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infinitefandomimagines · 3 years

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Things the hq boys secretly love pt. 2

WARNINGS: language

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CHARACTERS: Oikawa Tooru, Kita Shinsuke, Tendou Satori, and Terushima Yuuji

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part 1 , part 2

OIKAWA TOORU

• when you put makeup on him / use him as a canvas to practice looks.

• you would do it on yourself, but it's easier to follow along with the tutorials when doing it on someone else. plus it gives you an excuse to spend time with and be close to your boyfriend.

• oikawa will literally complain non-stop about how he doesn't want you prodding at his face with brushes and how all the products will make him break out. but the second you do a new look without practicing on him first he's offended.

• because no matter how much he claims to hate it, he secretly loves it. the brushes feel so soft and ticklish against his skin, and your touch is always so gentle and warm. plus, he's more than happy with the proximity between the two of you.

• as a comprise for letting you do this, you let him lay on his back on your shared bed (the lighting isn't great but at least he's comfy). you'll splay out your products around the empty bed space and then perch yourself on top of him, straddling his hips. you'll get super close to his face, bending down to hover over him, the palm of your non dominant hand pressed against his chest to steady yourself

• he's lowkey scared you'll feel how fast his heart is beating, but you never mention it.

• your face is mere inches away from his and he takes full advantage of this, stealing little kisses from you when you're least expecting it.

• also loves to rest his hands on your hips, playing with the hem of your shirt, finger tips lightly grazing the skin beneath.

• mf thinks its funny to poke your sides randomly to make you jump

• "tooru– keep doing that and i'll actually stab you in the eye."

• spoiler alert: he keeps doing it and you do end up stabbing him in the eye (accidently ofc)

• after you're done, he'll let you take as many photos of the look as you want. he even takes a few for himself because he's proud of your work and wants to show it off to iwa later.

• lowkey feeling himself

• if you thought this man's ego was big before hand...

• "i look pretty hot, don't i y/n–chan? i think blue is really my color."

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KITA SHINSUKE

• when you take care of and baby him, especially if he's sick.

• he's perfectly capable of taking care of himself, and both of you know that. mf is literally one of the most responsible people ever.

• but something inside of him just … melts when you dote over him.

• this usually happens when you can tell he's had a long and tiring day, or on he rare occasion he gets sick.

• you'll cook for him, give him a little massage, cuddle him, help him bathe, do his chores, anything to alleviate some of the stress weighing on him.

• his favorite thing ever is when you let him lay his head in your lap. will fall asleep in five minutes flat when you start playing with his hair.

• literally the second he tries to do anything you're glaring at him with your arms crossed over your chest, telling him to get back to bed before he makes his fever any worse.

• he'll insist that he's fine and can make his own soup / do his own chore work but will cave so quickly when you don't give up.

• man barely puts up a fight anymore, just let's you do your thing and accepts his fate.

• almost like he wants to be taken care of … suspicious.

• kita is a pretty self sufficient person, but he has to admit, it just feels nice to have someone care for him so tenderly. it shows how much you care for him.

• he likes to act all put together and stoic but his insides are complete mush when it comes to you.

• won't admit how much he secretly loves it, but he's sure to let you know how appreciative he is of you taking care of him. will never let your efforts go unnoticed or without praise.

• (but maybe don't baby him in public, poor boy gets so flustered and embarrassed)

• and don't think for one second that when the roles are reversed, and you're the one who's sick or tired, that he's gonna let you lift a single finger.

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TENDOU SATORI

• when you show him off in public or to your friends.

• the first time tendou met your friends was when you unexpectedly ran into them at a coffee shop while the two of you were on a date. you ran up and greeted them while tendou kept his distance, not sure if you'd want to introduce him.

• poor baby still has some insecurities left over from his childhood and thinks you wouldn't want to be seen with a "freak" or that somehow you'd be ashamed of dating him.

• baby boy could not be more wrong, you are so proud to be dating him.

• one second you're talking to your friends and the next you're dragging him over by his wrist to meet them.

• literally stands there like he's suddenly ushijima, just: 🧍‍♂️

• but then you lace your fingers with his and press and soft kiss to his cheek before you say, "guys this is who i was telling you about, my boyfriend, tendou!"

• now tendou has never been one to get flustered easily, but right now he's blushing like a madman. his heart swelling when you so eagerly introduced him as your boyfriend.

• and then your friends start saying things like "we've heard so many things about you" and "y/n talks about you a lot"

• he can feel his confidence growing by the second. even after your friends walk away, he's still riding the high of being bragged about.

• "you talk about me?"

• "duh, why wouldn't i? you're the best boyfriend anyone could ever ask for, 'tori."

• he swears he falls in love all over again right then and there.

• please continue to show him off, it makes him so unbelievably happy, even more so when you're not afraid to use pda with him.

• i just know this man loves pda

• used to be really hesitate when it came to pda in the beginning of your relationship. but, once he saw how unbothered you were when it came to being affectionate in public he started to get bolder.

• he loves having his arm wrapped around your waist or his hand in your back pocket at all times.

• he's never told you, but you've helped him gain a lot of confidence and see himself as more than a "monster" or "freak."

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TERUSHIMA YUUJI

• when you call or text him at 2am to go get food with you.

• it's become a common occurrence and at this point he expects to hear from you at least three nights out of the week. he's even started leaving his phone on full volume to make sure hears your call or text.

• will always respond.

• literally the second he gets that "you up? i'm hungry." text he's already grabbed his keys and is out the door.

• sometimes you feel guilty for waking him up, but he always says something like "i was awake anyways" or "i'm kinda hungry too, perfect timing."

• terushima yuuji was in fact neither awake nor hungry.

• but he'll be damned if you ask someone else

• one time you went a week without asking him to go and mf got so butthurt. was all like: "babe are you cheating on me? are you asking other people to take you to get food? i thought you loved me." (doesn't actually think you're cheating, he just likes being dramatic).

• he loves blasting music while you both sing at the top of your lungs with the windows down on your little convince store trips.

• it's just a miniscule little moment but it's makes his heart happy every time.

• 2am chats with terushima yuuji are next level, you can't convince me otherwise.

• sometimes when the two of you are too riled up from your trip to go back to bed, you'll find a park to eat and mess around at.

• the cops may or may not have been called once for a noise complaint.

• after your little night trips he'll usually bring you back to his place and you'll end up staying the night, giving him cuddles as a sort of thank you.

• even though he teasingly complains about you dragging him out, claiming "you owe me." he loves going out with you and would never even dream of making you pay him back.

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badwolf-winchester · 3 years

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Ancient Bloodlines

Pairing: Loki x Emy Nightstar (OC)

OC Summary: Emy is the newest Avenger. She specializes in Magic and close range attacks/ weapons. Her heritage is unknown to her as she was left at an orphanage door step when she was a young girl with only the memory of her name. She goes by her nickname Emy but has never told anyone her full name as its a reminder of her being abandoned. Emy can see through any illusion and Magic no matter how powerful they are or how strong the magic is and is unaware of this. Her powers include Telekinesis, Elemental Control, True Sight (as stated above) Enhanced healing and Shifting (she wont discover this till much later in the story). She loves to read, listen to music, play violin, sing, and draw.

Story Info: Takes place after infinity wars. Tony and Natasha are alive Steven comes back from the future after giving back the infinity stones. Vision is alive and living with Wanda in the tower. Thor and Loki live in the tower with the rest of the Avengers and for the sake of the story Himedall is alive and living with the rest of the Asgardians on earth in New Asgard (you will find out why later)

One last thing: Please do not repost my work on any other site or social media, however reblogging on here is fine. I work hard on all of my fanfics and it’s disappointing when people take my work as their own. I am the creater of all my OCs such as Sora Nightstar, Emy Nightstar, and Lithium Nightstar. My inbox is open for any and all requests as i am a multi fandom writer. Let me know how you like the story and i will do my best to answer any and all questions. As always i encourage any and all feedback as it helps with my writing. I hope you all like it!

The Beginning

They say that your parents are there to teach you the rules of the world, but what happens when you have no parents? Who will teach you then? The world is cruel but people are crueler. Ive learned this first hand when the person i trusted most in this world left me on the door step of the St. Trinity’s Orphanage. I was 9 when my mother told me she didn’t want me anymore and i guess I couldn’t really blame her. I mean who could love someone who couldn’t control the powers that grew with each passing year. Someone who started fires out of thin air when they had nightmares, conjured whirlwinds when startled, unfurled earthquakes when angered, spring forth rain showers when sad, and levitate objects when riddled with anxiety. I will never forget that day for its seared into my mind like its own person brand echoing with every beat of my heart. A monster thats what she called me, her own flesh and blood was a monster in her eyes, and i could see the relief when she ran from the solid oak door finally rid of the burden she had to put up with throughout the years. An abomination she cried as she reached the cobblestone sidewalk eager to be rid of me and by the pace she was going at i could tell she had more spring in her step than on the walk over from the bus we exited from. Unnatural she bellowed as she disappeared around the corner a ghost of a smile springing from her lips as she disappeared. These where the last words i would ever hear from my mother, if thats what you would call her.

Emy’s POV

Tonight was just like any other. Crisp cold air submerged the city in a blanket of dark and silence while it settled into your bones. I never minded the cold in fact I welcomed it, it reminded me of the cabin i found one year after running away from one of the many abusive foster homes i was forced to stay with. I’ll admit it was one of the times I was able to avoid the social workers for longer than a week and the happiest I had ever been in my life up until i was captured by Hydra. When I had a flair up with my powers, which usually ended up being fire, i would immediately get sent back to St. Trinity’s but this time i ran before they had the chance to toss me aside. The staff there used to place bets on how long i would stay with a family, they would joke saying i was cursed or jinxed but i knew the truth, no one wanted me. Once the parents found out about my abilities I was sent packing. I was labeled as a flight risk and a danger to others which only deepened my anti socialism.

Walking through the streets of New York i pull my dark purple jacket on and my dark brown hair in a pony tail as I get closer to my destination. Because i don’t feel the effects of the cold weather Tony, being such the dad figure he is, has made it his priority to make sure i still wear one just incase so here i was walking home in black ripped up jeans, a black v neck T-shirt, black and purple checkered vans and a light weight dark purple jacket. With my headphones in my ears and “I like it heavy” by Halestorm blasting I make my way to the place i call home, Stark Tower. Walking through the front doors i make my way past the receptionist who always greets me with a bright smile. As I walk towards the elevator I give her a small smile back and a head nod. After entering the elevator and pressing the button for the penthouse I start to reflect on how i got here.

By the time i was 15 Hydra found me in that cabin and took me away. I went from hopping from family to family to being used as a science experiment, constantly being poked and prodded just so they could get a reaction out of me. As a child my powers where very unstable mostly flaring up with my emotions, its no wonder that Hydra caught wind of me its not like i was hiding it very well or more so that i couldn’t hide it. They tried to wipe my memory to gain control of me “a blank slate” is what they wanted, but for some reason, they failed as I wasn’t susceptible to their conditioning methods no matter how much time i spent in the chair. However, I could tell they were scared of me I could see it in their eyes. This didn’t last long though as they used what they called their perfect weapon code name Winter Soldier to beat me into submission. After that first meeting that left me with a broken arm and a fractured ankle i started to obey, since then Ive met the Soldier a couple of times but if he remembers me he dosent let on and I dont blame him, he has been in that chair so many times Im genuinely surprised he can even remember how to walk. He is stronger than the others as most of the other test subjects had turned to vegetables after the 4th mind wipe, he was on his 10th the last time i saw him with Hydra.

Another test was done on me and this one was different. They used a teseract? If thats what they called it I can’t be sure nor did I care all I could feel was pain like as if someone injected lava in my veins. After they injected me I started screaming after a while I couldn’t even hear myself anymore, my throat was so sore and horse from the constant roar of my agony I just wanted it to end. How long was I out for? Seconds? Minutes? Hours? Days? Years? They didn’t keep clocks there or at least not in the dungeon like cell they had me in. When the fire faded i was left with this numbness and after further tests I realized that I was immune to fire. I can literally stick my hand in fire and i will be left untouched and unscorched. They did the same test with freezing temperatures to see if they could subdue me at least in some way. I must have been out longer than just a couple of days as during the tests i didn’t recognize any of the Doctors. In that moment I realized something, if they were trying to contain me then something must have happened to the soldier. It was time to plan my escape.

Back in my cell i could hear footsteps approaching me and then stop short. One of the scientists frantically trying to talk some sense into someone just out of my line of sight. “She is immune to anything we throw at her sir. We have done every test we could there is nothing left for us to do.” One of the goons in a lab coat stated to what i assumed is a higher up. “Bolden If her powers keep growing at the rate they are it could be days in which she will be unstoppable and with the soldier gone we dont have anything that can keep her in line. She broke Mandy and Rays arms the last time we tested her. She is getting too strong.” Brining a hand up to his chin the higher up Bolden stepped out of the shadows and looked at me with deep interest before he turned to looked at the man and scoffed. As he walked away i felt a cold chill ran down my back as I anticipated what was to become of me; I knew it was nothing good i had already broken their rules. His next words only confirmed what I feared. “ Its simple. Break her spirit or kill her Doctor. And when i say break her i mean in anyway means necessary.” His sadistic laugh is the last thing i remember before everything went black.

Its been 2 years since i have escaped and now I’m living in the avengers tower. I don’t remember what happened after that night in my cell its all a blur of red, screams, and gunshots. When i woke up next i was in a 6ft crater where I was being held captive without a scratch on me. Trees were uprooted and fallen over as if a bomb went off. Luckily the Avengers showed up not long after me waking up and took me to their base where i met Directer Fury. With his permission and 24/7 surveillance provided by Tony Stark via FRIDAY and training sessions to get my powers under control i was allowed to join the Avengers and fight for good. Little did i know that by agreeing to this I would end up in the path of a certain God or Gods who were also taking residence at the tower.

With the sound of a *ding* the elevator shook me out of my mind and back to the present. As i exited the elevator I pulled my head phones out of my ears and was instantly met with the sound of Tony losing his mind. “Where did she go? She knows she can’t be out this late. She could be taken again! Its 5 minutes past her curfew!” Rolling my eyes I roll my headphones up and shove them in my pocket and round the corner. “Tony it takes 5 minutes to get from the lobby to the penthouse calm down. I bet she will walk through that door anytime now.” Came the sweet voice of reason of none other than Pepper Potts. “I’m Home.” I said in a deadpan voice as i walked by the couple only for Tony to stand up and intercept me by placing a hand on my upper arm. “Where did you go and why didn’t you tell me you were leaving?” I looked at him and raised an eyebrow pushing his hand off me. “Tony its Wednesday. I have training with Strange on Wednesdays and I had Friday alert you as I was leaving but you were in the lab with Bruce.” Not sure what to say next Tony mumbled a small apology. “Sorry I was just worried about you. I know you are grown enough to make your own choices as you are 25 but I just want to make sure you are safe. How was the training with The Wizard?” Sighing and shaking my head just wanting to go the library and read I decided to just let it go. “Strange is a hard ass that much you already know. It wasnt bad actually I think I’m warming up to him. I didn’t spontaneously throw him to the wall when he snuck up behind me as i was going over the ancient texts so i call that improvement.” I said sheepishly while side stepping around him. “I’m gonna go to the library now and grab some light reading before bed you guys have a good night.” With out waiting for a response I quickly made my way towards my new destination only to have Tony saying something about guests in the house but I ignored him.

Pushing open the library door I make my way to the poetry section to grab my usual copy of Edgar Allen Poe that I read before bed. As my had reached for the spot i knew i put the book in i find that its not there. “Wait what? Where is my book? I know I put it back here before I left for training so where did it go?” Frustrated I stomp back over to the entrance and rip open the door ready to go on a murder spree while shouting down the hallway. “CLINT! You better give me back my night time book or I’m breaking all your arrows again! No one reads in this tower but me! How stupid do you think I am!?” Straining my ears I listen for any type of movement but was met with dead silence. After a minute I finally hear movement through the vents coming from the west part of the tower and I take off sprinting. Sliding around a corner I barely miss colliding with Steve and Bucky who look like they were on their way back from a mission. Offering a quick apology before I continue my pursuit I hear Steve yell “Hey! No running in the tower!” Not faltering in my hot pursuit of the Hawk thief I continue to zip through the tower ignoring the Captains words until i was almost to the vent that lead to the 2 level family room. Using the railing for the steps leading down to the family area to give me more height i jumped as close to the vent as possible and conjured my signature Scythe to slice through it while twisting in the air kicking the vent free and off its track. A shocked and terrified scream resonates from the vent as the culprit falls to the ground with a thud and a grunt. I landed in a crouched position and slowly straightened to my full hight. “What the hell Emy?! When did you learn to do that?!” Clint yells as he sits up rubbing his left shoulder that he landed on. I started stalking towards him with the blade of my scythe scrapping across the ground as i went while giving him a death glare. “Give me back my book Barton.” At the mention of his last name his head snapped up to me fear replacing the pain from his fall. “Oh shit last name not good.” Scrambling up on his feet he turns and runs towards the common room that connects to the elevator with me hot on his tail and my scythe trailing behind me in my right hand.

“Shit shit shit shit shit shit SHIT!!” He yells as he makes it fully to the room only to fling forward as i jump and kick his back tired of all the running. Twirling my weapon around I place it at his neck sneering at him. “I will not ask you again.” I said placing pressure on his neck with my blade. Sensing a fast moving object coming from my left from the kitchen I move my head back 3 inches as what looked like a hammer flew by me embedding itself in the wall. Turning my head slowly in the direction of the flying object, I confirmed it was indeed a hammer that was thrown at me. Irritation flared through me as i released Clint from the end of my scythe and turned fully to the kitchen to face my attacker. There stood 2 men that i did not recognize, one tall oak of a man with blond short hair, blue eyes and tan skin in blue jeans, a red T-shirt ,and grey jacket. the other shorter man made me stare at him and faultier for a second as he was so different from anyone i have ever seen, dark blue skin covered his entire body with darker almost black symbols and piercing red eyes, long black hair with black jeans, a green dress shirt and black jacket. Tearing my gaze away from his own curious one i looked between both men before i clenched my jaw letting my irritation settle back in. “Which one of you threw that hammer.” I said venom dripping with every word. “Whoa its ok Emy thats just Thor and Loki they are the asgardian Gods that live here in the tower part time when they are not in Norway.” Clint said standing up quickly. Not moving from my position i narrowed my eyes and flicked them over in Clint’s direction. The ground started to shake as my irritation and annoyance grew to anger remembering what i was doing before being interrupted by the Gods. Throwing his hands up in surrender he then quickly reached into his back pocket and retrieved my book. “Ok ok dont blow a fuse Em.” He said while tossing me my possession stopping me from causing an earthquake. Catching it in the air with my left had I inspected the book to make sure it wasn’t damaged before I let go of my scythe, with a wave of my hand it disappeared back to the pocket dimension I keep it in then looked back at Clint as the tremors stopped. “Touch my things again and i will be wearing your guts like my mom’s pashmina.” I said to the thief before walking out of the room and disappeared down the hallway not giving the Gods a second glance. As I entered my room i could hear a silky voice ring out from the kitchen. “Well isnt she interesting.”

Part 2 coming soon

@nickkie1129

#loki x y/n #loki odinson #loki series #loki #loki x reader #loki x you #loki (marvel)#loki laufeyson #marvel #avengers x reader #the avengers #clint barton #tony stark #doctor strange #thor odinson #steve rogers #bucky barns #pepper potts

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aliendes · 4 years

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Natural Borns - Chapter Five

Banner made by @thebannershop

Series info/genre: Angst, fluff, future smut - NSFW due to darker themes

Pairings: ot7 x fem reader (eventual)

Warnings: mentions of sex in exchange for favors but it doesn’t actually happen, mentions of suicide, anxiety, and depression. Mentions of alcohol, tobacco, and drug use. Mentions of prescription drugs and medical stuff like blood. Insinuations of poly relationships, if this make you uncomfortable, this will be a reoccurring theme for the rest of the series. The boys love each other, that’s the point of this story. Mentions of skipping meals? If that’s a warning. Warnings will be different for each chapter from here on out.

Description: In the year 2613, over half of the world’s population are what scientists consider ‘designer babies’. YN is a small town girl who is a true natural born, someone born naturally without he help of a lab or gene splicing. Her DNA is greatly sought after, but what is she willing to do to protect it?

Word count: 4.2k ~

A/N: I’m really excited for this chapter! This is Yoongi’s backstory! Yay!! There is also some juicy info in this chapter that will be explored in the next one. Also, you guys voted for smut with romantic relationships, so please note that for the rest of the series, there will be smut, poly relationships, etc. If this makes you uncomfortable, I totally understand. If you want to be added/removed from the taglist please send me an ask! Enjoy!!

xx Des

Updated: 8/15/2020

As the day went on, and the sun started to set beyond the hills, your mind was plagued with the thoughts that this was all a horrible, horrible idea.

After you stormed out of the warehouse, the remaining four men in Yoongi’s room continued to argue about whether or not it would be a good idea to let you help with their plan. Seokjin and Jungkook were firmly against it. They felt enchanted by your personality and something about you was captivating to them. Hoseok and Yoongi were both incredibly unsure of your place in this family, not yet trusting of you. Yoongi obviously felt an attraction to you, but he wasn’t entirely sure it was anything beyond physical at this point. Though, he knew if he let it, it would fester into something much, much stronger. Whenever you were present he could feel himself start to slip. The cold exterior he always made a show of keeping up, crumbling to ash in his hands. He can’t deny the way his heart clenched in his chest when you ran out of the room. He wanted to run after you, tell you that he wouldn’t make you do anything you weren’t comfortable with. But he held himself back. He’s had plenty of practice holding himself back and not allowing his emotions to crack his icy walls.

Namjoon was Yoongi’s first friend in the facility. They were both ‘bought’ from their mothers when they were teenagers, and since they were similar in age, they roomed together at Big Hit. Namjoon had already been at the lab for a few months before Yoongi showed up, disheveled and scared. Unlike Namjoon, Yoongi had a very hard time coping with the fact that he now had to live in a cramped room with another boy, be poked and prodded and experimented on.

Namjoon had lived a pretty sheltered life, and didn’t have too many friends growing up. Yoongi was the complete opposite. He was seen as the ‘bad boy’ in his high school, always getting the girls because of his unusual good looks, smoking cigarettes behind the school, and causing trouble in his classes. He liked to think he had a lot of friends, but most of them were deadbeats who only hung around him because he stole cigarettes and alcohol from his mom’s boyfriends. Regardless, he enjoyed being out of the house and living his life the way he wanted to. When he was brought to Big Hit, all of that changed. His freedoms were stripped from him, even basic human needs were stripped from him. They would often go days without eating, only being given water, told that they had to ‘fast’ in order for certain experiments to work, or for certain blood work to be done. All of the torture they endured was ‘in the name of science’. Or so they were told.

Yoongi went through the stages of grief pretty quickly in the lab. When he first arrived, he was extremely upset, in denial that any of that was actually happening to him. He would tell Namjoon that his mom would come get him any minute now, and all of this would be some horrible joke she played on him to get him back on the straight and narrow, get him to stop skipping school and drinking. After a few days went by, he realized she wasn’t coming, and anger quickly took over him. Yoongi attempted to break down the door in his and Namjoon’s tiny room, to no avail. Eventually the guards sedated him and Namjoon had to look after him for two days while he sweated out the medication, shaking and dehydrated from lack of fluids. After that happened, he started to bargain with the guards or the doctors that would come take him into exam rooms, telling them he would do anything for them to release him, even resorting to offering favors in exchange for freedom. He never followed through with any of his offers, but he would later hate himself for stooping that low.

After a few weeks of this, Yoongi eventually developed severe depression, even being put on suicide watch at one point. After spending so much time together in their tiny dorm, Namjoon started to really care for the older boy and was extremely distraught over his behavior. He would tell Yoongi that everything would be ok, and one day they would get out of there. Some nights it got so bad Namjoon would slip into Yoongi’s bed and hold him close while he sobbed or when he woke up from nightmares.

Yoongi would sleep away days at a time, not eating or drinking water. Namjoon would have to force water down his throat when he was getting delirious and having horrible migraines that prevented him from moving around too much. Namjoon would lay with him while he shook from dehydration mixed with the meds they gave him. Yoongi lost his will to live, lost his will to do anything but accept what the lab was doing to him. There was nothing he could do about it, and while Namjoon had remained optimistic about their future, Yoongi accepted their fate and allowed the doctors and technicians to do whatever they wanted with him. He became a shell of his former self, not getting out of bed unless carried by Namjoon or the technicians, staring at the wall for hours on end, and only speaking when he was forced by the doctors. Namjoon cried for his friend, only wanting to help, wanting to get him out of there.

That was why Namjoon came up with the escape plan. One night, after Yoongi had been at the facility for nearly a year, Namjoon woke him up in the early hours of the morning. Apparently, the younger had been learning the rotations of the technicians and the guards when he was being moved from room to room. He would also listen in on their conversations while he was being given meds or having his blood drawn in the exam room, which was right next to the guard room. He didn’t tell Yoongi what he was doing because he didn’t want anyone to overhear them and ruin his plan, so Yoongi was completely shocked to learn he had all of this planned out.

Namjoon said that the guards would be on break in the guard room around 3:30 AM, and at 3:40 AM the technician on duty would rotate with the morning shift, who comes in at 3:45 AM and the guards would end their break around the same time, giving them a five minute window to get out of their rooms and down a hallway that led to the elevators. They both knew that this hallway led away from the exam rooms, and therefore, away from the guards. Yoongi was even more shocked when Namjoon pulled a keycard out of his back pocket that he took off one of the guards earlier when he was being given medication. That keycard would allow them to get onto the elevator and, hopefully, escape this place.

Given all the things that could’ve gone wrong, Namjoon and Yoongi’s escape went relatively seamlessly, and once they were out of that God forsaken place, they moved from place to place together, sleeping on the streets, abandoned houses, and homeless shelters, until they met Seokjin and Jungkook. Two men who were at one point, also housed at Big Hit, but released for different reasons. They would later meet the others and form the family they know and love today. Yoongi was thankful for the six men, living with them, and growing with them. They had a shared traumatic experience that they helped each other through, leaned on each other, and eventually developed a bond that they never expected.

Even after all these years, Yoongi still admired Namjoon and was beyond thankful for him for being there through his darkest times. Quite literally keeping him alive in the facility when he had given up trying. He owed Namjoon his life and respected him more than anyone on this planet. He never wanted to disappoint him and has been helping him find other natural borns to further his vision of equality, even if he didn’t always want to. Yoongi would much rather it just be the seven of them for the rest of their lives, but he understood why Namjoon pushed for this, why he stood up for others that couldn’t stand up for themselves. It was one of the many reasons he admired the man.

That is exactly why Yoongi is currently standing outside the warehouse, back against the large metal door you had run out of earlier today. The sun had set over an hour ago, meaning you had been gone most of the day. The others would have panicked by now, had it not been for Hoseok alerting them of your whereabouts. They were all shocked when Hobi had come into Yoongi’s room a few hours ago, letting them all know he had been watching you from the second floor, sitting on a rock down by the quarry. Jungkook and Seokjin had both wanted to go to you, but Namjoon talked them down, telling them you needed time to process everything that had happened to you. You were dealing with a lot, even now, and you didn’t even have the full story. They knew Namjoon’s words were true, having gone through something similar themselves. Though, they couldn’t imagine how you were feeling, having to suddenly leave your family with little explanation.

It was only after Namjoon pulled Yoongi aside in the hallway, telling him again he needed to fix this, apologize to you, even if he didn’t want to. He needed to make sure you stayed with them because if you didn’t, you’d be in more danger than you realized. Yoongi would never let Namjoon down, and so, he made his way down to the water to make good on his promise to fix this.

