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#this will be kept as an archive for as long as it can for your pleasure. feel free to spam.will being leaving the tags below for easy access
licca-archive · 3 months
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notice: moved 6_9
sudden choice but i wanted to start fresh after 3 years and to stop showing up as a rec blog. le username is @swankiss see you guys there B)
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wowbright · 10 months
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Periodic reminder that Archive of Our Own was created to be a repository for all written fanworks without regard to inherent worth, morality, ethicality, artistic merit, or intelligibility. As long as the posting of the work does not violate US law, falls within fair use standards, and does not directly harass individuals, it can be posted on Archive of Our Own.
Efforts to further limit the scope of what can be posted and stored on Archive of Our Own will fail, because Archive of Our Own is a repository much like the internet or the Library of Congress pre-21st century (back when it kept a copy of every publication printed in the United States). As long as you are able to find objectionable material on the internet or in a library, you will be able to find objectionable material in Archive of Our Own.
People get upset with the lack of moderation on Archive of Our Own because they view it as "the place to go to read fanfic." But when it was created, there was no goal for Archive of Our Own to be a destination fanfic reading website. Most people who first used it would publish on other sites (LiveJournal, fanfic.net, message boards, and various fandom-specific sites) to be read and commented on, and add a backup copy to Archive of Our Own so that it would be preserved in case it was ever removed from the original website/the original website went down. In other words, it was used as an archive, just like in the name.
AO3 can still be used this way! You can do your primary fanfic reading and writing on other sites, then back up your own works to AO3 for safekeeping.
Even better, if you object to the content that you find on AO3 and don't want to use it to find fanfic, or don't want to post there because you feel that posting there would be tantamount to endorsing AO3's mission, Archive of Our Own will hand you the tools you need to create your own site with more restrictive guidelines!
How? The software Archive of Our Own runs on is open source and the entire code is posted on github, along with advice for implementation.
Not everyone is comfortable searching for fanfic on Archive of Our Own for fear of encountering triggering or objectionable content. By creating more fanfic sites and repositories with their own focuses and guidelines, we can create the safe spaces in fandom that people are looking for without endangering the archival mission of Archive of Our Own.
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perlelune · 2 months
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Training Wheels | Coriolanus Snow | iii.
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Your mother's macabre work never appealed to you as you always preferred the comfort of your books, but when her apprentice takes a special interest in you, your safe, quiet world is flipped upside down.
Warnings: DUB-CON, NON-CON, Gaul!Reader, Shy Reader, Manipulation, Parental Neglect, Drinking, Peer Pressure, Hazing, University set, Loss of Virginity, Dumbification, Insecurities, Abusive Relationship, Degradation, Suicide Attempt
This is a dark story. Heed warnings before reading under the cut.
𝖘𝖊𝖗𝖎𝖊𝖘 𝖒𝖆𝖘𝖙𝖊𝖗𝖑𝖎𝖘𝖙
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“So what’s your deal?” Festus Creed asks out of the blue. 
Your mouth opens in shock, a nervous laugh slipping out. “My deal?”
A mocking sneer twists his features. “Yeah, Coriolanus kept trying to get you to eat with us but you were being weird about it. If you hate us, just say so.”
While some snigger at the table, Coriolanus stares daggers at him. The mirth instantly vanishes from Festus’ face.
Clemensia bumps her elbow into his rib, chiding him, “Festus, come on,”
“I don’t…hate anyone,” you defend, your voice hardly above a whisper.
Clemensia flashes you a reassuring smile.
“Of course, you don’t. Coriolanus said you’re very sweet.”
Livia rolls her eyes.
“Ugh, whatever. Can we get back to discussing the Yuletide Ball?”
Surprise flutters through you. The name bears vague familiarity. It can be found in the archives detailing the history of the Capitol University. But it’d since long become a frivolity amidst concerns such as quelling the uprisings in the Districts. What’s a students’ dance in the face of war and famine?
“The Yuletide Ball? I thought this was an abolished tradition…I mean since the war.”
Excitement illuminates Livia’s face.
“We’re bringing back the tradition this year, thanks to Coriolanus here. He convinced the new dean.”
Coriolanus lowers his head in apparent humbleness.
“I just made a few good points and he couldn’t refuse me,” he shares. He turns to you, blue eyes sparkling.  “I’m pretty persuasive when I need to be.” A chill dances through you at his low, suggestive tone. 
To your relief, his attention switches to the rest of the table.
“It’s important to not let District scum ruin our way of life. Traditions must return.”
Livia smirks. “Spoken like a student body president.”
Coriolanus waves a dismissive hand but a hint of smugness lingers in his tone as he says, “Please, elections are only in a month.”
“And it’s obvious you’ll win,” Clemensia states.
He gives a light shrug.
“We shall see.”
Clemensia pivots to you.
“Ivy, Liv and I are on the Ball committee,” she preens, her face brightening. “You could join us if you want.”
You lick your lips. “I don’t know if I’d find the time with midterms coming up soon…”
Coriolanus’ fingertips graze your arm as he offers, “You should do it, angel. It’d be a good way to expand your social circle.”
“You mean her nonexistent circle,” Festus gibes.
The blond’s jaw clenches.
“Talk to her like that again and see what happens, Creed.”
Festus cowers, nervousness flickering on his face. He clears his throat.
“Sorry,” he says to you.
“It’s fine.”
Coriolanus’ fingers latch around your wrist as his steely gaze cuts into Festus.
“No, it’s not fine,” he articulates. 
Undisturbed by the altercation between the boys, Clemensia prattles on about the ball.
“We meet up every Saturday morning. We’re working on winter-themed decorations right now. It’ll be so fun. It takes forever to do though.” She looks at you with emphasis. “An extra set of hands would be really welcome.”
“Clemensia…”
“Call me Clemmie,” she interrupts. “All my friends do.”
Friends? You study her hand clasped around yours. The concept is a little foreign to you. You also ponder why someone like Clemensia, with her perfect silky mane and smooth, blemish-free face would want to befriend you. She is the girl everyone gravitates towards. Charismatic, smart and nice to boot. And you might as well be a fly on a wall, ignored on the best days.
You are so stunned that it takes a shamefully long time for the words to fall back on your tongue.
“Clemmie, I’m usually busy on Saturday.”
“Oh.” She deflates, her hold on your hand loosening. “I get it. Sorry I asked.”
The excitement on her face plummets. Immediately, you feel terrible. You’ve never missed a single Saturday of studying, using that time to break down your more complicated courses of the week. But Clemmie looks crestfallen.
Perhaps, this one time, you can adjust your plans a little. One Saturday won’t make a difference in the entire year.
“But…I can try to free up some time,” you offer.
She perks up with your response.
“Great. We’ll be expecting you then.”
Lunch then proceeds, the table resuming the lively debate they were having before you showed up. Festus maintains facts about his family’s role in the reconstruction after the war while Clemensia rolls her eyes. They go back and forth and you observe them, slightly fascinated by the exchange. It’s such a rare occurrence for you to be around others that you soak every bit of their interaction. You get the inkling this happens a lot between them, them ruffling each other’s feathers. Ivy and Livia get wrapped in their own secret conversation you don’t catch a single word of. Meanwhile, Coriolanus watches all of them, taking a bite of the food on his plate every once in a while. The way he eats is slow, nonchalant, almost like he couldn’t care less what’s on his plate. Even if he doesn’t interject at any point, he looks right at home at this table. Unlike you. You recline into silence, letting every minute fly by as you wait for lunch to be over. When it finally is, relief surges inside you. 
You mumble a quick goodbye and gather your things. Clemensia beams and waves at you while the others barely acknowledge your departure. 
You head for the hallways, trying not to allow your mind to linger on the strange, uncomfortable lunch. Still, your mind swirls. You curse yourself for every blunder and awkward moment. You told him you don’t belong, that you’re an outsider, and always will be. It’s painfully obvious. From the way you dress, talk, carry yourself, you have nothing in common with girls like Clemensia or Livia. There’s a vast chasm between you and them. He should have listened. It astounds you that you even let yourself get roped into joining Clemensia’s committee thing. Though perhaps that won’t be too much of a hassle. You’ll show up to keep your word, then sink back into your rigid study routine.
Coriolanus’ deep voice, a sound you’re now oddly familiar with, erupts behind you.
“Let me carry those for you,” he says, swiping the books in your arms before you can protest. He falls in pace with you, a gentle expression decorating his  handsome face.
You frown, the uncanny emptiness of your arms swelling your discomfort.
“You don’t have to-”
“I insist,” he interrupts, chuckling lightly when you try to reach for your books and he dodges you with ease. Your shoulders sag. Your strides hasten, an urgency limning your steps now. 
Coriolanus meets no issue with your escalating cadence. He easily keeps up with you, a subtle hint of mirth lurking in his cobalt gaze. 
“It wasn’t too much, was it?” he inquires. “I know they can be a lot but they’re all good people. I promise.”
A myriad of words weigh heavy on your tongue but you diplomatically swallow each, settling for a safe, innocuous remark.
“Clemmie was nice.”
The corners of the blond’s lips quirk skyward. 
“I told you she was.”
The statement hovers between the two of you for a while. Clemensia seems nice indeed. The rest of his friend group…perhaps a little less so. Possibly a bit more cutthroat and self-absorbed. Though you surmise it is a requirement to be a member of Panem’s elite.
No other word is traded between you and him as you make your way to the lecture hall. 
“This is me,” you announce.
You turn to Coriolanus, hands stretching towards your books. He makes no move to give them back. Your forehead creases.
He gives you a sluggish once-over before offering, “What if I drove you back home after your classes?”
You nibble your bottom lip, dismayed by his proposition. You’ve caught glimpses of his fancy new car, as you’re sure most have at the University. As heir apparent to the Plinth fortune, he gets to spend money as he likes. 
“I usually walk. It’s okay.” 
He gets a little closer. “Come on, angel. Just let me do something nice for you.”
You shrink until your back hits the wall, stunned when Coriolanus follows each of your steps.
“My last lecture is…Professor Bellweather tends to ramble,” you mumble, his proximity unnerving you. “I don’t…I don’t know when he’ll be done.”
He licks his lips.
“I’ll just wait for you, angel.”
He utters the words like it’s obvious. You gawk at him. It takes you a few minutes to retrieve your speech.
You scratch your arm, your frown accentuating.
“You really don’t have to. Like I said, walking home is fine.”
The gaze trained on your form sharpens.
“And I’m offering to take you home so you don’t have to exert yourself.” He bends over you, invading the already insufficient space between the two of you. “Has a friend never done something like that for you?”
“N-No,” you admit. 
His tone’s heavy with suggestion as he rasps, “So let me be your first then, angel.”
Your heart stumbles inside your chest. 
“I’m gonna be late for class,” you blurt out, attempting to brush past him. 
Coriolanus’ hand darts out, swiftly cinching around your wrist to stop you from leaving.
“I still don’t have an answer,” Coriolanus says.
You glance from his hand, tight around your wrist, to his determined gaze. Your throat goes dry.
“Okay, you can d-drive me back home.”
He releases your wrist and returns your books, a smile ghosting over his lips.
“Wonderful. I’ll come get you later, angel.”
Clutching your books against your chest, you watch him glide away.
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As promised, Coriolanus is waiting for you when you exit from your last class. You don’t even think to hide your shock as you find the blond leaning against the wall. A smirk unfans on his lips, your reaction seeming to amuse him.
He doesn’t say much to you as you walk side by side and head to his car. When you’re outside, he surprises you by opening the passenger door for you before you can even lift a hand. 
“T-Thanks,” you stammer. You plop down on the plush seat. The leather smells new and expensive.
Your nerves thrum as he takes the driver’s seat and starts the car. You’ve never been alone in a car with a boy before. Uneasy, you let your eyes roam outside the window. The Capitol’s high buildings blur past you rapidly. 
You’re lost in your thoughts when you notice the prickling sensation over your flesh, The burning, unwavering weight of Coriolanus Snow’s scrutiny. 
Your head whirls.
Bashful words quake through your lips.
“Do I have something on my face?” Your hands reach to touch it, just in case.
He chuckles.
“No,” he replies, shrugging. “It’s a nice face that’s all.”
The casual compliment sends a wave of heat through your body. 
“Can you drive?” he asks, curiosity lighting his features.
You shake your head. Getting your license has never been a priority. Besides, it’s only a thirty minute walk to get to the University. You don’t mind it, often using that time to sneak in some reading.
“No.”
“I could drive you if you like,” he offers, his gaze holding yours. “Anywhere you want to go.”
Your cheeks warm. “I’m okay.”
Coriolanus nods, his focus shifting back to the road.
“You always say that…” He hums low in his throat. “I’m just not sure I believe it, angel.”
You’re so nervous the entire drive that you don’t even notice when he arrives at your house. You stare at him, mouth agape. You haven’t given him a single instruction on how to get there.
“You know where I live?”
As he opens the door for you, Coriolanus simply replies, “You told me earlier.”
Your brows furrow. You don’t remember telling him but his tone harbors no doubt. You rummage through your brain, seeking the moment. Nothing comes up and you grow confused. 
You blink up at him.
“I-I did?”
“Yes, you did, angel.” He snorts as if your line of questioning is beyond ludicrous. “How else would I know?” He slams the door of the car as you rise. “Besides…Dr. Gaul is my mentor. Of course, I know where she lives.”
You nod. That makes sense and it didn’t even occur to you.
“I…”
He cocks his head. “What?”
You fidget beneath his stare, discomfort flaring in the pit of your stomach. 
“Nothing. Thanks for driving me home.”
He flashes you a wide smile.
“My pleasure. See you soon, angel.”
He starts the car and drives away. You don’t feel quite at ease until his car’s gone from view, heading towards the Corso.
Walter zooms across the room as soon as you enter the large apartment. Your eyes wander about. As usual, the place is empty besides you and Walter. Mother rarely spends any time here nowadays, her work occupying all of her time. 
Walter rubs his furry head against your ankle, twirling around you as he meows. He then stands on his hind legs and starts gently raking his claws across your leg. A way for him to demand that you pet him. A small smile tugging your lips, you pick him up. The orange ball of fur purrs, curling against your chest as you carry him in your arms. You make your way to the kitchen and pour a mix of leftover meat and fish in his bowl. 
You set him down on the floor. His tail wiggles as he hops to his food.
You crouch next to him.
“You wouldn’t believe what happened today, Walter,” you say while giving gentle pets to his back. “I was invited to their table.” The orange cat pauses his eating to stare up at you blankly. “Yes. Theirs,” you repeat as if he could understand you. He gives a long meow before focusing on his bowl again. You sigh. “I know. I thought the same thing.”
Once Walter’s emptied his bowl, you pick him up again and make your way to the living room. 
You collapse on the couch.
“And then…Coriolanus Snow drove me home. Yes, the Coriolanus Snow. I didn’t even think he knew I existed.”
For a while, you remain on the couch, stroking Walter’s fur as he sits on your lap. His tail whips the air, his eyes closing as you pet him. His soft rumble of content reverberates against your belly, amplifying when your fingers drag behind his pointed white ears. You lean back, a blanket of peace settling over you. 
Walter’s not just a strange-looking cat, he’s also a rescue…from your mother’s experiments. A kitten mutt with mismatched eyes, one blue and one yellow, his mushed, wrinkled face gives him a passing resemblance to a rodent. Pets like him are a rarity in today’s world as most creatures such as him were eaten during the First Rebellion. 
Your mother finds him appalling. In her eyes, he is a failed experiment. Like you. Perhaps it’s why you have such kinship with the creature. You still recall her unsettling glance in your direction the day she asked the entire class of nine-year-olds at the Academy if they had pets they were sick of. She then proceeded to burn the flesh off a lab rat to demonstrate her pulsed energy laser.
This moment is burned into your mind forever, your mother’s clinical tone chilling your blood.
You stole Walter from the Citadel and took him home that same day.
You were careful to hide him, though you suspect your mother figured out what you did. She likely added it to her long list of disappointments when it comes to you.
Sometimes, you envy Walter. The simplicity his days hinge upon. His obliviousness to the woes of the world. His uncanny ability to sleep through the chaos of it, ignore the disarray. Walter’s world consists of food, play and cuddles. 
What a blissful existence. You bet Walter never had a vexing thought in his short life.
The train of your thoughts is interrupted by the shrill ringing of the phone.
You carefully remove Walter from your lap. He meows in protest and jumps off the couch. You pick up the phone, chest clenching as a familiar face fills the flickering screen.
“Mother,” you greet. “How are you?”
She ignores your question, curtly stating, “You’re falling behind in Molecular Cell Biology.”
You know that tone all too well, the warning laced within it so achingly familiar.
Your fingers twist around the phone cord, your voice becoming small.
“I’ll get my grades up, I promise.”
Silence hovers between you and your mother for a while. Faint hope sparks within you. Perking up, you decide to tell her about your day.
“Oh, mother, today-”
“I must go,” she interrupts. “It’s time for my milk and cookies.”
Your spirits plummet. You nudge a hollow smile onto your face.
“Right. I didn’t realize,” you say, checking the clock hanging on the wall. “I’m sorry.”
She heaves out a deep sigh, her lone blue eye narrowing.
“Focus on your studies. And try not to be even more of an embarrassment to me than you already are.”
“Y-Yes, mother,” you reply, your heart shriveling inside your chest.
As she hangs up, you feel silly and horrible. Silly for trying to strike up a normal conversation with your mother. And horrible for letting her down once more.
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“You came!” Clemensia exclaims as she rushes to you. You try not to tense as she gives you a tight hug. Ivy and Livia linger in the background, their eyes lifting from the crafts’ table. 
You wave at them and are surprised when Ivy wiggles her fingers at you. Livia is more withdrawn, nodding to acknowledge your presence but quickly returning to her task.
You step out of Clemensia’s embrace and flash a quick smile.
“Well I promised you that I would,” you reply nonchalantly. You take a look around the room. Various decorations and posters are propped against the walls, while snowflakes cut-outs and what looks like moon dust are scattered on the table. It seems the girls have been busy.
You turn to Clemensia. “What’s the theme again?” 
Ivy surprises you by answering cheerfully, “Well, it’ll be like a Winter daydream and we were thinking of making it a masquerade.”
Excitement sways in Clemensia’s bright eyes. “What do you think?”
“Sounds nice.” Your trite answer draws every gaze in the room to you. Awkwardly bouncing on your feet, you correct yourself, beaming at Clemensia. “I meant amazing.”
“I think so too,” she chimes.
She shows you the empty chair next to hers. The both of you sit down and she starts rambling about the theme and all the ideas she has to decorate the ballroom. You grow dizzy with all the information, trying to follow along her instructions at the same time. 
“We’ll need to find you a date,” Clemensia says. 
You shake the can of blue paint before spraying over the tree cut-out.
“It’s okay. I probably won’t be going anyway,” you respond absently. 
The pencil in Livia’s hand snaps. Your head rises. The blonde’s gaping at you. You then realize…the same look of disbelief is etched on all the girls’ features. A frown mars your brow. Did you say something wrong? You didn’t realize this was such an important event. 
A nervous laugh peals off Clemensia’s red-painted lips.
“No, but you have to,” she says, “It’s the first Yuletide Ball in over a decade. Everyone will be there.”
You shrug. “It’s four months away, Clemmie.”
Her onyx gaze shimmers.
“Well, a lot can happen in four months,” she sings, a mysterious smile spreading onto her lips.
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queenie-avenue · 5 months
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Terms and Conditions Apply.
💌 ⤻ THE CEO, ADRIAN HOUDE
—> you're the sweet little intern, and he's the big bad wolf who wants to eat you up.
⤻ reader is written as a female, yandere male, age gap, power dynamic, toxic obsession, slightly suggestive, slight financial abuse, set in london, this is a drabble but full fics of him will be made in the future
🦋 ⤻ archives.
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TOP TEN BACHELORS NEAR YOU!
1. Adrian Houde.
Tall, Handsome, Rich, Successful, Ambitious. Ask anyone with more than half a braincell and they will immediately tell you that all these traits are what Adrian Houde has! Born from the rich Houde Family known for their luxury fashion products, he had risen the ranks as CEO of his family's company a few years back.
And boy oh boy, has he made himself known. From various (fake) scandals of him dating various women, to his success in the market in revolutionising his family's industry in fast fashion but still remaining loyal to his grandmother's routes as a custom tailor who first gained traction in France.
Perhaps Mister Houde's only flaw is that he has been on this bachelor list for far too long! He's already in his mid-30s, can you believe this guy has been single for so long?
So, to the lady who catches his eye, good luck surviving all the jealous women who are going to come after you, sweetheart!
✧ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ✧
Adrian Houde is a proud man. I mean, who wouldn't be, right? He was successful, and rich, and practically everyone — regardless of gender or age — wanted to be with him or be like him. He was the pinnacle of a great man, just like his father had said he would be.
So why was it that when you entered the office, looking like a lost little puppy dog, that you captured his interest immediately. Perhaps it was the coffee stains on your skirt and the way your eyes sparkled with desire for greatness. He had seen that spark many times before. In his own eyes, actually. From the moment he saw himself in the mirror as a teen who became aware of the legacy on his shoulders, he knew he was bound for greatness. And you, a simple woman, of all people, carried that same determination and ambition within those cute eyes of yours.
You couldn't blame him for being intrigued by you.
Especially when you looked at him with so much fear in your eyes he couldn't help but laugh.
"I am so sorry, sir- I had no idea anyone was in the meeting room this early." You apologised frantically, holding a bunch of papers and a small, slightly shabby notebook.
"No, no." Adrian voice was smooth and sweet, a mixture of his French accent and his London boy accent he had gotten from the years of being raised in London. "Don't apologise. I was a bit too early to the meeting room, it seems." He said, taking his hands out of the pockets of his suits, raising out his hand towards you.
"Adrian Houde." He introduced out of courtesy.
Hurriedly, you rushed to take his hand, firmly shaking it like you had been taught.
You touch sent shivers down his spine. Was it because your hands were cold or was it something else about you?
Either way, he liked it.
"[y/n] [l/n], sir. It's a pleasure to meet you." You smiled at him, that glow from your eyes never fading.
"[y/n] [l/n]," he repeated, allowing the syllables to roll down his tongue like something falling down the stairs, bouncing. "A pretty name, for a pretty girl." He chuckled cooly as he pulled his hand away.
"I've never seen you before, Miss [y/n]. Are you new?" He inquired.
"Ah, I'm an intern. I just- uh, got posted here recently." You smiled. "I'm a fashion design major."
He couldn't help but be a bit disappointed by that. You were a fashion design major, which meant that you and him would probably not see each other often unless he kept paying visits to the fashion department.
"Wonderful. It's nice to see such wonderful young minds in my company." The older man said as he adjusted the cuffs of his suit with a relaxed grin. "I just know you'll do great in this company."
That blush on your cheeks after he complimented you drove him crazy.
That was how your first meeting concluded.
