bowel incontinence and impotence things he might have had some personal experience with, or at least a conceptual understanding about. I didn’t know. I wasn’t in a position to judge. But since cats weren’t animals used in Devildom cuisine, there wasn’t really any reason for Satan to have heard of them before, especially considering he had never even left the Demon King’s castle until a few weeks earlier.

“A cat… The thing you talked about drowning?”

Of course Satan had remembered that bit of what I’d said back in the observatory.

“No–no, not really, I wasn’t actually talking about any real cats,” I insisted. Satan looked at me with what I could only describe as general disapproval. “...I’ve never hurt any cats!”

“You scared it,” Satan informed me with a frown. I turned around to look, and, indeed, the cat was no longer there. It had probably darted back between the buildings.

“How do you know I scared it? Maybe it just got bored!” I didn't like how this interaction was painting me as some sort of cat abuser.

“You shouldn’t be so loud,” Satan said coldly.

“That’s rich, coming from you,” I huffed.

Satan continued to stare at the spot where the cat had been. “I like how its ears looked. They were very triangular.”

My irritation softened a little bit. “You should keep an eye out,” I told him. “Cats aren’t uncommon in the Devildom, though they can be a little wary of people.”

Satan nodded. His interest in the board game in front of us had clearly petered out. “...Are you going to complain about rolling the books back down the hill as much as you complained about rolling them up?”

“Back down the hill?” I asked warily. That just sounded like a disaster waiting to happen.

Satan nodded. “I need to return to the library to find reading material on cats.”

“Can’t we bring these to the House of Lamentation first, then go get cat books?”

“As if Lucifer would let me leave once I show up.”

I couldn’t argue with that. “Well, then, why don’t I take these books to the house, and you can go to the library on your own for…cat research materials.”

Satan was still staring at the now vacant spot where the cat had been. He was frowning. “You need to check on Mammon?”

Actually, it wasn’t until he said it that I remembered I’d promised to check back in on the second oldest. A surge of guilt pooled in my belly. “I just don’t think rolling a wheelbarrow full of books down a hill sounds like a scenario with a happy ending,” I said.

Satan sighed. Apparently he saw the justice in my words, because he looked a little less resentful and a little more resigned when he nodded. “Fine. If Lucifer asks where I am, tell him you don’t know, but I said something about visiting an alchemist’s shop.”

“You had that loaded and ready, huh?”

“Of course. Don’t clean that up yet.” Satan stopped me as I stood and reached out to clear the Othello board. “Let’s finish the game.”

I sank back into my seat and cracked my knuckles. “Are you ready to lose?” I asked.

I lost.

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toastess-with-the-mostess · 8 months

Text

Let's Rewind! Toast watches Voltron: Defender of The Universe (1984)

Season 1, Episode 19: The Buried Castle Season 2: Episode 20: Pidge's Home Planet

Episode 19: The Buried Castle iirc this is the one where Pidge acts like a big brother to a group of kids, very cute episode

3 little kids are walking through the woods and find an abandoned castle after feeling a quake, obvs they must explore it because they're explorers, so they run for it already I'm questioning why they're even in the forest in the first place, have your parents taught you rugrats NOTHING?

The team saw it too through castle monitors, apparently it just came out of nowhere which is never a good sign There's a legend attached to it though, about a war long ago where people fought over its abandoned treasure but ended up destroying so much shit that the kings of the nearby kingdoms buried it because they couldn't destroy it Weird castle, no wonder people acted stupid for it

Pidge and Lance banter over whether going there is a good idea, your honor they're so sibling coded I love them and their dynamic so much

Pidge is allowed to go explore for treasure lol except Allura tells him to bring a mouse in case of trouble this is what we call foreshadowing people doivsdv

He ends up meeting the kids who are thoroughly freaked out in the forest and mistake him for a monster before he recruits them to help find the treasure Pidge ily but that is so dangerous for little kids, these guys are younger than you, and you're like 12 tops

Haggar and her cat appear, as per usual, and she messes with the little girl, Morgan, by casting a spell to have a hand grab at her from underground only for it to be a stick when Pidge gets it off her As expected, twas a trap, but also Pidge don't be so rude to the girl, she's scared out of her mind already

They get in and find a room with a treasure chest and stuff their pockets full of gems or whatever else was in it my first thought was that it was going to be a mimic, but no just shiny gems lol

Plot twist, not gems, they're actually snakes and toads, and the group only finds out after Pidge sees the cat and tries to lead the kids to the exit only to get locked in oh, also the room is spinning, and more hands lock the kids in place until they're trapped inside a huge bell still upside down The mouse comes in handy, and he's off to get some help

After Allura tells the team Pidge is trapped with some kids Keith is going worried mother hen on him and tries to radio in, to no avail how cute, I'm glad we get some found family moments

Oops, Haggar knew they were coming and as they approached the door she threw a skeleton army at them that apparently can rebuild themselves is that an ancient greek myth reference?

Keith lets the other three run inside while he shoots at the skeletons but they get trapped in the same bell anyway, then Haggar calls a robeast to LIFT THE CASTLE OUT OF THE GROUND AND TAKE IT TO DOOM this episode is so wild oh my god, also there was an animation error with Hunks sleeves in the bell, they were cut short!

Keith was on the castle when it got pulled out and decides to climb the tethers to stop the robeast himself Dude,, thats so dumb what the fuck

Some drule fighters get sent out and start shooting at him which makes him fall but obvs he's got mc protection so he lands on one of the fighters AND BREAKS IN TO CRASH LAND IT TO BLACK Keith what the actual fuck, task failed successfully

The castle is cut loose AND CRASHES ONTO ARUS SOMEHOW NOT KILLING EVERYONE IN THE BELL look i know this is a sci-fi show but no way is that believable in this setting either

Voltron forms up AND APPARENTLY HAS NUNCHUCKS?? HELLO?? NO WONDER NOBODY CAN DEFEAT THE GUY HE HAS AN ARMORY AT HIS DISPOSAL

After the robeast is defeated Pidge is training the kids like soldiers and Lance calls him out on there being no training for being a treasure hunter

Lance: besides there's no such thing as real treasure kid 1: that's not true we found a real treasure in Pidge! IFVNSODV THAT'S SO CUTE OMG

/episode end

Episode 20: Pidge's Home Planet Ah shit, the episode I was dreading and the reason why I hate Coran so much

Starting off with coronation talk! Allura obvs is next in line for the throne and nanny talks about the crown her father and his father before him wore at their coronation I like to think Allura isn't the only girl who gets crowned as ruling monarch but this is a big deal!

ofc there's talk of marriage before she does and Nanny refers to the boys as "things" she needs to let go, so she can settle down and be a proper princess/queen AND PROCEEDS TO BE THE MOST CLASSIST BITCH IN EXISTENCE how fucking rude, I refuse to respect this woman ever

Jfc,, Nanny says that if they don't leave after Allura gets married/Voltron isn't needed anymore then they can be her guards that do nothing but answer to her every whim, and then Coran tries to say it's not them forcing marriage on Allura it's the Arusian populations what a fucking joke, how can they treat their literal heroes like they're space bums as Hunk put it

Hell yeah, the boys stormed about because of the treatment, except they go do some scans of space and Pidge finds out his home planet, Balto, is getting hit by some pretty big missiles This kid is like 12 tops dude,, that's gotta be a tough sight

OOOH MY BLOOD IS ON FIRE, the boys are starting to rush to go give Balto some aid but apparently Allura Coran and Nanny know and decided TO BRING THE FUCKING GUARDS INTO IT AND CORAN PUTS THE TEAM ON HOUSE ARREST AFTER THEY REFUSE TO STAY ON ARUS Their reason is that they're afraid Arus will be left defenseless and normally that'd be fine EXCEPT FOR THE FACT THAT THEY'VE GONE OFF PLANET MULTIPLE TIMES BEFORE

Pidge isn't having it and starts beating up the guards, the boys follow suit before rushing to the lions, except Allura starts sobbing and begging Keith that they need to stay like it's not that I don't understand her worry because it's a fair thing to fear EXCEPT YOU'RE WILLING TO LET A PLANET BE DESTROYED? EVEN MORE SO THAT IT'S ONE OF MY PLANET'S OWN SAVIORS HOME?? FUCK COMPLETELY OFF

Coran: I can't blame them for going, let's give them a proper send off (PROCEEDS TO SHOOT ALL THE CASTLES WEAPONS AT THE LIONS TO STOP THEM FROM LEAVING ATMOSPHERE) ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME, THIS IS WHY CORAN IS ON MY HITLIST

Lance: Beneath that hard shell there beats a heart... a heart of solid granite GET HIS ASS MCCLAIN

Of course those assholes were right and Zarkon planned Balto's attack as a distraction for the team, so he can conquer Arus, Lotor gets sent to make sure the boys can't teamwork their way out of danger I want to bite into a block of wood holy shit, this episode is bringing up all the damn rage

The team gets to Balto, Keith and hunk tell pidge to steel himself which is sweet of them, and the first thing they see is decimation, Lance says that everything is wiped out but Pidge argues that they don't know that my poor boy, he shouldn't be out there, but he's part of the only team who can even do anything

Oh god, the team finds Pidge's hometown and Pidge can't even recognize it, everyone is starting to tear up now, especially Pidge who's trying to be strong as he goes down to search for anyone, to no avail Pidge says his people got off planet in time, but I refuse to believe that especially if the attacks came out of nowhere which they most likely did

Lance gets really sentimental about Pidge's culture and civilization being turned to dust in just a day before Lotor attacks and sends them to their lions He's always been my second favorite and these small pieces of dialogue are part of the reason why

Lotor sends out a robeast and starts absolutely kicking the teams' ass, apparently Keith and Allura have a telepathic link because he asks for her help because they're a team, and she finally realizes that he's right, so she rushes off to do the right thing About fucking time princess, I don't think Pidge will ever trust you again though

As she gets there the boys are still getting beat up but they're fighting hard for Balto, Lance digs his way towards a volcano and sets the bitch off to give the team time to regroup and finally see allura again to form Voltron and as always the fight is won, but not without a major loss

The team has to fly off planet asap because the fight destabilized it so much it starts to break apart My heart hurts, the entire team is sobbing, and Pidge can only whisper for his home

Lance sympathizes with him, his own home had been destroyed, even if it wasn't a planet wide destruction like Pidge's He's definitely going to look after Pidge a lot more after this, brotherhood to the max

The planet finally explodes, Pidge cries for not being able to see his house one last time, his family apparently was off world, so he doesn't even know where they are either Iirc Pidge and his twin were adopted, so I wouldn't be surprised if they were off visiting some place, and his twin is part of the vehicle force while I'll cover after dotu

Allura tells him she's going to make him an Arusian citizen in response to not having a home anymore which he accepts, and they make their way back to Arus for a banquet in honor of his new citizenship It's a sweet gesture and definitely appropriate but christ, this kid lost him home right in front of his eyes, he seems ok at the end of the episode, but nobody would be after that

/episode end

#voltron #voltron dotu #voltron defender of the universe #80s voltron #let's rewind!#toast talks #im sniffling over here man #i cant watch ep 20 without tearing up for Pidge #so little yet he fits so much angst

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yourstarforevermore · 3 months

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((Yooo!! This rp blog is really cool, and ashfjfhs I apologize for this prompt because I am also. Rusty as fuck in rp, it’s been Years))

It’s been mere hours since the nautiloid crash. The smell of acrid rot festers in the air around the ship of machine and flesh. Yet, there is hope- the survivors have found each other amidst the storm of goblins and nearby tomb raiders. The camp they’ve built is like their own little pocket universe of peace. Well- if you ignore the eerily silent skeleton staring at the river like it owed him coin.

Of all of Astarion’s new companions, Max is the strangest. Though, it is difficult to find an adjective to really describe his appearance. He’s a trans man, though gender is pretty fluid for faelings- a term coined by ages past to stand in for the lack of, or in Max’s case, abundance of species his kind can be at once. For the most part he’s a humanoid, with fair elven looks. But his doe brown eyes reflect light like an animal’s. His teeth are just too sharp to be normal, giving him a cute little pout of an overbite not dissimilar to Astarion himself. Moreover, his hands are clawed, his tail bearing the same color as his short black curls that extend down the back of his neck in a little fluffy mane that follows his spine. He’s only 5’4”, making it easy to climb up in a tree and go unnoticed to participate in his favorite activity: people watching.

And currently, his cat-like eyes are following Astarion.

･｡ﾟ ──────── ･｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ─────── ☆ﾟ.

Astarion was once again on the hunt for prey. Prey in which he hoped to satiate his own ever-nagging blood thirst. Thankfully, the forest was brimming with all forms of life forms he could so greedily snack upon, centuries of being locked away eating nothing but rotting rats had caused him to grow ravenous in regards to the amount and kind of meals he could sink his teeth into. He was a predator of the night, his ever-so-vigilant eyes observing for any small movement in the darkened forest, it was almost eerie to be hunting in the dead of the night but not for this particular vampire.

It was the subtle rustle of leaves that suddenly alerted him, his head turning back to see just what was making that very noise. An animal no doubt, at least that's what he thought, an animal he could so easily catch with his own bare hands. As long as he didn’t have to ruin a nail. He moved closer towards the source of the sound and yet he found nothing, he couldn't even hear the gentle rustle of leaves the unknown creature was making beforehand. Yet still, be knew there was something in the forest with him, and he was going to find out exactly what the something is.

It was the slightest sound of a branch cracking which caused him to immediately throw his dagger upwards toward a nearby tree. He had found exactly where the sound was coming from and he’d be damned if he didn't get to eat something tonight. However, he was stunned speechless for a moment upon realizing the creature he was attempting to hunt, his eyes widening upon seeing a familiar frame stalking in the shadows.

“Max!”

He yelled out, practically scaring off whatever forest critter that could have been lurking around at this hour of the night.

“Bloody hells, what are you doing up there? Actually- how did you get up there? Gods, I nearly killed you, get down from there will you, darling.”

･｡ﾟ ──────── ･｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ─────── ☆ﾟ.

((Glad you find it cool btw <3 no worries if you’re rusty as well!! Just have fun!!))

･｡ﾟ ──────── ･｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ─────── ☆ﾟ.

