#using the fact I'm in the middle of reading the brick to use them to practice character expressions | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

forjongseong · 1 year

Text

bite me // jay (ENHYPEN)

pairing: knight!jay x princess!reader

genre: royalty!au, fantasy, smut (minors dni) // warning: profanity, mentions of death, unprotected sex, a lot of biting // wc: ~6k

summary: a knight stumbles upon your castle, and unlike anyone you have encountered before, this young man seems to have a scent that you somehow cannot resist.

author’s note: I'm going to be quite honest with you, this fic is long overdue. I planned on releasing it BEFORE enhypen's comeback, since the idea came after I watched their mini-movie where Jay literally got his neck bitten by the actress but moods come and go, ideas appear and fade, so here you go.

initially it was also inspired by their concept pics, the Full ver. of their Dark Blood album, and I also thought of an alternate version (where Jay is the castle resider instead and y/n is the traveler/knight, let me know if that's something you might be interested in).

warning, though, this one might feel a little choppy, a bit hasty, and all over the place. my excuse is that I am drunk in love with Jay, and I take full responsibility.

no taglist this time, I shall let people find this fic on their own.

if you're here, congratulations and welcome! hope you can enjoy this one too.

When Jay heard the words ‘isolated castle’, he was expecting a huge building made of gray bricks with several towers that scraped the sky, sitting in the middle of an endless sea of sand with no roads connected to it. He pictured the sun shining mercilessly on whoever was standing under its light, and he was slightly worried about finding a source of water, as well as food.

Yet here he was, standing on top of a plush bed of grass, staring at the stone path that led to the castle in front of him. It was made of bricks, yes, but they were in the shade of copper, a warm and inviting kind of brown. The castle had no tower, or none that he could see so far, but it stood tall and mighty despite being surrounded by luscious greens and equally tall trees.

Jay reached for the worn-out map in his satchel, but as he stretched his arm, he winced from the sharp stinging pain that he had been feeling since hours ago. He did not know exactly when or how he injured himself—maybe he slept wrong, or maybe he used his hand wrong, or maybe it was just destined for everything to go wrong—but he was sure he had arrived at his destination.

During his years of training to become a knight, Jay had read countless tales, not minding if they were fact or fiction, and he had gained enough knowledge to go on a lot of missions alone. The townspeople were very supportive of him, as it was expected that the men in each family each take a role that was beneficial for the kingdom.

Fortunately, since he managed to capture the attention of the princess, Jay was soon handpicked by the king and queen to become their future son-in-law. When they found out that he was a knight, though, they became quite concerned with the tasks and duties that he had to perform. Eventually, Jay had to promise them he would not die no matter what, and it was a tough one to keep.

As happens in every other kingdom, it was customary for a member of the royal family to request an item as a form of dowry. Since Jay was not exactly born into royalty, he was given a task that would get the princess her dowry as well as prove Jay’s aptitude as a knight.

To retrieve the lost diadem of the Panthera onca.

The sound of his metal boots clinking against the rocky path made the resident of the castle open the doors before he could even reach them. You stood in front of him, and he thought your figure was unlike anyone he had seen before. To start, you were glowing. For some reason, the sunlight shined on your slightly tan skin, and it did not help that the outfit you were wearing was made of a sheer fabric that showed a bit of your curves and more of your skin. Second, you were—

“Are you alright?”

Your voice started ringing in Jay’s ears, and he realized how parched he felt. He couldn’t remember the last time he had a proper meal, or a sip of water, and the sprain in his arm from falling off his horse was not the only injury that he had. Jay reached his hand up to take off his headgear, and his slightly long hair fell immediately to cover his forehead.

“I,” he began, “I need water.”

And then everything went pitch black.

---

Jay woke up to the sound of birds outside the window, and he instantly noticed that he was lying down in bed. His heavy armor was long gone from his body, and he was only wearing the undergarments he came with. He started backtracking, trying to remember what happened, but then he heard water splashing, so he hopped off the bed and headed directly for the window.

The same woman who opened the castle doors for him was taking a dip in one of the most lavish pools he had ever seen. It was not like Jay had never been to a castle before, but something about this place seemed magical and just so different. He watched as you took laps in the water, and when you emerged out of it, you brushed your hair back as you looked up, and if he did not step away from the window, you would have caught him staring.

Jay sat back on the bed and began to think. Did you undress him? Did you tend to his wounds? Did you carry him up to the second floor by yourself? Are you alone in this castle?

He heard a couple of knocks on his door, and he flinched in his seat. “Come in?” he said timidly.

You pushed the door open and walked in with your hair half-wet, and you were wearing a different gown than before. You were holding a tray that had little trinkets that were supposed to help you with treating Jay’s injury. As you walked up to him, Jay pulled his feet up to the bed and scooted further until his back was against the headboard.

“It’s time to dress your wounds,” you sighed, looking down and avoiding eye contact. “Can you do it alone?”

“I have so many questions right now,” Jay said in a hushed voice as he watched your hands place the tray on top of the bed.

“I’m sure you do,” you replied, scrunching your nose and looking away. “I have to attend to something else, so please.”

You pushed the tray slightly towards Jay and looked at him for a split second before you broke eye contact again. Jay frowned as his eyes followed your movements, and when you disappeared behind the door, he let out a huge sigh that he had been holding in.

The questions he had in his mind multiplied, and he was determined to find the answers soon.

---

Jay had fallen asleep again, and when he woke up this time it was almost dark outside. The faint light of the sun entered his room through the window, and just as he was adjusting his eyes, he heard a knock on the door.

“Come in,” he said, with more confidence this time.

You had changed into yet another gown and your hair was up in a bun. The tray you were carrying had healing herbs and a plate filled with mashed potatoes and other roasted vegetables. When you tried to put the tray on Jay’s bed, he reached out for it and accidentally brushed his hands with yours as he took it away from you.

“Sorry, I,” Jay’s voice hung in the air as he noticed you take a few steps back with unnecessary haste, “I must be bothering you. You don’t have to bring food here.”

“Oh, I have to,” you replied. “There is nowhere else for you to eat.”

“You mean there is no dining room?” Jay asked, setting the tray in front of him.

“There is, but we don’t use it.”

“We?” Jay asked again, seemingly intrigued. “So, there are other people in this castle?”

“Not at this hour,” you shook your head slowly before looking at him. “I just meant myself. And since you are here, we.”

Jay could not help but notice the way you would scrunch your nose once in a while after talking to him as if you had smelled something foul or your nose was itchy. He began sniffing himself out of self-cautiousness, and when he did not find anything wrong, he became even more confused.

“I suggest you stay for another fortnight,” you continued. Your eyes were set on the left side of his waist, and you tilted your chin pointing to that area. “Your wound has to heal completely.”

“Right, about that,” Jay sat up straight and pulled his top up.

You blinked and immediately looked the other way, not wanting to stare at his bare body. Jay noticed your behavior and smirked to himself.

“I actually can’t reach this part very well since I sprained my arm too,” he said, pointing to his side. “I mean, I could, but it’s quite painful.”

You sighed heavily before licking your lips, and you thought it would be easier to get it done as quickly as possible. You grabbed the chair that faced the vanity and sat it beside Jay’s bed. You reached for the herbs and kept your eye around Jay’s wound, trying your best not to look up into his eyes.

“Are you a princess?” Jay asked carefully, keeping his eyes on you.

You nodded as you cleaned the edges of Jay’s wound, dabbing his skin with a damp cloth.

“Then why are you in this castle alone, Your Highness?” he asked again, adjusting his position, and pulling his top higher.

You paused to look at him for a while, but you managed to avoid his eyes. “It’s a long story,” you finally replied.

“I am a good listener,” Jay said, smiling at you.

You looked out the window and noticed that the sun was almost gone, so you sped up the process and in turn made Jay flustered. The movements of your hands became hasty, and you were sure you pressed on his wound a little too hard because you heard him hiss, but you knew you had to leave the room as soon as you were done.

“Eat your dinner and rest up,” you said as you stood up, wiping your hands with a cloth and brushing the skirt of your gown down. “I will see you in the morning.”

“Your Highness…”

The door slammed behind you and Jay was too shocked to even form a proper reaction.

“…I don’t even know your name,” he murmured to himself, staring blankly at the door and then at the food you had served him.

---

Jay woke up the next morning to the sound of a horse neighing. He recognized it and immediately jumped out of bed, making his way to the window as he winced in pain at the sudden movement of his arms. He spotted you in the courtyard with three other people he had never seen before, and since he was already feeling better, he decided to approach you.

When Jay entered the courtyard, you were stepping away from the horse, letting the castle’s servants tend to it instead since you figured it grew uneasy around your presence. As you took a couple steps back, though, you felt a pair of hands hovering over your shoulder.

“Whoa,” Jay said in a low voice. “Careful, Princess.”

You turned around and stood straight, nodding your head slightly to greet your guest.

“We found him in the woods this morning,” you explained without waiting for Jay to ask. “I assume he is yours.”

“Thank you,” Jay replied, already approaching his horse. In an instant, the black beast calmed down. “His name is Shadow.”

You nodded and observed the way Jay patted his horse, speaking to him in a calm manner and handling him in the gentlest way you had ever seen a man treating an animal. For a second, you witnessed the way the color of Jay’s face shifted, and you saw him as a commoner with a huge love for creatures instead of a wounded knight.

“Well,” you cleared your throat, breaking your own distraction. “I suppose you can handle him now. I’ll have my people take care of him too.”

Your castle staff hovered around you and spoke to you in whispers, and you responded to them in a similar way, stealing glances at Jay. When you noticed him glancing back at you, you turned around and started walking away with your staff.

“What’s wrong with you, boy?” Jay spoke to Shadow. “You’re usually friendly to strangers. Pretty princesses too, mostly.”

Shadow snorted as he shook his head, almost hitting Jay in the face with his long mane.

---

As the hours went by, you tried your best to keep a distance from the knight in your castle. Every time Jay asked you a question, you would answer accordingly, trying not to give out too much information. After all, he was a stranger in your place, and you always had your walls up when it comes to protecting yourself.

It wasn’t until Jay revealed the reason he was out and about around your castle’s ground that you became instantly defensive. You were tending to his wounds and scars, the last of them, and once he mentioned the lost diadem, you let go of the cloth in your hands, letting it fall to the floor.

“You’re looking for the diadem?” You asked, not because you didn’t hear him the first time, but because you needed confirmation.

“Do you know where it is?” He asked back, eyes looking at yours full of hope.

You shook your head. “You shouldn’t be looking for it. Many men have died trying to possess it. It wouldn’t be any different this time.”

Jay frowned and almost chuckled. “So, you do know about it? I’m sure if you tell me, I can give it a—”

You snatched the tray away from his bed, your feet scurrying to leave his room as fast as you could. Jay’s mouth hung open as he watched you leave, and he was too stunned to do anything else.

That night, Jay realized he must have made a huge mistake. The distance you put between you and him became bigger, and you had tasked your staff to tend to his wounds and bring him his food instead of coming over yourself. This went on for days, and as much as Jay tried to ask your staff about you, he would receive no valuable information.

One night, Jay decided to take matters into his own hands. He had memorized the staff’s schedule, down to the hour that they would come to his room, so he picked a clear slot in the middle of the night to sneak out, determined to find you. Jay was clearly gifted with cat feet since his movements were barely audible, and as he searched through almost the whole castle, he finally heard some noise coming out of what seemed to be the largest room in the building.

He heard what sounded like a purr, and it was so loud that he could almost feel the walls vibrate. Jay pressed his body to the wall, making zero noise as he craned his neck to peek through the open window.

Jay saw you sleeping on the bed in a curled position. He knew it was you since the bedroom looked royal and you were the only person of royalty in this castle, but he had to do a double take.

You were curled up, indeed, but as he adjusted his eyes to the dark, he saw you lifting up your head and yawning.

Except it wasn’t your head. It was the head of a jaguar.

Jay squinted his eyes as his mind tried to make sense of what he was witnessing. You had the head of a jaguar and the paws of one, but your body remained the same. With a hitched breath, Jay leaned back on the wall and shook his head, thinking he was dreaming. He then decided to look a second time and to his surprise, you were already standing by the window.

“Fuck!” Jay shouted, stumbling back and falling to the ground.

You growled at him, keeping your yellow eyes focused on his figure. Jay managed to regulate his breathing and brushed the grass off his thighs before standing up again.

“Princess?” Jay asked, unsure. “Is that you?”

Jay took a step closer to you and you hissed, pulling the curtains down to cover the whole window before your shadow disappeared into the darkness.

---

When Jay woke up in the morning, he thought he had an elaborate and odd dream. He was hoping so, but then he heard a knock on the door before one of your staff opened it and peeked inside.

“The princess is expecting you, Sir,” he said. “At the dining room.”

Jay sat up and massaged his temple before responding. “She wants to see me?”

The man nodded once and was about to leave when Jay cleared his throat.

“Do you know what happens to the princess at night?” Jay asked with a raspy voice. He looked at the man, expecting an immediate answer.

“We all do, Sir.”

Jay sat on his bed as he gathered his thoughts, as well as his strength before he stood up and dressed to go see you. He was determined to find out what this was all about, and he decided to just ask you directly this time, no matter how forward it might seem.

At the dining table, though, all Jay could do was stare at the breakfast plate in front of him. He looked to your side and saw that you only had a glass of water. Jay cleared his throat before picking up a fork and starting a conversation.

“Are you not hungry?” He asked, looking at you warily.

“I already hunted last night,” you answered calmly, toying with your bronze cup of water.

Hunted, he thought. So he was not dreaming.

“I’m sure you have questions,” you continued. “And since you already know…”

“What happened to you, Princess?”

You were not expecting Jay to shoot a question as suddenly as he did, so you almost choked on your own words.

“You’re a knight,” you smiled softly. “You must know a lot of tales. Evil witches. Desperate kings and queens. Cursed princesses. I’m just one of them.”

“But what happened?” Jay asked again, completely abandoning his breakfast.

“It doesn’t matter,” you answered, resting both your hands on the dining table.

“Is that why you avoid me during the night?” Jay continued.

You nodded.

“And is that why you have your staff around only during the day?”

You nodded again.

“You’ve been keeping your distance from me, Princess,” Jay said with a desperate sigh. “Is it because I’m a stranger?”

This time you shook your head. “No.”

“Then, why—”

“It’s because of your scent.”

Jay paused and for a while, you thought he had turned into a statue. “I’m sorry?” He finally responded.

“You have a distinctive scent that makes me…”

Your sentence hung in the air and Jay realized you were choosing the appropriate words to voice your thoughts.

“I don’t feed on humans,” you resumed, “and I would like to keep it that way.”

Is she saying I smell like an animal? Jay thought to himself.

“But if it’s a curse,” Jay spoke again, deciding to shift the topic, “how can it be broken?”

You chuckled to yourself, and Jay swore he had just witnessed the most beautiful smile he had ever seen in his life.

“What’s the most cliché thing you can think of?” You asked back before patiently waiting for an answer.

“A kiss?” Jay answered in a tone that sounded more like a question.

You snorted and looked away. “The curse can only be broken if someone sincerely falls in love with me. I bet you can imagine how hard that would be.”

Jay took your answer and started backtracking everything in his mind—from the moment he arrived at your castle, to the way you tended to his wounds and took care of him in every way despite keeping your distance. He wondered if you had done the same thing to other knights or travelers who had stumbled upon your castle.

“I was actually hoping I could keep this hidden from you until your time is up,” you said after noticing he had been silent for too long. “Tomorrow, it will be a fortnight since you came here. I was told that you’re perfectly healed, so you can leave as soon as you want.”

Jay followed your movements as you stood up from your seat, pushing it back before you walked over to a shelf on the other side of the room. You pulled open the lowest drawer and took out a headpiece decorated in the most exquisite set of emeralds and diamonds.

“The diadem you’re looking for,” you said, bringing it to him. “Take it with you.”

You waited for Jay to take the diadem out of your hands, but he just stared at it.

“Sir?” You asked, shaking the diadem a little in front of his eyes.

“You said,” Jay began and licked his lips, “you said many men have died trying to possess it. You told me to forget about it.”

“That was because most of those men tried to take it by force. It did not end well. You were a nice guest, well, most of the time if you weren’t lurking around the castle. My staff also told me how kind you are to them.”

Jay tilted his head. “Let me get this right,” he said, “you’re giving the diadem to me just like that because I’m… nice?”

“Also, because I want you to leave.”

For some reason, your statement felt like it stung his heart.

“I beg your pardon?”

“You already told me your story. I’m helping a knight achieve his goal.”

You set the diadem beside Jay’s plate and started walking towards the door.

“I’ll have my staff ready your horse for tomorrow,” you said without looking back. “Live well, dear knight.”

Jay had lost count of the many times you left him alone in a room during his stay in your castle. However, unlike the previous times where all he felt was mostly confusion, this time it hurt.

---

It had been days or maybe weeks since Jay left your castle, and although you had grown accustomed to his absence, you could not deny that at times you missed his presence. It was not like you had spent a lot of time together, but you heard from your staff how Jay would behave, how he would treat everyone with kindness and respect, and how gentle he was when it came to animals and plants.

He was unlike any other knight you had met before, but that made him the most dangerous.

Jay did not know that every time you came into his room and caught a whiff of his scent, your eyes glinted in hunger. He was not aware of how hard you were keeping your thoughts to yourself, and he definitely was not aware of how you started to confuse your thoughts with your feelings, thinking that he might be the one who could lift your curse.

The single dream you had was then shattered as quickly as it was built. When you found out that he needed the diadem as a present for his betrothed, you threw all your hope out the window. You wanted to stay civil, though, and you figured that the best way to not act up in front of him was to just stay away from him.

Therefore, you were stunned to find him again on your doorstep this evening. It was almost sunset, and you began to observe his figure under the yellow light. He looked better, healthier, and there was this glow on his face that made him even more handsome.

“Princess,” he greeted you, smiling.

Your eyebrows were furrowed, and your eyes focused on the item in his hand. Your diadem.

“I believe it would be unfair for me to take what is rightfully yours,” Jay said, slightly lifting the diadem.

“What are you doing?” You asked. It was the only thing that came out of your mouth.

“I came back because,” Jay paused, “I want to ask you to marry me.”

You had experienced many odd encounters in your life, but this had to be one of the most bizarre ones.

“This is a sick joke,” you retorted before turning away from him.

“Princess, wait!”

You rushed back into the castle, heading into your room since you knew you were going to change soon. You did not want to end the surprise meeting badly, and your mind was too clouded that you did not notice your staff scurrying back into their chambers, completely ignoring that a knight was chasing after you.

As you finally reached the door to your bedroom, you pushed it open and entered before you slammed it shut. However, you did not hear the door close and when you turned around, Jay was holding it open.

“Please,” Jay begged, looking at you desperately.

You were about to scream at him, but words would not come out, and instead, your voice turned into raspy growls and hisses. Jay let himself inside and closed the door behind him as he witnessed your transformation, and once you were in your jaguar form you jumped onto your bed, trying to get as farther away from him as you could.

“It’s okay,” Jay said, calmly making his way towards you. “You’re okay.”

Jay reached out his hand to your snout and you looked away, sniffing and resting your head on a pillow. It did not deter him, and he even moved closer and made himself comfortable on your bed before placing a hand gently on top of your head.

“It will be okay,” Jay spoke again in a lower tone, a voice of reassurance.

As you felt Jay gently stroking your head, he saw a single tear trickle down your nose. You were gritting your teeth while forcing your eyes closed, trying to block any bestial urges that might arise.

---

You woke up with your head on top of Jay’s chest, and the way his chest moved up and down with every breath he took made you gather your senses in a faster manner than usual. You realized he had spent the night with you in your room, and you also remembered how you starved yourself the whole night just so you wouldn’t accidentally hurt him.

You quickly came to the conclusion that a relationship with him would never work, and you began to taint your own thoughts by assuming that he came back to tame you, not because he loved you, and that he only saw you as another quest in his life as a knight. With that, you decided to leave the castle before he wakes up, hoping that if you leave him for long enough, he will yield and return to his kingdom.