✧ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ✧
You were so intriguing that Adrian just couldn't keep his mind off you. The moment he returned to his office, he called up his secretary and immediately requested for your file.
When he got it, he couldn't help but obsess over it. Your portfolio was so perfect. From all your university extracurriculars to all your little quirks that the intreviewers had noted down, they were all there for him to overanalyse and understand. Your designs, he had to say, surpassed his grandmother's when she first started out the business.
His fingers traced past all the small details of the sketches of the dresses and suits you made and he wondered what you would look like as a model. Sure, you were the artist, but what if you were a muse?
He couldn't help but imagine you draped in fabrics, nothing else underneath.
He shook his head out of it.
Where was all this coming from? He was a gentleman, his grandmother had taught him to be one.
Brushing those thoughts aside, he went back to admiring your work with a smile.
Indeed, you were an asset he couldn't lose.
✧ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ✧
Afterwards, he invested a lot of time into you. He would always drop by to the studio to talk to the head fashion designers then he would come find you, especially during your break where no one else would see you.
He disliked seeing you with others, terrified that someone else might steal his skilled intern away. No, he couldn't let any business rivals take you away from him.
Or at least, that was his justification.
Adrian would always watch you sketch your dresses behind you till you noticed and promptly let out a yelp. He enjoyed that fear in your eyes but what he enjoyed even more was the constant ambition sparkling in your pupils.
Right, you were his intern and his future designer. It was normal for him to be so invested in your growth.
After all, he was a gentleman. His grandmother had emphasised him to be in all his teachings, so this wasn't wrong. He wasn't preying on the cute intern because he wanted her. No, no, he was being a good boss by observing your actions and your growth.
Another defense as to why he began to nick your drawing pens away.
He would always replace them by gifting you more expensive pen though, a gift for you "allowing" him to have a close-up of the materials you use.
Plus, his future designer deserved the best.
You were his, after all.
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"You lost another pen? No worries, I can gift you this one. Hm? Don't worry about it. Think of this as... an investment on your career."
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dearcarmine · 29 days
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sleep remedy
: ̗̀➛ pairing; mike schmidt + afab reader
: ̗̀➛ tags; smut { handjob, unprotected vaginal sex, creampie }
: ̗̀➛ summary; mike has had long shifts all week and he needs help sleeping. you two have been closer lately and he finds his solution through you.
: ̗̀➛ a/n; 1.5k this was a collab with me and my best friend !! this is just something i’ve been craving for a hot minute..
archive of our own version
six-thirty am. mike slid off his vest and tossed it into the backseat before getting into his car. it was more of a night dreaming than doing his actual job. the wind hit his hair unevenly as multiple cars passed, likely on their way to an early job as he finished his. his eyes laid tired as he drove home, wanting nothing more than to lay in his bed, asleep.
once he arrived home, he walked straight into his bedroom, checking briefly to see if abby was asleep herself. he felt too tired to care about anything else other than the sleep he so desperately craved.
before mike could even touch the end of his bed, the doorbell rang, he groaned as he walked out his bedroom and towards the ring. once he opened the door, his eyes met yours. “what are you doing here?” mike asked tiredly.
“i brought you a sandwich, i figured you might be hungry from your shift,” you replied. you sat the bag you held around your wrist down on the small dining table. you’d been a little tired from waking up early to help mike out. there were times he’d forget to eat dinner and make due with abby’s stashed candy.
”thank you,” he spoke as he sat down and unwrapped the sandwich; it was a cold combo of turkey and pepper jack. as he took a bite, you rummaged the fridge for some drinks. “she’s asleep?” you asked him, eyeing a couple of beers. “yeah, the babysitter left a bit early.” your eyes darted towards him with a small smile, “you know i’d offer and take time to watch her, mike. all you have to do—“
”i don’t wanna bother, but thanks. you don’t have work, do you?” 
you sat with him and twisted the bottle caps, sliding the glass over. “no, why?”
he chewed and swallowed for a moment, his eyes closing in on a single spot on the table. “uneasy. can you sleep here tonight?” another smile formed on your lips as he spoke. you gave a nod, knowing that if you hadn’t, you would’ve slept over anyways.
mike leaned back in the chair, sparing you a piece of the sandwich. he took a swig of beer and cleared his throat, “you can take the bedroom.” your brows furrowed confusingly, “no, it’s fine.” you didn’t mind the couch, but his courtesy evoked flattery from you. deprived from proper hours, he grabbed his beer, sat himself on the couch, and huffed at the impact.
your first thought was to sit with him and stay there until he slept, which eventually he would. you sat yourself next to him and watched as he turned on the sports program he downloaded. he was too tired during the day that he needed to save things however he could and experience them later. even the way his breath fell from his lips felt tired, but you didn't want to comment on it.
“shit..abby gets up in a few hours and i need to—”
“just watch tv. i'll deal with abby and the school, you just stay here and relax,” you spoke over him. your fingers started on his head, trying to relax him calmly. he shut his eyes and kept his head down.
mike’s head soon reached your shoulder and he let out a sigh. he turned his face and looked up at you, “thank you.”
you nodded and smiled, continuing to run your hands in his hair, combing it back gently. halftime on the screen ended and your mind retraced to abby, yet the sensation of mike’s hair in between your fingers fuels your mind instead. his eyes fell back on the screen, trying to doze off to the sound of players grunting and whistles blowing. you couldn’t understand it, but he was the type to fall asleep to sounds most annoying to man. your grasp tightens on his brown strands, curling them and tugging lightly. from his lips fell a small whimper, just loud enough to hear and make the atmosphere a bit awkward.
it wasn’t your intention, but what you did evoked a small smile on your face. he adjusted his position and felt your nails soothe the area you tugged at. “tired?” you asked him.
“i’m so fucking exhausted,” he muttered lowly.
your available hand reached over to his other side and grabbed the remote, turning the volume up a bit. “your pills, are they helping?” you questioned. they were over-the-counter, hardly reliable. he tried anything he could to sleep; to dream. he shook his head and started dragging it slowly into your lap. you moved your hand down to his face, thumbing small circles onto his cheek. he needed help sleeping.
mike turned his head and faced your stomach, giving small groans. you felt the vibrations of his tiredness as his lips connected to your thighs. “mike..” you spoke softly; you were unsure of where he was going, but sure what you wanted. he placed his hand down on the couch and lifted himself up to face you directly, “the pills don't work, this will work.” your hand came up to his face and his eyes roamed you needily.
“baby..”
“mike..” his breathing got heavier just from his name leaving your mouth. another look in his eyes and you gave in. your lips connected with his and your hands went to his shoulder and hair. small moans escaped his mouth and into yours. your knee moved to the other side of his waist as you straddled his lap. his jeans grew tighter as he got hard and you could feel it. your hips grinding down onto his pants make him stutter, “please..c’mon, please.” your hands trailed up his chest and one up his neck and held his cheek. his hands left your waist and lowered to his belt. he unlooped it and tossed it completely away from the couch.
“i need you, y/n, please.” his pleads fueled you to the extent of taking off your shirt and your shorts. you sat on him, half naked, and waiting for his jeans to be pulled down. he struggled with his boxers, his desperate hands clawing at the top band. once he got them down, you took a moment to admire and almost stare at his bulge. his dick hit his stomach adorned with his happy trail you loved oh so much. “how bad do you need it?” you teased him, running your thumb along his tip. his mouth breathed out no words as he took in the pleasure of your touch. when you asked again, he looked up at your face and nodded, “please..really bad.”
your hand took in his cock, slowly guiding along as your head bent down to see what you were doing, as much a you loved seeing his face scrunch with pleasure, the sight of his hips bucking for more as better. he hisses when you tighten your hold, causing your eyes to rise, “you can’t handle it, baby? what’ll happen when you fill me up?” you mocked him lightly and kissed his cheek.
“so close..” he bit down on his pink lips and his lashes flickered up at you, practically begging for release. your mouth hung open, tucking your tongue back and dropping spit onto his cock. your fingers slicked around him and eluded pretty low moans from his mouth. once your movements stopped, those moans turned to whines for your touch. your hips lifted off and above his lap, hovering over him. “here,” you spoke, moving your hand on top of his and guiding it to the waistband of your panties. your fingers maneuvered his to slide them to the side, revealing your pussy and making him more than eager.
positioning yourself onto him, mike groaned and bucked his hips, begging silently for you to move. the loss of friction distanced his orgasm; “c’mon, just–” his hands gripped onto your waist, clawing at the skin and forcing your pussy down around his cock. hips moving forward and back, rising up a bit, you made him bite his lip to suppress his moans. your hands rest on his chest as your lips snake to his ear, smoothing over the flesh with your teeth and biting down gently. another moan escaped his mouth, but this time more vulgar and high pitched. his whimpered echoed through the house, “shh,” your palm closed in on his mouth.
your hand slowly moved down his face, “tell me what you need, baby,” you cooed. “inside, please—don’t move from right here, please.”
your hands settled back on his shoulders, riding him until your legs gave out and he came inside you.
his mess slid with your hips as you moved along him, cumming on his lap and slapping your thighs down for more of him. “mhm..” he groaned, holding the small of your back. your movements stopped as he gently slapped your ass.
his lap raised and lifted your body off of him. “you gonna sleep now?” you ask, moving your hand along his cock and teasing the sensitive tip. his body shuddered under your touch and his breath got heavier until you stopped.
the two of you got clothed and laid back on the couch, panting heavily and stimulated, apparent from the crotches of your clothing being slightly damp and hot.
you laid with mike for the night, finally relieved he’d get the sleep he needed.
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Something people may have not considered, I know I took a while to remember this, is that YouTube channels used to be customisable in layout and with images like blogs on Tumblr.. And I was a MCYT enjoyer back when they still had this capability (Huge Yogscast fan), not anything HC aligned so I took a look at the creator’s old channel designs. Here’s some of them! Collected via Wayback machine.
Scar 2013. The Bob Ross of Minecraft... A few months later the channel name was “Your favorite Scar” and he removed the weapons up above. If you watch his videos from this time, his end screen is designed just like the channel.
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Etho 2011. Back when there was a public comment section. He also used design from fans like he does now.
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Etho 2013. At this point, YouTube removed some of the customisation ability but a custom background was still possible.
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Read more as the images will Turn this into too long a post.
Joe Hills 2012 Classic Joe Hills design! Still holds up today without looking dated.
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Cleo 2012. Very of the time design, can’t go wrong with bubbles.
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Doc 2012. His channel desc.. I thought this was nice to see. And including PhD in Schools... lol
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Doc 2011. Looks like he kept this picture with the new layout change. A very happy and bright looking design.
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Keralis 2012. Machinima! professional design, but it still feels of the time!
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Keralis 2011, that’s more like it! The vertical channel name was popular at this time.
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Xisuma 2012. I think this suits him
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This is all I will go through, as this is available on the archive machine you can find it yourself for others if you so choose, and if this is info that anyone didn’t want shared then send me a message and I’ll remove it from this post.
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moog-rt · 3 months
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GO TO HELL [ch. 2]
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[Lucifer Morningstar x Fem!Reader]
Previous: Chapter One
➨ Chapter Two
Next: Chapter Three
Premise:
You love your friends. You really do. But sometimes it needs reminding when one of them accidentally sends you to Hell.
Despite falling into the hands of Hell’s loveliest princess, finding a way back to the world of the living proves difficult as you tiptoe around its king.
Warning(s): daddy issues, invasion of personal space
If you'd prefer to read on Ao3, here is the link:
Otherwise, enjoy!
♡ ♡ ♡
CHAPTER TWO
Once again, you found yourself having no clue what you signed up for. At this point, it was on you. You should have learned your lesson the last time you put your trust in someone.
This time, instead of being booted through a portal into hell, you were being dressed up like a doll. The outfit you arrived in wasn’t ‘hellspawn’ enough so Charlie was throwing a plethora of outfits at you and seeing what stuck. You had to admit, you liked how the new clothes looked on you, but Charlie would scrutinize them before changing them again.
Personally, you thought you were being a pretty good sport about it. 
Just when you thought it was over, she dragged you in front of her vanity before darting out of the room. This worried you. It was safe enough to assume she was going to do something with your hair or makeup, but what did she need that wasn’t already here?
You began looking around her bedroom, taking in the details of the rich maroon wallpaper and the way the wood paneling complemented it in both shape and color. Her bed was truly something to be envious of, though. It seemed to be even bigger than a king, and the canopy frame allowed her to have translucent and opaque purple curtains draped in layers above it. 
It was possible the entirety of the hotel could look like this once it was thoroughly scrubbed down and decorated. A diamond in the rough, if you will.
You could probably afford to stick around for a day to help deep clean. They were doing so much for you despite being a stranger who had (politely) broken in. Had you been in their shoes, you would have done them in with an iron skillet first and asked questions later (in the courtroom).
You jumped as Charlie came scrambling back in with what seemed to be tubes of paint. You couldn’t help but feel concerned for what was to come.
The paint was squeezed into a bowl with a squelching sound similar to a ketchup bottle towards the end of its life. She reached across you to grab a makeup brush and began mixing it together.
Where did she think she was gonna put that?
You barely had time to react before she dragged the cold wet brush across your cheek. It only took her a minute to completely lather your face. You dared to look at yourself in the vanity mirror as she moved on to cover the rest of your exposed skin. Her gentleness tickled as the brush swept across your arms. She kept it rather neat to your surprise.
“Don’t worry. We just need to get the base down, and then we can spruce it up!” she chirped.
When you asked what there was to get ready for, this was not what you imagined. You could understand not wanting to look like a bum when meeting new people, but to go this far… Meeting a parent shouldn’t even matter if you’re not dating their kid. There was nothing you had to prove to Charlie’s father. Especially since you wouldn’t see him again so long as everything went according to plan.
The actual reason Vaggie suggested this was far more reasonable.
No, they weren’t just doing this to make you look pretty. They wanted to hide you completely. The idea was to make you look like a demon to the best of their ability in hopes of avoiding any unwanted attention. You understood why. Your first hour or so in Hell was pretty traumatic to say the least.
Vaggie went on to list all the things that could happen to you if you were found as a human, which did not help your nerves one bit. You could end up on someone’s dinner plate, or your teeth could be sold on the not-so-black market for a pretty hefty price. Your bucket list may be lengthy, but having your parts being used as someone else’s decor was sure as shit not on it.
Charlie tried to reassure you that her childhood home wouldn’t be so dangerous. However, she couldn’t promise her dad would have a positive reaction to a human wandering around, so it would still be safer to go in disguise. It would also draw far less attention from the staff, meaning you wouldn’t be stuck there so long.
You really got the vibe that she had daddy issues from how much she emphasized it being a quick trip. Not to mention her reluctance to go in the first place…
Charlie finished up the base coat of paint and moved on to add details to make it more realistic. She then adjusted your hairstyle to cover your hairline where the edges of paint were most noticeable.
“Okay, okay, now the final touch…” she said as she bounced over to her closet behind you.
You couldn’t see what she was grabbing. You only felt something being placed on your head. Before you could look in the mirror, Charlie invaded your view and shoved a pair of glasses onto your face.
You were dragged over to her golden cheval mirror.
“Grand reveal!” 
You certainly didn’t look human anymore. Your natural complexion was completely hidden, and the thing Charlie placed upon your head was a pair of fake horns, which she was bobby-pinning in place to ensure they’d stay put. The outfit itself you really liked, but the glasses she had chosen were in the shape of large hearts with bold red tint.
You felt so goofy.
You’d rather be offered up to one of the demonic cannibals than be caught looking like this in the living world. Your only solace was that the majority of people in Hell looked even stranger than you. That, and the amount of coverage you had made you feel like you were wearing a mask that you could hide behind..
“You look…amazing!” Charlie sang, hopping up and down a little. You may have felt a little embarrassed by your get-up, but the joy on her face nearly made it worth it. “Come on, we have to show Vaggie!”
You trailed behind her down the stairs where Vaggie was waiting to send the two of you off. She couldn’t tag along due to prior arrangements. If you remembered correctly, she was going to be interviewing potential guests for the hotel. Real guests rather than a human who had washed up on their doorstep. 
“Vaggie, Vaggie, look!” Charlie called. “You would never guess she was human, right?”
Vaggie looked you up and down analytically before locking onto your face.
“It turned out pretty good, but, uh…” She gestured at her own eyes rather than pointing at you. “What’s with the shades?”
“Well…Her eyes were the only thing I couldn’t really disguise, so the sunglasses will keep them from being visible!” Charlie said with a big grin, clasping her hands together in front of her chest. “They’re also so cute.”
She and you must have very different tastes, but who knows, this could be what was trendy here in Hell. Even if it wasn’t, she made a good point. Of the few demons you’d seen, none of their eyes looked like a typical human’s.
Two beeps from outside the hotel were your cue it was time to head out.
“It’ll go great,” Vaggie said to Charlie, rubbing her back.
“Right…we’ll be back soon!” Charlie said as she led you outside where a white and pink limo was waiting. 
Oh. So she was rich then.
You figured the hotel itself wasn’t too cheap, but the condition it was in didn’t make it seem like it would break the bank. This was a clue into Charlie’s status that had yet to be revealed to you.
The drive through town allowed you to take in the sights rather than watching it all blur by whilst running for your life. There was a good range of shops between ‘normal enough’ to ‘I’d expect no less from Hell.’ Some sold electronics and furniture while others advertised hitman services.
You were pretty sure you passed a vending machine that sold hard drugs.
Watching the denizens made you thankful that you were in the safety of the car. A woman in a business suit doing lines off a public bench before waltzing into the city library. A sketchy dude hanging around the outside of a rundown playground… He seemed to be mocking one of the kids before it launched itself at him, going straight for the jugular.
You looked away before you witnessed something you’d regret.
Charlie caught your eye, shooting you a wide grin. You did your best to smile back.
You wondered where her father would fall on the spectrum of people here. Would he be out for blood like the majority of folks you’d seen? If so, you’d be with Charlie trying to get out of there as quickly as you could.
“Park down here, please!” you heard Charlie say to the driver after a while.
Your surroundings hadn’t changed much from where you started out. The city did seem to be a bit more residential in this area, but the level of chaos remained the same.
You followed Charlie out of the vehicle, expecting to walk into one of the many townhouses lining the uneven street. Instead, she took you down a few blocks and around a corner. It was as if she didn’t want your arrival to be known. To be fair, you didn’t either. The thought of any interactions with Hell-dwellers beyond Charlie and Vaggie made you nervous.
You found yourself standing in front of tall golden gates attached to a stone wall that encircled a grand manor. It was massive, at least twice the size of the hotel, with elegant gold detailing around the windows and pillars. Even though it was gorgeous, you were a little thrown off by its odd shapes and red stripes that reminded you of a circus tent.
It was quite the niche aesthetic…
The front door opened as soon as the two of you reached the top of the stairs, greeted by a small red demon. He had black and white striped horns and wore a cute little suit that reminded you of a butler.
“Welcome back, miss,” he said, dipping his head a bit as he stepped aside to let us in. “I was unaware you would be visiting. Is your father expecting you?”
“Oh, no…” Charlie began fiddling with her hair. “We were just passing by when I remembered I wanted to…pick something up! It’s good to see you. I wish we could catch up, but my friend and I are on a tight schedule.”
Her laugh was forced as she grabbed your shoulders and began pushing you down the hall, ignoring the way you stumbled along. She told you that there would be a room where her dad kept an array of magical tools and artifacts. Most were gifts to earn his favor, she explained.
It made you wonder what sort of industry he was a part of where people were trying to suck up to such a degree.
Pictures lined the hallways with the majority having Charlie as the subject. Their golden frames contrasted nicely against the striped red wallpaper.
You couldn’t help but stop to look at one from when she was in an awkward preteen phase of her life. She was quick to notice and pull you away with a red face. You couldn’t help but chuckle.
Your relationship with Charlie was nothing deep. The two of you had only met the day before, afterall. But seeing bits of her past like this felt intimate in a way one would share memories with a friend. You hoped it didn’t embarrass her too much.
Maybe you would show her some of your baby pictures to make up for it later.
“Oh, this was my old bedroom! One second, there’s something I do want to grab,” she said as she pulled you to a stop before darting inside.
You peeked in through the doorway. It was similar to her current bedroom in some ways, another canopy bed with a plethora of drapery around it and a beautiful vanity with a soft glow emanating from behind it. Yet it was clear that it once belonged to a child from the stuffed animal collection and softer color palette.
Charlie had wandered over to a floor-to-ceiling bookshelf, rummaging through it as she searched for whatever it was she remembered.
You waited outside the doorway. It felt inappropriate to enter a place so sentimental to someone who was largely still a stranger to you. Seeing so many portraits from her past already seemed like a breach of her privacy even though you couldn’t help it. It’s not like you could wander around the halls with your eyes closed.
As you turned away from her room, a small man came strutting around the corner, donned in all white save for a red waistcoat and black knee-high boots. He was about to proceed down the hall perpendicular to yours before skidding to a halt.
His head whipped around to face you, and you froze.
Shit.
His pale blonde hair, ghostly white skin, and rosy spots on his cheeks made him nearly identical to Charlie. He had to be either the father or a brother that she had yet to mention.
He stared into your damn soul, unmoving. You wondered if he could see right through your disguise. Through the paint on your skin to the blood that pulsed underneath. Past your skull to the thoughts racing through your mind.
You stood stalk still in your spot, as well, staring right back at him. You felt it was the only thing you could do. It was either that or book it, but you weren’t paying attention to the turns you took to get to this point. You’d be lost in a heartbeat. Imagine how stupid you’d look then.
So you opted to harness your inner statue. You didn’t dare move a muscle in case–by some miracle–he could only detect movement. If you were lucky, he would shrug and continue strutting away.
Manifest…manifest…manifest–
“Who are you?” He demanded in a deadpan voice as he jabbed his cane in your direction.
Shittt.
“I’m–uh…” Your eyes darted to the side before landing back on him. “Who are you?”
Meeting the parents was never your forte.
“I beg your pardon?”
“Dad!”
Thank fucking god.
His eyes lit up and a massive sharp-toothed smile spread across his face, completely forgetting about you the instant Charlie entered the hallway. 
“Charlie!” he practically screamed, arms spreading wide into the air. You had to duck out of the way as he threw himself onto his daughter. One would think he was attempting to squeeze the life out of her with how tightly he was holding on.
She looked miserable.
You did your best to hide your smile at the exchange. You could remember all the times you were embarrassed by overly affectionate loved ones shamelessly kissing and cooing at you in front of your peers. You were sure that at least half the time it was done so with malicious intent.
On the flip side, it was always quite enjoyable to witness it happening to others.
“I know, Dad. It’s good to see you, too…” She was patting his back, an attempt to signal she was ready to be let go.
“Why didn’t you tell me you would be visiting? We could have planned something fun to do ahead of time–”
“It was a spur-of-the-moment thing! We weren’t originally planning on dropping by, but I remembered there was something I wanted to grab, so…” she lied.