You were vaguely aware that the sun had set a while ago, sat on a rock, knees pulled to your chest, and face resting upon your crossed arms. You weren’t sobbing anymore, just a few stray tears falling every now and then. You were sure your face was red and swollen with how much crying you’ve done today.

The sound of the ripples on the water, the wind slowly blowing the trees around you, and the sound of chirping crickets was helping you relax, but with nightfall, brought cooler temperatures. Even though it was summer, it was still a bit chilly at night with how much humidity was in the air. Being right next to water wasn’t helping either. Just as a chill ran down your spine, causing you to shiver violently, you felt something warm being draped over your shoulder.

You startled, head snapping up at the new presence beside you, causing you to let out a curse as you nearly fell backwards. As you righted yourself, you were met with a pair of nearly black eyes that you least expected to see right now. “You’re shivering,” Yoongi coldly stated, face emotionless as he looked down at your pathetic state.

Way to state the obvious, you thought. But truthfully, you were thankful for the warmth of the leather jacket he had wrapped you in. You audibly gulped, looking up at him with eyes as wide as they could go, considering how puffy they were. “T- th- thanks…” you trailed off quietly, grabbing the sides of the jacket to pull it closer to you. You hadn’t realized just how cold you were.

“You coming back up?”

You mulled over his question for a moment. You were cold. And hungry. And completely and utterly exhausted and probably dehydrated with the river of tears you’ve cried today. Yet, you didn’t feel all that welcome in their ‘home’ and you were unsure if you really wanted to go back. Yoongi seemed to notice your hesitancy, taking the opportunity to say what he had practiced all the way down here. Talking wasn’t his strong suit. “They’re really worried about you, you know,” he uttered, softer than before, but still monotone.

Is that what he came all the way down here to tell you? You furrowed your brows at him, “They can come down here if they want,” you were pretty sure your brazen attitude was stemming from your emotional state and the chilly breeze, “they didn’t have to send you.”

Yoongi pursed his lips into a thin line, biting his tongue from saying what he really wanted to say, you think I want to be here? Instead, he closed his eyes and inhaled deeply through his nose and let out a long sigh. When he opened his eyes, he saw you still staring at him, daring him to say something. He liked it, the fire in you. You seemed like a shy girl, timid even. He hoped you still had that fire after you learned what a horrible, unjust world you all live in.

Yoongi sat down on the rock next to you, not asking first, just making room for himself. You quickly scooted over, not feeling incredibly comfortable with him yet. “I’m sorry,” he began, staring down at his lap, “I was being unfair.” It almost sounded like the words were forced, like he didn’t really mean them, or want to say them, but you still took some comfort in the fact he was at least apologizing to you. Not that you thought he owed you an apology, but it still felt nice.

“No, you aren’t being unfair,” you murmured, looking out at the now cerulean blue water, “I’m sorry. Sorry I’m here.”

You sounded so small, so defeated. You reminded Yoongi of how he felt when he was first taken from his family. Scared, alone. Something in him wanted to reach out to you, comfort you, and he almost did, stopping his hand midair before it could reach your arm. You noticed his movement out of the corner of your eye and before he could retract his hand, you flinched. Actually flinched away from him. It was slight, but it still took Yoongi by surprise, jaw hanging slack, eyes widening at your apparent fear. Of him. Yoongi doesn’t think he’s ever felt shittier in his life. Was he so cold someone was actually afraid he’d hurt them? He’s never hurt anyone in his life. Sure, he was a ‘bad boy’, broke his fair share of laws, but he has never, ever, hurt another person.

“YN -”, he retracted his hand immediately, bringing it behind his back, wanting to hide the offending appendage, “I - wh -” he wasn’t even sure how to finish his sentence. He watched you pull your knees closer to your chest and lay your forehead on them, letting out a breath you had been holding. You didn’t look scared, you looked exasperated, and he wasn’t sure if that made him feel any better at all.

You didn’t actually think Yoongi would hurt you, you’ve just been so used to people treating you however they want, especially in high school. Boys would push you around in the hallways, girls would pull your hair in class and steal your backpack from under the lunch table. After high school, men would pull on your skirts or dresses at the market while you tried to sell flowers with a smile plastered on your face, which inevitably caused you to throw away any clothes that weren’t pants and baggy shirts. You were relatively afraid of people, and even though you trusted the men who took you in and have been helping you, you still didn’t know Yoongi, or the type of person he was. Now you felt remorse at the look on his face when you flinched away. He looks honestly heartbroken, regret written all over his features. You shook your head back and forth, forehead rubbing against your linen covered knees.

“I’m sorry,” you sobbed quietly, not daring to look back at the blonde next to you.

Yoongi’s heart broke further at the sound, “Can I touch you?”

Though you were shocked at Yoongi’s sudden query, you didn’t lift your head. Slowly, you nodded up and down, hoping he could see it. Now that you were expecting the movement, you didn’t startle as Yoongi scooted closer to you on the rock and gently, softly, ran a large, warm hand up and down your spine. Yoongi inwardly noted that your bones were perhaps sticking out a little too far, that maybe you’ve skipped one too many meals lately. Or maybe, you didn’t have access to them. He wasn’t sure. He had no idea what kind of home you lived in. He had limited information, and most of it was about your father. That thought made him remember something, “Pearl?” Yoongi whispered cautiously, not sure how you would react to him having this knowledge. Hoping that you would find some sort of comfort in it, since your friends and mother called you that.

You immediately stopped sniffling, body going stiff as a board. You sat up abruptly and looked Yoongi dead in the eyes, “What did you call me?” He could see the red rims of your swollen eyes, dried tear tracks being covered by new ones and another piece of his heart cracked off, swallowed by the ocean of his chest.

“Pearl,” he uttered again, a little more confidently, “isn’t that your nickname?”

“H-how?” You stuttered, staring into his vast ocean eyes. They held more emotion than you were accustomed to, coming from him. You gently shook your head back and forth to dislodge the tears that were gathering at the corners.

Yoongi visibly blushed at your question, quickly avoiding your gaze and turning his head to the side and removing his hand from your back. You momentarily missed the warmth. He looked like he was gazing out at the water, but you could tell he was embarrassed. You narrowed your eyes at him. What was he hiding? “Yoongi?” You sniffled again, which caught his attention. He bit his cheek and looked at you through his lashes.

“I- I’m sorry.”

You were even more confused now. “For?”

“Everything,” he let out an exasperated sigh, “for yelling at you last night, for acting like sending you to Big Hit was a good idea, and…” he trailed off. You waited a moment, tears forgotten as you listened to the man be sincere for the first time since you met him, “for going through your phone.” His words were quiet, so quiet you almost asked him to repeat himself, but after a moment realization hit you.

“Y- you went through my phone?” Long gone was the remorse you felt for leaving your friends, the sorrow you felt at possibly losing your family. In its place, was anger. An ugly, red monster that was brewing in your chest. A part of you knew it was irrational, but the other part knew that he wouldn’t be ashamed if he didn’t feel like he did something wrong. This man, who yelled at you, made you feel small, made you think you didn’t matter… had invaded your privacy. Namjoon promised he would shut off service to your phone, making it untraceable. He promised it would be safe in their hands. You wouldn’t let your mind trace this back to Namjoon, no. He did nothing wrong. You were angry at the blonde sitting in front of you, wide-eyed with a mouth shaped like an “o”.

He shook himself out of the momentary shock at your reaction, “Y- yes,” he dragged out before quickly adding, “and I’m so sorry YN, really I am. It was wrong of me, and I know that. I know that! I just…”

You cut him off before he could finish that thought, “If you knew it was wrong, why did you do it?”

There was a deep ‘v’ forming on your forehead. The face you wore didn’t resemble someone who was angry, more concerned. Or disappointed. Yeah, that was the right word, Yoongi thought. He felt small in this moment, like he was a child being scolded for stealing cookies. He sighed and looked down at his hands folded in his lap.

“I was scared,” was all he could come up with at the moment, feeling so incredibly guilty and having no other way to express it to you.

“Scared?” You scoffed, he hasn’t been acting very scared. In fact, it seemed more like he was putting on a tough guy persona to try and scare you. “Of what, exactly?” You were feeling brazened now, these boys were really bringing out the sides of you, weren’t they?

A beat passed before Yoongi uttered, “Of losing my soulmates.”

The anger you were feeling just moments ago, dissipated in tiny fractures until all that was left in its wake was empathy for the man sitting across from you. For the first time since you met him, you felt like you saw Yoongi’s rock solid wall, crack slightly. His expression was still blank, like usual, but there was something in his eyes that was calling out to you, for help. He was just like the others. Scared, alone, worried. He found a home in these men, his best friends, maybe even his lovers. Something you were just starting to realize you might be finding in them, too. You were all alike, in some way or another. All felt like you didn’t belong, and here, with each other, you did belong. If you could feel that, you can’t imagine what Yoongi must feel for the others, having spent so much time with them.

You look away from Yoongi’s eyes, staring out at the water like he had been moments ago, cracking under the pressure of his intense gaze. Biting your lip to keep the dam from breaking again you whisper, “I shouldn’t be here.”

Yoongi wasn’t sure if he heard you correctly, but after a moment realized what you had meant by that. “That’s not what I meant, YN,” he sighed and ran a hand down his face, “really, it’s not.”

“No, I know, Yoongi,” you started, not turning to look at him just yet, “I’ve been thinking about it all day. I don’t want to walk in here and ruin what you guys have, get in the way of your friendships, or relationships,” you blushed at the insinuation, “I should go home. We don’t even know if my parents know anything, or if they even planned on giving me to Big Hit. I’m an adult, I can make my own decisions, they know that.”

Yoongi started to panic, not just because he knew Seokjin and Jungkook would be crushed if you chose to leave, but because he knew you didn’t know the whole truth. Should he tell you? Namjoon would kill him. He didn’t want to disappoint his best friend, his savior, his love. But, he also didn’t want to possibly endanger you by allowing you to return home. He was already starting to care deeply for you and was terrified of the possibility of you getting hurt. “YN -” he started before sucking his lips between his teeth, contemplating his next words. At his silence, you removed your gaze from the quarry and turned towards the nervous looking man. He was wringing his wrist between the fingers of his other hand, a nervous tick.

You looked at him expectantly through long lashes, eyes still red rimmed from crying away most of the day. Yoongi still thought you looked ethereal, especially with the way the moon was reflecting in your eyes. It was like he could see the entire galaxy staring back at him, and it made him feel things he didn’t want to feel right now. Not when he was about to break your heart.

“YN I, I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to go back. I know you don’t trust me,” he rushed out, making sure you weren’t going to cut him off again, “just let me explain why I’m saying this. I haven’t made the greatest impression on you, and for that I really am sorry. Like I said, I was scared. That’s not an excuse to treat someone poorly, but I hope you can understand that I love the others more than I love myself.”

Your eyes softened at his confession. You could see the love they shared for each other, but hearing him say it really solidified your observations. “Namjoon isn’t telling you the whole truth,” he noticed your eyes go wide, at mentally slapped himself for the poor choice of words before quickly saying, “it’s not what you think! You are like us. You are different. And you are in danger. But Namjoon knew if he told you just how much danger you were in, you probably wouldn’t trust him. He’s not a bad guy, in fact, he’s the exact opposite. He’s saved my life once before and I’m positive he’d do the same for you.”

If you weren’t confused before, you sure as hell are now. They were lying to you? “YN, your parents,” he let out another sigh hating the words he was about to say, “they are the ones lying to you. Hyunwoo and your father weren’t classmates. They worked together,” he felt like a traitor, like he was letting Namjoon down, “he’s a beneficiary of Big Hit. They’re already paying for you.”

To be continued...

taglist: @minifruity @mrcleanheichou @arantxaglz @chim-possible @kooksremedy @irishhbamb @sugashaye @lovelyseomin

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elliethesuperfruitlover · 3 years

Text

*sings* the family REUNION

A/N: A nice Klaus x Topazi. I’m projecting, and this is also comfort for me right now xx. I’m sick of this country, I want to get the fuck out, but I can’t, so this is what’s happened. I’ve thought about writing this one before, but I think what we all need right now is some tenderness and warmth, so what better way to do it than through fanfiction. This is the first time I’ve written for an OC, and I like it so far. This was initially for a black reader, then I thought, literally today “oh topazi” so here we are.

Warnings: food (and lots of it), mild drink, knowing myself small mentions of racism, mention of sex

Cheeky Tag List: @misskittysmagicportal, @super-unpredictable98, @badsext, @sean-falco, @the-freckled-luba, @iamsexytrash, @crabstick, @robertsheehanownsmyass, @frogs--are--bitches, @seancekitsch

“KLAUS, COME ON, I CAN’T BE LATE” Topazi yelled through the house, checking herself in the mirror one last time before springing to where Klaus was.

He was sitting on the kitchen island, nibbling on some chips. His feet tapped against the counter every other second.

“I told you, don’t eat yet, you won’t want to eat before we get there and that’s forbidden fruit sir.” she sternly stated, fauxly crossing her arms at him.

“Fine, by the way, your pasta salad is amazing.” he said, making a small chef’s kiss motion with his hands.

Topazi facepalmed as Klaus kissed her cheek, and he walked to the door and put his sandles on. Jesus sandles, actually. To spent hours making two tins of pasta salad, and he ate almost a full corner of it. He must’ve eaten some of it while she was in the bathroom, or when she was lightly scolding the cats for disturbing the resident mice. She rolled her eyes and packed into the car, but not before saying goodbye to the houseplants.

“How long is the drive supposed to be?” Klaus asked, long limbs extending in the car.

“Just about an hour. It won’t be long, trust me. You’ll wish the drive was even shorter when you get there too.” she said, smiling and Klaus grinned back at her, and he kissed her once more before shuffling over more to his side of the car.

About 45 minutes of time passed, and during that time, Klaus had opened a plethora of tangents, including pegging, ketchup being a smoothie (to him), why he doesn’t personally trust roaches(they just look weird, and they live forever), as well as why it took so long for him to cut that god-awful beard. All the while T was swerving in lanes, and glancing every now and then at the clock in the car. Klaus sat guzzling water while talking, and she knew the question was going to come up at some point, so she slapped her big girl panties on and took it.

“Are we there yet?” Klaus asked, shifting uncomfortably in his seat. His stomach was poking out, but just barely, and Topazi sighed heavily.

“Klaus, come on. We’ve got a little less than 20 minutes left, it’s not my fault you drank all that water.” she said, half stern, half jokingly.

“But I have to gooo. Can’t you pull over or something?” he whines, puppy dog eyes showing.

‘We’re on a highway, Klaus.” she muttered, gritting her teeth before pulling into a lane. That caused him to cross his legs, and close his eyes, groaning.

“Please, I really have to go. I’ll try to repay the favor when I can, I promise.” he begs, hands covering his crotch. T thought about it for a moment, and she’d been meaning to have Klaus eat her out again, so why not. She reached in the back and pulled out an empty bottle, and he picked it from her hands.

“I’ve been meaning to do this for a while.” he says, turning away from her and she gagged lightly, but at least he didn’t wet his pants....this time.

Topazi continued to drive for the promised 20 minutes, and she arrived at her parent’s house, cars already piling onto the lawn. Klaus quickly headed to the trash can outside, and threw the bottle away, getting sanitizer from the car. She grabbed a tin of the pasta salad, as well as Klaus, and he followed her to the front of the house.

“Are they even going to like me?” Klaus mumbled, eyebrows scrunching. They’d had discussions about it before, and his worry was extremely valid. She didn’t want Klaus to feel left out, or bad about anything. He was still a really good lover. He’d voiced his concerns multiple times, and time and time again, she reassured him.

“You’ll be fine. If they say one thing you’re uncomfortable with, I won’t hesitate to leave this place and drive all the way back. You know that.” T replied, using a hand to softly rub his cheek. He leaned into her touch, and the door opened, right as she was reaching for the doorbell for a second ring.

“Hi! Come on it! And you bought a guest, who is this?” Alena asked, ushering her daughter and guest into the house.

“Mom, this is my partner Klaus. Also, pasta salad, which is getting warm as we speak, so let me set it down.” Topazi rushed into the kitchen, shuffling quickly into the house, Klaus bumbling after her, looking around. She opened the fridge and shoved her dish in, gently patting it before stretching mildly, an aftereffect of staying in one spot.

T walked back over to Klaus and he smiled at her mom, who was walking him outside to meet the rest of the family. She followed closely behind, and she noticed him getting more and more comfortable. He went around meeting everyone and shaking their hands, or hugging them. T met up with her siblings, hugging them, and letting her nieces and nephews up on her hips. She played with them and chatted for a while, and Klaus came back to her, almost skipping.

“Did you know that your dad served in the Army?” Klaus asked her, a small sparkle in his eye.

“Klaus....he’s my dad. Why wouldn’t I know?” she replied, tilting her head to the side. She giggled at his look, and her siblings noticed him, and gave him a collective small rundown. She did argue with her siblings a fuck ton, but they always tended to come to her aid if needed.

Klaus went around and introduced himself to T’s aunt that just came in, and she giggled as he was almost crushed by the force of her hug. She patted his back and looked him up and down.

“Goodness, you need somethin’ to eat, one more gust of wind, we won’t see you ‘til Christmas!” she stated, shaking her head jokingly.

He giggled at the effort, and prodded about needing to go to a chiropractor. She cackled, and he went back to T, placing a tiny kiss to her cheek.

“This is going surprisingly well, what the fuuuck?!” he whispered, and she wrapped her arms around him, and hugged him. He placed his chin on top of her head and sighed in her touch. The moment, however, was short lived, as one of Topazi’s nieces came between them and giggled around their ankles, and Klaus picked one of them up, asking their name.

She was pleasantly shocked at his reaction with the kids, and soon enough, the two of them were running in the yard, playing tag. She was currently in the lead, and her siblings were bounding towards her, waiting for there to be a chance to tackle her. Klaus came up from behind her and tackled her, causing the both of them to crash to the ground.

“Oh come on, that’s nowhere near fair!” she yelled, trying to wiggle away from him. He looked into her eyes, and pecked her lips. They sighed against each other and the sun baked their skin. Klaus eventually rolled off of T, and just as they were getting hungry, dinner was called.

She ran to the backyard, dress billowing behind her, Klaus in tow, and she washed her hands before getting in line. Her mouth simply watered at the selection of southern food placed in front of her. Klaus was somewhat surprised at everything, but welcomed it happily when confronted with....wait a minute....sweet potatoes with cherries?? Topazi laughed at him, and promised to explain it to him once they sat down. Your family, and you could practically hear their thoughts “Shouldn’t he get more?”. It half sickened her to think of that though, so she found a lawn chair to sit in, carefully placing it to avoid the ant beds and tree roots.

“Okay so, what the fuck is with the sweet potatoes?” Klaus asked, shoving a spoonful of potato salad in his mouth.

“They’re called candied yams. The cherries help them become sweeter. And don’t take the fucking breadcrumbs off the mac and cheese. I’ll slaughter you, that’s the best part.” T whispered, slowly becoming more and more full.

She went back for another serving (or two) and stopped at dessert, which was provided graciously. Many cakes and pies laid in front of her, as well as tarts, and, wait, who the fuck brought Krispy Kreme?

“Who got lazy?” she mumbled, walking back to Klaus with her plate full of sweets, and she immediately took a bite from the glazed donut, eyes closing. “Still warm though.”

“I mean, Honey only taught me to make a couple things, and donuts weren’t one of them.” he stated, sipping his tea.

The sun began to set, and the drinks started pouring. The stories began to filter out, and Topazi saw Klaus start to nod off, and she announced their leaving. He sleepily said his goodbyes and when they got into the car, Klaus knocked out almost immediately. The drive home was very quiet. Music played quietly on the radio, and T hummed along quietly. Klaus shuffled every now and then in his sleep, and his breathing fogged the window on his side of the car. When they arrived home, Topazi gently woke Klaus, and he slowly made his way into the house, practically sleepwalking. As they were undressing and getting into bed, Klaus quietly whispered a couple words. Topazi barely heard him, and he repeated himself.

“Thank you for letting me meet your family. I enjoyed it. I’m happy I got to know the people who raised you. They did a damn good job too.” he whispered back, gently kissing Topazi’s head. She got a bit flustered from the compliment and gently thanked him as well, and the two of them fell asleep to the sound of their respective partner’s heartbeats.

Masterlist

#klaus hargreeves fluff #klaus hargreeves x topazi #klaus hargreeves x oc #hehe this is fun #tua fanfic

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s-horne · 4 years

Text

In his defence, Tony was tired. He never slept well when Steve was away and Steve had been away for nearly a week. Sleep hadn’t been easy and Tony had been surviving on coffee and coffee alone.

With his ears still ringing from the loud music he’d had blasting in the workshop, he headed up to the kitchen slowly. He didn’t like to be in their house knowing that Steve wouldn’t be heading home at the end of the day and, with the mission as unsure as it was, no one had known when Steve would be finished.

Tony wasn’t expecting Steve to be home. He wasn’t expecting anyone to be home, which is why having an unexpected woman in his kitchen made him jump so high. Tony was a superhero. He had an iron suit of armour that he flew around the world to fight literal aliens. He shouldn’t have jumped so much at a single intruder.

Whilst a woman in his kitchen might have been low on someone else’s danger list, Tony could feel the last of his caffeine high wearing off. He also knew not to underestimate people; he’d made that dangerous mistake before.

They stood in silence for a long moment, the intruder standing at the other end of the kitchen, her palms flat on the counter between them. Tony blinked once, twice, keeping them closed for a second longer each time.

Every time he opened his eyes, she was still there.

“J?” he called out, keeping his wary gaze on the woman. “J, we have a guest.”

“Indeed, Sir.”

Tony only resisted rolling his eyes so that he didn’t have to take his gaze from his intruder. “And you didn’t alert me?”

The first thing that Tony had noticed was that her hair was long. It was well past her chest, a striking, dusty blonde that curled down to the very ends. The second thing was that she looked familiar, but Tony couldn’t place her.

It was no secret that Tony was attracted to women. Tony was pretty much attracted to every gender. But he was also an extremely happily married man and his eyes hadn’t strayed since he and Steve had gotten married. Since they’d gotten together. Even with that in mind, Tony couldn’t deny that the woman in his house was gorgeous.

It was in the eyes, he thought. The colour of them stood out even from so far away, bold and bright.

“I didn’t think it necessary, Sir,” JARVIS answered calmly, pulling Tony’s attention away from falling any deeper into the woman’s eyes, “given that Captain Rogers lives here.”

Tony’s eyes went wide. “Steve?”

The woman cracked a smile. “Hey, sweetheart.”

“Okay.” Tony dropped his empty mug back onto the table and smacked his lips. “Right. Let’s talk.”

Steve, or the female version of Steve, chuckled. The noise was higher than it ever had been before, musical in a much different way than Tony was used to. Tony knew Steve’s laugh. He knew Steve’s laugh in every way. Knew what it sounded like in his ear, knew what it felt like in his chest.

“Okay,” Steve echoed and Tony tried his hardest not to flinch. As gorgeous as the voice was, it wasn’t Steve’s. “I’m fine, by the way.”

A small smile tugged at the corner of Tony’s mouth. “Good. I couldn’t see any bandages, but that means nothing with you.”

Another laugh. “Not this time, darlin’. Promise. Just… well. This.”

Steve gestured down at his, her, body and Tony grimaced. Right. He needed more coffee.

“What happened?”

“I don’t know.”

“Bullshit.”

Steve jumped at Tony’s snapped answer. “What?”

“Bullshit. Steve always knows. He has an answer for everything.”

“I don’t,” Steve said softly, calmly. “I don’t have an answer for this.”

“My husband is in… I don’t know where he is, exactly, but he’s away. On a mission. He’s not in my kitchen and he’s not a woman.”

“Tony. Please, sweetheart. You know it’s me.” Steve reached a hand out and Tony’s gaze fell at the band around her finger. It was only a simple one, but Tony would recognise it anywhere. He let out a weird sort of snorted laugh when it clicked. It was a foreign noise, one that sounded like it had come from a different part of the room. From a different person, even. It wasn’t him… just like Steve wasn’t Steve.

“Nice ring.”

“Yeah,” Steve said, a smile clear in her voice. “Thanks. I kinda love it.”

They fell quiet again. Without looking up to Steve’s face, Tony called to JARVIS. “You ran everything, J?”

“I did, Sir. All reports sent to your StarkPad. I can conclude without a doubt that this is, in fact, Captain Rogers.”

The fact that the woman wasn’t fighting Tony or trying to protest her version of events added to the evidence in her favour and tipped the scales towards the fact that she was telling the truth. Steve knew that Tony couldn’t just be told something and instantly believe it. He needed facts and figures, needed cold, hard evidence in his hands.

He flicked through the reports that JARVIS had exported quickly, his eyes flickering up to the woman sitting opposite him every so often. Steve was sitting there calmly, hands curled around a mug of steaming coffee, ring clinking against the ceramic as Steve tapped absentmindedly.

“It’s you, isn’t it? Like, really you.”

Steve met Tony’s gaze. “Yeah. It really is.” Her tongue darted out to wet her lips and Tony couldn’t help but follow the movement. Steve’s lips had never been thin, but, as a woman, they were thicker than ever. A deep, dark pink that Tony wanted to bite at, make them a bold red instead. “We were close to finishing the mission when something went awry. Someone got wind of what we were doing or tipped off another group, I don’t know.”

Her hand reached up to sweep through her hair, but Steve had obviously forgotten about its new length and her fingers got tangled in the thick curls. The betrayed look on her face made Tony let out a startled laugh.

“Ouch. Well, anyway, someone must have– shit.” Steve tugged her hand again but all it served to do was yank on the roots.

Rising from his chair, Tony rounded the table wordlessly and lifted his hands to Steve’s hair. It felt the same, his mind noticed as he worked the strands quickly to untangle the curls and free Steve’s hand. When it was hanging loose down Steve’s back again, he stepped away and rooted quickly through a few of the drawers under the counter.

“Thank you,” Steve said, shaking her arm to dislodge a few casualties in the form of pulled-out hairs. “So, anyway, we think one of the groups that were told about our mission dabble in magic, or some form of it.”

Tony hummed before his fingers closed around what he’d been looking for and he let out a triumphant cry. “So you got hit by magic? A curse, maybe?”

“Pretty sure. None of us can be exactly certain because we didn’t see anything, but we didn’t eat or drink anything that wasn’t our SHIELD rations or made by one of us.” Steve’s speech ended in a soft gasp as Tony started working his hand through her thick curls.

“Sounds like it, then,” Tony said, fingers working quickly to plait Steve’s hair. “You know, your hair’s long. Like really long.”

Steve turned her head to lift an eyebrow in a perfect arch. Tony’s eyes were drawn to it, the reprimand for moving dying on the tip of his tongue. It was just another reminder that everything about Steve had changed. Even her eyebrows were thinner, a completely different shape to what they had been before. Tony swallowed and gently turned her head again so that she was looking away from him.

“Shut up,” he said, catching a few curls that had tried to break free, “it’s a big change. I’m not used to you having so much hair for me to grab.” He stopped himself as he realised how that sounded and did his best to push the dirty images that shot into his mind away. It was so not the time for that. “So, if you trust everyone on your team –”

“Which I do,” Steve cut in quickly.

“–then yes, it sounds as though it was magic. I don’t know of a serum or even a lab that’s working on this sort of thing, so it can’t be scientific. Who else knows what happened?”

“Probably most of SHIELD by now.” Steve sighed and her fingers danced around the rim of her discarded mug. “We had to abandon the mission, obviously, so we had to send in a report. I snuck away to come here, but they’ll need me soon. I’ll be summoned to a lab, I’m sure.”

Tony took a moment to collect his thoughts. He could admit that he wasn’t thrilled with the idea of his husband (wife?) being carted away like a circus attraction and poked and prodded by all manner of scientists.