Unfortunately, after stumbling upon Shadow in the woods, you were forced to return home, with the horse surprisingly following you in a calm manner as if he knew he was there to serve a purpose. You were worried sick, partly because it was only hours left until sunset and also because there was no other way Jay would leave your castle unless his horse was with him. Sure enough, Jay was waiting for your return and his face lit up the second he saw you approaching the grounds with Shadow beside you.

“You need to leave,” you said, handing over Shadow’s lead line to Jay.

You went inside and after a short while, you thought you were safe and that Jay had left, but once again he tailed you right until you reached your chambers, and by that point, you were too exhausted to drive him away.

“My family disowned me,” you began, not bothering to give any preceding context. “I’m not worthy of marrying you.”

“Princess,” Jay scoffed before he licked his lips. “I’m not even royalty.”

“I can’t stand the thought of holding myself back when you’re around,” you continued, covering your mouth with both your hands. “It will never work.”

Jay stood by your bed as you sat on its edge, looking down and resting your elbows on your thighs as you continued to cover your mouth.

“Bite me.”

You frowned and lifted your head from your hands. “What?”

“All you need to do is to get used to my scent,” Jay said, sitting next to you. You shifted in place. “So, bite me.”

You looked at Jay, unsure, and he nodded once before tilting his head, giving you access to his neck. Your hands trembled as you reached for his shoulder, so he grabbed your hand in his and held it tight. When he felt your nose bump into his chin, he closed his eyes, and when he felt the warmth of your breath graze the skin on his neck, he almost shivered.

You bit him once and at the same time, you felt his hand squeeze your waist. His scent flooded your mind, and you could not hold back from biting him one more time, so you did. You let go with a shaky breath and pulled away only to find Jay looking into your eyes.

“It’s not bad, isn’t it?” He asked.

You licked your lips and brought your other hand to his shoulder.

“Do it again,” Jay demanded.

You tilted your head to the other side of his neck, where you found a heart-shaped birthmark, and this time you bit him there without hesitation.

“See?” He spoke, and his voice echoed right into your ear. “It doesn’t hurt.”

Jay squeezed your waist one more time before you decided to bite him a couple more times. He began rubbing your back gently before you suddenly felt a wash of overwhelming feelings. You moved back to the other side and bit him again, but this time you bit too hard that he winced and let go of his grip on your waist.

You flinched at his reaction and immediately felt regret. Your eyes flickered to the window, and you noticed how quickly the sun was setting, so before Jay could say anything you jumped to your feet and ran out of your chambers.

“Princess!”

Your feet took you to the farthest room in the castle and you quickly entered it, locking the door behind you. You leaned back on it and started sobbing, thinking of how foolish you were to even entertain the idea of marrying Jay in your condition. You slumped to the floor and sobbed, ignoring the banging on the door and Jay’s distraught voice begging you to let him in.

“Please leave, Jay.”

Your voice was weak and almost a croak, and you figured it was because of all the crying. But then Jay also stopped knocking on the door, and you heard rustling and a couple of soft taps by the keyhole.

“Princess? I can hear you.”

You almost choked on your own sob at Jay’s obvious remark, but then you paused, and you heard him speak again.

“Look out the window, Princess.”

The sun had set, and you could not believe your eyes. You held up your hands, your fingers, in front of you before you touched your own face to feel your nose, your cheeks, and your lips. Then you checked outside again, making sure your mind was not playing tricks and that you really had not transformed.

You heard another knock on the door and without waiting for another word you opened it. The look on Jay’s face was that of relief mixed with adoration, and he did not waste any time walking towards you to pull you into his embrace. You buried your face in the crook of his neck, staining his skin with your tears and letting him wrap his arms around you as tightly as he could.

You felt him tug one of your sleeves and you pulled back to look at him. He brought his hand up to caress your face, wiping the remaining tears off your cheek.

“Marry me, Princess.”

You answered by inching your face closer to his before nodding slightly and kissing him on the lips. You tasted his sigh right after, loving the way his arms wrapped around you again as you pulled him even closer by the neck. He shut the door behind him with his foot and moved you towards the bed, carefully guiding you all the way as he placed his hand on the small of your back, not even once pulling away from the kiss.

The back of your legs hit the edge of the bed and you both stopped, pulling away to catch your breath and to undress yourselves. Jay pulled his top off quickly while you struggled with your corset, so he gently shoved your hands away so he could undress you himself. When he pulled all of your clothes down to pool at your feet, you could feel his breath against your thighs, and you almost lost your balance if he did not place his hands on your hips.

Jay began kissing your core without warning and you whimpered at the sudden warmth. Just moments ago, you were biting his neck like he was your prey, yet now you are watching him devour you, his face in between your legs as you struggle to even keep your eyes open. At one point, the way his tongue was pressing on your clit made you pull on his hair a little too tight, and when he looked up at you, he grinned before licking his top lip.

You sat down on the bed and pulled him in by his shoulders, and he began to lay you down before he settled over you. He got rid of the last of his clothes and you could feel his tip graze your bottom lips.

“Jay, wait,” you whispered, placing a palm over his chest.

He leaned into you to give you a soft peck on the cheek. “Yes, Princess?”

You chuckled and began caressing his face with one hand. “Do you even know my name?”

Jay let out an airy but silent laugh, burying his face in your neck. “Do you really think I would stay for so long in this castle without knowing the name of the residents? You know my name even without me telling you.”

You rested your thumb on his cheek and the rest of your fingers behind his ear, making him face you again. He moved his face to kiss your palm.

“Then call me by my name,” you requested. “And I shall chant yours like it’s my favorite spell.”

Jay smirked before leaning in to kiss your lips. “Very well then,” he whispered into your mouth, “Y/N.”

You felt him ease into you with a gentle force, and he caught your gasp between his lips. You held on to his shoulders as he began thrusting in and out of you, making you bring your legs up in order to feel him better.

“Slowly, Jay,” you begged him once you felt his pace was going a little too fast.

Jay grunted, seemingly unable to control his thirst for you, so you kept the pace by meeting him halfway and grinding your hips towards his. You could feel his biceps flexing as he held himself up, so you caressed his arms before you made your next request.

“Bite me.”

You brushed his hair back before you let him kiss your lips, and after that his lips traveled down to your chin and to your neck, licking you there several times before he bit you. You chanted his name as you promised, and when it was time for him to reach his high, he moaned your name right into your ear.

As you felt his seed coat your insides, you felt his thumb circling your clit for you to catch up with him. He pulled out of you only to finger his load back inside your hole, and that was how you reached your high of the night.

When Jay collapsed by your side, you became aware of the marks that you had left on his neck earlier that evening. You moved closer to him, and he welcomed you by pulling you to his side with one arm, having you rest your head on his shoulder.

“Are you sure it didn’t hurt?” You whispered, too afraid to disturb the serenity.

“Princess,” Jay began. “My princess,” he corrected himself. “Even if it hurt, I liked it.”

You snorted and tapped Jay’s cheek, and your body moved with his as he started to laugh.

“If you feel the urge next time,” he continued, “just come and leave marks on my neck.”

Jay tilted your chin up with his finger before kissing you softly, and for the first time in forever, you finally felt content.

-END-

back to masterlist // back to navigation

!!! do NOT copy, translate, or repost any of my work to your blog or ANY other platform.

962 notes · View notes

loveephia · 1 year

Text

the miya twins having a crush on the same girl.

content: (🦷) tooth-rotting fluff, my poor humor (i'm sorry 😔), them fighting over you, you can pick who you end up with, suna is in the scenarios, timeskip.

⚠ warning/s: manga spoilers.

HEADCANONS

they're like two puppies when it comes to you and your love RAAAAAAHGHHHGH

whatever you're interested in, they're trying to learn more about it so that they can see your eyes sparkle when the topic is brought up

when you're at their games and cheering for one twin, the other gets MADLY COMPETITIVE

THEY'RE ON THE SAME TEAM YET YOU SEE THEM THROWING HANDS ON THE COURT

when you want to watch atsumu warm up, he exclusively lets you!!

what i mean by "exclusively" is that he doesn't let his fangirls in the gym. LOL

he does all these cool tricks, flexes his muscles, and goes all out in practice matches, just to see your adorably shocked face

when you forget your lunch, osamu would be willing to share his with you!!

osamu can't keep his mind off of the fact that you're eating from the same chopsticks as him, which means that that's an indirect kiss 😭

down atrocious

when they're both sitting next to you on the bus and you've drifted off to sleep, the twins are wondering whose shoulder you'll rest on for the entirety of the trip

if you've lost something, say, as something as simple as a pencil or eraser, the boys come running to your side in a flash with the needed item

both of them never ended up confessing, in chance of hurting the other twin, so you never knew about how they felt

until one day, suna had tattle-taled on them a few years after graduating

one twin ended up losing feelings

while the other's remained

ATSUMU MIYA (SCENARIO)

"wait, what?" you said as suna instantly closed his mouth shut. even osamu's jaw had slackened at the middle blocker's little slip-up.

"well.. i—!" atsumu panics, trying to find the words, while osamu drags suna away to give you two some privacy. osamu knew atsumu's feelings. he just hopes it's requited. atsumu merely sighs, "it was just a li'l crush from a while back, nothin' major!"

"how long ago?"

"..high school."

your eyes widen at his hesitant answer.

then came silence. silence, which was slowly killing atsumu. it's unlike him to stay this quiet for so long, osamu may think.

"what a shame.." you start, staring at your glass of water in the slightest hint of sadness, "i guess you could say that i had a little crush on you from a while back, too."

now it's atsumu's turn to be shocked, "huh, since when?!"

"high school." you smile.

OSAMU MIYA (SCENARIO)

"oh." were the first words suna muttered after he had let out one of the twins' most trusted secret on (an honest) accident. atsumu was nonetheless, frozen like a brick in place. while osamu's expression was mortified.

atsumu's eyes flickered rapidly from osamu to you, worried for what's about to happen between you two's relationship. suna had read the room, so before atsumu can worry any further, suna drags him away against his own will.

you turned to osamu, "judging from suna and atsumu's reaction.. i'm gonna assume that it's true?"

"..maybe." he meekly replies, wiping the table with a used rag to ease his nerves. "are you disappointed?" osamu asks a bold question that even he doesn't want the answer to.

"yes."

osamu's heart drops.

"because i had also liked you back." you confess, mischeviously poking his cheek in the process, "too bad that you don't like me now, though. otherwise, we could've been dating, then happily married, with a nice little family of our own."

you've never seen osamu's face redden this fast before. it's amusing. "now, hold on—!"

1K notes · View notes

ellieromanov · 7 months

Text

Vanilla, Pine, or cinnamon

Pairings: r x Natasha

Warnings: angst

Word count: 700

Summary: it’s been years since Natasha has made the sacrifice and memories only linger for so long before you start to forget.

I think I miss her more than I remember her. That terrifies me. I don't really remember what she looks like anymore... I know she had red hair and she had green eyes, but I don't remember the shape of her nose, or the color of her lips.

I don't remember what her laugh sounds like or the pitch of her voice, or you know... like the little phrases she would say. I can't remember what she smells like. I want to say vanilla but maybe she smelt more like pine or maybe cinnamon.

I kept all her clothes. I never wanted to wash them because I was afraid it would get rid of her smell so they would just sit in my closet. Sometimes I'd pull out one of her old sweaters and and I'd sleep with it on my pillow just so I could pretend like she was there.

Like it was just one of those gloomy days where we wouldn't get out a bed for ages because the comforter was just so warm and the mattress felt just right and the position of the pillows were perfect. And we'd watch old cheesy 90's movies all day long...

I don't do that anymore because her sweaters lost her sent from all the dust they've collected.

It feels like it's been an eternity since she was last here...

There was something my dad would always say to me and my siblings as kids and it went something like;

"you do not know time until you know how to dance. You don't know time until you know how to paint, compose music and have read Shakespeare. Once you know how to do those things only then can you complain about time."

I think about those words often. Since Nat has been gone I fill my days reading the tragedy's of Shakespeare, sitting at the piano, putting on my old ballet pointés, and most recently, painting.

I've been trying to remember her enough to put her on the canvas. I can't seem to get the correct shade of red for her hair, and I've had to repaint her her nose several times.

But I do remember how much Natasha loved the night sky. All the stars just seemed like magic to her. She also loved... daisies? Or were they tulips? I think they were daisies. So I've painted a field of daisies underneath the night sky with Natasha in the middle of the field.

But no matter how many pictures I have of her to use as a reference, they never captured what she really looked like. They never captured that gorgeous smile she had or the freckles on her nose, or the scars that littered her cheek or the depths of green in her eyes. These are all small things that I remember vaguely.

People don't often visit anymore. Clint and Laura stop by once every few months and Yelena once or twice a year maybe. I haven't heard much from anyone on the team since the funeral besides Peter. He's a good kid. Sends me a message once every few weeks to update me on he's life and he always asks how I'm doing. He keeps me up to date on the outside world.

I so often wish that I could go back to that day and trade places with her. I dream about it sometimes. They are the most vivid dreams I have. When I dream, I get to hear her voice again. But the longer I think about it the more I realize that it's better this way. Deep down, I know that. I know it's better. Because Natasha will never have to know what it's like to lose her other half, she will never have to experience the pain and grief and suffering that comes with losing me. She will never know what it's like to to forget me. And for that I am grateful.

So as I try to fall asleep tonight I just need to remind myself, it's better this way, and one day... one day I'll be with her again. But until that day i just have to accept the fact that the comforter is never warm anymore, the mattress is like a brick and the pillows are old and torn. I will try to remember her scent so I can go find it, try to make the house feel like home again with it and restore some of that comforter but I don't know if she smelt of vanilla, pine, or cinnamon .

#natasha romanoff angst #natasha romanov #natasha x you #natasha romanoff #angst #black widow #black widow angst #y/n #natasha x y/n #mcu x reader #mcu #mcu angst #marvel #marvel angst

52 notes · View notes

rulerzreachf4n7 · 5 months

Text

(If you're just trying to find some cute ship art for like lumity or huntlow and you find this I'm sorry I just want this to get some recognition cause I'm new to the Tumblr community 😭😭)

Hello there and welcome to me rating different TOH ships!

It'll be in a format like a iceberg chart, the more well known ships at the top and more unknown and obscure ships in the middle and below

Also know this is my opinion and I have given reasons why I don't like and ship the ones I'm going to list, don't get mad at me cause I don't ship whatever the fuck you like

And with that let's go!

The surface

1. Lumity 9/10

Actually a really good ship, I don't know why people keep on saying it's a toxic/unhealthy ship, the only reasons they say is that they lie to each other,Amity somehow "hurts" Luz and never gives her a proper apology...? Im sorry but it's fucking stupid, there's other reasons but I don't remember them, I gave it a 9/10 because it's okay, nothing astonishing or amazing, just good wlw rep and that's all that matters

2. Huntlow 100000/10

WORDS CANNOT DESCRIBE HOW MUCH I FUCKING LOVE THIS SHIP OMG!!!! I wish it could have gotten confirmed or more hints throughout the show (I personally think it would have been a cool idea that after kings tide Hunter and Willow started dating and it would be shown in TTT) it's just a really cute ship to me and I love everything about it >_<!!!

3. Raeda 10/10

It's a really cool ship, but I was confused on the whole is Eda bisexual or pansexual thing cause she's confirmed bisexual but Raines non binary...and now supposedly bisexual people can be attracted to non binary people??? It's just hella confusing to me, but that's a topic on it's own for a different time, I really like how they developed and definitely TTBK was and is one of my favorite episodes

4. Veesha 8/10

It's actually canon that Vee has a crush on Masha and thats all I need to know...GAHHH IT'S SUCH A CUTE SHIP!! Really cool thing how Dana is adding some much non binary characters in the show (NOT including the collector cause he's demiboy NOT non binary, there's a huge ass difference) wish there could have been some development/hints in the WAD, sadly not, but that doesn't mean it won't be confirmed!

5. Gustholomule 8/10

By far one of my ships but sadly not on the top 3,yet again, needed more hints, especially in s2a cause Gus and Matty had more screen time and interactions together,and I love how the fandom just agreed Matty was gay, and not to mention the friendship with Matty and Amity

6. Belpaw 10000/10

this is a joke ship between Belos and springtrap/William Afton from fnaf but it's absolutely fucking hilarious to me and I love it

Now, time to go under the surface, here are some ships that some people know/ship but not much people do, and the further I go we'll get to the more...problematic ships, yet again, don't get mad at me for my opinions

1. Lunter -100/10

Please block this account immediately if you ship lunter I CANNOT STAND THIS SHIP!!! Sure, they had some pretty decent chemistry and interactions with each other, but it just won't work! There's no use in shipping a character with a canon love interest/already dating someone and just choosing to ignore it and ship them anyway, PLUS FOR THOSE SHIPPERS WHO ACTUALLY GOT FUCKING MAD CAUSE IT DIDN'T BECOME CANON I'M ACTUALLY SHITTING BRICKS ON HOW FUCKING STUPID THAT WAS 💀💀💀💀 plus Willows a canon love interest to Hunter, Zeno, HUNTERS VA, literally changed his name to Hunter noceda, and no it's not wlw erasure, but if you acknowledge the fact that lumity is canon, if you acknowledge the fact Dana put her hardwork and effort trying to get a same sex couple in a kid's show which literally got it CANCELLED, and still ship it, disrespectfully shut the fuck up, lunter would be canon if FUCKING NETFLIX MADE TOH 😭😭😭

2. Huntric/Huntmira -100000/10

I. Hate. This. Ship. I put them together cause I didn't want to make seperate sections for it, now you're gonna read me rant on how much I fucking despise this ship, number one, EDRIC IS FUCKING DATING SOMEONE, no interactions (only one with Edric but none with Emira) the mfs literally degraded him in labyrinth runners, no chemistry whatsoever, its overall just not worth your time, and I'm not a toxic huntlow stan, no I won't force the ship on you, however I will block you because I don't want that shit on my feed, same goes for lunter and the other ships I'm gonna mention

3. Luz x Willow, Amity, or all of them together 5/10

Ngl, it's not that bad of a ship, actually really cute, but I couldn't see it happening in the show given that lumity is already canon, plus we should normalize healthy friendships between two girls, not everyone needs to be shipped and the toh community has a huge fucking problem with that, plus this also goes for Amity x Willow as well

4. Camila x Eda (i dunno the official ship name 😭😭😭) 5/10

It's mid, I SAID IT I SAID IT!!! *hides in bed* I'm sorry the ship is mid, raeda is canon already and they didn't have any dialogue, interactions,chemistry together only other than people want Camila to date/marry someone,and the only part when they actually meet is in WAD and that one picture of Eda showing Camila the Apple blood, other than that it's meh, eh, mid

5. Boscha x literally anyone -1000/10

Disrespectfully shut the fuck up if you ship boschlow, boschmity, or boschluz, THESE ARE EXTREMELY TOXIC SHIPS AND YOU'VE PROBABLY NEVER EVEN WATCHED WING IT LIKE WITCHES OR THE ENTIRE FIRST SEASON OF TOH, YOU MUST HAVE SEVERE BRAIN DAMAGE IF YOU THOUGHT THIS WAS OKAY, Boscha is literally their bully, IT'S NOT THE ENEMIES TO LOVERS STORY YOU WANT POOKIE, the only one that isn't as severe is boschmity, that one, unlike the other ships isn't as bad cause boscha genuinely likes Amity and if you watched FTF you'd know why, plus boscha must had have the fattest crush on Amity, but the only boscha ship good is Boschbria (Boscha x Bria)

6. Veenter 10-/10

No...why must I have come to this...NOOO!!! okay, first off, ima just put this in the most direct, black and white, simple way, it fucking sucks, no interactions that support the ship, no chemistry, like I said, I'm a raging Huntlow stan, this ship is unacceptable, plus I like found...a potential r34 comic of them BUT WE DON'T NEED TO KNOW THAT HAHAH....oh fucking god...

The pit, here lays all the problematic ships, also uhm TW maybe??? I am gonna use words like p3dph1l1a, @buse, Child @buse,and pr0sh1p alot, so if it makes you uncomfy just a warning, and with that, lets go...