You were unaware she hadn’t given her dad any sort of heads up at all. You felt bad that you were sneaking in without his knowing. Especially since he seemed so overjoyed just to get to see her.
“Speaking of,” she redirected, stepping aside and turning to you. “This is one of my friends–”
“Ah, it is so nice to meet you!” he eagerly cut in.
You were only going to exchange a small wave, but he practically jumped on you, grabbing your hand and shaking it with exuberance.
“My goodness, Charlie never brings her friends over. This–this is so exciting!”
He was so close that it gave you goosebumps. He looked less human than Charlie, but not quite animalistic like the other demons you’d seen. His red pupils were much smaller than hers, bordering on snake-like slits, and all of his teeth were akin to daggers. She must have gotten her more human qualities from her mother.
You did your very best to smile as genuinely as you could.
“It’s nice to meet you, too–uh–Sir.”
He drew back, finally giving you space. Then his eyes lowered to your mouth.
You quickly sealed your lips.
Was he looking at your teeth? They wouldn’t give you away, would they? Charlie and Vaggie had mostly dull teeth aside from their abnormally sharp canines. If he asked, you could tell him you wanted to see how far you could file them down…
Worrying about your appearance made you uncomfortably aware of the paint coating your skin. It felt so thick all of a sudden. So sticky but also dry. And the fake horns were so heavy. God, you wanted nothing more than to rip it all off.
Your heartbeat was picking up speed.
Did his eyebrow just twitch?
His eyes narrowed slightly but that grin held fast. He briefly looked down to his hands before returning to your face, rubbing his gloved fingers together. It was as if touching you left an uncomfortable feeling behind that he was trying to get off.
“I’m glad we got to run into you, but we’re on a bit of a time crunch, so we should get going,” Charlie said, laughing nervously as she tugged on your sleeve.
“It was nice meeting you,” you repeated with a dip of your head before following her down the hall.
You could feel his eyes on you while you walked away. As you turned the corner, you glanced back to confirm you were just paranoid. 
His red eyes were locked onto you. He hadn’t moved from his spot, and his smile was gone.
Relief washed over once you were out of his line of sight. There’s no way he knew you were human. He couldn’t have been able to tell from just your teeth.
But then why did he look at you so strangely?
Your anxiety began to let up more and more as you got further away. Glancing over at Charlie, you could tell she, too, was bothered. Her eyebrows were furrowed and her lips pursed. She kept silent until you finally arrived at the room you came here for in the first place.
It was filled with shelves that held a wide variety of objects. From books, to statues, to strange glowing orbs on pedestals…
If you could find what you needed quickly, none of this would matter. You wouldn’t have to worry about Charlie’s dad figuring you out. You would be back home, safe and sound.
Where it was a good thing you were human.
Where the only things you had to worry about were bills and boy troubles.
“Alrighty,” Charlie said, closing the door after you. “I’m not really sure where to start, but some of these should have labels or descriptions or something.”
That was reassuring.
You each got to work, filing through piece by piece. She wasn’t wrong about some being labeled, though their names often told you little to nothing about what they actually were or what they could do.
As you went to flip through an old book similar in appearance to Devon’s, it was engulfed in purple flames. You gasped, backing away and colliding with something behind you.
Spinning around in hopes of preventing whatever you bumped into from falling, you came face to face with Charlie’s father.
Your heart stopped.
“Might I help you find something?” The smirk adorning his lips as he leaned closer was not comforting whatsoever. You were beginning to understand Charlie’s distress. This man had no concern for personal space.
Wide-eyed, you glanced over at Charlie who looked nearly as alarmed as you to see him there. You side-stepped away so that you were no longer sandwiched between him and the shelves.
“Dad…” Charlie drawled. “Don’t you have something more important to be doing right now?”
“What could possibly be more important than my favorite daughter? It’s been so long since I’ve last seen you!” he said, facing her.
“I’m your only daughter,” Charlie groaned.
“Uh-huh, which is why I want to spend as much time with you as I can~” he sang as threw an arm around her shoulder. “Say, have I gotten to show you my newest ducks yet?”
“No…look we’re really busy right now.”
“Right, right. Looking for something that you need,” he said, waving his hand in the air as he recalled her previous words. “In this room of all places?”
That made Charlie stiffen. 
“Ah, well–uh…”
“She was just showing me around while we were passing,” you spoke up. You were so thankful that your smile didn’t falter when his half-lidded eyes turned to you once more. “It would have been a shame to have missed out on so many amazing relics.”
“I’m sure,” he hummed. “If you’re curious about any in particular, I can tell you all about them.”
He relinquished Charlie to step up to you again.
“Were you a historian when you were alive?” He asked, tilting his head.
“Ah…No…” you said, looking off to the side. There was a moment of silence before you realized he was probably expecting you to specify your occupation. “I was a clinical technician. Items such as these would be interesting to anyone though, I’d imagine.”
“And what did you do to wind up here in Hell?”
What?
“Um, I didn’t…”
“Many would assume working in the medical field would earn you a one-way ticket straight to Heaven, so what could you have possibly done to land yourself here?” His tone turned serious, eyes narrowing.
You needed to calm yourself down. He was probably just interrogating you to ensure his daughter was keeping good company. You’d likely do the same if your child was surrounded by a bunch of sinners with some of the worst track records known to man.
What answer could you give him that was justified enough but didn’t make you sound like a psycho?
You stole a bunch of human blood and used it in a satanic seance.
He didn’t need to know that.
Premarital sex?
No, he had no business knowing about your sex life either.
“I cheated on a test once,” you answered with a guilty smile.
He gave you the most deadpan stare you’d ever seen.
“Premarital sex, too.”
“That’ll do it!” Charlie chimed in.
“That’s the whole reason Charlie and I met actually,” you said, trying to redirect the conversation. 
Both gave you odd looks. That probably wasn’t the best way to follow up that statement, but oh well. 
“She told me all about how I can redeem myself at the hotel she’s running! I hope to one day reclaim my virginity until I find that special someone.”
You smiled sweetly in hopes that it would earn you a few more brownie points. Weren’t you just the most precious little sinner?
“That’s right! She only recently got here, and she’s already seeking redemption! Isn’t that fantastic?” Charlie placed herself at your side, presenting you as if you were a class project. “She hasn’t even heard about the extermination yet!”
“The what?” You turned to face her.
“Don’t worry about it,” she waved you off.
Her father had both hands propped upon his apple cane as he squinted at the two of you. You were clearly hiding something but he had yet to figure out what.
Trumpets began to blare from right beside you, causing even more strain on your frantic heart.
“Hehe, sorry, one second,” Charlie said, pulling her phone out of her pocket to check whatever notification caused that horrid noise. There was a moment of silence as she read the message before her eyes widened, and she went slack jawed. “Shit.”
Well. That didn’t sound good.
Her father looked concerned about her reaction, as well, placing himself at her side with a hand on her arm as he looked up at her.
“Is everything alright, sweetie?” he asked in a soft tone.
“It’s nothing,” she shook her head, pulling away from him. “It was nice seeing you, Dad, but we really have to go now.”
She grabbed your wrist and dragged you out of the room with her, leaving her father behind without a second glance.
Next Chapter
♡ ♡ ♡
tag list: @spookysisters @for-hearthand-home @crescent-z
312 notes · View notes
ihavethedreamies · 27 days
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Watermelon | Mark
Mark Lee - NCT Dream
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Rating: M (18+) MDNI
Word Count: ~1.6k
Pairing: Mark x AFAB!Reader
Genre: Reader-Insert, Smut, Established Relationship, Porn without Plot
!!This is smut…if that much isn't clear you should probably leave now!! MDNI!
Warnings: She/Her Pronouns used, Swearing, Kissing, Quickie, Sex in the Bathroom, Unprotected Sex (Don’t!!)
Summary: You end up making a bit of a mess with the watermelon…
Author's Note: This series was supposed to be of drabbles, and this is the second shortest one…sorry.
This is only vaguely based off of Smoothie…I say this because I got the idea for a fruit theme, but past that its unrelated.
🍇 Renjun 🍇
🍌 Jeno 🍌
🍒 Haechan 🍒
🍑 Jaemin 🍑
🍓 Chenle 🍓
🍍 Jisung 🍍
I am cross-posting this on Archive. Please reblog! If you know anyone that would like this or future fics but they aren't on here my name and icon are exactly the same on the other site. Happy reading!
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It was hot. For you, too hot. And it was just your luck that the boys wanted to dick around outside because the weather was nice. Nice? No, it was hot as balls. While they ran around screaming, playing games and throwing stuff, you sat on a canvas camping chair. Your electric fan's batteries had died so you were futilely fanning yourself with a paper plate. Your thighs were sticking together, and your shorts were no help against the chafing. You shuffled again, grunting in discomfort, adjusting your sunglasses since they had slid down your nose from the sweat. Even in the shade of the tree and a slight breeze, it was still much too hot. Mark had offered to run to the convenience store down the road from your rental house and get something to cool you off. Glancing at your phone for the time, you wondered what the hell was taking so long, you were about to melt away.
"Noona~" Chenle called but you couldn't see him. Finally, he and Mark appeared from around the house as they went to the backyard where the rest of your group was. The second youngest had several bags of snacks, but what really caught your attention was what your boyfriend had in his arms. It was to no one's surprise he had somehow acquired a watermelon.
"Finally!" You exhaled harshly and Chenle dashed over to you, digging a cold bottle of water out and you yoinked it from him eagerly, chugging it down and he laughed.
"Slow done, babe." Mark huffed, letting the watermelon wrapped in a mesh settle on the grass near your feet. He watched as a bit of water slipped past your mouth and down your throat, landing on your white tank top, making the fabric darken. Swallowing, he shook his head to focus his attention elsewhere and kneeled near the melon so he could start cutting it.
"Uh, no." You shook your head, taking the knife from Mark that Renjun had brought out.
"I can do it!" He whined and you gave him a deadpan look and he just grumbled. Mark scooted over and you sat next to him, wrapping your legs around the big fruit to hold it in place. That looked even more dangerous than what he was planning, but you didn't keep it like that for long. Once you had dramatically stabbed the knife into the end of the rind, you adjusted and easily and evenly sliced it in half. Everyone watched in amazement as you deftly cut up the melon, laying each quarter of a slice into the big bowl Renjun had also brought out.
"Wow, she actually cut it evenly." Jaemin pointed out, giving Mark a very pointed look. The eldest looked back at him, slightly confused then offended.
"Hey!" He grumbled again and you grabbed a few slices with Mark and put them on a plate. While the rest of them continued to do whatever nonsense they were doing before, you and your boyfriend sat on the grass under the tree to eat the watermelon. Not thinking anything of it, because who would, you started to eat. It was very juicy, and the man's attention kept going back to your collarbone. After a big bite of the fruit, the juice spilled over your bottom lip and ran down your chin, your throat, pooled on your collar bone, then continued down to run into your cleavage. When you took another bite and even more juice spilled out you cringed, sucking in to try and keep it in your mouth.
"Geez." You mumbled, looking for a paper towel or napkin, something, to dry the juice. The pink liquid was already soaking into the white of your tank and luckily your bra was nude. Not only was your face and chest a mess, but your hands had gotten sticky. Mark watched your tongue lick furiously along your bottom lip, trying to get some of the juice off your chin.
"Let's get you cleaned up." You were shocked at the speed of your boyfriend, who had stood, hauling you up with him, and into the rental house. You both barely slipped your sandals off up entering and you were a bit surprised he dragged you toward the bathroom and not the nearby kitchen to get to a sink.
"Where are we going?" you questioned, blinking in shock as he pulled you into the bathroom, shutting and locking the door. As you stood near the vanity, hands in the air to avoid getting things stuck to them, you watched in surprise as he pinned you against the sink, his face getting very close. Even though he was your boyfriend, the proximity and intense look on his face made your own warm up red. His tongue flicked out, lapping at the drying juice on your face that was just as sticky as the stuff on your hands. He groaned as you shivered, his lips sealing over your own. Immediately you forgot about your sticky hands, going to the back of his shirt to hold on as he lifted you to rest on the bathroom vanity. You did at least have the subconscious thought to not touch his hair. His own sticky hands had met your waist, sneaking under your flimsy white tank, running his thumb over your smooth skin, it stuttered a bit from the juice. When his tongue entered your mouth, you both tasted the sweet watermelon on each other. A trail of saliva connected your lips when he finally pulled away, both of you panting.
"Fuck." He loved the dazed look that had spread across your face, and his smirked when his lips met your neck and you whined. His tongue ran along the path he had watched the juice flow over the skin, cleaning you off and at the same time heating your skin and core. Your hips jumped up from the counter, your denim covered mound grinding against his cock tenting his swim trunks. Mark continued to suck and nibble at you as he moved to follow that path of the watermelon juice, before your shirt covered the final destination. He pulled back just enough to get it off of you, the white material sticking briefly to his fingers. Yours stuck even more to his shirt as you hauled it off of him. Mark's mouth and tongue traced and nuzzled your breasts as he got your bra unhooked and off. Using his tongue to follow the trail of juice, he diverted at your sternum, sealing his lips over your nipple. You sighed, resting back on the counter so your bare back touched the cold mirror. As your boyfriend focused on the other side, he helped you wiggle your shorts off. You didn't have any panties on since your shorts were so tight, and it was so hot out anyway.
"Fuck… (Y/N)~" You would never get used to way he would moan your name.
"Mark, hurry." You furrowed your brow in playful frustration, trying to reach the waist band of his swim trunks to get them off. He huffed in amusement, having a better reach to do it himself.
"Hurry, hurry~" You nearly bounced in anticipation and his chuckle turned to a groan as he started to sink his cock inside of you. Your body shivered, your hand went to your mouth to try and muffle the pitiful moan you let out as he bottomed out. Like usual, you were soaked for him, making the entry easy.
"Try and stay quiet, baby." He rested his forehead on your shoulder, hands on your hips. You hiccupped when he gave a short but hard thrust, keeping up that pace, rapidly bringing you close to your orgasm already. His pelvis would grind against your clit every time he filled you fully, and your breath hitched each time. He gave a breathless chuckle at how cute you were, not noticing that his thrusts were strong enough to shake the vanity. The ceramic cup holding some toothbrushes rattled each time, growing closer and closer to the edge.
"Damn-" Mark groaned as quietly as he could, pulling your hips to the very edge of the vanity, your back slid down the mirror before landing on the marble. You wrapped your legs around his waist, hand pressed hard over your mouth, the other gripping the bar on the wall that held up the hand towel. Your boyfriend ran his tongue over his smirking bottom lip, enjoying watching you try desperately to stay quiet as he fucked you. He only slightly paused when the cup finally fell over, landing on the tile floor and shattering. It was out of the way, so his hips stuttered a bit, but he continued with a huff when you whined in desperation at the halt.
"Shit, babe-" He groaned, and you moaned as well, feeling your own climax getting closer. You both fell over when he did a final grind against your clit, as deep as he could go, spilling inside of you. The heat of his cum brought you over as well, and you pulled your hand from your mouth, panting quietly.
"S-sorry." Mark suddenly felt guilty for hauling you into the bathroom to fuck while all of your friends were possibly in ear shot.
"Th…that's okay." You gave him a tired smile and he kissed you softly with a giggle. After cleaning up a bit and straightening clothes and hair back up, you slipped back outside, and it seemed like no one had even noticed you two had been gone. Later, when you were inside to eat supper, you heard a loud shout from the bathroom.
"Who broke the toothbrush mug?!"
🍇 Renjun 🍇
🍌 Jeno 🍌
🍒 Haechan 🍒
🍑 Jaemin 🍑
🍓 Chenle 🍓
🍍 Jisung 🍍
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Masterlist
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amica-aenigmata-naboo · 6 months
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700 Years
Astarion x Y/N - drabble - 1.6K WC
Masterlist
Warnings: sexual servitude briefly described in regards to Y/N (concubus), soft Haarlep (he is baby i love him so much), Raphael (enough said), fluffffff
Part 2
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You heard the defenses of the door fade away. You laid unmoving, naked on the massive bed. The intruders gawked at you but you did not speak.
A tall tiefling made her way to you before gently shaking you a bit. Your eyes flit to hers, “Yes?” you asked.
“Who are you?” said the Selune follower.
“I am Y/N. One of Raphael’s concubus.” you said sitting up.
“But you’re a mortal?” questioned the vampire.
“Always read the fine print when you make a deal with the devil.” you mumbled. “Now, has the master sent you here for me to please you? All of you?” you said moving to sit on your knees.
“The devil imprisoned you as a concubus to serve him?” the vampire asked.
“No, he imprisoned me to serve his guests… Tell me fangs, how do you like it?” you said, leaning towards him with a seductive smile.
“That’s awful.” Karlach said not even realizing it slipped out.
“The devil isn’t a good guy? I’m shocked.” you said sarcastically. 
“If you can help us, we can save you.” said the githyanki in the back of the group. 
You quirked your eyebrow, wondering if this was a test from Raphael. Whatever the punishment would be for even saying you wanted to leave was enough to send a shiver down your spine. “I am not allowed to leave.” you said, pointing to the chain around your ankle that kept you bound to the bed. 
The adventurers eyed each other, unsure of what to do exactly. “The Orphic Hammer is in the archive, say “give me my heart's desire” and take it… quick before he comes back.”
Everyone nodded and started to run towards the archive, leaving you on the cold bed. Everyone except a certain vampire. He shook his head at the door, eyeing you before running back over to you. You watched him in stunned silence as he quickly made work of the complex lock chaining you to the bed. 
“What are you doing? You’re wasting your time.” you whispered to him.
“I was locked in sexual servitude for 200 years, call me soft for not wanting to leave you in the same state.” said the vampire as the final click of the lock snapped. 
“I haven’t been free of that chain in 100 years…” you whispered while silent tears fell from your eyes.
Astarion looked at you confused, “Human, but not mortal?”
You laughed out breathily. “Raphael keeps what’s his forever. He made me eternally youthful so his guests would be… eternally entertained.” 
“How long?” he asked, afraid to know the answer.
“What year is it?” you asked, trying to give an accurate calculation. 
“1490” he said quickly.
“Really?... I’ve been down here for 700 years… that is… um…” you felt your chest fill with dread. Everything and everyone you knew was gone. You were truly and completely alone.
“I don’t mean to be insensitive to what you’re going through right now but maybe we can sulk back at camp once we’ve escaped the hells?” he asked, standing you up and grabbing you random clothes he found strewn on the floor.
“Thank you…” you said. You felt detached from your body, your eyes had tunnel vision and you felt weak. 
“Astarion,” he said.
“Thank you Astarion.” you nodded gently.
“Astarion! We have company!” the tiefling yelled from the door, holding the hammer.
“Stay here, you can’t fight.” Astarion said, rushing the door. You followed him, grabbing his arm before he made the door. He could see it in your eyes. Fear. “I will come back for you as soon as Raphael is dead. I swear it.” he said.
Your grip on him loosened. All you could do was trust him. He left and you heard a never ending commotion from down the hall. You looked around the room searching for one specific thing, you knew Raphael wouldn’t throw away something so valuable, you just had to find it. You tried to open the opulent chest in the corner of the room, Raphael had chained you to the bed because you so much as touched the chest 100 years ago. 
“Looking for something little mouse?” said Haarlep from the doorway. He looked ravishing as always and a sinister smile graced his face. 
You rushed to him and hugged him immediately. Haarlep had been your one comfort in the House of Hope. When Raphael found that you and Haarlep were friends he moved Haarlep to a separate room just for them. That was 300 years ago, you hadn’t seen him since. 
He held you tightly. You two were bonded on a level not many could say they were. He understood your pain, and you understood his. He had been enduring it long before you had but you weren’t from the hells. You were some poor paladin who made a deal to save their lover… only for said lover to abandon you with Raphael. You were a beauty, that was undeniable. Raphael found a use for you in his demented little home. 
“It’s time for me to go.” you said, holding his face. 
He didn’t want you to leave, but he knew this place was not for you. He wanted you to be able to live life, you couldn’t do that here. “I suppose it is.” he smiled sadly at you. He enchanted the chest, unlocking it. There, in all its glory, was the armor you arrived in. Hell Dusk armor. With a snap of Haarlep’s fingers you adorned your armor. You felt powerful, your oath was long broken but you felt the power of the dark. It warmed you like an old friend. 
“Goodbye little mouse.” Haarlep said, caressing your cheek. You smiled up at him, both of you feeling the weight of this bittersweet moment. 
“Leave with me?” you begged him. 
Astarion rushed back into the room, “We have to leave now.” he said, barely acknowledging the devil. 
“Go little mouse. My place is here.” Haarlep adorned your neck with a necklace, the flick of his wrist poofing it into place. It was an infernal marble tied with a simple string. “Come tell me about your adventures in a few hundred years.” he said, smoothing his thumbs over your never ending tears. You nodded quickly, placing a quick kiss to his lips. Astarion grabbed your hand and started to lead you out. 
“Keep them safe.” was all Haarlep said to Astarion before disappearing into a cloud of black smoke. 
—————————
You escaped the hells and followed the adventurers to their camp. Everyone introduced themselves on the way. You noticed that Astarion hadn’t let your hand go yet, despite danger no longer being imminent. When you got to camp, you stayed with him. Feeling a sort of… comfort with him since he is the only one who stayed with you. 
Astarion was soft towards you, surprising even himself. All he could hear in his head was you saying 700. Living over twice as long as he had, he can’t imagine how Raphael had abused you. It broke his undead heart. He felt a sense of responsibility towards you. To protect you and care for you and show you the world might not be so bad. To guide you. Nobody had helped him and it was miserable. He was broken out of his trance by the sound of your armor being taken off. He looked at you, watching layer upon layer fade away. He saw the various scars that adorned your body. What in the hells had been done to you?
“Everyone had different pleasurable appetites in the hells… I had to indulge them.” you said running your fingers over some of your more lengthy and prominent scars. 
Astarion gently held his hand out to you, afraid that if he touched you first in this moment you might recoil. He was shocked when you took his hand and kissed his palm.
“Thank you…. for saving me. You didn’t have to. I’ll be useful to your team and fiercely loyal to you of course. Whatever you want of me, consider it yours.” Your eyes grew distant. He knew that look, he had worn it for 200 years. You were waiting for him to use you, your body specifically.
Astarion pulled his hand away from you and gave you some loose fitting clothes. “You belong to yourself. You’re free now, you decide what happens to you.” You held the clothes but didn’t move. 
“Strange to be free. The hells were home for 700 years. Everything I’ve ever known of this world has changed.” You spoke aloud, unsure if Astarion cared enough to listen. 
“You miss your lover?” Astarion said inquisitively. 
“Lover?” You asked confused.
Astarion pointed to your necklace, the infernal marble felt warm in your hand. “Haarlep wasn’t my lover, he was my friend. My only friend… Raphael… made us do things together for the entertainment of his guests… but we weren’t lovers. We were equals, stuck in the same awful predicament. He was always good to me.” You trailed off softly, missing Haarlep immensely. 