“Yeah, that’s not going to happen,” he said. Pulling one hair band off his wrist, Tony tied the end of the plait before twisting it up into a bun. Or, at the very least, into a vague bun shape. He had done his best with the two, stretched-out hair bands that he’d remembered he’d had shoved in a drawer. He was often finding them after late-night business meals with Pepper, the ones where they cracked open a few bottles of wine to pour over new contracts. More often than not, they ended up with YouTube tutorials playing and Pepper’s hair tied in all manner of styles. “No partner of mine is going to SHEILD’s labs.”

With a hand raised to feel her new hair-do, Steve spun on her chair and treated Tony to a soft smile. “Gonna trap me in your own lab, huh, darlin’?”

“You know me.” God, she was beautiful. Her face was a lot softer than Steve’s was as a male, her cheekbones a little higher and a little less pronounced. Though Tony tried not to feel guilty for noticing her looks, he couldn’t quite push away the feeling that it wasn’t Steve.

“I do.” Steve reached out and took Tony’s hand, interlocking their fingers. For once, her hand was smaller than Tony’s. The callouses were there the same as ever, as were Steve’s nails bitten right down to the fingertips. They’d been working on that habit, but Tony didn’t think Steve would ever break it.

Tony wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do. He wasn’t sure what he was supposed to feel. This was still his partner, but it wasn’t at the same time. Who knew how long it was going to last? Would he ever have his Steve back or would he be with the female version forever?

It was a lot to process and far too much to deal with on the amount of sleep he’d been surviving on. He wanted a nap.

Pulling his hand from Steve’s, Tony turned to the counter. “Right. Let’s move this somewhere a little more comfortable.”

Steve’s body looked so much smaller when she was curled up in her favourite armchair.

The night before he’d left for his mission, Steve had sat in that same chair as he’d laughed along with some reruns of an old sitcom they’d found on an obscure channel after flicking through a few hundred. Neither of them had paid all that much attention to it after Tony had crawled into his lap and connected their lips in a deep kiss.

Now, with her legs folded under her body and covered by a thick blanket, Steve seemed to be swallowed by the huge cushions. Still as fearless and as strong as ever, Tony could tell that by one glance, but smaller.

“Do I call you… Steve?” Tony squinted, head titled to his side as he looked at his partner. “No. Stephanie? Steph?”

He was rewarded with raised eyebrows and complete derision over Steve’s face. “That’s your main concern?”

“No! Of course it’s not,” Tony said before pausing. “Yes, actually. Maybe it is. I don’t know. Christ, you can’t just drop this on me. It’s a lot to process.”

He threw his head back and stared at the ceiling. It was so much to get his head around. Too much.

“I think I’ll stick with Steve,” he said eventually and he got a soft laugh in return.

“Okay. Works for me.”

“Even now? You don’t mind it?”

“Course not, sweetheart. It’s my name, isn’t it? It’s what you’ve always called me. I’m never going to not want to hear that from you.”

That helped a little, but Tony still felt like he was on uneven ground. Who knew how long it was going to last? Would Steve ever change back? It wasn’t the person that Tony had married, physically at least.

Though it wasn’t exactly unnerving, it wasn’t normal. Well, it wasn’t even not normal. That wasn’t what Tony meant.

Actually, he had no clue what he meant. All he knew for certain was that his head hurt and thinking about the situation so deeply wasn’t helping.

“Can we go to bed yet?”

The concern was clear in Steve’s voice when she spoke. “Are you okay?”

Tony sighed, letting his head drop forward again. “Fine. Of course I’m fine. I’m always fine.”

“You haven’t been sleeping, have you?”

Of course Steve knew that. It seemed that whatever body Steve was in, Steve still knew Tony inside and out.

“You have no proof of that. But no, I haven’t been.” Tony grinned at Steve’s sigh, but his head was still pounding. “I’m going to bed.”

“Wow,” Steve said softly, brow furrowed and eyes staring straight at Tony. Her eyes were still the same. They still sparkled like they always had, still looked at Tony with the same mix of fondness and clear exasperation. “The world really has been knocked off its axis, if you’re willingly heading to bed.”

Tony huffed a weak laugh. Sleep sounded good to him. Sleeping for a week and waking up with Steve still away on his mission sounded even better.

Standing from his chair, he hid a yawn in the inside of his elbow and headed for the door.

Just before he crossed the threshold, he turned and held out a hand. “Coming?”

“Tony?”

Tony rolled onto his side to see Steve standing at the edge of the bed, hovering a little anxiously. She was wearing an old sweatshirt of Tony’s, which hung down past her hips and was falling off one shoulder. For the first time in their relationship, it seemed as though Tony’s clothes would actually fit Steve. That thought alone made something squirm in Tony’s stomach, a spark suddenly lit that threatened to ignite into a raging fire.

“Hi,” he said stupidly, voice a little breathier than he’d have liked. “Coming in?”

“You’re on my side.”

Tony snorted. Right. Same old Steve. “Sorry.” He shuffled backwards until there was enough room for Steve to crawl under the sheets. “You okay?”

“Yeah.” Steve’s tongue darted out to wet her lips, the spit glistening in the low glow from the beside lamp. “Just thinking about what to do next.”

Tony reached out and rested his hand across Steve’s eyes. “Sleep. Sleep is next.”

“We need to find out what–”

“We can do that tomorrow,” Tony said, words slurring a little as Steve playfully batted his hand away. Sleep was catching up to Tony, washing over him so easily with Steve back in their bed. It was just one more point in Steve’s favour; Tony felt so peaceful with her there, Steve’s mere presence enough to let Tony relax enough to sleep. “What we need to do now is sleep.”

There was a beat of silence. “You’re okay with me being in here?”

Tony forced himself to open his eyes again, battling to stay awake long enough to assemble his thoughts.

They were lying close in the bed, close enough to touch. When Steve rolled onto her side at the extended silence, Tony could feel her breath on his nose.

“I love you,” Tony said, the words rolling off his tongue as easily as they had on their wedding day. “I loved you in pictures from before the war. I’ve loved you as both Steve Rogers and Captain America, and I love you now. It’s you and me. No matter what.”

Steve smiled softly and they fell into a comfortable silence, Steve finally relaxing into the pillow. Just as Steve’s eyes closed and her breathing evened out, a thought struck Tony.

“Oh, God,” he said in horror, “I’m going to have to top again.”

***

(prompt from the Put on the Suit discord)

#STEVE WEARS SO MUCH PRODUCT IN THE FILMS YOU CANNOT TELL ME HIS HAIR IS NOT CURLY FIGHT ME #i wrote a thing #stony fic #steve rogers #tony stark #stephanie rogers #stony #stevetony fic #stevetony #an april assortment #genderbend #genderswap #established stony

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kpopcotton · 4 years

Text

The Lonely Count ~ Huang Renjun

a/n ~ Happy Halloween! I’m so happy to finally get this out since I’ve been working on it all month!

• Genre: supernatural, high school au, strangers to friends, slight romance, fluff, angst if you squint

• Warning(s): very brief mentions of (fake) blood, it’s overall very toned down

• Reader Gender: gender-neutral

• Word Count: 6.2k

==≎==

“No.”

“Are you serious?!” Haechan cries out, his hands reaching across the table to give you a good shake as he speaks. “Come on! It’ll be so much fun! Besides, everyone else wants to and I already told them you were coming so, by law, that means you have to. Plus! Jaemin said he was excited to see you since you haven’t been hanging out with us recently.”

The mere mention of his friends makes you want to crawl into a hole to hide. You blankly stare at Haechan’s overdramatic pout as he tries to guilt-trip you, his simple act makes you want to go even less. There was no way you were going to spend Halloween night with a bunch of severely good-looking people. Good-looking people meant attention, and attention meant you would be the designated person that people would come to ask for the boys’ numbers.

You could imagine it now, the random, crowded Halloween party they were probably planning on attending, and them leaving you alone to find a wall to sit against while they went out and mingled. You already felt like a clown just thinking about it. Maybe I should dress up as one, show my true colors. You remember Haechan’s friends mentioning being introverts that one time you had to take a personality quiz in Health class freshman year, but you find that hard to believe.

Sometimes, it still amazes you how you’ve stayed friends with Haechan, in all his bubbly, social, annoying glory. “Tell them my mom grounded me,” you mumble, trying to show just how uninterested you are.

“But that’s a lie! Your mom-”

“Exactly.” You snap with your gaze fierce. Haechan’s previously open mouth clamps shut, fixing an awkward silence between you two in the booth of the diner.

You angrily opt for stuffing your face with the fries from your basket instead of talking to him. Your eyes drift to the window as you chew them. Haechan watches you, his foot slowly sliding across the floor to poke at your ankle, his way of getting you to calm down and forgive him for prodding. It has the opposite effect, however, your foot shooting out to give his shin a good kick as you glare at him again. He yelps quite loudly and the waitress who was on her way to ask you if you wanted refills, flinches, turning around to pretend to help a coworker behind the counter.

Haechan’s face flushes a pale red as he brings his leg up to rub at his shin. “That hurt, you know,” he whines, his bottom lip trembling pitifully.

“Good.”

His sad expression disappears in an instant, his face now pressed into clear frustration as he drops his leg back down. “Okay, seriously, what is up with you? If it were any other time, you’d be all over hanging out.”

“Exactly. I would say yes to hanging out if it was with literally anyone else.” You stressed, sipping your drink. Haechan looks to be at his wit’s end with you.

“What do you even mean?”

“What I mean is, I don’t like your friends, Donghyuck. I mean, yes, they may be nice to me, and yes, it is cool that they want to include me in plans, but do you ever stop to think that I don’t enjoy hanging out with them? Or that I’m not a fan of the things you guys like to do? Or that maybe, when I’m with them, it’s like I’m not even there at all?” For once in his life, Haechan is speechless, staring at you with wide eyes as if all of this was surprising to him. And, maybe it was.

“Y/N, I-”

“I’m not finished.” You hold up a finger to his lips. “Listen, I get that you don’t want to leave me out of the loop or whatever, but parties and hanging out in bigger groups is not my thing. I’d rather it just be us, like when we were kids, where we ran around town past curfew on Halloween stealing candy bowls so we could get fat for winter. Hell, I’d even be down to explore those “haunted woods” we were always scared of because of that story Johnny told us when we were in first grade.”

“Did I hear that right? Exploring the haunted woods? I knew you’d come up with an amazing idea for our get together, Y/N!” Speak of the devil and he shall appear. The Na Jaemin graciously plops himself down next to you in the booth with a basket of chicken tenders and fries. Haechan’s other friends, Mark and Jeno, squish Haechan into the wall on the other side of the booth. Jaemin’s smile was almost too bright, his eyes full of childish wonder as he glanced between you and your best friend. “That’s what this is right? A planning sesh? I love those, you know!”

You ignore Jaemin, your eyes currently stabbing holes into Haechan, but the little coward is too embarrassed to even look at you. He doesn’t remain silent, however, choosing to be civil and answer Jaemin’s question. “Y-Yeah, we were planning what we wanted to do with you guys Halloween night.”

“Oh goodie,” Jaemin claps excitedly, “Count me in then, guys!”

==≎==

You were dreading Halloween by the time it came around. You had planned on avoiding them, maybe sneaking out to hang out with the dynamic duo, Jisung and Chenle, from your first-hour Psychology class. But, all hopes were dashed when your mom happily invited all four boys into the house when Haechan knocked. They were already dressed for the occasion; Haechan as an angel, Jeno and Jaemin cosplaying the spies from Spy vs. Spy, and Mark as… himself?

He must have noticed your questioning glance because he was quick to explain, “I’m dressed as Peter Parker.” He pulls his backpack around to show you the mask conveniently hanging out.

“He was too embarrassed to wear the suit,” Haechan announces, making you involuntarily let out a chuckle. Your mom coos while patting the latter’s shoulder and Mark’s ears burn bright red.

“It’s skin-tight dude!”

“And?”

Before you could say anything in response, Jaemin was dragging you up the stairs to the bathroom, his arm full of costume things. He was talking a mile a minute about how he found the perfect costume for you and how he was so excited to help you get ready. He sat you on the toilet and quickly drew out the costume bag.

“Ta-dah!” His smile is, once again, blinding. You scan the packaging.

“S-Sexy vampire?” You splutter, almost choking on your spit.

“Yes! And, I can’t wait to see you in it!” He shoves the bag into your hands before turning around and covering his eyes. “Hurry up! Get changed! We don’t have all night!”

You slowly get changed into the costume; which is a pair of black slacks, a classic frilly white top with bloodstains that has a very lowcut neckline and a deep v-cut through the back, and a black cheap cape. You stand awkwardly in your costume, it fits a bit tight, as you look at your bright pink face in the mirror. Jaemin spins around excitedly to face you when he hears you stop moving, letting out a sharp gasp.

“Oh. My. Gosh! You look amazing!” He squeals, clapping with all his might. “Now let’s get you some makeup!”

You’ve been pushed back onto the toilet in the blink of an eye, Jaemin settling himself between your legs. He can’t stop mumbling about how cute you are and how perfect the costume is. You notice movement in the corner of your eye and see Haechan trying to sneak into the bathroom. You glare at him and Jaemin turns away from dabbing fake blood onto your lip to see.

“Haechan, look! Aren’t they so hot?”

Haechan suddenly flushes, pausing halfway through the door to scan your costume. You notice his eyes linger on your exposed collarbones and you tug the thin cape to hide them. “Yeah,” He nods after his once over, reaching up to flick at the plastic golden halo on his head. “I mean, they don’t look half as good as me, but I’ll-” He cuts himself off with a scream when you stand up to go after him.

Jaemin laughs, his hands quickly grasping your hips to keep you in front of him. “Woah, tiger. Calm down, you can beat him up when I’m done!”

==≎==

You knew you were radiating the most awkward energy as you came down the stairs in your getup. Your tongue is mindlessly playing with the fake fangs Jaemin had stuck to your canines with tacky-putty, they feel foreign whenever you close your mouth. Your mom, upon seeing your costume, rushes up to gush about it, her fingers pinching your pale dusted face before she begs you all to pose for pictures. Your face feels hot under your makeup and you wonder if it showed through the stuff Jaemin caked onto it. She quickly runs to get her phone, giving Jeno and Mark a chance to compliment your look. You thank them almost silently.

She won’t stop talking when she comes back, reminiscing about the days when you were all young, fragile, and small. She doesn’t miss the chance to poke at you for being a particularly weak kid, to which you fume over. Haechan tries to add onto it but you stomp your boot on his foot, shutting him up instantly.

As she takes a few photos, the boys having fun with their poses while you try to join, she then starts to mention that this will be the last time you all go trick or treating before college. A pebble of guilt forms in your stomach when she says this, you weren’t expecting the boys to lie to her about what you were going to do tonight. You start to drift into thought when Mark, who’s standing next to you, loudly stumbles to mention he’s already in college, and that he’s taking engineering classes at the tech college in the next town over. Your mom seems embarrassed to have assumed he was younger, but she brushes it off by saying he should take care of everyone tonight as he is an adult. Haechan pouts at your mom when she says this, saying that the rest of you are technically adults since you’re all 18, and she laughs and pats his cheek which turns red at the contact.

“Alright, kids, have fun! Stay safe! And don’t be out too late, I don’t want Y/N to wake me up in the middle of the night getting home.” The boys all reply with some version of, “yes ma’am” and start down the sidewalk toward the edge of town where the haunted woods start.

Mark and Haechan lead the pack, walking side by side and cracking jokes to the duo behind them. You, on the other hand, silently take up the rear alone. You already feel out of place. It doesn’t help when a group of pretty girls call out to Jeno and you have to follow as they all take a detour to talk to them. Haechan is quick to brag about your plans to explore the haunted woods, one of the girls gasping and indulging him. She’s dressed in a bright red jumpsuit, a headband with matching demon horns protruding from her hair. How ironic.

As usual, the girls are all over the four boys, none of them even sparing a glance at you. Typical. Sometimes you wish you had the confidence Haechan possessed to strike up a conversation with them, maybe then they would notice you. It sucked, but you knew it would happen, even when Jaemin said no one would dare ignore a “sexy vampire such as yourself”.

Soon enough, Mark decides that it’s time to go and they have to pull Haechan away from the demon girl he was flirting with. Again, you all fall into the formation at the start of your journey. Your mood is completely sour, and you contemplate sneaking off. You knew Jisung and Chenle were probably out and about trick or treating, and they had invited you when you said you were forced into plans you didn’t want to partake in. You had told them it was up in the air, and that you might ditch. Jisung said he would save some candy for you and Chenle said he’d buy you a candied apple. You suddenly have a craving for a candied apple. You bet yourself ten dollars that you would have a better time with the two younger boys than with Haechan and his buddies.

As soon as you turn to make a run for it, Jaemin shouts out, startling you. “We’ve made it! Guys, guys, are you ready for this? The scare of our lives awaits us!” He enthusiastically claps. “Y/N? Y/N! Come take a picture of me in front of the trees!”

Seriously? “Coming,” You grumble, walking past everyone to wear Jaemin stands, making sure to check your shoulder into Haechan’s.

You awkwardly take Jaemin’s phone from him after he opens the camera app. His smile is so strikingly perfect, you have a hard time focusing. He skips over to just in front of the tree-line and poses. You follow and take a couple of pictures before holding out his phone to him. “No, no wait. Take a couple more over here. Please, please, please!” You hesitate, trying and failing to hide your disgust when he gets down on his knees to beg. The boys behind you laugh at the scene, mumbling some things back and forth before laughing harder. An odd feeling clenches your heart when you wonder if Haechan was laughing at you, or making fun of you. “I’ll love you forever! Y/N, please, it’s for my Instagram!”

At that, you shove the phone into his face, causing him to let out a squeak. “Have your boyfriends do it or something,” You then push past the kneeling boy and make your way into the woods. You just want to get this over with.

The boys grow silent, looking at each other in confusion as you disappear into the thick underbrush. Haechan panics when he realizes just how thick it is, he can’t see you at all through the trees. He quickly apologizes to Jaemin before running after you. Mark and Jeno help Jaemin off the ground before following as well.

Once they step through the spot you had, awe overtakes them. The area, despite having a mass of vines and bushes surrounding it, is fairly open and you can see ahead for what looks like miles. It was dark, a lot darker than it was on the sidewalk with the full moon. The trees were all thin, devoid of branches until their very top where their canopies spread and weave together to block out the sky. It was eerily silent and it seems the sounds of life couldn’t penetrate the veil that bordered the entire wood.

Haechan could see you already a little ways ahead, looking around with an expression he would have thought cute if it weren’t for the way you had been acting all night. He stumbles on his way up to you, reaching you much slower than he expected being as you didn’t seem that far in the first place. The three boys behind him let him go, opting to explore the wood together and away from the conflict they knew was about to happen.

“Y/N, what was that?” Haechan questions you once he’s close enough, his voice low and demanding like you had done something wrong. He tugs on your cape and it irks you.

“What was what, Donghyuck?” You growl, stepping up so you’re chest to chest with him, a challenge. “You better lay off, alright. I’m not doing this with you. And, in the haunted woods of all places.”

His angered expression fades instantly as he gawks at you. He isn’t stupid, he understands something has made you upset with him if your use of his real name again was anything to go by, but he isn’t smart enough to figure out why. Before he could ask what pissed you off, Jeno’s voice slices through the silence from up ahead. You both turn to see him pointing to an old, victorian style house in the distance with a smirk. A small feeling of dread pricks at your lungs, deflating them and making you suck in a shaky breath. You forget the argument with Haechan in favor of observing the house.

The house is large and looks very expensive, most definitely a grand mansion in its prime. The tallest tower’s roofing extends through the canopy and lets in a minuscule amount of moonlight which shines upon the face of the house, glinting off of the second-floor windows. The exterior could use some work, it looks like it hasn’t been properly maintained in years. The roof is missing some shingles, the wooden siding was splintered, and there were cobwebs on the front porch and in the eves of the roof. Surprisingly, even with the signs of age, everything was intact, like it was preserved by the woods itself. How you didn’t notice it before was unnerving to you.

The five of you gather around the front steps. Upon closer look, it seems like some has been maintaining the house. There’s a potted plant next to the door that looks freshly trimmed and watered, and the garden surrounding the porch is beautifully filled with thriving flowers you were sure weren’t native. You wondered how they bloomed with such minimal light. As the boys discuss a plan of action, you almost curse when you see a faint light floating around inside the house. You pretend you never saw anything, taking it as your imagination playing tricks on you, in hopes to slow your suddenly racing heartbeat.

“So, we explore it?” Haechan asks, however, it doesn’t seem like it was meant as a question as he’s already on his way to walk up the stairs before Mark’s hand shoots out and yanks him back by the collar.

“I don’t think so, dude,” Mark quickly responds, his head shaking so fast you worry he’ll give himself whiplash. “Do you want to be killed or something?”

“Yeah, it doesn’t seem like a good idea,” Jaemin pouts, his voice whiny. “We might get arrested for trespassing or something.”

Jeno laughs, “Come on, are you guys scar-”

“Let’s do it.” You suddenly speak up, your voice surprising yourself. You had no clue what compelled you to say that, but it seemed like something inside of the house was telling you to come in.

“What?” All four boys seem dumbfounded. You don’t get why they’re so startled of you agreeing when they were the ones who suggested it in the first place.

“Okay, Y/N, you are officially insane!” Jaemin shrieks, his thoughts seem to be racing before he gasps. “Are you possessed? Is that why you’ve been acting so weird tonight?”

“I haven’t been acting weird,” You defend, already halfway up the stairs before you turn back to speak again. “You four just don’t know me. Now, we came here to get scared, didn’t we? So are you guys coming or not?”

Jeno nods almost instantly, his expression stoic but you could see faint sympathy in his eyes as he joins you in climbing the old stairs. They didn’t creak under your combined weight, despite looking like they’d cave in if one too many people were on them at once, which surprised you. Haechan was next to follow, whining about the not so subtle dig you had directed at him. Jaemin hesitated before scurrying up the steps to cling to Jeno’s arm, muttering something about Jeno being the one to protect the group if something were to attack you. Mark was last, begrudgingly trudging up the steps with heavy feet, claiming that if things went south, he would leave everyone in a heartbeat.

You rolled your eyes before turning to the grand main entry. It was a black wooden door, beautiful down to the very last detail, with a shining metal knocker in the shape of a boar with a nose ring. You gently run your fingers over the boar’s head before wrapping them around the nose ring to knock, the metal biting your hand with numbness.

“Oh, please don’t Y/N, we-”

Knock, knock, knock.

“Ah, seriously, you’re going to get us murdered!”

“Relaxed, Nana, it’s just an abandoned house. We’ll be okay.” Jeno laughed, watching the latter dig his nails into his bicep with a sweet eye smile.

“Yeah, I’m just being polite,” You turn back to glance at him and the door opens behind you with a swooshing gust of wind. It’s almost strong enough to knock you off your feet, but you only stumble as Mark reaches out to help stable you. Your styled hair is now messed up and you notice Jaemin’s disappointment under the raging fear. All of their eyes are fixed on the door behind you. “What?” You ask, glancing at Mark. “Is there something behind me?”

“No. Thank goodness. I didn’t want to have to save you,” Haechan walks up next to you, his chest puffing up as he tries to look tough while peering into the dark house. You resist smacking him upside the head for his comment. “It looks empty.”

“Just like we thought,” Jeno adds, his words meant to comfort the group, but you could tell it was mostly directed at Jaemin who was shaking in his boots. Jeno gently fixes the spy cap on Jaemin’s head before his own.

“So, we go in?” Haechan asks, again pretending he didn’t just ask a question as he starts to walk through the crack in the door. Mark, again, yanks him back by the collar, to which the former whines about choking.

“Would you stop doing things all willy nilly?” Mark stresses, fixing the wrinkles he had caused in Haechan’s button-down. Haechan shrugs and Mark sighs, using his foot to open the door the rest of the way. The darkness fades instantly when the lanterns flicker to life inside the house. “Okay, now let’s go.”

You all walk inside with you in the front for once, the door closing behind Jeno and Jaemin but you aren’t sure who closed it. There’s an ambient sound of the fire crackling softly from the lanterns. The inside of the house is a stark contrast to the exterior. It’s well maintained and neat down to the very last speck of dust, almost like a museum. The room you had all walked into was the foyer, a thin room almost like a long rectangle with stairs stretching up the right wall toward a landing with three doors. You notice everything is severely outdated, the carpet red with gold floral accents and the walls half dark wood paneling and half faded floral wallpaper. There’s a dark wood table just to the left of you between two dark archways, it holds a priceless porcelain vase filled with stunningly preserved roses and you can smell their faint aroma from where you stand. To your right, just before the stairs is another archway leading into the right side of the house, and next to it is a coat rack which holds a small, but expensive, fur coat.

“Woah, this place is-”

“Stunning,” You breathe, your feet taking you down the hall as if you were floating and Mark’s hand narrowly misses your cape. Your eyes trail along every detail. Surprisingly, Jaemin is right behind you, leaving the rest of the boys at the door. You both reach the farthest arch on the left side, practically hand in hand, and you step through it first. The lights in this room flickering to life as well, revealing a lavish living space.

You and Jaemin both gasp. Floor to ceiling bookshelves line two walls, a marble fireplace between a couple on one wall. There’s dark wood flooring in here but the couches and chairs are the same patterns as the carpet in the foyer. There’s a bearskin rug between the three couches and an antique coffee table sits on top of it. The shelves have collectibles too, dispersed between thousands of books. One of them, you note, is a Moomin figurine which is out of place in the traditional home.

You glance back at the fireplace, suddenly regarding a large portrait above it, your feet gluing themselves to your spot on the floor. The person in the portrait is beautiful, much like the house. His eyes seem to pierce your very soul as you stare into them, and his expression is that of arrogance and power. He’s dressed in black gothic clothing but he has a stark white choker with a deep red-ruby. His hair is black, pulled out of his eyes but it brushes against his forehead in a few stray strands. You felt you could stare at him for hours, he was that handsome.

“Take a picture, it’ll last longer,” Haechan chuckles into your ear, snapping you out of your daze as you flinch away from him. Your fist comes out to punch him in the shoulder before you can even process it. He yelps, catching the other boys’ attention from their spot examining the books.

“What’s wrong?” Mark asks, still on edge as his eyes scan Haechan frantically.

“Nothing, nothing,” Haechan grunts softly, rubbing his shoulder while he points to the piece of art. “Just making fun of Y/N for falling in love with a painting.”

“I wasn’t falling in love!” You protest, your cheeks flaring with heat.

“Okay, then what were you doing? Admiring the art?” Haechan asks, a little quirk to his lips. “Or that guy’s face?”

You reach out to hit him again and he flinches, running away from you to hide behind Jeno, his tongue poking out to mock you. You get ready to chase him, but you decide against it, not wanting to accidentally knock something expensive over.

“Oh, Y/N, I don’t blame you,” Jaemin gasps, his hands cupping his cheeks before one hand lowers to fan himself. You look over at him. “He’s so pretty!”

“Hey,” Jeno suddenly speaks up with a pout.

==≎==

You all spend the next hour exploring the bottom floor of the house. Jaemin follows you around to take pictures of anything he thought looked cool which was mostly you in your vampire costume doing casual things around the house. “Your vibes, Y/N! You suit this house so well!”

You didn’t pay him any attention, focusing on finding out who that boy in the painting was. You snoop through the bookshelves in the living room while the others mess around in the kitchen. Jaemin got bored of you ignoring his pose ideas and left to join the others. You found a black and white picture of a toddler in a suit, a bit blurry as it seemed the toddler would not stop moving, but it was definitely him. You barely noticed your fingers starting to trace the boy’s features, quickly withdrawing upon realization, a sharp heat scorching the apples of your cheeks as you walk around and see what other pictures you can find.

You found another of the boy, a bit older than the last picture, in the front garden you and the boys had gathered in. He was sweetly observing the flowers and a few specks that were most likely bees, and even in the poor quality, you could see the precious smile he wore. Your lips slowly curve into a smile the longer you stare at the photo. You were viciously torn from your daze when a loud shatter rang through the house, loud yelling following after and alerting you.