1. Camphip -infinity/10

I HAVE A RAGING HATE FOR THIS SHIP OH MY FUCKING TITAN, okay, I know Camila is an adult and belos is...well he's an old fucking geezer,but the age gap gives me the ick, but let's just start, it's @busive, Camila literally said she wanted to beat him up in the beginning of FTF, AND I DUNNO, DO YOU THINK A 400+ GENOCIDAL EMPEROR WHO @BUSED 50+ GRIMWALKERS WHO COULD HAVE POSSIBLY BE KIDS (and by kids they'd be at least 11/12-16, still pretty younge though)MANIPULATED MILLIONS OF WITCHES AND DEMONS, AND KILLED HIS BROTHER IS A GOOD HUSBAND/BOYFRIEND MATERIAL? disrespectfully shut the fuck up, given the fact of think Luz, Vee, and Hunter are all Camila's children (or at least that's what I headcanon) DO YOU THINK THEY'D BE HAPPY TO KNOW THAT THEIR MOTHER IS DATING THE PERSON WHO CAUSED THEM SO MUCH FUCKING PAIN AND ABUSE????ESPECIALLY HUNTER, BELOS FUCKING SAID HE DIDN'T EVEN GIVE A SHIT ABOUT HUNTER IN HOLLOW MIND, CLOUDS ABOVE THE HORIZON,AND IN THANKS TO THEM, HE LITERALLY TRIED TO K1LL HIM, THIS SHIP WOULD ONLY BE FINE IF IT WAS IN A GOOD BELOS AU, THE ONLY WAY, I will immediately block you if you ship Belos x Camila, I hate it HATE IT AND I'M DEAD FUCKING SERIOUS

2. Amity x Gus or Hunter -infinity/10

You're lesbianphobic, go fuck yourself if you ship Amity with any male characters

3. Empgold/Huntlos -infinity/10

It's pr0ship, p3d0philia, and @buse, Hunter is 16 and Belos is 400+ years old, you can't ship a character with someone's who dead so it wouldn't matter if you ship them after the time skip when Hunters 20, Belos @bused Hunter, the scar on his cheek and the whole fucking possession scene in TTT might give you a hint, Belos never cared for Hunter and only saw him as a tool, he tried to k1ll him in Hollow Mind, and in Thanks to them, if you ship them, I am blocking you, and I say this proudly

4. Guster -infinity/10

I. Hate. This. Ship, AND FUCK YOU GUSTER BUBBLE BATH YOU FUCKING MADE ME HATE IT EVEN MORE (please don't question what the guster bubble bath is, DO NOT SEARCH IT UP IT IS AN R34 COMIC...unless you wanna get traumatized, but it's cool baby girl) I hate this ship, there's plenty of interactions, but they give off a more sibling energy,and that's a reason why I don't ship it, I see them as siblings, I get they could somehow date cause of cosmic frontier but it's more of a similarity than a romantic aspect just like with Amity and Luz with the good witch Azura,its also uhm *COUGH COUGH* p3d0philia if you ship their time skip versions (Hunter is 20 and Gus is 16), the reason why I put it so low is because I feel like it's not as well know but not as obscure (plus I did this all rushed so I had no fucking time)

And ladies, bros, non binary folks, that's the end! You've endured all my criticism so take a damn break, you deserve it

And special credits to ships I didn't include!

Luz x Anne/Marcy (Amphibia)

Hunter x Sasha (Amphibia)

Gus x Willow

Gus x Bria

Luz x Marco (svtfoe)

Gus x Vee

Luz x viney

Edric x Emira

Eda x Belos

Eda x Darius

Amity x Marcy (amphibia)

Belos x Luz

The Collector x King, any member of the hexsquad

Amity x Odalia

Eda x Dana

Darius x Raine

Belos x Kikimora

Kikimora x Puss in boots (oh god yes that's exists)

Aaand....

Lilith x Belos/Hooty/Steve/Eda!!!

I hope someone at least read this cause I made this in a damn hurry!!!

#huntlow #the owl house #raeda #gustholomule #veesha #emperor belos #golden guard #lumity #my posts:3

27 notes · View notes

missacidburn928s-heathenhideaway · 3 months

Text

LUNATIC II

Summary:

Welcome to Tartarus. Things are going to get electrifying 😉

Notes:

Hello Heathens! Smut begins this chapter. HAPPY READING!

Banner by @cafekitsune Divider by @unowakot

You pull up to what looks to be a condemned brick building. Boarded up windows, graffiti, trash littered everywhere and even a homeless man holding court in the alley by the side entrance.

"Hey Mello. How goes the watch?" You ask the vagrant leaning against the wall.

"Nyxy my girl! You're back. And you brought company. Has it been 2 days already? Man I must have got a bad batch off of Slim." He responds with a look of confusion on his face.

"You haven't lost track of time again Mello. I'm back a day early because earth's mightiest over here have some questions for me and in case it gets squirrely I'd rather not get blood on my hardwood back home." You state like it's an everyday fact.

"I gotcha. Gotta protect the safespace. Like I do with this alley. Well. Holler if you need anything. Though I'm sure you won't. And if I hear screaming I'll just tune it out." He leans back against the wall and gets comfy.

The team looks surprised at his statement. Clint even mouths ‘what the fuck’ to Nat and she just shrugs.

"Oh. Speaking of needing anything." You reach into the inner pocket of your leather jacket. "I brought you a new world to explore and some coin for your ventures." You hand over a gently used book and a couple of gift cards.

He glances at the cover. “‘The Last Wish’ Andrzej Sapkowski. A fantasy novel. Interesting.” He inspects the cards. “Looks like you found a way to guarantee I use your money the way you intend me to. I can buy food if I’m hungry. Clothes and shoes if I need them. But I don't understand the last one. Why did you give me a YMCA card with my name on it?”

“Easy. I made you a member. I’ll be paying the dues. That way you can get in and use the facilities to have a hot shower and use the internet if you so chose. Or just harass the teenagers. I know you love to do that.” You answer with a shrug. “Oh and that book is the introduction to a series. If you like it I can bring the next one when you finish. The least I can do is keep you entertained while you stalwartly guard my lair like a loyal hellhound does the gates to the underworld.”

“As always, it's a pleasure to serve you Miss Nyxy my Dark Pixie. My fealty shall never waiver my Queen.” He gives a formal bow of his head.

“As you were Sir Mellow. I’ll leave Wade to keep you company for now.” You nod in response before turning towards the “boarded up” door and removing a brick to expose your lock mechanism.

“Why do I have to stay out of the super secret lair?” Wade pouts. “I wanna see all your toys and offer up my services as a guinea pig. Come on.”

“You know more than anyone how much of a liability you are Wade. I’m not running the risk of your enemies even thinking you spend time here. Don’t pout about it. Be a good boy and I’ll set up some playtime with Ferne for you.” You offer up.

“Full access pass?” He barters.

“For one night only. Under her direction.” You offer.

“Deal.” You shake hands. “I best be on my way then. I’m not needed here and Mello isn't much for conversation. I have people to stalk, things to kill anyway.”

“Night Wade. Try and keep all your body parts this time.” You turn back to the hidden lock, ignoring the group of heroes watching this exchange.

“No promises.” He retorts before running off.

Removing a small dagger from the waistband of your jeans, you prick your middle finger, producing a small drop of blood that you allow the lock to soak up. You suck the remaining blood off your finger, sneakily giving the group the bird as you wait for the tell tale click of the lock disengaging.

Once the door is unlocked, you push it forward and make your way inside. “Don’t dawdle now. The door will close and lock automatically in 30 secs and she’s one heavy bitch.” At your words they speedily head in behind you, Clint barely making it through the entryway as the door begins to pull closed, a hiss sounding as the lock reengages.

“Shit! You weren’t kidding.” He gasps out.

“You’ll find that even though I am rather hilarious. I am also brutally honest. I don’t like to waste words when information is important. Plus I really didn’t feel like cleaning up severed body parts tonight. There’s better things I’d like my muscles aching from.” Your eyes quickly roam over Bucky and Nat, landing on the blonde God behind them, as you speak of aching muscles. I’m sure he would leave a most delicious ache.

You lead them down a small dark hallway until you reach another locked door. For this one you enter a five digit pin and a scanner pops out below the keypad at hip level. You unbutton your jeans and pull down the right side, exposing the gray-scale pinpoint tattoo on your hip. The Goddess Hecate’s Wheel, surrounded by lotus petals. The Ultra-Violet Scanner quickly surveys your skin, picking up on the black light ink hidden within the wheel.

A series of clicks and bangs can be heard as the door unlocks itself, opening with a small release of air. As you button your jeans back up, you turn your head slightly over your shoulder. “Welcome to Tartarus. My little slice of Hell on earth.” You give a devilish little chuckle as you watch a myriad of looks pass along their faces at the moniker of your den of sin.

Thor, nonplussed by the name, catches your eye and gives back a devilish smirk of his own. “I do hope, this is a place for you to commit all your sins.” With a wink he steps inside.

Inquisitive eyes and a range of expressions fill the faces of Earth's Mightiest as they take in your playground of debauchery. Haunting music plays through the speakers as you spin and give an impromptu tour of your open space.

Dark red and black walls, accented with dark gray partitions divide the open space into modified sections. A black and white kitchen sits to the left, completely stocked, with an island and a full bar before the partitions begin.

Section one is simply a closet. Racks and shelves are neatly stacked and overflowing in black clothing. All tactical in some way but simple looking to the naked civilian eye. Several types of belts and a copious amount of steel toe boots take up one corner. A golden settee sits proudly in the middle of the room, providing comfort when one is trying to figure out which combo of gear to equip.

Next up is your weapons lab. Weaponry of every kind line the walls and built-in drawers. The workbench is littered with miscellaneous ammo and disassembled parts. Thor admires your various long swords. Your mace of the black crown catching his attention. “I have never seen such a weapon on Midgard. It looks as though it was crafted on Nidavellir. How did you come to procure such a weapon?”

“I made it myself.” You beam. “The only one of its kind. It’s based on several different lores combined to create such a badass weapon that inflicts maximum damage.”

“A warrior maiden who knows her way around vast weaponry. A deadly combination.” His eyes burn with heat as he scans your form, igniting your core with his smoldering gaze. You can feel your panties begin to dampen further watching his nostrils slightly flare as the scent of your fresh arousal hits him.

You choose to lean into it, giving his massive frame a once over yourself. Sending him a wink before giving your lips a quick lick and turning with a swivel to your hips to head into the next space.

This space has quite a few of the team giving you the side eye. Some may call it a torture chamber but you just call it your precious play room. Whips, chains, handcuffs, ropes of every size and color; along with various torture devices line the floor and walls. Not to mention the large drain in the floor and special hose that connects to the pipes that the bathroom uses to pressure wash away any stubborn stains or fluids.

“This clearly is one of my happy places.” You smile dreamily. “So much pain and pleasure happens here.”

“I can see why Wade has such a hard on for you now.” Tony ponders out loud.

“Oh. Wade has never been in here.” You turn towards him. “He’s only ever seen my work in the wild.” You step up to the billionaire. “Most souls that make it through those doors don’t leave this place.” You run a finger down his chest to his arc reactor and tap it.

He swallows. “Most huh. So you do play here.”

“But of course Mr. Stark.” You take a step back. “All work and no play makes for a dull existence.” You turn on your heel and head for the door connecting this chamber to the next. “Come along now. The tour is almost over and then we can talk.”

The next three sections are rather uneventful. You show them your glorious black and gray bathroom, complete with clawfoot tub and a rather extensive walk in shower made to handle any type of uncleanliness one could think of. Followed by your sleeping quarters. A large Victorian gothic four post bed sits on a platform in the center of the room surrounded by greenery and all your creature comforts.

Then there’s the study. Wall to wall are nothing but bookshelves filled to the brim and display cases full of some of your favorite artifacts, mainly skeletal remains of varying animal species and crystals galore.

On your way back towards the kitchen Clint can’t help but notice the hanging fabrics dangling above a small stage containing a stripper pole. “You do aerials in your show?” He asks.

“Not as much as I would like to, but yes I do.” You saunter over to the silky fabric and wrap your wrist up tight. “Honestly, in the air, dangling and flipping around, is the one place I feel most calm.” You heft your body up into the silk, twisting and maneuvering until you’ve put yourself in an inverted pigeon pose.

“Alright. You have questions and I may just have some answers for you.” You state.

Clint looks on slack jawed at your overly peaceful state while suspended up in the air, as Steve tries to take control of the situation and finally get some answers. “Are you sure you want to have this discussion while you're twisted up there?”

“Captain, I assure you.” You manipulate your body once more and move into a wide seat inversion. “I am perfectly content, right where I am.”

Thor’s mind starts to race as he watches you confidently control the silk wrapped around your body. Flashes of him manipulating you into various positions for his own carnal pleasure begin to play. I must partake of this warrior maiden. To drink of her essence and worship her body would be an honor fit for a King.

“Leave her be Capsicle. Even you can admire the view on this one.” Tony nudges him in the arm.

“I assume you’re looking for some villain origin story type bullshit, right?” You raise your brow.

They just stare on, waiting for you to continue.

“Sad to say, mine is not all too entertaining. Grew up in foster care til I was old enough to successfully run away at age 13. Was homeless for a bit until Madam Elsa found me. Don’t worry I wasn’t turning tricks or anything at that age.”

You smile like the nocturnal creature you are. “She gave me a room at her upscale brothel. Not one of the play rooms, but on the level where the escorts lived. She required me to complete my education in exchange for room and board. I opted to do it online and graduated early at 15. Yay for homeschool and smart sex workers as tutors. I learned a lot of things back then. Good and bad. It was the bad that stuck with me of course.”

You begin to sway, subconsciously soothing yourself. “I watched the people I loved and cared for, get beat for doing what they had to do to put food in their bellies. The richer the client, the more evil they were. One extremely wealthy client in particular, who was the son of a politician, tried to bargain a night with me when I turned 18. Madam of course had none of it. Didn't stop the little twat from trying though. Had me followed and basically stalked me. Little did he know I’d been learning hand to hand combat along with weapons training since the day I entered that brothel. Cliff, Madam's husband and head of security, took me under his wing and made me a secret weapon.”

The team exchanges a look with each other.

“It wasn't until I was 21 that I killed for the first time. Maimed plenty. But death by my hand just hadn’t happened yet. Not until that same prick that tried to buy me when I became legal did the unthinkable. He had his goons raid the brothel. Apparently his father had gotten into business with Hydra and he thought he was invincible. My found family were raped and beaten all in an attempt to get to me. He made an example of Madam and Cliff.”

Your eyes glaze over as you relive that night. “He would have gotten off easy with a shot between the eyes, if he didn’t bind and torture Madam until I called. He was stupid enough to pick up her phone. I heard her screams to stay away even as he plunged his knife into her gut. I rushed over and found the carnage. He’d told the goons to leave as he remained. That was his biggest mistake. I played the distraught pseudo daughter to a tee. Mainly because I was. I gave him a false sense of victory before I slid a dagger from my belt and slit his throat. I watched the blood and life drain from him without remorse.”

“Madam died that night in the hospital and many of my family were wounded beyond repair, both physically and mentally. I vowed that day to protect the forgotten ones of society. The other. Because too many think we deserve what happens to us because we use our bodies for work.”

A small smile returns to your face. “Madam left me the brothel in her will and the remaining girls and I turned it into Sins. All above board. All consensual and most of all safe. I just so happen to have a taste for blood and mayhem. Get quite thirsty for it actually. But I do have a code. So you don't have to worry. I’m not taking your job. Anyone gets out of hand, they deal with me. That includes my workers who choose to take John's outside of the facility.”

“Nice story. Tragic. Yet it makes sense.” Natasha imparts.

Steve asks the question they’ve all been waiting for. “Why Rumlow?”

You lower yourself back down to the ground and walk up to the Captain. “Simple. He assaulted my best friend and worker. Followed her home and took what he wanted. He wasn't hard to track honestly. I was able to follow him the night after. Snuck into his apartment and the little shit had the audacity to brag about his prowess and what he did to Trixie. So I got a little knife happy. Had to take two showers just to get all of him off me that night.”

“Sounds like he got what he rightfully deserved.” Thor states.

“Good to know that the Demi God understands doling out justice where justice is due.” You glance over your shoulder at the blonde Adonis. “Although I’m not looking for anyone's approval; it does make all my naughty parts tingle to know my work is appreciated.” You wink at him and turn back towards the baffled Captain. “What? I have a praise kink. Among other things. So sue me.”

You head to the kitchen where a tablet is located on the counter. With a couple taps you place the lair in Sin Mode. The lights fade into a sultry red as Freak begins to play. You saunter over to your pole, turning towards the group of superheroes taking up space in your funhouse.

“Look. I have a lot of pent up energy I need to get rid from work and talking about murder and mayhem is just adding to my need for release.” You grab the pole and swing around once before climbing up. “Seeing as I have answered your questions, you can kindly show yourselves out or help me expend said energy. I’m not picky. An orgasm is in my future either way.” You start a sequence of spins and tricks as you give them time to make up their minds.

“I care not of what you all choose to do. But I will be staying to aid in the warrior maidens energy release. A creature that uninhibited, deserves to be worshiped properly.” Thor declares.

“Why am I not surprised your staying?” Tony looks at the God. “You’ve had a hardon for her since she took out that violet wand during her show. Wanna see if she receives as good as she gives huh there Pointbreak.”

“You know I can hear you right Tin Man.” You stop your spin and sit comfortably perched on the pole. “For inquiring minds who want to know, I most certainly love to receive. I’m a glutton for it really. Pain and pleasure. Such a magnificent combination. You thought tonight’s show was entertaining. You should see what I get up to with a dagger and some rope.” You wink at the Winter Soldier and the Black Widow, both with looks of lust clouding their eyes at your words.

“Alright, before this devolves any further, we’ll be taking our leave.” Steve looks over to an enthralled Thor, eyes only for you in this moment. “Well, almost all of us anyway. Thank you for answering our questions and allowing us in your space. I’m sure it won't be the last you see of us from now on.”

“I can’t wait to see what you have in store for me Captain.” You allow your eyes to roam all over his casually dressed frame.

They say their goodbyes and begin to head out. Thor happily watches you do your magic on the pole. Clint slaps him on his back and whispers. “Don’t hold anything back. She more than looks like she can handle the hammer and all its glory. I’ll be waiting for all the dirty details when you get back.”

“It will be my pleasure. Goodnight Barton.” Thor replies.

“So.” You slide down the pole, landing softly on your feet. “I’m just going to be upfront with you, God of Thunder and fertility. You can help me relieve all this energy if you make sure to use ALL of your powers. I want to be fucked stupid and be a babbling mess on the floor by the time your through with me. I can take whatever you dole out. Trust me.”

“Challenge accepted, fair maiden. Let’s begin by getting rid of these garments.” With a flash of lighting your clothes disintegrate off your body into a pile of ash on the floor.

“You better be replacing those.”

“I’ll have Tony buy you something better.” He steps up to you, wraps a hand around your throat and pulls you up into a heated kiss.

You wrap your thighs around his waist, grinding down against his shirt, soaking it in your essence. “I’m not opposed to semi clothed sex, but I really wanna get my greedy little fingers all over this godly skin.”

“That can easily be arranged milady.” He walks you over to the kitchen and places you on the island as he slowly removes his clothes for you.

While you watch the show you grab the control tablet off the counter beside you. “I have just the thing to make this night even more memorable.” Thunderstruck begins to play. “Care to make this even more interesting?”

“What do you have in mind?” Naked as the day is long, Thor swaggers up to you and places himself between your thighs.

You run your hand down his chiseled chest. “Let’s make a little video of our time together. A souvenir of our lustful venture for you to gaze upon at your discretion when you so choose. What say you, God of Thunder?”

“Aye milady. That sounds most agreeable to me. May I share our escapades with the team as well?” He inquires.

“You may. I have nothing to hide and honestly you may help me gain future escapades because of it. Share away my King.” You shrug.