Astarion understood, he felt as if you and him were connected purely through the trauma others had inflicted upon you both. 
“I’m sorry… I know this must all be difficult but, you’re here now. Relatively safe, with somewhat normal companions. You’re welcome to stay if you’d like.” He said, secretly hoping you’d stay. 
“If I stay, can I stay near you?” You asked uneasy. 
“I don’t see why not, you haven’t proven burdensome yet.” He said with his eternal smirk present. 
You smiled. Today was full of more smiles than the past 100 years. “Then I’ll stay.”
Hello lovelies! I hope you're all doing well :) here is another fic, I think I might try to put one more out before work on Monday. Maybe this one could become a series if y'all like it that much? Idk I'm just doing my own thing until I get requests.... Thanks you for the likes, comments, reblogs, and motivation! Stay safe out there ilysm <3
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dilatorywriting · 1 year
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The Prince & The Pauper Prefect
Gender Neutral Reader x Prince Stefan (Twst OC) Word Count: 5.9k
Summary: 'Dear Ramshackle Prefect, you are cordially invited to tour the Royal Sword Academy at your leisure. We hope our libraries may have something of use to aid in your journey home. And if perhaps you find our facilities to your taste, we would be more than happy to extend you a more permanent invitation.’ Clearly, nothing about this could go wrong at all.
A/N: A commission for the very lovely @thefiasco-onyourblock. I'm having so much fun with all y'alls ideas, and this is one of the few that was asked to be public, so I'm happy you all get to see it! It was a lot of fun to dive back into this himbo~
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You’d just stumbled your way back onto Ramshackle’s sagging porch after your second third fourth foray into this wonderful new world of Near-Death Experiences when the letter arrived.  It popped into existence in a pleasant burst of bubbles and sparks—a scroll of soft, cream, paper stamped with a shimmering wax seal that looked like it could have been melted down out of literal gold. You waved a hand under it, over it, all around the thing in grand loop-de-loop. The letter just kept hovering in place, occasionally spitting out another bout of multicolored sparkles.
“Hello?” you tried, cautious, and the thing crinkled at the corners. Like it was trying to wave back at you.
You glared up at the grey sky for a moment, daring whatever higher power existed in this stupid world to try fucking with you yet again, before reaching out to grab the ridiculous, magic, note.
It unrolled at your touch, like a cat stretching when you scratched along its spine. And instead of some horrible prank or wayward contract, you were greeted with an opportunity.
.
.
“POACHERS!” Crowley howled.
You sighed and rested your chin in your palm. “So can I go?”
“INTERLOPERS!” he forged onwards, waving the letter back and forth like a parent raging over a bad report card. “Who do they think they are?! Trying to swipe my most precious intern—student! My most precious and beloved of students!—out from under my nose?! As if I wouldn’t be able to see through something so—so—ACK!”
“I mean,” you grumbled miserably under your breath, “it is a pretty long nose. Could hide a lot under there.”
He turned on you with a gasp, like you’d just insulted his mother. Or… whatever the Headmaster’s no doubt vaguely evil and eldritch equivalent would be. 
“It’s a mask! A mask!”
He crumpled the letter petulantly between his clawed fingers and went to hurl it to the ground, but the paper smoothed itself out with another one of those magical ‘pops!’ and floated up on an artificial breeze to land neatly in your lap. Crowley sneered at the thing like he was planning to light it on fire, and honestly, with how strange and ethereal this little letter was, you sort of wanted to see him try.
“I think it’s a perfectly reasonable opportunity,” Professor Trein shrugged, unbothered by his superior’s usual nonsense.
“It’s not as if the Royal Sword Academy is known for their treachery,” Professor Crewel added, sounding a bit like the acknowledgement had to be yanked out of his mouth with a pair of pliers. He glanced your way for a moment with those narrowed, steely, eyes of his before turning that glare back on the old crow. “And in comparison, I don’t think any of us can truthfully claim that Night Raven has provided a particularly safe learning environment for the Prefect.”
Crowley sniffed, indignant. “A sprinkling of danger is all part of the educational experience!”
Trein sighed and Crewel pinched at his brow like he was fighting the start of a migraine.
“They’re just offering to let me look through their library archives for more information on how I could find a way home,” you tried, and then leaned forward conspiratorially. “Which would mean less work for you, you know.”
For a moment you could see the calculations whirling behind those glowing, yellow, eyes—the promise of entirely unearned vacation time and accolades for tasks he’d had absolutely bupkis to do with. But then the sharp line of his mouth hardened in determination and he turned away from you with a huff.
“We’ll discuss this betrayal of yours later—when my poor, old, heart has had some time to stitch itself back together!” he harumphed and you sighed miserably. Then he snapped his fingers with a little ‘ah!’ and turned on you with a perfectly sunny smile. “And of course there’s the VDC to plan for! Do get on that, my favorite, little, busy bee!”
Afterwards you stood in the little alcove outside of Crowley’s office, the golden letter clutched tightly in your fists. The soft edges of the scroll lifted to curl around your knuckles, like a gentle reassurance. Before you could work yourself up into getting too upset about the unfairness of it all, Professor Crewel placed a hand on your shoulder with a heavy sigh.
“I’ll drop you off Monday morning.”
You fought the tremble that was doing its best to turn your mouth into a wobbling mess, and turned to launch yourself into his furs with a crushing hug. The alchemist patted your back with a great deal of aggrieved grumbling, but he didn’t bother to push you away either, so he probably didn’t mind you creasing his coat as much as he said he did.
.
.
Your assurance that this was just a jaunt through the RSA’s library had been… mostly a fib. Or at least, deceptive in the same way that the sweeping, cursive, missive was also sort of sneaky. You’d dealt with enough genuine schemers at this point to recognize subtle promises woven into the words of the well-meaning.
‘And if perhaps you find our facilities to your taste, we would be more than happy to extend you a more permanent invitation.’
You sighed and tucked the letter into your bag. It felt a bit wrong to be ducking away from your friends and your hovel of a home like a thief absconding in the night. But this was just… You were just looking. Spending a day away from the cloying, tarry, taste of pooling blot, and the endless runaround of all your little duties, and Crowley was not nearly the same as flipping your new friends the bird and fucking off into the sunset.
You repeated this to yourself ad nauseum as you pulled on your cleanest uniform, and then again throughout the entirety of the drive down the coast, and then more when Crewel waved you out of his car with a pointed look, leaving you at the RSA’s doorstep with a little shoo shoo gesture to get you moving.
Everything was so white. And not the gentle sort of lightness that came with nice things like fluffy sheep or foam off rolling ocean waves. It was sterile—so sharply bright in the morning light that it was nearly blue. The brick path beneath your feet was white, the guardrails lining the walkways were white, the walls of the looming castle, the impressive archways, the fluttering flags bearing the school’s regal coat of arms—all bone-bleached beneath the sun and shimmering like the architecture itself had literally been polished to a gleam. The only variation to be seen amidst the sea of monochromatic brilliance was the occasional pop of a cerulean spire—like some sort of awful party hat to top off the whole mess of it.
Say what you might about Night Raven’s gothic chic and whole ‘I mean, of course the cobwebs in the halls are Intentional’ aesthetic, but at least walking around the drab buildings there didn’t leave you feeling like someone had just set off a camera flash in your face. You felt like you were dirtying the roads by just existing near them. How did anything ever get done here without everyone having to constantly stop just to sweep up their footprints behind them?!
But such was the way of this dumb world apparently. Everything had to operate in extremes—nothing could just be normal. Real. It was all some fairytale recreation, varying only in if it fell hard on one side of the spectrum or the other.
You pulled out the letter with a sigh, and began roving over the contents yet again to see where exactly you were supposed to be headed. This whole fieldtrip turning into a miserable confirmation of your unintended loyalty to Night Raven or otherwise, at least you might be able to get some information out of these promised libraries.
You managed to cross a sweeping stone bridge, descend three separate flights of stairs, and follow nearly half a dozen signs with little, circled, stars on them before realizing you were probably only making things worse for yourself. You were still on one of those glistening, pearlescent, pathways, but now there were trees everywhere. It was a far cry from the twisting, black, forests smattered throughout Night Raven’s estate. Light filtered down pleasantly through the lush trees and the air was so nicely scented with flowers and pine that it was almost like someone had gone through with a bottle of Perfume de Forest and personally spritzed each and every plant. Which—ugh. Even the birds seemed to singing in tempo to some pre-orchestrated song. It was trippy.
But speaking of trippy—
You were so busy glaring suspiciously at a tree with a literal smiley face twisted into its bark that you didn’t notice the drop-off until it was too late. To be fair, it was still all very lovely—an overhang leading to a crystalline lake that bubbled gently under the roar of nearby waterfall. No jagged rocks at the bottom or anything. You probably wouldn’t even have to tumble all the way into the water, just into the little ditch about ten feet down. But of course, all that didn’t stop you from ‘eeping’ inelegantly in a panic as you stepped over the edge and started to fall.
And then you jerked back with a wheeze when something caught you around the collar of your uniform and tugged. You flailed wildly as you were hauled back up and into the air, and something behind you made a high-pitched, nervous, whinnying noise.
“Woah, woah, woah! Easy! Easy! You’re going to send all three of us over, you big baby!”
The huffing, angry, noises just got worse and you were dropped unceremoniously back on the pathway you’d wandered off from just in time to see a pair of hooves come crashing down precariously close to where you’d been dumped. You scurried back in a hurry, because you’d survived too much nonsense at this point to get taken out from something as mundane as a kick to the head.
The horse eventually got its singular braincell working well enough to realize it had to back away from the ledge, and you were finally able to look upon your savior without being too worried about taking a hoof to the face.  
He was clearly an RSA student, what with the garishly bleached uniform and impeccably put together everything. There was a crimson cloak tossed over one of his shoulders though, which did more to break the monotony of colorless brightness than any other architecture in the entire campus, so well done him you supposed. There was a sort of effortless attractiveness to everyone in this stupid world, but your new acquaintance in particular seemed to fall hard into that ‘windswept, accidental model’ sort of look, with loose brown hair falling in a neat fringe over his forehead, and wide, warm, hazel eyes. He looked a bit like the sort of person that a school might slather on all their recruitment posters to be like ‘see! We have jocks that know how to shower and brush their hair! Look how put together we are!’
“Are you alright?” He asked, looking down at you with a canted head—curious. “You don’t look a student here.”
“I’m not,” you sighed, making your way to your feet with a sore grumble. “I have an invitation. I’m just trying to find the Headmaster’s Office,” you said, holding out the letter like a hall pass.
“Oh!” He chirped, brightening. “I can show you the way,” He offered. “Not that I’m in trouble enough to know the way there by heart or anything, but I guess just enough that there isn’t too much of a chance that I’ll get the both of us lost,” he winked and you narrowed your eyes suspiciously. Normally this sort of overly familiar banter meant you were about to get dragged into all sorts of Shenanigans.
Before you could decide whether to take the chance or politely decline, his stupid, too big, horse reared its head back with a frustrated huff. Mister Red Cloak took the mini-tantrum in stride, despite the fact that the thing had nearly just clocked him right in the face with a head that looked as solid as a boulder.
“Oh, come now,” he sighed, patting the beast’s neck. “We can finish the course later. Don’t be a baby.”
The horse made some sort of unpleasant shrieking noise like some nightmare creature from just beyond the gates of Hell that had you flinching back to avoid being Murdered, but its rider simply rolled his eyes and tugged sharply at the reins.
“What do you think, huh? Just this once?” he asked, leaning forward over the withers to talk to the raging horse in its face. Like a lunatic. “For an extra bucket of oats? And maybe, just a few—” cue an absolutely horrendous eyebrow waggle, “carrots?”
And then the horse tossed its head back with a whinny that should absolutely not have sounded anything like a ‘hell yeah! Whatever you say, dude!’ before turning and prancing around you in tight, bouncy, circles. You scrunched in on yourself, because the thing was still probably a thousand pounds of muscle and flailing limbs. Even if it wasn’t actively huffing at you anymore, now it was just getting closer faster.
“You really don’t have to,” you tried. “Just point me in the right direction and I can find my own way.”
“Nonsense!” he chirped, dropping down from the saddle to land before you in the grass with a heavy thud. He brushed at his trousers, as if he wasn’t expecting his hands to come back completely clean. There wasn’t a speck of dirt on him. “What sort of savior would I be if I let you get lost in the wild and wonderful woods of this grand institution?”
“I can see the castle,” you griped, pointing to the blue peaks over the trees.
“Last I checked, you can see it from the entrance too,” he smiled and gestured to the forested path around you, chuffing a bit like he was laughing under his breath. “Must’ve been quite a turnaround, to wind up here anyways.”
Instantly you felt your hackles rising and a familiar, prickly, heat work its way up into your cheeks.
“Thank you, for your concern,” you grit out and swiveled on your heel. “But I guess even I should be able to find my way eventually.”
The pleasantly amused expression on the brunette’s face instantly fell and he darted back in front of you with a grimace.
“Sorry—that was. Sorry. I guess I put my foot in my mouth,” he rushed out. A gloved hand came up to rub awkwardly at the back of his neck. “I didn’t mean it like that.”
You snorted and glared off into the trees.
“Now you really have to let me show you the way,” he laughed, stilted and bordering on too polite. “For making an ass out of myself like that. It’s the least I can do.”
You glared at him sourly for a moment before sighing and glancing back at the looming Andalusian still prancing along the tree line. “Will… that be coming with us?”
“Helios?” he asked, like you had any concept of what a ‘Helios’ was supposed to be. Probably the horse. “Oh, no, no, no,” he said, waving you off. “He can find his way back to the stables on his own. Right, boy?”
The horse made another one of those high-pitched, blustery, noises and you forcefully reminded yourself that you had faced inky goop monsters that were personifications of your classmates’ literal demons, and also kidnapping plots involving another of said classmates diving into your brain to rewire it like you were his own personal puppet. And in comparison to all those trials, Sentient Animals should not be creepy.
“Fine,” you huffed. “It’s fine. Just—let’s just get going.”
“Right!” he beamed, instantly bouncing back to his earlier enthusiasm. “I’m Stefan, by the way.”
You offered your own name in return, if only to be polite, and he smiled like the fact that you’d managed to grit out those familiar syllables was a gift in and of itself and not just, you know, generic introduction protocol.
“You have a lovely name,” he chirped, falling into step at your side.
You snorted, still a bit too bitter and sore. “You don’t have to try so hard to be nice, you know. To make up for saying something you feel bad about, I mean. It’s fine.”
His blinked his wide, hazel, eyes at you in way that looked a bit like you’d managed to surprise him. His eyelashes were long and soft, and they brushed against his cheeks with each shutter. Never trust people with nice eyelashes, you thought a bit petulantly. You’d known you were right to be cautious.
“You think I’m just saying that because I feel guilty?” he asked, not sounding particularly incredulous or insulted so much as genuinely curious. He tilted his head at you and some of his fringe slipped in front of his eyes, softening the sharp lines of his face. “Do people normally do that?”
You didn’t quite frown at him, but it was a close thing. You could feel your brow pinch.
“…I guess,” you huffed after a long moment, turning to stare back at the path ahead.
“Huh,” he mused, thoughtful. “Well, I really did mean it. And it’s a lot better than my name by far. I mean, really, Stefan? A bit on the nose, don’t you think? ‘Crown?’ Come on. Couldn’t my parents have been anymore original?”
You glanced over at him, a bit lost. “What does that mean?”
“Stefan?” he repeated with another one of those eyelash-sweeping blinks. “It means ‘crown.’”
“No,” you sighed, long suffering. “As in, how is that unoriginal? It’s a nice name.”
“Well, it’s because I—” he trailed off, gaze lingering in open astonishment. After a long moment of gaping at you like he’d just been clobbered across the back of the head with a baseball bat, he finally cleared his throat and looked back off into the trees with a tight shrug. “Nothing. It doesn’t mean anything I guess. Don’t worry about it.” He seemed to chew on that train of thought for a moment or two longer before turning back to face you with a wide grin that was just on the right side of smug. “You think it’s a nice name?”
“Whatever,” you huffed, cheeks starting to heat with something other than bitter chagrin. “Just please get me out of this forest before I fall over another cliff.”
.
.
Headmaster Ambrose the 63rd (the sixty-third! What in the nepo-nonsense was that?!) looked like a wizard straight out of some homey after-school-special, with silver spectacles perched on his rounded nose and a soft, pointed, cap atop his head that flopped endearingly at the tip. He was an antithesis to Crowley in every sense of the word—flowing robes replacing tight vests and formal wear, faded white accents rather than sharp black, and not a single bit of Sparkling Flair to be seen. Like everything else, as nice as he seemed, it was such a stark jump into the opposite direction that it had your hackles raised in caution.
“Our libraries are some of the most extensive in the country,” he smiled, warm and fond. It made the corners of his eyes crinkle behind the rims of his glasses. “I hope you’ll be able to find something that may be of some help to your situation.”
“Thank you, sir,” you said, fighting the insane storybook urge to do something like curtsy.
He waved you off with a gentle shake of the head. “None of that ‘sir’ nonsense. You’re a guest a here! I hope my students have been treating you well?”
Stefan rubbed at the back of his neck and shot his headmaster a sheepish smile that was entirely, unfairly, handsome.
“Doing my best, sir.”
“Good lad,” he hummed, something nearly mischievous sparking in those blue-grey eyes of his. But you were hesitant to label it anything of the sort now that you’d seen what real sneaky nonsense looked like. This was more like… Children’s Program Mischief. That kind that usually involved an adult thinking themselves very clever for being able to sneak some vegetables into an afternoon snack. He turned back on you with that shining smile. “Allow me to find you an escort for the afternoon, and then we can get off to the library.”
“I’d be happy to show them around!” Stefan piped in.
“Is that so,” Ambrose mused, that same little grin playing over his mouth. “I thought you were meant to be in Equestrian Studies at the moment, hmm?”
“Well, I mean,” he spluttered, before collecting his argument and squaring his shoulders with another one of those blindingly bright smiles, “how could I possibly have left someone in need to fend for themselves, sir? I would have brought shame down on this entire institution! Heroes are meant to be made not born, after all!” He boomed, like someone cheering a school’s motto at a sports game.
All of this sounded like the largest crock of self-aggrandizing bullshit you’d ever heard, and by the time you’d had a whole internal debate with yourself over the merits of NRC’s outright nastiness versus this… whatever it was supposed to be, Ambrose was gesturing between the pair of you and saying something that you probably ought to be being paying attention to.
“Thank you, sir!” Stefan grinned, and Ambrose waved him off in that same pleasant way he had you earlier.
“You’re in excellent hands, Prefect,” the Headmaster assured as you were rushed out the door by the guy who was clearly going to be your newest Problem. “Take care! And please let me know if there’s anything at all that we can help you with.”
And then you were back out in the hallway, with Stefan already steering you towards who knew what. The archives, you hoped. But knowing your luck, probably not.
“You must be hungry, right?” he asked, perfectly polite. “Why don’t I take you to the cafeteria before we head over to the library?”
“I’m fine,” you said, just as your stomach gurgled a very loud complaint. You patted at your traitor of an abdomen in a silent reprimand and sighed, “You can just show me the way. I don’t want you to feel like you have to babysit me the whole day.”
“Nonsense,” he beamed, intertwining his arm with yours and tugging you off down another hallway before you could protest. He was so tall, and it should have been hard to keep up with his longer stride, but it wasn’t. “I like spending time with you.”
“What?” you blinked, thrown. Because maybe you’d hit your head or something, but you were pretty sure the last half hour had consisted of very little other than you being grumpy and unpleasant.
He canted his head to look down at you and the corners of his eyes crinkled in a smile.
“You’re nice to talk to,” he said. “Honest, I think. Would be the best way I could describe it. Genuine.” His hazel eyes went a bit distant, wistful. “There aren’t many people here like that. It’s different. Good different,” he promised, the corners of his smile tugging into something a bit teasing.
Your gaze tracked down to the brilliantly blue carpet beneath your feet and then around to the perfectly white walls. Other students filtered by in their starched uniforms and shiny, black, dress shoes—all impeccably groomed and all chattering idle nothings about the weather, about classes, exams. You could see the muddy imprints from your boots trailing along the floor and a few errant bits of grass fell in clumps from where they were still tangled up in your shoelaces. Something tight in you eased a bit at the mess, and you turned back to your companion with a sigh that was bordering far too close on ‘begrudgingly fond’ rather than the properly ‘put upon’ you were aiming for.
“If you say so.”
You hadn’t thought it was possible for the guy’s smile to get brighter, but somehow he managed. You squinted into the warmth of it with a strange, squirmy, feeling in your stomach that you didn’t think had much to do with being hungry.
“Come on then!” he beamed, tugging you along. “We don’t want to miss the Feast!”
“Feast?” you echoed, incredulous.
“With dancing silverware and everything,” he mock-whispered, like a secret just for the two of you.
“What the fuck,” you gaped, brain immediately latching onto the most ridiculous aspect of all of it. “How do you eat anything if it’s dancing?”
Stefan threw his head back with a roaring laugh that had you wanting to sink into your collar with your shoulders hunched up to your ears. But no one stopped to stare, or point, or snicker into their palms at his open enthusiasm. There were a few curious peepers, but once they seemed to identify the source of the noise, they all went back to wandering the halls in their perfectly pressed uniforms with nary a sly comment or sneer to be seen.
“See?” he beamed, tilting sideways to knock his shoulder against yours. “Honest. Now come on—we don’t want to miss out on all the grey stuff. It tastes way better than it sounds, promise.”
.
.
The pair of you entered the cafeteria right at the start of things, with dishes and forks just beginning to fly overhead in waves of strange, blinking, lights and motes of golden sparks. More than a few people waved at Stefan as he walked in, and he returned the greetings with polite, buoyant, ones of his own before herding you to an empty table off to the side.
“You don’t want to sit with your friends?” you asked, brow pinching in confusion.
“Hmm?” he mumbled around a spoonful of something already shoved in his mouth. There wasn’t any kind of plate in front of him, so he must have snatched it right out of the air. He swallowed and reached up to grab another. “Oh, no. That’s fine. Here! Try this!”
You leaned away from the spoon he held up to your lips with a huff and some obligatory complaints about how ‘you could feed yourself just fine, thank you very much.’ You plucked the bit of silverware from his fingers with a wary frown and very tactfully ignored that lingering, fluttering, warmth in your gut that you still hadn’t managed to completely snuff out.
“Is this… grey stuff?”
“Right on the money,” he winked, leaning forward to snatch up another flying fork. “My family’s not usually a fan of more ‘modern’ cuisine, so it’s always a treat to be able to try all the different foods at the Feasts here.”