#baldurs gate 3 #bg3 #astarion #bg3 astarion #askastarion

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ehcahache · 1 year

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Tumblr seems severely drunk so, as I lost the original post where I published the bit of the new chapter, I'm bringing it here and I'll fight with this app tomorrow

The next morning, Carlos is the first to be up. He checks the few notifications he has and gets up to go to the bathroom. When he leaves it, after doing his routine, he notices that Lando is still sleeping, all curled up in himself, on his hoodie.

He couldn't do another thing than stop everything and take a picture of him and send it to their little group chat with a silly caption.

Carlos had never been a cat person, and maybe his opinion right now was biased, but he wasn't finding the experience as hard as he thought it would be. Not that he didn't have knowledge of how taking care of an animal (it was worldwide known that he had Piñón, Olli and more dogs waiting for him in Madrid), but cats were always a big 'No' for him.

Now that he had started getting ready in his teamwear though, he didn't know what to do with Lando. Cats weren't allowed in the paddock, it was slightly raining and Lando was still sleeping. Did he had to take the cat in his backpack and wake him or just let him sleep in and relax in his room? Well, Lando wasn't going to be relaxing that much in his room alone but...

A message got him out of his train of thoughts, Caco and Rupert were already in the lobby, waiting for him to go to the circuit. In a rush, he took his backpack and left behind Lando, who was just now waking up.

Still confused as his second time waking up as a cat, he didn't understand where Carlos was going. It wasn't until he looked his surroundings and realised he wasn't at home and that Carlos had left him alone.

Running and jumping, he achieved to open the door, scaring a hotel worker who was about to enter in Carlos' room. He didn't stop until he reached the elevator, where Carlos was standing. Lando watched how his expression changed as the doors closed.

"Lando, no!"

Lando didn't got inside in time, crashing against the elevator doors really hard. It didn't stop him though, he turned as rapidly as he had done at first and ran down the hotel stairs. If he tripped with his own legs and went down some steps no one had to know. He got to the lobby just in time, at the same moment as Carlos was being pushed outside by Caco.

The relief could be seen on the racing driver's face as he felt some claws climbing his body. Lando had ran all across the room and jumped at Carlos, ending in his right shoulder, with his hands wrapped around his body.

"¡Carlos! ¿Qué hace aquí el gato? ¡Lo ibas a dejar arriba!"

The Spaniard ignored his cousin and, with Lando in his hands, walked away to a more private corner. There he crouched and put the cat in the ground.

"Lando, cabrón, what are you doing here? You can't go into the paddock, this isn't Imola. You need to..."

Lando, who hadn't had time to fully wake up before starting to run behind Carlos, was starting to feel what breaking his morning routine did to him. The adrenaline of the rush was disappearing from his body, resulting in feeling his very much full bladder. And God knows he tried to listen to Carlos and his rant, but he just couldn't. He looked around and he saw his salvation: a whole stack of high bushes. He ran right after seeing them, not caring enough to stay or try say something to his friend.

Carlos was trying to understand what the hell was Lando doing, he even yelled "Oh, come on! Can't you just listen to me one minute?" He was about to leave when then he realised that if he lost him, he was losing his best friend. A completely independent human, sometimes a bit stupid but still. It was not one of his pets who he knew that they'll come back no matter what. It was Lando who had just ran away without saying anything, who had just been a cat for less than 3 days and who was probably one of the most important person in his life. Carlos stood for five seconds before starting following Lando, who had already disappeared behind the bushes.

"Hey, please! I can't scream your name! Do something to tell me you're there!" Carlos started walking along the bushes, trying to find the cat. He heard then a loud meow. "Okey then, are you please coming back?" Another meow. "Oh fuck, yeah I don't understand you. Ehh... One for yes, two for no?" Asked more for himself than for Lando. After what for him was a long moment he heard then a meow. "Are you coming out or..?" Carlos had to wait for Lando about 2 minutes, standing awkwardly, seeing how Caco was a few meters far from them, watching him angrily.

As Lando got out of the bushes, Carlos picked him up and started running to their car, ignoring Caco's disappointed face.

#lij #Carlando fanfiction

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backtothestart02 · 8 months

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Death by Design - 5/? | westallen fanfiction

A/N: Probably no update again till Friday, so enjoy this one!

...

Chapter 5 -

Iris arranged for Wally to be at Jesse’s house that evening, not knowing her dad’s situation before leaving ahead of time. She left a note for her dad, implying that Wally had begged and pleaded to spend time with his friend, but she doubted he’d see it if he was drunk out of his mind anyway. He had told her he’d get help after the plane incident, but she’d heard that before. Interventions with him tended to lead nowhere for long. She was glad Tess, Jesse’s mother, had agreed to babysit for the evening. Iris would pick up Wally when she was done with Barry anyway. Hopefully, it wouldn’t take too long.

When she snuck out of the house around nine and found Barry at the end of her driveway, she stopped in her tracks, her stomach flipping inside her. Butterflies. Those damn things had been with her whenever she thought of him since the plane crash, and not just because any of his intense emotions seemed to be with her too.

She liked him, and had said as much that afternoon. She didn’t know where that left them. She still didn’t know how he felt. But using a trip to the morgue in the middle of the night to feel them out was certainly one way to do it.

“I thought you were going to meet me there,” she whispered when she got to the edge of her driveway.

Barry shrugged and started to walk down the block, her in tow.

“I thought we could walk there together.” He shoved his hands into his pockets. “And that maybe you wouldn’t want to walk in the dark alone at night?”

The wings of a few butterflies fluttered again inside her.

“That’s mighty chivalrous of you,” she commented, and she could’ve sworn he blushed, but he turned away before she could catch his eye.

They walked in silence the rest of the way, since it was only a few blocks, but they brushed against each other occasionally as they walked, and Iris couldn’t fight the grin on her face.

“There it is,” she said, coming to a stop at the last intersection.

They looked both ways and then crossed the street.

“So, how do we get in?” Barry asked, looking to her for guidance.

She smirked and looked up.

Barry’s eyes bulged.

“The roof? You’ve gotta be kidding me.”

“There’s a ladder on the back side of the building, and a removable glass window in the roof. I used to climb in that way when my mom worked her late-night shifts.”

“You what?” Barry shrieked.

Iris skipped ahead and smiled over her shoulder.

“Don’t be such a scaredy-cat. It’s easy-peasy. Unless you’re afraid of heights.”

Barry scoffed.

“I’m not afraid of- Hey, wait up!”

Iris giggled and circled ‘round the back of the building. Barry’s long legs got him there shortly too, and he helped her move the ladder to where she pointed it should go. In no time at all, they were both on the low roof and walking over to the stained-glass window on the far side. The streets were dead silent, and there appeared to be no one in the vicinity. Maybe no one was even working in the building they were currently breaking into. Wouldn’t that be convenient?

Iris successfully pulled the window open and removed it from its slot on the roof. Beneath them they could see the main room of the funeral home portion of the building. An empty open casket lay directly beneath them. One quick drop and Iris was standing inside it. Barry took a little longer, and Iris lifted her hands up to assist him, keeping her comments that he might be a teensy bit scared to herself. In the process though her hands brushed his butt, and she immediately removed them, her face burning hot.

Instead, she cleared her throat when he dropped into the casket beside her, and he turned to face her.

“What?”

“Gives me a rush,” she said, licking her lips.

His eyes were glued to the movement of her tongue, but when he opened his mouth all his suave went right out the window.

“This place?”

She chuckled and shook her head, jumping down onto the floor.

“Doing something I’m not supposed to.”

That was only a half-truth. But he didn’t need to know the reason she’d had to break some rules in the past. That was a little too much information. Even with all the butterflies.

She held out her hand to him, and he took it, then jumped down. Reluctantly, they detached on their way out of the room and quietly made their way down the hallway, lit only by the moonlight from higher up glass windows fitted to the adjoining rooms. They stopped in front of a closed door where the light underneath it was stronger than the other ones. Pushing lightly together, the door opened, and inside, sure enough, was Cisco’s dead body on an extended table, all of him covered up but his recently made-up face.

“Is that…?” Iris ventured.

Barry nodded.

“But he looks so…so…”

“Not like himself, I’m guessing,” Iris concluded. “I asked my mom once why people don’t look like they did when they were alive at funeral homes. Something about decomposition starting the moment someone’s died. They have to use all this stuff to make people look presentable, even days after they’ve died.”

“Jesus,” Barry muttered, covering his mouth. “So I guess that means he’s really…he’s really…”

“Dead,” Iris and another voice said.

Before Barry or Iris could conclude who that other voice had been, because it didn’t sound like Cisco’s, Cisco’s far arm jolted upward, making the two both jump back and into each other’s arms, hearts racing.

Iris’ instinct was to look up to see just how close she was to Barry’s face, even though how tight his arms were wrapped around her body told her she was close enough. She could hardly process it all though because a tall man, suited in a lab coat, came in through a partially opened door on the other side of the room, laughing.

The mortician.

Barry and Iris relaxed slightly and slowly detached from each other again, though Barry didn’t move an inch from Iris, his body still brushing hers, and Iris didn’t move either, feeling slightly more protected just with his jacket touching her skin.

“Why’d his hand do that?” Barry asked.

“Chemicals,” Iris and the mortician said simultaneously, as the information Iris’ mother had once told her came flooding back. She smiled weakly and let the mortician continue.

“In the vascular,” he paused. “Flush to create cadaveric spasms.”

The two teenagers gulped.

“Look,” Barry began. “I’m uh…I’m just his friend, and I-”

“I know who you are,” the mortician said ominously, looking him dead in his eyes. Iris looked back and forth between the two, unnerved.

“What are all those tiny marks?” she asked, looking back down at Cisco’s body, his neck specifically.

“Cuticle lacerations from pulling at the wire,” he said matter-of-factly.

“Pulling at the wire?” Barry’s eyes widened.

“Mhmm.”

“If he was pulling at the wire, he wasn’t trying to kill himself. It was an accident.”

“In death, there are no accidents, no coincidences, no mishaps, and…no escapes.” The mortician looked back down at the body. “What you have to realize is that we’re all just a mouse that a cat has by its tail. Every single move we make, from the mundane to the monumental… The red light we stop at, or run; the people we have sex with,” he paused to look up at Barry and Iris, “or won’t with us; the airplane we ride, or walk out of… is all part of Death’s sadistic design leading to the grave.”

That last part intrigued Barry to no end, put maybe an end to the maze that had been leading to nowhere in his mind ever since the plane crash.

“Design?” He licked his lips. “Does that mean if you figure out the design, you can cheat death?”

“Barry, you’ve already done that by walking off the plane. Your friend’s recent departure shows that death has a new design…for all of you.” He lifted his hand to point at Barry. “Now you have to figure out how and when it’s coming back at you. Play your hunch, Barry. If you think you can get away with it. But beware the risk of cheating the plan, disrespecting the design. It could initiate a horrifying fury that would terrorize even the Grim Reaper, and you don’t even want to fuck with that man.”

Iris shivered, and even Barry felt uneasy, inching away.

“Okay, then.” He cleared his throat. “We’ll uh, see ourselves out. Sorry we broke in and uh-”

“No harm, no foul.” He paused, watching Barry and Iris as they slipped through the door, delivering one final message. “I’ll see you soon.”

…

After a restless night of sleep, Barry got dressed quickly the next morning, eager to discuss what had happened at the morgue the night before with Iris. He stopped by her house and knocked on the door, only to be greeted with silence. He stepped back, wondering which window belonged to her bedroom and if he could throw a pebble at it or climb the side of the house like they’d done at the funeral home and peak inside.

Very Romeo and Juliet.

Or peeping Tom. Whichever.

He took a few steps back, only to nearly fall on top of little Wally who was wheeling his bike down to the sidewalk where Jesse waited.

“She’s at Jitters.”

Barry frowned.

“The coffee shop?”

“She works there a couple times a week during the day when my dad’s feeling…himself.”

What did that mean?

Barry figured it wasn’t his place to ask, so he just thanked the kid and waved to Jesse before taking off for downtown Central City and the well-loved coffee shop.

He found Iris untying her apron just behind the counter and making a turn for what must’ve been the employee break room. He called out to her to stop her, and she turned around.

“Barry, hey. What are you doing here?”

“I was hoping we could talk.” He swallowed. “About last night?”

She looked reluctant, but she nodded.

“Sure. Want to go outside?”

“Yeah,” he said, relieved, and they headed out the back way to sit at a little table across the street.

“Okay,” he resumed once they were seated. “The mortician said death has a design. How do we know that by just sipping coffee or breathing the air or crossing the intersection, that we haven’t started in motion the events that will lead to our death… 40 years from now, 10 years from now, tomorrow…today?” Iris seemed to consider that. “We don’t. Unless we open ourselves up to the signs it’s willing to show us.”

Barry pulled something out of his pocket, a scrap of paper, and slid it across the table to her. Iris’ eyes widened when she saw the word splayed across it in big, bold letters.

Cisco.

She picked it up, felt it smooth between her fingertips, and locked eyes with Barry.

“Did it happen again? Like on the plane? Did you see Cisco’s death?”

Barry shook his head.

“No, but I may as well have. I was doing nothing, nothing at all, just sitting at home reading a magazine. I tossed it aside, the pages got caught in a fan, and this was spit out and landed on me. That’s how I ended up at Cisco’s house that night, because I got a bad feeling after seeing this. I followed the sign death left me.”

Iris considered that, but then common sense hit her, hard.

“Barry, maybe, okay, maybe, but also, that’s crazy talk. That mortician was clearly on something, the way he was talking. I mean, you can see death omens anywhere you look. Take the word ‘coffee’. It starts with a ‘c’ and ends with an ‘e’. So does the word ‘choke’. So we’re going to choke to death? I want to hear you, to understand. But we’ll both go nuts following a lead like that. Barry? Barry?”

She pulled at his sleeve, and his attention focused back on her, having gotten peculiarly torn away by a fast-moving bus on the road, as if the sight of it alone was calling to him.

“The mortician said that death has a design, right?” he recalled again, completely ignoring her speech springing from common sense. “Now what if you, me, Ralph, Hunter, Caitlin, Cisco, Ms. Horton…what if we weren’t meant to get off that plane? What if that was our time, and my seeing it, my getting us all off that plane just made us cheat death and made death come up with a new plan, and we’re all still going to die now…unless we cheat death again.”

Iris sighed and leaned back in her seat. There would be no getting through to him when he was like this. She had to cut off his hopes once and for all.

“After hearing you now, I do believe…”

Barry’s heart leapt into his throat.

“…that Cisco killed himself.”

Barry folded into his seat.

“Then I have no one left.”