“Your King.” He growls out. “Mmm I quite enjoy the sound of that spilling from your lips.” He runs his fingers up the insides of your thighs, spreading them further as he lowers himself to his knees, placing his head right before your glistening folds. “Now I shall feast like one.”

He licks a long stroke up your folds and suctions your pulsing button into his warm mouth. The fingers that were teasing your thighs continue their journey with the added buzz of random sparks of electricity dancing along your skin.

“Mmmm. You taste of the sweetest ambrosia.” He looks up at you, blonde beard shining with your slick as he licks his lips. “I fear I may never have my fill or find another taste quite like it.” He smirks before diving back in.

“Mmm Fuck! God of Thunder and Cunnilingus. Sweet Satan that tongue has some mighty tricks.” You feel your orgasm coming on quick as he plunges two thick fingers into your sopping slit and sends a jolt of his power right to your g spot.

That’s the magical ticket to unlocking a colossal orgasm, worthy of the god who bestowed it, out of you. Your eyes roll into the back of your head as you let yourself ride the erratic waves of your climax.

“I’ve had lesser partners pass out after an orgasm of that magnitude. You truly can take what I dole out it seems.” You watch as he licks you off his fingers. “Alas, I have a babbling mess to make out of you yet.”

He lifts you off of the counter and places you on your feet, turning you towards the wet spot you left dripping off the edge. “Bend over.” He commands.

Your body is telling you to do just that, but your bratty little brain demands otherwise. You glimpse over your shoulder making eye contact with the Demi God behind you and give your most mischievous smile. “Make me.”

You feel his growl resonate around the room like a dark thunderous cloud, as he gives your ass a hard smack. “With pleasure.” He grips the back of your neck, pulling you closer for a bruising kiss, before pushing your torso down on the counter, your nipples harden as they graze the damp surface.

His large hand gathers both of yours and places them against the base of your spine. With the other he takes his cock in hand and teases your entrance, dipping just the tip of his bulbous head in, watching your hips gyrate, trying to pull him inside. “So needy already.” He taps your clit twice. “Didn’t take much for that brattiness to go quiet.”

“You gonna gloat all night or are you gonna make me leave a mess all over your cock?” You spit out.

“There she is. The victory is so much sweeter when you fight against your submissive nature.” He slams his hips forward. Splitting you open on his meaty girth so suddenly, nothing leaves your mouth but a silent scream as your body adjusts. “Fuuuuck. Your cunt is so tight around my cock. If I’m not careful I may not last as long as I wish.”

“I don’t care. Just. Please. Fucking. Move.” You whimper out.

He begins fucking you hard and deep, gripping your hips tight, most likely leaving bruises behind. His balls swing into your clit with every thrust accompanied by little jolts of electricity, sending sparks throughout your core. You're screaming out from the pleasure, losing yourself in the perfect chaos your bodies are creating.

There’s this primal energy to Thor and you are all for it. “Look at you. Taking my cock so well.” He says between grunts. “It’s like your cunt was made just for me.” His thrusts are getting deeper and more shallow, like he’s trying to burrow himself deep inside you, leaving his mark behind so you’ll never forget him.

You involuntarily start to swivel and throw your hips back. Meeting him in the middle as he puts more power into each thrust, growling as he watches your ass jiggle each time your flesh connects.

He runs his right hand up your spine, making you arch like a cat in heat, until he reaches the base of your skull. His fingers tease along your skin before wrapping tightly around your throat. "Mmm yes. Fuck. Own me. Shut me up by choking me like the loud little slut I am."

He tightens his grip around your throat, almost cutting off your air supply completely. Making you even wetter. The edges of your vision are turning hazy. You're slick now covering your thighs. "I can feel how close you are. Making a mess on my cock already. Let's up the ante shall we."

The next thing you know you're being pulled up against his sweat dampened chest as he pounds into you with all his might. For a couple minutes all that can be heard is the sounds of your grunts and groans woven in with thunder and the music playing throughout the space.

The grip on your neck loosens for a brief moment, allowing you a much needed breath, as he leans his head down, grazing his lips against the shell of your ear, leaving a trail of goosebumps in their wake. "Are you sure you're ready for this? Ready for me to fill you so full that you'll be dripping with my seed?"

He nips the spot behind your ear as you let out a little whine. He gives a harsh thrust and hits that sweet spongy spot like it’s his intended target, with an added jolt of electricity to your spine. Your eyes roll back into your head and any response that you had waiting on your tongue drifts away. You’re just a dickmatized mess.

“I asked you a question, Nyx?” He rotates his hips and buries himself deeper as you nod your head yes. Trying to get your brain to tell your voicebox to make words. “Uh, uh fair maiden. I need to hear your words on this one. Once you do. I promise, I’ll give you everything you want.”

Somehow, the hazy fog of carnal lust clears just long enough for your mouth to produce more than just whimpering moans. “Yes.” You whisper out just loud enough to get his attention. “I want it. I want to be filled to the brim with you so badly.”

It’s like your words, your acceptance of him in every way, puts a spell on him and the last remaining barrier holding back the full force of him is unleashed. “Then everything is what you shall have.” He growls out, taking on a new ferociously punishing pace. Arks of blue light dance along your skin as he lets his powers play.

A cacophony of mewls, moans, groans and growls, mixed with flashes of white and blue fills your den of sin. You have no idea how much time has passed when you start to feel that familiar coil in your core begin to tighten again, the stirrings of an orgasm on the horizon. Your walls establish a rhythmic squeeze, clamping down on the girth steadily carving out a path to your womb.

“Your greedy little pussy is gripping me so tightly. Barely letting me pull out at all. Give in to me. Cum all over my cock and I’ll fill you right up.” He grunts out.

“Fuuuuuck” You whine, legs shaking from the impending climax building beneath your skin. He wraps his arm around your waist, keeping you close as his own rhythm becomes erratic, losing himself to the very real instinct to breed you, making you all his, although he knows that could never be with a soul like yours.

It’s all too much and yet not nearly enough as your own instincts take over. Your skin is thrumming with the need for release, body strung tight as you ride the edge of his lightening. With a well placed twist of the hips and a direct shot to your g-spot you detonate.

Your vision blurs into shades of black and gray, a constellation of electric blue stars popping through like diamonds dissecting the night sky. Every muscle within your body tightens as you ride your high.

As you continue to shake from the intensity of your orgasm, the vice-like grip your pussy has on Thor’s length sets off his own powerful orgasm. With an almost inhuman roar he buries himself deep inside your quivering channel, tip penetrating your cervix, thick white ropes of his seed coating the walls of your waiting womb as his eyes glow white and lightning crashes around him.

The pleasurable pain brought on by his power, ratchets up your orgasm once more. If it weren’t for his arm wrapped tight around your ribs you surely would be a puddle on the floor by now. You can feel your limbs getting weaker with each wave that hits you. You feel like you could float away at any moment. Mind lost in a haze of euphoric bliss.

As he removes his arm from around your torso and dislodges himself from deep inside you, your jelly like legs have you sinking to the floor. Your eyes are glazed over as you hum and mumble to yourself as your hands ghost along your still tingling skin.

Having grabbed a warm washcloth from the bathroom, Thor returns to your prone frame. Before he cleanses his spend from between your legs he grabs his phone to take a few photos of the state he left you in.

You notice the device in his hand. “Put it on video my King.” He does as he’s told and watches you spread your legs wide and run your fingers through the mess you made together. He pans the camera up as he follows your cum soaked fingers making their way onto your waiting tongue. “Mmm. A sweet ambrosia indeed.” You wink at the camera right before Thor stops filming.

“You truly are a minx.” He growls out. “Let me clean you up before my instincts get the best of me again.”

“Normally I would tease you til you ravage me again but seeing as how I am but a fucked out mess currently, I shall behave.” You smile sweetly at him. “This time.”

“Glad to know I fulfilled my challenge.” With pride and mischief in his eyes you watch a dopey smile spread across the Gods face.

“And then some. I haven't felt this strung out in a long time. I might have to add you to my roster.” You chuckle out. “At minimum I need to see what it feels like to ride all that power instead of being ridden by it.”

“It would be my honor to make a mess of you again, milady.” He replies.

“Deal.” You smile. “Now hand me my tablet so I can grab all the best angles from my cameras for you viewing pleasure.”

He hands you the tablet as you quickly scan the debaucherous scene that just happened. With a quick cut and edit of all the best angles you work some techy magic and send it off to not only Thor but the team as well.

“Done. Oh and you don't have to worry about sharing it. I went ahead and sent it to everyone and created a group chat.” You nonchalantly say. “Never hurts to have so many attractive and powerful people on retainer.”

Before Thor can respond to your tricky ways your phones begin pinging with incoming texts.

Bruce: Holy shit!

Nat: Someone clearly has a high pain tolerance. Good to know 😉

Clint: I knew I should have stayed!

Steve: I have to admit that was hot as hell doll.

Bucky: Agreed Stevie! You look good lost in that pleasurable pain doll. Gives me some ideas.

Thor: Feels great too!

Tony: We are all in agreement that that was fucking hot. Now the real question is… Who gets next?

Nyx: That’s up to you all. First come, first serve. Let the debauchery begin 😈

#lunatic #avengers x reader #avengers smut #poc reader #thor x reader #thor smut

14 notes · View notes

cherrydreamer · 2 years

Text

🎃Harringrove Harvest- Day 1- Candy Corn 🎃

It's been a few months since Starcourt. Long enough that most of the gossip and rumours have died down, but still far too soon for Billy Hargrove to be anywhere close to being released from hospital.

So that's where he is, battered and bruised and bed-bound, when Hopper comes to visit him- with El and Max in tow as usual- the police chief looking even more serious than usual when he sits down on the plastic chair beside Billy's bed and delivers the news that Neil Hargrove has skipped out of town, loading up his truck and disappearing into the middle of the night, leaving a whole stack of unpaid bills and a ton of trouble for Susan to have to deal with.

And it all hits Billy like a ton of bricks. Another punch right through a heart that's still not quite healed.

Cause, yeah, he knows that Neil Hargrove is an asshole with a cruel streak a mile wide, and he knows that he spent enough time hating his old man and wishing for something just like this to happen, but it's still not that simple. It's not black and white. Despite it all, the fear and the pain and the way Neil's voice is always in the back of Billy's mind, criticising and mocking him, despite all of that, Neil is his father. His Dad. And nothing can change the fact that he's still the guy that taught Billy how to throw a fastball and how to change the oil in his car and who told him he was proud of him when Billy made the basketball team.

He's still his Dad. And Billy still loves him.

And now he's fucked off. Without even a goodbye. Without even a word. Billy's been left behind. Forgotten about again. And it hurts.

So Billy's struggling.

As much as he's trying to stay calm, to shove all his emotion down and lock it away, he knows he's about to break. And then he catches sight of Max and El's faces, both of them with expressions that Billy can only read as pity, and it's just too much, and Billy can't stop himself from yelling at them to get out, pointing at the door when the words just catch in his throat and come out rough and raspy and barely understandable.

They get it. They leave.

But the Chief doesn't. He doesn't leave. If anything, he shuffles himself even closer, the chair squeaking against the linoleum floor, one hand hovering in the air just for a moment, before he thinks better of it and draws it back. And Billy tries his best to pull himself together, blinking back the tears he can feel gathering and swallowing down the ache in his throat and shaking his head to dislodge all those swirling, churning, painful thoughts that just won't stop coming.

He tries to deal with it. Because he needs to. He can be a man about this, he's got to be. He's on his own now and he'd better get used to it.

But then Hop's voice is softening, and this time when he reaches out, he doesn't stop until he's resting a hand on Billy's shoulder and squeezing firmly, "Hey, look Billy, I'm sorry, it's, uh, it's all kinds of messed up, what your old man did. But we'll work this out, OK, kid? You don't gotta worry. We'll help you out, whatever you need."

But Billy shakes his head, scrubbing angrily at the tears that have spilled over despite his attempts to hold them in and he says, "It's fine. I don't need...I'll be fine. I can look after myself."

Only for Hop to look at him, voice softer than Billy's ever heard it before, and say, "I know you can, Billy, but this time you don't have to."

And Billy knows that he's crumbling. He can feel it, that sudden rush of emotion all bubbling forth. But he can hold on, he can, he has to, he will. So he tears his eyes away from Hopper's face, not wanting to see any more fucking pity directed his way, but no matter where Billy looks, he can't help but see the evidence of the Chief's words.

It's there in the books on the table by his bed, a stack two feet high of sci-fi and fantasy novels, all loans from the kids, interspersed with some car magazines donated by Hopper himself. It's there in the Tupperware box beside them full of brownies made with love by Claudia Henderson, the sixth batch she's sent this month and these ones all dotted with candy corn, just because Billy made an off hand comment to her last week about how he was annoyed that he'd be stuck in hospital over Halloween. It's there in the tangle of soft blankets at the foot of his bed, the ones Joyce had brought in for him when he'd grumbled about the itchy hospital sheets, the same ones she'd tucked around him so carefully when he first started to shiver, and then untucked so swiftly when he started thrashing in his sleep.

It's there too, in the Walkman Billy always has by his side, the surprise gift from Steve, alongside a collection of tapes, even though Billy still hasn't swapped the first one out yet. How can he, when it's a mixtape that Steve made especially for him? A terrible mix, really, a culture clash of Tears for Fears and Judas Priest and The Beach Boys and Ratt and Cyndi fucking Lauper and a whole mess of others, every single one meaning something to the two of them.

It's there in so many other things too. Less obvious ones, like the nurses always knocking quietly before coming into his room because Hopper had a stern word after he saw Billy flinch away from a loud bang; and how there's a stubborn, possibly permanent, scuff mark on the floor from all the times that someone has dragged the uncomfortable visitors' chair closer to the bed, closer to Billy.

And it's there in the way that El and Max are crowding at the door, faces smushed against the glass, almost falling over themselves to come back to Billy's bedside the moment he spots them and beckons them over.

It's there. All over. Proof that, for whatever fucking reason, the people here do care about him. For him. That Hopper isn't talking out of his ass. That Billy can ask for help and know that he'll get it.

It's a lot. A lot to realise, especially all at once. So it takes Billy a moment. But then he finally looks back at Hopper and at Max and El, at the expression they all share, the one that Billy now sees for the concern that it always was. And not just concern, but something more. Something Billy hasn't seen directed his way in a long time.

Care. Affection. And love.

Billy knows he's about to break. He can't stop it. He doesn't even try. And there's only a second, if that, between the first sob catching in his throat and the three pairs of arms that wrap around him and pull him into a hug. It's awkward, really, the bed is too small for them all and Max's elbow is sharp and El's hair is tickling his cheek, and Hopper's ripe armpit is a little too close to Billy's nose to be overly pleasant. But Billy doesn't mind at all, especially not when Hop's voice rumbles out against his ear, "You'll be OK, son. You'll be OK. We've got you."

Because this time, Billy lets himself believe it.

#harringrove #post s3 #cherrywrites #harringroveweek #kinda! well...there's a mention of candy corn #that counts right?#it's a little angsty but not really #and a little fluffy but not really #and it's a little harringrove but not really #so‚ uh‚ yeah. bon appetit #found family i suppose #yeah that fits #and billy learning that he is loved so he'd better just deal with it‚ ok kid?#let people take care of you

205 notes · View notes

halothenthehorns · 6 months

Text

Chapter 7: WE MEET THE GOD WITH TWO FACES

Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate it! For everyone else, here is an extra chapter this week to celebrate this mundane Thursday!

PJOPJOPJOPJO

Will was whistling cheerfully to himself as he flipped to the next chapter like he wasn't about to read of the most evil place right beneath his camp. Nico had spent immeasurable hours down there feeling so alone and wishing for Percy's company and the stupid jokes he'd crack and the great, protective warrior he was to help him.

Looking back on the running, terror, broken bones and constant isolation left him unsurprised how different he was from those around him in retrospect. His first friend had been a ghost who deceived him.

It was a nice thought for a moment as Will read the chapter title, that at least as he remembered the stenches and adrenaline rushes of his own in to vivid detail to come right along with Percy, at least he'd come out with friends now.

Alex's eyes were alight at once with whom Percy was set to meet next. "If I could vote for you to kill a god, it'll be this one!"

"Alex, no," Magnus said in vain once more.

"Where's the downside?" He demanded. "Nobody would ever get stabbed in the back again, the worst of cowardly moves!"

"That's not how that works, in the slightest," Thalia sadly corrected. "Just because you killed Zeus doesn't mean lightning wouldn't flash through the sky and storms wouldn't come." Though she suspected it was happening above at just the hypothesis being put in the world.

Percy got an amused look in place as he imagined Zeus in his chair spitting out his drink and glancing around suspiciously.

"Poo," Alex huffed. It was actually a bit worrisome a two-face god was going to get one over on Percy instead, as nice as he was. He swore right then if this god resembled Quintus for one second he'd have to face facts on that answer.

We made it a hundred feet before we were hopelessly lost.

"Life goals. I can't make it down the block half the time without forgetting where I'm going some days," Jason said sardonically.

"It's a maze," Thalia rolled her eyes, "and Percy! It's a miracle he didn't get lost turning around."

"Your faith in me is instilling," but Percy's voice was nothing but accepting facts.

The tunnel looked nothing like the one Annabeth and I had stumbled into before. Now it was round like a sewer,

"If you actually run into a ninja turtle, I will take back every crack I ever said about you," Alex promised.

"Eh, depends on which one," Magnus mock agreed.

I shined a light through one of the portholes out of curiosity,

"Your soul animal is officially a cat Percy," Will chuckled.

"I still say it's seaweed," Thalia scoffed.

but I couldn't see anything. It opened into infinite darkness.

I thought I heard voices on the other side, but it may have been just the cold wind.

"Already understanding why Chris lost his mind down there," Jason muttered.

Annabeth tried her best to guide us. She had this idea that we should stick to the left wall.

"If we keep one hand on the left wall and follow it," she said, "we should be able to find our way out again by reversing course."

"Good in theory," Nico was already shaking his head though, "not an execution that can be followed." Which she already knew from her studying, mildly annoying him why she thought she was smarter than this place already.

Unfortunately, as soon as she said that, the left wall disappeared. We found ourselves in the middle of a circular chamber with eight tunnels leading out, and no idea how we'd gotten there.

Magnus made a very loud, awkward laugh that died quickly at this place literally mocking them in the face. It wasn't funny, but he wasn't screaming in terror, so this was better, right?

"Um, which way did we come in?" Grover said nervously.

"Just turn around," Annabeth said.

"If there is a brick wall behind you I will have no choice but to really laugh," Alex promised.

We each turned toward a different tunnel. It was ridiculous. None of us could decide which way led back to camp.

"Trippy, I actually like that answer better," Alex still laughed any ways.

"At least somebody does," Percy sighed.

"Left walls are mean," Tyson said.

"Tyson, still holding strong with the best lines in these," Jason applauded, and they couldn't decide how much sarcasm was in that.

"Which way now?"

Annabeth swept her flashlight beam over the archways of the eight tunnels. As far as I could tell, they were identical. "That way," she said.

"No consensus huh?" Thalia chuckled. "No voting, not even a flip of a coin?"

"Annabeth was our compass," Percy shrugged without surprise.

"I'm going to encase you in a magnet one of these days so you have to figure something out for yourself," Thalia mock threatened.

"How do you know?" I asked.

"Deductive reasoning."

"So...you're guessing."

"Just come on," she said.

"See, exactly the plan I would have had. Bring the magnet on!" Percy laughed.

"Only you," Thalia shook her head at these two.

The tunnel she'd chosen narrowed quickly. The walls turned to gray cement, and the ceiling got so low that pretty soon we were hunching over. Tyson was forced to crawl.

"Poor guy," Will frowned, "I bet he was carrying all the heavy stuff too."

"If he could have smashed his way to the surface I wouldn't blame him," Percy agreed.

Grover's hyperventilating was the loudest noise in the maze. "I can't stand it anymore," he whispered. "Are we there yet?"

"Thalia, your kid wants you," Percy smirked.