You looked hesitantly at the goopy mess of monochromatic paste smeared across the spoon, and then back up at Stefan who was casually digging into his own floating mountain of toxic waste with an absolutely enraptured hum of satisfaction.
“Remind me to buy you a grilled cheese or something…” you muttered under your breath, before bravely swallowing the entire spoonful of sludge. And—huh. That was actually… pretty delicious. How weird.
You spent the rest of the luncheon event picking at random bits of floating foods as they danced by. Occasionally Stefan would lean forward to point out his favorites and give recommendations. He was surprisingly observant, despite whatever initial impressions his jock’s jawline and guileless grins may have led you to believe otherwise—taking easy note of the things you pushed aside and the ones you nibbled at more enthusiastically.
“Oh—you missed the desserts,” he lamented as the last remnants of a picked apart pie flew over your head.
“That’s fine,” you said, but he only shook his head and began to drag you off again with another of those brilliant grins.
And so began a weird sort of pseudo treasure hunt, where Stefan would take your hand and haul you off to some random corner of the castle with promises of whatever seemed to strike his fancy, or more accurately you supposed, whatever he seemed to think you might fancy.
“No one really uses this vending machine anymore, but somehow it always restocks and it has the best ice cream bars I’ve ever had. It’s wild! I’m sure you’ll love it!—“
“Oh, it is pretty cold down here, right? I didn’t even think about that. But… hmm… Here! I know the best place to grab a hot chocolate! It’s just over this way a bit—“
“These walls are kind of a drab view, yeah? Here! If we go down this way there’s a great little area to sit where you can see the whole bay—“
By the end of things, somehow you ended up back at the stables with that terror of a horse of his. And despite the runaround and the vaguely exhausting fact that Stefan’s social battery never seemed to wear itself out ever, it wasn’t… it wasn’t that bad, actually. Sometimes people would wave him down to talk, and he always introduced you and left the proverbial door open for you to join the conversation, but never asked you to participate, which was nice. You’d taken to just sort of slouching against his side in a food coma like a lizard on a rock as he answered whatever mundane questions all the other students asked of him. But otherwise, it was just the pair of you bopping around all over the campus.
Helios saw his master and whinnied merrily, and Stefan made an odd sort of chuffing noise in return that had you laughing into your palm.
“What?” He complained good-naturedly. “You’ve never barked at a dog before? It’s the same thing!”
“Of course it is,” you droned, lips twitching up at the corners.
The next destination was someplace on the coast that he was insisting was the absolute best place in the world to sit and think. Which if you wanted to do research, naturally you needed to get your head together about where to start, right? The only problem was that it was a solid hour hike away, but Stefan assured you that on horseback it was a much shorter journey.
You leaned forward on your tiptoes to get a look down the sprawling corridor of stalls, each larger and grander than the last. And each of their occupants following that exact same trend. There even looked like there was a horse with wings, which was—ah. Not helping the intimidation factor, to say the least.
“You can ride with me,” he offered. “If you’re uncomfortable, I mean. Sometimes it helps to feel like there’s someone more adept at the reins.”
You blinked, a bit taken aback that he’d picked up on your discomfort so easily. But then then you focused on the rest of that offer and you and the horse shared a Look. And wasn’t that a trippy thing to notice. You immediately forced yourself not to think about it.
“I don’t know if that’s fair to Helios,” you pointed out.
“Nonsense!” Stefan waved you off, and Helios pinned his ears indignantly. “He’s an Andalusian. They’re war horses, you know? Built to be as sturdy and strong as any horse can be.” He said the last part with a sickly-sweet uptick to his voice, and leaned up against the beast’s flank like they were sharing an inside joke. “They say Prince Phillip’s legendary steed was an Andalusian, and they rode into battle against a dragon together.”
Helios’s grey muzzle twitched prissily and eventually the horse lowered his great head to thump against Stefan’s side with a gusty ‘harumph’ that had the man stumbling forward with a pleasant laugh.
“There you are, you big baby. I knew you had it in you.”
After giving the horse a firm pat pat on his rump, Stefan turned and offered you a hand.
“It’s easier if I help you up first,” he explained.
“Isn’t there like… a ladder, or something?” You tried, and Stefan grinned sneakily before ducking behind you and hauling you up on Helios’s back all in one go. You absolutely, positively, did not squeak, or anything else ridiculous like that. It was a—a squawk! The most indignant and put upon of noises!
Stefan laughed and waved off whatever terrible sounds you were making with a bemused ‘Sorry! Sorry!’ that was the absolute least apologetic thing you’d ever heard. And then he was swinging himself up near effortlessly into the saddle behind you and looping an arm around your waist.
“Sometimes it’s better to just get it over with,” he explained in your ear, like your brain hadn’t just absolutely Blue Screened at the new weight along your hips. “Like ripping off a bandaid. I know it can all be sort of intimidating for people who aren’t used to being around horses.”
When you didn’t respond, because you were still trying to sort cognizant thoughts of the mess of ‘!!!’ that was hard at work blotting out the rest of your brain, you felt him start to shift a bit behind you. His hands flexed a bit tighter, as if the idea of you not being secure enough in the saddle was in anyway the problem here. After another moment of your continued silence, Stefan leaned forward carefully to hook his chin over your shoulder and spoke in that same carefully polite way he had when he’d worried he’d insulted you all those hours ago in the forest.
“If you’re still uncomfortable I can get you down if you want,” he offered, voice dipping low in something that sounded like hesitance. “I know I—I mean, you don’t have to go riding with me, if you don’t want to. I just thought it’d be…” He cleared his throat, and you must have been going delirious because out of the corner of your eyes you swore you could see the tips of his ears turning pink. “I can… I can just take you to the library now, if you want,” he said. “I know I’ve already been pretty selfish with your time today.”
Helios shifted to stamp his feet and you twisted your fingers nervously into his mane. You really didn’t feel entirely great about being so high, on something so wild and big. And honestly, you had wasted a lot of time sightseeing with your impromptu tour guide. If you were being in anyway rational, you should demand Stefan dismount and take you to the library like he promised. But all the same… Today had been—all of it had been…
“Just don’t let me fall,” you huffed, fighting the urge to duck your chin down into your collar to hide the rising heat in your cheeks.
“Of course not!” Stefan beamed, straightening himself back up so suddenly that he nearly tipped the both of you from the saddle. You sent him a glare over your shoulder and he laughed, loud and boisterous. “Sorry, sorry. From here out starts the ‘of course not.’ That was just a test run.”
“Whatever,” you sighed, letting him maneuver your hands to better hold the reins alongside his.
Naturally, by the time you got halfway to the beach, Stefan remembered that the library closed early on Mondays, and that you’d well and truly missed your opportunity as you’d been off gallivanting with him and his ridiculousness all day.
But you know what? It was fine. You’d just come back tomorrow. And maybe the next day too.
.
.
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darkdemeter · 3 months
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WOLF AT YOUR DOOR Pt. 2
The DARK DEMETER WRITING CATALOGUE, WANDA MAXIMOFF COLUMN (ONESHOT) #2 —
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—- not my gifs, credit to original posters! -—
Wanda Maximoff x Werewolf! GN/Female/Male Reader
A/N — So this took a fucking while because I was very sick and then by the time I could write I had lost the ideas I had and the inspiration to write it. Anyway this is considered as part 2 to Wolf At Your Door but can be read as standalone I suppose. Also there is no smut for this one because I just couldn't see it being in this part. I've got 2 other Wanda oneshots coming up that will have smut, one of which may be quite long... like Habits II if I can.
WORD COUNT — 2.9k
READER DISCRETION — fluff — slightly possessive reader — Wanda and reader being a grump x sunshine couple — profanity — mention of protective reader — all about them pups really — small mention of Wanda's backstory — there's SITCOMS HERE — reader acknowledges the cheese of romcoms — marking — confessions and feels — I think that's it?
PREVIOUS COLUMN(S) — WOLF AT YOUR DOOR
SUMMARY — Never did you ever imagine that pups would become your future. No less, to Wanda Maximoff. Despite your odds and differences to begin with, perhaps you're willing to give this thing a shot.
“No.” 
It’s as simple as that as you push the trolley forward. Wanda pouts and as an act of defiance, she throws the colourful, tiny suit into the metal basket on wheels. You aren’t quick enough to repress the almost disgusted sigh. 
“What’s wrong with it?” she asks behind a scowl as you both continue your voyage down the aisle. “Yellow hurts me. Deeply.”
Was that a lie? Maybe. But did you instantly regret your answer when you see the flicker of disappointment in Wanda’s eyes? There’s no doubt about it. She reaches back into the trolley for the tiny suit, amongst the array of others you both had already picked out, most likely to place it back on the rack when you stop her. 
“Leave it.” She looks shocked when you prevent her from fishing it out of the selection. You only roll your eyes, the faintest of smirks on your lips. “I’ll just have to be blindfolded when I hold them.”
Wanda smiles a toothy smile - that perfect smile - in regards to your humour. You’d never been one at the party to crack jokes but sure as hell would win a joke match against Rhodey. Him and his fucking tank story. 
But Wanda is entertained deeply by the mental picture of you with a literal blindfold over your eyes as you cradle little wolf jr. A picture perfect snapshot already archived in the album in her mind. 
Already midway through the second trimester. Time is flying by so quickly. You both still hadn’t sorted out the crib yet and by that, you hadn’t. But all the cribs you and Wanda saw were made for one baby; two at best if you were really set on them sharing. 
But human cribs never accounted for four pups and you weren’t very impressed by the idea of building four separate cribs. Uh uh, that made your wolf brain go crazy. Your pups separated from each other? How would they bond with each other?
That was how you and Wanda got on the topic of a ‘den’ and nesting. Surprisingly she was on board with the idea from the start when you first told her your concerns about the pups being kept away from each other, that their bonding time would be hindered greatly if you both went about it the human way.
She’d agreed wholeheartedly. Not a huge case it took to convince her. 
Wanda and yourself roll into the next aisle and the first few racks were rows upon rows of socks and shoes meant to be fitted to tiny feet. 
Wanda laughs at the expression on your face and you give her a puzzling furrow, head tilting to the side like a confused dog. 
“What?”
“You,” she giggles, “didn’t expect our little rendezvous night to take so well, did you?” You merely shrug with a small noise, quick to cover it up you clear your throat loudly. 
“You brought it out of me. You should have known never to do that to a werewolf.”
Wanda smirks with a slight nod of her head. She’s double sure she doesn’t regret a single thing. There’s nothing she would trade for this feeling of her hand running over the large bump of her stomach that ferociously kicks with your pups. Four, healthy pups. 
There were still remnants of the aftershock back at the compound. The reveal that you and Wanda had slept together was talk of the compound for weeks before Wanda grew sick and with that, the test coming back positive. When you were able, Banner executed some further tests and you almost fainted right there on the spot when he congratulated on the four additions.
And not to mention the overstimulation on your part. Not only was Wanda a walking ball of ever changing hormones but you were in overdrive as well. Anytime someone made Wanda upset in the slightest you were on them in a matter of seconds. Fury had to call an emergency meeting in regards to keeping yourself in line throughout Wanda’s pregnancy. Not that it helped, you only grew to become fiercely protective over Wanda and your unborn pups. 
But for Wanda it was all she could want. Not to lie to yourself - your counsellor advised that lying to yourself is a bad habit - but you were happy as well. This was a secret dream come true. Wanda’s interest is piqued when she spots a set of black footed pyjamas with crescent moons on the pads of the feet and little pawprints scattered across the body. 
“Y/N, look!” she gapes as she holds the suit up for you to look at. Out of some maternal habit, she holds it against her bump and in that moment, it all hits you like a freight train. 
You were going to become a parent. A wolf parent. You wouldn’t be so alone anymore now with Wanda carrying your lineage within her womb. And she’s excited for it. Has been since the very beginning. To have such an opportunity before you now, you realise just how alone you were before. How fine you’d been being so alone before. 
But if you had a chance to go back in time, to stop yourself from entering Wanda’s dormitory that night, you realise now that you wouldn’t. 
Your lips part but no words come to mind. You’re drawn at a blank. All you can do is marvel at the inevitable coming of your pups. “I think we should get them, the pups will look so cute.” She grabs three more and places them in the trolley. 
‘Fucking hell…’
Wanda looks up from the haul and tilts her head curiously at the look you give her. Eyes wide, unblinking and just simply admiring her. Right there in that aisle of baby supplies. Not exactly one of those times in movies where the misunderstood, hardened love interest finally sees the sunshine protagonist in the highlight of their epiphany and has a complete one-eighty on their entire reality; but fuck, it was close enough. 
Seeing Wanda swollen large with your pups. It’s something that cannot - will not - be robbed from you. “You okay?” she asks softly and you nod slowly. 
“Yeah. Really good, actually.”
Ugh, those sitcoms and romcoms she’s made you watch are starting to rub off on you. You sound so fucking cheesy. She smiles wider this time and using a hand to flip some loose hair behind her shoulder, she beckons you to follow her. 
Maybe yellow isn’t such a bad colour. You can make it work.
Dinner time is rolling around and you check the time, just ten minutes past six. Wanda happily prepares dinner for both of you and your invited guests, her eyes occasionally lifting to watch the sitcom she’s adamant on watching.
At first, you didn’t get the fascination with a cast of characters just doing mundane things in one space only to have the laugh track and fade effect transition into the next location. 
However, Wanda was quite open with you about her life before Hydra took her and her brother. That she adored sitcoms from a young age, and one of the last memories she has is sitting down next to Peitro in front of the TV to watch an episode of the Dick Van Dyke show, her parents cuddled together on the couch. 
It was a raw scene to bear witness to. Her eyes flooded with tears. The only thing you could do in that moment was pull her to you in a tight embrace. The rest is history. One of your personal favourites was Bewitched, but you refuse to admit that to anyone. 
“How’s the project coming along?” Wanda asks as she stirs the contents in the pot around, giving it a little taste test. “It’s good,” you answer with a focused grunt, expertly working one of the last screws into place. 
“You’re following the instructions, right?” You don’t need to look at her to know her attention is elsewhere, she’s not even looking over at you. You roll your eyes, gaze momentarily glaring down at the booklet. 
You grumble to yourself under your breath. “Don’t need the instructions, werewolves don’t need fucking instructions.”
Wanda can’t suppress the grin on her lips at your huffing and wolfish grumbling. The pups were in for a treat with you, she can tell already. 
“Do human babies actually like these… knick knacks?” you ask rather unsurely. You stand the changing station up and brush your hand along the mobile. The colourful, plastic bits clink and sway. 
“Yeah!” she answers with enthusiasm. You only raise your brows more with worry. You weren’t set on having those little things dangle in front of your pups, just begging to be grabbed and chewed to bits. But that was a worried conversation for another time, a knock on the door alerts you both of your arrived company. 
You call out for them to enter as you busy yourself with putting aside the table. Natasha all but swaggers on inside, a box in her hands as her eyes glance between you and Wanda. 
“Good evening, how did the shopping go?” 
Wanda giggles at your reaction before she uses her stirring spoon to point at the haul you both had garnered today on your big voyage to the great danger beyond: the public. Sam, Steve and Clint walk in after Natasha, each wearing a smile of their own.
“You ready to have a crack at parenthood, Wolf?” Clint jokes and you shrug. “As ready as I could ever be.” 
Wanda begins serving up dinner when her eyes squint, accusation on the tip of her tongue. “We’re missing one,” she drawls and Steve chuckles lightly under the scrutiny of the witch’s gaze. 
“Bucky had to cancel last minute, small mission briefing.” Steve’s explanation is supposedly good enough for your little witch to accept but you see the judgement in her eyes. You chuckled, the wolf in your eyes spelling mischief as you look at Wanda from across the way.
“So lucky. If only I had a mission briefing too.” 
Wanda flicks her fingers at you, the tips of her fingers glowing with her scarlet magic when a knife flies your way. You catch it with a surprised guffaw. “Sweetheart, I thought we would save the knife play for later.”
Wanda looks at you with a narrowed gaze but her smirk speaks volumes to you. She’s silently challenging you and all you do is raise your brows, your tongue in your cheek. 
Sam is clearing his third plate of the masterpiece dish he insists is of five star quality. You hum teasingly under your breath, “I dunno, I think she tried to poison mine.” 
The others share in the banter with small laughs and their own opinions of their dish, all of which praise Wanda’s skills around the kitchen. 
But what was all your teasing but a mere altered projection of your deep, underlying affection for Wanda? As you talk and catch up with your friends at the dinner table, your hand seeks out Wanda’s under the table. When you find hers, your fingers intertwined together. A simple and small action but for you, it held more affection than many things that could overly express one’s love. 
You weren’t the type to show up at the door with a giant bundle of roses and balloons, with music blasting the greatest love song hits of the century. You always prefer to keep it small. Private. Intimate. 
So after another hour or so, your friends call their leave. “And remember, Tony’s hosting that huge baby shower for you guys next week,” Natasha reminds over her shoulder. A shudder attacks your spine and you inwardly growl. Tony would of course play out the entire thing as an act of being the ‘fun and cool uncle’ but really, it was another dig for getting the car done up good on your mission. 
“He knows I hate his parties,” you mumble to her once you’re both alone. She’s in the kitchen finishing up the washing when you walk up behind her. It’d been a big day for you both. It feels good for it to just be the two of you know. 
Your arms circle around her waist and pull her in close, her back flush against your front you take the opportunity to bury your nose into her neck. She giggles loudly, cringing as she tries to wriggle away from you.
“What’s wrong?” you coo with a playful nip to the shell of her ear. “I’m ticklish there!” she squeals but you continue to feign knowledge.
“Oh? Are you now?”
“Yes!”
You laugh, cool, rich and deep. A husky drawl while you continue to nuzzle into her neck, inhaling her calming scent. Your hands balance on the rise of her swollen stomach, the kicks strong and prominent against the light pressure of your hands. 
“They know it’s you,” she cannot help but say with a smile. Something about your pups being able to recognise your touch makes her heart flutter and it makes something in you inflate. Pride. 
Your pups knew you by touch already. You just knew they were excited by the mere presence of your hands - of you - being so near. You smile. “Because they know I’ll protect them. Protect you.”
“You know… you never did mark me.”
You freeze for a moment, hesitant on how to answer her. What could you say to that? But Wanda turns around to face you and draws you into a deep, passionate kiss. Her lips capture yours and her tongue teases the line of your mouth. 
“I don’t care what reservations you have about this relationship, or that you plan on sleeping with other people. But please, I just want to feel some semblance of love, that I belong to you.”
You frown at this and immediately, your hands find the edges of her jaw to lift your tearful eyes to yours. “Wanda,” you sigh in disbelief, “take a look inside. What do you see?”
She gives you a look of scepticism and you huff deeply through your nose, a wolf behaviour to further urge her to comply. She does so, closing her eyes and taking a moment to read your thoughts. This is the first time you’ve given her permission to take a look inside your mind.
“You see anyone else?” She shakes her head in response. “That’s because there is nobody else. There’s only you.”
You sink to your knees so you’re at eye level with the baby bump. Wanda watches you, eyes wide and jaw slack. Whatever antics you were getting up to, she’s at a loss. When has she ever seen you become a mushy mess for anything? When Wanda looked at you, she never put affection as part of your resume. You and the factor of affection or anything to do with a loving relationship were just two opposite ends of the spectrum.
She didn’t believe you were ever capable of such adoration and devotion. “There’s never been anyone else. It’s always just been me. That’s how it used to be before… this.” Your nose pushes against her bump and you feel the pups kick again. 
You grin this time before your eyes lift up to see Wanda, her button lip jutted out in a pout. Her bright eyes coated with hot tears.
“Little witch, I’m not… I’m still very new to all this. But I’m telling you now that I want to have a go.” You pause and swallow thickly. “I don’t want it to just be me anymore. I want it to be us.”
“Then make it an us. That’s all I want.” 
You hear the plea in her whisper and you rise up to your full height, staring down at her. Your hands cradle her face in your hold, you simply take the moment to admire in her eyes what you once mistook for lust; that you now see as love. 
“It’ll hurt for a second,” you inform her as you slowly tilt her head so her neck is bared for you. “But I promise it’ll be for just a second.”
She nods and you take that as your go ahead. This is where the lone road ends for you. No more being alone. 
She closes her eyes with the growing anticipation and you bare your prolonged fangs, inching them closer to the sensitive skin of her neck, hovering over the spot you’d nuzzled just prior. Right where she was ticklish. 
With a final, deep breath you close the distance and plunge your canines and her body locks up, a yelp on her lips you tug her in closer to you. Your body is a silent assurance that she’s alright. That she and your pups will be alright. 
She feels it in her core, a whirlwind that sweeps her like a heavy storm. Like wind blowing in her face and drawing the air from her lungs. Right beneath the surface of her skin tingles and becomes ignited with that binding fire. When you pull away with a breathless exhale, your dazed eyes glowing, it takes you a moment of swaying to become stable again.
“Fuck,” you both groan softly, noses brushing together as your lips dance over one another, their connection ghostly but the radiance of your new connection a fiery and passionate spark to the touch. 
Wanda smiles and her flushed cheeks indicate her flustered embarrassment. You chuckle deeply and lift her chin up with your fingers so she meets your hungry, wolfish gaze. 
“You’re mine now.” Her hand finds purchase on her stomach, and yours falls over the top of hers. “And they are our pups.”
Thank you for Reading! (◕ ᴥ x)
TREEHOUSE TAGLIST —
@alexawynters
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fairykazu · 4 months
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my doors always open ft. dan heng⋆˚☆˖°
cw: pinning, best friends
masterlist
although it is late at night, dan heng is aware of your antics of accidentally scaring yourself at night, scrolling through your apps at night, and then crawling into someone else’s room out of shame.
usually that someone is him.
it’s around the time you scrolled on tiktok for way too long, you knocked on his door like a stray cat begging for food, “dan heng?”
dan heng was already up, waiting for you, or studying the archives and updating the contents. “come in, name. you know that my door is always open for you.”
the door slid open as you trudged in with your blankets dragging on the floor. he adjusted his glasses as he asked, “what kind of video were you watching this time?”
flopping onto his bed, dragging your blankets with you. “some guy owning haunted dolls and he was speaking to them.” you said with a shiver. dan heng hid a laugh,
“fun?” he noticed from the corner of his eye, your face changed before replying,
“terrifying! i dont understand how stelle was able to handle them.”
dan heng rolled his eyes, rolling back his chair towards the bed, “im pretty sure they’re different creatures. one being a mythical being and the other possibly faked.”
you rolled yourself into a ball, “still scary either way!”
“okay, sure.” dan heng rolled back to his desk, placing his red glasses down. “show me the video. now i want to see how scary this being is.”
“but i dont wanna see it again!” despite your words, you opened the app again, favorited in the collection called “show dan heng.” though he wouldnt able ever see the name of the collection, he does feel special that you exclusively show him.
he walked to his bed, tucking you in with your and his own blankets just before sitting on the edge. the video was someone adopting a shipped order of dolls from one of his fans, saying that the fan didnt want the dolls anymore.