Before Iris could take back what she’d said, or say it kinder maybe, a car came to a screeching halt beside them on the street. Hunter’s car, with Hunter and Caitlin inside. Just down the street, Ralph was biking and approached them too. At the same moment, Ms. Horton came out of Jitters, unable to move past the small group because Hunter approached her.

“Hey, Ms. Horton, when is it you’re moving…?”

Barry blinked. Moving?

“A few weeks,” she said politely.

“It’s such a shame,” Hunter said with fake politeness, shooting Barry a glare. “You were my favorite teacher.”

Ms. Horton forced a small smile and tried to move past him but was unsuccessful.

“If only Barry here hadn’t-”

“What?” Barry jumped up. “Saved you all from death?”

“Watch it,” Hunter growled.

“Hunter,” Caitlin warned, a bit on a whine. She was getting sick of the constant aggression from her mightier-than-thou attitude of a boyfriend.

Barry shook off the growing tension.

“Look, guys, there’s something I have to tell you.”

“Barry,” Iris cautioned.

“No, no, go ahead, tell us,” Hunter pushed. “Is Ms. Horton here going to die before she reaches her airplane? Get in a car crash maybe?”

“I have to go,” Ms. Horton muttered.

“We all may be in danger!” Barry cried.

“I’m sick of this!” Caitlin jumped between them. “They died! We lived! Get over it!” She started to back away towards the curb. “I won’t let that plane crash be the most important thing in my life. I’m moving on, Hunter, and if you’re going to waste your life beating the hell out of Barry every time you see him, then you can just drop fucking dea-”

She didn’t get to finish her sentence. Because right at that very moment, a bus drove by, right in Caitlin’s path a step over the curb, and ran over her, leaving blood spurting the whole group standing right where she’d just been.

If only she hadn’t walked away from them.

If only.

#westallen #westallen fanfiction #backtothestart02 fanfiction #death by design #chapter 5

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dominantwolf · 1 year

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The dead of winter

"You can't just go outside with nothing on, it's freezing out there!" My mom screams out to me as I'm running full speed into the thigh high snow. Forgetting my coat and boots was absolutely not at the top of my priority list. A loud crash came from over the hill and my first thought was to get to it. Never mind the hyperthermia, that can be easily solved with a roaring fire. I heard crying as I approached the crash site. With the utmost caution, I climbed over the hill feeling the cold pierce my skin. "I screwed up... why am I like this?!" As I make the steps towards the car crash, I see her. Curled into a ball and clutching her knees as if for dear life. She was big for a woman, as if she could tower over me when she stands up. "Hey, are you ok?" I call out coming closer to this mysterious woman. "Hello?" "Mmmm" A slight moan escapes her purple lips. "Oh shit... Hey, are you able to move?" I rush over to her to try to pick her up. She strikes at me. "HEY!!! What the hell? I'm trying to help you!" Only then did I notice the muscles in her arms as they lunged towards me, gently glistening in the dim sunlight. Why am I thinking about her muscles? My mom always did tell me that I was hopelessly gay but damn, I didn't think it was this bad. Her white dress was tattered by the accident. I hadn't noticed that there wasn't any blood until I tried to help her up. "I don't know your pronouns but, please let me help you. You look hurt but.... there's..." I hesitate to finish my sentence as she is now standing in front of me, towering over me just as had assumed... "She, it's she" she whispers through her gritted teeth. "And yes, you can help me. Don't get any cute ideas about calling the hospitals or cops though. Please." I stand there craning my neck to make eye contact with the statuesque beauty. "Ye-yes ma'am." "Where am I?" She looked as if she came from a different time let alone town. "You're in Denver Colorado. Where do you think you are?" That sounded kind of snippy but, to be fair, she did try to hit me so I was still pissed and felt justified. I think she picked up on that. "I'm sorry for trying to hit you, I was scared. Are you ok little one?" She says sweetly as she gently grabs my arm to check for scratches or cuts. "Hey...ummm... do you want to get inside somewhere warm?" I barely manage to get the sentence out before she picks me up and heads towards my house. Ok, I've had dreams about this happening. The whole tall woman picking me up and carrying me thing is HOT and now I'm a puddle in her broad arms. She is carrying me with very little effort, as if I'm nothing but a doll. I dared not fight her even though she was in the crash. "For someone who just got into a crash, you are mighty strong and spry." She looks down at me with worry in her eyes. " Yes, but I'm not the one shivering and turning purple. Now, stop worrying and just let this happen little one" she says grinning like a cat who just stole the canary. I couldn't come up with a comprehensive argument so I just stayed silent, slowly dying from the gay panic coursing through my entire body. This woman has managed to derail my already feeble mind in one interaction. What the hell? Still nothing but a puddle in her arms, she approaches my front door. "Can I go inside little one?" Her face now mere inches from mine, causing my heart to do a little dance in my chest. "Why do you need to ask? It's, my house and I'm in your arms...I think that automatically gives you the right to walk in." Sarcasm escaping my mouth as it is my only defense against this feeling of arousal rising inside of me. I think she knows this and is doing it on purpose. That bitch. "Because it's your house dear, is that not customary?" What time is she from?! Her arms tense ever so slightly, her muscles moving underneath my body. She pulls me closer to her, I can smell her skin. It smells like lavender. It's my favorite scent. My head is swimming with thoughts I dare not repeat to anyone. Not even my best friend who knows all of my secrets. "Y-yes you can go inside" I stammer.

#lgbt stories #wlw stories #lady dimitrescu

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theartofruling · 2 months

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Reunited with a Ghost || Rowan Self Para

Who: Rowan Hartwell + Jayden Hartwell

Where: Southland Palace

When: End of March

Rowan was not a fan of bed rest, but it was made better with her cat Cleo keeping her company. The transfer of power had gone to River as she simply sat in bed, resting. She heaved a sigh because Markus was working, River was working and she was really missing her mom, knowing she would be having another child and her mother wouldn't get to witness it. She had dismissed her Ladies in waiting for the day. Even Scarlett was out with her dad for the week. She was utterly lonely in the moment and she knew it was her suped up hormones in this magical pregnancy. Cleo cuddled closer as if she could feel Rowan’s emotional shift. “Mama, it’s not fair that you don’t get to be here. It’s not fair you don’t get to see your granddaughters.” She could feel unshed tears stinging the back of her eyes.

Just as she laid down, her body shaking with the sobs of grief that no matter how long it had been still hit her like a wave crashing against the shore, she heard a knock on the door. “Jade,” a familiar but unwelcome voice called out rushing over to her. “My sweet baby. I’m here.”

Rowan recoiled at the sight of her father’s mistress, and Cleo stood taking a defensive stance in front of Rowan. Not many people on the staff knew he was still alive but Bianca did. And that wasn’t all she knew. She and Raymond were an item. It was knowledge that Rowan detested knowing and even more so detested the woman. “Bianca, get out of my room. And never in your life call me Jade again or I swear to the suns and sands I will rip your fucking heart out with my bare hands.” The vitriol in her voice was familiar. But it didn’t sound like her. It sounded much like her father. Even to her own ears, she could recognize how much like him she could be.

It caused a chuckle from Bianca, and she stroked Cleo’s fur as if she were familiar with the cat. Cleo, the traitor, relaxed into the touch as though this was familiar. “You sound just like him. Ray, will be proud to know you have it in you.”

“Why are you here, Bianca?”

“Jade, you have a gift that not many share listen. It’s not Bianca. Her body? Yes, but it’s your mother. I was here watching over you when you started to cry. I went to Bianca and she agreed to let me in to take over to…hold my baby one more time. Or she said for as long as I want.” Tears rolled down Bianca’s face and Rowan really listened. It was true. She heard the two conversing in her consciousness. Her mother was really here.

“Mama?!” Jayden Hartwell was really back in some form. “So it’s true? The Veil is down? For how long?”

“I don’t know, but I don’t want to waste a minute. Can I climb into bed with you? I know you’re grown but I want to hold my sweet child who’s carrying a baby of her own.”

Rowan nodded and Jayden climbed into bed with her wrapping her arms around her. Cleo settled in front of Rowan resting her head next to Rowan’s tummy. “Mama, things have been so hard. I don’t feel like I’m leading. I feel like I’m existing. Doing everything wrong. I haven’t even started trying to renew the peace treaty and I don’t know if it’s possible. And I don’t know if I’m being a good wife or mother because you’re not here so I can’t lean on you. Why weren’t you here! Why didn’t you try to be here?! I got married without my dad to walk me down the aisle. I had a baby and I was so scared and I just wanted you to be there and you weren’t! And now I’m having another one I…” Rowan sobbed and it felt like her heart was aching with a mixture of anger and grief.

Jayden stroked her hair, holding her tight. “I know, and I’m sorry. I don’t know who is responsible for my death Rowan, but I’m sorry I didn’t fight harder for you. Rocky isn’t here?”

“No. Since your death she travels and I think Ryan hurt you for the throne. Without River I would be a Hartwell alone. You and dad prepared me for a full family. You never prepared me for this! To have so little family and to do this without you.” She knew she shouldn’t waste this time with anger but she had been holding on for so long.

“My sweet Jade, I’m sorry. But you’re not alone. You have River. You have your father. You have your daughter, your husband. You aren’t alone.” She stroked. “You could also have Bianca if you let her.”

“Mama, don’t make me throw up! Can you stay? At least long enough to meet Markus and the babies?”

“I don’t know how long the veil will be down. But as long as I have Bianca’s approval I’ll be here.” She paused as if she was listening to something. “She said I can stay as long as I want.”

“Okay,” Rowan said quietly. Her mom began to hum a song that would calm her when her anxiety. It lulled her right to sleep in her mother’s arms once again.

Sleep felt surreal and happy. Until a familiar pain hit her in the stomach and she groaned. Her hands went to her stomach and she felt a paw there too. “Cleo I’m okay. I think it’s just,” she paused as another sharp pain came. She didn’t know why she was trying to get out of bed, scrambling she doubled over with pain.

“Rowan get back to bed! Where are you going? What’s wrong?” Her mother asked.

Her pregnancy was being sped up one last time. Her water breaking contractions coming far too fast to be normal. “Get Markus, Mama! Tell…tell the staff to call Vada. The baby is coming!”

#[rowan]#[Rowan self para]#[Rowan musing]

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risu75fifthblog · 6 months

Text

VIRTUAL LUNCH

:: SATURDAY, MAY 12, 2001 ::

The Possum

I just found out that I have an opossum (North American: "possum") living in my back yard. He (or she) snuck in to eat the cat food in the bowl by the back door the other night as I was reading in my comfy chair in the kitchen.

I heard a crunching sound, and assumed that it was one of my cats snarfing down food. To my surprise, it was a cat-sized critter, with snaggly grey and black fur, a pink face, a long naked pink tail, and so on. Definitely not one of my cats.

I think I was more startled than scared, when I looked down and saw the possum, not two feet from MY feet, snarfing cat food. I reacted with an audible intake of breath (what's the opposite of a sigh?) and scared the possum (one of the most scaredy-cat/possum animals), who ran out the door.

Surprisingly, twenty minutes later, it came back inside, checking if the coast was clear. Upon seeing me, still in my chair, I guess it figured that the coast was definitely NOT clear, and ran away again.

Later, I researched opossums on the net, and found out that they don't carry rabies, but they do carry fleas and ticks. Also, they consume almost anything, including "roof rats" (whatever they are), cockroaches, ants, decaying fruit (they especially like persimmons), and so on. So now I have a fourth "cat" named "Possie".

Oh, well.

:: POSTED BY JZAHN AT 1:05 PM ::

:: FRIDAY, JUNE 01, 2001 ::

The opossum has adopted me. Well, at least he/she has adopted my house.

I live in a brownstone in Jersey City and have a back yard garden. I often leave the door to the garden open so my three cats can enjoy the outdoors in the fenced-in garden. The cats are smart enough not to stray from the back yard, because they know where their food is, and they are would HATE to find the door shut.

The possum continues to inhabit my, and several other, back yards, but has turned out to be a delight rather than a pest.

After doing some research, I found out that possums (1) do not carry rabies, in fact their metabolism is set up to REJECT rabies — one has a higher risk from a dog, cat, racoon, or HUMAN bite than from a possum.

(2) Possums eat all the icky vermin: mice, roaches, ants, slugs, etc. So, they're like little bio-vacuum cleaners.

(3) My cats get along with the possum and don't attack it, even when it comes in the back door to eat their food. They, evidently, think it's another cat and part of the "family." The cats don't like squirrels, though. Felix and Rodentia families just don't mix.

:: POSTED BY JZAHN AT 8:15 AM ::

:: FRIDAY, JANUARY 16, 2004 ::

Back to Broaddyke

Here I am, back in my OLD neighborhood, BroaDyke (and I didn't make that up). That's the intersection of Broadway and Dyckman Street (200th) in Manhattan. It's almost as far uptown as one can travel in Manhattan without falling off the Island.

I used to live near here when I first moved to Manhattan 20 years ago. Mark (my then-partner) and I bought a co-op apartment in Park Terrace Gardens (on 215th St. at the top of The Hill), after having moved here from Cleveland, Ohio. (The story about the Park Terrace Gardens apartment and my relationship with Mark will be in my book, Climbing Home, someday to be available on Amazon.)

Re-visiting the old neighborhood has been both strange and weird.

Strange: Many of my favorite stores and restaurants are no longer here. Some are still here, but have changed their names, proprietors and staff. There are lots of permanently-shuttered storefronts where once-thriving businesses used to be. Evidently, landlords decided before the crash that commercial rents could be raised to the roof — which drove many formerly-successful businesses out of the neighborhood.

For example: I learned that the old "Golden Rule" diner/restaurant on Broadway near 207th St. closed down after their monthly rent was raised to $6,000. The "Golden Rule" was a place that old Irish ladies went for breakfast and had tea and toast.

I remember buying their "Thanksgiving Special" (a complete turkey dinner) for $11.95 and smuggling it into St. Vincent's Hospital for Jorge (another book), where he was confined in the first stages of his eventual demise from AIDS.

The restaurant is still open, under a new name (they didn't bother to put up a new awning, just pasted the new name over "Golden Rule") but I don't think I'll be going there anytime soon.

Weird: Eerily, some store owners have somehow remembered me from many years ago and know exactly what I want before I ask for it. At 211 St. and Broadway, there is a bodega where I used to buy cigarettes and newspapers before heading to the subway for my daily commute. The same South Yemenese guys are still working there and they recognized me from 6 years ago.