“Haechan you idiot!” Mark. He sounded like he was on the verge of bawling his eyes out and, when you find them in the foyer, it looks like he is. The priceless vase that once stood on the table, lay on the floor in absolute ruin. There were shards of porcelain everywhere.

“What have you done! We’re going to be cursed!” Jaemin wails, his face in his hands.

“Guys, guys, relax. Just watch out for the pieces.” Jeno’s hands stuck out between the group of boys as a means of mediation.

Before anyone could speak again, Haechan’s mouth already open to defend himself, the sound of a door opening upstairs alerts everyone. Dread fills everyone’s faces, yours included. Mark is the first to move, snatching Haechan’s collar and bolting for the door as fast as he can, pushing Jeno out of his way in his haste to get out. Haechan’s voice is pitchy as he cries out in fear. Jeno is right behind them, his arms tightly around Jaemin as he hauls him out, both of them muttering to each other what you can assume are comforting words. You try to leave as well, but a voice calls out to you, accompanied by the door slamming shut in front of you. Instantly, you hear faint banging and yelling from the other side of the door, but it seems you have other things to focus on.

“Who are you?” The voice is soft and would seem timid if it weren’t for the forceful undertone. You slowly turn to face the person addressing you, your jaw almost dropping in sheer awe.

It was the boy from the painting, standing at the top of the staircase in all his glory. He was even prettier in person, even with the flecks of paint on his cheeks and the casual clothing he sports. He has a pair of spectacles low on his nose that you can’t help but find adorable, he squints at you over the top of them. His hair is a mess, sticking up in all directions as if he was tugging at it restlessly. You notice cute little Moomin slippers on his feet as well.

“Hello? I asked you a question. Who are you?” He calls, his arms crossing and his pretty bottom lip quickly sticking out in a pout.

You gulped down the spit that had collected in your mouth. Was everyone in this town drop-dead gorgeous? “I-I’m Y/N.”

“Y/N?” He tests your name on his tongue, looking thoughtful as he cautiously steps down a few stairs. He gives you a once over, his eyes resting on your exposed collarbones and neck, where Jaemin had created fake puncture wounds, before they met yours again. “I’m Renjun. Now, I don’t usually get visitors. Ever. So, what are you doing in my house? Besides breaking expensive stuff and looking like an overly sexualized version of my friend YangYang? It’s a little rude, you know, we don’t look like that or dress like that, actually.”

You felt yourself become tense. Great, not only has he trapped me in his house to probably kill me, he’s mocking my costume which isn’t even mine! He said it - wait a minute, “W-We?”

His lips part in surprise, like he wasn’t supposed to have let that slip. You quickly take notice of a pair of little fangs protruding from under his top lip. Your face quickly flushes, your fading makeup doing little to hide it. He lets out a shy chuckle. “Well, yes, I-I’m a vampire. Do humans not think we’re real anymore?”

You’re speechless, your mouth opening and closing uselessly like a fish out of water. You can’t decide if you are afraid or in awe. You feel faint, the words almost not processing completely.

“I-I’m sorry to have dropped that bomb on you, but could we get back to the task at hand? Your friends kind of, you know, broke my favorite vase and ran.” His hand slowly stretches out to point at the collection of shards on his carpet. You shake your head to come back to Earth.

“Oh right, I am so, so sorry, Renjun.” His name feels funny coming out of your mouth and you feel like you don’t have the right to call him by his name. However, it seems you using his name softens something up in him and he looks away from you shyly.

“I guess you’ll have to pay me in some way,” He suddenly says, his eyes finding yours again. You deflate, you knew something like this was going to happen, maybe not getting stuck in a vampire’s house, but you knew you would have to pay for your friends’ stupid actions tonight in some way. It happened when they all forgot their wallets when you went out for McDonald’s at three in the morning and it was happening again, but this time you wondered if you would be paying with your life instead of spare change. “That vase was priceless.”

You close your eyes, waiting for him to finally attack you. “I understand,” You whisper.

“W-Wait,” Renjun’s soft voice sounds panicked and you furrow your brow in confusion before opening your eyes again. He seems to have an epiphany. “Ah! I’m so sorry! I’m not going to hurt you! Oh gosh, did you think I was going to kill you or something? Drink your blood?” You nod slowly, even more confused. “Oh, Y/N, I’m not like that! I don’t drink straight from humans, that’s gross.”

“What are you going to do to me then?” You ask.

“D-Do to you?” Renjun stammers, his cheeks turning a pale blue hue, and his eyes growing to the size of dinner plates. You nod again, watching him start to frantically wave his hands. “Nothing! I won’t even lay a hand on you! I was just gonna ask you to keep me company!”

“Keep you company?”

“I just - I haven’t left my house in like... years. And, YangYang actually moved to Germany so I haven’t seen him in a while and I’ve just been,” He hesitates, the conflict behind his eyes evident. “I’ve just been really lonely.”

You feel like you’ve been hit with a brick to the chest, the air leaving your lungs and turning into pain, feeling for the boy in front of you. Even with friends, you know exactly how he feels. It hurts you to know that the first social interaction he’s had with anyone in a while has been you and your friends breaking into his house.

“Oh, Renjun,” Your arms reach out to pull the boy into an embrace before you can even process it. The way you say his name makes him shudder despite not being able to feel cold. You pull away suddenly when you realize, both of you growing shy. “Wait, are you sure you want to be friends with someone who broke into your house? And someone who’s friends with an idiot who smashed your favorite vase?”

“Absolutely, I would like that more than anything” He mumbles, finding it in himself to gently take your hands. “You are really lovely -- s-so far, at least. And, I want you to introduce me to this idiot friend of yours, I want to give him a piece of my mind.”

You both share a laugh after that, and you hug him once more without even telling yourself to. “Then I would love to keep you company.”

“Th-Thank you.”

==≎==

“Y/N!” Before you could even close the door behind yourself, Haechan’s arms were suffocating you in one of the tightest hugs you had ever received from him. His face quickly buries into your shoulder and you feel the sticky wetness of his snot and tears on your bare skin. You forgo disgust in lieu of comforting your friend who seems to be more shaken up about the situation than you. You gently pet his hair while he nuzzles against you, rambling through his sobbing. “I’m so sorry! I swear, we tried to open the door, we really did! It was locked!”

You try to talk, but he hugs you tighter with the rest of the boys quickly following suit, only a puff of air passing through your lips. “We thought we had killed you!” Jaemin cries, his head taking up your other shoulder from behind. You can’t exactly tell whose arm is whose around you. The hug lasts a little longer, Haechan and Jaemin mumbling and sniveling against your neck, and even with the obvious bodily fluids you can feel spreading around, warmth spreads through you at the notion that they care.

“Was there a demon in there?” Mark asks with a trembling voice, backing away from the group hug with his eyes boring into yours as if to make sure your soul was still intact. He seems to scare himself looking back inside through the windows.

“Nothing hurt you, right?” Jeno’s hands reach over the two boys still squeezing the life out of you to cup your cheeks and turn your head side to side.

“I’m fine! I’m fine!” You rasp, “I just… can’t breathe.”

Instantly, Jaemin and Haechan let you go, apologizing to you and choosing to coddle each other instead. The boys let out a collective sigh of relief. You let a small smile spread across your face before it drops. “Wait, I just realized something!” You gasp, the boys growing tense.

“What? What? What is it?” Jaemin asks, leaving Haechan to hold both of your hands between his. His eyes worriedly scan your face.

“You guys grabbed each other and just left me!”

“Uh oh,” Haechan whispers, knowing your tone all too well. “Run!”

Instantly the boys take off, much like they did inside the house, however, this time they are laughing. You race down the stairs after them before your body stops and turns you around to look at the second-floor windows. You can faintly see Renjun smiling brightly at you through the moon’s glare, he raises his hand and yours does too. He waves, but your hand doesn’t. Mind control. “Cool,” You whisper under your breath and he laughs from inside the house. You smile and wave back before Haechan calls from the tree line and you run to catch up.

I guess I owe myself ten dollars.

#it is finished!#i hope it was worth the wait #thank you all for the love and support #nct #nct imagines #nct x male reader #nct x you #nct x reader #nct x gender neutral reader #nct dream imagines #nct dream x male reader #nct dream x reader #nct dream #huang renjun #huang renjun x reader #huang renjun imagines #kpop

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thetravelerwrites · 4 years

Text

Geyarajan (Part 3) Lemon

Rating: Explicit Relationship: Female Human/Male Gandharva Additional Tags: Exophilia, Gandharva, Childhood Sweethearts, Puppy Love, Sex, Attempted Murder Words: 6252

The finale of @floral-and-fine‘s commission! After finally finding Geyarajan, he pushes the reader away, still believing she betrayed him. It takes the failure of a spell for Geyarajan to realize his true feelings. Please reblog and leave feedback!

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You rushed forward to embrace him as best you could with your arms bound, but he jumped back as if you were diseased, his wings flaring.

“Don’t touch me!” He spat. His voice had deepened tremendously, giving him an authoritarian quality. You knew he’d be angry, but you didn’t think those would be the first words you’d heard from him in over a decade. You swallowed back your tears and the lump in your throat.

“I’m sorry,” You said in a small voice, backing up and shrinking in on yourself. “I’m sorry.”

“Why have you come here?” He asked in an accusatory tone.

“To pay for my mistakes,” You said, looking down at your feet. “If I hadn’t been so careless, your people wouldn’t have suffered so much.”

“It’s rather late to come to us with your apologies,” He snarled.

“I’d have come sooner, had I been able,” You replied, continuing to look down and not meet his eye.

There was a moment of silence. “Why aren’t you looking at me?” He asked. It was the first time he sounded curious rather than incensed.

“Because I don’t deserve to,” You said. It was getting harder to hold the tears back.

Another silence. “This isn’t like you. You weren’t this… demure or… soft-spoken when last I knew you.”

“I was a child when last you knew me,” You replied. “I’m a different person now, a person that you don’t know anymore.”

“Hmm,” He mused. “Fair enough. I didn’t know you then, either.”

A tear slipped from your eye and fell to the ground. “I never lied to you, Rajan. Not once.”

“Don’t call me that,” He said sharply. “That’s not my name. It was never my name. We’re not children anymore.” With that, he walked out, throwing your tray to the ground. His parents followed him, locking the door behind him, and you fell to the straw and wept.

The entire point in coming here was to atone, even if that meant dying for it. Besides, there was nothing to go back to. Your parents didn’t understand you. You had no friends besides the ones in the city who were imprisoned, like yourself now. Raja--Gaveshan hated you. You had a few people among the gandharva who you might call allies, perhaps even friends, but whether the recall spell failed or succeeded, there was no telling if they could help you in any way.

You fell into despair and stopped caring for yourself, insomuch that you could in a cell with your hands tied. You no longer ate the food that was brought. You didn’t even look to see who brought it. The bindings were cutting into your wrists and you could feel the rub burns starting to blister, but you didn’t fuss about it or tell your guards. You had resigned yourself to death, so there was no sense in it, really. There was no point in anything anymore.

The next day, around lunchtime, the door opened and stayed open. You were lying on the bare ground, facing the wall, and couldn’t see who it was. You didn’t care who it was.

“They tell me you’re not eating,” Gaveshan said. “Why?”

You didn’t answer or acknowledge him in any way.

“Hey,” He said, prodding you with what felt like one of his clawed feet. “Are you dead?”

“Stop it,” You said flatly, not moving.

“Are you sick? What’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing’s wrong with me,” You told him. “I submitted myself to your people fully expecting to die. I’m just preparing for the inevitable.”

“Die?” He echoed. “Why would you die?”

“Several of your people were murdered by humans because of me,” You said. “Why wouldn’t you kill me?”

“You admit that you told the humans about us?” He said, his voice hardening.

“No,” You said, finally cajoled into sitting up and looking at him more out of annoyance than any other reason. “I told you, I’ve never said a word about your people. I don’t remember anything.”

“Liar,” He said, his face tight with distrust.

You sighed. “Think what you want to, Gaveshan, but go think it somewhere else. I’m tired.” You laid back down.

He was silent for a moment. “You really came here thinking you were going to die? Why would you do that?”

“People died because I couldn’t climb a tree properly,” You said. “There must be penance for that.”

“Wait,” He said, his voice changing abruptly. “You think you’re responsible for all of this because you fell out of the tree?”

“If I hadn’t fallen, I wouldn’t have broken my leg, you wouldn’t have had to carry me to your home, and people from my village wouldn’t have followed us there. I was careless and your people paid the price.”

He sat down on the ground next to you, staring at you as if trying to figure out a puzzle.

“So if you didn’t tell the humans, why did you run?” He asked.

“What are you talking about?” You asked, looking up at his face from where you lay.

“I came back to confront you again about a month later and you were gone,” He said. “You ran.”

“You think I had any control over that?” You retorted. “I was a kid and subject to my parents wishes. And, might I remind you, my leg was broken. I literally had no way to stop them. I didn’t want to leave. I wanted to find you and try to get you to listen to me, but they wouldn’t listen to me, either. No one was listening, so I just stopped talking. I think that’s part of why I went to the arena to talk to the fighters. They were the only ones happy to talk to me.”

“You found Aashiyana there?” He asked.

“Yes,” You replied. “I pulled every string I could to get her out of there. People with wings should never be in cages.”

“I got a chance to talk to her this morning, finally. The council has been interrogating her for a day and a half. She told them of your rescuing her. She believes your story.”

“It’s not a story, it’s the truth, and I’ll keep saying that until you believe me, too,” You said.

“Why is my belief so important to you?” He asked, looking away.

You took a big, deep breath and sighed sadly, rolling back over to face the wall, fighting tears. “You know why, Gaveshan.”

He was quiet for a few minutes, and you could hear him shifting and shuffling. You wished he would just leave.

“There’s blood on the floor,” He said with a voice that was hard to parse. “Are you injured?”

“Oh,” You said, looking at where your hands were tied. “The bindings have cut into my skin.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?” He said, standing up and coming around to inspect the wound.

“Because I didn’t think you’d give a shit,” You replied.

He sighed sharply in irritation. “Here.” He gently took your hands and began to untie the bindings. “Don’t be so stubborn.”

“You’re one to talk,” You said.

He snorted. “Hold on, I’ll get some salve for the blisters.”

“Why? Why do you care? Just leave it.”

“Don’t be stubborn,” He said again as he ducked out of the hut.

You were feeling… very confused. Why was he treating your wounds? Why did he care that you weren’t eating? Why was he even talking to you?

He returned shortly with a pot of salve and bandages and began gingerly applying it to the wound. You watched him do it, watching him carefully wrap your wrists with the bandages, and it reminded you of when the two of you were kids, how kind and sweet he was. Your heart felt like it was drowning for what you had with him, and what you lost.

“You’re crying,” He said. “Am I hurting you?”

“No,” You said, your voice breaking. You didn’t attempt to stem the flow.

“Are you scared because you still think you’re going to die?”

“No.”

“Then why are you crying?”

“I don’t know.”

His hands stilled, holding your wrists. “What happened to you? You’re so… sad now.”

“I’ve had people’s deaths on my conscience for the last ten years,” You replied. “That might make most people a little bit sad.” You shrugged, not looking at him. “My best friend hates me. People think I’m weird and poke fun at me. My parents think I’m crazy.” You shook your head and sighed. “Maybe I am.”

“Aashiyana told me you helped her escape,” He said. “That you risk imprisonment if you return home.”

“I left with no plan to return,” You said. “I accept whatever fate the council decides, even if the decision is death.”

“Are you so eager to die?” He asked softly.

You didn’t answer right away. “What do I have to live for?”

“You… you shouldn’t… just… give up,” He said haltingly. He grabbed your arms, gripping them so tight that it bordered on painful. “This isn’t like you! You never gave up when we were kids! You would race me even knowing you’d lose! You rose to any challenge I gave you!”

You pulled you hands out of his. “It’s like you said, Gaveshan. We aren’t children anymore.”

“So you won’t even fight for yourself?” He asked, his voice rising. Did he sound anxious?

“Fight for what?” You asked in return. “I came here to submit to judgment, not to argue. I’m guilty. I deserve punishment. It doesn’t matter that I never said a word about the colony, it was still destroyed because of me. Your people deserve justice and I’ve delivered myself for that reason. Now please just leave me alone.”

He was quiet for a long, long moment, his breathing drawn out and even.

“I could swear,” He said quietly, as if to himself. “I could almost swear you really believe what you’re saying.”

You rolled your eyes and sighed heavily. You lied back down and turned your back to him. “Go away.”

“I brought you a carrot stew,” He said, getting up and heading to the door. “I know you like carrots. You should eat it.”

“I don’t like carrots anymore. And I’m not hungry,” You said.

“Don’t be stubborn, Primrose,” He said as he walked out.

The sudden use of his old nickname for you felt like a stab to the heart, like he was using it as a weapon to hurt you, stinging your eyes to tears again. Did he really hate you enough to hurt you that deeply with such casual indifference?

You didn’t eat the stew.

The next morning, the council reconvened to watch the recall spell to be performed. Elder Pashanda wasn’t happy about having to perform the spell in the first place, but he had been overruled.

You were directed to sit in a chair in the middle of the council room with only the council members in attendance, observing the spell. Other observers had been barred for this phase of the interrogation. Elder Mari examined you prior to the spell, noting that you’d lost a little bit of weight and asking if you felt well enough to conduct the spell. You replied that you were fine and that you just wanted to get it over with. She eyed you shrewdly, but allowed the spell to commence.

Before it could, however, the door to the council room opened and Gaveshan strode in.

“Gaveshan!” Elder Pashanda exclaimed, his face surprised and angry. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“The spell isn’t necessary,” He said. “She’s not at fault. I am.”

There was a murmuring from the council as your jaw dropped, turning in your chair to as best you could to gawk at him.

“What the hell are you saying?” Elder Pashanda said. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

“I goaded her into climbing the tree,” He said, coming to stand next to the chair to which you’d been tied. “She fell because of me. I carried her back to the colony on foot. They followed me, not her. Hell, I decided to stay and befriend her that day in the woods when I knew it was our law that I should have run away. It’s my responsibility. You shouldn’t punish her. Punish me instead.”

“Nonsense!” Elder Pashanda said. “Gaveshan, leave here at once! You’re disrupting the council.”

“You understand that if you’re found guilty, the sentence is banishment,” Elder Mari said.

“I do,” Gaveshan said, bowing his head. “I am prepared to accept that, if it is the ruling of the council.”

“What are you doing?” You whispered up to him.

He looked down at you and smiled, a real, true, beautiful smile. The first you’d seen on his face since you were children. You felt the tears again, but this time, they were happy tears. You smiled back up at him.

“No!” Pashanda said. “It is her fault! She is to be punished!”

“We haven’t come to that decision yet, Beast Elder,” The speckle-feathered man said. “In fact, I think it’s best if you sit this one out, as it now directly involves your son.”

“That’s absurd!” He said, his face contorting.

“Father, please,” Gaveshan said, putting an arm on his shoulder. “Be reasonable.”

“Reasonable?!” He spat, rounding on Gaveshan. “Do you know what you’re saying? You’re talking about potentially never seeing your family or people ever again! Doesn’t that bother you?”

“Of course it does!” Gaveshan shouted back. “But I have just as much culpability as she does! It could be argued that I’m more responsible, since I was the one who brought her back to the colony in the first place!”

“You were a child!”

“So was she! She was even younger than I was, and she was injured because of me!” You shot back. “Why are you holding her to a different standard? Because I’m your son? Or because she’s human?”

His pale father got very red in the face. He filled his lungs to bellow something, but before he got the chance, speckled-feather Elder stopped him.

“Pashanda,” He said authoritatively. “This is now a clear conflict of interest. You are removed from the council for this trial.”

“I refuse!” He said. “We haven’t even voted on it!”

“It’s not up for debate,” Elder Jaya replied. “It’s the law.”

“You can’t put my son on trial just because he’s been bewitched by this woman! I should never have agreed to let him speak to her privately!”

“It was the council’s decision to let him do so in an attempt to jog her memory, since you have been so opposed to doing the recall spell,” Elder Mari said, her eyes narrowing with suspicion. “Though, I must admit your reluctance has given me many questions.”

“Please,” You said, speaking up. “Just do the spell. Then you’ll know if I’m telling the truth or not. I want to know the truth. There are four days of missing time that I lost, and I want to know what happened in those days.”

“No!” Pashanda said. “I will not do the spell if my own son plans to take the blame regardless of the result.”

“Luckily, I know how to do the spell myself,” Gaveshan said. “You taught me your craft well, didn’t you, Father?”

Pashanda went from very red to very white.

“Elder Pashanda,” Elder Jaya said in a tone like an iron vice. “I suggest you sit down and stay silent, unless you’d like to find yourself in that chair under interrogation in her place.”

Her fellow elders murmured agreement. Pashanda took his seat at the head of the council, gripping the table with white knuckles.

“Alright, Gaveshan,” Speckled-Elder said, sitting back down. “Conduct the spell.”

Gaveshan nodded. The first thing he did was untie you.

“Why?” You asked him as he did so. You were having trouble processing what had just happened and it was the only word you could verbalize.

“I thought a lot about everything you said,” He replied. “I just couldn’t understand why you’d come here and submit to judgment but still lie about telling the humans about the colony. I mean, if you came believing you were going to die, you had nothing to gain from lying. The only thing I could conclude is that you were telling the truth. You always had been.” He smiled sadly. “I’m sorry, Primrose. I should have had more faith in you.”

The tears fell freely down your face. “I forgive you. Of course I forgive you.”

“I don’t deserve your forgiveness, but I am grateful.” He took your hand and squeezed it. “Let’s begin. Don’t be afraid. It’ll be uncomfortable at times, but I’ll be here.”

You wiped your tears and nodded.

A table was set next to your chair, and a tray with different components was placed upon it. Gaveshan poured a fruity smelling drink into a simple wooden cup from a decanter.

“This is blessed ritual wine,” He said. “I made it myself.”

“You make wine?” You said, smiling.

He smiled in return. “Just for rituals. Drinking wine for pleasure is prohibited within settlements. Inebriation and great heights don’t mix.”

You nodded understanding. “So is this designed to help me feel spiritual?”

“Partly,” He said, smiling. “It’s also partly to calm your nerves and occupy you while I get the ritual ready.” He dipped a finger into the wine of the decanter and drew a sigil on your forehead. “This is really the important part, as far as the actual spell goes.”

“Ah,” You said, sipping the wine. You weren’t much of a drinker, but this was really good. He placed herbs into a censer and lit it, letting the scent of the burning spices and flowers fill your nose. As you continued to sip the wine, you began to feel sleepy. You weren’t sure if this is how it was supposed to feel, but you didn’t want to interrupt Gaveshan while he was working.

Few more minutes passed, and your heartbeat began to surge. You felt hot, like you should be sweating, but you weren’t. Your mouth had gone dry and your vision was tunneling out. Before you could say anything, you felt yourself slip out of your seat and everything went black. The last thing you saw was the entire room rise to their feet, several of them rushing toward you. Gaveshan dropped what he was holding and fell to his knees to catch you before you hit the ground.

The next few days were a haze of pain and visions. You couldn’t tell what was real and what were dreams. You could hear screams, and it didn’t occur to you that it was your screams. You saw Gaveshan there beside your bed whenever you opened your eyes. At times he was the grown Gaveshan, and sometimes he was Geyarajan, the friend of your childhood. Both versions held your hand and talked to you. You couldn’t tell if the conversations were real or not.

“I’m sorry,” He said mournfully one night. He kept vacillating between the older and the younger versions of himself. “I didn’t mean for that to happen. I never meant to hurt you, I swear.”

“I know that,” You said, your voice raspy from the dryness. “Don’t be sorry.”

“I would never forgive myself if you died because of me,” He told you. “You’re my best friend.” He clutched your hand and kissed your knuckles, tears streaming down his face. “I love you, Primrose.”

You touched his cheek with your fingertips. “I love you, too, Rajan.”

Blackness took you again and you slept.

When you were finally back to true awareness, you woke up in a hut. From the light coming in through the door, you guessed it was either late evening or early morning. Gaveshan was sitting propped up on a stool, sleeping. A little bit of drool was dripping from the corner of his mouth and he snored a little. You smiled at him fondly. It reminded you of the night the two of you went swimming at midnight, and he fell asleep in the moss waiting for his feathers to dry. You two may be grown ups now, but it seemed not everything had changed.

Elder Mari entered the hut with a bowl in her hands and a towel over her shoulder.

“Ah, are you awake?” She asked.

“I think so,” You said. “What happened?”

As she stepped in, Gaveshan woke up. He peered around him groggily, but came to alertness as soon as he saw you focused on his face.

“Are you alright?” He asked, taking up your hand. “Are you yourself again? You’ve been having fits for days.”

“What happened?” You asked again.

“You were poisoned,” Elder Mari said grimly. “Belladonna. The inside of your cup was lined with it. It didn’t help that your stomach was empty, so there was nothing to dilute it.”

“They thought it was from the wine at first,” Gaveshan said. “They suspected me. I was close to being locked up before my father confessed.” He grimaced. “I guess that’s is how you must have felt when I accused you.”

“It doesn’t feel good, does it?” You asked softly.

He shook his head and avoided your eye. “Apparently he had done it before when you were a child but miscalculated the dosage and didn’t give you enough to kill you. It’s why you couldn’t remember anything.” He scrubbed his face and groaned in aggravation. “I can’t believe my father tried to kill you. Twice!”

“Why?” You asked, shocked.

“According to him,” Mari said. “It was because he perceived you as a threat, both to his family and the colony. He told us that he was taking you back to the humans, but his real plan was to poison you and drop you somewhere in the forest where no one would find you. Apparently he hadn’t given you enough and you started hallucinating, screaming and becoming combative. He didn’t know what else to do, so he dropped you at the edge of the forest and fled. How you got to the village is still a mystery. You may have walked there, unable to feel the pain of your leg in your delirium.”

“Gods,” You breathed. “What will happen to him?”

“Well,” Mari said. “Our culture doesn’t believe in the death penalty, so he will be banished, which for our kind is a sort of death sentence. We’re not sure of the extent of Hemakshi’s involvement, but we know she was at least aware of his actions. Her punishment is still being determined.”

Gaveshan’s face was as hard as stone. “Is it my fate for everyone I love to betray me?”

“I didn’t,” You told him softly, brushing your hand against his cheek.

He leaned into your touch and wrapped his fingers around your wrists gently. “No, you didn’t. And I’m sorry I spent almost half my life believing you did.”

“It’s alright,” You said. “It’s in the past.”

He sighed and kissed your palm. “I’m ashamed of the damage my family has caused, to you and to the colony. How can I show my face after this?”

“It’s not your fault,” Mari said. “You are not responsible for their misdeeds.”

“Even still,” He said. “Life has changed for me. Again. I don’t know what I’ll do now.”

“You could take your father’s place as master sorcerer,” Mari said.

He shook his head with a frown. “That was never my calling. And I don’t want his title, either way.”

“Whatever you decide,” Mari said. “The council has cleared both you and the young woman here of any wrongdoings. She is free to leave. Or to stay.”

Gaveshan looked at you pensively. “Would you like to stay here?”

You weren’t sure. “I’d like a nice hot bath, honestly, before I go making any decisions. I’m so sore and I feel awful.”

“I’m sure,” Mari said. “You spent a good amount of time screaming and thrashing and talking to no one. You wouldn’t eat or take water. You nearly died.”

You stared at her. “That’s not comforting.”

“It’s the truth,” She said. “I figured, after everything, that would be something you could appreciate.”

“True,” You said, sighing.

Mari bathed you privately later and helped you relieve yourself since you were too weak to go on your own, which was a little embarrassing. Afterward, Gaveshan came back with your meal. You were surprised to learn he had cooked all of your meals while you’d been on the island.