“the dolls seem not haunted but spirits are tethered to the doll.”
“so?”
“it was not their choice staying there. does that make you feel better?”
“not really, now i feel bad for them. also a little still scared of the dolls they live in.”
“that’s fair. now do you want to watch your favorite sitcom to get over it or sleep right now?”
“…hmmm.” you hummed, deciding a choice even though the both of you went through this routine before. “i choose-”
“let’s sleep. we can watch your favorite show tomorrow.”
“promise? you said that yesterday and we didnt get to watch it today.”
“yes, i promise.” dan heng said with a quiet snort. you nodded just before you drifted off to sleep.
bonus:
dan heng sneaked onto your phone just to watch the videos himself, laughing a little out of giddiness from seeing that he had a collection just for him.
clicking through the videos, he watched about ten of them, mumbling and taking notes.
“huh, seems kind of scary. i need someone to make a debunking channel.”
in the morning, dan heng kept his promise to watch the show with you as long you see this new and viral account on tiktok, it being a debunking story for videos you just saw.
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initialchains · 5 months
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10 things i hate about you | anthony lockwood.
pairing: anthony lockwood x fem!reader
summary: george karim falls in love with your sister, and the only thing standing between him and the love of his life is the fact that she isn’t allowed to date unless you do, too. luckily for him, anthony lockwood would do anything for a bit of publicity.
wc: 5.8k (part one)
a/n: hii i felt so bad for leaving you all hanging, but finals week left me extremely burnt out and tired. luckily, the lockwood brainrot is neverending, so as a way of saying sorry here’s the first part of this silly ol’ fic. (including the first five things to hate about lockwood.)  i’m also super sorry for the next part because it will be 90% angst lol ++ this is inspired by the movie but not completely based on it bc it’s my all time favorite film and i was scared of not doing it justice.
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Lucy swore she was going to quit the agency again if George didn’t stop pacing around the kitchen like an idiot. She kept thinking of things to say to get him to stop, but a part of her also wanted to see how long this pathetic situation in front of her would take, she knew it wouldn’t be long until their researcher got tired of walking back and forth. And that’s where she is now. Sitting in the kitchen, an empty mug staring back at her, while George kept pacing in front of her and Lockwood.
“Hey, George! I have an idea. Why don’t you sit down and tell us what’s going on like a normal person, instead of just muttering I’m so fucked over and over?” 
George finally stopped and looked up at her. He stood still for a few seconds before taking a seat next to Lockwood.
“Well, I’m fucked.”
“Yeah, I think we heard that part.”
“Luce, stop,” Lockwood said in the softest voice he could muster, before turning to George. “Do you want to talk about it? Maybe we can help.”
George took a deep breath before starting. “So, you know how I’ve been telling you both and Holly about that one girl from the archives?”
Lockwood smiled at that. The thought of George crushing on a girl after bonding with her about their love for research is still one of the cutest things he has ever heard.
“Oh, right. How are things going with her? Is everything alright?” 
“Well, sort of. I mean, everything is alright, but just when I thought of finally making a move on her, she kind of, um… dropped a bomb on me?” 
“A bomb? But you already knew she’s a Fittes agent, that’s not new.” Lucy stated. 
“Yes, I know. And trust me, there’s nothing wrong with that.” George continued, “She is the sweetest, most intelligent, beautiful human being to have ever lived. I mean it.” 
Lucy and Lockwood shared a knowing look. George was totally a goner for this girl.
“Then.. just ask her out?” Lockwood suggested, watching carefully as George fidgeted with the thinking cloth, now too shy to look at his friends.
“That’s the problem, I can’t,” George explained, before pulling his glasses away and rubbing his eyes. The stress of the situation clearly getting the best of him.
“Okay, this will probably be a stupid question, but.. why?” Lucy asked, genuinely confused by the problem her friend was going through. Sure, asking someone out is frightening, but it’s not like George was about to fight a type two without any kind of protection.
George took a deep breath before finally explaining. “She can’t go out with me unless her sister gets a date, too.” 
Lucy almost laughed at how stupid the so-called bomb was. “Well, ask one of her colleagues to woo her or something. She’s a Fittes agent too, right?” She suggested, remembering the only fact they knew about said sister. “She must know a bunch of people willing to date her.” 
George found the strength to look up, making eye contact with Lockwood and then turning to Lucy, before finally dropping the bomb on them. “I can’t, everyone at Fittes despises her.” 
Shit.
Lockwood and Lucy didn’t even have to think twice about who the sister in question was. There’s only one person who is loathed by every single Fittes agent, and surprisingly it isn’t Quill Kipps. George was talking about Fittes’ very own heinous bitch. (Obviously, the nickname was granted by the one and only Bobby Vernon. But to be fair, it’s not like he is the most reliable of people. Lockwood took note of that.)
Portland Row was silent for a few moments until Lucy finally spoke up. “Well, George. The world is wide, there will always be other people for you to fall for.” 
“Luce.” Lockwood warned her. 
“I’m trying to help!” 
“I know you are, but George really likes this girl.” He explained
“I think I might be in love with her. No, scratch that. I am in love with her.” George confessed in a small whisper.
“Oh, fuck.”
“Luce.”
“Sorry!” 
“I told you we would try to help, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do. Right, Lucy?” Lockwood looked at her, an unspoken beg passing between them. 
“Fine, yeah, we will. What do you know about her sister? Maybe we can find someone with the same interests as her. Like umm.. Holly? or the guy who sweeps the floor at Arif’s?” Lucy almost winced at how stupid their repertoire of options was, the three of them were friends with a limited number of people, and by limited she meant Holly and a guy who always greets them when they get something from Arif’s
George thought for a few moments about everything he knew about her. “I know she’s a team leader–” He couldn’t even finish his list, let alone his sentence, because before he could even continue, Lockwood stood up. 
“I’ll do it.” He said with a small shrug, almost as if it was the most normal thing in the world. 
A chorus of “I’m sorry?” and “What the fuck?” were heard at the same time, but Lockwood couldn’t bring himself to care. He wanted to do this. 
“What? You said you wanted someone to woo her. Right, Luce?” He explained as he took Lucy’s empty mug away from her and moved to the sink. 
Lockwood’s back faced them while he washed their used dishes. “Yes, but.. why do you want to do it?”
“It’s a win-win situation. If I go out with her, George will get to date her sister, and we will get publicity.” The way Lockwood explained the situation with such ease had Lucy thinking he had planned this beforehand.
“Publicity?” George finally spoke up. 
“Yes. You said she’s a team leader, which means she is important, and we also know she’s disliked by every single one of her peers, which means the press will be surprised to see her hanging out with someone. So, if we get photographed together, everyone will want to know what’s so special about the agents of Lockwood and Co. Which means–” 
“More cases.” George finished the sentence for him.
“See? It’s easy.” Lockwood, finally done with the dishes, turned around.
“No, it’s not. I think it’s a stupid idea. You won’t be using someone to get this agency more clients, are you insane?” Lucy stated, indignation lacing her words. 
“Hey, George. You said you were taking her sister out for breakfast tomorrow, how about we make it a double date?” He said with a bright smile, ignoring Lucy’s words. 
“Oh, um.. Okay.”
George was right, Lucy thought. They are so fucked. 
1- I hate the way you talk to me and the way you cut your hair.
“George, calm down. Everything will be okay, I promise.” Lockwood said, sending an encouraging look to the boy next to him. George was sweating, he didn’t expect your sister to accept the double date. He didn’t expect you to accept the double date. 
“I know. I even practiced a speech and everything, it will be alright.”
“You practiced a what?”
George wasn’t able to answer his question because right when Lockwood asked him, they were able to see two silhouettes standing outside of the café they were walking to.
“Oh, they’re here,” Lockwood stated plainly before walking up to them, George looking nervous as fuck next to him. 
Sure, George was a sweaty mess, but he knew this would happen. He even expected you to look at him with disgust in your eyes and say something along the lines of “I was dragged here against my will. Fuck you, Karim. You will never date my sister.” 
What he didn’t expect to see was your face painted with confusion. George was about to greet you with the long speech he spent the entire night workshopping, but before he could even mutter a word, you let out an exasperated sigh and looked George in the eye before you gaze slipped to Lockwood and then back to him. 
“What is it, asshole day? Why are you two here?”
Lockwood was about to open his mouth and answer your question, but luckily your sister spoke up just in time.
“I invited my two friends to have breakfast with us!” She said with a bright, almost angelic smile. George felt like he was in heaven just by seeing her. 
“I know about Karim, but why are you friends with Anthony Lockwood?” 
“Oh, so you’ve heard of me? Only the good things, I hope.” Lockwood said, his charming smile making a way to his face.
“Yeah, like the houses you’ve burned down, and how stupidly reckless you are to the point that you even got shot.” You stated, repulse evident in your eyes as you looked at the man of the hour. 
“It’s adorable how much you know about me.”
“Have you ever been to a psych ward? I can get you an appointment set and ready by tonight.”
“You want to see me tonight?”
George feared you might slit Lockwood’s throat with the way you were looking at him. “We should, um, get inside.” He said, trying (and failing) to break the awkward tension, guiding the four of you into the café. 
George looked at your sister and whispered into her ear “It’s not my place to assume but.. you didn’t tell her we were coming, did you?”
She gave him a shy smile before answering. “I want her to make some friends, and I think someone like Lockwood might help her come out of her shell.”
She looked so innocent that George wanted to break down crying and tell her all about Lockwood’s dumb publicity plan. This was eating him alive. 
You took a seat next to your sister in the booth George had reserved for the four of you. Lockwood smiled when he saw your eyes widen at the sight of him sitting right in front of you. 
“Karim, can you switch places with your friend?” 
“Why? Are you embarrassed I’ll see you blush whenever you look into my eyes?” 
“Have you ever been told that your hairline will recede by the time you’re 30 years old if you keep cutting and styling your hair like that?”  
“Have you ever been told that you’re incredibly beautiful?” 
Your sister had to place her hand over yours before you could reach for the knife placed in front of you by a waiter. Lockwood couldn’t contain his laughter at the look on your face.
“What’s so fucking funny, Lockwood?”
“Nothing. Don’t mind me, please continue with your insults. I relish being the reason behind your thoughts and words.” 
That was enough to shut you up. Your sister, George, and Lockwood shared jokes and stories while you looked down at your plate, the conversation flowing easily between them. Sometimes you’d look up to find Lockwood staring at you, he’d send you a small smile and try to include you in the conversation, but you didn't intend on giving him the satisfaction of getting you to speak, so you’d shut him down with an eye roll. 
The rest of the morning went by smoothly until your sister had the brilliant idea to tell you about her plans for the rest of the day. 
“You’re going to the archives with Karim.. alone? Just the two of you?” 
“Did you not hear her the first time, love?”
“Shut the fuck up, Lockwood.” You snapped at him, hoping your anger was enough to mask the blush rushing into your cheeks. 
It wasn’t. 
“Did I just make you blush?”
“You made me want to throw up.”
“Deny it all you want, but the pet name clearly had an effect on you.. love.”
“Ugh, whatever.” 
The four of you stood up and walked to the café’s exit, Lockwood opening the door for your sister and you. As soon as you got outside, your sister began to apologize for not telling you about her impromptu archives plan with George.
“It’s fine, I don’t mind. Just.. text me when you get there?” You said softly. Way too softly, Lockwood noticed. He had never seen you this vulnerable, maybe your sister was way more important to you than he expected. 
“I will. Promise.”
You said your goodbyes before turning around, planning on walking to your car, but the universe definitely wasn’t on your side today.
“Wait! I’ll go with you.” Lockwood said as he tried to catch up with you, matching the pace of your long strides. 
“I don’t know if you can tell, Lockwood, but I’m trying to get away from you.”
“What kind of gentleman would I be if I didn’t drive you home after our first date?”
“You’re not a gentleman, and that wasn’t a date.”
Lockwood pressed a hand to his heart, feigning hurt. “Ouch, not a gentleman? Thank god my mother isn’t here to hear those words.”
You finally stopped walking and turned around to face him. “What do you want?”
“To.. drive you home?”
“No, Lockwood. What do you want? You tried to include me in your stupid conversation earlier, then paid for my breakfast, opened the door for me, and now you want to drive me home. What the fuck do you want?”
Lockwood stayed silent for a while, just staring into your eyes. “I was trying to be nice to you, is that too hard to believe?” 
He took notice of how you looked away from his eyes and tried to keep your hands busy by playing with the hem of your shirt. 
You cleared your throat before saying, “Fine, but if you fuck my car up, I swear to god, Lockwood..” 
2- I hate the way you drive my car.
The car was silent the entire first half of the ride. Sometimes you’d catch Lockwood staring at you from the corner of your eye, but you never looked back, deciding that looking through the car window was a better sight. 
“You don’t talk much unless it is to deliver a well-crafted insult, huh?” Lockwood said, trying to break the silence. It wasn’t awkward, it was just.. tense. 
“Do you want me to talk to you?” You answered, slightly surprised by the fact that Anthony Lockwood of all people, wanted to have a conversation with you. 
“Yeah.”
“And what do you want me to say? It’s not like I know a single thing about you.” 
“You can say whatever you want, I don’t mind. I’ll accept it whether it is you cursing my entire bloodline, or you saying you’re deeply attracted to me.” 
The car came to a stop, a red light illuminating Lockwood’s sharp features. You hated to admit it, but fuck, Anthony Lockwood was attractive. 
“Me? Deeply attracted to you? Holy shit, did you fall and hit your head as a baby?”
“You so are.”
“Am I that transparent? Because you’re right. Oh, Lockwood, I am so attracted to you and your stupid fucking personality. I want you, I need you. Oh baby, oh baby.”
“You have such a beautiful way with words, love.”
That was enough to get a small laugh out of you. Lockwood kept surprising you, he didn’t back down after an insult or two, and he actually seemed to enjoy being indulged in them. 
He turned his head to look at you as soon as he heard you laugh, a smile adorning his face. A feeling of pride (and maybe something more) swelled in his chest.
“I can’t believe I just made you laugh for the first time and we’ve been on a date for about three hours now. God, I’m making such a bad first impression.” 
“You still won’t let the idea of this being a date go?” 
“Nope. I enjoy being on a date with you. You’re a nice person to hang out with.”
The corners of your lips curled up into a small smile. “You don’t mean that.”
“I do, I would rather take you out on a million dates than spend 30 minutes with any other person,” Lockwood confessed, and he meant it.
“Like you could find a person who would willingly spend 30 minutes with you.”
“Oh, see? That, there. Who needs affection when I have blind hatred?”
The two of you spent the rest of your ride home talking, the tension slowly evaporating, leaving room for the back-and-forth quips that Lockwood and you kept throwing each other. 
Lockwood stopped the car when he heard you say, “Alright, this is my house.” You were about to open the door, but before you could even extend your arm he said a quick, “Wait!” and got out of the car, rounding it to open your door.
“Thanks.”
“Anything and everything for you.”
Just as you were about to answer, a flash and the sound of a camera clicking disrupted the moment you were having. 
“You’re fucking with me”, you muttered under your breath. Lockwood looked surprised too, he had completely forgotten about his plan. 
Take her out for a few days. Get photographed together. Gain more clients.
His heart sank at the reminder of the reality of this situation. He had been so busy having fun with you, that his mind decided to blur out the reason why he was hanging out with Fittes’ most hated agent. 
“Alright. I should, um, go.”
“Do you want me to walk you to your door? Or is the first date too soon to meet your parents?”
“Fuck you, Lockwood,” You said with a smile.
“It doesn’t really seem like you want to.”
He found himself smiling, too. 
3- I hate it when you stare.
“What a fun coincidence to find you here, love.”
You rolled your eyes at Lockwood’s annoying voice. “Yeah, it’s such a fun coincidence that you almost burned this house down and my team had to come help your incompetent agency.” 
“Third time’s a charm.”
“There’s no way in hell you’ve been the cause of more than two fires.” 
“If you let me take you out on another date, maybe I’ll tell you more about them.” You almost stabbed him with your rapier. “Shut up, people might hear.” That brought a bright smile to his face and an incredulous look to his eyes.
“Oh, so you want to keep our relationship a secret? Fine, I’ll take it. I love a forbidden romance.” He whispered, the smell of lavender and lemon engulfing you as he kneeled a bit to whisper in your ear. 
“Yeah, whatever helps you sleep at night. Anyway, I need to go check out the paperwork for the mess you made, can you keep an eye on my team?” You shyly asked, breaking the eye contact he was desperately trying to keep.
“You trust me with your team? I thought my agency was incompetent and I wasn’t good at anything.” 
“It’s just for a few minutes, don’t let this get to your head.” 
“Oh, it’s way over my head, love.” 
You showed him a very special finger, before walking away to talk to Barnes. You tried to remain professional and listen to what the inspector was saying, but you couldn’t shake the feeling of a pair of eyes looking at you. “Sorry for calling you again, you know how it gets whenever Lockwood and Co have a case,” Barnes said, breaking you out of the cage your mind had trapped you in. 
“Oh, it’s nothing. It’s my pleasure to help.” You tried to muster up a small smile for the man, you liked Barnes, he never treated you differently, not even when the way you acted and decided to express yourself wasn’t the most appropriate. 
“And I think it's their pleasure to be helped.”
“I’m sorry?”
You turned around, following Barnes’ line of sight, only for your eyes to meet Lockwood’s. He gave you a small smile but didn’t look away, it was almost as if he longed for your eyes to make contact. You sent him a small frown, wordlessly asking him what was wrong, he just shrugged and waved at the two of you. 
“He is so weird.” You said, turning to face the inspector. “Tell me about it. Well, we are all done here. Have a nice night, and make sure to get home safely.” He answered, eager to get away from the group of agents surrounding him, and walking away. 
Lockwood didn’t miss a beat before making his way to you. “So, I’m thinking we make the second date happen over some tea at Portland Row?”
“Not happening.”
“I’m not one to make a woman feel uncomfortable when she says no, but may I ask why?
“I’d rather spend my time hanging out with ten type threes, than with the group of miscreants you call friends. No offense to Lucy and Holly, though. I quite like them. I was talking about Karim, tell that thing to stay away from my sister.” You answered, finally finding the guts to maintain eye contact while you spoke. 
“You know Lucy and Holly?” He decided to ignore your entire statement, now only focused on the fact that you knew his friends. Anxiety making its way through his body at the thought of Lucy telling you about his plan. 
“Yeah, and they told me some really interesting things about you. I never took you as the type of person to do that type of stuff.”
Lockwood’s heart almost gave out. “What did they say?”
“That you wear pink socks.”
He felt his heart start beating again. Lockwood thought he was about to die in front of you, he made a mental note to thank Lucy for being nice enough to not tell you about his schemes. He found the strength to give you a charming smile. 
“That surprised you? Lord, do you think I’m the type of guy to have a fragile masculinity? My mother raised me better than that.” 
“You mention your mother a lot, are you close with her?
They should give out awards for Feeling your heart stop two times in the span of 3 minutes because Lockwood was sure he would get one delivered to Portland Row’s doorstep by tomorrow morning. 
“I.. um, yeah.” 
Fuck. You made it awkward. You almost dropped down to your knees and begged him for forgiveness. 
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to intrude into your personal life, it’s not my place to ask and assume shit about your family. I’m so fucking sorry, Lockwood.” The light in your eyes dimmed, the sight of it made Lockwood want to tell you all about his past. He wanted to go back to ten minutes ago when your eyes were shining and looking into his. He internally swore to never let the light leave them again.
“You’re good, it’s fine. Don’t worry about it.” He reassured you in a small voice, clearly not fine. 
“No, I will worry–” You couldn’t finish your sentence because, once again, the light of a camera flash illuminated Lockwood and you, blinding you both for a split moment. 
“Of course they’re here. Jesus Christ, do they not have lives? A family?” 
“Maybe they just like taking pictures of your beautiful face.”
The light came back to your dim eyes at his statement. “There he is.” You said, noticing how his gaze slipped from your eyes to your lips, before going back to the eye contact you had.
“What can I say? I can’t stop myself from complimenting you when you’re around.”
4-  I hate your big dumb combat boots and the way you read my mind.
The streets of London were quiet while Lockwood took a small walk in the early morning. Lucy told him if he walked around the city for a few hours, he’d be able to break in the new pair of combat boots she got him as a present after he made it through 10 cases without almost dying.  
“It’s 8 am and you’re already up being pathetic. I should say I saw this coming, but I really didn’t. Holy shit.” A familiar voice snapped him out of the daze he was in. He was so busy going through a list in his head of all the things he had to do this week, that he didn’t notice you walking next to him. 
“How long have you been walking by my side?”
“Long enough to see you staring straight ahead and not noticing how incredibly pathetic you look. Your boots are hideous, by the way.” You answered, looking into his eyes and noticing how he smirked at your last remark.
“I don’t think Lucy will be happy about you calling her well-thought gift hideous.”
You let out a genuine laugh as soon as he said that. It was the type of laugh that bubbled up from your chest and had you throwing your head back. It made Lockwood feel as if all the morning clouds had disappeared and the sun shone only on the two of you. Sure, you had laughed at Lucy’s gift, but the sound was enough to let the sun shine its warm rays through Lockwood’s heart. An infinite sunbathe.
“Oh, so you find this funny? Hurting my best friend’s feelings?” He asked in a teasing tone, squinting slightly at you.
“So.. I take it she didn’t tell you?” You asked, a small giggle escaping your lips and going straight through Lockwood’s heart. 
“Tell me what?”
“That our plan was to get you the most ugly, repulsive looking, and incredibly stupid boots that we could find? I wasted my money on that, you’re welcome or whatever.” 
He should’ve been offended. Offended at how Lucy wanted him to humiliate himself by walking through the streets of London with a pair of bright neon green combat boots. Offended that she had asked for your help to choose the ugliest pair she could find. But he was too busy fighting the urge to press his lips against yours and to run his slender fingers through your hair. 
Did you not notice how you always bit your lip after laughing because you thought that would stop you from falling into another fit of laughter? 
“Yeah, yeah, you two are so funny,” He rolled his eyes with a smile. “Thank you, love.” He was about to nudge you with his shoulder, but as soon as he turned to look at you, he noticed you weren’t next to him anymore.
His heart stopped for a second until he finally looked back and caught you staring at two women through a café window, clearly on a date. One of them gave the other a bouquet of different types of flowers and brushed back a strand of her girlfriend’s bright red hair. That brought a smile to your face. 
“Hey, you okay?” He whispered as soon as he stood next to you, noticing the sad smile on your face. 
“Oh, yeah. I was just..” 
You didn’t have to say a word for him to be aware of what you wanted to mention. The look in your eyes, and the small smile on your face.. this was the look you always got whenever you saw your sister with George. 
“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” Lockwood reassured you. Not wanting to scare you off after seeing the look on your face and the small voice you used to answer. 