The neighborhood is an interesting mix. It's Manhattan, but it smells and looks like The Bronx. I'll expand the following essay later, but here's the breakdown:

West of Broadway/North of Dyckman: Relatively inexpensive rents (compared to the rest of the Island) attract lots of Columbia University students, recently graduated and newly-employed professionals, young married couples (straight and gay), musicians, actors, singers, dancers, etc. who find that they can afford the fabulous pre-war (II) apartments and still have relatively quick and cheap transportation (30 minutes by subway A-train) to all that the city has to offer. And lots of old Irish retirees.

People actually own cars (rare in Manhattan) and can easily find parking on the street. It's also easy to get here from New Jersey, Upstate, New England, and Long Island via car, so some people live here and commute to those places.

East of Broadway: Lots of old, run-down tenement apartments formerly occupied by subway workers at the MTA Yard at 10th Avenue. Primarily occupied by Dominicans and Puerto Ricans (mostly Dominicans) who hate each other. Drug sales on the street. Tacky stores. Poor people who literally live in refrigerator boxes.

Also, there is a mixture of the "West of Broadway" that keeps seeping in as the various micro-neighborhoods become more gentrified.

West of Broadway/South of Dyckman: is the fabulous Fort Tryon Park, including The Cloisters and Fort Washington the highest point in Manhattan, from where our Revolutionary War troops lobbed cannon balls to attack the British ships in the Hudson River.

Anyhow, I'm repeating my NYC Inwood/Broadyke experience at a higher level of the spiral and it feels like home...again.

:: POSTED BY JZAHN AT 2:03 AM ::

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analiavs · 10 months

Text

In Which Harper Loses His License ???

Finally the Sky Sex is here.

Desperate to find a place he belongs, Robin leaves town and finds a mate in a certain birdperson.

Words: 2554

AO3 link for those that prefer:

In the wake of the fall he’d floundered. The subsequent upheaval had torn apart every routine he’d developed. He could no longer enter the orphanage and school was closed indefinitely.

He was alone. His protector hadn’t wanted to deepen their relationship, only shielding him from Bailey’s wrath out of the goodness of her heart.

She was a pillar of virtue, a lighthouse in the midst of the storm. Sydney was her fuel and he was the gull building a nest in its roof. Sheltered yet unworthy of her light.

And so he tried to find his place in the world. First he searched in town, carefully avoiding the weird fog or other townspeople. Even though things looked different, nothing had really changed. The first place he tried was the park. He climbed on top of a statue to observe from a perch. He watched a cat man prowling around, sneaking glances at him when he thought he wasn’t looking.

He didn’t think the stranger would be brave enough to attack him in broad daylight but it still made him anxious. He would definitely need to find a more secure place by nightfall.

He saw Whitney, Kylar, and his protector’s twin walk into the park. He waved at them in greeting, but they didn’t notice him. Well he could always talk to them when they got closer.

“Hey!” He was startled by a fox man yelling at him.

“What are you doing up there? It's not allowed. Come down now!” He was dressed in a police outfit, but his vibe was worse than cops usually were. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the cat man sneak into the bushes. A setup then.

“Oh sorry, I’ll climb down.” As much as he hated to be dishonest he needed to get out of this situation. With his wings he might be able to glide out of their range fast enough. He had never tried before, but it was preferable to waiting for them to climb up and attack him.

He balanced carefully on the statue, extended his wings and jumped. Thankfully a well timed gust of wind propelled him forward. His would be assailants cussed and chased after him. He flapped his wings desperately and managed to reach his schoolmates.

He crashed in a heap on the ground, not a moment to soon as the cat man tried to pounce. His friends wasted no time beating the opportunist pair up.

“Thanks for the help you guys, I was so scared.” His protector’s twin giggled,

“Anything for a cutie.” She winked, “Hey if my sister’s not taking good care of you, you can always run to me.” For a second he considered it, but he already knew that their relationship style wasn’t for him. Something in him screamed for exclusivity, he yearned to find a true soulmate.

And the thought of being in a relationship with his “exes” sister, his old bully, and the incel was off putting.

“No way, what’s a weakling like him bringing to the table.” Whitney interrupted.

“I mean flight is kinda cool, but he’s not all that good at it.” Muttered Kylar. He spoke up before they could keep calling him lame.

“Uh thanks I really appreciate it, but I’m trying to find my own way now you know?” She smiled, he wasn’t sure how genuine it was.

“Yeah bruv, I totally get it.” She sighed. “Well if you ever wanna get pegged hit my line. It’s transcendental, innit love.” She gestured at Whitney, who looked away. He chuckled, but the hunger in her eyes made him feel cold.

It seemed like everyone had been consumed by lust, except Sidney and his protector. Next he tried the forest. It might be safer and there were trees he could climb.

He snuck over to the forest without seeing anyone. He stared longingly at the Temple for a second before continuing on. He wasn’t very deep in the forest when he found an apple tree. He climbed up eager to pick some ripe apples for lunch.

They were just as sweet as they looked. He flapped his wings a bit. Here he felt safer than the park, but it was darker. He was gliding around the forest trying to find materials to build a nest when he heard a voice that brought chills down his back. Instinctively he hid amongst the leaves.

“Eden let me go! You stupid fucking asshole!” He’d never heard Bailey cuss like that before. It sounded like he needed help. He peeked an eye out to look, his caretaker was being dragged away by the biggest man he’d ever seen. And for the first time in his life he saw an emotion on Bailey’s face.

For a brief month a sick feeling of glee consumed him and just as quickly shame and self-disgust filled him. Nauseated with himself he quickly ran to get help.

He felt his protector would know what to do, so he headed for the temple. He sprinted through the woods and made it to their garden. He didn’t have to look for her, she was overseeing some initiates working in the garden.

“Oh! It’s terrible! I saw the woodsmen and he was kidnapping Bailey! We have to help him.” He was so breathless, he could barely get the words out. The gentle smile on her face faded the second she saw him.

“This one is delirious from the woods, I will tend to him myself. I leave you, my precious lambs, to your work.” She waved her arm at them and then dragged him away.

“While I thank you for showing me a serious security risk, I must ask why you come here and disrupt the peace.” She was stern and disappointed. She had truly grown into her position.

“I’m serious, Bailey’s been kidnapped. We should… shouldn’t we help him?” His voice got quieter as he spoke. Her eyes were cold and he lost what was left of his nerve.

“Help that monster? Need I remind you of the fate I saved you from, the fates I couldn’t save our brethren from. Whatever karma has in store for him isn’t enough. You disappoint me.” She spat at him. It felt like a hot poker was being driven through his heart. She continued chastising him even as her facial expressions remained neutral.

“First you refused to convert and I was disappointed. Then you refused the Temple’s protection and I was disappointed. Now you come to this sanctuary and have the gall to request I use my resources to save a monster. You have always been weak, and I sheltered you from the worldly storms. But I see now it has blinded you. Please, stop disturbing the peace with your nonsense.” Right, he was the gull unworthy of her light. His world fell away from him, his pillar shattering. He blinked his tears away quickly. Even as she dismissed him, her facial expression didn’t change.

“Right, sorry. Sorry, I really am.” He wanted to hug her, but as he stared at her cold face all he could see was Bailey. He shook as he exited the room. Then he ran and didn’t stop. Tears streamed down his face, he just ran and kept running. His adrenaline pushed him forth even breathlessness didn’t stop him.

His frenzy finally stopped when he made it to the edge of town. He stared into the grasslands. He was lost. Too weak to help anyone, but too cowardly to change his beliefs. He would never change, grow, or become in town. He stared into the grasslands and started walking. This time the call came from his own desire to change.

He would never find a place that accepted him in town. And he was worthless, there was nothing to make him desirable. So he would leave and become someone worthy of loving, of keeping.

He caught his breath and started walking. There was no one on the road, maybe everyone else had found their place. He’d walked for maybe over an hour before reaching some kind of farm. It smelled pretty musty. He originally intended to just keep walking, but he saw someone he recognized. Another fellow orphan, he hadn’t seen him in a year though.

“You’re alive! I can’t believe it! How have you been? I missed you so much!” He ran up and hugged him. Rambling off excitedly, glad to see his friends. His face landed on some suspicious white substances and he recoiled.

“Robin! Hey! Oh whoops, I’ll get that babes.” He leaned down and licked the stuff off his cheek.

“You're a literal bird now, amazing. What brings you to the Cowdom sweetheart?” His voice was deep and he grabbed his hand kissing it gently. He felt his face heat up. He was really taking the sexy cowboy aesthetic to the max. He stuttered a little bit before finding his nerve.

“I’m going to be a hermit.” His friend took a minute to process it.

“Huh?” He quickly rattled off an abridged run down of his life since the fall. His friend listened empathetically even wiping away his tears.

“Aw darling, come here.” He cooed, he brought him over to a seat pulling him onto his lap. He rubbed his hair gently. He basked in the physical comfort.

“If you don’t have a place to go, we’ll take you. You’d make a lovely cow.” It was tempting and for a second he was under his thrall. But then a middle aged man in a cow print bra and miniskirt came up to them.

“Whose this hussy?” Green eyes bored into him, a cow bell tinkled as he adjusted his posture.

“Don’t be jealous Remy, you’ll always be my favorite cow. Besides, Hot to Trot told me you’ve been naughty.” He gestured for the man to come closer.

“No I haven’t! I was just checking if their production was up to par.” He whined as he came closer, throwing himself onto his friend’s lap. Remy pulled himself up to kiss his friend. It was very awkward watching them french kiss. He looked away and noticed the trail of… slime that had followed Remy. The puddle forming on his friend's lap was disconcerting. …This wasn’t the place for him. He quietly slipped away and kept walking.

His absence wasn’t even noted and he regretted glancing back; his childhood friend rearranging someone’s guts was something he could of went without seeing. He kept walking and found a huge field. With his enhanced vision he thought he saw a tower in the distance. Maybe he could live there. He headed towards there. Hopefully he would reach there before the sun went down. It seemed like it was pretty far away. He tried to fly, but he couldn’t do much more than glide a couple feet with the wind. Nevertheless he kept moving.

The sun was beaming down on him by this point, but he kept moving. When a large shadow came over him he thought it was just a cloud, but he noticed the weird shape of it and looked up.

A giant bird man was swooping down on him. Oddly enough he didn’t feel afraid, he reached his arms and wings out towards it and let himself be plucked into the sky. The birdman spoke.

“My name is Great Hawk.”

“I’m Robin.” He clung to him. Something about him just felt right.

“Will you be my mate?” He asked. They had just met, it sort of reminded him of Kylar. But he couldn’t believe someone wanted him.

“Really? You’re not trying to trick me are you?”

“No never. I want a mate and you reached out for me. That means we will be together forever?” He stopped to consider it. He’d been searching for a place to belong and it had literally picked him up. He couldn’t really think of any downsides. Maybe his protector was right and he was naive… but he felt as though Great Hawk was a pure soul.

“I accept! Let's be mates!” He declared, hugging Great Hawk.

“What joy! The moor shall hear our song!” His mate called. He hugged Great Hawk as he flew. Not long he felt a certain appendage hitting his bottom, he blushed.

He wasn’t sure what to do, he wanted to make his mate happy but he didn’t want to seem loose either. Luckily, Great Hawk spoke first,

“Apologies my mate, I’m just so happy my body can’t control itself.”

“I’m happy too.” He muttered and gently rubbed his foot against Great Hawk’s bulge. His mate cooed softly. Emboldened, he positioned his waist over the bulge and wrapped his legs against Great Hawk’s waist. His mate was so strong, even though he was affected his flight didn’t falter. He frotted against Great Hawk gently.

“Um… do you like this?”

“Very much my mate.” He moaned a bit. He shimmied out of his pants and underwear, watching as it sank to the ground. Bare skin on bare skin, the sensation was magnified. He drove his waist up and brought the tip of Great Hawk’s dick to his rim. Up in the sky like this, he couldn’t prepare like Sirris had told them was necessary. But maybe love would give him strength.

…Nope. It burned. He tried to relax, the breeze from the flight was peaceful. Before he knew it he had accepted the tip of Great Hawk’s dick. While painful, it was kind of good. Since he could move at his own pace, losing his virginity wasn’t so bad.

He grinded on the tip of his dick while Great Hawk flew over the moor. As his mate started producing precum, it made the movement even easier. Soon he was sliding over more and more of Great Hawk’s dick. His partner chirped occasionally, spurring him. When he finally made it down to the base, he moaned. He tightened his legs as his body shook a bit. Great Hawk flapped his wings a bit harder to keep them balanced.

He clung to his mate and started bouncing. Pleasure building in his stomach, he could see why the townspeople were obsessed with sex.

“Oh Great Hawk I love you!” He squawked in response, his own body shaking with exertion. He could feel something building in the pit of his stomach. Finally, he orgasmed. He clung tightly to Great Hawk as tremors wracked his body. He felt a wetness inside him, and knew that Great Hawk had come too.

The afterglow left his vision spinning. He hadn’t felt this relaxed in a long time. Oh? The ground was approaching rather quickly. Great Hawk had been overwhelmed by the pleasure. As the two of them plummeted to the ground he tightened his grip and extended his own wings.

He wouldn’t be able to take them any higher, but he was able to slow their rapid descent into a glide. Luckily they had been near that tower he’d seen and managed to land on the top of it. Finally coming back to himself, Great Hawk cawed a bit.

“Mate you're a little scary…” He giggled, laying his head onto Great Hawk’s chest. He’d surprised himself, but being adventurous had its benefits. He felt safe and warm when Great Hawk wrapped his wings around the two of them.

#harperverse #robin the orphan #great hawk the terror #degrees of lewdity

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jisung-shine · 2 years

Text

[3:47 AM]

Chenle x Reader

Genre: Fluff

“Shhh, go to sleep! What’s wrong with you?” your close friend Chenle hissed, giggling as he fluffed the pillow beneath him.

“But I’m still not tired. I’m telling you, I keep hearing weird noises!” You replied in a loud, exhaustion-drunken voice, pushing yourself close to Chenle, your face mere inches from his. “Your house is big, and I’m too scared to check what’s downstairs at this time of night.”

“You’re worse than Jisung.” Chenle scoffed, but he was grinning. “Don’t be silly, there’s nothing down—“

CRASH.