"On the weekends he's still yours," Thalia rolled her eyes.

"We started this quest on a Thursday!"

"I'm taking an extended vacation," she said with an unamused air, this joke had officially gone to a level that wasn't funny as images of her mom came to mind.

"We've been down here maybe five minutes," Annabeth told him.

"It's been longer than that," Grover insisted.

"I actually believe him on that, considering it was a few minutes to you but hours last time," Will nodded.

"And time means very little down there," Nico needlessly reminded.

"And a magical satyr thing that knows the time of the day too probably," Magnus rolled his eyes.

"And why would Pan be down here? This is the opposite of the wild!"

"I bet he got lost too," Percy said in something close to sympathy.

We kept shuffling forward. Just when I was sure the tunnel would get so narrow it would squish us, it opened into a huge room. I shined my light around the walls and said, "Whoa."

"The good kind or the bad kind?" Magnus already had a pit in his stomach no matter the answer, with Percy one could easily mean the other.

"The mildly impressive kind," Percy shrugged with a small grin.

The whole room was covered in mosaic tiles. The pictures were grimy and faded, but I could still make out the colors—red, blue, green, gold. The frieze showed the Olympian gods at a feast. There was my dad, Poseidon, with his trident, holding out grapes for Dionysus to turn into wine. Zeus was partying with satyrs, and Hermes was flying through the air on his winged sandals. The pictures were beautiful, but they weren't very accurate. I'd seen the gods. Dionysus was not that handsome, and Hermes's nose wasn't that big.

"Yeah, but like," Will was shaking with suppressed laughter, "if you knew the gods were real, you wouldn't question how they wanted to be painted."

"I can't draw, I wouldn't know," Percy rolled his eyes. Even if he tried doodling stick figures, he wouldn't exactly be doing his best to care.

Jason didn't hear them, there was a low buzzing in his ears. Something about the way that was described, something he'd been absently wondering but didn't know how to put into words until this moment. That sounded Roman. Should he know this labyrinth existed? He was certain he'd never been in, but finally, at this moment, he had the tiniest bit of a guess wondering if he'd ever tried to find this place.

In the middle of the room was a three-tiered fountain. It looked like it hadn't held water in a long time.

"That was the part you said whoa too, another fountain," Alex smirked.

"Guilty, I still felt bad about mine," Percy grinned.

"What is this place?" I muttered. "It looks—"

"Roman," Annabeth said. "Those mosaics area about two thousand years old."

"It must be exhausting knowing everything," Nico huffed.

"Probably," Will said innocently. The Athena cabin was the worst about asking for help, but when he saw one to many sleepless nights on them, he was a tad guilty about slipping something into their meals and blaming it on Travis and Connor's pranks.

"But how can they be Roman?" I wasn't that great on ancient history, but I was pretty sure the Roman Empire never made it as far as Long Island.

"And you think the Greeks did?" Magnus asked in concern. The whole point of these odd books was their never ending migration here and how that mingled in.

"I didn't think they brought souvenirs from the Roman Empire that toppled them," Percy rolled his eyes while Jason looked like he was swallowing his teeth one by one in consternation.

Thalia cleared her throat sharply to keep them moving fast when she saw.

"The Labyrinth is a patchwork," Annabeth said. "I told you, it's always expanding, adding pieces. It's the only work of architecture that grows by itself."

"I wish those words to never be spoken in that order again," Magnus groaned.

"That is so cool!" Alex yelped.

"Or those," Magnus huffed, it never meant anything good in this lot.

"Like, like Daedalus really built a second layer into the earth that's as alive as this planet!"

"Man was a mad genius," Percy agreed with a kind of awesome dread as he pictured someone in a white lab coat with lightning crackling screaming about it being alive over the whole planet.

"You make it sound like it's alive."

A groaning noise echoed from the tunnel in front of us.

"Does anybody speak labyrinth?" Will asked with mildly less cheer than usual, he didn't at all like the idea of being underground. "Maybe it's trying to tell you which way to go."

"I wish we could ask the labyrinth if they prefer he or she pronouns," Alex tapped his chin in thought. "I know most people depict the earth as feminine, but that gets into a long line of stereotypical depictions of nurturing and-"

Alex was only one part taking the mickey and one part serious, so he laughed it off and shelved that for later as Will politely cleared his throat to keep going over an answer they couldn't get anyways.

"Let's not talk about it being alive," Grover whimpered. "Please?"

"All right," Annabeth said. "Forward."

"Down the hall with the bad sounds?" Tyson said. Even he looked nervous.

"Yeah," Annabeth said. "The architecture is getting older. That's a good sign. Daedalus's workshop would be in the oldest part."

"And because she said that, I'm guessing it's going to remodel itself in twenty feet to look like a stainless steel lab." Jason frowned.

"I just hope there's not a monkey in there playing on the computer, I do not want to walk into an alternate dimension by accident," Percy wasn't sure he'd have the heart to fight cute animals if they were the dominant species.

That made sense.

"I'm glad it did to you," Magnus muttered, now personally trying not to imagine Daedalus packing up a phone booth and carrying his workshop around to never be found no matter what logic was used.

But soon the maze was toying with us—we went fifty feet and the tunnel turned back to cement, with brass pipes running down the sides. The walls were spray-painted with graffiti. A neon tagger sign read MOZ RULZ.

"I'm thinking this is not Roman," I said helpfully.

"You never know, I bet some ancient Roman could have gone by the name of Moz and been way ahead of time on, um, pipework," Will snickered.

Nico couldn't really find the humor in it, Will would have to really try to make him laugh about anything to do with this place, but it was a tad amusing to see Thalia roll her eyes at someone other than Percy.

Annabeth took a deep breath, then forged ahead.

"I've found the best way is to ignore him too," Thalia mock agreed as if Annabeth were her to commiserate with.

Her cousin was, and he didn't bother to muffle a snort.

Every few feet the tunnels twisted and turned and branched off. The floor beneath us changed from cement to mud to bricks and back again. There was no sense to any of it. We stumbled into a wine cellar—a bunch of dusty bottles in wooden racks—like we were walking through somebody's basement, only there was no exit above us, just more tunnels leading on.

"Jeez, I'm getting claustrophobic just hearing about this," Alex tugged at the collar of his shirt.

"Can't exactly go outside and stretch our legs in the sun too," Magnus agreed with an uneasy twitch. This room was by no means unbearable or small, but he'd never thought he'd have to associate constant common amenities with entrapment. And that group had it even worse down there.

Alex clearly wasn't going to let that keep him down though as he bounced back and asked, "please tell me you nabbed one of those! I can't even imagine the vintage on a long-lost bottle of wine!"

"I bet it was a cellar only Dionysus uses," Percy shook his head quickly. "Do you want to find out what would happen if we disturbed one of those cobwebs?"

Alex looked very much like he was contemplating that answer, and Thalia sighed once again at what a bad influence all of these idiots were on each other.

Later the ceiling turned to wooden planks, and I could hear voices above us and the creaking of footsteps, as if we were walking under some kind of bar. It was reassuring to hear people, but then again, we couldn't get to them. We were stuck down here with no way out.

"You're telling me if Tyson really wanted to he couldn't smash a house down?" Alex scoffed.

"Not a hundred percent sure," Percy admitted, "the labyrinth might fight him, turn into something even he couldn't break and shrink on us. Do you want to make the sentient maze mad?"

Alex didn't seem as concerned at the implications of that as Percy would have hoped, but then, he really should have known better by now.

Then we found our first skeleton.

It was the first dead body Percy had ever seen, and it didn't look like those fake skeletons for a Halloween decoration. He'd been killing monsters for years now, and yet he never thought of the mess they left behind as their form of a soulless husk. He rubbed his fingers together thoughtfully, his mind flickering to his mother and her clear sight. What she saw through the dust. She probably would have shielded his eyes from this, but it made his head and stomach groan in symbiotic pain to imagine her down there.

He was dressed in white clothes, like some kind of uniform. A wooden crate of glass bottles sat next to him.

"A milkman," Annabeth said.

"Those guys actually existed?" Nico asked in surprise. "I thought that was a weird gag in cartoons."

"It was a real job," Thalia nodded.

"When the fridge was invented, they went out of business," Magnus added helpfully.

"Huh, learn something new every day," Nico said with a surprised smile.

"What?" I asked.

"They used to deliver milk."

"Yeah, I know what they are,

"Which kind of concerns me how much Annabeth thinks of you," Thalia told him with sympathy.

"She never knew with me after I told her I thought my TV just wasn't big enough to see some old cartoon character's faces," Percy shrugged.

but...that was when my mom was little, like a million years ago. What's he doing here?"

"Some people wander in by mistake," Annabeth said.

"Those poor mortals," Magnus said with sorrow. He couldn't imagine how many little kids had fallen down there and never made it out. Maybe a few horror novels of things beneath the surface of the earth had been inspired by getting a peak down there, like the Labyrinth itself had enticed a kid with a clown and red balloon.

"Some come exploring on purpose and never make it back. A long time ago, the Cretans sent people in here as human sacrifices."

"And yet sadly, we've let cretin fall off the insult radar," Alex shook his head as if taking personal responsibility for this.

"Something I hope you won't bring back with historic accuracy," Magnus muttered.

Grover gulped. "He's been down here a long time." He pointed to the skeleton's bottles, which were coated with white dust. The skeleton's fingers were clawing at the brick wall, like he had died trying to get out.

"Well I hardly thought he was casually walking around chugging milk," Jason winced in disgust for getting details.

"Only bones," Tyson said. "Don't worry, goat boy. The milkman is dead."

"The milkman doesn't bother me," Grover said.

"Dead bodies still bother me," Magnus offered in case anybody had been in doubt about this.

"I guess this is one of the side effects to falling asleep every night singing Circle of Life," Percy shrugged.

"It's the smell. Monsters. Can't you smell it?"

Tyson nodded. "Lots of monsters. But underground smells like that. Monsters and dead milk people."

"Oh, good," Grover whimpered. "I thought maybe I was wrong."

"I can't think of a good instance of being happy to be wrong about smelling something," Alex nodded. "Usually it's food and I'm entirely upset I was wrong my senses lied to me."

"You smell smoke and think your house is on fire but your mom's just a bad cook," Thalia said with a way to twisted smile for that to just be a joke.

"Point to Thalia!" Alex chuckled all the same.

"We have to get deeper into the maze," Annabeth said. "There has to be a way to the center."

"I'm guessing taking a shovel and just digging won't work?" Nico rolled his eyes at her still trying to apply logic to any of this.

"The shovel would melt eventually," Will helpfully reminded.

"We could give her a spare shovel, gosh Will, be more creative," Percy snickered.

"I'm going to dump you in a volcano head first," Thalia sighed at them.

She led us to the right, then the left, through a corridor of stainless steel like some kind of air shaft, and we arrived back in the Roman tile room with the fountain.

"Oh, so it even circles around! That's much worse than being lost forever in a maze of endless rooms!" Magnus's voice was choking up by the end as he tried not to sound hysterical.

"It had added some decoration," Percy didn't soothe him one bit with the uneasy frown he spoke with.

This time, we weren't alone.

What I noticed first were his faces. Both of them.

Nico tried his hardest to swallow the lump of jealousy and hurt in his throat. Percy hadn't been in there but a few hours and he got a visit from a god already? He'd been in there for weeks before he'd found Minos and gotten any handle on what to do. Afraid to sleep, starving, only surviving on water that bled from the walls from gods knew where as the ghosts whispered which way to go to get further down...

He told himself he should be grateful instead. He wasn't the child of the prophecy, nobody had cared what happened to him. He'd made his own way out eventually without anybody's help, not even Minos had been there every step of the way.

They jutted out from either side of his head, staring over his shoulders, so his head was much wider than it should've been, kind of like a hammerhead shark's looking straight at him, all I saw were two overlapping ears and mirror-image sideburns.

Magnus was poking the middle of his forehead to make sure his head hadn't actually fallen apart at that newly brain-melting image.

"Not going to lie, when it said god of two faces, I didn't think it was going to be literal," Alex sounded grudgingly admirable of choosing to look like that. "I was picturing, like, two totally different faces melted together. Like the Batman villain."

"I have a feeling the two would still get along," Percy already had that now familiar look on his face like they should brace themselves for him to make a life long enemy.

He was dressed like a New York City doorman: a long black overcoat, shiny shoes, and a black top-hat that somehow managed to stay on his double-wide head.

"Classy," Will said in admiration.

"Never trust a man in a top hat," Alex scoffed.

"Now there's a story I'm sure," Magnus grinned.

"Don't get me started on Abe Lincoln," he agreed with distant eyes and a scowl at the ceiling.

"Well, Annabeth?" said his left face. "Hurry up!"

"Don't mind him," said the right face. "He's terribly rude. Right this way, miss."

Annabeth's jaw dropped. "Uh...I don't..."

Tyson frowned. "That funny man has two faces."

Jason scratched awkwardly at his nose before stage whispering, "has anybody ever come up with a polite way to scold kids for doing that?"

"Um, let them be curious but make sure they're polite questions?" Thalia offered.

"I'm not putting Tyson in time out if he offends this guy," Percy rolled his eyes.

"The funny man has ears, you know!" the left face scolded. "Now come along, miss."

"No, no," the right face said. "This way, miss. Talk to me, please."

"I need to know real quick if you can sign a different conversation than you say out loud?" Percy asked Magnus.

"I suppose if you can have two conversations at once it's possible, but not typical," he shook his head.

"Yeah, good to know, I got no better answer than chopping this guy in half to shut him up," Percy scowled, already wishing to uncap his sword to stop this guy focusing solely on Annabeth.

The two-faced man regarded Annabeth as best he could out of the corners of his eyes. It was impossible to look at him straight on without focusing on one side or the other. And suddenly I realized that's what he was asking—he wanted Annabeth to choose.

Behind him were two exits, blocked by wooden doors with huge iron locks. They hadn't been there our first time through the room. The two-faced doorman held a silver key, which he kept passing from his left hand to his right hand. I wondered if this was a different room completely, but the frieze of the gods looked exactly the same.

Behind us, the doorway we'd come through had disappeared, replaced by more mosaics. We wouldn't be going back the way we came.

"The exits are closed," Annabeth said.

"Duh!" the man's left face said.

"Where do they lead?" she asked.

"One probably leads the way you wish to go," the right face said encouragingly. "The other leads to certain death."

"I—I know who you are," Annabeth said.

"Oh, you're a smart one!" The left face sneered. "But do you know which way to choose? I don't have all day."

"Why are you trying to confuse me?" Annabeth asked.

"He's, um, not," Nico looked from the book to the others in concern if he was missing something. "He's pointing out the obvious as of right now. Does Annabeth find that confusing?"

Percy gave him the very exasperated sigh of a teacher explaining the obvious. "Just because she accepted the responsibility of something didn't mean she was okay with every layer of it." He knew that feeling all to well from all this big bad prophecy talk.

Nico looked at Percy with interest for how he'd unintentionally put that. He doubted Percy knew that's how he felt about what he'd said the other night, but it was another kind of relief to hear it put into words.

The right face smiled. "You're in charge now, my dear. All the decisions are on your shoulders. That's what you wanted, isn't it?"

"I—"

"We know you, Annabeth," the left face said. "We know what you wrestle with every day. We know your indecision. You will have to make your choice sooner or later. And the choice may kill you."

I didn't know what they were talking about, but it sounded like it was about more than a choice between doors.

The color drained out of Annabeth's face. "No...I don't—"

"Leave her alone," I said.

"That honestly took a page more than I thought it would," Will told him.

"I'm not fool enough to think Annabeth can't handle her own fights," but Percy looked plenty agitated enough to try right then with or without her approval.

"Who are you, anyway?"

"I'm your best friend," the right face said.

"I'm your worst enemy," the left face said.

"I'm Janus," both faces said in harmony. "God of Doorways.

"There's a god of doorways now?" Magnus asked, making the sign for door just to be sure. "What, did the Greeks have to stop and ask his permission and the owner before they entered?"

"He's not Greek!" Jason shouted at the top of his lungs like somebody had finally called on his name in class. He was more jazzed than if somebody had pumped him full of ambrosia...and yet so confused they might have put a Greek puzzle book in front of him for all the sense this made. "What the heck is a Roman god doing down there?"

"He's, ah, more symbolic than literal," Thalia was still watching Jason with mild concern as she tried to go on. "Let Will finish."

Beginnings. Endings. Choices."

"I guess that makes sense," Magnus agreed, though he still knew next time he walked down the block he'd get a twitch wondering about blood sacrifices and a crazy two-faced god throwing a key around following him. Gods forbid what someone was expected to do when a tree was cut down to make a door. Were you supposed to be making nice with Pan or the god you were using the wood for in that case?!

"I'll see you soon enough, Perseus Jackson," said the right face. "But for now it's Annabeth's turn." He laughed giddily. "Such fun!"

"We complete each other like two sides of a door," Percy grumbled, not looking remotely impressed that, for once, a god had the same reaction to seeing both of them.

"Shut up!" his left face said. "This is serious. One bad choice can ruin your whole life. It can kill you and all of your friends. But no pressure, Annabeth. Choose!"

Jason had a bad feeling he'd had his own reunion with this God too, maybe not so literal and in person, but the intense feeling circling the room of nobody disagreeing with that felt personal.

With a sudden chill, I remembered the words of the prophecy: the child of Athena's final stand.

"Don't do it," I said.

"I'm afraid she has to," the right face said cheerfully.

Annabeth moistened her lips. "I—I chose—"

Before she could point to a door, a brilliant light flooded the room.

Magnus instinctively didn't like that. He worried Hearth would get hurt and freak out, the light being too bright and temporarily blinding him, and he only usually saw Blitz at night, so he might have to step up real quick with no clue how if whatever this was ever found them.

Janus raised his hands to either side of his head to cover his eyes. When the light died, a woman was standing at the fountain.

She was tall and graceful with long hair the color of chocolate, braided in plaits with gold ribbons. She wore a simple white dress, but when she moved, the fabric shimmered with colors like oil on water.

"Are we meeting Iris?" Alex asked with immediate interest. He really hoped the rainbow goddess was cool. One of them had to be, right?

The disappointed sigh Thalia gave was an answer before she even said, "not even close."

"Janus," she said, "are we causing trouble again?"

"N-no, milady!" Janus's right face stammered.

"Yes!" the left face said.

"At least now I know which face I like better," Jason said as if this had been a serious concern.

"I still don't like any part of him," Percy huffed, he'd never like anyone who had hassled Annabeth.

"Shut up!" the right face said.

"Excuse me?" the woman asked.

"Not you, milady! I was talking to myself."

"I see," the lady said. "You know very well your visit is premature. The girl's time has not yet come. So I give you a choice: leave these heroes to me, or I shall turn you into a door and break you down."

"What kind of door?" the left face asked.

Alex gave an involuntary laugh like he'd been punched. And he was so sure he'd hate this god, yet that had been the first question to come to his mind too.

"Shut up!" the right face said.

"Because French doors are nice," the left face mused. "Lots of natural light."

"Shut up!" the right face wailed. "Not you, milady! Of course I'll leave. I was just having a bit of fun. Doing my job. Offering choices."

"Causing indecision," the woman corrected. "Now be gone!"

The left face muttered, "Party pooper," then he raised his silver key, inserted it into the air, and disappeared.

"Do I have to begrudgingly thank a god now?" Percy groaned. Apollo and Artemis had proved they weren't all bad, but he wasn't getting a good feeling from this one.

It wasn't very comforting Thalia didn't answer, but her scowl only grew.

The woman turned toward us, and fear closed around my heart. Her eyes shined with power. Leave these heroes to me. That didn't sound good. For a second, I almost wished we could've taken our chances with Janus. But then the woman smiled.

There had been something in that smile that reminded him of his mother. The kind of smile she'd given Gabe when she promised him meatloaf.

"You must be hungry," she said. "Sit with me and talk."

She waved her hand, and the old Roman fountain began to flow. Jets of clear water sprayed into the air. A marble table appeared, laden with platters of sandwiches and pitchers of lemonade.

"Who...who are you?" I asked.