“Do you think I’m holding my sister back?” You asked, turning around to look into his eyes, your hands trembling a bit.
He didn’t miss a beat before taking hold of your hand and lacing your fingers together, giving your gentle hand two squeezes. “I think.. you care a lot about her, and that’s completely fine. But it is not your job to dictate what she can or can not do. It’s okay to let her have her freedom and life, just like you deserve to have yours.” 
You took a deep breath before pulling Lockwood into a hug, your arms surrounding his neck. Lockwood was startled for a second but didn’t have to think about it twice before wrapping his arms around your waist, letting you take the lead in this display of affection. 
“I’m sorry.”
“You’re sorry? You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“I know, but.. um”
“You don’t have to say anything, come on,” He said, breaking the hug and taking your hand into his, pulling you forward to continue the walk you were on.
5- I hate you so much it makes me sick, it even makes me rhyme.
Lockwood looked down at your intertwined hands, thinking of things to say to get the fog of sadness blinding you out of the way. “So you’re a hopeless romantic, huh?
“What the fuck?”
Alright, so maybe this wasn’t his greatest icebreaker ever, but at least it was something. He chose to continue. 
“Don’t think I haven’t noticed how you always stare at every couple we walk past. It’s kind of adorable. Fittes’ heinous bitch being a hopeless romantic? Sign me the hell up.”
“You’re sick in the head, Anthony Lockwood.”
“I didn’t think of you as a hopeless romantic, like.. at all. But I assume this means you’re the type of person who wants flowers and love letters delivered to her doorstep. Right?”
“No.”
“Sure, love. I’ll keep this in mind for future references.”
Lockwood made sure to walk you back to Fittes’ building after spending the rest of his morning with you, choosing to take the weird looks his boots got with pride and a bright smile. Whenever someone stopped him in the street he’d answer with a happy “my best friend and this beautiful lady next to me gave them to me as a gift”. 
You spent the rest of your day going back and forth through Fittes’ small yet numerous offices, talking to different people about your previous and next cases. Sometimes you’d stop to take a breather outside a door, but quickly remembered the importance of your role as a team leader, and snapped out of your seemingly neverending exhaustion. 
“Am I dreaming or is that my best friend in the whole world?” You turned your head to the right to find Bobby Vernon smirking at you, a dry chuckle leaving his lips.
“Fuck off, Vernon.”
“Woah, no need to get all pissy, love.” You clenched your shaking fists, trying to keep your anger in. You may have a short temper, but you would never let someone like him get the satisfaction of making you angry, or at least of noticing the effect his words have on you. 
The thought of someone other than Lockwood calling you by that pet name made you want to burst into tears. How dare they see you as someone who’s weak? After everything you’ve done and fought for to get the role you have as an agent? 
“I don’t have the time for your bullshit, so just spit it out and let me go home.” You said with an eye roll.
“Your sister wanted me to tell you that you got mail. Well, it’s more like a gift, I guess. I assume it’s from your parents because I can’t think of a single human being who genuinely likes you.” 
You knew better than to take his words to heart, but the venom he said them with stung. You knew you were unlikeable, probably even unloveable at this point, but he didn’t have any right to say those words to your face. It made you feel disgusting, you had to fight back the urge to throw up.
“Yeah, alright. Have a good day, Vernon.” You replied as you walked past him and out into the street, calling for a cab to take you home.
The ride back home was silent, and it surprisingly made you miss Lockwood. It made you miss his stupid jokes, his ugly haircut, and his reckless way of driving your car. You were sure the poor guy didn’t know what a stop sign meant. 
As soon as the cab driver got you home, you made sure to pay him and wish him a safe drive, after all, the curfew was 15 minutes away from starting. A sigh escaped your lips after opening your door and heading into your room. The day had left you completely worn out, and Bobby’s words didn’t help at all with the shit day you were having.
You quickly got changed and were about to head to bed when you noticed a package sitting in the corner of your room. A frown made its way to your face when your eyes caught the unfamiliar handwriting with your name on the box, curiosity taking the best of you as you opened the package with a delicate touch.
A gasp left your lips when you opened it and found the same bouquet of colorful flowers you saw the woman give to her partner at the café. A white envelope sat next to them.
With a small smile and shaking hands, you opened it and were greeted with Lockwood’s handwriting.
Hey, my love. 
I’ll be really honest and say that my mind is completely blank as I write this, but I just wanted to let you know that right after I dropped you off, I went to Arif’s with George and heard a love song playing — I couldn’t help but think of your hopeless romantic self as soon as I heard these lyrics: You’re just too good to be true, can’t take my eyes off of you. 
Jesus, I know you’re having a field day reading this. Me? Embarrassing myself and sending you a bouquet and a love letter? You’re right, I must be extremely sick in the head.
Anyway, I hope you have a good day. You deserve it.
With lots of love,
Lockwood. 
(PS: You don’t have to say it back! But I thought it felt right to say it since we’re kind of besties now.) 
The tears you spent the entire day holding back decided to come out right after you finished reading the letter. Sobs escaped your lips as you sat down in your bed, the flowers and letter still in your hand. A strange feeling bubbled up inside you, you didn’t quite know what it meant, but decided to guess it was that disgusting sickening feeling Bobby left you with. 
When you laid in bed and tried to go to sleep, you took notice of how different the feeling you were having right now was from the one you got with Bobby Vernon. Sure, this one made you want to throw up, too. But it also made you want to stare into Lockwood’s eyes again and to feel his arms wrapped around your waist for a few more seconds. You drifted to sleep with a craving of feeling Lockwood’s hand intertwined with yours for the rest of your life.  
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hana-no-seiiki · 11 months
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Is there a part 2 to Yandere Male makima reader x hsr? I absolutely love this story??!
I'd like to imagine reader playing along with caelus's antics of digging through trash cans and possibly helping him find other trash cans to dive lol
Dan heng and reader having mutual thoughts because there are two troublemakers of the astral express.. (yk who)
I don’t usually write these things (asks for updates) but since you caught me at a nice time…
YANDERE HSR ( THE NAMELESS ) x AEON OF CONTROL! READER
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These are moreso antics and headcannons rather than a proper sequel to the previous one so…
warnings: major canon divergences, soft yandere themes.
・❥・ You and Pompom mostly have the same duties mainly keeping the express clean, checking its stability, tending to visitors, etc.
・❥・ However you take more of a authoritative position with your duties.
・❥・ Though you created Pompom, they have no idea you are an Aeon. You kept it that way so that Pompom wouldn’t be too compelled to follow you when you diverge paths with the Nameless.
・❥・ You were the one that redressed March and taught her sewing when she arrived frozen one day. As such, she can be a tad too attached with you. Often flirting with you in front of the other crew members. (A fact that most of them hate)
・❥・ You know the photo wall she has in her room? Well in that gallery of hers she has a secret folder of just you. You doing your daily maintenance, you repairing Pompom’s stitches, you just b r e a t h i n g. Yeah.
・❥・ Dan Heng and you often spend hours together in the archive. You had the penchant of checking, and rechecking the organization of things. Your long periods of time together led to him feeling the most safe around you. You already knew of his secrets, but having him divulge it nonetheless still felt like being let into a state secret.
・❥・ Himeko has a suspicion you two aren’t related. In fact you have a feeling she already uncovered what you are. She is however, far too in love with trail blazing and being your sister that she doesn’t do anything to risk the status quo.
・❥・ Welt has the biggest love-hate relationship with you. You haven’t done anything bad per se. In addition to that, you’re the reason Himeko got to explore the stars, but memories of the past still haunt him. Each day he sees you handling the youngins edges him closer and closer to finally letting of go of his resentment.
・❥・ When Caelus isn’t dying inside by being close to you, he likes to be smug by showing how much “care” you put into him. Like the youngest child smirking at the older children as they get the most love and attention. Sometimes he gets himself injured on purpose to get your eyes on him and him alone.
・❥・ Unfortunately due to your presence destabilizing the Stellaron, you don’t get many chances to pamper the boy.
・❥・ Though you did give him a giant wearable trash-can, complete with breathability and protection against the elements.
・❥・ You also don’t go out much and prefer to watch over expeditions. You also make sure never to use your full power as to not alert other aeons aside from IX of your endeavors.
BONUS!
・❥・ Elio and Kafka vehemently worship you. The latter’s domination comes from your blessing.
・❥・ Though they aren’t aware that you took the shape of a human male since you are able to erase yourself from Elio’s scripts.
・❥・ Which leads to Kafka flirting with this handsome man not knowing he’s actually her god.
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WIBTA if i cut off someone reaching out for help on tumblr? i am a very anxious person. ive been on tumblr a very long time because most all other social media terrifies me as someone who grew up with the wild west internet a decade past (im in my late 20s) so i feel sometimes with how reckless and spurractic people can be online in chatroom and especially clearly public platforms where any stranger, malicious or otherwise can just archive your digital presence for personal use.
more recently as someone who has been here during the pornban and as an asexual really enjoyed the quiet with no drama farming and a slow pace to talk about more unique political topics in a measured way it is something im strangely nostalgic for and a great example of my sensibilities to people when they insist that i use other platforms like discord or twitter or whatever clone for these services comes out of the old guard introducing feature creep to copy everyone else or any other indi "were the anti corporate version" of the endless scroll apps. i just dont want it. tumblr is special because im desktop only, been here for years, and i have kept track of every single change made so i have manually adjusted the change through hacks to evade every bad decision on here and make my set up look identical to how it was in 2010. so let it be understood that i tend to be a loney person because of this stubbornness. web 3.0 is too dangerous to people with addictive tendencies that my adhd brings out and my need to wear my heart on my sleeve. so i hope i defended my personality type enough to show why someone like me would see a post about some horrible abuses they have fell victim to who also share alot of the marginalized status as me and writing depressive things in the replys of others posts as to attention seek about it.
i directly interact with this person, not only to check if they are real (but wow, modern chat bots make this part horrifying for me. we really cant ever know for sure what is real anymore. trying to find warmth on the internet feels impossible now a days) i have multiple conversations at this point both venting and just casually shooting the shit. but the begging for me to constantly repost their paypal makes me so nervous in a way that i feel so guilty for because it reminds me of all the scams that get associated with this kind of ebegging and the reminder that capitalism takes away all warmth from human interaction to make them purely transnational and conditional. but then it just has been escalating where im so scared that now its not enough that im reposing on my 8 follower, all mutual blog, they are asking me to share it on other socials. accounts i do not have i have a flip phone and a laptop and i am tinkering with a windows 7 tower that will never be connected to the internet so i can always have software sit perfectly in its time capsule for when i need it. i do not have a way to help this person outside of what i learned from collage psyche classes. a part of me is so scared to just abruptly cut them off and just delete my entire account like i tend to do often on tumblr for a multitude of reasons, its a part of what lets people survive being here this long but i worry that would crush them if i did that, i dont want to make them feel more hopeless and unwanted then they already talk about. but i am text on the internet through a screen. i can only do so much. so would i be the asshole if i just deleted my account with a "i hope you hang in there, the world is a harsh place but keep moving" to cut someone so similar to me who is struggling out of my life?
What are these acronyms?
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thesharktanksdriver · 7 months
Text
Blood's Thicker Than Water (Platonic)
Made this cause I love assassins creed and I hate how they left the plot point about Desmond having a kid from a one night stand. Like sure there’s a comic for Elijah but let’s be real, who here has read that comic?
Sorry if any of them seem out of character, I haven’t played the games in a long while lol
Also thanks to my friend for streaming the games so I can get back into them lol
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You never really met your dad but from what your mother described him as he was….a troubled soul
Now to be fair you’ve never exactly met Desmond Miles yourself but from the stories she told it’s obvious he had his fair share of demons
Some of which seemed to spill from the cracks of his soul from the short time she spent with him
A bartender is what he was, until he suddenly up and vanished from said bar in 2012 and died not too long after
It didn’t really make sense then even to your young mind
The gap between his sudden disappearance and death leaving too much unsaid for your mind not to be annoyed by
But as a child you eventually put the thought away
Eventually you forget
Instead going on to pursue your next whim as you focus on the present, or in your case Learning about the past in the present time
Unlike your fascination with your father that went away, your love of history never faded with time
It just seemed to grow the older you got
Your not sure why but something about history just clicked with you
It was somewhere within the range of middle school and reading national geographic that you had realized you liked it
That despite how some areas of it were bleak and disturbing it was interesting
And it got even more so interesting as you delved deeper into the depths of libraries
Nose buried in books lined with dust and old parchment
Yellowed pages and old ink that you carefully decode from centuries of lost meaning and metaphors lost to the modern age
You studied from the ancients all the way up to Victorian
Easing your way though literal centuries of historical records as you soaked up information like a sponge
And it’s there you vegans seeing an odd…repetition of events that seemed to occur
Odd assassinations plagued each era you looked into, all of which connected somehow by people in odd dress
In some journals that had luckily stood the tests of time you uncovered more eye witness accounts
A solider’s log back in the revolutionary war talking about an odd man meeting with his superiors in the dead of night
The diary of a log master who wrote of an odd frequent visitor that had an odd blade hidden beneath his sleeve
The drawing of a Victorian child being freed from a factory that had a hooded lady and man on the rooftop
I’m one you found a symbol, one created from the bottom perspective of an eagle skull, something also commonly associated with these hooded figures
What’s odd as well is that with these hooded assassins you also find traces of another group
One well know to historians such as yourself
Oddly enough the symbol of the Templar knights keep showing up even after their annulment
It’s odd, but what’s more odd enough is that both seemed to be tied to other historical artifacts
Ones well kept in archives and from the public eye
Ones you shouldn’t technically know about if not for you sneaking into sections your don’t have the status to enter
Their always gold with odd symbols. Somehow always pristine and polished despite the fact their dated to be from before ancient times
They for some reason seem to call to you specifically
Tempting you with forbidden knowledge you wish to taste like Eve
But for now you choose to wait until you can do proper analysis on them without the risk of punishment
So you lie and wait
Admittedly you didn’t think anyone expected for you to be this good at your job
In their defence you were a university student here on Co-op and not an actual full time historian
Hell you were in first year for gods sake
But somehow despite it all
Despite the fact you had actual historians and people in the history program years above you here you quickly began to become an outlier
A shinning beacon within the large archive, so much so that you began being allowed in the restricted sections you already snuck into
Mind you, now properly allowed there with some supervision of sorts gave you much more flexibility in research
You got to touch these artifacts
Hold them in gloved palms as silk covered finger glide across its edges and ridges
You study them extensively decrypting and decoding the ancient texts and hieroglyphs
Jotting down what you found in both a report and your own personal journal
Your not sure why you do so but you chock it up to making sure no one takes credit for your work
And this continues to the point your eventually allowed alone with them
It’s great
You dedicate yourself to this task as you learn more and more
Soaking up knowledge like a sponge as you find out more of what was previously lost
Find new angles and perspectives on events
For history isn’t just a set time and date, it’s interpretation based on what we know from sources
And even then sources can be biased
Sources can lie and silence another person’s view on the event
Your more than happy to try make your own interpretations
Admittedly when you were asked to study what looked to be a necklace from these unidentified ancient artifacts you were ecstatic
How could you not be?
Intricate gold woven in something akin to Grecian jewelry
Yet also had hints of something akin to Egyptian
It also…glows? Or at least you swear you’ve seen it glow gold and pulsate a few times but that could be the sleep deprivation speaking
Either way it’s an honour
One you don’t take lightly as you study it
Spending countless restless nights and days trying to crack its code
An unknown source has been funding the archive and your research quite a bit
Betting big money on it much to your surprise and suspension
You get that this is potentially something big but it feels out of left field
Especially since no one knows the name of the company
It’s just under an anonymous donation every month
It’s sketchy
But you aren’t one to argue about free money to further your and your colleagues pursuit of knowledge
Not when this beautiful place used to be underfunded
Not when most historical records were donated by people with a good conscious
Not when this place was almost shut down
With a sigh you continue on your work
Diligently tact checking and writing up a storm
Your writing looks like chicken scratch but that was a commonality between all history majors
Well, along with being giant nerds
And it’s there at that desk at 3 am in the morning, tired and only running on 3 hours of rest you find something peculiar on the necklace
A sharp jaded edge that you absentmindedly prick yourself on by accident
With a groan you wipe the blood away on your pants
Then going up to get a bandaid
You swore to god if you died of tetanus you’d be positively pissed
Unknown to you the necklace starts to glow
When you get home your more exhausted than usual
Your limbs feel like their kade of concrete and your head is stuffed with tissue
Eyelids trying to glue themselves shut
You practically kick off your shoes before tumbling to the couch
Not bothering in changing clothes or showering for the sweet relief of sleeps embrace
So you flop down face first into the old leather cushions of your couch
Only putting in the effort of fishing a hand to grab a throw pillow and blanket from nearby that you burrowed yourself into
A comfy cocoon/prison you couldn’t will yourself to leave even as you swore for a moment you heard something in the house
But your mind writes it off
Your too tired to question anything let alone get up
All you want is sleep
And that’s exactly what you get as your eyelids shut
You fall into the realm of dreams, odd ones playing out in your mind
Blurred images of odd men
A weird void-like realm
The cries of an eagle overhead
A single word appearing in your head
Kenway
And then your eyes snap awake when the sound of arguing fills your ears
Yelling of several male voices jumbling up your already fogged up sense as you practically fall off the couch in a mixture of fear and confusion
Curses escaping your mouth when suddenly the voices go silent and your left in a realm of fear
Hair standing on end as the creaking of the house makes you more alert
Despite the fact you’d never fought a day in your life you will up the courage to grab a baseball bat and cautious cross to where you heard the commotion
Careful steps on the non-creaky boards of the home that you’d luckily memorized
And there you find several men in old garb
Accents of Red tying them together like a string of fate
Or a trail of blood fainting their very existence
they turn to you with sharp eyes
It’s the one in modern clothes that surprises you the most
The face of your supposed dead father staring back at you
Ocher brown eyes that had long lost their life now rejuvenated as they seem to find familiarity in your own features
Some of which mirror his own along with some of the others in the room
The bridge of your nose
A all powerful spark in your eyes as they flick between everyone and escape routes
The way your lip slightly twitches when you try to keep a brave face
Your posture as you decided what to do
It’s all too familiar to him and them in a way that isn’t just coincidence
Especially not when all of them are Kenway
Not when he had been able to prove to them that fact through the experience of virtually living through their lives up until his death
“I’m not sure who the fuck all of you are but get out of my house.” Your fingers twitch and flex as your palms grow sweaty, the wood absorbing the pressure and moisture “especially my dead dad look-alike”
You all but confirm his suspicions
Their suspicions
And it looks Ike for you tonight will be much longer than you anticipated
Turns out that artifact you were studying wasn’t just as normal one
Neither were the other ones you looked at
The way they explained it as was their “artifacts from dead gods”, a fallen civilization that engineered humanity into being their slaves
It’s a lot to take in
Even more so when your suspicions of something bigger happening throughout global history with those odd deaths were real
Oh, and these were you dead ancestors and dad somehow back from the grave and now in your home
…..yeah safe to say that’s a lot to take in after an already very long and tiring shift
You sit there as they explain this, half asleep, and half exasperated
Cause how the hell are you supposed to believe all this bullshit that for some reason feels correct
Something in you tells you that their right yet your mind is fighting that logic
You’d always been a logical person, when it came to most situations you used your brain instead of your heart
And in those cases things ended up fine
But now your faced with this
A situation where your heart is screaming for you to listen as your brain tries to take this all in
Cause logic is completely out the window at the moment
For now you have to trust them even if your still afraid
I mean, how couldn’t you be?
But you get the sense that they understand
At least a little bit by how their also thrusted into a new environment without much say
Perhaps that (along with your own apprehension) is helping comfort them as well
So for now they’ll stay
Your just thanking (the dead) gods that grandma and grandpa’s old home is big enough for all of them
Altaïr Ibn-La’ Ahad
The oldest down the line of your dad’s side of your lineage finds himself often reading through your books in your study
It was a bit of a surprise one day entering it to find him sitting in a spare chair but you don’t mind the silent company
Especially as he seems to find interest in your studies
Occasionally he breaks the silence and asks you a question about the subject he’s reading about
He’s by far the oldest (even if he’s back in the body of his prime) of them therefore he’s the one who has the most figuratively to catch up on
So you indulge him
And also asks questions as well that he seems eager in answering
Knowledge connects you both, scholarly intellect being the bridge between the two of you despite centuries of time apart
Typically he asks about thinks such as modern life and what is know about his home, what happened to it? What it’s known of his era
You answer as best you can
Especially since that era of time isn’t exactly your forte
But he appreciates it anyways
Appreciates that you try, appreciates that you passionately care about history in the first place
Admittedly your mom was supportive but never understood your love of history
She’d listen to your rants and long conversations with a polite smile but you knew she never understood what you were talking about
But he does
He does and contributes whole heartedly in just as much passion
It’s nice
What’s also nice is that he’s studied the artifacts you now study as well
So now your both constantly coming up and developing ideas together
A constant back and forth
Hypotheses, discussion, and testing
Delving deeper into discovery like you’ve wanted
But with this he also helps you see where passion and obsession mix together
After the loss of his wife and son he delved into studying as a form of escape
It drove who was left away
Made the pit in his heart deeper
He doesn’t talk about it often but he seems to see how you may go down the same path
And he warns you of it
Unlike his younger self (that he now appears as) he’s wise if a little rough around the edges
He encourages knowledge but not to the point where it’s an all encompassing and toxic obsession
Within the household he seems to take a somewhat neutral but quiet role
He helps out and offers advice and guidance
Much like a teacher and grandfather of sorts
Speaking up when he has to and making sure the house doesn’t end up in disrepair
He seems to have a fascination with modern appliances, or at least holds a thankfulness for them
Like a few others he sticks to his robes most the time but you’ve seen him sport more modern clothes once awhile
Stuff still somewhat reminiscent of what he wore before but with a modern flare. Things with hoods and draping. Silks and wool. Something with an accent of red mixed in
Sometimes when you fall asleep in your studies you find a blanket draped over you and a cup of tea at your side
He won’t admit it’s him but he’s the only one who knows your tea preferences
He keeps his worry for you deep down but it’s somewhat relived when seeing that you take his warning of not taking the pursuit of knowledge too far
“It says here there was something called the “French revolution”. Would you care to explain what happened here to me?” He asks making you pause your work for a moment, when he sees your smile he knows your answer. Sure he read some of this book and got the gist of it, but something about seeing your eyes light up at his inquiry makes him feel at peace for a moment.
“Would I ever!”