You gasped, gazing wide eyed at Chenle and gripping onto his pajama shirt as a reflex. Noticing where your hands had ended up in your fright, you quickly pulled them away, straightening the wrinkles in his loose cotton shirt from where you had balled up the material.

“Uh, what was that?” Chenle asked, climbing out of bed. “You heard it too, right?”

You nodded, shoving yourself deep under the comforter on Chenle’s bed. “I told you!”

Chenle listened for a moment by the door, his eyebrows furrowing. “Somehow, I believe my Mom is still asleep. Come on, let’s go.”

“Go where?” You whispered frantically, as Chenle grabbed the nearest object, which happened to be a small round dog toy, most likely belonging to Daegal.

“Downstairs, of course. To see what all that noise was.” Chenle blinked as if this was the most obvious statement in the world, motioning for you to join him by the doorway.

“Zhong Chenle, are you crazy?” You whisper-shouted. “This could be the end for us. I’m not ready for that! There’s still so much I want to do!”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” Chenle replied, rolling his eyes. Hard. “I’m sure it’s nothing.”

“Good, then you can go and check, and I’ll stay here in your nice warm bed, where it’s safe.” You smiled, snuggling deeper into the bed.

“Oh, come on!” Chenle whined. “I’m not scared or anything, but still. Come with me, please?” He practically begged, and you sighed. You couldn’t say no to Chenle. He was too cute for his own good.

“Okay, fine. But if anything happens, I’m blaming you.” You slipped out of bed, joining Chenle as he slowly began to descend the stairs into the dark unknown below.

Scratch. BOOM. Scratch scratch.

“Uh, no, no way!” You cried, grabbing Chenle’s hand and squeezing it for dear life. “Chenle! This is creepy. Can we go back upstairs now?”

“Hey, it’s okay, I think I know what it is.” Chenle grinned in the dark, intertwining your fingers with his as he flicked on the light.

And there she was. Daegal, in all her glory, with the magazines Chenle’s mom had left on the couch strewn all over the floor, torn to pieces. The puppy paused her nighttime escapade, stopping to stare at her dad.

“Daegal, what are you doing?” He asked, and the pup whimpered, knowing she was supposed to be asleep, much like you and Chenle.

You giggled as Chenle scooped up the fluffy white creature, scolding her. “Daegal, you know better! I suppose it’s my fault though, for forgetting to put you in bed before I went to bed.” He snuggled Daegal as he made his way back to you, beaming. “You were scared of Daegal. DAEGAL.”

“I didn’t know it was her! I thought someone broke in, or there were monsters!” You protested, but Chenle simply laughed.

“Scaredy cat. I’m just gonna go get Daegal settled in, then we can finally go to sleep now that you know there’s nothing down here. It’s almost four in the morning.”

You sighed as Chenle disappeared into the other room, shortly returning without the squirmy puppy. The two of you began the trek back up the stairs to Chenle’s room, Chenle still continuing to laugh at you.

“You were afraid of DAEGAL, I can’t believe it. Wait until Donghyuck hears about this, you’ll never hear the end of it.” He crowed, his laugh echoing up the empty staircase.

“Stop it, Chenle! It’s too late at night for you to clown me.” You replied, flopping on his bed.

“But it’s not too late for you to hold my hand, huh?” He wiggled his eyebrows, joining you under the covers and looping an arm around your waist, cuddling close to you.

“Shush, I did it because I was afraid, and you were the closest thing near me.” You giggled in spite of yourself, resting your head against his chest as your limbs wove into a tangled mess. “It’s definitely not because I would rely on you one hundred percent in a scary situation because I trust you more than anyone.”

“Mm, definitely not. I like you” Chenle murmured tiredly, his fingers dancing through your hair as he combed it absent-mindedly. “I wouldn’t have let anything happen to you anyways. I care too much about you, even if you are a wimp.”

Your heart nearly stopped. You and Chenle were just friends. But...friends didn’t end up in a pile of tangled limbs and whispered “I like you’s” now did they? Your heart warmed at Chenle’s sleepy heartfelt confession, and you were finally grateful that you could confirm he felt the same way you did about him.

“Chenle, you just said I like you.” You whispered, peering up at him. “Do you mean it?”

“‘Course I do. Thought I made that obvious. Now, goodnight.” He yawned into your hair, wrapping you in his snug embrace.

“I like you too.” You replied softly. “Goodnight, Chenle.” You smiled, noting that the joyful boy was already fast asleep.

A/N: HI this is my first post! I have no idea how Tumblr works but I’m gonna figure it out eventually hdjaskjfdkasj ANYWAYS THIS IS FOR ALL MY FELLOW CHENLE SIMPS HI I SEE YOU YOU’RE ALL VERY SWAGGY ILY

#chenle #chenle fluff #zhong chenle #chenle x reader #nct #chenle scenarios #nct dream #nct fanfic #chenle ff #chenle fic #nct x reader

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kimistorm · 3 years

Text

[Lee Felix] Leap of Faith

Fandom: Stray Kids

Pairing: [Felix x GN! Reader]

Warnings: fear of heights, jumping from high places (into water), mention of accidental death

Word count: 1.3 k

Requested by: AvatarKyarra on Quotev

Prompt: Lee Felix. "Why are you taking off your shirt?" and “Well, this is new”

“Lee Felix if I die today this is going to be your fault and you’re going to have to explain to my parents how you killed their child!” you howled into his back with screwed shut eyes as you clutched your arms around him in a nearly bone-breaking way.

“You’re not going to die,” he wheezed out after you knocked the air out of him and he awkwardly reached around to try and pat your head reassuringly.

That did nothing to make you feel better as you continued to screech as loud as you could, “I’m scared of heights you numb nut!”

“Oh.” His body stiffened under your grasp and became awkward, “well, this is new.”

“Even Chan knew about this!” you couldn’t believe this betrayal. Felix. Your boyfriend of over a year still didn’t know about your crippling fear of heights. Though, in his defense, the two of you haven’t gone to an amusement park or looked at the view from atop a building.

“Don’t worry, I’m right here.” He continued in his soothingly deep voice.

"But if you fall I fall!" You continued to shout, refusing to look down. How Felix managed to convince you to climb up this rock in the first place was a mystery to begin with. Okay, maybe not. You loved the human embodiment of sunshine and trusted him (almost) whole-heartedly. So when he asked you excitedly if he could show you something fun, you were quick to join him as he gently pulled you away from the beach where everyone else was playing and up a small trail. You didn’t even question it, especially since you could see his excitement nearly rivaling that of the shining sun beating down on the 9 of you. And when he pulled you onto the nearly car-sized rock, you assumed there would be more earth beyond it, just like the rest of the rocks the two of you had clambered across. So when the two of you came to the crest and you were met with the gorgeous view of the coastline to both sides and the blue ocean spanning to the edge of the earth, you screamed.

"We're just going to jump into the water," he tried to coax you in a sweet voice.

"What if we hit our head?"

"That's why we jump." He managed to pull himself out of your grasp so he could meet your terrified eyes with warm brown ones. "I'll be with you the entire way, it's fun. I promise."

"Nope." You declared and tried to back down the rock.

"Don't be lame (y/n)!" You heard Jeongin's voice scream.

"Then you get up here and do it!" You shouted back to the teen without looking to find him. You didn't hear a response, so you assumed he chickened. Serves him right.

During the whole exchange, you didn't notice Felix gently let go of you and only realized when you saw him with his shirt covering his face and his abs on full display. "Why are you taking off your shirt?" Your terror was forgotten for a moment as you became a little more than distracted by his toned body. Not fair, how was he able to make and eat all those brownies and cookies while still having a fit body.

"I'm not going to swim with my shirt on," he shrugged nonchalantly as he shook out his shoulders before extending a hand to you, "coming?"

"I can go first to reassure you it's not dangerous," you looked to see Jeongin's form climbing up the rock where you and Felix were standing.

You frowned at him, "you took great joy in pointing fake guns at Chan and Changbin." He merely shrugged. You were right.

"Well if both of you are gonna be losers, I'll see you later." He waved before taking a running jump off the rock. With a joyful woop and a cry of "cannonball!" You watched him sink to the ground before a loud splash was heard. There was only a second of silence before you heard his melodious laughter. Adrenaline junkies. The lot of them.

"Please?" Felix asked with puppy dog eyes that could rival Seungmin.

"No."

"For your boyfriend?"

"No."

"For your ray of sunshine?"

"No."

"For yourself?"

"Myself doesn't want it."

Felix let out a sigh of defeat, "all right.” He stepped away from the edge of the rock to hold your hand and guide you back down, grabbing his shirt in the process.

You didn’t miss the dejected lilt in his voice, though he was hiding it behind smiles and reassuring you that it was all right. You knew Felix had an adventurous streak and loved the thrill of doing something exciting, and he seemed so excited to show you. Felix would never purposefully do anything to harm you, and nobody’s gotten hurt yet (you noticed Changbin, Seungmin, and Chan playing around over there earlier). Plus, then you could rub it in Minho’s face. You needed to get even with him after he was a literal cat whisperer and was correct in pointing out the cat hiding in the bushes, even when you, Jisung, and Felix firmly believed against him. You steeled yourself and stopped in your tracks at the top of the small trail, causing Felix to turn around and look at you in confusion. “You’ll be with me the entire way?”

There was a pause of confusion before his face brightened with excitement, “we’ll jump together. I’ll make sure you’re safe, promise.”

“Okay,” you nodded timidly.

“But you’re scared of heights.” Felix frowned, he didn’t want to push you into doing something you didn’t want to do. Especially considering how tightly you were holding onto him earlier, he thought a rib was going to break.

“I trust you,” you added with a nod as you turned to pull him back up, “now let’s go before I change my mind. I really want to rub this into Minho’s and Han’s faces.”

Felix let out a laugh as his grip around your hand tightened, “let’s go.” Once again, the two of you clambered to the top of the rock and you refused to look down, opting to focus on Felix’s face (and abs) instead. “You’re sure?” he asked you one more time as he connected both of his hands with yours reassuringly, making sure to connect eyes with you and show on his face that he was 100% okay with you backing out.

“You can do it (y/n)!” you heard the reassuring cheer from Seungmin.

“You can’t do it (y/n)!” Minho antagonized immediately afterward.

“You can shut up Minho!” you screeched in response, not turning to look in his direction. “Just jump?” you asked for confirmation. You could feel your entire body trembling to the point where it was tingling, from your fingertips to your toes. Your heart was pounding loudly in your ears and you felt like your vision was tunneling onto Felix. Were you really going to do this?

“Yes.”

The two of you jumped.

You hardly got a chance to scream before you crashed into the water with a great splash. You kicked and rose back up to float as you choked out some water and pushed your hair out of your face. Your hearing was a little fuzzy from the adrenaline rush plus the pounding from your heart only seemed to get stronger and louder, so you didn’t hear the excited cheers from the rest of the gang. But you didn’t miss the bright smile on Felix’s face who was still in front of you just like on the top of the rock. “Not so bad, right?”

“Never again.”

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finelinevogue · 3 years

Note

Hi! How r u!?

Could you do one where YN and Harry are in Disney world and the reader wants to go to the biggest roller coaster there is with Harry.

But, YN does not know that Harry is scared of heights.

And like at first when he and YN got the tickets he did not think of it much. But when it was their turn harry started to panic but did not want to ruin this for YN.

When they were all buckled up, Harry is like maybe saying stuff like, “YN! WERE GOING TO DIE”

And the reader is just laughing her ass off and holding his hand to keep him calm.

hahahah i’m cackling over this one😭😭

Your legs really hurt.

Checking your phone you were told you’d done 16,927 steps today. 16,928. 16,929, 16,930. You were aching all over and you were sure your feet would be unforgiven tomorrow.

But it’s been such a good day so far. You and Harry felt spontaneous and decided to catch the train from London into Paris - specifically Disneyland. You’d been when you were little, but had never been big enough to go on the scarier rides, whilst Harry had never been so you both thought it was time to have a laugh and face your childhood dreams.

Harry had been watching videos of the rides on youtube, on the train ride over, because he is not a massive fan of rollercoasters. He claims he hates them, but you knew he got high off the adrenaline. That didn’t mean he wouldn’t scream like a strangled cat or squeeze your hand ridiculously tight. No. In fact, your hand had turned purple a few times today from him squeezing too hard. Your ear would need surgery too at this point.

He hadn’t even mastered the largest ride yet. That was reserved for now.

It was a new ride called ‘Velocity’ and you didn’t tell Harry that it had the steepest drop, on a rollercoaster, in the whole of France - and France had some pretty impressive rollercoasters.

“So what does this one do again?” Harry asked, whilst you stood at the front of the barriers. They opened, allowing you to move across and you move into the car seats. Harry handed his bag across to one of the stewards and clambered into his seat next to you. It was one of those rides where the bar came down over you, so you both lifted up and pulled the bar down as if you were benching.

“It just has a few climbs and some drops. It’s quite fast, mind.” You missed out the part where there was a bloody steep drop.

Once the barriers had been pulled down the stewards had come and checked they were all secure, apart from Harry making a fuss - as per usual. He’d done this on every ride - even It’s A Small World.

“Um excuse me, is this tight enough?”

A woman came over and pushed down harshly, making Harry suck in his guts.

“Yes Sir. It’s perfectly secure.” She announced before walking away to her designated station.

“You alright H?” You asked him, seeing a few beads of sweat run over his furrowed eyebrows. He was such a baby, but you loved him so much. His hands gripped the handles attached to the bar so tight that his hands were white. You moved your hand across to touch his, making sure he felt comfortable.

“Woman put your bloody hand back before your hand gets decapitated.” He shoots you a worried look.

“Harry!” You laughed, “Bubs we’re stationary and even then I wouldn’t lose a hand.”

“Just humour me.”

And then it was silent until the ride started to move. Harry muttering a string of curse words under his breathe. He noticed the incline for as soon as the ride takes off, leaning his head back fully as the rollercoaster started climbing for the clouds. It’s rickety tracks made Harry close his eyes tight and you looked at him, rather than admiring the view over the park.

It reached the peak quicker than you both expected and ran over the edge and round the corner. Harry was screaming the whole way whilst you were laughing your head off. You were journeyed over loop-the-loops and underneath tunnels, giving you sprays of cold air as you whooshed around. Then it came to an abrupt stop.

Here it was. The drop.

“Hey that wasn’t actually so bad.” Harry stated, thinking that the ride had finished before looking around confused when he noticed the large incline ahead of him. “Y/N what the fuck is that?”