"I am Hera." The woman smiled. "Queen of Heaven."

"I didn't know God was married," Magnus rolled his eyes. "No, wait, is she the goddess of nuns?"

"Stop trying to mix religions, it's more of a headache then we're already hearing," Nico groaned.

"Wrong heaven," Percy snorted, knowing full well Magnus had known that, but revenge was sweet.

"She obviously uses that title because she doesn't think much of herself," Alex agreed casually, while the others all twitched uneasily once more. They'd never quite get used to these guys being so flippant about how they addressed the gods, whether they were in the room or not.

I'd seen Hera once before at a Council of the Gods, but I hadn't paid much attention to her. At the time I'd been surrounded by a bunch of other gods who were debating whether or not to kill me.

"The real question is, do you remember if she was one of those to vote yes or no?" Nico asked with all the presumption in his voice of the answer.

Percy had to really think about it for a moment, and then shrugged and gave in, "no, not really. I remember who abstained though, so she fell into a lumpy category."

"She was lumped into a-" Magnus began, but he stopped with his own exasperated sigh as he realized Percy wasn't listening and back to humming a song that sounded suspiciously like something Jesse McCartney would sing.

I didn't remember her looking so normal. Of course, gods are usually twenty feet tall when they're on Olympus, so that makes them look a lot less normal. But now, Hera looked like a regular mom.

"Plus that whole they can change their appearance at whim thing," Will shrugged, he still wasn't over his dad, the homeless god Fred.

She served us sandwiches and poured lemonade.

"Grover, dear," she said, "use your napkin. Don't eat it."

"Excuse her, I live for that multi-purpose life," Alex scoffed.

"Yes, ma'am," Grover said.

"Tyson, you're wasting away. Would you like another peanut butter sandwich?"

Tyson stifled a belch. "Yes, nice lady."

"Queen Hera," Annabeth said. "I can't believe it. What are you doing in the Labyrinth?"

Hera smiled. She flicked one finger and Annabeth's hair combed itself. All the dirt and grime disappeared from her face.

"Gods, does she tuck your pockets in too and fuss about your weight?" Will's laugh was indulgent while Thalia looked like she was sucking on a lemon. More grateful by the moment this goddess would never give her faux motherly affection any more than her bio mom had.

"I came to see you, naturally," the goddess said.

Grover and I exchanged nervous looks. Usually when the gods come looking for you, it's not out of the goodness of their hearts. It's because they want something.

"I hope Athena has a little gold star waiting for you somewhere out there," Magnus told him cheerfully. "You do deserve it for moments like this."

"Stating the obvious?" Percy snorted.

"Not saying that out loud," Thalia scoffed.

Still, that didn't keep me from chowing down on turkey-and-Swiss sandwiches and chips and lemonade. I hadn't realized how hungry I was.

"And, now I'm hungry," Will huffed.

"I can usually tell how long when we've been at this when my butts gone numb," Magnus nodded.

"Food has been mentioned pretty frequently in the last few chapters," Percy agreed as he eyed the door to the rooms.

"We might as well take a snack break before anything to horrible in this Labyrinth does show up," Thalia agreed, and there was no more argument after that as they all took five. Before Hera could announce what she was there for, before the first monster showed up, before they realized how lost they were.

Will and Nico stepped back into the room where they'd set up their card game that indeed had not been disturbed one bit. They sat carefully on the bed, as far apart as normal on that couch, and split a plate of multiple different sandwiches with fruit-loops sprinkled on top, because the power of subliminal messaging had honestly left them craving exactly that.

Nico was clearly eating with reluctance, but he also didn't protest his half of the meal while Will found a way to talk about anything other than the Labyrinth for those moments. He talked about silly songs he wrote sporadically and his favorite color being orange and that time his sister Kayla had set the stables on fire while Nico watched with ever growing fondness for just being around him.

When they settled back down now prepared for the worst, Nico took the extra goofy minute Alex used to stretch and flex around like he was about to embark on the quest himself to share one last smile with Will when he opened the book up again whistling to find his place once more.

Tyson was inhaling one peanut butter sandwich after another, and Grover was loving the lemonade, crunching the Styrofoam cup like an ice-cream cone.

"All you're missing from that meal is bananas," Magnus grinned, he'd just housed five. He'd been taking full advantage of fresh fruit without a bruise on it here.

"I didn't think—" Annabeth faltered. "Well, I didn't think you liked heroes."

Hera smiled indulgently. "Because of that little spat I had with Hercules? Honestly, I got so much bad press because of one disagreement."

"A very large disagreement that caused multiple murders and is the most popular myth for a few reasons," Thalia muttered, not exactly Hera's biggest fan herself. It was a miracle she wasn't in the same boat as Hercules...and this goddess was definitely in her top five contenders of who might take Jason away to do gods knew what with all these years before Oceanus plopped him in here.

"Didn't you try to kill him, like, a lot of times?" Annabeth asked.

Hera waved her hand dismissively. "Water under the bridge, my dear.

"Is that bridge also on fire and broken in several places?" Thalia asked wearily.

"I didn't think to ask," Percy admitted, but he also didn't doubt it. He'd have to hear it from Hercules before he believed it, and even then, he'd still suspect something was up. Those stories were Not Pleasant, and even if they'd gotten lost in translation over time and they'd heard the wrong side of them, somebody had done something to make it all infamous.

His mind flickered to Zoe, and that snack of his tried to make a comeback. His instincts were still to distrust Hera, and Zoe had made him never wish to take Hercules's side without hearing every fact about what really happened, so this felt like a war he hoped to all the gods he'd never be in the middle of.

Besides, he was one of my loving husband's children by another woman. My patience wore thin, I'll admit it. But Zeus and I have had some excellent marriage counseling sessions since then. We've aired our feelings and come to an understanding

"I'm kind of wishing in this instance they'd taken the twenty-first-century approach and gotten a divorce though," Will sighed even if he knew that would never happen. Goddess of marriage and all that, gods forbid she ever admit she was wrong and should be in a real long term loving relationship, but man would it save a lot of demigods a lot of grief.

—especially after that last little incident."

"You mean when he sired Thalia?"

"Sired?" Thalia snorted fantastically. "What am I, a horse?"

"Just be grateful you came to mind at all," Percy chuckled, "I'm sure there are other much more famous kids of Zeus I could name instead. Like me!"

"How dare you," she sniffed, pressing her hand against her heart with wide blue eyes.

I guessed, but immediately wished I hadn't. As soon as I said the name of our friend, the half-blood daughter of Zeus, Hera's eyes turned toward me frostily.

"Percy Jackson, isn't it? One of Poseidon's...children." I got the feeling she was thinking of another word besides children.

"Sires," Magnus chuckled.

"Abominations?" Alex snorted.

"Minions," Thalia smirked.

"Disasters," Jason grinned.

Percy considered for a moment before shrugging and not denying any of those.

"As I recall, I voted to let you live at the winter solstice. I hope I voted correctly."

"Which does show some proof to her claim she doesn't hate all of us on principle," Will happily agreed.

"I'm sure she's still plenty selective about it," Nico said sullenly. He doubted if he'd been up for vote any god would have voted to let him live.

Will heard that in his voice, the reluctance, the edge of fear. He wanted to protest no god would dare vote against Nico after he'd helped save Olympus, but he could hardly argue that now. He stubbornly kept reading with the knowledge that he would.

She turned back to Annabeth with a sunny smile. "At any rate, I certainly bear you no ill will, my girl.

"I'm glad she sees that," Magnus said with a hint of relief, here finally was a god none of them were going to start on bad terms for merely existing. "A virgin goddess didn't technically have kids so she has no reason to dislike them."

"Loopholes for the win," but Percy only gave a halfhearted cheer. He had a bad feeling technicalities hadn't made his life easier much longer.

I appreciate the difficulty of your quest. Especially when you have troublemakers like Janus to deal with."

Annabeth lowered her gaze. "Why was he here? He was driving me crazy."

"Trying to," Hera agreed.

"Isn't Dionysus the god of the crazy people?" Magnus asked with a quiver of unease. "Does he have a deal with Janus to add to his list?" He clearly hadn't grasped from Jason's ever increasing gasping there was a significant difference at all, they wouldn't be making deals like that about anything.

"Just because he can turn people crazy doesn't mean he's responsible for all of them," but Will didn't sound so sure. Mr. D was supposed to be out here keeping an eye on these minor gods, and it seemed strange it hadn't been him to pop in and intervene...but would he even know this god existed? He knew the myths where his dad accepted the sun from Helios, the existence of other gods wasn't too world shattering in that regards, but not exactly at the same time like this was so casually being shown.

Alex, Magnus, and Jason sat right there though. So plainly Not Greek even before Rachel had confirmed it. A Roman god casually popping up wasn't the wildest thing he'd heard over the past few days.

"You must understand, the minor gods like Janus have always been frustrated by the small parts they play in the universe. Some, I fear, have little love for Olympus, and could easily be swayed to support the rise of my father."

"Your father?" I said. "Oh, right."

I'd forgotten that Kronos was Hera's dad, too, along with being the father to Zeus, Poseidon, and all the eldest Olympians. I guess that made Kronos my grandfather, but that thought was so weird I put it out of my mind.

"And I wish it would stop coming back!" Percy groaned, looking likely to rip his ear off if people didn't quit trying to name every branch of his family tree!

"We must watch the minor gods," Hera said. "Janus. Hecate. Morpheus. They give lip service to Olympus, and yet—"

"That's where Dionysus went," I remembered. "He was checking on the minor gods."

"Indeed." Hera stared at the fading mosaics of the Olympians.

"I will never get over the sheer audacity of you interrupting them," Will admitted.

"And yet here I sit, audaciting away," Percy shrugged. Magnus looked in physical pain that's not how that word worked.

"You see, in times of trouble, even gods can lose faith. They start putting their trust in the wrong things. They stop looking at the big picture and start being selfish. But I'm the goddess of marriage, you see. I'm used to perseverance. You have to rise above the squabbling and chaos, and keep believing. You have to always keep your goals in mind."

"What are your goals?" Annabeth asked.

"The perfect question at this time," Jason nodded without surprise.

"It's like she should be leading this quest or something," Percy nodded very seriously in agreement.

She smiled. "To keep my family, the Olympians, together, of course.

"Sounds like, the right answer," Alex said suspiciously, but then, he seemed automatically suspicious of everything.

At the moment, the best way I can do that is by helping you. Zeus does not allow me to interfere much, I am afraid. But once every century or so, for a quest I care deeply about, he allows me to grant a wish."

"A wish?"

"If you don't say world peace I'm going to have to revoke my friendship card with you," Magnus said. "That's like, The obvious answer!" He pulled out an imaginary card from his pocket and waved it around threateningly.

"Um, I'm pretty sure it has to be a wish she could do?" Percy said with a nervous smile like he thought he was serious. "I don't think the gods can actually do that without taking away free will, or something."

"Hmph, passable," Magnus agreed, stuffing the imaginary card back in his pocket.

"Besides, it would be Annabeth to ask," Alex reminded him in exasperation. "I have high hopes she'll come up with something good." His tone was almost threatening, like Annabeth better live up to those expectations. They weren't sure what would happen if she didn't.

"Before you ask it, let me give you some advice, which I can do for free.

"The day we can't give free advice is the day I lose faith in everything," Will said with an awkward smile.

"I'll make a mental list of how not to start the apocalypse," Nico grinned.

I know you seek Daedalus. His Labyrinth is as much a mystery to me as it is to you.

"Well that's, the opposite of encouraging," Magnus frowned.

"I'm sure it wouldn't help if she cheered and promised she wouldn't be any real help," Percy huffed.

But if you want to know his fate, I would visit my son Hephaestus at his forge. Daedalus was a great inventor, a mortal after Hephaestus's heart. There has never been a mortal Hephaestus admired more. If anyone would have kept up with Daedalus and could tell you his fate, it is Hephaestus."

Magnus blushed neon red as an awkward question came to mind.

Alex had no such reserves as she spat out an imaginary drink and shouted, "Wait, did Hephaestus and Daedalus do it? Or does she mean Daedalus is a child of Hephaestus? Or both?"

"A male god can have a child with a male mortal in the same way as Athena has brain children," Thalia agreed, grateful her answer surprised Magnus enough his gray eyes looked likely to never stop blinking at the implication. Alex was still staring at her for the other part of that question, weirdly as unphased by the answer as he was by everything that went on in here, but gratefully didn't pursue Thalia for more except for a strange smile.

"But how do we get there?" Annabeth asked. "That's my wish. I want a way to navigate the Labyrinth."

Alex and Jason both groaned at Annabeth.

"She did something I'd tell you was to impulsive," Jason huffed. "She could have asked a lot more questions!"

"And she should have been a lot more specific! Like asking for that string thing in her hand!" Alex huffed.

Percy didn't much like them criticizing her when she wasn't here, and he was still far more worried about Janus trying to terrify her than whatever Hera had done to let himself be distracted arguing with them.

"Cut her some slack guys, she's stressed up to her ears and won't always make the most rational decision every moment," Thalia did anyways with plenty of robustness.

Hera looked disappointed.

"Because she should have asked for world peace," Alex muttered under his breath to agree with Magnus, which he at least snickered in surprise over.

"So be it. You wish for something, however, that you have already been given."

"Oh come on," all seven of them yelped in surprise at that. In what world had that answer been laid out?! Now this goddess was just messing with them and calling it help!

"I don't understand."

"The means is already within your grasp." She looked at me. "Percy knows the answer."

"I do?" Percy managed to say at the same time as the book.

"He does?" The others all asked dubiously.

"You wouldn't hold out on that kind of information on Annabeth though," Magnus scoffed at once. "Let alone heard it and not, um, mentally, reported it?" Why was it suddenly so weird to describe what they were listening to?

"Glad you don't all think I'm keeping a hidden secret copy up here," Percy said with only a touch of relief as he tapped his temple. He kind of wished someone would call him an idiot again and get to the answer faster. Even Thalia looked dubious though why Hera thought he'd already been given the answer. The only link she could draw was their brief conversation that Rachel could see through the mist last winter, and even then, Percy yet had knowledge that was Ariadne's true ability, so she called bull on Hera's 'help' too.

"But that's not fair," Annabeth said. "You're not telling me what it is!"

"There is nothing stopping her from just, saying it! Make it clear as freaking day down there," Will agreed, looking personally hurt Hera seemed to be going out of her way to make this difficult after she'd just offered endless help.

Nico's touch of jealousy vanished at least. Turns out even if a god had cared enough to try helping him out of there, it probably wouldn't have done him any more good.

Hera shook her head. "Getting something and having the wits to use it...those are two different things. I'm sure your mother Athena would agree."

"Oh great, so the best advice we got out of this is be cryptic, thanks," Jason groaned with his hand pressed against his stomach like he was going to be sick.

He was sick. Of these Greek gods never making any sense. Why would Juno act like she'd done anything of value right now?!

The room rumbled like distant thunder. Hera stood. "That would be my cue. Zeus grows impatient. Think on what I have said, Annabeth. Seek out Hephaestus. You will have to pass through the ranch, I imagine.

Alex's mind flashed back to that Triple G Ranch that had been mentioned that apparently supplied scorpions Quintus had seemed so fond of. He didn't really believe in coincidences.

But keep going.

Nico's heart quivered at that possibility. If Percy had never shown up, gods knew what could have happened. Maybe he would have murdered Daedalus, who knew what Geryon would have done to him.

But then, why had Percy shown up there? This seemed like actual useful advice he couldn't imagine them ignoring for any reason.

And use all the means at your disposal, however common they may seem."

"Is a toothbrush going to come in handy on this quest?" Percy grouched. "Is she saying we should start tossing our extra pair of socks around to get results!"

"Not exactly advice I thought a motherly goddess would give," Magnus agreed with his disdain. He'd hoped a godly symbolic representation of marriage would have been a little more, loving. Aphrodite hadn't fit the right bill either. How was it possible none of these gods seemed more maternal with all the kids and family they had running around?

She pointed toward the two doors and they melted away, revealing twin corridors, open and dark. "One last thing, Annabeth. I have postponed your day of choice, I have not prevented it. Soon, as Janus said, you will have to make a decision. Farewell!"

She waved a hand and turned into white smoke.

Percy scowled and fought the urge to kick his chair in frustration. He'd probably kick it through the wall and cause all of his friend's death. That thought was the only thing restraining him, but he still cussed a few choice words he knew Hera would at least want to escape from.

So did the food, just as Tyson chomped down on a sandwich that turned to mist in his mouth.

"Now that was just rude," Alex looked ready to go and personally make him another sandwich just to make up for that.

"I bet you guys are under Detroit or something, can't have anything there unless it's nailed down," Thalia said in something of a mild mannered tone just because she didn't like seeing everybody stressed out and scowling under her care.

Percy gave her a begrudging laugh and a reluctant smile. "At least I didn't come away from this one with another immortal enemy?"

"There's the bright side!" Will agreed cheerfully.

The fountain trickled to a stop. The mosaic walls dimmed and turned grungy and faded again. The room was no longer any place you'd want to have a picnic.

Annabeth stamped her foot. "What sort of help was that? 'Here, have a sandwich. Make a wish. Oops, I can't help you!' Poof!"

"Poof," Tyson agreed sadly, looking at his empty plate.

"Sounds like you made a wish with a genie," Magnus frowned.

"And it was just one wish! You guys need a contract or a lawyer or something next time you run into one of them," Jason agreed.

"Now if she'd offered us three wishes, I bet at least you'd stop complaining," Percy laughed at him.

"I'm withholding judgment," Jason shrugged.

"Well," Grover sighed, "she said Percy knows the answer. That's something."

They all looked at me.

"But I don't," I said. "I don't know what she was talking about."

Annabeth sighed. "All right. Then we'll just keep going."

"Which way?" I asked. I really wanted to ask what Hera had meant about the choice Annabeth needed to make. But then Grove and Tyson both tensed. They stood up together like they'd rehearsed it. "Left," they both said.

Alex looked very torn now if he wanted to go down the right side just to get a peak of what had made Grover and Tyson agree on something. Magnus gripped his hands together, trying not to imagine Alex's hand in his as they ran for their life.

Annabeth frowned. "How can you be sure?"

"Because something is coming from the right," Grover said.

"Something big," Tyson agreed. "In a hurry."

"Left is sounding pretty good," I decided. Together we plunged into the dark corridor.

"Finished," Will said in a sing-song voice like they weren't about to start running for their life. Good for him, he knew they were all alive.

Jason exchanged an uneasy look with Thalia and Percy before he could get up and get the book. There really weren't enough breaks in the world from this to cover how much time they felt like they needed to process before the next awful thing leapt out of the shadows.

#pjo #reading the books #Percy Jackson #Thalia Grace #Jason Grace #alex fierro #Magnus Chase #nico di angelo #percabeth #fierrochase #solangelo #will solace #battle of the labyrinth #HDYSG

9 notes · View notes

sicksweetcreamy · 2 years

Text

Magitober 2022 10. Oriko Magica - Kirika and Oriko 28. Outfit Swap Two characters in one post means double the description length, so I've put my thoughts on Kirika and Oriko underneath the Read More. The most important points, however, are: - god, I made Oriko look so Fucking Good in Kirika's outfit - and god Kirika looks so fucking bad here, but it's either my fault or Oriko's outfit's, so I'm blaming Oriko for it >:P

Oriko Transformation Animation: Promising start, but incredibly simplistic transformation sequence, ending on a not anatomically-off but wonky-ish looking ending frame. Oriko Outfit: Not a fan of the bodice and the capelet. I can't say I like the outfit, but after putting it on Kirika, I can say that Oriko manages to pull it off (mostly). Oriko Battle Motions: Her attacks were sooo satisying, it always felt like she was hitting them with a wall of bricks. Oracle Ray doesn't have the same impact though, and neither does Sotria. Her RPGMaker Smile face and the drill finale when she uses it is also silly. It's a whatever doppel design, it's fine. Kirika Transformation Animation: What's with that almost panty shot. Jack the Killer face is silly. Ending frame is fine. It's not a great transformation overall, even if we can and do immediately grasp what kind of character she is right from it. Kirika Outfit: I hate the ruffle under the... bra-length jacket? But honestly, overall? Middle school edgy fashion looks good on everybody actually, and Oriko is serving severely rn. Kirika Battle Motions: Her attacks are a bit too swift to feel... weighty, you know? Her horizontal blast though, oughhh it feels so satisying use. Magia is fine. Doppel is fine. Oriko/Kirika Character: I've never really been too invested in Oriko Magica and Co., probably because they don't show up in the Main Story or in any of the other magical girl's MGSs. and the fact that they only got their one singular event, and it was after NA server had been wiped. So for those reasons, I don't really have many thoughts on the other spinoff characters as well. But out of Oriko, Tart, Suzune, and Kazumi; Oriko Magica would be my top pick.