You spent a week in recovery, and Gaveshan was with you the entire time. Now that he believed you, it was as if the two of you had never been apart. You just talked; talked to each other as if no time had passed between you. You told him about the city and the arena, and he told you about the aftermath of the colony’s destruction. It was natural an effortless.

“So, what will you do now?” He asked, sitting next to your cot and toying with a strand of your hair. “Will you go back to the city?”

“I can’t,” You replied. “I’m a fugitive.”

“Won’t you miss your parents?”

“My parents are good people, but we’ve never been on the same page, really. I honestly think this would be better for all of us.”

“You could stay here,” He ventured. “Stay with me.”

“It’s sort of my only option,” You said. “It’s not a bad option, don’t get me wrong, I’d love to stay with you no matter what. But… I don’t know if I could feel at home here. I have a few friends among your people, and I’m sure most of the folks here would treat me kindly, but… I don’t know.”

“Hmm,” He said, stroking your hair away from your face. “Maybe there’s a third option.”

“What is it?” You asked.

He sat back and studied your face with a smile. “Do you feel up to taking a short trip with me?”

“Where to?”

“One of the smaller satellite islands,” He said. “I want to show you something.”

“Okay,” You said. He stood and held out his hands for yours. You took them and followed him out of the medicine hut.

He took you out to the edge of Beast Island, where you could see three other small islands about a stone’s throw away. He pointed to the closest one.

“That’s where I grow the fruit and make the wine,” He said. “It’s my own little safe place. I go there for the quiet and to be alone. I’ve never let anyone come near it.” He picked you up bridal style and said, “Do you trust me?”

You rolled your eyes and bonked his shoulder. He laughed.

“Silly question, I guess.” With that, he launched himself off the cliff and let his wings unfurl, sliding effortlessly over to the island, settling down on the ground before you could count to ten. “There. Made it in one piece. Nothing broken.”

You climbed down and gave him a sour look. “Not funny.”

He grinned. “Sorry.” He took your hand and led you into the brush. After a few minutes, the grass and shrubbery opened up into a clearing full of grape vines on trellises made of whippy branches, along with young fruit trees, berry bushes, and crates with wine that was aging. There was also a smallish hut where you surmised Gaveshan stayed when he was tending his crops.

“You did all this yourself?” You asked.

“Yes,” He said. “I really enjoy it. It’s the only thing that’s brought me contentment since the colony’s ruin and our people’s division. And…” He cleared his throat and looked away. “After you disappeared.”

“I didn’t disappear, I moved,” You said. “It wasn’t my choice.”

“See it from my perspective,” He said. “My family, my people as a whole, are in the midst of a tremendous upheaval, grieving and homeless, our lives turned upside down. The only constant I had left is suddenly gone, and it was as if I had lost the last thread holding my entire world together.”

“But you hated me,” You said.

He shook his head. “I was upset and didn’t know what to believe. I only knew what my parents told me. They forbade me from going back to see you, and we had to relocate, so it took time before I could get away. When I finally did, I went to talk to you, but you were gone.” He paused and looked out over the crops. “Do you know what Gaveshan means?”

“No.”

“The Searcher,” He said. “When I couldn’t find you, even though I was angry, I looked for you. I went to every human and non-human town I could, looking for you. I went to every settlement, every family cluster, every small out of the way place, hoping I’d find you. I never thought to look in the city. Even if I had, it was too far to fly. I was angry, but…” His voice broke. “I wanted to know you were alright.” He stared at his feet, his lip trembling.

“Gaveshan, look at me,” You said, putting a hand under his chin. He looked at you with sorrow and regret, his eyes swimming with tears.

“Would you… could you call me Rajan?” He asked quietly. “Please?”

You pressed your forehead against his and smiled. “Only if you’ll sing to me.”

He laughed self-consciously through his tears. “It’s been some time since I last sang anything. I may not be very good anymore.”

“I don’t care,” You said. “I just love the sound of your voice.”

He chuckled and pulled you in, wrapping his arms around your waist. You threw your arms around his neck, and while he sang, the two of you danced in place. He pulled you close, singing sweetly into your ear, the warmth of his body radiating into yours. His voice was every bit as beautiful as it had been when he was a boy.

When he was finished, you kissed him. It was natural and wonderful and as sweet as you remembered. Except… it wasn’t as innocent as it used to be. It was deeper and searching and testing. His grip on your body intensified and his breathing became faster and shallower. Whatever chemicals that were rushing through his body, you could feel them coursing through your veins as well. His hands roamed your body, looking for a way to free you from your clothes. He grunted in frustration.

“These things are highly impractical,” He said, tugging at your bodice.

“Not when it’s cold out,” You said with a laugh. “Come on.”

You took him by hand to the hut and opened the door. It was small and cozy, with a cooking pit in the middle of the room and a pile of furs that he slept on in the far corner.

“I suppose you’re used to something far grander than this,” He said, but not in a haughty way, just stating a fact.

“Grand is overrated,” You said. “This is perfect.”

He smiled and kissed you again, leading you to the furs. You instructed him to sit and began to undress. You made a little bit of a show of it, not sure if he would get anything out of that since his entire culture didn’t wear clothing.

You shouldn’t have worried. Halfway through, his cock was standing to attention from a slit in his groin and he gazed at you hungrily. When you’d shed all of your garments and stood naked before him, he held out a hand for you. You took it and knelt down where he sat, pressing your lips to his. He grabbed you suddenly, making you giggle, and placed you underneath him. Your heart began to pound with instinctual fear, but you tried to push it down.

“I can feel your heart trying to escape your chest,” He said, kissing your neck. “Are you alright?”

“Just nervous,” You told him. “First time and all that.”

He perched up on his hands and looked down. “You waited for me?”

You chuckled. “I was the weird kid. It wasn’t so much that I waited than no one would have me. And I wasn’t looking, honestly.”

You didn’t ask if he had waited for you. It didn’t matter, he was with you now. The past was the past. It was time to begin considering the future, which was something you hadn’t thought possible before.

You felt his length nudging you from below, and a stab of nervousness hit you again, but you wanted this badly. You opened your legs wide and ran your fingers through his hair. He kneaded and massaged your breasts with one hand while propping himself up on the other. His head bent down and his tongue came out, flicking over the nipple and you sighed, gripping his hair tighter.

He sucked your nipple into his mouth and reached down with his free hand, slicking it down with your natural lubricant. You didn’t realize how wet you had gotten until he touched you and two of his fingers slipped right in. You gasped at the unfamiliar sensation, but it wasn’t painful.

“Are you alright?” He asked, studying your face.

“Yes,” You replied breathlessly.

“Have you touched yourself before?” He asked.

“Not like this,” You told him.

“I’ll be careful, then,” He whispered, kissing your ear, cheek, and corner of your eye. He sat up and slowly moved his fingers in and out, watching your expression for discomfort. You pet your fingers down his chest and stomach muscles, biting your lip. He moved to sit beside you so that you could touch him, while using three of his fingers to circle your pearl, rubbing back and forth slowly, but gaining speed as he went on. You reached across and took his organ in your hand, stroking it experimentally. He seemed to like it, biting his own lip and smiling at you.

A few minutes of teasing each other passed quite nicely, and you reached for him, more than ready. He laid himself on top of you and slicked himself down with your wetness, positioning himself and sliding slowly inside you. There was a pressure from the width of him that was slightly uncomfortable, but it didn’t hurt. His body was flush with yours as he pulled himself into and out of you. You enjoyed the weight of him on your body, the friction of where the two of you were joined slowly wore away at the discomfort until a swelling pleasure took its place.

He kissed your lips and neck and chest as he thrust, carefully at first, but as your body became less tense and more receptive, he sped up and thrust with more confidence. He listened to you, encouraged by the little sounds you made. You wrapped your arms around him, gripping his back, your fingers curling, threading through the feathers of his back, his wings unfurled behind him.

You felt a gush of fluid flow out of you, and you looked down, frowning. That had never happened before.

“Sorry,” You said.

“No, no,” He said. “That’s good. It happens, usually when you’re enjoying yourself. You are, aren’t you?”

“Yes, I am,” You assured him. “It feels nice.”

“It gets better,” He said, pushing deeper. He put an arm under your knee and pushed it up, allowing him to get a better angle and rub against that sweet spot much easier. You moaned in surprise pleasure. Spurred on, he quickened his pace.

It took no time at all in this position for you to reach your peak, and you screamed out loudly as it came. Bless this island for being so far away from the main one.

He hadn’t finished yet and was going at a frenetic pace. He managed to pull another one from you before he gritted his teeth, grunted over and over, and released inside you, his entire body tensing and jerking.

Finally, he collapsed onto you, flapping his wings weakly to fan your overheated bodies. The breeze was actually very nice. He moved to the side of you and pulled you close to him as the two of you caught your breath.

“So,” You said eventually. “You said something about a third option. Is this little piece of heaven what you meant?”

“Not exactly,” He said. “I started making wine for ritual purposes, but there aren’t nearly enough rituals for the amount I make. I was thinking of maybe going to the mainland and opening a vineyard. Maybe actually sell it for a profit. I’d still send some to the colonies for ritual purposes, but it’s a shame to let so much of it go to waste.”

“Whoa,” You said. “That’s… a really good idea. Do you have any idea where you’d go?”

“I made some friends on the mainland in my search for you,” He said. “A family that’s mixed, humans and non-humans. I mentioned it to them once in passing when I was visiting and they said if I was ever serious, they’d help me get started.” He sat up and looked down at you. “Is that something you’d like to do with me?”

You smiled at him. “I’d follow you anywhere. Should you change your name again, since Gaveshan doesn’t suit you anymore?”

“I think I’m going to go back to Geyarajan,” He said with a grin. “I have a feeling I’ll have a lot to sing about from now on.”

Since my work is no longer searchable, please do me a favor and reblog this story if you enjoyed it. Help me reach a wider audience! To help me continue creating, please consider buying me a Kofi, becoming a Patron, or donating directly to my PayPal!

Thanks for reading!

My Masterlist

The Exophilia Creator’s Masterlist

#Exophilia #Gandharva #Monster Boyfriend #Shelter Forest #The Towns

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bbrandy2002 · 4 years

Text

My Love

Chapter Seven

Book: The Royal Heir

Pairing: Liam x Riley

Series Summary: After losing the love of his life, Liam is left with a newborn daughter and a council that demands he endure another social season quickly. Not wanting to move on, he gets help from an unlikely ally – his late wife.

C/N: This story is going somewhere different from how it originally started. I had said from the beginning I wasn’t sure how this fic would be taken because it would be so out of the ordinary. And while the first four chapters could be stand-alones, I always intended for it to continue on in this unconventional way. If you no longer wish to be tagged in it, just let me know and no hard feelings.

T.W.: Mention of a previous rape and examination. Mental health.

Thank you to @burnsoslow for beta reading, all of my snippet readers, and those who have messaged me several times about this story.

If you came to me with a face I have not seen, with a voice I have not heard, I would still know you. –Lang Leav

It is said that the purest kind of love has the power to overcome any obstacle, break through any barrier, to make miracles happen where none existed before. For Liam and Riley, it was fate that brought them together in a New York City bar, and it was love that carried them through many, dark trials.

A passioned romance that started between a prince and a waitress became the epic love story legends were made of. After defeating every enemy that stood in their way, they married in front of the world, ruled side-by-side, and created the most significant symbol of their absolute devotion to one another – a daughter. Neither one ever imagined living in this life without the other … it wasn’t possible. They existed solely for the purpose and betterment of the other.

In what took an act of God to bring them together, took only the evil of man to separate them.

Liam had spent the weeks following her untimely death in a grief-stricken state of misery and torment. He never knew a heart could feel so much pain, nor a body experience so much affliction, missing the one who was the greatest part of himself. Riley was his joy, where none existed and comfort in every sense of the word. Ellie’s presence could only numb a portion of the sting, but not enough to fill the void his soulmate left behind. When Liam spoke to his wife each night, he never questioned whether his messages of eternal love and ’missing his girl,’ fell on spiritually deaf ears. Even with a vast abyss that divided their worlds … somehow … someway … Riley heard every tear he had shed and every expression of sorrow he spoke.

He needed her.

Where time no longer existed, Riley’s soul saw a tiny window of opportunity and literally moved heaven and earth to get back to her one true love. She knew she was the only one who could save him now.

____________

A broken, battered body laid motionless on a cold emergency room stretcher, surrounded by the hustle and hurried activity of doctors and nurses. In and out of consciousness, the woman’s eyes flickered open when a gloved hand prodded the open wound on the side of her head. The sensation of flesh being ripped away with each poke elicited a scream so chilling, a startled, first-year nurse dropped a tray of metal instruments that crashed and clanked to the floor.

The patient felt a chilly draft of air as the tattered remains of her shirt and bra were cut down the middle, exposing her marked and bruised breast. EKG electrodes were attached to her chest, and the tangled web of wires that were connected to the monitor came alive with erratic lines and buzzes. Her long brown hair that clumped together in sanguineous knots was swept to the side to remove her gold hoop earrings. Tweezers pinched and bore into the delicate skin of her murky palms, extracting deep thistles and thorns. What seemed to take hours while portable x-rays were shot, lesions stitched and bandaged, and several infusions of liquids and blood being attached to the tube that ran into her forearm – she was given clear and concise information about the intrusive examination that would soon follow.

A kindly hand held onto hers as another one gently rolled up the sheet that draped over her legs and nudged them apart. Questions were lobbed at her from all directions, but she had no answers. This woman didn’t know what happened, why she was in the hospital, nor the description of who did this to her. The only thing she remembered at that moment, before waking up on the bristly ground of the park, was Liam crying out for her in their bedroom.

Her gravelly voice went unnoticed when she begged for the examination to stop. It was clear from her feelings of utter filth, the kind that made her skin crawl, this body had been through quite an ordeal. She was told to remain still and relaxed; after what had happened to her, this would provide the evidence needed to ensure justice was served. The truth was, it wasn’t her that experienced what the former personal assistant-turned-nanny to the Cordonian Princess had gone through. What happened to this body took place before Amanda Talbert died, and the spirit of Riley Brooks took over it.

Riley flinched, and her fist gripped a little tighter to the sheet that covered the upper portion of her body. The first of several swabs and probes to her most sensitive areas made her stomach squeamish with nausea. An astute nurse noticed the greenish color that pooled into Riley’s face and thrust an emesis basin next to her cheek to collect the contents of the excretion she expelled. With tears pricking her eyes, Riley eased her throbbing head back onto the pillow when she was finished; the earlier words of a physician telling her ‘how lucky she was to be alive,’ playing over and over in her mind. If Riley didn’t feel like she had just returned to hell-on-earth, she might have found this ironic statement amusing.

A female officer scraped a wooden applicator under her fingernails, collecting debris, and dropped it into an evidence bag. “Miss, can you tell me your name again?” she asked while labeling the contents with a black marker.

Riley moistened her dry lips with her tongue as she blankly stared straight up at the ceiling. “Riley Brooks,” she whispered hesitantly, keenly aware of the low snickers her answer had drawn from everyone in the room each time the question was asked.

“Very well, Miss … Brooks.” Riley heard the officer reply with a loud exhale and a clipped voice before labeling the bag – Jane Doe.

This wasn’t the reunion Riley had anticipated. She knew her work would be cut out for her considering she didn’t know who she had become or how she would even get to Liam. Just that the perfect person and the perfect opportunity came along, that made it possible for her to be in his orbit. She would worry about the complexities of the situation later, but right now, Riley wanted to find Liam before he destroyed himself.

__________________

Drake poured another glass of water and handed it to Liam, who was sitting up in his hospital bed. He thanked his friend and took a long drink before handing the empty cup back. Liam rolled his head in an attempt to get the tension and knots that a month’s worth of stress had set in. His eyes glanced up to the doctor who paced silently at the foot of his bed, flipping through a chart full of test results and nodding his head in assent while he scrutinized each page.

Feeling frustrated by several minutes worth of silence that was then followed by faint mumblings from this doctor, Liam tapped his finger over his pursed lips with a peculiar expression he hoped the older man would recognize as impatience from his King. He finally scratched the back of his head when his antics hadn’t garnered the attention he had hoped for and decided to express his displeasure over his wait through other means. He let out a heavy sigh and flopped back boisterously into the stacks of pillows that were positioned behind his back.

Drake nudged Bastien in the arm and leaned into his ear. “What the hell did they give him?

The doctor gave a sideways glance before removing his wire-rimmed glasses and placing them back into the pocket of his lab coat. He stood a little taller and turned to face Liam with the opened binder that he had just analyzed cover-to-cover. “My apologies, Your Majesty. I wanted to be thorough in your care and ensure I had a complete understanding of your … situation.”

Liam bolted up at the chosen words to describe him and cocked his head. “What is my … situation … Doctor Ganos?” He asked with an embittered tone. Liam already knew the answer to his question. He had lost his wife, there were still no leads in her murder, he had been betrayed during that morning’s council meeting by Neville, he was now expected to take part in another social season he wanted nothing to do with and twice heard the voice of his late wife.

“Your situation - ” Doctor Ganos, replied nervously as he walked around the bed to Liam’s side. “you’re severely dehydrated for one. I would venture to guess you are also physically and mentally exhausted.”

“That is what caused him to lock the door, toss his clothes around the damn bedroom, and then collapse onto the floor?” Drake asked skeptically.

The doctor turned to Drake, not sure if he should answer his questions, but figured the King would speak up if he didn’t want anything pertaining to his medical records mentioned in front of him. “It’s certainly a huge part of it … yes.” His gaze turned back to Liam with a thoughtful expression. “Based on the very public knowledge of what you have been through since Queen Riley died and the symptoms you described experiencing just before collapsing in your room, I would surmise you had a panic attack. A complete mental breakdown.”

The conversation was interrupted by Bastien’s phone, who then apologized, excused himself, and walked just outside the private hospital room. Another guard took Bastien’s place in the room, and the doctor cleared his throat to continue the basis of his diagnosis. Liam may have felt some trepidation over the words, complete mental breakdown, yet wasn’t surprised by them in the least. He knew he wasn’t the same man he was before and had felt the excruciating toll his body and mind had undergone. He wanted to get back to Ellie, but Doctor Ganos insisted on keeping him through the night to rehydrate him through I.V. fluids and to observe him more closely.

Drake called the palace and checked in on Ellie for Liam, passing along to him that no one knew where Amanda was, but Hana was staying with the baby for the night, and she was fine. Drake crooked a finger through the closed blinds of Liam’s hospital room and peeked out, noting the orange and pinkish hues that colored the horizon as the sun started to make its descent over Cordonia. It had been one hell of a day for everyone. He knew when he woke up this morning that Neville’s call for a council meeting would turn into a shit-show, but never guessed his sworn enemy’s actions would cause his best friend to end his day in a hospital. He knew Neville wasn’t the only reason Liam was so broken, but he sure as fuck had an unnecessary hand in making things worse for him.

Drake slumped into a plush chair in the corner of the best room in the hospital – the one reserved for nobility. The last time anyone occupied this room, he reflected, was the night Riley died. It seemed almost cruel that Liam had to be subjected to such a memory, but the medication that was shot into his veins had somehow caused his friend to not even notice.

“I heard her voice, Drake.”

Drake lifted his tired head from the back of the chair and raised an eyebrow. “Hmm?”

“Riley … I heard her last night. Then again in the bedroom before … you know.” Liam glared at Drake for a moment, attempting to read his body language for a skeptical reaction, but felt relief when there was none. Curious to know what Drake thought and what others may be thinking as well, he let out a low sigh. “Do you think I’m crazy?”

Drake chuckled lightly. “Considering you let Maxwell have access to the palace armory, I think that makes you certifiable at this point.”

“Drake.”

“No, I don’t think you’re crazy. If you say, you heard her … I believe it.”

Truthfully, Drake didn’t know what to believe. If Liam was comforted in some way by what he thought he may have heard, then who was he to tell him otherwise. Inwardly, however, he was worried about his friend.

Bastien slipped back in and placed his phone in his pants pocket. A look of sheer shock entangled across his face. He nodded anxiously to Liam, who shifted in his bed towards his guard. In all of his loyal years of service to the Crown, he had never felt more like he was about to face a firing squad than he did at that moment. “Your Majesty, I just received a call on a breakthrough in the investigation of the Queen’s death.”

Drake rose to his feet, and Liam pushed himself up higher in his bed, his heart raced impatiently. He had been waiting for any development and was becoming increasingly frustrated by the lack of any leads. He insisted he continues.

“The guards working the investigation received an anonymous tip earlier. It seems -” Bastien paused knowing the implications of his reveal would be huge and unsettling for his charge, but also he felt a great deal of remorse for not finding this information out earlier. “it seems your nanny, Amanda Talbert, was in possession of the exact same cyanide capsules found in your wife’s body. Our guards were summoned to a local park where they found the pills in her purse. And … a more thorough look into her background revealed her name isn’t even Amanda Talbert, but that of Victoria Cirillo, a Monterissan citizen of birth and first cousin to …”

Drake dropped his head and groaned. “Amalas.”

The air became thick with an eerie silence. The sharpest sword and blade in the world, couldn’t have cut the tension that absorbed that room at that moment. After mulling over the intelligence he had just received, Liam sat up calmly … almost too calmly, and tossed the sheet off his body. He rose to his bare feet at the side of the bed.

Liam eyed Bastien with a merciless gaze. “What the fuck am I paying you for? How was all of this missed by the guards? I mean, this woman has been caring for my daughter, in my home, for weeks.” Feeling the dizzying effects of the medication he had been given, Liam sat back down on the edge of his bed, kneading the sides of his temples. “Is it too much to assume they have her in custody, at least?”

Bastien let out a shaky breath. “About that, sir … there is something else you need to know.”

______________________________

Riley woke to a cold, dark room, having slept off a good portion of the pain medication she had been given before being wheeled to a room. A sharp, stabbing pain ran across her head from the now bandaged wound at its side, into her throbbing, swollen eyes. Her shaky hand bounced on her bed, searching earnestly for the call button while she squeezed her eyes shut and willed the agony to go away on its own. A few minutes later, after pressing the button repeatedly, a nurse filed in with the relief she sought. It took longer than she anticipated to feel its effects, but once it finally kicked in, she was able to relax.

A warm flush came over her body, and she lowered the sheet down to her waist to cool off. She was tired still, but couldn’t sleep, and there was nothing to do, but lay there and wait. Wait for what exactly, though? She didn’t know.

Her mind began to wander to Liam and Eliie. She had no idea how she would be able to get to them, to see them, to be able to hold them both in her arms again. It would undoubtedly be a shock to him, yet in her mind, maybe, just maybe, he knew her well enough to be able to see through outward appearances.

A memory suddenly came to her about visiting a friend in the hospital several years ago. Riley lifted her hand and placed it on top of the tray table that sat next to her bed and rolled its top over her torso. She lifted the lid of the table and was relieved to find precisely what she was looking for. A small, rectangular mirror was pulled out, and Riley held it in front of her face. Even in the darkness, she was able to turn her head just enough to catch the moonlight shining through the window.

She looked closer, not sure she saw who she actually saw and then gasped. “Oh my god! Amanda?”

Riley was taken aback and couldn’t stop staring at herself in the mirror. Even with the cuts and bruises that littered this face, she couldn’t believe it was her personal assistant who had died so that she could return.

She had considered her a good friend, and they had grown quite close in the weeks before Ellie’s birth and following her delivery. Riley felt a sudden ache in her heart, knowing the hell her friend must have gone through before her soul left her body. It was clear from the wounds that covered her skin and the excruciating rape exam Riley had undergone earlier, Amanda’s ending was brutal and traumatic.

The lights from the hallway suddenly cast brightly into her room and caused Riley to squint her eyes and look away. She placed the mirror on top of the tray, knowing another nurse was most likely coming in to check her vitals. Glancing back at the doorway, that's when she saw his face. Her gleaming, brown eyes widened when it met his wrathful, blue ones.

“Liam!”

“Amanda.”

#king Liam x mc #king liam #liam x riley #the royal heir #My Love #liam x mc

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kewltie · 4 years

Text

the idea that bakugou katsuki, a war hero and the empire's hound, is a man of great stature and even fiercer reputation of a volatile powder keg yet quite frankly so freaked out by izuku, HIS OWN HUSBAND, attempt of playing footsie that he broke a table IS SO HILARIOUS TO ME!! katsuki spend so long giving himself to his country and ppl and that HE literally had NO TIME for romance or like consider any romantic entanglement let alone think of the husband he left behind while he chase after new adventures; so yea he's a goddamn virgin lmao.

even when he's back home now his job as the empire's hound (which basically taking on tasks too dark and secretive that nobody can touch) means he running around the slums of the city to catch baddies so he's constantly hanging around other lowlifes SO HE GOT A BAD REPUTATION. a scoundrel and rake is what the rumors say about him and they all sigh pitifully when they spot izuku bc poor izuku, to have such a terrible no good husband hang around brothel houses :((( WHICH IS FUCKING FUNNY bc katsuki is devout in his marriage vows and also hello VIRGIN!! not that anyone know that, NOT EVEN IZUKU bc believe in katsuki's honor in their marriage but HE HEARD THE RUMORS and katsuki does keep v beautiful friends around (they're his informants lol) so izuku thought katsuki used to play around but now that's married he doesnt and wont.

so izuku GOT INTO HIS HEAD that katsuki is ~experience~ and prob had like a hundred lovers in the past while izuku is virginal and chaste and BORING so he tries v v hard to learn how to a good lover which means taking advice from racy romance books from his book club lmao. look, izuku is a quirk learner and HE'S always open to new experience and he's going to be a good husband and lover ok!!!!! so he's taking lesson to try to seduce katsuki and get his interest but he's so new at this he's afraid katsuki will laugh a him and find him lacking... so when he heard katsuki was hanging around one of the most famous oiran, a super high class prostitute, izuku IS SO JEALOUS bc how can izuku compare to such a beautiful and talented being??? so he thought he ramps up his game and tried for a footsie W KATSUKI BUT ????!!!

katsuki's reaction isn't to laugh and/or tease him about it but BROKE A DAMN TABLE as he reeled back and looked at him in shock and horror and izuku IS SOOO CONFUSED like???? did he do something ??? is that not how you play footsie??? OMG did he embarrassed himself?!! izuku thought he didn't come on strong enough, that his game was just too weak that it drove katsuki away which make izuku even more determine to be better next time! esp when he had the idea to meet up with the oiran and take a personal lesson on seducing his hubby lol. not knowing AT ALL that katsuki was internally SCREAMING ABOUT IT bc izuku, his super traditional and proper husband, just fucking ran his foot up katsuki's THIGH and he's did it all coolly like HE'S NOT FEELING KATSUKI UP UNDER THE TABLE AND AS;DJFAS;DJF. look, they're both dumb virgins who think the other is like some experience lover when in truth neither of them HAVE ANY EXPERIENCE AT ALL and they really aren't equipped to deal with any attempt of seduction/flirtation properly even though THEY'RE MARRIED TO EACH OTHER!!!!

i love the idea of clothes and accessories acting as symbolism and a state of mind. it's a constant theme in a lot of my fics - how and what you dress can set the tone of the entire space you occupied, sending a wordless message out into the world.

izuku normally dressed in traditional kimono all his life but when he left the countryside and moved into the city to be with katsuki where western influence have taken roots and many new western trends are popular right now, izuku starts to adapt and fashion is one of them. the shift from izuku's kimono to a western dress and pantsuits parallels his shift in perspective from the tradition views he hold and to new ideas brought by his new environment. though it doesn't mean everything old and tradition are bad while new things are all good!! izuku loves his kimonos and there's a history that come with them as they are handmade custom and pass down within his family so there's a lot of meanings and legacy to these old kimonos; news thing may offer a better insight but there's still a lot of value in tradition. like how in the first scene izuku decide to change his whole wardrobe to meet katsuki for lunch and how formal and austere he dressed, changing his demeanor as though he's putting on an armor. it's the way they make him feel stronger and confident that he may not feel otherwise. in that moment he fell back into his kimono, something he had known and grown up with all his life so it's the most comfortable for him and hold him up even when his doubts and insecurity weigh him down. this is the armor he chosen to wear when he's about to go to battle. the type and color of the kimono he wore, the way his hair is pinned and a certain hair accessory, and the mortif sewn into the kimono are all signs of his mood and how each is like a plate of armor on top of each other, layer and by layer building up his confident.

izuku lacks confident that much is clear esp when he'd pretty up uproot his whole life to move to the city to be with katsuki and uphold his place as katsuki's husband. he knows he's lacking in this strange new environment so his only defense mechanism is to fall back on old ways. izuku wants to be firm when he see katsuki and by dressing in that austere and cold formality of the kimono with dark colors and phoenix motif his message is that he wont be subdued by w/e katsuki say; and he says it w/o ever having to say a single word :P

izuku is really obsessed w being a good spouse, omega, and fulfilling his duty bc that's all he has ever been taught and that's how he measure his own worth. if he's not being upholding the honor and prestige of the background household,,, what use is he then? he's so desperate to be that 'good spouse' who doesn't complain, who doesnt question, and who doesn't fail at any task given to him that he come off as this unfeeling and obedience doll who only know how to stay faithful at his husband's feet which isn't izuku at all. we know he's endlessly curious, ravenous for knowledge and new ideas, reckless to a fault, and so v v v kind that it can hurt him but those aren't necessary quality for a spouse of a future duke so he squashed it and put up pretense of a more poise, charming, and compose person. which few even see through his mask BUT ofc katsuki eventually does and he hates when izuku puts up a front and hide his true feelings from him and that's where their first argument come from. IZUKU BEING PASSIVE AGGRESSIVE AT HIM and katsuki telling to GET MAD, YELL AT HIM, ETC he rather izuku be real with him then having to face this smiling doll who only know how to carefully chose his words and say things he doesnt really mean when he want izuku to poke and prod and get angry and emotional at him bc he knows underneath that smile is a cat w claws lol. at the end of it izuku only wants to be included in katsuki's world bc his job is v v v important to him and to be on the outside and hearing rumors and stories of what katsuki is doing and not actually a part of it hurts izuku deeply bc they're married and in this together!! katsuki prefers to keep izuku from the ugly side of his job bc well it's dangerous and there's a unsightly things he doesnt want izuku to see and/or exp but izuku, wants to bear katsuki's burden too so he doesn't have to go at this alone!! marriage is partnership after all.

it's an interesting dynamic of where izuku keeps pushing more from katsuki and katsuki being a closed of jerk about it trying to keep a distance bc he has no time to entertain a relationship bc OF HIS V IMPORTANT JOB even tho they're already marry but izuku is persistence lol. they're going to keep this whole push and pull dynamic till one of them give which is going to be long ass time bc they're both stubborn lol but izuku didn't literally MOVED HIS ENTIRE life to be w katsuki to settle just for marriage w him, he's going to win katsuki's heart also!