“A drop?” You answered dumbly, pushing your hair away from your face.

“No Y/N. The thing before was a drop. This, shit— This is the fucking endgame.”

You laughed at his words, not being able to take him seriously. You had so much adrenaline and you were excited to experience it all over again in less than 30 seconds. The climb up this time was a lot slower, allowing you to take note of your surroundings. You were going to be able to touch the stars from this height.

“Bubs you’ll be fine.” Your words did nothing to calm him.

“Fine is not a very convincing word, Y/N,” Harry panicked, “I would rather you said ‘we’ll remain alive’.” You didn’t miss the fact he talked about both of you, rather than just him, showing that he was clearly thinking of you in this terrible situation too.

“Ok, Harry, we are going to survive this.” You looked over at him to see the terror in his innocent eyes. He was never going to take you to a theme park again after this.

“Oh my god, oh my god!” Your car approached the tip of the drop, “Oh my god, fuck I think i’ve wet myself, fuck a shitting duck!” You couldn’t stop laughing at Harry’s remarks, hoping there was no small children close to you two. “Fuck! Y/N I love you baby and if we die i’d like to tell you it was me who shitting ran over your caaattt—”

The rollercoaster tipped and shot over the edge. Harry screamed so loudly you think a bird might have burst from the noise. It was over before you could even say the word ‘Mississippi’. The adrenaline closing through your veins was blood boiling and the smile on your face was so wide your jaw hurt. The ride came to a stop back at base shortly after the drop, everyone completely windswept.

After you’d left the rides premises you both exited and stood for a second on solid ground. Harry didn’t move though, instead he stood looking at you with a puzzled expression and his hands on his hips.

“What?” You asked innocently.

“Are we not going to talk about what just happened?” He looked at you as if you just grew a third eye.

“Ohhh right. You mean talk about the part where you pissed yourself or the part where you admitted to running Tibbles over?” You smugly looked at him, biting your lip to suppress the laugh you wanted to let erupt. “You screamed like a lady giving birth.”

Harry paced over to you and whispered into your ear, slightly still out of breathe from the adrenaline rush and now crash.

“Yeah well you’ll be the one fucking screaming later, y’devil.”

#harry styles #harry styles x reader #harry styles fanfic #harry styles x y/n #harry styles fanfiction #finelinevogue #finelinevogue harry styles #harry blurb #harry oneshot #harry styles concept #harry styles i hate rollercoasters #harry styles theme park #harry styles disneyland #harry styles rollercoaster #finelinevogue blurbs #ask finelinevogue #ask harry styles #askblurb #kissmyaxe140

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idjitlili · 3 years

Text

Lurking in the dark.

Not my gif.

Summary: Jareth uses a disguise to lurk around you before the Labyrinth like he did with Sarah, as an owl. Until you accidentally wish away your dog.

Warnings:mentions of tight pants. Mentions of feeling lonely.First smut...you’ve been warned, well just oral, and a handjob.

Word count:4325

A/n: low-key based in my home country, ah yes England.

Y/d/n=your dogs name, or change it to cat or fake pet.

Though you weren't 16, like Sarah, being an adult, Jareth felt pulled to you. No, he was not a pervert, times were different. Maybe it was your love of your dog, maybe it's how lonesome you felt, that dog unknowingly brought hope into your life. Yes you did love your family, but sometimes you just got lonely.

Maybe it was your love of films, you could watch your favourite film a million times, yet feel so invested into watching it again. Maybe it was your stack of books, some you already had ,which were your favourite,but had gotten pocket editions or ones with different covers.

How Jareth had found you, well that was a different question, not him dressing down , changing his hair to place the labyrinth in difference book stores , illegally. Yes, that was how he had found you,when he had done that. Soon he had figured out, you regularly went to the book store, after following you home in his owl form.

This particular day had been most stressful, though the rain was calming, being drenched to the point your underwear were soaked, not like that. Frozen, you just wanted to get to Waterstones before they shut, practically running. Not only wanting to get there but also get home quick too.

Rushing into the store , the door closing behind you, the warm air embracing your freezing body, you just hoped you wouldn't get in trouble for being soaked in here. It wasn't like you were going to wipe your clothes on all the books , ruining them.

Then, of course more problems occurred; you could not for the life of you find a book you desired. Sighing , you pushed your dripping hair from your face, you could only imagine how bad you looked in that moment.

Yet, you had continued your search, with no luck until a man had cleared his throat from next to you.

His hair clearly blond from his roots, the rest a light red colour almost ginger but not. His eyes bright blue, yet it seemed like he had heterochromia, aswell as larger pupil in his left eye. His cheekbones highly defined, his body skinny, overall the man was very handsome.

Turning to face the man, highly embarrassed by your state. "If you don't mind-" this is when you thought you was going to be asked to leave, your stomach dropped. "-hearing my suggestion." Okay, that still found like he was going to ask you to leave, but his voice wasn't aggressive. "...okay?" You weren't sure what to say, only letting out a quiet word.

The man had reached up to the shelf above you , pulling down a small red book, so he wasn't kicking you out. His pale hand gently holding the book in front of you, 'The labyrinth.' You had taken the book from him, to look for a summary , yet there wasn't one, nor a publisher or an author name.

"You take that home,on me, if you don't like bring it back."

"W-wait, you d-" You didn't know this man, you felt guilty getting it for nothing, but he had interrupted you. "You've had a long day,clearly, now go get home,y/n" The man simply placed his hands on his hips waiting, his words followed out like water, turning to go do whatever he was doing.

"W-wait." He had spun around , his eyes looked at you in slight annoyance, hurrying you up. "What's your name?"

"Ziggy." You had looked at you watch at the same time, before looking back at the man- but he was gone. Thus, you left. Hold on , how did he know your name?

Not spotting the owl, that stood on the lamp post watching you...

You had begun reading the book , as soon as you had gotten out of your soaking clothes , into warm ones. You wondered how Jareth could like a girl with no sense, no you didn't , you thought why she wearing her baby brother hat.

Yet, your dog would not allow you to sit in peace, shoving their toy under the cupboard making you get up and get it otherwise they wouldn't stop crying, or eating all their food and scratching for more. Then, they had knocked your drink everywhere with their toy.

Groaning in annoyance , for the hundredth time. "You know if the Goblin king was real, y/d/n, I'd wish for him to take you for a time out." Of course you handed read that far you didn't know what would really happen to him..

"You know what, I'll just say it, just in case. I wish the goblins would take you away, right now." A crack of thunder had made you jump out of your skin turning towards it , before turning back hearing scratching on the floor, to see nothing, by this time it's pitch black, only light from a small lamp is seen , your dog is gone.

Suddenly the door crashes open, an owl flies in , before turning into a man. Not that you could see him much. "Uhm, I mean thanks for taking my dog for a time out , but uh thats dognapping, so.." He had only laughed loudly.

From what you you could see his hair was a huge blond mullet, there was glitter everywhere, and those pants...

"What's said is said."

"What the bloody hell does that mean?" That wasn't legal, he had broken into your home and stole your dog.

"I have brought you a gift, it's a crystal, nothing more. but if you turn it this way and look into it, it will show you your dreams. but this is not a gift for an ordinary girl who takes care of the dog.....do you want it? then forget the dog." You had scoffed at him, you could go ebay and get a crystal ball, who was this wannabe Gandalf?

"Sorry, no, I would like my dog." The king, looked disappointed with your answer, did he believe that would really work?

"don't defy me." His voice stern , as he threw a snake at you , but completely missed, coughing out a small laugh, as the man pretended it never happened.

"Y-you're no match for me."

"Stop with all the talk, how can I get y/d/n back?" With that , he had gestured you to come to the window, a huge maze could be seen, well labyrinth, instead of the dark sky. Turning back to Jareth, you realised you were no longer in your room, but outside the labyrinth.

"So, how does this work?" You could clearly see the man now, known as Jareth , the Goblin king, his eyes seemed very familiar, left pupil bigger than the right. He had pointed to a 13 hours clock, that had appeared.

"You have 13 hours in which to solve the labyrinth , and reach my castle, before your dog becomes one of us forever, such a pity." And boom he was a gone, not much to work from.

Now finding away into the labyrinth, indeed that seemed easy, of course it wasn't, no entrances , you thought of the only thing you could do... Climb the wall. By the time you had gotten over , there stood Jareth in the tight pants.

"You know, there was a door. This shall be your only warning." Poof he was gone again, if you continued climbing walls maybe you'd have to compliment his pants. Next time put a bloody door.

Though you had no idea what in gods earth you was doing, you just decided to head straight forward as you could, thus to get to the castle quicker. Not going one away and ending going through the side door out of the labyrinth.

As you could expect, Jareth was not very happy that you were travelling through his labyrinth, like it was your house. In fact, he was angered, so much , that he wanted to pick you up, as if you were a rag doll and dump you to the start. Then again, you’d just go twice as fast through.

So, there sat Jareth on his throne, with your dog upon his lap, his little whip thing in hand. Suit up Jareth, your not Indiana Jones. Staring into the crystal ball, unable to think.

The fact you had gotten passed the sausage dogs without a second thought pushed Jareth over the edge... He had attempted to jump scare you, but of course it had went south. Jareth rarely had anyone not beat the Labyrinth, and honestly you’d think he would’ve improved it.

Jareth hadn’t spoken in your presence, to inform you that he was there, instead he had placed a hand onto your shoulder. What he was not expecting was you to turn around at sonic speed, punching him square in the face.

Stumbling back, him his boots, holding his now bloody nose, he had let out a yelp in surprise. He did not expect that, not at all.

You had reached some sort of lake, with a path down to a small house, when you had punched Jareth anyways.

After you had seen that it was Jareth that you had punched, who else would it be, guilty travelled up your body suffocating you. Almost instantly you had rushed to Jareth, ripping part of the end of your t-shirt, bringing the fabric to his nose. Pulling his bloody hand from his nose, with a harsh grip, since he lead stiff.

Your face was sweating, not only were you scared that he might kill you, but also you had felt bad for him, after the numerous times he had checked up on you. You wondered if he ever spoke to anyone other than the Goblins, you wondered if he could even leave this place without being wished.

Gripping his sharp jaw to move his face, allowing you to make get a better look at the bleeding, keeping the fabric to his nose, soaking all the blood up. You didn’t even know Faes bled.

“J-Jareth, I’m so sorry! You made me jump, I swear I didn’t do it on purp-“ Jareth liked the contact, the anger he felt before had slipped away, your soft fingers upon his skin, your favourite t-shirt now ruined as you had sacrificed it for his nose. Oh, and he knew that was your favourite shirt.

Your pleading e/c eyes staring into his mismatched ones, made both of your hearts beat fast than moments before. It almost made him forget why you were here; but when he did remember his eyes returned harsh. You only felt bad because you were frightened, he knew you’d leave him soon as you had beaten his labyrinth.

Oh how wrong he was.

Pulling away rudely, using his magic to pull a clock out of no where, using his gloved had to skip it forward three hours, smirking. Fake smirking, the quicker this ends the better, he could not bare to fall in love with a silly human girl again, just to be rejected.

Your eyes widened in confusion, your torn end of your t-shirt still in your hand, bloodied. “W-what?” 6 hours left.

Poof Jareth was gone yet again, oh and how he had some plans for you. Stood in brief shock of what had just occurred, trying to forget the tingles that had erupted down your hand, throughout your whole body, like electric shocks. Shaking it off, like you were about to warm up for pe , just like high school. Ew.

You had continued down the path, to the small house, and within minutes you had reached it. Didn’t seem like there was away around, only way was through.

Thankfully, it was unlocked, allowing you straight in. Only for it to slam close behind you, you didn’t think of anything of it, all you could think about in this moment was how your stomach was growling loudly.

The rag now placed into your back pocket, as you searched the tiny kitchen for anything, coming across an overly large strawberry, you didn’t even think before you had devoured it.

In that moment you heard it the door clicked, you had rushed to it testing it, locked, of course. Your feet now suddenly soaking wet , gulping you had looked down the floor covered in soapy water, rising dangerously. Surely he would not kill you?

All the windows now sealed shut, no upstairs , only the chimney , thankfully wide as. You did the only thing you could, your stomach turning, feeling light headed, the water reaching your knees.

You got in it, but the walls were too slippery so you held your breath just as the water got above your shoulders. Swimming up the chimney with the water, not full breast stroke of course, no room for that. The water pressure building at such a speed you ended up flying out the end of the chimney, no idea how that was even possible.

Then everything went black, soon entering a dream world...well no it wasn’t a dream. Now dressed in gown, at a ball, a masquerade, the room almost packed with guests with goblin like masks., all wearing big expensive gowns, or suite like attire. Loud laughter dimmed out by the loud gently music.. what.

Turning every which way, you felt like you were looking for something, just you could not recall what. A skinny man, with a bo dazzled suite, a long blond mullet with stripes of blue to match his suite, a diamond at his next instead of a tie or bow, frilly shirt. He held a similar goblin mask, only when you caught his eye he had pulled it away.

Only you and him without masks, his eyebrows with no ends, h-his strangely familiar eyes , his thin lips, you felt a strong pull towards him.

“There's such a sad love

Deep in your eyes a kind of pale jewel

Open and closed

Within your eyes

I'll place the sky.”

All you could do is stare at him, as the song began, mouth gapped at him, your dress that before felt heavy no felt like nothing, as he began walking towards you, through the people.

“Within your eyes

There's such a fooled heart

Beatin' so fast”

Trying to get passed the strange people, to get him, he simply danced with other people that already had partners, I mean, like pressed up against the partners.

“In search of new dreams

A love that will last

Within your heart

I'll place the moon

Within your heart

As the pain sweeps through.” He didn’t even try to get to you as you chased after him, these strange people suffocating you, getting in your way on purpose.

“Makes no sense for you

Every thrill is gone.” Then he was gone, your eyes searched the room, not seeing him hidden behind a fan behind you, continued your search. As he smirked behind you, oh how he couldn’t stop feeling the way he did about you, he thought it was funny how now you chased him instead of the other way around.

“Wasn't too much fun at all

But I'll be there for you-ou-ou

As the world falls down.” He had continued making his way through the people, in direct view , as you searched still.

“Falling

As the world falls down

Falling

Falling in love.” Squeezing through the people, feeling panicked, you had no idea what was happening, nor why you felt like this for a strange man, shoving pushed the people that circled you.