Oh, and Oriko's VA is fine. Kirika's VA is good.

#pmmm #madoka magica #magia record #magitober #my art #oriko magica #oriko mikuni #kirika kure #gaslighting gatekeeping girlboss and her cringe fail girlfriend

72 notes · View notes

mrvelocipede · 14 days

Text

I spent some time this afternoon in a slightly cold-ish haze, applying stain samples to pieces of wood. Some of the resulting colors may end up on the floorboards, eventually. The weird blue-greens are in there because I want to mix small amounts of them in with some of the browns, to make better shades of brown.

It's absolutely mind-boggling how many different individual components go into building a house. There are obvious materials, like framing lumber and drywall and bricks. (There are so many different kinds of bricks. We got to go to a neat warehouse and look at hundreds of samples of bricks, in many shades of red and orange and brown and yellow and off-white, with and without speckles, spots, textures, kiln-firing marks, and so on and so forth.) But then basically every single visible surface and fixture has to be chosen, and they all have to work together and look reasonably harmonious.

Floorboards. Tile. Faucets. Cabinet doors. Room doors. Doorknobs. Cabinet handles. Sconces and various light fixtures. Window trim moldings. Stair railings. Roof material. Countertop material.

I've learned that kitchen countertops can be made of laminate, like old-school Formica, or else slabs of stone or stone-like materials, and there's very little middle ground in terms of aesthetics or cost. It's either way low-end or way high-end. I mean, there are cheaper and more expensive kinds of stone slabs, but it's all stone, with significant fabrication costs on top of the base material price.

For most of these things, you have to go to showrooms and deal with sales people. And at that point, I begin to run into difficulties.

See, on the internet I get to be the fascinating and mysterious Mr. Velocipede, and talk about whatever projects I've been working on, and post pictures of things I've made. People are willing to think of me as competent, or in some categories an actual expert to some degree, and it's a fairly comfortable persona to inhabit. It's very easy to forget that in the offline world, I'm a very ordinary-looking middle-aged housewife kind of thing. It's not how I think of myself, but it's definitely what I look like to any outside observer.

During the house-building project, I've been constantly, incessantly reminded of why I became Mr. Velocipede in the first place: being a girl in this culture sucks.

I don't actually mind being female (although I often feel like I'm kind of crap at it), but the kinds of assumptions made about you are so fucking insultingly stupid that I've never really figured out how to respond to them. You're supposed to use Pinterest boards and read magazines full of fairy-tale cottages and have a "dream kitchen" that you've been fantasizing about since you got married and stopped fantasizing about your dream wedding.

You're supposed to want to hide all your appliances neatly in tasteful cupboards, so as not to offend guests with your unsightly refrigerator or microwave or washing machine. I've lost count of the number of times I've had to explain to people that I don't want a special board that attaches to my cabinets, to hide the side of the refrigerator. "But you'll see the side of the refrigerator!" they admonish me. "It's not finished the same as the front! It doesn't match the cabinets!"

Yeah, okay, but what if I like having a magnetic surface to stick things on? What if I don't want to spend money on a random unnecessary board that basically dangles from the upper cabinet?

And there is always, always the assumption that you cannot possibly know anything at all about materials and how they work. I got to listen to quite a long speech about how window screens actually block a certain percentage of the light. Did I know that? Well, yes, as a matter of fact I did. That was why I was asking about getting half-screens, instead of ones that cover the entire window.

It turns out that color is a very stressful subject for a lot of people, which I guess I sort of knew, but am now having to cope with more directly. Our architect is all stressed out because I haven't chosen a stain color yet, and I scared him by buying a bunch of sample bottles of weird bright colors of stain. I've been trying to reassure him that I'm very happy to figure out how to mix a custom stain color myself, out of whatever stock colors exist, but this is apparently unheard of.

But I am flat-out refusing to just pick one of the existing stock colors, because they are all too jarringly harsh and simple, and not at all the effect I want. And I can't figure out how to convey the idea that I know how to work with color, I understand that it's going to look different on different kinds of wood, I know what I'm doing, and I'm not going to burst into tears if it doesn't look like some reference photo in a brochure. Those brochures all look awful, and I know I can do better, if only people will stop calling me "little lady" and let me fucking get on with it.

#the house-building project #gender #complaints department #it is all very frustrating #I am probably less shouty and sweary when I don't have a cold #long post #I used to have a thing on my website that said 'Mr. Velocipede is a rude lady'

5 notes · View notes

landwriter · 1 year

Note

You wanted some nosy ones, so here we go: watermelon, bubblegum, hibiscus

pink themed asks

BLESS you, friend. (If we're not friends already we're friends now.)

watermelon— have you ever had to reject anyone romantically? how did it go? Lots of times, and visa versa! It's never fun but it's never gone poorly. On one memorable occasion I had already been loaned books by the person and had to awkwardly return them without having read them. The books were the Sandman comics lol

bubblegum— how do you feel about your love life right now? are you happy with it? I am, actually, which is wild to realize because I haven't gotten laid in six months and going strong, but I suppose this is the true blessing of totally lacking object permanence. I will feel more hungry and frustrated and distracted when I am seeing folks once every week or couple weeks than when it's been so long I've practically forgotten how. My ideal is hopelessly domestic and slutty, and the runner-up is, apparently, living as a monk.

I ended an LTR of common-law-married proportions just over a year ago (amicably! not that it helped with all the PAPERWORK), so I'm not in a hurry to jump into something serious at the minute. I am Not Looking in a very genre-aware way that probably actually cancels it out. Wanting nothing serious hasn't stopped me from getting feelings in little flings all the same, but I've come to accept the only thing that stops me from doing that is to hardly talk to or know a person at all, and unfortunately I love both talking to and knowing people. But overall I feel happily sure in what I want and need, in what is lovely but not exactly enough, and I hope to find That at some point in the next several years. I even have a little list. For cross-referencing.

hibiscus— what’s your favorite pet name, if any? why? Once spent a summer not-dating an emotionally compromised chef who was built like a brick shithouse and called me 'dear' and 'darlin'', and I am, in fact, still not over that. I love love love pet names and terms of endearment. Serious, soppy, goofy, made-up! All of 'em. I have a really bad habit however of also accidentally using them on my dogs. Have also found it endlessly funny in LTRs for years and years now to make 'babe' a multi-syllable word whenever I want to strike fear into my love's heart that I'm about to ask for an annoying favour. Am concerned exposure to Sandman fandom and Middle English has permanently raised my pet-name standards to an impossible level. If someone called me min hertis rote to my face I think I would perish.

#asks #pink asks #keep the nosiness coming hahaha #i am an open book #tangent from hibiscus but one thing i LOVE about LTRs is how you inevitably create your own dialect together #after two years if there's not some weird version of pig latin we speak to each other i'm frankly not interested

16 notes · View notes

melancholy-ember · 1 year

Note

hands in marriage for your writing 💍

On behalf of my writing, I accept! XD

But seriously, you are still far too kind to me, and I appreciate the support more than you know.

Fun fact, I have a few scenes from Faster Than A Hairpin Trigger that I saved onto a document because I liked them, but they didn't fit in the story. I'm thinking about releasing them as "Missing Moments" when FTAHT is finished, but for now...

This one was one of my favorites, and I was super disappointed when I couldn't make it work, but I hope you enjoy reading it!

(Chapter 9 was originally going to be in Lucy's POV, with this scene being the end of Chapter 8.)

Lucy hummed quietly to herself as the door to the elevator slid open, waiting patiently for an elderly woman and her husband to shuffle out of the sliding doors and grinning at them as they did. The wife had her hand wrapped firmly around his bicep, frail-looking fingers clenching onto the fabric of a dark gray overcoat that was still lightly speckled with raindrops from the afternoon’s unexpected drizzle. The husband had his own worn hand covering his wife’s, seemingly uncaring about how much harder their positioning made the act of moving forward.

It was love, the brunette thought, that made the slight struggle worth it. The desire to be closer, even if it came with a cost.

Unbidden, the memory of Kate’s borderline desperate tugging at the back of her shirt and Lucy’s own less than subtle fall into their embrace from days ago flashed in her mind, and the soft humming abruptly stopped.

Lucy couldn’t afford to let herself fall down that particular rabbit hole, not when she was literally on her way to the blonde’s hospital room. Thoughts and memories like that were best left under lock and key when she was anywhere near Kate’s general vicinity, if only because she didn’t know how to properly balance the twisted, sour mess of anger with the deep, all-consuming feeling of relief and...

Something.

Something Lucy knew was love but didn’t want to acknowledge it—not right now, not when there wasn’t anything she could do with the feeling. It just sat like a brick in her chest, because it was love, but the emotion itself was weighed down with so much resentment and betrayal and pain that it felt poisonous.

It felt… dangerous.

And as angry as Lucy may have been, she was still aware enough to recognize that not all of her rage belonged solely to the blonde. A good portion of it yes, but thoughts of Pruitt, Spencer and Adam still reared their heads at the most untimely of moments, like a fucked-up game of whack-a-mole. Kate didn’t deserve the full wrath of that anger. Not when it didn’t all belong to her and certainly not right now, when she was in a hospital bed, trying to recover from a literal gunshot wound.

So lock and key was the best solution for the time being, but sometimes Lucy would see something that made her traitorous, aching heart trip in her chest and thoughts of that could have been us pop into her head and the carefully crafted mask of control would crack clean down the middle.

“Enough,” Lucy whispered sharply to herself, tightening her jaw in an effort to regain control of her mind. In front of her, the elder couple both turned to look back with varying degrees of concern, and the brunette did her best to smile through clenched teeth. “I cannot get enough of this weather, I'm loving the random drizzles and cool temperatures. It’s a lovely break from the heat.”

The husband nodded in agreement, while the wife offered a kind grin. “I do so love it too, dear. Reminds me of, well… there’s no time for stories just now, is there? You have a nice day.”

With that last parting message, they shuffled together around the corner, hands now intertwined.

Tears burned behind her eyes, and Lucy forced herself to blink them away, before plastering on a smile and making her way into Kate’s room.

The blonde was fast asleep, breathing deep and even like she had been for a little while at least. It wasn’t too unexpected, but the little boy whose shoulder her head was resting against was—if only because he was awake. Lucy grinned softly when Holden’s eyes lit up at the sight of her, and he twitched forward just the slightest bit—like he was going to rush down from the bed—before freezing and throwing a wide-eyed look at a still sleeping Kate, then flicking his gaze back to Lucy.

“Hi Miss Lucy,” he whispered ineffectively, carefully attempting to adjust his shoulder in a clear effort to ease the strain on Kate’s neck. There was a single, tense moment where Kate’s brow furrowed slightly at the movement. Holden sucked in an audible breath, holding perfectly still until the crease once again smoothed out. The little boy sighed in relief. “She fell asleep during story time. Probably because she had to see Doctor Dillion yesterday, mama sleeps a lot after that too. I'm trying not to move, or else I would give you a hug.”

Lucy’s heart melted. “Hi bud. That’s okay, I can give you a hug later.”

“I like that plan,” Holden murmured, seemingly taking the words very seriously. His attempt at whispering was no more successful than it had been earlier, but Kate stayed asleep. She must have been exhausted. Lucy settled herself in the chair by the bed as Holden clearly contemplated over something, raising an eyebrow and grinning in encouragement when curious green eyes met her own. “Do you remember the time you saved that journalist from the evil spies? And-And his wife had to help you find out where he had been taken?”

It took Lucy a moment to parse through all of the sugar-coating, but the case sounded familiar. Of course it did, because she and Kate had shared one of the most intimate moments of their entire relationship following its conclusion. The most genuine she had ever seen the blonde—

Kayla Barlow.

I don’t think you’re bad, in fact… I think you’re amazing.

That had been the start of everything changing.

In that moment, the line they had been so carefully walking had been crossed, and Lucy had tumbled willingly into the unknown, propelled by nothing more than the feeling of Kate’s lips on her own. At the time, her heart had been pounding with excited, exultant thrill. At the time, she had been so ready to see where things would progress, terrified by the strength of her emotions but ready to face them head on. At the time, she had been chasing the phantom-feelings that had developed over a span of two days and three nights, a kind of rush that no one else had ever managed to recreate.

Their goodbye kiss from all that time ago still smoldered like ash on her tongue, hot like a brand and stinging like her tears. The taste of salt from those tears had lingered for hours on her lips after their reluctant parting.

It had been the very first time Lucy had ever cried over Kate Whistler.

Now, crying over the blonde was common.

Stop.

Lucy grinned through the bittersweet pain the memories brought, forcefully shoving all of the twisted feelings back into their locked boxes. She was absolutely not going to be ruining whatever semblance of comfort Holden got from these stories by tainting them with her own grief-smeared hold. No, she’d sooner stand up and walk right out of the hospital altogether than ever risk doing that. “I do remember that one. Is that the story she was…?”

Holden beamed happily, carefully nodding his head. “Yes! I think—” Kate made a quiet, huffing noise. The little boy froze. After another moment of pause, Holden started speaking again, notably much quieter. “I think maybe that’s my favorite one so far.”

“Hmm,” Lucy hummed softly, giving her emotions a chance to finish settling. Once she no longer felt like she was liable to burst into tears, the brunette let her eyes flick over to a still smiling Holden. His right arm was lost under the waterfall of Kate’s hair, but he didn’t seem to mind. “That day was a bit crazy. And actually, Kate was… Kate helped a lot. We saved him, but she saved us.”

The little boy tilted his head. “Really? She didn’t say anything about that…” Green eyes flickered over to Kate, searching, before again meeting Lucy’s own. “Does she do that a lot?”

“Save us?” Lucy clarified.

Holden nodded.

“Sometimes,” Lucy answered softly, letting her gaze linger on Kate now. She remembered the bus full of FBI agents, remembered a pale purple sweater and fingers that were still vaguely tensed from rapid typing. Remembered the feeling of the cool ambulance floor, the ache in every part of her body, Tennant’s voice saying Curtis had to grab her, she was heading inside. She was heading to you. “Yes, she saves us a lot. Saves… me, a lot.”

And hurts me too. Hurts me more than I've ever been hurt before, more hurt than I knew I could feel. It shouldn’t be possible for my heart to hurt this badly, shouldn’t be possible for—

“Yeah,” Holden agreed, something dark flashing in his eyes. There was a subtle frown pulling at his lips, but he blinked it away and glanced over at Kate. His expression was nothing sort of reverent, a thoughtless kind of adoration that made Lucy’s heart clench. “Yeah, she saves me a lot too.”

#cabotwhistler #my writing #faster than a hairpin trigger #sort of?#I think I'll just tag this as “missing moments” unless I think of something better #but anyway #I hope you enjoyed reading this!#thanks for all of the support

16 notes · View notes

fourseasonsfigs · 5 months

Text

Coda - Beautiful Fight Scene in the Middle of the Lake

What's this? Yet another post on this fig set? Yes indeed! This is a follow up to Building Block Figs - Beautiful Fight Scene in the Middle of the Lake (Part One and Two). It won't make a lot of sense if you haven't read those first, so if you have time, check those out!

For those of you who have read those posts, you may recall that I wasn't really happy with the original design of the lake raft being blue and green, and that you could see the cream colored base:

So, my plan was that when I finished the rest of my building block figs, I'd see what I could do with the leftover bricks. That time has come!

I pulled this fig set back out and took off the figs. I dismantled the base down to the very beginnings, and counted the bricks for the raft. I compared them to my remaining brown bricks, and it seemed like I would just have barely enough, if I was thoughtful about how I used the sizes.

I seemed to have enough blue bricks to use for the base, so I went ahead and made that, expanding the water to cover all sides.

Part of the base is not blue but brown, so I went ahead and started using what I could. You see that this is all the bricks that are left! I wanted to use black in the raft as well for a little more detail, but I didn't have nearly enough black bricks. I also didn't have enough grey bricks to use for further contrast either.

You can also see I have a few transparent bricks for water splashing. The original design used about 2/3 of them, but I liked the look, and figured the more the merrier! I decided to use all of them. There's not a lot of them anyway - those there you can see are all there are.

As you may recall, the original raft used green for the raft and dark blue for the contrast. Maybe to show the water through the bamboo? I'm not sure. I followed the instructions as carefully as I could, substituting the colors, and then trying to add on more clear bricks towards the elevated top to show the froth of the water as the raft came up out of the water.

I meant to take more progress shots, but I have never been a good multi-tasker. It took all my brain power to figure this out! I had to adjust a little bit for the extended base, translate the colors (which was harder in my brain than it should have been) and I had to conserve brown bricks more than I thought I would have to. It was a little more difficult than I expected, but I'm really happy with it! As you can see, I did in fact, go to town with the transparent bricks. I added on some water drips that were most definitely not in the original design.

Here's another view. I really had liked the horizontal lines going through the raft in the original, but I didn't have enough grey bricks in the right shapes to add them. I'm hoping when the next sets arrive that I'll have enough to add them in. In the meantime, I still like this better.

I'll let you be the judge!

I did pull off one of the two cream colored bases (I was like, why did I have two stacked up on each other?), but I realize now it's to elevate the back of the raft up a bit more off the ground. I'm going to put it back.

You can really see where I went to down on the water droplets here. Too much? Maybe! I still kind of like it.

Yeah, having another base underneath won't be visible but will give the elevation back for sure.

The raft is fairly stable - in one area I only had small brown bricks, so it's a little weaker in that area. I tried to reinforce it as much as possible, but rough treatment would probably make one of those back brown pieces fall off. However, this is going right into my fig case, so that's not a concern.

Oops, looks like I need to push down that right side there a bit in the water.

This is really such a cute set. I continue to be charmed by their flying hair!

Ahh, a little more of the water effect! I'm really very pleased with it. Hmm, I also see I'll be pressing down a little bit on that upraised blue brick there in the middle.

You're definitely getting a little more fig detail in these second round of shots!

The transparent bits don't look too overdone from this angle, I think.

Hobo-Xu's goatee here continues to make me giggle. It's so funny!

Oh, I really like the transparent bricks.

Here's the revised underside. Luckily I had a bunch of those long dark blue bricks left.

As you can see, the raft is a little plain now. Which I think is ok, since it puts the attention on the figs themselves. Still, I think it'll be nicer when I finally do revise it a bit with the lateral grey pieces.

Alright, I think 3 posts for one fig set is enough! Thank you for hanging in there with me on this building brick adventure. I'm really looking forward to the next set I get. Unfortunately, it'll just be one...the other two I had ordered off Xianyu both fell through. I'll keep looking though - eventually someone will sell them.

No updated fig counts on this, since this is just a do-over, but if anyone wants to see non-brick figs, the master index is here.