#on writing #regency a/b/o au

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offaeandcreation · 3 years

Text

Sleep-Deprived College Student Becomes World's Strongest Cultivator By Bullshit Means

Summary: The last thing WanLi An (Ani) expected was to a) die in the most pathetic and ridiculous manner, b) wake up in the body of a villain destined to be beheaded in a war of their own making. Of course with Ani's luck, that's exactly what happened. Now Ani finds herself the ruthless, morally-questionable at best, leader of Qishan Wen, rearing two bratty children, while pretending that yes, she is absolutely Wen Ruohan. Nothing to see here! Everything is just fine. Except the universe isn't done making her life hell. "For fuck's sake, I just wanted my degree!"

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

Chapter 2: The Curious Consequences of Wen Ruohan Being a Dick

Content Warnings: Mentions of Decapitation, Death, Auto-cannibalism, and torture.

AO3

I’m fucked. I’m fucked. I’m so fucking fucked

The moment the servant excused himself with far too many bows, Ani found herself pacing around – not a thing she usually did, but it was as if the muscles in her body demanded to walk. Every movement felt foreign. For starters, Ani was used to the floor being closer, not a continent away like in this body. She was pretty sure that she was at least six feet tall.

That’s hardly important now!

As of now, Ani was NOT in New York after falling 80 feet from a building. She was in the body of Wen Ruohan, a backstory villain destined to die.

“This can’t be real,” Ani muttered, “Like what law of physics or reality would just switch me with a character from a book I recently read? Too much of a coincidence.”

There is another possibility even if it sounds cliche.

It was possible that Ani survived the fall and was in a coma. A coma-induced dream sequence where her mind was able to construct a reality. Perhaps that’s why coma patients had a hard time waking up?

Ani closed her eyes and pinched herself. She opened them. The Wen insignia burned into her vision, a scarlet sun painted against white.

No change.

“Would’ve been too easy,” she grumbled.

The reality her mind set wouldn’t be so easily broken. It was a coma. She needed time to heal. Her gaze fell back to her own reflection in the broken mirror.

Why Wen Ruohan though? He literally had one chapter, and outside of being a typical arrogant villain, there was nothing to him.

Nothing I care about.

Brain, why?

In any case, whatever reality her mind constructed, the question became: what next? Did she play along? Do whatever she wanted? Are there consequences? Part of her wanted to just say, “fuck it!” and maybe throw a pillow fight until she woke up. But, a more…cautious part of herself wanted to hold back because “what if?”

Ani wanted to slam her head into a desk or something.

Footsteps echoed in the hallway outside. They didn’t quite sound outside the door but all the same. From the sound of it, two people were heading her way. And she was standing in the middle of her room in just a flimsy nightgown. Very un-Wen Ruohan like.

Gazing about wildly, her eyes landed on the table covered in files. She ran towards it, stumbling because big feet are a trip hazard. In a move she probably couldn’t ever pull off again, she contorted her body to slide behind the desk, landing so roughly on the pillow it felt like the equivalent of being spanked. Ani grabbed a random scroll and opened it, staring into the annotations she didn’t understand as if she did.

Wow, this rice paper is soft. Why isn’t it used more often? Paper cut free!

The door finally opened. The visitors saw Sect Leader Wen Ruohan behind his desk, doing paperwork!

At least Ani hoped that’s what she appeared to be doing.

Two men entered the room, one wearing a white and red robe with scarlet tendrils outlining his robes’s panels – far more than the servant who had nothing on his front. The other man was dressed completely in black.

They both kowtowed.

Does everyone kowtow to Wen Ruohan?

The one in white and red spoke, looking up from his face plant, “Sect Leader,” he began, “we are glad to see you awake and well.”

…what am I to say now?

She stared at the scroll, pretending to be hung up on something. The men waited in silence. It would be too awkward to not respond. One was expected and the bowed position they were holding looked too uncomfortable to hold.

Didn’t the servant mention a physician was coming? Maybe this is him?

There was no Wen Physician mentioned outside of Wen Qing, but clearly the person before her was a man. Not Wen Qing, who was a badass woman, queen of lesbians – a personal head-canon of course.

“You may get up, physician.” Ani said with as much confidence she could muster, finally glancing up from her faux scroll reading. Her voice was a low tremble that sounded more akin to a growl than anything else. The physician flinched, his skin paled considerably.

Whoops.

The physician hesitated, but quickly clambered to his feet and bowed his head.

You really have them fearing you, Wen Ruohan.

Her frown deepened. This made the physician break out into sweat.

Shit, right. Wen Ruohan being displeased meant nothing good was going to happen.

The other man was still kowtowing, having not moved an inch.

Ani gestured for him to get up too, no use in giving them muscle pain because she was too thunderstruck to know what to say or do.

Oh, to hell with it. I might as well figure out how soon I’ll have my head chopped off.

“What happened, physician? My servant implied that I was not well, previously…being unconscious for a period of time.”

The physician bowed, “Sect Leader Wen, your servant spoke the truth. You have experienced Qi Deviation and have spent over two weeks unconscious.”

Huh?

Her confusion was clearly illustrated as the physician straightened with a wince, “An accident, Sect Leader. During the Conference.”

Ani stared at the physician.

I don’t remember this happening in the novel. Like. At all.

Her eyes landed on the man in black. His face was as expressive as a brick in a tuxedo, kind of cool looking but overall had the emotional capacity of a, well… brick. Then she gazed back at the physician who was wringing his hands – probably anxiety. Nothing. They remained tight lipped.

“What accident?” If patience was a string that was pulled tighter and tighter when used, she was pretty sure it would be close to needle width.

The physician shared a glance with the man in black. Considering how much Ani knew about the latter, he could actually be in fact an ancient version of ‘Men in Black.’

The man in black cleared his throat, “Apologies, Sect Leader Wen. You called Sect Leader Nie over, but I was assigned to guard Wen Xu for the night.” There was a twinge in his expression, slight down turn of his brows, dark eyes refusing to meet her eyes, “you collapsed during the discussion.”

Ani felt an itch in her mind. Something familiar. But no matter how much she tugged at it, nothing came of it. Even with the building pressure in her chest that made her want to kick something, she nodded, thanking them.

The physician’s eyes widened to the point Ani thought his eyeballs would pop out. The man in black’s brows twitched.

“What?” Ani couldn’t help bite out. Did they never hear the word ‘thank you’ in their lives?

Then the singular brain cell that kept Ani from ending up without a degree, mostly, started working.

Wen Ruohan wouldn’t just say thank you to anyone. Social status and general assholeness.

Her brain was very detailed. Even taking into account social positions. It would be nice if this genius was applicable in real life.

“If you do not mind Sect Leader,” the physician interrupted her thoughts, “allow me to check you mederines to make certain everything healed properly.”

Ani nodded, allowing the physician to take her arm and pull up the sleeve. Sharp punctures pricked her skin as the physician prodded at her arm.

A discussion conference two weeks ago probably meant they weren’t at war yet. Strange how her mind plopped her before the war, with a situation that never once came up in the book.

A flash of silver caught her eye. Physician Wen removed a needle from his sleeve, pointing towards Ani’s arm. Sweat prickled at the back of her neck.

FUCK.

The last time Ani had gotten acupuncture, she burst into tears so loudly that her mother had to drag her out the building to avoid the police being called. She was nineteen at the time.

At this moment, the physician was holding a very sharp needle over her arm, with the full intention of stabbing her with it-

-and it went flying out of his hand.

The physician froze, staring at his hand that just seconds ago held a very large needle. Then, he looked around the room among the multiple dark carpets and furniture for where it may have flown off to.

“Physician.” The man in black said, holding up the needle. He must have caught it midair.

What just happened?

“Thank you Master Wen Zhuliu,” The physician took the needle back.

Again, something itched at the back of Ani’s mind but no, she could get nothing more from that.

Was it a strange relationship between her unconscious and conscious mind? Memory which she cannot access now but exists? Yet, that wouldn’t explain the physician. Ani was certain she would have remembered something about him if he existed.

A sharp pinch sent Ani right out of her mental bubble. A needle poked out of her arm, silver against pale flesh. Cold ran up her spine and-

It went flying across the bedroom.

Ani, the mysterious probable alien hunter, and the physician, watched in silence as the needle bounced on the floor before rolling to a stop against a nearby rug.

The physician looked like he would rather be anywhere else than dealing with this bullshit. Ani too would rather be anywhere else but be in a body that was not her own – granted having the ability to literally yeet needles when they so much as brushed against her skin was a useful skill worth investing in.

The silence ended when the physician cleared his throat,

“Sect Leader Wen,” he saluted, finally letting go of her arm. Ani looked at him. The soft rice paper crinkled under her grip. He stiffened at the sound.

Shit right, he’s terrified of Wen Ruohan, crinkly paper equals angry.

Granted, how does he know his sect leader isn’t freaking out or something?

“Your golden core is healing, stable enough to not cause problems but your spiritual energy is unstable.” He coughed, “I recommend avoiding cultivation for the time being outside of meditating.”

He emphasized the word ‘recommend.’

“Okay.*” Ani said.

A pause. The physician stared at her, brow crooked with question.

“Okay?” Ani repeated. Did he not hear her?

Multiple expressions shifted through his features too quickly for Ani to decipher. More silence.

If you don’t say anything, how the hell am I to understand what you are confused about! Communicate dammit!

The physician saluted her, “my apologies Sect Leader, I do not understand the meaning of the word you said.”

Wait…

Oh.

“I meant, very well. I was the one being unclear.”

She did not see the expression on the man’s face because he was too busy bowing. But, the way he paused probably meant it wasn’t the expected response.

He remained bowed.

Ani waited for him to get up.

He didn’t.

What the fuck.

His figure began to tremble.

Is there a magic word?

“You are dismissed.” Ani said.

Seeing as the physician finally got up and only bowed briefly to “Wen Zhuliu” before leaving the room, then clearly he was waiting for her to dismiss him.

Noted.

Why would her mind conjure up a situation where the albeit English ‘okay’ was not understood, the ancient Chinese decor was the main component of her surroundings, and the kowtowing that she only seen in dramas? Though, it was very much within her brain’s personality to include the bit with the needle. Fuck needles.

Some things she could explain through second hand knowledge from Grandmother and the media. Others she could not. It felt as if she truly had transmigrated into a different world.

Meaning, I am dead.

And I left Mom and A-Li all alone.

Ani shook her head, shoving the thought away.

No, it isn’t for certain. I could just be dreaming up a drama. Unconscious memory could play a role. Lucid dreaming while in coma.

The reasoning felt flimsier than a single sheet of newspaper.

Or rice paper considering they don’t really exist now in…whatever this was.

“Does Sect Leader need anything?” Wen Zhuliu asked, his face not so much as twitching.

Ani stiffened. This Wen Zhuliu looks like someone who could see right through her soul – a soul that doesn’t belong in this body.

Ya, there is no way this guy isn’t going to see I’m full of shit.

She needed to get rid of him. Somehow.

“Tea. Being unconscious for several weeks makes one very deprived of tea.”

That sounded so fucking cringe.

If the alien-hunter Wen Zhuliu thought what she said was cringe (which it absolutely was), he didn’t show it. Somebody give this dude a raise, he clearly deserves one.

He simply saluted and made his way after the physician. He paused, hand hesitating on the dark wooden slide. But seemingly dismissing whatever thought had occurred, he opened the door and left.

That was weird.

Ani was left alone in the bedroom once again. The noise from all the bustling and flying needles was replaced by relative silence – the only break was the occasional pitter patter of footsteps, servants rushing about most probably.

Well then…

Whether or not the world she was in was a fabrication of her mind, walking into the situation blind was unwise. What she needed to do was map out what she remembered and figure out where to go from there. Ani removed an empty sheet of rice paper, long finger nails leaving little wrinkles.

For a moment she considered writing in Chinese. But being in ‘enemy territory,’ writing in their tongue is a sure way to get found out. Nodding to herself, Ani looked for a writing utensil, eyes landing on the brushes. If there were brushes, ink had to be somewhere…

Yet there wasn’t a single container on the desk! Ani moved scrolls about, shifting past papers looking for the damn ink bottle-

Her eyes landed on a stone with an indent and slope. Made of a metal, miniature dragons decorated the edges. They all surrounded a sun motif. Ani briefly glanced at the banner hanging over the door – very similar.

It was an Ink stone.

Which means there is an ink stick.

“Thanks, Grandma,” Ani muttered to herself as she rubbed the just-found ink stick against the grinder.

She grinned when she mixed in the water she found in a water jug near the bed.

Ink!

Ha! So she wasn’t screwed after all. Maybe she could make this world work for her, until she woke up that is.

In English, she wrote the name ‘The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation” at the top of the page.

Now, what do I remember from the novel?

Wen Ruohan: Tyrant. Super powerful cultivator. Caused war because he is a prideful prick. Burned Lotus Pier. Killed by Jin Guangyao via head decapitation.

Didn’t he have children?

Ani tapped her chin, flinching at the sharp nail that poked her.

Again, stupid nails. Has this guy ever heard of a nail clipper?

Probably not since they weren’t invented yet.

With that, a mental image of a greasy man flashed in her mind. One that was far too blurry to really pinpoint their features, but she could recollect clearly from the novel Wen Ruohan’s son, a greasy bitch of a man, Wen Chao.

She groaned.

Ugh, don’t tell me I have to deal with him too.

Wen Chao: Greasy, asshole, entitled, death was-

Memories of the novel resurfaced, a man with missing fingers, covered in bandages-

-death by auto-cannibalism and torture.

The man was disgusting. But even Ani thought that Wei Wuxian took it too far.

Speaking of the main character, Ani wondered how old Wei Wuxian was now. The man in black Wen Zhuliu mentioned a discussion conference where Wen Ruohan collapsed, however it did not give the time frame nor any information outside of ‘war explicitly did not happen yet.’

Ani dunked her head onto the desk.

Why can’t anything be straight forward? Is that too much to ask?

The sudden coolness knocked her out of her thoughts. She lifted her head, only for something to drip into her eyes. She wiped her face with her white sleeve. Wet black ink tracks were left on pure white silk.

“FUCK!”

In her drama, she slammed her face right into the ink stone, staining her entire forehead in black as well as the surrounding documents. She could feel the ink dripping down her face.

Where were those bandages I saw earlier…

There was a gentle knock at the door.

FUCK.

Ani scrambled for the bed.

Except time was not on her side. The door opened and a servant wearing white with red trim walked on their knees in. Their eyes met.

“Aieeee!” The servant screamed, before their eyes rolled back and they collapsed on the floor in an ugly flair of white robes.

Ani stared with a slacken jaw at the dramatic servant,

“Am I that scary looking?”

No response, as expected from an unconscious person lying on the floor.

Maybe I ought to help them somehow…

As Ani made a movement to approach the fallen servant, there was a crash, something akin to the sound of dish ware falling. In a flash of black,Wen Zhuliu rushed into the room, one hand aglow. His eyes widened as he looked around for an enemy, finally seeing Ani.

If he faints, I’m calling it quits.

Lucky for everyone involved, he did not faint. He blinked, then looked at his feet where the servant laid on the floor, limbs out in every cardinal direction.

“Apparently ink is scary.” Ani remarked. She wiped her face, meeting only black that was sure to stain her skin for at least a week, “like a terrible face mask. Don’t tell me I need to shower.”

“Shower- ” Wen Zhuliu stopped himself, “Is Sect Leader well?”

Ani glanced at the desk. The ink stone was luckily intact, but ink dripped all over her memory paper, as well as some of the other documents.

She looked back at the patient Wen Zhuliu, “I went to war with ink and lost.”

Wen Zhuliu slowly nodded, as if he was listening to the weather report and not that his Sect Leader declared war on ink and lost spectacularly. The servants behind him had more colorful reactions.

Seriously, someone give this guy a raise.

Wen Zhuliu confirmed the statement by turning at the servants, fixing them with a look that made them freeze. A glare? Or a stare of disappointed disapproval? They scrambled forward, kowtowed to Ani and began to traverse the room on their knees.

Okay, that’s it!

“Just get to your feet. It will kill your knees if you continue like this.” Ani said.

The servants gawked. Even Wen Zhuliu’s eyes widened slightly.

Wait, is it a thing for servants to walk on their knees? Did I fuck a customary thing up?

There was no knee walking in dramas last time Ani checked, unless it was meant to underscore the ‘arrogant asshole villain.’ Granted, Emperors required a certain etiquette but she couldn’t recall if knee walking was a thing. Kowtowing yes, knee walking…she wasn’t so sure.

One servant opened their mouth but another gave a not so subtle shove.

“As you wish, Sect Leader,” all three of them saluted.

If I wasn’t going to get weird reactions, I would have pointed out how creepy that was.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Wen Zhuliu silently handing her a wet towel. It appeared to be a blessing for everyone in the room as they had a moment, while Ani wiped her face, to compose themselves.

Two servants waited, this time on their feet, as Ani finished wiping her face. The crinkle in one of their brows and the other looking away to cough was enough of a statement.

“I’m still covered in ink, aren’t I?” Ani grumbled, glaring at the white silk under robe, stained black.

“Hair spray would do the trick…”

Except right. Mo Dao Zu Shi didn’t have hairspray because hello, ancient China!

They did not respond. Merely standing and waiting. Expecting something. Ani was tempted to blame it on lack of communication but most probably they were ordered to keep their mouth shut and awaiting for permission for..something. Aka being out of the loop was getting very annoying and at this point Ani wanted to scream.

“Yes?”

The servants eyed each other, faces looking more and more pallid by the second.

Is there some unwritten rule I’m missing? Am I not supposed to ask them or something?

Most likely yes, she probably broke ten thousand unspoken rules in the past thirty seconds and it was a wonder that they haven’t raised an alarm.

“Would Sect Leader like to be dressed?” They echoed. Because being creepy was clearly on the menu today.

Ani was about to respond that she could dress herself, thanks, before taking a good look at their robes.

She had no idea how to put on cultivation robes.

“Mmm” She agreed.

Then immediately regretted it when after she was escorted to a divider, the servants began to undo the only piece of clothing she had on!

Don’t look down. Don’t look down.

For once in her life, the blessed gods and Super Girl have looked down at her and smiled.

She was wearing pants.

But even without looking down, she knew she was missing a particular body part most people of the female sex had.

The sensation of soft silk sliding off her body was replaced by a flash of chill from the room, sending goose bumps up and down her arms.

As the servants shuffled around, opening and closing drawers, Wen Zhuliu knocked on the divider,

“I have sent a servant to replace the mirror and tea.”

Just like that? Wait, so the doctor nor Alien hunter even so much as acknowledged I shattered a mirror?

Was this an everyday occurrence? Did Wen Ruohan go around smashing mirrors?

Apparently so as the physician barely so much as glanced at it. Or maybe he didn’t notice and Wen Zhuliu just wasn’t the type to be ruffled. Probably.

The servants slipped Ani into a new white silk robe. More unfamiliar fabric was placed on top – upper garment made of a thicker material but looked as high in quality: white with red trimmings and floral motifs.

The last time she really seen anything similar to the articles of clothing they were dressing her in was when she went to a museum with her grandmother and brother.

To secure the upper garment, they had to wrap it all around her torso. Never had Ani owned a clothing that required any sort of wrapping.

The wrinkle of the unfamiliar fabric was the only noise she could hear as they put on another robe, this time with an open chest but still wrapped around her waist.

No way she could have thought of this. Imagination nor repressed memory.

There was a tug at her scalp. A servant was using a golden comb to detangle her waist long hair. Ani found herself very aware of how heavy the raven locks were. At least her neck was warm. . There was an occasional pull as the comb got stuck on a particular knot, pinching her scalp.

There were too many sensations.

The environment, the precision, the reactions, the actions, the dialect. Even if she were to watch every drama in the world, and read all the books pertaining the ‘ancient Chinese’ setting, her mind couldn’t possibly manifest it all as some coma dream.

Too many details.

Too many sensations.

Her heart began to pound in her chest, so hard it was deafening. Fingers trembled.

That would mean…

We’ve finished Sect Leader.” They bowed.

Ani nodded, too numb to reply. Slowly, every muscle in her body screaming at her to not do it, she turned to the only other reflective surface in the room. A ceramic vase sat on the table by the bed. It distorted her figure – but she could locate her face, that’s all what mattered.

“This is real.” She whispered.

Wen Ruohan’s mouth mirrored her words.

The vase exploded.

——————————

The physician was practically carted in with tools and all, at Wen Zhuliu’s orders. He never raised his voice above indoor-level, like a good kindergartner, even as he shoved the divider to the side as if he half expected an enemy to be hiding behind there.

The physician looked even more frazzled, all his dark hair sticking out of his bun and eyes wide with panic. He grabbed Ani’s wrist as her other one was being held by Wen Zhuliu.

The similar prickling sensation swept up her arm into her stomach that flared with a comforting heat, like an internal battery. A golden core.

This is real. I’m not in a coma. This is real.

Like a mantra, the words repeated in her mind in a constant loop. Over and over.

This is real. I’m dead. This is real.

The physician stared at her arm with an intensity she hadn’t seen previously: his dark eyes hardened, akin to bronze. He was watching something, looking at her arm as if he could see into it.

A sudden flash of pain had Ani nearly cry out. She bit her lip until copper filled her mouth. The physician barked several orders, but Ani couldn’t understand a word.

This is real. I died. I left A-Li all alone-

The voices were louder now. Like a haze, a pair of glasses that were the wrong prescription placed over her eyes.

I died. This is real. I died. I failed.

You are pathetic. Another voice replied. Not her own.

Like a switch, the swimming in her vision ended. She was sitting on the bed with the physician on her left and Wen Zhuliu on her right. They both had similar expressions of alarm, though in varying degrees: one with eyes wide enough to pluck them out, while the other showed concern with a very clenched jaw that probably would lead to a headache.

The physician let out a breath he was holding.

Ani wanted to speak but her throat closed, copper was the only thing she could taste. Blood. She felt it pass by her lips. The physician handed her a cloth to dab it. Maroon smeared against the white of the cloth. Did she bite her lip that hard?

There were others in the room. Unfamiliar faces. Some held boxes filled with needles, yikes!, others holding other assorted objects that Ani couldn’t find it in her to bother placing.

What the fuck happened?

A Gordian knot of anxiety bounced around inside her, as if Wen Ruohan’s body was a hockey board.

The physician cleared his throat, waving at his assistants to leave. When they were left alone, his eyes narrowed, a single crooked brow.

“Physician Wen.” Wen Zhuliu asked, getting to his feet, slipping his arms behind his back, “you said Sect Leader Wen’s core was stable.” It was said softly but goose bumps rose up and down Ani’s arms. Something, a much harder core was hiding behind a veneer of mildness.

The physician rubbed his face, groaning into his hands.

“It supposed to be. Now it is. It wasn’t then.”

Wen Zhuliu narrowed his eyes, “Physician-“

“No. It-“ The doctor hesitated.

Ani sighed. Whatever underlying conversation the two of them were having could be done outside of this room. Currently, she wanted them to stop prodding at her like she was a frog in a biology 101 lab and leave her alone so she can woe in peace.

“Diagnosis?” She interrupted.

The physician balked, straightening up, “Well..Sect Leader Wen…” he wrung his hands.

Unlucky for him, Ani wasn’t in the mood to play beat-around-the-bush. Right now she was a mixture of pent up rage, sadness, and every feeling that usually premeditated murder.

“Just spit it out.” She snapped. Then flinched at her tone.

Too much.

It appeared that the universe agreed because the box of needles left beside the physician when the assistants left popped, wood and silver hell-needles rolled and bounced all over the room.

Ani stared at the mess before looking back at the physician. She gave him her best ‘really?!’ look – a combination of a frown and narrowing of eyes that usually had A-Li stopping whatever he was doing and clean up as he was supposed to.

She wasn’t going to see him again.

There was a loud crack behind her. Something else broke. They all turned around to find a pillar with a huge angry crack on it.

“Are we going to sit here until everything in this room turns into dust or are you going to tell me what’s going on.” Ani finally said. She pointed at the broken box. At the pieces of vase. And then at the pillar,“next thing we’ll know is the victim will be a person.”

The physician sighed, “This physician begs Sect Leader Wen’s patience. I suspect the answer will not be a pleasant one.”

Yes and keeping me in the dark is a better idea because I’m certainly not freaking out about the exploding objects that could kill someone at some point.

“Does it have to do with Sect Leader Wen’s core?” Wen Zhuliu asked. There was a slight raise in tone with the last word.

What was his obsession with Wen Ruohan’s core?

The physician ran a hand through hair that managed to get out of his bun, an eternal mood if Ani wasn’t currently on the cusp of throwing something at him. The anger issues would be concerning if not for the fact that no one tells her anything.

He looked Ani in the eye before replying, “I believe that the spiritual energy fluctuations that are affecting the stability of your core and the environment is a combination of your cultivation level and…” he frowned.

For fuck’s sake just say it!