“I'll paint you mornings of gold

I'll spin you Valentine evenings though we're strangers 'til now.” You had found him, as a fan moved, he stood sandwiched by two woman.

“We're choosing the path

Between the stars

I'll leave my love

Between the stars” Only then did he come towards you,his face should no emotion, you wondered how you had gotten here. Now with a mans hand out waist and the other in his hand as you danced.

“As the pain sweeps through

Makes no sense for you

Every thrill is gone

Wasn't too much fun at all.” You couldn’t remember knowing how to dance, but you and Jareth done turns in sync with all the other dancers, staring deeply into his mismatched pupils.

“But I'll be there for you-ou-ou

As the world falls down

Falling” Jareth-how did you now know his name, now singing along, wow self loving much , who plays their own music. He had every right. Only then, did you feel yourself leaning to his lips.

“As the world falls down

Falling

As the world falls down.”

Jareth had noticed, leaning towards you as well, you felt your lips connect to his soft ones, as your eyes closed. That’s all it took for your remove your hands from his shoulder and hand bringing them up into his blond hair. Pulling his face towards yours, not allowing yourself to disconnect from him, you both had stopped dance at this point.

His arms now around your waist pulling you both closer together again, one of your hand now cupping his cheek, as you both kissed. Pulling away for a second to breathe, before pressing your lips against his again harshly this time, biting his lip hard, he had almost jumped, letting out a yelp, only then were you able insert your tongue into his mouth.

You both had long forgotten the people that surrounded you both. Jareths grip now tightened, your tongue fighting against his. Only until he had pulled your hair, pulling you from him lips, your eyes slammed shut, your hands now against his clothed chest, as he pressed kisses down your bare neck. A small moan had escaped your mouth, your hand travelling down to his pants. “Can I?” Jareth had looked into your eyes, his other pupil now almost reaching the same size as his other, nodding.

You hand cupping, his manhood, his pulse heightened under your touch, Jareth had groaned loudly, his bulging member against your palm, as Jareths hips had pushed against your hand for friction. Jareth now sucking harshly at your neck, rubbing your hand against him.

You had forgotten about the room full off people;but Jareth had definitely not, he did not want to take you in front of them, at this moment he didn’t care, he had not had pleasure in a very long time. Leaving your neck, Jareth had joined your lips again, biting your already swollen bottom lips, returning to sloppy small kisses, you had wished that Jareth had picked a less poofy dress.

Your hands leaving Jareths body, he had let out a small sigh, he had thought you had remembered, especially when you began to lift the bottom the dress. Only then did you notice the people, wide eye, but they were still dancing, even if they were looking, Jareth touch was intoxicating.

Your calf’s now on show, almost touching Jareth again, how starred down at you confused, as you looked up at him with a small grin, lifting your leg up and over hip. Instantly he had gripped the soft skin under your thigh, your dress now bunched up to your waist, as you wrapped your arms around Jareths neck.

Pressing your clothes core against, his bulging, your core soaking through, jumping up, so that both of your legs were now wrapped tightly against Jareth. Your lips on his, his hands travelling up your legs slowly, all the way to your waist again, wet kisses as your hips began to rock against Jareths stone member. Your stomach turning into knots against him.

Your clit pulsating against him, undoubtedly he could feel it too, your speed quickly increase, pushed Jareth over the edge with a loud groan, you were pressed against the stone floor. Still, you grinned harshly against him, his hands now either side of your head, his only your upper back against the floor.

Looking into his hungry eyes, pleading for him to do something, stopping your hip movements . “J-Jareth, a-are you sure we should do this here? W-with these people?” Jareth had only smirked at you lowering himself to your ear level. “Love, you’ve got nothing to be ashamed about, plus they can only see when I want them too, understand?” Whispering into your ear, that must be why they didn’t even look your way.

“Now, I must ask, do you want this? Definitely?” His face not inches from yours, his eyes searched yours. “Yes, please.” With that Jareth had unwrapped your legs from him, tearing the bottom of the dress, he was a very skinny man, it was a shame ‘twas a lovely dress. Only your underwear covered you bottom half now, your heels now discarded.

Snapping your legs closed in embarrassment, Jareth had lifted your leg by your calf pressed gently pecks all the way up, till he got your thigh, his eyes meeting yours as you sat up on your elbows, you had nodded at him, anyone would’ve been nervous, especially a virgin.

His lips now reattached to your soft skin on your thigh, gently he had pulled your legs apart , your heat had already been dripping from just kissing, but now it was a river. A snap of his fingers and your underwear were gone.

Jareths face now dangerously close, your whole lower parts on show to him, he had grinned up at you, his hot breath on your most sensitive area, sent chills through your core... literally. Jareth had groaned just feeling your thighs shake in his hands, his erection now painfully restricted.

With that he had slid his tongue up your folds one, letting out a gasp, you hadn’t been touched like this ever. He had brought a single figure to plunge into you, swirling it around you for only a second, his other hand now holding your stomach down, from your squirming underneath him. Removing the finger, his eyes locked onto your as he slipped it into his mouth, sucking on it, before pulling his finger out of his mouth with a pop.

His face satisfied with you, whimpering , he had barely touched you, yet you were pooling already, orgasm almost there, “please...” Parting your folds, he had slowly removed eye contact, his tongue now licking you like an icecream cone, your nerves on overdrive, he had plunged his tongue into you, his hand back on your thighs, squeezing as he swirled around in you. Your legs clenching on his head, grinding into his face.

“Jareth!” Considering you were quite shy, with men anyways, the moan of his name, caused Jareth to tighten his grip, tongue from your opening, he rolled your clit gently between his teeth, you hand cried out, your legs thrown over his shoulders, you could feel your orgasm coming. Pulling tightly at his long hair for more, a loud growl had erupted from his mouth, travelling through you, your stomach tightening.

So close to satisfaction, “J-Jareth..” His tongue had attached back onto your clit, bringing his fingers close to you, one of your legs still on his shoulder, the other leg, he had placed against the stone floor, spreading your legs widely, so that he could insert his finger into you. Your back now curved from the floor, adding two more fingers into your wet opening.

Sweat upon your face, like drops of rain water, allowing you a moment to adjust, Jareth had began to his fingers into you, his mouth detached, faster, and faster by the second. Spreading his fingers in you, you couldn’t hang on any longer. Your legs now shaking like hurricane, Jareth knew you was close, your head thrown back, as you finally met your orgasm.

Removing his fingers, as the please hit you like wrecking ball, throughout our lower half, you had let out a loud moan of pleasure. Your hips finally buckled , riding your orgasm in Jareths face. Panting heavily, Jareth had looking up , wiping the remaining of your juices on his palm.

“J-Jareth?” He now laid next to you, how was he still fully clothed? He had hummed in response. “C-can we just start with that for now,” You were worried, that he’d get angry, but instead he had just looked at you with a gently smile. “Of course, love.” Then you noticed, his painfully erected member, bringing your hand to his bulge rubbing him again, groaning in surprise.

“I-I’ve never done anything like this.” Jareth only nodded, as you stroked him through his pants, he wasn’t going to take your virginity not like this. He was a good man- fae sorry, he took all those children from people that didn’t want them. Shouldn’t be thinking about this right now.

Slipping you hand into Jareths pants, you stroked him harshly, rubbing the his tip gently with your thumb when you reached it, before repeating the cycle. Jareths lips upon yours , you could still taste yourself on him. Quickening your pace, soon enough his he had bitten down roughly onto your lip, as he came.

Yet again, you were both laying on the floor, laying your shoulders on his arm, that wrapped around you laying in his chest.

“Can I have my dog back? I mean- if you let me go back, you could come too, o-only if you want to anyways?” You had stuttered out your words , causing Jareth to laugh at you, he had a feeling you still remembered.

“Of course.”

#jareth x reader #the labyrinth #jareth #jareth imagine #Jareth x you #jareth imagines #the labyrinth imagines #goblin king #david bowie x reader #reader insert #the goblin king #the goblin king x reader #jareth smut

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neonlights92 · 3 years

Text

RUN: CHAPTER VI

Jeon Jungkook hops from bed to bed, sleeping with as many beautiful, rich women as he can possibly find time for. He’s young and attractive, with a silver tongue that gets him practically anything he wants. So when his friend and boss, Kim Taehyung, tells him it’s time to settle down, Jungkook takes it pretty badly. And when he finds out that the woman he’s destined to marry is, in fact, his little sister’s best friend, he is less than impressed.

You have spent your entire life trying to forget the way you feel about Jeon Jungkook. So when you find out that Jungkook is to be your husband - and that he is anything but pleased about it - your world is thrown into chaos. How can you survive a loveless marriage with the man you are hopelessly in love with?

WARNINGS: Language, some violence and smut

A/N: Final chapter friends!! Hope you enjoy it. We’ve still got the epilogue to go and then onto Joonie!

When you woke up with a start it was on a cold, stone floor.

Your body felt like it had been run over by a truck.

You could barely see anything - but you could smell burning - and you tasted ash.

Where the fuck were you?

“Hello?” You tried to move around and realised your hands were held together with what felt like rope, “Is anyone there?” Panic settled in your chest as you realised the situation you were in. It wasn’t looking hopeful.

Your mind drew back to the car crash - the men who’d pulled you and Namjoon out of the wreck -

Namjoon.

Your heart felt like it might very well fall out of your ribcage. Was Namjoon okay?

The last you could remember he’d seemed very much unconscious. You winced.

Shit.

What the hell was going on?

Before you could try to even begin to answer that question - the door to the room you were in swung open and light flooded your surroundings. You realised quickly you were in some kind of storage room - and you had been chained to some pipes sticking out of the wall.

“Seems our guest is awake.” Your blood ran cold at the voice.

You’d heard it only once before - but you’d never forget it.

Violetta.

“Y/N was it?” She took a step towards you and flipped a switch - lighting the room up.

Your chest tightened at the look on her face.

Unfiltered anger.

“What are you doing?” Your voice sounded like sandpaper, “What’s going on?”

“Surely you’ve seen enough movies to know what a kidnapping is.” She smirked - cold and cruel, “Or do I need to talk you through it?”

You coughed then, feeling bile climb up your throat.

“Jungkook will kill you -” “When he finds out.” She rolled her eyes, coming to crouch in front of you, “Yes. I’ve heard it all before.” Her eyes flickered across your face.

“Not even beautiful,” She scoffed, “What’s the point?”

You felt something akin to fear shiver down your spine.

“What are you going to do with me?” “Oh. I’m not going to do anything, darling. I don’t call the shots here. I just called in… A tip.”

“Jungkook will kill you.”

She pulled a face then - of mock pity.

“Oh you poor thing. You think he cares about you?” She rose a dark brow, “God. You really are smitten.” Maybe before - when you were insecure, when you weren’t sure what Jungkook felt for Violetta… You might have let her words move you. You might have even believed her.

Believed that Jungkook didn’t care about you. That you were disposable to him - a toy.

But you knew better.

You’d heard the relief in his voice when you called him. You remembered the things he had said - how he wanted to protect you and keep you safe.

Namjoon was right. Jungkook was a dickhead, but he cared about you.

“Anyway. I can’t tell you what they’re going to do,” She shrugged carelessly, “You weren’t the real target. Namjoon was. What a blessing you were with him though.”

Her eyes narrowed and you noticed for the first time how cold they were… Lifeless almost.

“Why would you call in a tip about Namjoon? What has he ever done to you?” “I just needed to get Jungkook’s attention. Thought this might work,” She flipped her hair across her pale shoulders, and stood, “He’ll definitely know I had something to do with it.” Your mind was racing - was Namjoon alright? You were hit with sickening dread as you considered the possibility that your friend might be hurt… Or worse, dead.

“What have you done with him?” You asked, throat dry, “You know Jungkook will never forgive you if something happens to him.” She shrugged and inspected the bed of her nails, as though you were boring her.

“I don’t much care for what he thinks about me now,” She licked her teeth and shot you a cold glare, “I just wanted to hurt him back in kind.”

And without another word, she stalked away from you - hovering in the doorway for a moment before turning back to give you something like a smile.

“I know you think you love him,” She said to you - voice cutting straight through your core, “But he’ll never love anymore more than himself.” She looked almost like she felt sorry for you.

“I hope you know that.” And then she slammed the door shut, and you were left alone.

It was hours before anyone came back to see you. First it was a guard with some food and water. He was stoic and unresponsive as you asked time and time again who he worked for - what they wanted from you.

You had been crying for hours by the time Namjoon was thrown in beside you. He crumpled on the floor in agony, and you noticed immediately how much he was building.

The man who had pushed him stood snarling in the doorway and you felt your heart freeze in your chest at the condition your friend was in. You couldn’t even help him - chained to the pipe as you were - and so all you could do was watch helplessly as he writhed in pain.

“Simmer in your wounds for a little while,” The guard grunted, “Let’s see if you feel like talking when the pain sets in.” His eyes flickered to yours and you felt sick from what you saw in them. Pure hatred.

The door slammed shut and you were alone with Namjoon.

He still hadn’t sat up - he was clutching his stomach in pain - and his head was bleeding. You couldn’t assess how bad the situation was - and you felt bile rise to your throat at the look on your friend’s face.

He looked like he was dying of pain.

“Namjoon! Namjoon. Please it’s me, Y/N. Can you talk?” “Y/N,” He rasped, eyes cracking open as he stared back at you - your heart turned in your chest at the way he was looking at you, “I can’t feel my fingers.”

Your gaze snapped down to his hands and you realised he hadn’t been clutching his stomach - he’d been shielding his fingers. They were mangled and broken and this time when the bile rose to your throat you couldn’t stop it.

When you were finished throwing up Namjoon smirked tiredly, “That bad huh?” “Joon…” You were crying now.

The situation was dire wasn’t it? Was there any hope you’d come out of this alive - in one piece?

Namjoon had pushed himself up against the wall, cradling his broken hand, and staring mindlessly at the ceiling.

“It’s Byun Baekhyun’s sister.” Your eyes snapped to Namjoon’s.

“What?” “The person who’s doing all this,” He added voice shaking with pain, “It’s Baekhyun’s sister. She wants retribution for her brother’s death. For the demise of EXO. Seems she was able to string together some EXO loyalists and, of course, Violetta.”