#wenzhou #word of honor #word of honor merch #figthusiast

4 notes · View notes

scoupsahoy · 1 year

Text

it's 5am and im up for no reason time for everyones favorite segment: ryan's bad opinion corner

todays episode: stranger things fandom and ficdom pet peeves and things i find silly

disclaimer: it's 5am i'm grumpy and none of these things are worth getting angry about. i don't actually get mad at people who do this stuff or write these things. in fact i love torturing myself but more than that i like to read and sometimes people take these things and make it fun or dramatic and i love drama. most of these are just silly little things. we all have them snd i know for a fact that some people's pet peeve is just like. everything ive ever written

people who can't talk about mike wheeler without making it obvious how much they hate him irrationally. especially in fic. why are you making him so antagonistic towards everyone he is so desperate to be liked. have u seen that kid. have u watched the last four seasons of stranger things

people who can't be normal about billy. real bad opinion corner type shit but like. i wish people could write or talk about him without either excusing how shitty he is OR absolving him of all that. if you make him a cartoon villain you're kind of diminishing how fucked up and racist he was in canon, like that isn't enough to make him a shitty guy and an antagonist on his own. let people explore his character without forcing them to pick between "needs to be tortured to death for his crimes on screen Or Else you're a billy apologist" and "needs to be forgiven by everyone and kiss steve at the end"

not a pet peeve just kind of a thing that makes me tilt my head a bit bc i think it's kind of silly. future fics where dustin and suzie get married... like they met before high school i love suzie so bad but like what is the chance that every single one of the kids in the show is going to be with their middle school sweetheart their entire lives. this opinion does not extend to lucas and max i hope they get married.

when people imply that eddie or robin are biphobic. biphobia exists and is complicated and can be explored in fic or whatever but when i see gay characters who are massively biphobic and only the gay characters who are massively biphobic it sure rubs me the wrong way. gay people are not biphobic by default. ESPECIALLY IF ITS LIKE

fic where steve is literally fucking eddie and eddie's like "man i cant believe hes fucking me and he's straight and doesn't like men at all" like thats not even biphobic at that point like eddie you need to be punched in the head with a blunt object you are just stupid and not in a cute way. i can't read several thousand words of that. no one would act like that even if they were biphobic

when nancy isn't annoying. make her annoying. make her abrasive and judgmental and kind of mean. but also like. don't forget that she's like very smart and helpful and caring and full of guilt and love. you think she can't be good and amazing and also a bitch? god forbid women do anything.

******* just in general but i don't want to be crucified ive already made two deeply inflammatory statements

when people don't love lucas enough. love him more. you are silly.

when you're mad about popular fanon and write an angry fic basically using the characters to make your point for you. and i totally get it. if u hate that trope u can also say hit da bricks. but i can tell how pissed off u were about this while writing and it does not make me agree with u more. in fact it's an interesting enough thought experiment that it can stand on its own and having the argument in the fic where you're basically mad at the fandom makes me less inclined to agree with you or want to keep reading. this is mainly because fic is something that is enjoyable to me when it's written out of love for an idea rather than frustration. you can always tell when the writer is annoyed and it makes it wayyy less enjoyable to read

i feel like that last one was kinda mean (or it was before i took out the particular context bc even though it's unlikely anyone will read this i dont want the person who wrote the thing im talking about to catch wind of it) so im going back to sleep i love you

last one

people who go out of their way to tell an author that their headcanon is unrealistic or their writing pisses them off or they didn't like how something played out or how someone was characterized. get over it please if you didn't like it, it wasn't for you. complain to your friends if you must, not the artist. don't make people feel like shit i'll cut off the roof of your house like wile e coyote and i AM serious about this one

#ryans bad opinion corner

3 notes · View notes

cthonicascendant · 1 year

Note

Introject ask game: all the ones that end w/ 2 since it's my favorite number -Wilbur

13 - :)

2. What type of introject are you? (Fictive, factive, etc.)

fictiVe5 the lot of u5

≈technically coco and i are occctivesss. :>~

12. What's your least favourite thing about your source?

>.i die. .that is not very cash money of my source.<

oh come on you recoVer from that

>¿but do I remember it? .no. .because I woke up HERE after dying instead.<

≈will you two ssstop bickering? i don't really have an anssswer for thisss one.~

ok ok fine my turn then uh vvell 5peakin purely about home5tuck canon i dont like the frequent u5e a 5ome 5lur5 or the canon name for chucklehexe5 vvhich i vvont type becau5e i think it5 di5re5pectful like i al5o ju5t dont knovv hovv to put thi5 but 5ome part5 a canon are actually kind a painful to read becau5e a exomemorie5 al5o can i ju5t 5ay the entirety a the epilogue5

13. Any funny exomemories?

>.ok so. .i had a kismesis. .his name is enyali. .anyways, it took us about a sweep to finally start dating. .see, i'm a quadrant anarchist. .he believes quadrants are the Only Way to have romantic relationships. .at the same time enyali and i were flirting. .i was also flirting with melara. .yali also had this...genocide the coldbloods complex. .to put it bluntly. .so he was not a fan of the fact that i was flirting with a seadweller. .especially since none of my quadrants at the time were warmer than teal. .so his deal was, if we were going to be kismeses, i couldn't keep flirting with mel, much less enter a kismesissitude with her as well.< >.backstory out of the way. .after a chat with one of my moirails. .voidsong, to be precise. .i finally made up my mind regarding enyali. .so the next time we met in person - at a party amphit was hosting - i asked him out.< >.specifically, i took a (very much unloaded) pistol, held it to the back of his head and cocked it, and told him when and where to meet me for our first date. .and that he could thank voidsong for all of this.< >.damn bastard couldn't get a coherent sentence out. .it was the funniest fucking thing. .he kept sputtering and trying to yell at me and voidsong at the same time. .he was so mad his face was like. .brick red almost.<

≈...i'm not entirely sssure that isss humorousss by human ssstandardsss?~

>.then human standards are boring.<

<<just remember to trigger tag that.>>

≈let'sss sssee. one of mine isss probably the time i got to fire a particularly... annoying... client of mine.~ ≈back in the empire, my primary passssssion wasss fassshion desssign, and i ran a sssmall busssinessssss doing cussstom work for mossstly purplesss and violetsss. one of my friendsss, amphit, invited me along asss her plusss one for a formal event, and of courssse i had to make her outfit.~ ≈well, who elssse ssshould be there but one murani sssathet? i hated doing work for them, becaussse they were ssso... prissssssy and ssstuck up. they treated me like a ssslave; i ssshudder to think of how they mussst have treated anyone warmer blooded. but unfortunately, they were quite popular within the local coldblood sssocccial cccirclesss, and jussst dropping them would have been terrible for my busssinessssss.~ ≈sssathet and amphit liked to sssnipe at each other. i think they were a little pitch, but that'sss jussst ssspeculation. and what ssshould sssathet choossse to deride about amphit that night but her attire?~ ≈i had gone to get usss sssome drinksss, otherwissse sssathet might have guessssssed that i made amphit'sss dressssss.~ ≈oh, you could have heard a pin drop when i cleared my throat right behind them, in the middle of them making sssome negative comment. i think it might have been about asssymmetric ssseamsss, i'm not sssure. i took great pleasssure in informing them that sssinccce my work wasss ssso sssubssstandard, i would hate to wassste any more of their time and money, and that i wissshed them the bessst of luck in finding a more sssatisssfactory tailor.~

i cant think of any a the funny one5 at the moment 5orry

22. What activities/things remind you of your source?

EVERYTHING IS [HOMESTUCK]~

ye5 thank you glitch vvhat couldnt remind u5 of our 5ource hone5tly

>.i like wearing oversized sweaters. .reminds me of stealing my matesprit's hoodies and such. .i may have mentioned this on this blog ages ago, but it's the only thing that comes to mind.<

i like layin at the bottom of a 5vvimmin pool an 5tarin up at the 5tar5 neVer thought id 5ay thi5 but i mi55 my 5hitty excu5e5 for gill5 you knovv vvhat5 vvor5e than half formed gill5 none at all

≈making clothing in sssome way makesss me feel a bit more at hive, if that countsss.~

#Void5ong #>.mierco.<#diakto #untranslated typing quirk #ask game response #villainadmin #long post #tw gun mention

1 note · View note

writingkeepsmewhole · 2 years

Text

Stolen Princess

Random story which was a dream I had about AU Shane from the walking dead. I can turn it into a fic if yall want. Let me know.

I stood by the wooden stage, my legs shaking from nerves. I shouldn't be here. I didn't belong here. I wouldn't ever get chosen for one of the step sisters let alone Cinderella. But I had to try. Call it an act of rebellion or stupidity but this was the only time I could sneak out of the house. He always took a nap around the same time every day. Maria helped me sneak out.

She was the only one that was nice to me in that house. She knew this was all I’ve ever wanted to do. To be in a play. This one was even closer to my heart giving the fairy tale. I always felt like Cinderella. It didn’t help that my name was Ella. Though everyone called me Ellie.

I jump when someone touches my arm. Looking to the side I see the stage manager. The play was at the local community center.

“Your turn sweetie.” She says smiling at me, her dark eyes shining behind her glasses.

I smile and nod at her. Taking a breath I tug down my torn T-shirt. I hope they thought it was just a costume. But it was the best shirt I had.

Pushing down my fears I step out onto the stage. Walking towards the red X in the middle of the floor.

Turning to face the chairs the director sits there with a clipboard in hand.

“Ella? Your name is Ella? Really?” He asked, looking up at me.

“Umm, yes.” I nod my heart rate picking up.

“Alright, and who will you be reading for? Cinderella I assume?"

I nod. Having no intentions of reading for the lead but I wasn’t about to undermine him.

“Script is on the table. Use the props if you want.” He says pointing to the white plastic table.

I walk over to it quickly grabbing the script. I left the cup and rag there not wanting to drop something.

“Whenever you're ready.”

I take a deep breath ready to start but I stop when the sound of a door opens. Lifting my head I look towards the door, my heart dropping into my stomach when I see a man with salt and pepper hair.

His round face and mustache are very familiar. Him coming to the house enough to be recognized. I knew he would recognize me and would tell Antonio he saw me here. Out of the house. Somewhere I wasn’t allowed to be.

I didn’t say anything not wanting to draw attention to myself. I drop the script, duck my head and run towards the side stage.

Ignoring anyone I pass, I keep my pace up until I'm out of the building.

Running behind the building I slip under the broken chain link fence and head towards the neighborhood.

My house was only a few streets over. If I hurried I could be back home way before anyone knew I was gone.

I ran until I couldn’t see the community center anymore. Slowly down to a walk, I keep my head down scared someone else would recognize me.

Turning a corner I sigh seeing my house. It was a two story brick house that looked just like every other house on my street.

Crossing the street I hear a screen door slam making me look towards the noise. I got nervous for the third time today. Two men leave their house.

One tall, bald head, tattoos. Had the whole biker thing down. The other was older, and looked like he was on a mission. Judging by the large gun in the bald ones hands they were.

I had seen them before. Antonio got into an augment with them just days ago out in the front yard.

I quicken my pace praying I get to the house before they do. I practically run up the steps. Slipping through the front door just as they get to the bottom of the steps. I shut the front door and lock it, them talking to each other about what to do.

“What were you doing outside?” Diego asks, making me turn around to face him.

He was tall and skinny. His dark skin and light eyes had girls flocking to him. The fact he had a low body fat made me walk around in a tank top like he was bad.

He was only a few years older than me but he was a part of Antonio’s group so he thought he could treat me like crap.

“Those men from the other day are outside.” I say ignoring his question I didn’t have an answer to it. Hopefully what I said would distract him. Which it did.

He quickly joins me at the door looking through the glass.

“What are they doing here?”

“I don’t know. They just showed up.” I say looking at him then back out the door.

I watch them turn to walk around the side of the house.

“They are going to the basement door.” I say looking at Diego

“I got to tell Antonio.” He says rushing up the stairs, him zooming past Maria.

“What’s going on?” She asks, looking at me, her hazel eyes meeting mine. She was beautiful, her latino heritage making her have the perfect skin tone and complexion. Her body was something my curvy self wished for.

“Those guys from the other day-” I'm cut off by the sound of a door behind slammed open.

“They are in the house.” I say run over to lock the door that leads to the basement.

“You gotta help me hide.” I say spinning to face her.

“Hide? Antonio-.”

“Will protect you. I'm fair game if I don’t find somewhere to hide.”

“If I hide you Antonio will be the one you should be scared of. If he can’t find you.”

“He will. You can take me upstairs. I won't move from where you leave me. I will stay right there until you come back.” I say grabbing her hands fear rushing through me. I had no one to protect me. To help me.

“Ellie-.” She was cut off by Diego coming back down stairs. Him carrying a rifle and a pistol which he throws on the couch.

“Where are they down stairs?”

“Yeah.” Maria says.

I jump when he lets a shot off the bullet going through the thin floor. He fires off a few more the sound making my ears ring. I scream when the warm splatter of blood hits my face. Diego dropped to the floor. A pool of blood running from his head.

“I’m going to be sick.” Maria says, covering her mouth shaking.

She blots up the stairs either to go puke or try to wake Antonio up. He must be pretty high right now not to hear or care about all the gunshots going off.

Hearing the side door rattle I look up. It is directly under the stairs. It sticks horrible so no one ever uses it. But that wouldn't stop the men that just killed one of us.

I rush towards the couch grabbing the pistol. Aiming at the door with shaky hands I pull the trigger just as the door opens.

My heart stops when the gun jams but also when I see who is standing there. Shane. Antonio’s right hand man and he looks pissed.

I quickly tossed the gun back on the couch hoping he didn’t even see that I had it.

Maria runs down the stairs and straight to Shane. Her burying her head in his chest. He wraps his arms around her, his dark brown eyes meeting mine.

“What’s going on? Where is-.”

“Antonio won’t wake up and there are-.” Maria stars but is cut off by another round of bullets.

Maria screams as one of them makes contact ripping through her thigh.

Both me and Shane move at the same time. I move to help Maria as he sets her on the ground, him grabbing the rifle from D’s body and firing back his own shots.

I pull her over the the over side of the living room behind the couch hoping that will give us some cover.

“Here you gotta keep pressure on it.” I say using her hands to push down on the wound making her scream.

“I know.” I say looking around for something to tie it with.

I don’t know when it happened. When everything became a blur the sound of faint screaming and gunshots filled my mind.

I was quickly brought back to the sinking reality when a burning pain ripped through my side. Screaming I fell over on my side next to Maria as another explosion of heat punched its way through my stomach.

I scream the thought of everything going out of the window as the throbbing burn floods my nervous system.

“Ella!” Shane yells coming over to help me. Him standing over me.

Despite the pain I'm in, I'm very aware when two bullets fly through Shane’s abdomen. Almost in the exact same spots as my own wounds.

He drops to his knees groaning. Knowing that both of us were going to bleed out if we didn’t get help soon I used everything I had to sit up.

“Shane, we have to keep pressure on everything.” I get out through gritted teeth. The pain was unlike anything I've ever felt but the adrianen pumping through me was keeping my mind clear enough to know we had to do something.

Reaching out my hand towards him he grabs it. I pull him closer to me, him collapsing on top of me. It was exactly what I wanted. The weight of his large frame would hopefully give us both enough pressure to keep us from bleeding out.

“Wrap your arms around me and hold on as tight as you can. Hopefully someone will come help us.” I say wrapping my arms around him, both of us letting out our own cry of pain as I hug him tightly.

He does the same with his face burrowing into my neck.

He lets out a groan, his breath choppy and shallow against my skin.

"Shane, talk to me." I whisper, scared the men will start shooting again if they hear anyone up here.

"I can't…" he mumbles out, making my heart drop. He wasn't even going to try and fight? That wasn't like Shane. He was the first one to fight out of all of us. The first one to go down swinging.

"Please." I say softly.

"For me?" I ask as if that would change anything. Me and Shane rarely talked. He barely gave me the time of day. The only thing that ever made him stand out was he was the only one that ever called me Ella.

Other than that I was nobody to him.

The praded of bullets stops for a moment. Letting my mind settle. All going quiet.

Quite enough for me to hear my own breathing. But I couldn't hear Shane's. With fear and worry for his life I give him a squeeze making him moan in pain.

"Stay awake. Talk to me please." I say turning my head to face him.

His eyes were closed, his face was pale. I’m sure I didn’t look much better and I honestly have no idea how I was even awake at this point but somewhere in the back of my mind I knew if I fell asleep he would die.

I lean closer to him to see if he is still breathing, his breath fanning over my face faintly.

I don’t know what made me do it, some last ditch attempt at getting him to respond to me I press my mouth to his.

Hoping he would get mad or the act would make him stay awake.

His lips are surprisingly soft and warm despite the blood I’m sure he is losing. I press my mouth harder to him when he does nothing in return the fear of losing him weighing on me more than I expected.

I keep my eyes open watching his face, wanting a response, a reaction, something. When his eyes open briefly, only to flutter closed I feel relief. It’s replaced with shock when he kisses me back. It’s soft, hardly anything at all but it was enough I knew he was alive. Enough for me to know he was still awake still in there fighting.

The feeling of time standing still washes over me again. My fingers and toes were cold but the rest over me wrapped in a heat I couldn’t explain.

I felt myself slipping into the darkness or Shane’s touch I didn’t know. I didn’t get to figure that out, Shane’s weight being ripped off me.

He lets out a yell, I’m shocked to watch him stand on his feet.

Antonio stood over him holding him by his collar.

“Get the hell up we gotta get Maria to the hospital.” He barks at Shane, him looking at me with anger.

“This better not have anything to do with you.” He says bending down to jerk me to my feet as well.

I’m not as strong as Shane, my knees giving out under my weight.

“Come on, help me get her to the car.” Antonio says, dragging me to the front door. Maria was gone, most likely in the car. I don’t know how she got there. I don't even remember Antonio coming down the steps.

Did he see me kiss Shane? Did he care? Most likely I was off limits to his friends and not because he cared about me because he didn’t want me to have anyone but him.

Pulling me to the car he throws me into the backseat, Maria in the front already. Shane crumbles into the seat next to me groaning as he holds his torso. A deep red just under his chest.

I knew I should have done the same, hold my wounds but I couldn’t make my arms move.

I stared at him not because I wanted to but because I couldn’t move my head.

“Is she dead?” Antonio asks speeding down the street.

“No.” Shane groans through gritted teeth.

“Good. When we get there you keep an eye on her. If she says anything about the past few years you're both dead.”

Shane doesn't respond, the car falling in silence until we reach the ER.

I don’t remember getting inside the hospital fading in and out of consensus. I hear voices, questions being asked but I don’t bother answering.

I didn’t want to anger Antonio or get Shane in trouble.

Antonio answers every question with ease. Our house got shot up by a drive by. We all live together to save money for a better house.

My eyes open when I hear the word scars. The scars on my arms were something not talked about.

One long thin scar from armpit to wrist on both arms was my first memory of Antonio. He thought I was some mob boss's daughter. That I could give him information, or money.

When he realized I really wasn't anyone important he gave up but kept me so I couldn't go to the cops.

He smoothly lied, saying he found me on the street when I was fifteen. I already had the scars. I ran away from my abusive father. The doctors believed it when my eyes filled with tears. If only they knew the truth.

Turning my head I look at Shane slumped over in a chair next to my bed, nurses trying to look at him but him not being very cooperative they realize it’s because he passed out.

I watch them put him on a bed and wheel him away. The farther he gets the more fear fills me. I curl up despite the pain not wanting to be alone with Antonio scared of what will happen.

Shane always calmed him down when I messed up, reigning in his wrath toward me. Now I was completely defenseless.

I suddenly felt very scared, and alone. Tears rushing down my cheeks. I jump when a yell feels my ears, it's decidedly Shane’s.

I can’t see him but when the sound of fist hitting flesh I can only imagine what's going on a few rooms down.

He most likely finally snapped, him not realizing where he was. He woke up and didn’t know where he was and just started fighting his way out.

“Put them together!” I hear an older woman's voice.

Only moments later Shane is wheeled into the same room as me. He is tied down and looks as tired as I feel but I watch him relax as they push his bed next to mine. The small spaces make our beds touch.

Looking over at me he clenches his jaw as the doctors cut off his shirt, his toned chest stained with blood. I barely notice the hands doing the same thing to mine.

“We need to take them into surgery now!” Says one of the many people around us.

Neither I nor Shane react as they place a mask over our faces. He moves his arm through the bars of the bed, his large hand grabbing mine.

“Sleep baby.” He says softly, his voice the last thing I hear before the gas shuts off my mind.

#shane #the walking dead shane #the walking dead #shane x reader #shane x oc #AU Shane

2 notes · View notes