“…emotional outbursts. Anything that causes Sect Leader distress are potential triggers. The only thing that baffles me is why.”

Well I’m sorry doctor, but realizing I died, and was somehow placed into a body of some monster who was gonna die in the future in a world I am absolutely not familiar with – I think I have the right to freak out a little!!!!

“Cool.”

The physician and Wen Zhuliu stared at her in confusion.

Instead of saying everything Ani thought of him, she held her tongue and stared back.

“I’m sorry, I did not understand what you said, Sect Leader.”

Ani frowned. Then it occurred to her that a) she said the word in English and b)they most probably did not have the word cool in their vocabulary in the way it is used back at home. Right. Great. Just great. She’s fine. Totally fine. This is fine.

The physician fell to his knees, “I beg for your forgiveness, Sect Leader. I must have misheard you.”

She stared at the physician.

“It’s fine.” Ani said immediately, shame clutching her chest.

Wen Ruohan probably threw tantrums for less – like a two year old with the code to nukes. His trepidation around me shouldn’t be this surprising.

Another thing to add to her ever-growing list of bullshit-to-deal-with.

The doctor looked so close to sighing in relief. Wen Zhuliu quirked a brow at her.

Wait…was that too out of character?

TIME TO CHANGE CONVERSATION!

“Do you have any recommendations to what needs to be done to prevent…such flares.” Ani continued.

The physician straightened, his hand raising to his chin. A tick her father and A-Li had when they were deep in thought.

“I will make some tonics. My theory is your body hasn’t recovered yet, the Qi isn’t balanced,” he paused, watching Ani. Gauging a reaction. Not that she could blame him.

Seeing as Ani wasn’t about to stab him, he continued.

“Meditation and regulation of negative emotion should help keep the outbursts to a minimum. I ask you to give some time before returning to the training field, at least a week.”

Ani nodded as if she understood. She didn’t understand a word – there was a reason why she failed a Mindfulness course.

The physician saluted. It took a moment for her to remember that she needed to dismiss him for the man to actually leave. Wen Zhuliu did the same. As he followed the physician out, servants shuffled in, kowtowing and getting on their knees. Their expressions very vocal of their surprise when Ani told them not to do it. The creepiness factor only increased when they replied, “As Sect Leader commands,” in a chorus.

Ani remained seated, all too aware of the bodies moving about. The fabric of their white and red robes shifting felt like A-Li’s personalized alarm which often times consisting of pots and pans clashing while hollering at the top of his lungs.

She needed to get out.

The servants bowed to her as she headed towards the door near the desk.

Maybe this door leads somewhere more private?

As she pulled open the floral dark wood door, bright light nearly blinded her, followed by a sweet odor. Ani forced open one eye and her jaw dropped.

A garden surrounding an expansive pond greeted her. She stood at the terrace, looking at the green bushes surrounding the red painted steps with yellow blooms, and onward was a stone path that meandered around the pond covered in lily pads. Smoke trees casted purple reflections into the still water. Dragonflies kissed the occasional leaf and zipped into the air.

It was a miniature botanical garden.

The last time she really been to a botanical garden was with her Grandmother and Mother in Beijing. The memory has long since faded with age.

Luckily for Ani, a pair of white shoes awaited her by the door. They slipped on easily. Back home, shoes had rubber souls, while these ones definitely felt bumpy, like the shoe was made entirely of tiny soft pebbles.

Rubber is too underrated.

Ani looked at different blooms as she walked on the stone path. Some she could name, like the white peonies supported by wooden sticks near the terrace, and irises by the water. The other flowers were foreign to her, but she appreciated the variety of colors, all smelling sweet when she leaned over them.

A shadowed spot caught her eye. Beneath a tree, probably some breed of oak, overlooked the pond and the entrance from which she came. Ani sat by the water, using the heavy robes to keep the grass from scratching her legs. The water was still, only wrinkled by the occasional dragonfly and koi fish that swam to the surface.

As she scooted closer, white fabric now stained lightly with green revealed itself. Ani sighed. She just was dressed. To give the servants more work…

-they only followed out of fear. Fear of abuse. Fear that Wen Ruohan would hurt their families if they so much as stepped wrong.

Something vile crawled up her throat. Vile, sour, and disgusting. She clenched her fists until her knuckles turned white.

I won’t stand for this.

Even if it was a dream-

No it isn’t.

It wasn’t a dream. It was real. Somehow, against all laws of logic and possibility, she had woken up in a world that lay in the pages of a book she happened to be reading.

It’s too much of a coincidence. Why here? Why this?

Ani reached out to the water, brushing the surface with her nails. It felt like water, wet and cool to the touch. Like the water at home. But not freezing, meaning it was spring.

It was spring back home.

Spring when she fell out of that window. Spring when she fell eight stories. Spring when her body plunged into concrete.

No one could possibly survive that.

Her physical body, in the realm she was from, was dead.

I died.

I am dead.

Her vision swam. The deep blue of the pond mixed with the bright green of the lily pads into a sea of color. Her body trembled, hands shaking so much that even while her eyes swam with tears, she could see them move.

I died falling out a window.

I died before giving A-Li a kiss.

He turned thirteen.

I promised I would be there.

I made him meringues.

Ani clutched her hands together, nails digging into pale calloused skin.

I didn’t get a chance to clear my name.

Mother and A-Li will think I failed.

I failed them.

Her thoughts were disrupted by the fierce wind that spun through her hair. Waves disturbed the mirror like surface of the pond.

STOP.

STOP THIS ANI!

Ani took in a deep breath, and held it. If she spiraled out of control now, there was no one around to help.

“Deep breathes. Deep breathes Ani.” She muttered to herself.

The wind around her calmed, and the waves became ripples that then dispersed.

She was here, in a land that was universally different from her home. Here in the body of Wen Ruohan in the world of Mo Dao Zu Shi.

Did he die as well?

Wasn’t this his sect? Monster or no?

Wasn’t this the home of his family?

Even if right now at this very moment, she wasn’t at home; she wasn’t with her family celebrating her little brother’s birthday; if she truly has taken over the body of a man who is now dead; she couldn’t simply abandon them. She was now responsible for an entire sect. Full of people.

Tears managed to escape, gently streaking down her cheeks. She wiped them away with her sleeve.

I want to go home.

I want A-Li.

I want Mother.

I want my body back.

I don’t want to be alone.

I never asked for this.

Ani clutched the silk fabric, just where the heart should be. If she closed her eyes, she could feel her grandmother’s hand over it…

“Ani,” Her grandmother sat beside her as she wept, pulling the young child close.��

Ani glanced up through tear reddened eyes, sniffing uselessly as snot trickled out of her nose.

“Ani, Ani, it is life.” Her grandmother held her close in an embrace and rocked back and forth.

“Grandmother…” Ani’s voice trembled, “why aren’t you crying?”

Her grandmother, eyes glittered like black sapphires, held her face in her wrinkly hands, soft to the touch. “Oh Ani, but I am. I will continue to cry until the day I am buried beside Grandfather.”

Ani blinked, her young mind confused. “But why aren’t there tears?” She slowly raised her hands and touched her grandmother’s aged cheek. It was wet.

“Oh, Ani.” Her grandmother pulled her into an embrace.

Ani only sobbed harder, “But…but you will be all alone.”

Her hair was combed by gentle wise hands, “ Ani.” Her grandmother said again, “ I am not alone. I have you. I have my daughter and your father. I have your little brother. I also have Grandfather.”

Ani looked up in confusion.

Her grandmother placed a hand over her heart. “He is here. In my memories and in my heart.” She gently pointed at Ani’s heart as well, “And in you too. When my physical body leaves this world, my spirit will reside in here. You are never alone Ani.”

Ani clutched at the robes that wrapped around her new, unfamiliar body. It hurt. Like a sword had been plunged into her chest, removed, and plunged in again.

Tears leaked down her cheeks. She wiped them away with her sleeve.

Right now, she was in the body of a villain destined to die. The patriarch of the Wen Sect.

While she sat here and cried, war could be at their doorstep. If nothing was done, her head would be placed on a pike.

If destiny truly dictated that she was to wake up in a body not her own, then she was blessed to read the book beforehand.

She had the knowledge to stop it.

#wen ruohan #wen sect #wen zhuliu #mdzs #mo dao zu shi #I tried to look for knee walking cuz I recall that’s what servants did with WRH but not other sect leaders (ala wiki) but wanted to make sur #GiveWenZhuliuaRaise #I was gonna have Ani remark how clearly either Wen Ruohan was a bottom or never once fingered someone in his life but decided against it #my fanfiction #My writing

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5-falsehoods-phonated · 4 years

Note

for your bad things happen bingo: prank gone wrong with romantic intruality? happy ending though? :3

Thank you for the prompt!

Knot A Prank

Summary: Patton tries pranking Remus in an effort to make him feel more welcome. It does not go as planned. (Happy ending)

Warnings: mention of bugs, unintentional strangulation, non explicit sexual innuendo, cursing, caps to signify shouting, injury

Prompt: Prank Gone Wrong

Ships: Intruality, Patton x Remus

Wc: 1672

AO3 link

Learning to live with Remus since he began coming around more often was...interesting to say the least. His suggestive language and random bouts of murderous imagery was something that concerned Patton in the beginning, believing it couldn't be good for Thomas' mental well being and moral standing for someone like Remus to have as much room to talk as he did. But the more he was around the more he began to understand that he really was just an excitable person who couldn't stay on one subject of conversation for mode than a few minutes to save his life. When Patton began humoring him, listening to the more vulgar ideas and getting used to his presence in kind, the duke seemed to get a little calmer, pick fights a little less...leave less fake blood on the carpeting.

Through all that the most he brought to the mind space they shared was pranks in any and all forms. Jump scares that sent Virgil clawing and hissing his way up the fridge and sent Remus cackling. Filling Deciet's gloves with copious amounts of mayonaise amused him to no end when said side would pretend he didn't even notice, delicately excusing himself with a far too put together expression. Making Roman's sword melt and snapping it back together in a hiding place, gluing pages of Logan's books together and fixing it just before he lost his cool, even pranking Patton by replacing the pepper with ground up crickets. (Which he didnt notice until he tated a distinct lack of peper flavor on his eggs that morning and Remus casually mentioning it, though after the initial shock he had eaten them anyway, much to the dukes surprised amusement.)

Everyone had been more than a little surprised when Patton had simply taken the pranks in stride, finding them to be a nice day to day mix up as long as they didnt go too far. He even began learning more about Rrmus as time went on. His favorite pastime was defacing disney coloring books, which Patton had a hunch was just to get to Roman. He liked doing his nails and had even offered to do Patton's at some point, to which he refused only because he hated the feel of it. He liked cooking and was surprisingly good at it when he wasnt trying to put something completely inedible on their plates just to see their reactions. His favorite desert was, again, surprising in its simplicity and healthiness, which is what Patton was making now to lure the other to the kitchen.

No one had managed (or tried) to prank Remus back since he began coming around more. Whether thay was from fear or lack of trying Patton wasn't sure but he was fixing that today. He smiled as he heard thumping down the stairs. Game. Set. Match.

"What the hell??"

Patton whirled around and tsked. "Language Remus."

Remus raised an eyebrow and tugged a bit at his arms, huffing when they only tangled further. Now that he was trapped the ropes that were slung in the doorway were clearly visible, hung in such a way that it was easy yo get tangled and hard to get out of. With Rrmus dangling in the middle of it Patton smiled at his pranks success.

Huffing again, Remus spoke up in a sultry tone. "Oh Daddy, if you wanted me tied up so badly all you had to do was ask."

Heat erupted under Pattons skin as he sputtered. "Its a prank! I wanted to prank you since you're always pulling them on the others!" He gestured to the freshly dipped caramel apples. "So I made your favorite desert and you're trapped and cant have any."

"You...know my favorite desert?" All suggestion left his voice as he stared at Patton with barely contained adoration.

"Of course! I...wasn't fair to you before so I'm trying my best to make up for it."

Remus cackled. "By tying me up and refusing me my sweets?"

Admittedly it was a lame prank but it was his first he'd ever pulled! He wasn't really sure how it was supposed to work. "I didnt think this through very well..." he admitted, shame faced.

Laughter dying out Rrmus shook his head. "Hey no it's fine Patty whack, just means we gotta work on it a bit! How about-"

Remus was cut off as he was pulled violently downward, turning both of their complexions pale white for entirely different reasons. While it was possible to resist a summons, catch a side off guard or in a vulnerable position and it became that much harder.

"Remus! No, no, no this wasnt- okay just hold on I can-" Patton rushed to start tugging at the rope, cursing both his stupidity and the timing of the others. Another tug sent Remus down further, ropes tightening and catching his fingers which he snapped back with a yelp, watching helplessly as the other gurgled and struggled against his confines. It was tangled everywhere, swinging around his arms and legs, one tangled loosely at his waist and another pulled taunt right under his jaw. He was beginning to turn red, fingertips blushing as their circulation was cut off and mouth gaping in an attempt to get air into his closed windpipe as Patton tugged valiantly at the rope, at his clothes, at anything as tears ran down his face while continuing to curse. It was just a harmless prank it shouldn't have- HE shouldn't have-

He laid a quick hand on Remus' cheek and sunk out quickly, popping up in the living room in the middle of the others' debate.

"The pranks cant have been that detrimental to Thomas' mental well being but it would still be a good idea to address it as a possible- oh Patton, you aren't-"

Paying Logan no mind Patton looked straight at Thomas and screamed. "STOP PULLING!"

Instantly the room fell silent and Tbomas' hand flopped to his side while opening his mouth in question. Not even bothering to explain, Patton quickly sunk out again, rushing to the Duke's side and frantically pulling away the rope, finally able to disentangle now that it was loose. He gasped sharply as Remus did nothing but fall limply to the ground, rope burns standing out an angry red around his wrists and neck. Seeing he was breathing, albeit shakily, Patton quickly scooped him up and moved him to the couch, biting his lip in guilt ridden worry as he noticed dark bruises already beginning to form. He heard a soft whoosh behind him and turned to see Logan standing shocked in the doorway. All at once he burst into tears again, clutching desperately to Remus' hand.

"Help me."

Snapping out of it Loagn took quick strides to examine Remus, hissing in sympathy at the discoloration. Poking and prodding got barely a wince from the unconcious side but Logan seemed satisfied, turning to Patgon with a furrowed brow.

"I'm going to get ice and vaseline. Stay here."

Nodding numbly he pressed the hand he was still holding his cheek as he continued to cry, guilt twisting his stomach in tense knots that made him want to puke. It was just supposed to be a harmless prank but he had been stupid and careless and now-

He watched as Logan came back to lay a thin towel and an ice pack over Remus' neck, taking the hand gently away from him to slather vaseline on the worst of the rope burns before wrapping them in soft bandages. Satisfied with his work Logan turned to look at him.

"I assume those ropes in the doorway are what caused this."

A fresh batch of tears cascaded down Patton's face as he practically wailed into the reclaimed hand. "It was an accident I swear! It was a stupid prank and were gonna have apples after but I couldn't get the ropes undone and oh god what if he died? Lo, what if i killed him, he can't-"

"Patton breathe." Sucking in a huge breath his sobs stuttered out and left him silently shaking, the reassuring hand on his shoulder doing little to ease his worry. "Remus will be fine, and as figments of Thomas' imagination we are unable to die anyway. It most likely won't even take him that long to heal, I promise you. What you did was done with little forethought but that doesnt mean him being hurt was your fault."

Patton sniffed. "It doesn't?"

"It was just unfortunate timing on both our parts. I'm sure Remus will forgive you readily enough."

"He already does." Patton gasped and turned at the slightly raspy voice, finding the injured side smiling Foothill up at him. "Hey Pattoncake it's okay. I've done worse to myself."

Crying with relief now Patton through himself on the other, unabashedly dusting kisses all over the other face as gently as he could. Remus laughed, tugging the other on top of him and only wincing slightly at the pressure, squeezing him tightly in his arms as be continued go be bombarded with love.

"Remus I'm so sorry I-"

"Hush it's fine. It was exhilarating until I passed out." Waggling his eyebrows for effect he let out a relieved sigh as Patton giggled. "This just means I'll have to teach you how to pull pranks that couldn't kill someone if they were real. No harm done."

Neither of them noticed Logan leave to dispell the others worries, too wrapped up in eachother figuratively and literally to pay any attention. Remus expression grew serious however making Patton suck in a worried breath.

"I seem to remember desert being a thing, and seeing how I almost died I'm thinking I should definitely get first pick."

Laughing softly Patton leaned up to give him a quick peck on the lips, earning a rare blush in return. "Of course!"

He watched as Patton left. "If this is what I get for almost dying I should do it more often."

"Absolutely not!"

#bad things happen bingo #sanders sides #false writes #sanders sides fic #ao3 #prank gone wrong #ask #request fill #patton sanders #remus sanders #logan sanders #intruality #patton x remus #patton sanders x remus sanders #false bthb

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maximumjinx · 4 years

Text

Ladybug’s Finale Chapter 5

1, 2 3 4

One hour earlier

Alya watched Marinette and Adrien walk out through the double doors, probably to Marinette’s house to have lunch. She felt as if there was a small rock sitting at the pit of her stomach. When was the last time she had a sleepover with Marinette? Or even stopped by the shop to say hi?

“Babe?” Nino placed a hand on his girlfriend’s shoulder, “You alright?”

“Adrien was so...harsh. She’s my best friend I would never-” Alya wanted to finish, but something began to crawl into her heart. A realization. A seedling of guilt. She had not spoken to her supposed best friend in over two months.

“Alya? Are we not going to lunch?” Lila pouted her lips, green eyes shining. Alya had been eating lunch with Lila everyday- but hadn’t Marinette been right beside her the entire time? Were they not all friends?

Alya quickly grabbed her phone, scrolling past quite a few other text threads until she got to Marinette. That’s impossible, they text all the time.

It’s okay, just don’t forget to come over Saturday! Marinette had sent, a little over three months ago.

Alya? You’re an hour late..you okay? Alya didn’t show up. Why didn’t she show up? Alya could feel Nino peering over her shoulder. There wasn’t a notification bubble, so she must have seen these messages but-

Two unread messages.

Haven’t talked in a while..want to hang out?

How come she never saw these messages? Alya tried racking her brain. Lila needed her help on homework, or maybe she wanted to go to the mall before her big trip? She was baby-sitting? Alya’s breathing started becoming shallow and quick. She felt the little seed grow. The guilt crawled up her neck and was filling her lungs.

I..miss you. Sent two months ago. Marinette had sent that over two months ago, and Alya never saw it. She didn’t see her best friend, didn’t answer her calls or texts, she can’t remember the last time she gushed over boys with her.

“I wouldn’t- I didn’t mean to-” Alya felt a lump in her throat, and her eyes began to burn. Had she really left Marinette behind?

Somewhere in the dark, a window opened.

“What makes her emotions different from any other akuma?” Ladybug muttered to herself, watching as Chat wrapped his hand.

“I uh- may have called her out on being a bad friend to Marinette.” Chat said sheepishly, “This is some backwards karma though.”

“We got to talk to her boyfriend, he probably saw where the akuma landed.” Ladybug paused. Or since he was nearby, would Nino have been one of the first to be hit?

“Or maybe we could use some of that Ladybug Lucky Charm action?”

“I don’t want to use it without knowing where her akuma is first. If I de-transform and her beam hits me, we’re all goners.”

The two heroes poked their heads carefully around the corner of the building. Remorse continued to wail, throwing her beams unto unknowing civilians.

“Pretty sure her akuma is in whatever that string is around her waist.” Chat scoffed, rubbing his palm.

Ladybug tried to get a better look at it. The suit was simple, so it was easier to see he was probably right. There was also that nasty defense her suit had around the string.

“So how do we get it off?”

Chat stared at Ladybug, then gestured towards her own suit.

“Magic? Bad ass karate skills? Whack her with your baton- which by the way is cooler than mine and I’m jealous.” He snorted, and tapped the shoulder of her chest plate. “You could have your pick, really.”

“It’s not that simple Chaton.” Ladybug rolled her eyes.

Still, she didn’t have many options. She called for her lucky charm, careful not to call attention to it. In her hands fell a small, polka dot cell phone.

She gave it a confused look. “Is the lucky charm confusing Remorse with Lady Wifi?”

“I mean it doesn’t matter- you still have to manage to get close enough without hurting yourself.” Chat responded, as Remorse’s suit glittered with sharp shards. “She does run the Ladyblog, you could probably get close.”

Ladybug shook her head, she couldn’t see anything lighting up in her vision. Though she did have an idea, a very very bad idea.

“There’s only one person that could get close to Remorse right now, and that’s the baker girl.”

Chat’s eyes narrowed.

“No. Absolutely not.”

“Chat Noir, she’s the only one that could get close to her. Plus she has experience with akumas- remember she was Multimouse.” She tried to reason, already deciding how she could avoid Remorse’s beam and spikes outside the suit. It was live bait.

“That was one akuma, and she shouldn’t have to fix any of this! It’s Alya’s doing and our responsibility.” His teeth were almost bared. “That akuma hurt me, cut through my suit like butter and there’s no way I’m allowing this.”

“Then what do you suggest?!”

Chat huffed, “An illusion- why not call Rena Rouge?”

Ladybug stilled. She bit her lip and glanced back at Remorse.

“Out of commission.”

“What’s that supposed to-“

“Found you.”

Ladybug reeled backwards, Chat beside her as Remorse watched them from above. Her hair hung loose and the black tears on her face dripped onto Ladybug’s cheek. She gave the heroes a sickly smile.

“Bickering huh? Friends bicker. But can always work through things.” Her eyes became glassy, Remorse had a far away look. “Can always work it out, as long as you talk about it.”

With a loud, piercing wail Remorse threw a beam. It landed by Chat’s feet as he jumped out of the way. He quickly wrapped an arm around Ladybug’s waist and extended his baton, taking them to the next roof top.

“We don’t have any other options!” Ladybug shouted.

“Well Marinette is not one of them!” He snapped back.

“Mari, mari, mari, mari. She misses me.” Remorse’s suit vibrated, racking with sobs. “She misses me, she misses me.”

Ladybug saw the thread clearer now. It had tiny black markings, what looked like words scrawled on top of one another that ran around the akuma’s waist again and again.

“Is that-“ Chat looked dumbfounded, “a fucking text thread?”

“Hawkmoth is getting way too literal now.” Ladybug held her charm up, the phone still covered in red and black dots. There was no way it could be this easy.

Her earrings beeped.

“Chat, we don’t need Marinette.” She was going to detransform soon. She turned on the phone, and her screen flashed back. It was hers.

Remorse began to ascend higher. Ladybug snapped towards her partner.

“Remorse is gearing up, and she’ll blow soon.”

“You still don’t tell me anything!” Chat yelled, exasperated, “What are you going to do? What exactly is the plan?”

“This is Marinette’s phone, and ‘she’ is going to send a message, which will disrupt the text thread.” She stood near the edge of the roof, the chaos becoming increasingly louder as more victims began to yell. “But you’re going to use your baton to stop her from seeing it.”

If Ladybug knew anything, she knew how frustrated Alya Cesaire could get.

Remorse felt like she couldn’t breathe. With every person she hit, it was like sweet relief. For just a moment, she felt sane and innocent. She would chase that, throw thousands of people into the pits of their own personal guilt-filled hells if it meant peace in her own head.

But she would be able to breathe again, feel the peace permanently if she only got the miraculouses.

“Hey Cry Baby!” She heard an annoying cat yell from across the square. She whipped around, seething.

“You feel bad sure,” he narrowed his eyes, a fearsome glower on his features, “but I know someone who feels worse.”

“Shut up!” Remorse screamed. She threw a beam, missing the insufferable hero by mere centimeters. His baton extended far, prodding her sides by the thread. Immediately her suit reacted.

Its spikes lurched for the baton, but quickly it moved to her other side. Over and over it tapped at her sides, causing her suit to go crazy, the shards covering her midsection.

“You think you can get my thread that easily?” She snarled.

“Not trying too!” He grinned.

She felt something burn and buzz. Her thread extended, by five words. Remorse’s eyes widened, her intuition could feel the new words on her person, but couldn’t read them. The shards of her suit obscured her vision, building around the thread as the cat continued to irritate it. Irritate her.

“Stop!” She tried to fly backwards, his baton only following. “Stop it, you mangy cat! She messaged me!”

She could almost make out the last word, but the shards quickly grew as a light and annoying tap hit her side.

“Ugh, I’ll do it myself!” Remorse shrieked, moving the shards and ripping the thread away. It layed frayed and twisted in her hands. She searched desperately for the new message.

“You miss me, you miss me.” She chanted, struggling to find the tail end.

“Need a hand?” A black and red blur swung by, faster than Remorse could account for. Suddenly her palms were empty.

“No!” She wailed. She looked at the far rooftop, Ladybug’s hood up and eyes stormy. The heroine took both ends, ripping the thread with ease.

Remorse feels herself begin to fall, when her world turns black.

—

Alya woke up in Chat Noir’s arms. Which she would be more excited about, if he wasn’t frowning.

“This is yours.” He muttered, her phone in his hand. It was dimly lit with a new message.

“Thank you,” she grabbed it gently, not meeting his eyes. “Where’s Ladybug?”

“Probably left to detransform.” He shrugged, setting her down. He stretched, and looked as the citizens around were helping one another up and wiping their faces.

“Can I ask you something?” She was confused about what exactly happened, but she knew the feeling of an akuma well.

Chat pressed his lips in a thin line, but nodded.

“When your job is to destroy, how do you deal with the aftermath?” She felt like a reporter, but an empty one. A thinly veiled question to solve her own feelings.

Chat relaxed his shoulders, and answered his friend honestly.

“I take responsibility.”

He pole-vaulted away, leaving Alya in a sea of civilians watching her with wary, swollen eyes. She looked down at her phone, and opened the new message.

This user has blocked you

--TAGLIST--

@shannaro-sakura @uninspired-writer @magic-miraculous @mividaexo@juhavs @salsyy301 @liamnl @reblog-trasher @autumnhunter1 @grimmhallow31 @f0xylegs @amelyhot @marichat00 @peachedpocky @sturchling @elmokingkong @corabeth11 @akana-sama @ephemeral-firefly @dani-ari @whatsupwithjinx @bobothyross @introverted-book-enthusiast @saltystickofbutter @kristycocopop @s-tabcra-b @yes-friends-it-is-i @razzledazzle247 @rosesareskyblue @themamaravenclaw @sili-a@mysweetchaton @silvergold-swirl @internet-or-sleep @zoeytheweeb @friedchickening @crayon-lord-kyksei @subtlyundead @gwennex @echpr @marilee98 @mcpaladin @blackrosee3 @smolplantmum @honeysuckle-muse @trashfox6 @nafsbluebery @sarcastic-jenny @naoryllis @no-homo-thoughh @bigcheeseyboi @your-local-insomicat @rowanrouge @weird-homosapien @thoughts-of-a-fandom-blogger @wbarnesandnoble @adrianarfox @hetalia-lover-is-here

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babyczk · 4 years

Text

a christmas miracle — zk

summary: ashytn finds herself struggling to study for her english final, she enlists the help of the beautiful boy who sits behind her.

authors note: some more christmas fluff <3

•••

groaning, ashtyn collapsed into her seat in honors english. she was ten minutes early, a rarity, usually stumbling in right when the professor stood from her desk to address the class.

the blonde boy sitting comfortably behind her, looked up, startled from the book he’d been immersed in. ashytn shot him an apologetic half smile, hoping to disguise the look of pure angst on her features.

she was unlucky with that aspect.

he leaned on his elbows, thick eyebrows drawn down in, what ashtyn was shocked to see, concern. “are you good?”

her breath caught in her throat, caught off guard that he was addressing her. she’d admired zion kuwonu from a distance all semester. watching him whenever he walked in and out of the classroom from the corner of her eye. aware of his presence behind her everyday for three hours. she noticed him around campus sometimes, or in various coffee shops here and there. as well as the occasional instagram stalk, giddy to find that he didn’t have a girlfriend. but other than those at distant encounters, ashytn didn’t really know much about him.