“What does she want then?” You asked, watching as Namjoon placed his broken hand on the floor, “Is she going to kill us?” “She wants information. To take down Bangtan. I suppose she thinks she’ll be able to break me, eventually.” He shrugged and cringed at the pain, “I don’t know.” “Are you going to be okay?” You were so concerned - so scared, “Your hand…” “It’s you I’m worried about,” He replied honestly, and his eyes searched your own carefully, “Whatever they do Y/N… Don’t give up anything. The moment they think they have what they need from you, your dead, okay?” Your heart thundered against your chest.

No, no, no. You weren’t a warrior. You couldn’t do this.

Why was this happening to you? You felt dizzy - the world was spinning - would you faint? Your eyes struggled to focus.

“Y/N. Listen to me.” Namjoon’s voice centred you. You looked up, “I know you can do this okay. Trust yourself. Do this for Jungkook.”

The door swung open and the same guard from earlier glared down at you.

“Boss wants to see you, Princess.” His voice sounded like nails scratching across a chalkboard. Your chest tightened, but you fought against the panic.

You couldn’t let him see you were scared.

You set your face like stone as he untied you, eyes moving to meet with Namjoon’s frantically. He gave you a small smile - a vote of confidence - and you pushed past the fear.

You could do this.

“So you're Jeon’s wife, huh?” The guard pushed you out into the hallway and grabbed you by the shoulders, “Does he fuck you like he has half of Seoul?” You supposed this was some kind of psychological torture - intended to further break you down.

Why would you stay loyal to a man who treated you like a mistress? But you knew who you married. You knew whose bed you shared.

And whether he could admit it to himself or not - you knew Jungkook loved you too.

You said nothing. You set your jaw. You locked your eyes on the door at the very end of the long, winding corridor.

You ignored the brush of his beard against the bare skin of your cheek as you walked.

He reeked of beer.

Of course he did.

“I think he even fucked a few EXO girls if I’m honest,” He sounded drunk - slurring, “Rumour has it he’s got a massive cock. Care to confirm?” You pressed your lips tighter together.

“Cat got your tongue lovely?” He chuckled darkly, “Well. We’ll see how long that lasts.” He opened a door to your left and pushed you inside, and your eyes moved to meet with the glare of a woman sat behind a metal desk.

“Please. Sit.”

You didn’t have a choice, obviously. You were forced into the seat roughly, and you winced when the bone of your elbow snapped as the man handling you handcuffed you to the chair.

“Thank you Taeil,” The woman looked up at the guard and smiled briefly, “That will be all.” He bowed and shot you another smirk, before disappearing. When the door clicked closed, the woman sighed heavily.

“I’m sure Namjoon has told you who I am.” Her voice was business-like, “But in case he hasn’t. My name is Sana.” Her eyes cut through you like glass. You shifted.

“I don’t want to hurt you.” You pinched the skin of your thigh - forcing yourself not to give in to the anxiety rushing through your veins. She couldn’t know how you felt.

“You broke his hand,” Your voice was bolder than you thought it would be, “He’s in so much pain.” “I admit. Taeil can be a brute.” Her eyes gave nothing away, “But he won’t die from it.” “He might lose his hand.” “A price we pay to live in a world like this,” She shrugged, “I’m sure you’re aware that Kim Taehyung killed my brother. He’s the only person I care about hurting, or killing. If you help me find him, I’ll let you both go.”

Your ears were roaring, “Bangtan is my family. What makes you think I would ever dishonour them like that?” “Because you must be sick and tired of being treated like shit,” Sana’s face was like stone - you had to admit a small part of you was impressed. How did she keep it so well hidden?

“What are you talking about?” “Jungkook. Your husband. His infidelities.”

Once upon a time those words would have sent you in a tailspin. Now you forced yourself to stay calm.

“You won’t get me to betray them,” You answered honestly, “You’re wasting your time.”

She considered you for a moment - eyes raking you carefully, slowly, like she was coming to some kind of a decision. Afterwards, she clasped her hands in front of her and sighed heavily.

“Remember I tried to be kind.” She told you, as she stood, making her way to the front door and knocking once, “Taeil.”

The portal opened and Taeil was stood grinning drunkenly, “Yes ma’am?” “She’s all yours.” Her eyes flicked to yours, once and she shrugged, “I don’t think it will take long.” Taeil’s eyes lit up with glee and you felt your stomach drop with a sickening thud. He was carrying a suitcase. You knew what that meant.

What kind of horrors suitcases like that, held.

He stepped inside the room and your anxiety rose once again, feeling like it might overwhelm you.

When the two of you were alone, he made his way towards you and you found your heart rising to your throat. You were panicking from the look in his eyes.

You’d seen that look before. Like a predator stalking his prey.

Like he was going to eat you up.

“Stay away from me,” You warned, voice cracking, “My husband will kill you -” He slapped you, once, across the face. Your chair screeched back from the force of the hit and when you turned to look at him you found your eyes couldn’t focus.

He’d disorientated you.

“God.” He growled, cracking his knuckles, “I can already tell this is gonna be fun.”

You shook your head, feeling tears come to your eyes as he grabbed you by the hair and yanked your hair backwards.

“Open up princess,” He grunted, shoving his fingers into your mouth and prying your lips open, “I’m just going to take this for good luck, okay?” He tapped your incisor and your eyes widened in horror, as he pulled a wrench out of the leather suitcase he’d brought inside with him.

“No, no please,” You begged, feeling your heart thud angrily against your chest, “Please…” But he didn’t pay you any mind as he placed the tooth between the mouth of the wrench, and twisted, popping out your incisor as pain shot through your entire being. You felt blood fill your mouth, and your eyes flashed with blinding light.

“Oh god…” You were sobbing as he stepped away, inspecting the incisor, “Oh god…” “Pretty.” He murmured smiling at you, “Wanna see?”

It would be the last thing he ever said.

Suddenly a thunderous bang resonated throughout the entire building you were in, and what sounded like a rain of bullets came showering down.

You could hear shouting outside - and your heart expanded - was that Bangtan?

The door to the room you were in swung open, and before you could blink, a bullet shot through the air and into the back of Taeil’s head. Within seconds he was dead, slumping over.

You screamed, your chest tightening like a balloon. God, god, god. Were you going to be next. You struggled against your restraints before your eyes met the woman standing in the doorway.

It was Park Jimin’s wife.

Switchblade.

She rushed towards you quickly, her eyes worried as she evaluated your condition.

“Are you okay Y/N?” She asked quickly, rooting around Taeil’s dead body for the keys to the handcuffs that were keeping you from being able to run, “God. He’s sick.” “It looks worse than it is,” You told her, spitting out more blood as it trickled down the side of your mouth, “Just get me out of here.”

She finally found the keys, and fiddled around with the lock, eventually freeing you.

“Can you walk on your own?” “Yes.” You stood quickly, eyes meeting her own, “What about Namjoon?” “Hoseok’s gone to get him,” She grabbed your wrist and pulled you towards the door, “He’s going to fine. C’mon. We have got to get out of here.”

The corridor was filled with chaos, and you felt your chest tighten. Members of Bangtan threw open doors, pulling out their adversaries and throwing them to the ground.

“Ignore it,” Switchblade told you sternly, “Follow me. And you’ll be fine.” You tried to listen to her.

Tried to ignore the cries of pain - the way members of EXO begged for their lives - the way only moments ago that had been you.

You watched the back of Switchblade’s head, followed her down the winding hallway.

You had to get out. You had to get out.

Someone to her left tried to knock the gun out of her hand, and Switchblade reacted in less than half a second - bullet through his ears.

Your chest tightened. You felt sick. You felt euphoric.

You were going to live, weren’t you?

Just as you reached the end of the hallway - just as Switchblade turned to give you a triumphant smile - somebody stood right in front of you both, blocking the way.

Immediately, Switchblade’s body language changed. She froze.

Because staring back at her was someone you knew she’d known her entire life.

Sana.

And she was pointing a gun at her.

“Switchblade,” Her voice was so calm, it scared you, “Nice to see you again. It’s been a while hasn’t it?” The polite tone in her voice belied the anger she felt. You could see the fire in her eyes.

“I suppose you’ll want to kill me now.” Switchblade answered coldly, “For Baekhyun’s honour?” “How could you betray EXO like that?” Sana seemed genuinely hurt for a moment - it flickered across her face - before it was replaced with that same look of cold contempt, “I thought you loved my brother.” “I did.” Switchblade’s fingers flexed as she pointed her own gun back at her old friend, “But they left me no choice.”

“As you’ve left me no choice. I hope you understand why I orchestrated all of this.” Switchblade nodded once, sharply, “I understand, Sana.”

“So?” She cocked her head to the side, “We’re at a deadlock. Neither of us can shoot.” You heard the regret in Switchblade’s voice, “You always did underestimate me, Sana. Not just you. But all of you. EXO.” And in the blink of an eye, Switchblade had slashed a knife she’d kept hidden behind her back across Sana’s throat. She was dead before her body reached the ground.

You worried you might vomit again.

“C’mon.” She turned to you - a look of regret on her face, “It’s over now.” As the front door swung open and sunlight flooded your eyes, you felt like you might very well break down in tears.

Switchblade led you over to the white van that she assured you would take you back home to Jungkook. Jimin sat behind the driver’s wheel, with Jin in the passenger seat.

You and Switchblade took the backseats.

“He loves you, y’know.” She told you as she climbed in beside you, “Jungkook I mean. We all see it.” There was a long moment of silence. You leaned your head back against the headrest and sighed heavily.

Then you finally admitted what you’d always hoped, always wanted. Always dreamed.

Your eyes met her and you nodded.

“Yeah,” You whispered, “I know.”

And then finally, you gave in and fell asleep.

You woke up hours later, in darkness.

Your throat was closed tight as your hands clutched for something - anything that might anchor you.

Where were you? Where were you? Sana’s dead body…

Namjoon’s mangled fingers…

Violetta’s cruel smile….

Taeil’s eyes…

“Oh god, oh god, oh god…” You were sobbing now, body wracking with the force of it, and before you knew it a light had switched on and two warm, strong arms were wrapped around you.

“Y/N. Oh my sweet baby. Oh Angel. I’m so sorry, so sorry…”

You knew that voice. You recognised that warmth.

As you pulled away, you found yourself staring into the beautiful eyes of your husband, Jungkook. He relaxed his hold on you but kept one arm around you, pushing hair away from your face and kissing away the tears.

“I’m so sorry Y/N,” You realised suddenly, that he was crying too, “My darling Angel. I’m so sorry.”

You didn’t know what he was apologising for, but you didn’t care. Instead you buried yourself further into the warmth of his chest, and breathed in deeply.

It was him. Jungkook. You were home. You were safe.

After a few moments of holding each other, you finally pulled away enough that you could look into his eyes. He was staring back at you like you might disappear into smoke right in front of him.

“Jungkook…” The word sounded foreign, even to your own ears.

Had it been so long since you’d said it?

“I’m so sorry Y/N. So sorry. About everything.” He brought a hand up to cup your cheek and you leaned into his touch. The smile that graced his lips caught your chest, “God. When they found Namjoon’s car - Jesus. I thought I might lose my mind. Y/N. My baby. My sweet, sweet baby.”

He kissed you then, softly, gently, like he was trying to take everything in. You let him take whatever he wanted from you - you gave him your heart, your soul, your mind freely.

You always had.

“How did you find me?” You asked after he’d pulled away to press kisses against your cheeks - your chin - your eyelids.

“Yoongi.” He murmured, pushing his forehead against yours and staring into your eyes like he might lose you any moment, “He was tracking Violetta. We knew she was behind this.”

“Is she…” Jungkook’s eyes hardened, “Yes. I made sure of it.”

You felt sick again.

She was cruel, awful… But did she deserve death? “I’m sorry I wasn’t there when Switchblade found you,” He ran his hands through your hair, bringing you closer, “But Taehyung wouldn’t let me go. He said I was too emotionally attached to you. It was too dangerous.”

You laughed a little, feeling a big, fat tear fall down the dip of your nose, “And are you?” “Am I what, darling?”

The softness, the affection.. The warmth. It was overwhelming. But you took everything he gave you.

“Are you emotionally attached to me?”

He paused for a moment, eyes searching your face fervently. Looking for something - something you knew he’d already found.

“God Y/N of course I am. Jesus. I am so attached - I can’t… I couldn’t go on without you,” He grabbed your face gently and brought your lips to his, pressing a kiss to the side of your mouth. His eyes were closed as he pulled away after a moment.

“Even though I’m missing a tooth?” You made a feeble attempt at a joke, smiling to display the gap where your incisor should’ve been.

You’d meant for it to be funny, but instead Jungkook’s eyes snapped open - dark and angry - like two swirling orbs of obsidian black.

“I wish I could bring him back so I could take out every single one of his teeth. And then some.” His eyes softened and he pressed another kiss to your mouth, “I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you.” You touched your fingers to his lips, and shook your head.

“I know you did your best, Jungkook.” Your body was flushed with warmth at the way he was holding you, “Please don’t hold yourself accountable for this.”

“But -” “No. This is the risk we take. The risk I take as a member of Bangtan. As your wife,” You pressed your cheek against his naked chest, “And it’s worth it.”

Jungkook squeezed you tighter at your words.

After a moment, you kissed the space in his chest where his heart beat.

“I love you,” You whispered against the skin, running your nose through his soft hair, “I love you so much it consumes me, sometimes.”

He paused. Then he pulled you away and tears misted his eyes again.

“God. I don’t deserve it. Don’t deserve you Angel.” He kissed you again, “But I love you too.” The words - though you’d known they were true - filled your heart with an indescribable sense of fullness.

“Say it again.” He chuckled and pressed a kiss to your shoulder, “God. Love you so much I can’t even think straight sometimes.” He ran his hand through your hair, “Love you, Angel. Love you.” The words set fire to your heart.

That night, when you made love, Jungkook told you again and again and again how much he loved you. How you completed him. Made him whole.

You returned the sentiments.

And then when you were both spent, lying in bed together, staring at each other in adoration - like two lovesick teenagers - he breathed out a sigh of relief. Like something he’d been holding in for years.

“I’ve been running for my feelings for you for years, Y/N.” He told you as he pressed his nose against yours gently, “That’s what Taehyung told me when he said he wanted us to get married.”

Your heart turned, “He did?” Jungkook nodded slowly.

“Was he right?” You whispered, fresh tears coming to the surface.

Jungkook pressed a kiss against your mouth that felt like a vow.

When his eyes were boring into your own again, he cupped your cheek and stroked your brow.

“Of course he was,” He laughed softly, “ A Capo is always right about these things.” And the truth was…

You couldn’t really argue with that.

FIN

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