Ezio Auditore da Firenze
This man is quite literally all up in your (and everyone’s) business
Not in an annoy way per say but he’s definitely curious about the lives his descendants have led (both good and bad)
Ezio is very clearly a family man and it’s somewhat ironic to see since half of this household has some sort of familiar issue
Most of which is some sort of daddy issue stemming from either Haythem or Edward that trickled down the line to you
Something that Ezio is seemingly trying to wrap his head around
Out of the others he’s the one who opens up the most
Partially because you think he misses his immediate family and friends
It must be a lot to handle being away from home, now in a foreign land where everything has changed
Despite that though he keeps a brave face
Almost always flashing a smile as he drags you from your study to have some “bonding time”
You won’t admit it to his face but you don’t mind
Especially as he gives your poor hunched over back a break
And treats your pallet to some good old fashioned (literally) Italian food and not cup ramen once again
He tried it once and threw your supply out, saying he’d be supplementing you with food from now on
You can’t exactly say your disappointment or upset from the heaven that is fresh baked garlic bread and pasta
He cooks not only for you but for the others of the house as well, saying his sister taught him lest he piss off his future lady
Taking in their suggestions and cooking foods from their homes as a way of him offering comfort
Whilst he does these tasks he often hums in his mother tongue of Latin
You don’t have the heart to tell him it’s a dead language
Especially when he seems so happy that you can somewhat understand it
He’s happily rambling and teaching you words
Helping you sound out phrases and pronunciation correctly unlike your Latin professor
Some of his songs he lightly sings under his breath get stuck in your head since he has a good singing voice
But despite the facade you see the cracks
Sometimes you find him looking at modern objects mumbling about how Leonardo would have loved to see this or made something similar
Or how Claudia would’ve liked this book
How Petruccio would have loved this toy
It….leaves a bitter taste in your mouth
Once upon a time you felt this same type of longing for family
Once a time you thought of you dad before going to bed and staring at his old Polaroid with hope
One that would never come to fruition (until now)
It’s why you indulge him, to keep his mind off the deeper plunge of melancholy
Compared to the others he’s relatively open to modernizing
In fact he seems somewhat excited in these things
Raiding your wardrobe like a damn fashionista and critiquing what’s good quality
He also has a wide variety of looks, not sticking to something similar to his time of dress
Versatile and somehow up to date? Your not sure how but somehow he’s in fashion?
Like he must’ve found a copy of vogue or something cause there is no way he just guessed that this was the new trend
When you pressure him on it he replies that he’s simply that amazing
You call bullshit but have yet to find evidence
But in the meantime you ask get him to tell you about Da Vinci and you furiously jot down what he says
Sometimes when he looks at you he sees flashes of Claudia’s quick wit
It makes him long for home yet as he looks at his descendants and ancestor he also feels….something
A small pit of warmth developing as he gets to know the inhabitants of this house longer
Meet Altair besides through a weird vision
His home is in Florence yet that feeling of comfort from the Villa is bleeding into these old (yet new) walls
“So this painting is his most famous work?” He asks looking at your computer with a bit of confusion, his scared lips quirking at the digital image.
“Yeah. This is actually probably the most famous painting in the world”
“Really? Of all his works this one is considered the best? I’m not doubting his skill but of all his pieces?”
“Believe me, I get it. It’s only this famous cause it was stolen”
“Stolen?!? Tell me who did it! I swear-”
Edward Kenway
For someone who was a feared pirate on the seas he’s surprisingly much less violent than you’d think him to be
Sure, he’s scary as hell still but at least he’s not stabbing you in the back and making off with your grandmas pearls or something
Still your a bit unnerved by him considering you did a project on him back in middle school and he’s now in your home
Munching on some god damn biscuits as if this was a normal situation
His son Haytham avoids his as best he can but he seems to bond with his grandson quite easily
Or more easily than he does with Haythem
It takes some time but you eventually go to him when you find him awake at the dead hours of night
A whisky bottle in hands as he occasionally takes a swig in silence as he stares out the window
You don’t talk
You don’t need to when he drinks in silence for awhile staring at the moon before eventually talking about the guilt
In his pursuit of power and gold he let people die
Greed woven into his soul as he sacrificed good men for his cause
He changed and did good yet his past haunts him
Hands stained red
Guilt eating away
A son who doesn’t want anything to do with him
At some point when he stops his rambles you speak
Reminding him that while his actions weren’t good he changed
It doesn’t wash the blood away but it stoped more from staining his hands
Though Haythem avoids him Connor is more than eager to fill his place
It doesn’t fix his overlying problems but it does help
In the morning he ends up talking with you more after this as your initial fear melts away
You end up seeing Edward Kenway, not the fiercesome captain of the Jackdaw
You see a man burdened by past mistakes and still wishes to do better
You see a human being at its core
With history it’s easy to forget the people your looking at was once alive and a breathing being
One who was just as flawed as you and I
But seeing a infamous pirate captain cry about issues pertaining not just time him made you remember that
He isn’t opposed to modernizing but seems to keep a certain sea-like touch to his appearance
Clothes for labourers and something loose is what he normally sticks to
He’s lucky though since he doesn’t exactly have traditional robes and can incorporate what he appeared in with a modern flair
Occasionally when he gets drunk he slurs out old shanties and talks about his epic tales
You might or might not have freaked the fuck out learning that James kidd was actually a woman
Mind blown
Ezio and Altair had to drag you away from your computer from writing an entire essay
Sitting on your countertop he holds a glass of whiskey in hand, one held out for you as you sit down beside him. The moon casts its gentle rays and lights the marble slab you both sit on. “I prefer Rum but this’ll do” it’s said in a playful tone that makes you nod and take a sip.
“I can grab some captain Morgan later…speaking of which, did you know him?
“No, but I did find a few of his things laying about “
“Care to tell?”
“Aye, sure thing”
Haytham Kenway
As the only Templar in this house it’s safe to say he’s definitely the outlier of the bunch
A relative lone wolf from the group that all hold some sort of Ill feelings towards him
From his father its confusion and sadness
The others it’s a mix of that and anger
From Connor it’s just plain…well your not quite sure how to describe it
The two’s entire family situation is just plain messy and thick with tension that their blades could cut through
But here’s the thing, in this house your also an outlier
A neutral zone so to say
Hell, the entire house seemed to be a haven of sorts from their whole Templar vs Assassin conflict
To be honest you don’t really care about this secret war
Well that’s a lie you are interested in these war of secret societies but you don’t specifically care to get involved in their politics
Not when you have business in interfering in it unless a fight breaks out and your telling everyone to calm the fuck down
So safe to say your kinda the only one who talks to Haytham
He is…well sometimes he’s a bit of an ass (in the British type of way) but at the same time he’s good conversation
Specifically when it comes to that of morals and philosophical beliefs
He is a conflicted man
A flawed one
But he holds his beliefs and morals despite the fact he’s been hurt and betrayed by a man he viewed as a mentor
He doesn’t talk about it much but he’s still hurt
Still seething with venom that burns his soul and flesh
Makes him want to lash out despite his upperclassman appearance and attitude
That despite it all he loves his son, so much so he willingly walked into what would be his death knowingly
That despite what happened he loves his dad yet can’t face him yet on account of what he became
What ideals and morals he still believes in even now
It’s perhaps he’s venting this to you rather than a journal because he knows you won’t judge him unfairly on the basis of what side your own
Your judging him as a flawed man and as an equally flawed person
It’s with him as well you open up about your own frustrations
How you still don’t know how to feel about this all
The fact that a lot of what you once knew was flipped on it’s head
Along with the fact your not even sure how to address your dad
It’s an entire mess but perhaps your both messed up together and that also draws you both to talking
To discuss your feelings of insucurity and confliction
To feel comfort that your not alone in not having your emotional shit in order
On some especially…emotional nights you both both have a cup of tea
He seems to enjoy that each time you use a different type, much of which used to be hard to obtain due to shipping and it’s prices
He hasn’t really yet grasped modern technology but your slowly helping him with it
It’s kinda like trying to teach a grandpa to figure out a phone, but now it’s him with the concept of a microwave
Like some of the others he’s yet to really also change his clothes to something modern
There has been a few times though he sported sweaters and vests
Your now working on helping his wardrobe since he prefers a sophisticated look
Occasionally he looks at the photos that line your walls, looking as you evolve through the ages
It’s…odd
With Connor he never had the chance to watch him grow
Never a snapshot to immortalize what he was like a child but now ones of you litter the walls like paintings
He feels melancholy
Yet at the same time he’s happy to get another chance maybe
One that is seemingly being helped by your gentle hand unknowingly
“I never thought about it until now but the stars are different” he says taking a sip of his matcha tea, he lets it pool on his tongue and experience the flavour. Not his favourite but not the worst
“That’s cause of light pollution here…though the stars do move so it it’s possible they’ve shifted position in the sky”
“Do they teach you about the stars in your schooling?”
“Yeah I took some. Not sure why, it just kinda spoke to me. Maybe it’s the Kenway blood”
Ratonhnhaké:ton/Connor Kenway
Of the group Connor is the most quiet and surprisingly the one whom you connect with the best for some reason
Perhaps it’s cause your both socially awkward in ways that let you relate
Or the fact you’ve both been ostracized by society for various reasons
His company is that of a quiet one but one you accept it with ease as you both sit and enjoy each others company
A quiet kinship made of unspoken but understood words from one another
The reminder that someone else is there and your not truly alone
He is perhaps the one you feel you can understand the most
And it’s the same likewise for him
Your both people deeply hurt and still bleeding internally
People raised by only their mother in a cruel and harsh world
People who were let down one way or another by their father
People who are still mad and angry but use that to further their determination
It’s odd but you feel truly understood
Like your soul was peeled back to reveal at your core your still a lone spirit lost in the world
One clinging to what they know as their only lifeline in this confusing and jumbled mess of a situation
The hulking 6 foot 2 man shows you trails near your home
Taking to the forest paths you’ve know your entire life and helping you discover even more about them
And while he does this he teaches you more about the world as you both walk the old beaten path
He tells you how to identify what type of tree is which, which stones are likely geodes and what tracks belong to who
It’s honestly petty interesting especially since he adds snippets of stories from his heritage
In return you talk about what you know as well
Snippets of your own knowledge that he seems to store into his mind just as you do with his stories
An equal exchange of sorts
On these walks you begin to notice he takes you out on these when your at your most stressed
The times in which your mind is overworking and consuming itself with anxiety
The times in which you need to breath
Connor doesn’t seem like one to vocally express his care but he does so through action
Small inconspicuous actions that mean a lot more than what meets the eye
It’s seems that his towards you is helping you when you need it most
Taking you away to just take a moment for yourself
To just breath in the fresh air and let the sunset coloured leaves of autumn crunch under your boots
Letting the cold breeze take away your worries
It’s perhaps better than any type of verbal support
Yet another unspoken action of care and compassion through knowing and watching
Of watching and knowing when you need a break
When you realize this and give him a small tired smile as a thanks he seems to know
Only giving a small nod with a minuscule smile of his own
It only grows bigger when you begin to ask him if his traditions, of the stories and practices of his people that he’s more than willing to tell when he knows you ask out of genuine curiosity and respect
Connor is somewhat 50/50 in modernizing
He adapts quite well but still needs help with certain things as he navigates the situation
But like usual he is anything but resourceful as he watches what you do and figures it out
He helps the others quite a bit with what he’s picked up and somewhat takes pride in the fact he can help them
Whilst he’s privy to wearing his robes he isn’t against more modern clothes
The only problem though is sometimes finding stuff that fits him considering he’s not only a giant but also fairly muscular
But your both eventually able to find some stuff for him to wear that he likes
He really appreciates though that you try to buy clothes and jewelry from nearby indigenous peoples
It might not be his but he appreciates the sentiment and familiarity that the beaded jewelry give him
“I’ve lived here my whole life and walked down these paths a thousand times yet it seems more like your the local here” you say with amusement as you follow Conner through an area you’d be never been before.
He smiles, it’s small but there as he adds “just a matter of perspective. You see the paths your used to and I see ones you hadn’t noticed”
Desmond Miles
Yeah so this is entirely awkward for you
Like how the fuck do you emotionally deal with this and the fact your very dead dad who didn’t know you existed till now is now very alive
And living in your house with his very dead ancestors that are also now alive
Case and point you don’t, specifically you ignore the problem and act like everything is fine
You lock yourself away and try to avoid him like the plague
Somehow Scurry past him and into the kitchen to grab something before returning to your abode to eat
But then things got complicated
Things change
You began talking to the others
Slowly coming out the darkness of your study and joining the dinner table
But you still try to avoid him
It feels like the sight of him burns your mind, all those nights as a kid coming back to you
The hope and then disappoint in learning he died and that he likely never wanted you
Your mother never said this but the other kids did. They always teased and picked at the fact you were a mistake
It’s why you push so hard now to be the best, To prove them wrong (to prove to yourself that your worth existing)
The fact is that now he’s here and you don’t know how to deal with that
How would you even start?
What do you even say to him?
You quiet down when he enters a room because you don’t know what to do
Whatever your about to say dying in your throat like a caged bird and all that came come out are garbled noises as you evade him
Eyes casting down to your hands like a child averting their gaze from their parent when in trouble (he is your dad so it’s the same thing right?)
Leaving the room he’s in as quickly as you can once a take is done
The others notice quick, I mean how can’t they? A damn butter knife can cut through the tension
The whole thing with Haytham and Connor is less tense than this
But what can you even do?
How in thick do you talk to him and how can he even talk to you?
Your 18 and in university, he’s 25 and was a bartender in New York before apparently sacrificing himself for the world
He’s closer in age to being a big brother rather than your dad.
But even besides that he’s been long dead and gone since 2012
It’s been years since that point and more importantly he’s someone important and your not
He’s an assassin born to a bloodline of other assassins
Someone who was raised in this tradition with greatness not only in his origin but also in his death
And your you
A child born from a one night stand who’s only achievement is being good at knowing about old people
It hurts but it’s true
If he’s a star then your a candle compared to his light
A mere blip or spark to the greater picture
There had been times he looked like he wanted to say something but you scurry away before he can say anything
Sometimes you catch the looks and small gestures Ezio tries to make as if to encourage him to go up to you
How Connor sometimes brings up to you how he wishes for reconciliation with his dad and that perhaps it’s possible with your own
Altair not beating around the bush and plainly telling both him and you to talk
But it all feels for naught and dies when those feelings and thoughts return
But eventually he corners you
Well not really corners you per say but he catches you as you leave your study after a talk with Altair
“Listen I don’t have any grudge against you. For one you died, I’d be a dick if I blamed you for that or your decision to save the world and whatever. Second you didn’t know about me in the first place” you say briefly looking up at him before averting your gaze, he looks like he wants to say something but he can’t get a word out before you continue “but you don’t have to act like my dad or anything. You never asked for me, it was a mistake, I was a mistake and I’m fine with it.” (Your lying to yourself)
You leave before he can get a word out, and he’s left alone in the hallway. When he returns to Ezio he just sits down in silence. It’s enough for everyone to know I didn’t go the way he wanted.
Admittedly when you begin to notice odd figures at the achieves you write it off
I mean it could literally be anyone plus the supervisors aren’t making a fuss about them here
If anything their welcoming them and looking at them with hopeful eyes
Small glances full of opportunities in them
It’s odd but maybe their just some non-profit here to support the archive
Or even private benefactors of sorts
But then they turn their attention to you
Plastic smiles on their faces, artificial pleasantries as their main spokeswoman sits in front of you in a slick suit
Her stilettos tapping against the ground as your eyes trail to her bodyguards of sorts
They stand not too close nearby
Watching
Waiting
And then she begins talking
And slowly you grow more and more uncomfortable
Hands playing with one another, fingers twitching in your palm as crescent are indebted in your skin
They apparently are interested in your findings
In your research
But more specifically you
They’ve researched you…a lot
Down from where your mother was born to her great great something grandfather
And your father
…but that’s not public knowledge
It wasn’t even on your birth certificate
This….this isn’t
She smiles though now the darkness melts away into something more knowing
Dangerous and sadistic of sorts
And it’s there on her little pin showing her name you recognize the logo
Within your house you’d vaguely heard whispers of the others talking in hushed tones
You didn’t mind
The less you know the better in that sense
Out of sight and out of mind
But sometimes you’d hear the mumbles of a name that you didn’t put together until now
One spat with venom just as they did with the word of the Templar
Abstergo
You barely have time to react before your black bagged and sufficiently knocked out
Mind drifting to that of panic
What would happen to you?
What will happen when the others find out?
But then those thoughts fade away into the dark void of sleep
When you wake up things are odd
Everything is a sterile white and too bright for your foggy sleep tinged eyes
The room is blurred as is your senses as you weightlessly drift
Everything feels odd
And then it happens sharp and pure pain that leaves you writhing and screaming into the void
And that’s when you notice that white light had left and your in a void of sorts
Empty glitching effects all around you as your left to look around in confusion until you see something
A memory? Specifically one of your memories
Your staring at a simulation of sorts of your past self
A 8 year old in their bed with chubby cheeks pulled up into a melancholy smile
You recognize this moment, your small hands holding a picture that had long been put away into a scrapbook and forgotten
Your left wordless and confused
And then that bitch’s voice appears again and she explains
This entire thing is a simulation of your memories
And essentially their gonna go through your head picking through them to not only learn what they want but then use you as their lab rat cause of your bloodline.
Cause apparently memories of your ancestors could be accessed that way and it was generally easier to have a descendant rather than finding objects and artifacts
And it’s there in that simulation it feels like your mind is being ripped apart
Memories ripped from your mind to play out in front of you as she makes comments and documents them before their forced back in and another is ripped out
Like book having pages torn out and then crudely stitched back in
It hurts so damn much
Over and over
Your just left in screaming again on the ground of this simulated world as she makes idol comments
Left begging for it to stop
For someone to help
For the love of god someone help you make it stop
Of course this would happen to you
You’ve always had shit luck despite your whole family motto being “make your own luck”
What utter bullshit
You can’t make good luck from bad
Can’t just change things when the scales are already tipped one way
But then like a miracle from above she goes quiet and suddenly the memory is gone
And your left in the void still reeling from it all
Still on the glitching ground before once more white encompasses your view
Blinding and bright as your still recovering
And then an unfamiliar voice tunes in
“Your safe” it’s heavily accented, in an Irish twang that’s soft as he says these words to you. A reminder that your ok now, it’s over. “Can you walk?”
You try to look at him with squinting eyes yet they still can’t adjust, your limbs feel heavy like solid rock. Unmoving even as you try. With some difficulty you shake your head
“Aight, I’ll have you carry you then. Are you alright with that?”
“Just get me out of here…please. I just want to go home, I miss my family” it sounds pathetic but as tears begin to fall the stranger doesn’t seem to think Ill of you.
“Don’t worry, I get what that’s like.” The tone is sympathetic and like before is soft “you’ll be home I no time, I promise”
You think for a moment before responding “I trust you”. For a second you feel him go still at that before he picks you up.
For awhile there’s buzzing alarms and panic as your saviour gets you out whoever’s you were taken too
There’s not a moment of silence as he sharply runs and dodges past what you think to be gunshots
Occasionally he grumbles something but for the most part he seems calm
Composed despite the chaos of it all
So much so that it makes you wonder if this is an average Tuesday for him
There’s so much shout and yelling for your already pounding head
But sometimes the yells are silenced as the sound of a blade cuts it short
Footsteps far behind eventually stopping
Sirens getting more and more distant and allowing you and the man to breath
It’s there in the pocket of silence you learn his name
Shay
It sounds familiar, like really familiar yet you can’t put your finger on it
Either way your grateful because how can you not be?
Your away from that place
Away from the torture of having your mind picked apart like a lab experiment
Having the privacy of your memories looked at and prodded
But now your somewhat okay
Your eyes feel weird, your vision feels weird like it keeps switching between something
Your at least somewhat able to walk though it’s unbalanced
but Shay doesn’t seem to mind
He offers an arm that you cling to for support
A kind smile on his face as he makes sure you didn’t injure yourself further
And then you notice his clothes are….old
Like Haytham and Connor level old
And…shit
It’s halfway home through the trails you recognize due to Connor that your vision changes
The world feels bigger as if your third eyes opened or something
Shays figure and presence is highlighted in a clover green
And perched nearby is another green figure, one waiting for a good moment
Shay follows your sight before promptly having to duck out the way from a knife that flies at his head
He pushes you back behind him, you stumble back vision switch between monochrome and normal as someone else grabs you
Instinctively you almost yell before realizing who was now helping keep you steady
And the other person now attacking Shay
“Connor! He’s good! He saved me!”
“He’s a Templar!”
“So is Haytham and you haven’t killed him…again have you!”
At that Shay pauses, turning to look at you with confusion as Connor stops his attempt as slitting his throat
Ezio on the other hand helps you up but keeps a firm protective grip
Watching Shays movements like Connor in apprehension before the two settle down and stare at you for more detail
Both waiting on your word
“He saved me and today has been a long ass day-“
“You’ve been gone for 4 days”
You pause momentarily at that before adding “long 4 ass days of having my mind literally ripped apart. Can we please head back to the house and settle this there? Thank you”.
The moment you get back your almost immediately tackled to the ground by a familiar white and red hoodie wearing absent (dead) father
It’s….odd but nice
Desmond (still feels too awkward to call him dad) is holding you like a lifeline and you notice bags beneath his eyes
He looks like hell
But none of the others are any better either
They all like positively exhausted yet light up when seeing your safe
Your home
It reminds you of your mom when you returned home from school
The long work day evident on her brow but her smile lighting up the room at the sight of your face
It’s no different compared to then except for the fact they all (except Haytham) then protectively pull you away from the nearby Shay who’s being glowered at by Connor
Safe to say it’s a little awkward until you somehow pull free of Desmond’s death grip hobble your ass between the two lone Templars and Assassins
A long discussion having to take place between them all as you not only explain what happened but also it seems you all forget one crucial thing
It seems you forgot about your mom’s side of the family
Whoop de Doo you have more things to process and so does everyone else here
Specifically Connor and Haytham Because before apparently knew (or know of) Shay
Great, another complex relationship in this household like there needed to be more of that
But with this entire situation it also highlights something bigger
Your not safe
None of you are safe
Perhaps you never truly were
And that in turns leaves you with the difficult decision of what to do next
Because In this difficult game of politics between two ever warring groups your a neutral force
You wanted to stay that way but unfortunately fate had other plans
as your drug into this game your left with limited options of sides for not only yourself but for the others who seem keen on following you
Even the two (former?) templars seem to follow your decision
So When Des…er your dad suggests finding his old friends it seems like the best option
It’s either that or be kidnapped and prodded again and who knows what abstergo will do to everyone else (even one’s that once upon a time we’re on their side)
Besides, he says you’ll get along well with someone named Shaun so It can’t be too bad
So he sends out a message and you leave the home you find yourself look at with melancholy
It stopped being a home when mom died but now it seemed like it was just that again
Only time can tell what will bring upon you next
But….you think you’ll be ready for whatever is thrown at you when you have this odd group of family at your side
The expression of blood is thicker than water never really held much weight since you only ever had your mom until she was gone
But maybe you understand it a bit better now
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