“i’m fine,” she squeaked out. zion’s lips turned down even farther, clearly not buying her lame attempt at lying.

“you sure,” he pressed. “you look like you’re five seconds away from either bursting into tears or slamming your head on that desk.” he smirked at her, dimples faintly protruding, and man oh man, was ashytn a sucker for dimples. “and i don’t think it’d do your pretty face much if you slammed it on that desk.”

ashytn blushed, thankful that she’d already caked on copious amounts of glossier cloud paint, so it wasn’t obvious. “uh, right...” she mentally slapped herself, cursing whatever higher power was above. why did she have to be so awkward? “i guess i’m not doing okay, i’ve just been struggling to study for this final next week,” she admitted solemnly.

”what grade are you pulling right now?”

“almost a d, which means i need to get an eight five or higher to pass.”

zion looked on in thought, oblivious to the volume increasing in the room as more students filed in, eagerly taking their seats. ashtyn felt envy for them. it seemed like she was the only one struggling in this class, mostly because her major was film, not anything related to english, and she was only taking this course for a college wide elective credit. one of many horrible mistakes she’d made.

“i could tutor you for the final,” zion spoke suddenly, her gaze focusing back on his face. he was serious, no trace of a smirk anywhere. “i’ve got a decent grade going, and it’d be motivation for me to study too.”

ashytn mulled it over for a second. there wasn’t any harm in taking up his offer, other than the fact that she’d most likely catch a heart attack with being in such close proximity to zion for a few hours at a time. ‘twas a risk she was willing to take.

“sure. if you think i’m tutorable, i’m all for it.”

a wicked grin pulled at his lips. “is that a challenge?”

ashytn shrugged, feeling a surge of confidence. “maybe.”

zion clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth, winking. “mamas, you have no idea how much i love a challenge.” a cold shiver ran down her back, but before she could respond, the professors voice boomed over the class, quieting all conversation, and tearing ashytn and zion’s intense gazes away from each other.

•••

after class, ashytn and zion had exchanged numbers, promising to meet up the following friday afternoon to begin their session. after parting ways, ashytn began to feel the nerves settling in. she was about to be alone with zion for the first time in approximately two days for god knows how long.

she shouldn’t be as nervous as she was. she’d been alone with boys on multiple occasions, boys she’d found attractive and boys she’d had extreme crushes on. but something about zion was different. he was different. and there wasn’t one particular thing ashytn could place her finger on that made her come to that conclusion.

much to her dismay (and also pure excitement) friday afternoon came around quickly. sitting in the empty campus library, the only sounds coming from the ticking of the clock behind her, ashytn kept wringing her fingers together, biting down on her lip. it was three o’clock, and zion would be walking in any minute.

subconsciously, she smoothed down her hair, wishing she’d added more gel as she could feel her curly flyaways creeping forward. in the midst of that action, she felt a presence standing above her, looking up to see zion and his damn cute smile.

“hey, been here long?” he asked, sliding into the chair opposite. ashytn dropped her hands from her hair, shaking her head.

“only a few minutes.” a lie. she’d arrived two hours early to mentally prepare, but of course she was never going to let zion know.

he smirked, and she shifted uncomfortably. something about the smirk made it seem like her lie wasn’t really going unnoticed as she’d assumed. fortunately, if he suspected anything, he didn’t let up. instead, pulling out his notebook and textbook, flipping them open before looking up at ashytn expectantly.

“ready?”

she blinked, before springing into action, opening her own books. it was a study session after all. ashytn didn’t know why she expected something other than studying to miraculously happen in this empty library.

emphasis on empty.

“alright, so we should start with virginia woolf’s, to the lighthouse. it’s probably going to be a big part of the final since that’s all we’ve been talking about in class.”

she nodded, pulling out her ratty copy of the book. zion raised his brow at the condition, and ashtyn smiled shyly. “it’s my mom’s copy.”

he raised his hands in surrender. “i didn’t say anything.”

“yeah, but your face did,” she prodded, causing him to laugh.

“alright, alright. so, have you finished it?”

“sure.”

“which means you can tell me your analysis of the ending.”

“just because i read it doesn’t mean i understand it,” ashytn deadpanned. “virginia’s writing makes me want to end it all.”

“that’s why sparknotes exists,” zion said.

brows raised, ashytn narrowed her eyes. “cheating?”

“it’s not cheating if you’re looking at it for inspiration,” he defended. “c’mon, let’s pull it up.” and for the next hour and a half, zion spent it explaining the ending as well as the rest of the book to ashytn, having her read snippets out loud a couple of times. by the end, she was beginning to understand the material so much more than when she’d come in.

packing up their things, zion stood up first, patiently waiting for ashytn to finish. “i’d say you’re pretty tutorable, in case you were wondering.”

“might be the first to admit that,” she joked.

walking side by side out of the library, zion laughed. “so, what are your plans for christmas break?”

“driving two hours home and spending the rest of the month with my family and then coming back here for the new year. you?”

“planned on going to spend christmas with my friends family since mine is halfway across the globe,” he answered. “should be fun though.”

they crossed the library parking lot, ashytn coming upon her car. they idled outside of it for a moment, her unlocking the door. “do you need a ride somewhere?”

“nah, i promised myself i’d stick around and study for the rest of my finals. gotta keep that gpa up if i wanna keep going to school for free.” he smiled cheekily, and ashytn felt her knees drop a tad at the sight of his deep dimples.

“oh yeah, for sure.”

“but, i’ll see you. don’t forget we got a session tomorrow.” a final grin and zion was turning to walk away.

“we do?!” she yelled out after him, slightly confused since she thought they’d basically covered everything that was supposed to be on the final in today’s time.

he whirled around, still walking and causing his blonde locs to fall his face. “we sure do, babygirl.”

dear god, ashytn thought.

•••

every tutoring session after their first had been productive. ashytn’s nerves around zion had subsided eventually, and she’d fully melted into her true personality around him, being able to crack jokes and poke fun whenever she was able to grasp a concept faster then him.

walking into her honors english class the day before break, she was more than ready to take her final, casting zion a little smile as they each sat in their respective seats. pencil hitting the paper, ashytn breezes through the booklet. obviously not as fast as zion, hearing his chair scrap back from behind her. his fingers drummed on her table as he breezed past her, his way of letting her know she would do amazing. she smiled against herself, ducking her head back down into the questions.

after another twenty minutes; she was handing in her final, feeling more confident then she’d felt in a long time when it came to that class. pushing open the door, she stepped out into the hallway, when a hand landed on her arm. she jumped in shock, turning to see zion leaning against the wall.

“how you think you did?” he asked, hiking his bag further on his shoulder.

she cocked her head. “you waited out here for me?”

he shrugged, and ashytn was surprised to see his cheeks splattered with blush. “i mean... i didn’t have anything else to do... or go.”

ashytn hummed, enjoying this side of zion. “well. i’m positive i didn’t get less than a b. and it’s literally all because you offered to tutor me, so thank you.” without thinking, ashytn stood on the tops of her toes, planting her lips on his cheek ever so softly. her body froze, realizing what was happening, and as she was pulling away, zion gripped at her waist, one hand cupping her cheek, before pulling her in fully.

his lips brushed against hers, and ashytn hadn’t realized how desperately she’d been waiting to feel this. it was like they’d kissed a million times before, everything coming with ease.

pulling back, zion was smiling wide, dimples on display. “sorry, i couldn’t help myself, plus....” he trailed off, pointing above them and when ashytn looked up, she almost snorted. sitting perfectly on the ceiling was some mistletoe, wrapped up in a red ribbon.

she shoved at zion’s chest playfully. “you stood under here on purpose, huh?”

“i’d like to think of it as some kind of christmas miracle.”

#christmas vibes #zion kuwonu #zion kuwonu imagines #zion kuwonu fluff #prettymuch #prettymuch imagines #writing

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ryuuug · 3 years

Text

for @ughyeju, bc valentine’s day ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Their first kiss happens at a wedding.

"One of my mom's friends' kids is getting married," Hyeju had announced about two weeks prior, and he didn't miss the way she spat the words like they personally offended her. Knowing how Mrs. Kim liked to gripe about marriage—and how her daughter absolutely-certainly-definitely must get married—that probably wasn't too far off.

So he tells her, "Yeah, okay," digging into his meal with a reminder that she shouldn't have bothered to wine and dine him for a favor, because he knew exactly what she was asking, and he did commit himself to playing her fake boyfriend. "I'll go with you."

That's how he finds himself mildly—just mildly—shitfaced at a grand reception, doing his damnedest not to hurl all over the ballroom floor and make a massive fool himself. It doesn't help that Ryuu's a new face, and people—especially people that ran in the same circles as Mrs. Kim—lived to poke and prod at new faces, like rabid hyenas prowling for meat. (For once, he's actually scared of Mrs. Kim saying he's so cute shecouldeathimrightup). He's waving off an offered conversation and champagne flute for the umpteenth time when he finally spots Hyeju, marching past a throng of whispering onlookers, looking positively—

Livid.

Oh.

And he would have asked her what happened, held her hand as she walked him through it, maybe talked her into getting some fresh air in the gardens—because god knew how badly he needed a breather, too—but he doesn't have much time to talk when she hoists him by the lapels of his tux and says, "I'm going to kiss you," like a declaration, and—well, he can't say no, because who was he, really, to deny her anything?

He just wanted to cheer her up.

"Yeah, okay."

The last thing he sees is the glassy gleam in her eyes and her wine-stained lips parting, ever so slightly, to touch with his own. It's not even an actual kiss; just a quick, full-mouthed peck—but it has him blank-struck and flushed from the neck up, face hovering mere inches from her own, staring. He can feel her breath on his skin, on his nose, and—he just. Licks at his bottom lip, thinks of how nice she had tasted, like fruit and wine and just—nice.

But then he feels sick again, and he—he at least has half the mind to clap a hand over his mouth and grab her by the wrists, tugging her to the nearest washroom to give up and empty his stomach into a toilet bowl.

"That was smart of you," Hyeju says from her spot in front of the minibar, rifling through its contents. "Now everyone thinks we got all hot and handsy in the toilets."

From the bed, beneath the covers, he pumps a fist in silent celebration—yay! But then he thinks...

"Hey," Ryuu pushes himself up on his elbows. "Just so you know, it wasn't kissing you that made me sick."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. I just had one too many drinks. You know I'm bad with alcohol," that makes her laugh a little, and it puts him at ease. Still, he considers his next words carefully, rolling them around in his head, his mouth. "I—think you're really cute, Hyeju, so. Please don't think that."

She snorts in response. "Okay, Ryuu-chan," and he wonders, briefly, when he started to become so conscious of the way her hair cascaded past her shoulders, or how her dress flowed along the curve of her hips, swaying with each movement. He shakes himself internally. "Thanks."

"Um, okay," Get your head out of the fucking gutter, Aoyama, what the fuck. "Good night."

He kisses her all the time in front of her mom.

Mostly on the forehead, because it's easy to reach, but his favorite, by far, has to be that one time he kissed Hyeju on the cheek, and Mrs. Kim just dropped whatever it was in her hands in surprise.

Their little spectacles have Mrs. Kim gasping every time, and Ryuu, ever the charming, blushing boyfriend, always, always goes, "Oh, Mrs. Kim, I didn't see you there!" pretending to be the loving, chaste man she'd always wanted for her daughter—and Mrs. Kim loves it.

He plays it so damn well they eventually invite him to spend Chuseok with the rest of the family, just like Hyeju had warned him, and so it evolves into, "They're going to start expecting you for every holiday."

"That's not so bad, is it?" he holds her close as they lean against the door, highly suspecting Mrs. Kim to be listening in from the other side. Ryuu ducks to press a loud, smacking kiss to Hyeju's pursed lips, biting down his laughter when he hears fumbling outside. Gotcha. "I really don’t mind."

Hyeju asks him, "Ryuu-chan, do you want to sleep with me?" and it's so—it's so out of left field, so fucking out there and his mind goes wack and his heart threatens to burst right out of his fucking chest. Holy shit. Holy. Shit. Whatthefuck.

He was not expecting that.

"What—no," Ryuu blurts out, and it's only when her eyes go blank and her mouth turns tight that he realizes how that must have sounded, and he hurries to correct himself. "Um, what I meant was—"

Not that Hyeju gives him a chance to explain, because immediately she's pulling away from the couch, trying not to look like she'd been burned (and failing miserably). "Oh, no, it's fine. I mean, like, I was offering, but—I get it," and then she shrugs. "Good night."

She doesn't bring it up again. Which should have been good—great, even, but somehow—

Somehow it's just worse.

He still feels bad, like, really really embarrassed and gutted by the whole thing, because that's not—that's not what he had meant to say at all, she just...caught him off guard? Who even asks other people if they want to sleep with them?

(Kim Hyeju, apparently, does that. God. She's just—too much. Sometimes.)

It muddles their dynamic, too. Bad enough to make Mrs. Kim worried that they might break up, after years of being convinced that he and Hyeju were endgame. Like, nudge-nudge-wink-wink, when-are-you-two-going-to-marry-and-give-me-grandchildren type of convinced. Ryuu knows he's messing it up—if him flinching whenever Hyeju so much as brushes fingers with him wasn't telling enough—which is why he excuses himself "to get some fresh air."

It's code for "we need to talk," and this might be the first time ever that he's used it with Hyeju.

He whirls on her as soon as they're out of her mother's sight. "Look, Hyeju, I—" he stuffs his hands into his pockets, feeling cold and clammy. God, was he literally shaking in his boots right now? "I just—I need you to know that I—you just—I was just surprised, when you asked me last time, but I—"

And then he has to stop, really, because he can feel his heart hammering in his ribcage, and he wants to look at Hyeju—properly, this time, after days of being unable to meet her eyes. His shadow is blocking nearly half of her face, but the light that hits her brings out the brown of her irises, the pink of her lips, and—god, she's really pretty, yes, yes, of course, he would definitely sleep with her, why would she even have to ask—

"Consent is pretty damn important, Ryuu-chan," Hyeju scolds, but there's no bite in her tone, not at all, not when he can see the laughter in her eyes and the tremble of her mouth.

He said that out loud, huh?

"Yeah, you did," she sounds way too smug all of a sudden, and he would have said something in retort if she hadn't stood on her toes to press a kiss to his cheek. His mind goes blank. "Ready to head back inside?"

To which he nods, dumbly, silently, and this time she leads with her hands wrapped around his. Mrs. Kim is visibly pleased by this, smiling big enough for Ryuu to wonder if her cheeks didn't hurt from it, but he doesn't mind when he gets to touch Hyeju again without recoiling or feeling awkward.

(There's a spark of something else, too, something entirely different, but he doesn't have the courage—or clarity of mind—to name what it is.)

(Not yet, anyway.)

#.misc #@hyeju #anais in my chat talking about valentine's and i'm just #she has no idea what i have i have in store >:)#might fuck around and mess up the timeline......even i confused myself writing this sksksks #EDITED as of 02/16 :) i can never settle with any of my posts gdi

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xoexoxhoe · 5 years

Text

Cherry Pie

A/N: Literally NO ONE asked for this, but I mean, @sailor-baek and I were so inspired by this mood board, that we for sure had to take the idea and run with it. All props go to @sanbotaged for the beautiful, angsty, masterpiece. It deserves to have a story behind it, and we hope we did it justice. (check out the moodboard here at this link to the page!)

Jeong Yunho (Ateez) & Y/N

💥Warning: Angst, blood, violence, guns, knives, swearing, & cherry pie 💥

Theme: BadBoy!Yunho | GangMember!Yunho

He clenched his bloodied fists around the baseball bat, each swing more vicious than the last. “I know you’ve been working for their family for a while, Mr. Kim. Now, where can I find that magical key card all the subordinates have?”

The man cowered beneath Yunho’s legs, attempting to dodge hits, begging him for mercy, pleading for his life after handing the key card over. Yunho just smirked, slipping the black piece of plastic into his coat pocket.

“A rat is but a pest to be exterminated, don't you think, Mr. Kim?” One more hit and he dropped the bat, its heavy wood reverbing against the wet pavement. The rain made for perfect cover in the dark alley as Yunho bent to his knees, bringing the man’s chin up to meet his eyes, “You’re not gonna die yet, Mr. Kim. But, before I let your miserable ass walk away from me, I need to know one thing.” He squeezed the man’s jaw, causing him to whimper in pain, “How much do you value your life?”

3 hours later…

“Good morning, Princess.”

Your eyes fluttered open, revealing your dimly lit bedroom, cluttered and destroyed. You began to panic, whipping your head around quickly to see eight hooded assailants ravaging through your drawers and closets. You tried to speak, realizing soon after that your mouth had been duct taped, and your hands and feet bound to the chair. Your head ached, and the pungent smell of blood began to fill your nose. The man before you took his hand and brushed back the sweat plastered hair from your face, his eyes crinkling beneath his mask.

“I’m sorry that things have to end up this way, but,” he looked back to his group, “you see, we’re just here to take all of your father’s money and the logbook we know you have somewhere in this room.” He turned back to you, once again brushing your hair, “Isn’t that right, princess? He hid it in here?”

Tears began to fall from your face and your cheeks burned from the sheer helplessness you had succumbed to in front of these men. To your surprise, he took off his mask, revealing black hair and mysterious brown eyes that looked to have seen many dark things; things you could never fathom. “What? Never seen a criminal before?” You gulped as you studied his intense features and the way his adam’s apple quivered as he laughed.

“Yunho, you ready?” One of the other guys to the left of him called out while he too began to strip away his mask. The platinum blonde hair he sported falling perfectly against his face.

Yunho peered into your eyes, and you didn’t dare to break the contact between them. He had his hand at his waist, unhinging a buckle on his gearbelt and pulling out a steel, serrated knife. “This,” he moved swiftly, almost as if he were making the blade dance between his fingers, “You’ve lived under the roof of one your whole life. This is what we do, isn’t it?” He ran the dull end under your chin, making you squirm under its cold touch. Once the tip of the blade hit your cheek, you felt it sting and burn, searing liquid trickling down your cheek. You saw him bring up his other hand and you winced, but you felt a sharp tug at the duct tape on your mouth, and before you knew it, all that was left was a tingling sensation across your lips. He was leaning into you now, cutting the zip ties behind your back as well as those on your ankles. He began to walk away, stopping before getting too far, “Get me that book, princess. We’re going out for a bit.”

As if instinct began to kick in, you grabbed a coat hanging on your door and kneeled before a large bookshelf. You pulled out a few books, your hands shaking off adrenaline and the still apparent sting on your cheek. A keypad exposed itself against the dark wood, leading you to punch a code you had promised never to use. A red leather book sat untouched on the fluffed black velvet of the safe. You grabbed it, immediately standing and turning to Yunho, who was already waiting with an extended palm.

“Here, take it.” you were astonished at the strength in your voice and the dried tears long dried on your face. For some reason you weren’t feeling scared anymore; it must have been exhaustion.

Yunho’s hand brushed against yours, causing your breath to hitch at his steely touch and the way he laced his fingers within your own, holding you there; weight ready to fall forward at the slightest tug should he pull. “Thank you.” was all he whispered, and you felt your knees buckle. Another figure scuffed the ground impatiently, motioning for Yunho to hurry. Taking your hand in his, he strolled out of your bedroom lazily. He walked side by side with you, every now and then glancing over to look at your stunned expression. What was going on?

The distant wailing of police cars were a promising music to your ears. You should have never assumed that Yunho and the rest of the group would be caught so easily. Criminals. You knew criminals. The masked bad guys with vendettas on the television; the ones who always met their demise in the end. That didn’t fit, though; these guys were much more real. He gripped your hand even tighter, “If you run, we’ll only catch you. Should you try,” he took the blade out again, flashing it before you, “I may not be so nice.” You nodded in understanding as Yunho flipped the blade around, pointing its handle towards you and poking it against your chest, “Since you’re here, might as well make yourself useful. Take this in case anyone tries anything.”

The blade felt peculiar in your hand, its weight almost too light for your liking. You clutched it anyways and continued to keep up with Yunho, his grip still in you, guiding you and the rest of the troupe down to their cars. Yunho placed you in the back between him and another tall member who had dark brown hair and a stern look on his face. You turned to Yunho who began to pick and prod at the lock on the logbook in his hands.

“Where are we going?”

His tongue licked his lips in concentration, “Where do you think we’re going?”

“I- I don’t-”

The platinum blonde boy behind the steering wheel cut you off, “Daddy never told you about the piss job he’s been doing as a businessman, huh?”

Yunho scoffed, “He would never tell his princess about money he’d been embezzling, now, would he?”

Your eyes shook, “What do you mean?”

“He’s a fraud, Y/N.” The deep voice from the boy to your right made you jump. “And now, we’re going to take back the money for someone who knows a bit too much about your father’s operations.”

“How do you know my name?”

The boy shrugged, “We know everything we need to.”

Yunho flipped through the pages of the logbook eagerly, searching for bank codes, insurance statements, and anything he could get his hands on. “Yeah, this is it. It’s in here, the routing numbers for all of the accounts; we just have to drain them. Can someone radio San?”

The boy in the front seat sported silver hair and was much shorter than his colleagues, but his muscular, veiny hands told you that what he lacked in height, he most likely made up for in strength. He reached on the dashboard for the walkie-talkie and pressed down, “San, you got the computer with you?”

The machine hummed to life with static on the other end of the line and another accomplice starting to speak, “Got it, just give me the routing numbers and we’ll be done, Wooyoung.”

Yunho handed the book over to Wooyoung who began to list off the information, “Account number one, JPM, routing number 328908589.”

“Alright, next.”

One after another, the boys exchanged routing numbers, bank names, and account information, slowly depleting whatever money your father may have had left into some other offshore account of an unknown person. Yunho saw the look on your face and rubbed your thigh, “Don’t worry, Princess. We’ll be alright.”

“Do you even know who hired you?” You asked, trying to evade the fact that his hand was still on your thigh.

“How do you know that we were hired?” Wooyoung whirled his torso around to eye you out, intense stare burning holes into your skin.

“I assumed you were,” you pointed to the person on the left of you, “He said it’s going to someone else, right? Well… what’s in it for you all?”

The men shared glances with each other before the driver answered, “Some would say justice, others would say we’re doing this because we just can; but,” his smirk was stained with years of deceit. He was a pro, they all were. “Doesn’t mean we aren’t getting paid a pretty penny to do this either.”

Just then, gunshots rang out like bells in a church, each shot landing on the SUV you were in with a loud pang. The boy at the wheel ducked, breathing out a string of curses while pressing the gas pedal without regard to anyone’s safety.

The walkie-talkie static came on again, “Yo- We’ve got company. Hongjoong said to go to the river across town, have Seonghwa ditch there and trudge it upstream to next point of contact. They’ve only noticed your SUV because you have the girl in there, they didn’t take lead of ours. We’re gonna breakaway and get to the pick up, understood?”

Wooyoung gripped the walkie-talkie while bending below the dash as best as he could, “Got it.”

Seonghwa broke right with a sharp turn, throwing off the police cars behind you, buying you all enough time to get at least a few minutes in front of them. You found yourself being shielded by Yunho’s body, his heavy breathing insync with your own, his hand rubbing your back. “I’ll protect you, I promise.”

You looked up at his face as he gave a quick wink before bringing out a gun from his belt, cocking it quickly and leaving it in his free hand.

Seonghwa, who you assumed was the driver’s name, began to completely punch it through the town, weaving in and out of traffic to eventually end up across a large bridge. He drove the car into a shaded area, underbrush flying up onto the windshield. Everyone got out quickly and you followed without hesitation. Yunho gave your hand a squeeze before holding the gun up and creeping out of the bushes, seeing if there were any cops on their tail. In the distance, the buzzing of a helicopter caught your attention. Everyone except for you and Yunho moved to the trunk of the car, tossing each other large waterproof backpacks, shoving in the gear they needed before heading over to the edge of the bridge and jumping off. They popped up in the river, making their way over to the rocks and sprinting out of the water, their black vests soaking wet. Yunho ran with you to the edge of the bridge shortly after, your eyes looming over the large drop that laid before you.

“Do I need to jump? I mean, it looks like a far drop, but I don’t know if-if I can make it. Why am I doing this...Then we’ll have to run; I hear the helicopter, right? It’ll be here any second and they’ll be able to see us running-” your voice was shaky and you were speaking at an insane speed, the words fumbling out of your mouth like complete nonsense.

Yunho caressed your face, bringing your attention away from the water and onto him, “Oh, Princess. This is where we part ways.”

“What? Wait, why?”

He laughed, “Does this daughter of a criminal want to become one as well?”

You felt your face sink into his hand, soaking up his touch as long as you could, “That’s not what I mean. It’s just- I’ve come so far, I might as well-”

“Finish the job with me? Yeah, that can’t happen. As beautiful as you are, Y/N, your father will need you. But, judging by the look on your face, you won’t say anything about what happened, right?” Before you could respond he pulled your chin towards him, his soft lips demanding to taste you. He kissed you with unabashed passion, weaving his hand into your hair before sending you backwards, but you caught his arm and jabbed the knife right into his side, his gasp audible as you recoiled the blade out from him and let it clatter to the ground.

“What the hell, princess?”

You quickly picked up the knife from the ground, shakily ready to strike again. “You told me to use it if anyone were to try anything; you just did.”

He tilted his head back, “You should have aimed higher.” he fell backwards into the river, scarlet spilling from his side.

You were breathless as you peered over the bridge, seeing him swim to the edge and hop out. He turned to you and winked, disappearing into the thick banks in a sprint.

◎

“You didn’t see a goddamn thing?! Not even their hair, their eyes- nothing?” Your father slammed the dining room table as you shook your head.

“They blindfolded me for the most part. There was literally nothing I could do. I got the knife with his blood, shouldn’t that suffice?”

His face was red with fury, “No! You gave them the code to the safe! What were you thinking?”

Crocodile tears began to slide down your face, “They tried to kill me, Father. I-”

“That’s enough. Can’t you see your daughter is already in enough pain? Let the police do their job, Harold. They’ll find them.” Your mother came to your side, holding you through your choked sobs. All you were focused on was Yunho and the mark he’d left on your lips, the one you’d left on his side.

“We’re ruined, Maria, you don’t understand.” Your father stormed out of the dining room, the older woman followed close behind. Screams echoed through the foyer.

Alone you made your way up to your room, pulling a key out from your dresser and opening a little jewelry box at your bedside. A tiny cell greeted you with a restricted number flashing across the screen. You picked it up, casually answering it without saying a word.

A husky voice came on the other end of the line. One that you knew all to well after the events that transpired today. “It’s done.”

You grinned, “I knew you wouldn’t fail me, Yunho.”

Silence had never been more satisfying, “What the fuck-”

“Keep the money, you’ll need it. They have your blood so it won’t be long now. I suggest you and your little boy group seek safety somewhere.” you giggled, “Thank you for helping me; Oh! And for the kiss as well.” You snapped the device in half and laid back in bed, having no trouble at all falling asleep.

◎

The cherry pie at Lenny’s Diner always made you feel at ease. The thick red pie filling oozed onto the plate as you sunk your fork into the delectable dessert. You took a few bites, relishing in the sweetness before feeling a tap on your shoulder. You wiped your mouth, not expecting anyone. Your fork hit the floor quickly after you immediately dropped it.

“I told you to run.”

Yunho closed the little distance to your stool and leaned over to grab a piece of the pie. All your eyes could do was follow his movement; he kept your focus trained on his fingers now nestled in his mouth, full of sugary sweetness.

He looked at you with fiery eyes. The still sticky finger dropped to your lip, grazing over it softly. Would this be the proper time to scream? You knew no sound would come out.

“Without saying a thank you? I’m a proper gentleman, princess. I would never leave you like that.”

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